Secret Date

Alex and I have a tradition of occasionally surprising the other person with a secret date. Either of us always has free license to plan and carry out a secret date, and then demand the other person get the time off of work or other obligations. It has been a really fun tradition. Past Secret Dates have included an overnight trip to the Oregon Redwoods and Oregon Cave, Lunch on the Willamette Queen (a river boat), Blazer basketball games, Ice Hockey, Keiser Volcano baseball games, and lots more.

Last night Alex took me on a secret date to the Harlem Globetrotters at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland! It was so fun! He got "suite" tickets from work (the boxes with your own kitchen and bathroom--completely unnecessary...). It was wild and crazy. Something in my memory says that the H.G. came to our school for an assembly when I was younger. It was one of the most unique secret dates ever! My favorite part were the "Harlem High-Fliers (straight from Kenya, Africa)." Unnecessary human pyramids, ridiculously low limbos, and death defying double dutch--true entertainment.

(for the record, The Globetrotters beat the Generals...but it was pretty close...)

Peter and Tayva wedding photos

Introducing....

Peter & Tayva Case
February 19, 2008
Mt. Timpanogas Temple

such a shy boy...

I got old

I'm 27! Whoa. I'm old! I had a fun birthday--but hectic. Wednesday Feb. 13th (my b-day) we spent much of the day cleaning and packing to get ready for our trip to Utah for Pete's wedding. Alex gave me my birthday presents (including some great cd's and a cute bag) in the morning.

I worked a 1/2 day and we went to the local dinner/movie theater (Northern Lights Theater Pub in Salem) that night for a special Valentine's dinner. The evening was a disaster--but we had a good laugh about it!

What we expected:

Enjoying a candlelight 4-course dinner while watching Stardust over a bottle of sparkling apple cider. Dinner: A luxurious fruit/cheese platter, a yummy salad, the main course (me: chicken cordon bleu and garlic mashed potatoes; alex: prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes), finished off with a triple chocolate dessert.

What we got:

We were escorted to our table--on which sat 2 flickering votive candles and a bucket of ice with our bottle of sparkling cider. The excitement in the air was contagious! The entire theater was visibly excited for a fun and unusual night. Our fruit was...well--it was very tasty, but brown (and the cheese was floppy). Perhaps they had set up a little too early? We sat through a few previews, and then a long preview came on for August Rush. It was a really really long preview. They brought our salad (which was yummy) and the preview continued. Then it struck me! This was not a preview!

"Excuse me," I whispered to the waitress, "is this the movie tonight?"

"Oh yes!" She gushed, "isn't it wonderful!"

Hum. She ended up giving us 2 free movie tickets for the confusion (apparently Stardust was only playing at the 2-14 V-Day special, but not at the 2-13 V-Day special. There were many confused and frustrated patrons that night...).

We enjoyed August Rush, really--but we had just seen it and were really looking forward to seeing Stardust (which we had also already seen).

When dinner came...there was more mirth. The potatoes: instant. The meat: dry and grisly. Also, we didn't start on our cider until more than 1/2 way through the movie because we had to ask for a bottle opener. Not the best 50 bucks we ever spent.

I think the best part was after the movie was over and we were all filing out past the main cook and owner of the theater (who had excited smiles on their faces). "How was dinner!?" Mr. Chef inquired.

Believe me buddy, you don't want to know.