Let me back up a bit. It was a very memorable day in the Cassell household. We bid farewell to the ol' gray Ford Ranger. She was a good ol' gal, but I don't know how much longer she would have held on if Matt didn't retire her :) In all honesty, though, that truck probably would have kept on tickin' for another 5 years! We are trying to prepare for the future though, so we thought it would be wise to upgrade to a larger vehicle for when we have children. Matt will need to transport the kids from time to time, and there was no way he could do that in the little Ranger. His mom bought a new vehicle a few months back and offered to give us a very good deal on her SUV, so we gladly accepted and gave Matt's truck to his dad (who really needed it badly.) Here's Matt saying his final farewell to her ;)
I remember the first time he drove to Meridian, where I was living at the time we met, and was sitting on the back of his truck waiting on me to meet him for directions to my home..........awwwwwwww :( I know, I know, I'm too sentimental ;)
Now, back to Friday night. Matt's favorite restaurant from old times is the Mexican Kitchen in Hattiesburg. He LOVES, and I can't elaborate enough, LOVES the sauce. He pours it on everything!!!!! I'm not as big of a fan as he is, but it is growing on me. We met his family here and we all enjoyed a good mexican dinner that night! I brought a birthday cake from a lady that makes awesome strawberry cake at Matt's office----it's his favorite! You should have seen me sneaking that cake out of his office (from the lady that made it) Friday morning b/f he got to work. I just KNEW he was going to bump RIGHT into me on the way out of the Cancer Institute!!!!!!
Matt's plate (and you thought I was joking about the sauce!!!)
I think he really drank it once on a bet ;)
Saturday morning was a 2 hour 40 minute trainer ride (blah!!!) Matt decided to make a lil extra money at the VA and work from 1pm-7pm. I met my best friend Staci for lunch at Sweet Pepper's Deli in Renaissance. We walked over to Fresh Market, since she had never been. It's my favorite grocery store in the world!!!!! I LOVE it ;) Saturday night, I met Matt after work at Keifer's and we enjoyed some Pita Moz and chicken gyros!!
Sunday morning was a long run followed by some homemade Cinnabon cinnamon rolls by me!!!! Yummyyy!!!!!!
3 cinnamon rolls (to signify 3 decades----I couldn't fit 30 on a plate!!! ha!)
Matt and his new Dura-Ace Ultegra components for his bike.......the way to this man's heart is tri gear and food ;)
We made it to the 11:00 church service, had a light lunch, then took a nice nap ;) Trainer recovery ride followed. Thenk I slaved in the kitchen for a couple of hours for Matt's birthday dinner. I think he was impressed ;)
The Menu:
Pinot Grigio(his fav. wine)
Beef Tenderloin with a roasted shallots and port wine reduction sauce
Scalloped Potatoes (completely homemade by me ;)
Fried Okra (also completely homemade by me)
Mini Buttermilk biscuits (completely homemade by Marshal's ;)
I didn't take a pic of this though---Darn!!!
This week is a recovery week, then we are headed to NOLA on Thursday through the weekend for a conference with Matt's Hem/Oncology department.
