Checkmate
Posted on December 26, 2006 by Ching under Flickr, Games, Movies.
Today was kind of a disappointment but we managed to make the best of it. Today was supposed to be the day Brian and I get to spend to ourselves and enjoy our couples massage together at Healing Waters. The last few days have been really hectic (Christmas eve at my parents’ house in Derby and then Christmas day at Brian’s parents’ house, always an all day event) so we were really looking forward to our relaxing hour and a half massages. I had scheduled it as a surprise for Brian almost a month ago, but I ended up telling him about it shortly after. In the spirit of pragmatism, we agreed that it would just be our Christmas present to each other.
We started our day by having lunch at Chili’s. Our friends the Dills work there so we thought we would pop in on them. Anyway, lunch was good. When Dill found out that we were watching a movie that evening, he gave us a couple of movie passes. In exchange we left him a really good tip (almost as much as our entire bill). I thought it was nice of him to give us the passes. One good deed deserves another, right?
After lunch we hit the nearby Super Target to get some fruits and veggies for the suggies. Then we came home to take care of some last minute stuff and leave dinner in the cage for the suggies because we anticipated being out for the rest of the afternoon and evening. When we arrived home I found a message on my phone. It was Healing Waters calling to reschedule our appointment because one of the massage therapists assigned to us had fallen ill and was sent home. They could not find anyone to fill in. Brian was really mad and threw a fit. I felt really bad because I had scheduled this way in advance and I knew he was really looking forward to it. We ended up rescheduling for Thursday afternoon, but Brian was already upset.
Add to that the fact that we noticed Bebot’s “maintenance required” light lit up and would not go away. Being the worry warts that we are, we figured we’d just go to Eddy’s and have them check it out. Brian called them ahead of time so they would expect us. When we arrived, one of the Eddy’s guys looks at the car and fixes the problem by simply pushing a button. Apparently, the light is set to come on every five thousand miles. They are supposed to reset it each time we come for an oil change but we went at three thousand miles and I think they forgot to reset it or something. Anyway, I’m glad that Bebot is fine.
With that out of the way Brian and I decided to cheer each other up by having a contest. We said we’d give each other a hundred dollars each to spend at the mall and who ever got the most items for their money would be declared the winner. The only rule we had was that we could not buy crap just for the saying of having the most items. It had to be something that we wanted or would use. Naturally, Old Navy was the perfect venue for our competition. Where else can you buy a ton of crap for cheap?
Brian and I ended up getting about the same amount of items but his totalled about $75 and mine came to $99 and change. We declared him Victor but truthfully I think he had an unfair advantage because they usually have more guys stuff on sale. Next time we we have a contest I think we will do it like supermarket sweeps. The winner would be whoever can come closest to the maximum limit without going over. Although, if we do it that way then I’d have an unfair advantage because I’m better at math. LOL. Of course, Brian could always use a calculator. There won’t be a rule against that.
After Old Navy we stopped by the Gap (Brian still had $25 more to spend and I wanted to see if we could get another pair of his-n-hers matching shirts–yes, I like to torture Brian–incidentally, our total came to more than what he had left but that’s ok because we got our matching shirts–LOL). Brian found some cargo pants he liked and I found us some green mens tees on sale for $5 a piece. I got one in XS and Brian got one in XL. He was really hoping I wouldn’t be able to find a shirt that came in the sizes we needed, but I’m pretty resourceful. Now we have four matching shirts! We have our Nerve shirts (I think these were our first), Blogger shirts, red shirts and now our green shirts. I made him promise to wear it to poker on Friday and he agreed.
On our way out we spent a few minutes on the Ekornes Stressless dispay. They had two chairs so Brian and I took a seat. Those are the best chairs ever! Too bad we can’t afford any.
We parked in front of Von Maur so we went back that way. We passed by the chess display and I noticed the pieces were all off the table. I managed to talk Brian into helping me put it back together and then weaseled my way into a game. It took me a while to get into a groove as I hadn’t played chess in a while. Brian dominated the game early but I prevailed. After our queens were gone (he took mine and I subsequently took his) I got my knight into the game and in a series of strategic moves managed a fork: I put Brian’s king in check while also endangering his rook. The king moved out of the way and I took the rook. That was pretty much the end of the game. Checkmate came one or two moves after.
After the mall we dropped our stuff at the house then we were off to the theater. It was really busy. Crazy busy. Of course, Brian anticipated that it would be so we got there way early. As is our tradition, we ordered eggrolls to go for eating in the theater. It took a while for that to be ready. By the time we got it there was already a long line for our movie, Night at the Museum. The people behind us were really friendly, though, so we engaged in conversation and that made the time go by more quickly. When we were finally seated we noticed Teresa, Leonard, Taley and some of her friends (Teresa and Leonard were my parents’ neighbors at their old house) were right behind us. Brian got to talking to Leonard until the movie started.
Night at the Museum was actually really good. Ben Stiller has yet to disappoint me. Naturally, the ending made me cry because I am sappy and I cry at every movie.
Altogether the day has turned out well. It could have been better if we could have had our massage as scheduled, but sometimes things do go according to plan. Anyway, after Healing Waters made us mad I looked up other spas in the area and found a new spa that is actually right by our house. It’s called Fountain of Youth. They offer couples massages also so Brian and I are trying them in a couple of months to see how we like it. If we like then we won’t have to worry about having to go to Healing Waters, which is actually farther away, ever again after this.
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