Firsts - First Christmas

Now this picture isn't exactly our first Christmas. It just conveys the sense. The first time we actually got to spend Christmas day together was our second Christmas together; Sean and I spent the day hanging out in our penguin pjs and eating dinner with my family.

I'm looking forward to this new "first" Christmas as our first married Christmas. (Plus Christmas is my favorite holiday season.)

Firsts - First Date

We went on one date before we were officially a couple, so our first date happened a couple of weeks afterward.

At this point, I wasn't old enough to drive and while Sean could drive, he didn't have a car. (I should also point out that even if he could have driven I wouldn't have been allowed in the car - at the time my parents had a no-alone-dates until your 16 policy. Also worth mentioning is the eventual death of that rule before I was 16 on account of relationship length.)

Sean found out his mom wanted to go to the mall close to our houses to do some shopping and suggested I join him. After much begging and a lot of creative planning I managed to get my friend to drop me off on her way to work.

Our first real date consisted of us walking slow, meandering laps around the Biltmore Square Mall for two hours. It was actually quite fun. We had time to actually start getting to know one another.

Of course, then I went home and was in trouble for a solid week or so for the variety of frustrations I enacted upon my mom in order to be there at all, but I still think it was worth it.

Universal Joint

Another Haywood Road restaurant recommendation: Universal Joint.

They have a little bit of everything, a lot of outdoor seating, a neat interior (that used to be a garage - so come bundled in the winter it can be a little chilly).

The dish above was a wonderful black bean burger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese. They have several quality vegetarian dishes (though if you aren't opposed to a little meat the chicken salad sandwiches are also quite tasty).