Monday, October 27, 2008

definitely not vampires

saturday was a GREAT day in the payzant-wells household. brandon took the GMAT for the third time; we were really nervous (probably me more than him...my palms were sweaty when he left, and he seemed just fine) because he has worked SO HARD preparing for that thing. he has studied pretty much every day since january for the stupid thing, which has caused plenty of stress (on his part) and annoyance (on my part -- he wouldn't let me invite people over on weeknights OR go to the gym with me).

he had taken a prep course after the first time, but his score on the second test was only fractionally higher. but he didn't give up; he kept working on math, which is his toughest subject, and taking practice tests until he ate, slept, breathed GMAT.

and on saturday he aced it!!

well, not really; he didn't get a perfect score or anything. but he did do WAY better than before, achieving a score high enough to make him a highly competitive applicant and good enough to get him into the schools he is applying for. HOORAY! all of our prayers over the past 10 months were answered and i am so grateful. and so excited to see where we end up!

then...we celebrated the big 0-2 wedding anniversary that night. we spent some time at the los angeles temple which was peaceful, invigorating and much needed. and then we headed to the stinking rose, a garlic restaurant in beverly hills.



the stinking rose was located pretty close to our old apartment and we used to drive by and talk about it all the time (we're both big garlic fans) but never went, so we decided the anniversary could be a good excuse to go.

(count how many times i say garlic in this paragraph.)

we started out with delicious garlic rolls, dipped in garlic-infused olive oil and a little garlic-chive dip. brandon had a garlic-braised boneless short rib and garlic mashed potatoes; i had a chicken and arugula salad with garlic vinaigrette (boring, i know, but like i said...i'd eaten a whole bowl of cookie dough). all of this was quite tasty...and then we ordered garlic ice cream for dessert and that was when i'd had it. it tasted like normal vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce, but the aftertaste was pure garlic. kind of savory and definitely unique, but a couple of bites in and i was sucking back splenda packets, desperate for anything that didn't taste like garlic. two teeth-brushings and four hours later, my mouth still tasted pungent when i went to sleep.

all in all it was a fabulous day.



kind of a stoned picture, but myspace shots are hard to take of two people. happy anniversary husby!

8 comments:

Jean said...

Aww, happy anniversary!! That sounds like a crazy restaurant. Tim would LOVE it. He's a garlic fiend, I tell you!!

dana said...

Congrats to Brandon!
And adorable picture of the two of you in the restaurant. Cute.
Happy Two Years!

Janessa said...

Way to go Brandon! That test is a beast. Good for you taking it that many times. Once was enough for me.
And Lynz, I kinda thought you said the big 2-0 anniversary and I was going to ask you why you got married when you were 4. I feel stupid.
Also. Across the street from the Stinking Rose is the best restuarant ever - Lawry's. It'll be my first stop after landing at LAX on Dec. 19.

JRKimball said...

Hey Lyndsey, it has been many years. I love blogs for this reason. Congratulations to your husband on finishing the GMAT, and Happy 2nd!

Chelsea said...

Congrats to Brandon on the test! I can relate(Ryan's been studying for his CPA exam since June... not quite January, but will be taking the last section next month). Enjoy your life back together! And congrats on the anniversary. It sounds like it was garl-mazing!

dietcokegrrl said...

YAY--lots to celebrate!

Congrats to Brandon on the awesome GMAT score!

And congrats on the two year anniversary! I've always heard about the Stinking Rose, but still have never been there. I DO love garlic--although the garlic ice cream sounds a little bit disgusting. I know I would totally fill up on the rolls...they sound heavenly.

Justin + kelly said...

Congrats on 2 years and the test!! Is there a big move coming soon for you two? I hear Oregon is nice....

Angela and Mike said...

haha, that's a LOT of garlic. I can practically taste it in my mouth after that story.

We are so excited for Brandon, hooray! Way to go...and I'm so happy you have your husband back. Well, for now at least, until he goes back to school and then is non existent for 2 years :)