I haven’t talked much about Chris’s new ‘love’ of minimalism, but our lives have completely changed in the last couple months since my sister, Eliza, gave him the book Everything That Remains. There was so much in the book that struck a chord with him. Since then, he’s read other books along the same theme and continues to get more passionate about it. The main premise? We just have too much ‘stuff’ that is taking control of our lives. In essence, we need ‘simplification.’ This, in turn, is where we find more time, peace, and happiness.
What does all this have to do with my birthday? Well, everything! Since we have gone through most of our house, purging everything and anything that we possibly don’t need anymore, gifts of the material sense weren’t on the top of the list. Instead, Chris thought of giving me ‘experiences’. The memories from these experiences are longer lasting.
So, experience #1:
Chris took the day off of work on Friday, the day before my birthday. His plans didn’t start until the afternoon, but we walked up to the high street for breakfast – why not?! In the afternoon, we took the train into Central London for our booking at one of the restaurants in the Shard, the tallest building in London (currently in the EU, as well).
Looking up at the Shard
Our late lunch / early dinner at the Oblix, on the 32nd floor, was great. We had an amazing view of the city from our table and thoroughly enjoyed the food. As you can only book a table for 2 hours, our time was up around 4:30 p.m., which was perfect for the next phase of Chris’s plans. We had tickets to go up to the observation floors (floors 68, 69 and 72) at 5:00 p.m. At this time of year, that coincides perfectly with sunset. We also lucked out with a perfectly clear day so we got to see everything at dusk and then enjoyed watching the city lights come on along the Thames River.
Westward View (London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral)
Eastward View (Tower Bridge, Tower of London)
It was truly magical and made you fall in love with London all over again!
Experience #2:
On Saturday, we got up and headed into North London for a cooking class! Chris had done a lot of research to find some of the best cooking classes in London and then tried to find availability that could work for us and my birthday. He found Waitrose Cookery School had an Italian Cooking class on my actual birthday, so it was perfect!
Chef Martin Demonstrating Before Setting Us Free
I was so glad Chris and I got to do this class together. Not only was it a great way to spend the day together, but it was a lot of fun!
Chris Preparing Osso Bucco
Not only did we cook the food, but we ate it during the day as well. It was a 3 course meal with some extras. Needless to say, we didn’t leave hungry!
Our menu for the day consisted of:
- Tiramisu
- Osso Bucco with Risotto alla Milanese
- Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini
- Fresh Basil Pesto
- Pizza Margherita
- Linguine with Crab, Chilli, & Garlic
Wow! We actually got to make the tortellini pasta from scratch. I always imagined making noodles quite difficult, involving pasta laying around to dry, but it was quite simple. I would even try to do it at home, if I got a pasta machine.
Rolling Pasta / Completion Certificate
The kids were good troopers and waited patiently to celebrate my birthday with me on Sunday. Chris and Caleb made me a manicotti dinner, complete with salad and breadsticks. Then we enjoyed a delicious cheesecake from Hummingbird Bakery and a few gifts.
It was the perfect birthday celebration and made me excited about what this next year has in store for me and my family!
Perfect End to a Perfect Birthday Weekend
But if you got a pasta machine, that would be in conflict with the simplification theme 🙂
I would love to hear more about the changes in your lives to trend towards minimalism. Has Chris read Essentialism? Fabulous book! Focuses more on minimalism from the perspective of how we spend our time, talents, etc. I absolutely loved it and it has really revolutionized my way of thinking about what I do with my personal resources.