I'll be back Tuesday as I'm taking Monday off to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I know doing that is not necessarily a "thing" but I have vacation days and like having an excuse to do fun things. Amongst our plans for the fun-filled day is to finally visit Hot Doug's, a legendary hot dog stand in Chicago. It's the kind of place where people wait in line for over an hour, which has never sounded right to me, but unlike with some other places in Chicago where you have to wait a super-long time for a fast-food item, I've never heard a person return from Hot Doug's and say it wasn't worth it. So since we have the day off we have time to wait.

Last year our anniversary was on a Sunday and we didn't do much (other than return from a book signing I did in Dubuque). We went to a restaurant I usually like where I ordered some baby ribs that were so babyish the bones were soft and at times translucent and bendy and hard to know where they began and ended. This freaked me out, I'm not going to lie. But we didn't do presents, except for the Butterfinger I wrapped and gave Steve. This was in honor of a time that we went on vacation to Washington DC and had a couple drinks and he decided that the best thing to do for the night would be to buy a huge Butterfinger, bring it back to the hotel and eat it in bed (himself, no sharing) before falling asleep. I knew then that that would be the man I'd marry. Not "That's the man I'm going to marry!" but "Yep. That's the man I'm going to marry." Just kidding. Anyway. Are you keeping track now of these anniversary traditions?

Year One: Candy Bars

Year Two: Sausages

I think year three is lasagna? I'm not sure, I have to check the etiquette books.