Anniversary Days

Goodness me, what a hectic few days. First of all we had our wedding anniversary on March 10th (last Thursday). We've been married 16 years but have actually been together for 21. Yes all those years ago I walked into a large kitchen, our eyes met and the Lord said to me, "This is the man I am giving you." I glanced behind Mr O to find the dashing and wealthy man the Lord must have meant, but there was no one else there. At that stage I had no idea there were several Little O's running about the place too. I can only cope with one thing at a time. But all these years later we are happier than ever - who'd have thought it?! First of all I'd like to show you the card I made, filled with TLC:

I bought this image to do Valentines cards with, do you remember? But I couldn't resist bringing him out again for this card as he's so sweet and such fun to colour. I kept the rest of the card fairly simple, and was really pleased with the result.

And now the other thing...

Ages ago on facebook we got onto the subject of having our horses' picture painted and my friend Heather just casually mentioned that her mum paints horses. We were all a bit astounded by this and my friend Debbie asked if H's mum would do a painting of her horse Arthur. We waited with baited breath, and the finished result was astounding. I immediately emailed H and asked if her mum would do one of Zak and she said she'd love to. I sent across as many photos as I could muster, but in particular a good shot of his face as I love his markings. I had decided it would make the perfect birthday present for Mr O, but as the week went on and my excitement grew I realised there's no way I'd be able to wait that long. Then I had the brainwave of giving it to him for our anniversary.

The production of this painting has been conducted in total secrecy though. Once the painting was finished Heather sent a photo of it to my mobile phone. Of course it beeped when it arrived and Mr O asked who the text was from. I opened the message and my jaw dropped when I saw the photo. I lied through my teeth and said it was my riding instructor asking if I wanted a lesson in the morning. Then Heather tagged the photo to me on my facebook page and there it sat. That meant that every time I wrote on my profile page I got in a panic if Mr O was looking over my shoulder watching what I was typing and had to quickly flick off the page.

I had to wait a week for the painting to dry and then it arrived in the post. I cried when I opened it. Anyway, here it is, and I have to say, it's a fabulous likeness:

Mr O was absolutely delighted with it and was actually speechless for several seconds, and then shed a tear. He also thought the white bit on Zak's nose wasn't correct and went outside to check. To his surprise, it is an indentical likeness. I am thrilled with it, I must say. All we need to do now is find a frame.