The English Maximalista

Being the wonderful wife that I am, you can imagine my recent delight when I accidentally managed to acquire a couple of Denver Broncos tickets for my football-loving husband. The tickets were quite expensive, so I decided they would constitute a major portion of my Christmas gift to Mr Maximalista, this year.

(Don’t worry: I got him a few other things as well, which I shan’t be mentioning in my blog. You know, just in case Mr M happens to read it, and spoil the surprise…)

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My husband was born and bred in Wisconsin. It’s not really his fault, then, that he is a lifetime fan of the Green Bay Packers: it is his birthright. He is also a season ticket holder for games played at Lambeau Field. Hence my delight on his behalf at getting tickets for the Packers vs Broncos game, here in Denver.

In case you missed the subtlety of the previous sentence, the key words were on his behalf. Implying — correctly — that I am not delighted on my own behalf. For several reasons.

First and foremost being, I am a simple creature who adores her simple creature comforts. This generally involves cashmere blankets. Silk pajamas. Dog. Book. A crackling fire. All of which to be enjoyed, critically, at my house.

Ergo, it does not involve cold, hard stadium seats. Cheap beer. Or noisy bastards invading my personal space.

I’m sorry. It’s just that I am not too keen on sporting events. At all. But especially not keen on sports involving throwing balls / kicking balls / hitting balls.

I also detest shuffling through crowds, unless I am getting on a plane to go on holiday.

Anyway. I digress. The reason our Christmas was almost ruined was because shortly after I told Mr M about the tickets, I caught him just about to pull the trigger on purchasing a ton of Packers merchandise online!!! 

I believe my exact words were, “Excuse me, Sir, but WTF are you DOING?!”

Granted, he wasn’t to know that I had already bought him a bunch of merch, which I had hidden and wrapped up, ready to proffer him before we went to the game. (See! I am a great wife!)

The poor chap would have been sorely disappointed on Christmas morning, when he opened up duplicates of gifts he had already given to himself. Anyway, that is the story of how I saved the day, and salvaged the Maximalistas’ Christmas!

I love stories with a happy ending.

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And please don’t worry about me. My weekend was not a complete bust, despite my disgruntled attendance at an American Football match. Or game. Whatever it’s called.

The weather cooperated. It was gorgeously sunny all weekend, with temps in the high 60’s. And we spent the night in Denver, at the Hyatt hotel downtown which — quelle surprise!! — had a spa and pool. What an astonishing coincidence!

So, we left the house early on Saturday morning, dropped the puppy at the kennel, then kept driving North.

Never one to let the opportunity for a spot of shopping to slip through her fingers, I ensured our route took us directly through Antique’s Row on the South side of Denver. And before I start getting outraged letters on behalf of poor, cuckolded Mr Maximalista, please allow me to mention that book shops and junk shops are our favourite places to go together. Honestly!

Many happy weekends are spent trawling such places. Mr Maximalista genuinely enjoys carrying my shopping bags, stuffed with items we categorically do not need.

He is also extremely gentlemanly about popping out of the shop in the rain to bring Lady Penelope to the door for me, so whichever inappropriate shoes I happen to be wearing that particular day don’t get proper ruined. 

He is an angel. I think I’ll keep him.

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After a couple hours at the History Colorado Center, we quickly freshened up at the hotel, then headed out to get something to eat. We were famished.

Another great thing about spending the weekend in Denver is the sheer variety of restaurants at our fingertips, not to mention all of the amazing craft breweries in the region. In the past, we have eaten cuisines from all over the globe. Cuban. Middle Eastern. Asian fusion. Mexican fusion. Rocky Mountain Oysters…

For dinner on Saturday, though, we decided to stick with boring old Italian. Simply because we were tired from being out all day, and Margiano’s was only two blocks from our hotel.

As you know, the Maximalista Motto is: more spaghetti, less upsetti.

Plus we had leftovers, solving the question of what we would be having for dinner when we got home from the football game. Win!

The Green Bay Packers, however, did not win against the Denver Broncos, but I have to say that in my professional opinion, both teams played well.

The major win, though, was that Mr M loved his gift, which made me so happy. And I actually had a terrific time at the game — no one was more surprised at that than I!

Lots of love,

M xo