Friends and family,
It has been such a good weekend! Despite being away from family, my birthday was very memorable and several remembered me :-) Thank you for your cards, phone calls, texts, Facebook posts, and gifts. You are all so wonderful to think of me!
Scott had a full weekend planned out, which started with his friend from work, Derrick, dropping us off at the Magnolia hotel in downtown Houston on Saturday afternoon.
It was a beautiful hotel, decorated from Lobby to the 23rd floor in ruby red Poinsettias, large Christmas trees, gold and silver ornaments, and big bows!
We dropped off our one suitcase in our room on the 21st floor
and I opened my gift from Scott--as if he hadn't already done enough!
It was a very cute blouse from Tracy Porter (a designer whose blog I follow faithfully).
We then took advantage of the hotel's complimentary town car service by having them drop us off at a shopping center about 4 blocks away.
One of my favorite places to shop is a store called Forever 21 and you would not believe the size of this one!! It took up almost an entire block and had two stories!! Poor Scott... God bless him though, he pushed through telling me what looked cute, holding my coat (putting it on at one point!),
and taking pictures along the way.
After purchasing a very cute, white sweater with a grey print, a large pair of gold earrings, and a bottle of nail polish, we left and went across the street to Books-A-Million. I couldn't be completely selfish with the shopping trip, plus I enjoy a good book, too!
We walked back to the hotel, changed into our fancy clothes,
and enjoyed a DELICIOUS dinner at a place called The Grove. "When they can", the chefs use local, organic ingredients from area farmer's markets and farms. We shared a roasted quail with mustard sauce along with a slice of brie cheese served with handmade pear jam and crusty bread for our appetizer. YUM!
Then Scott had a Glazed Berkshire Pork Belly that was part of the "Small Plate" menu..... it was indeed..... small. But good! It was about the size of a plum served with a smear of smashed parsnip (by that, they took a knife with a bit of parsnip puree and drug it across the plate). I had a wonderful pulled rotisserie chicken sandwich with sauteed mushrooms, white cheese, and french fries! It was a hefty portion, so I gave Scott half of my sandwich and some fries. We ended the night with a Texas Pecan+Brown Butter Cake and a scoop of ice cream! Perfection! Scott told our waiter, Salvador, that it was my birthday and written across the top of our dessert plate in chocolate sauce was "Happy Birthday!" So nice!
We came back to the hotel just in time for the cookies and milk buffet! Wow! I had half of a peanut butter cookie and half of a double chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk.
Scott had the other halves. We stayed in for the rest of the night, went to bed early around 10:30 and woke up at 8:30. Breakfast was served on the 2nd floor and included hot eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns with fruit, muffins, bagels, coffee, and orange juice. We hopped a taxi back to our apartment and now I am sitting on the couch in UTTER denial that I have two finals this week. I REALLY don't want to study..... in fact I just might be blogging right now just to avoid it.....
Anyway. The moral of the story: my husband is amazing. I in no way expected this but it was very memorable and special.
You all are amazing too! I can't tell you how nice it was to be remembered on my birthday. Your words and gifts were so thoughtful and heartfelt.
Blessings to all to all a good Sabbath Sunday.
We love you.
