best weekend a gal could ask for

thank y'all for your sweet birthday wishes!  general consensus seems to be that the month long celebration is A-OK.  even the beau conceded a little on that this weekend.

what a way to ring in 25!  friday night i made a yummy dinner of cajun steak and corn, jalapeno, and feta salad {recipes to follow on wednesday}.  my little sister stopped by on her way to our see our parents and FINALLY got to meet the beau, as well as taking the puppy boy with her so he didn't have to stay in the kennel while we were gone.  we headed to the last of our local outdoor concert series {major sadface.  it's one of my favorite parts of summer in small town, va}, which inevitably ends up meaning i spend the night drinking bud light lime with my girls and discussing celebrity gossip and various life goings-on while the boys drink any and all beers available and talk about sports.  we all headed to a local watering hole after where i got a birthday treat: fried pickles with ranch dressing to dip.  if you have never had fried pickles, you are totally missing out.  they beat a birthday cake any day.  we turned in by 11 because we had to be up and at 'em to hit the road early the next morning.

y'all....the beau outdid himself.  i am so blessed to have him in my life.  he took me to the national aquarium, where despite the INSANE amount of people and rude, rude, rude children {do parents not teach their children any consideration for other people anymore?!?!}, we had a blast.  i love turtles and there were about a zillion different kinds there.  the beau bought me a beautiful glass sea turtle christmas ornament as a keepsake.

we had a bit of a nightmare trying to actually get in to our hotel room {that story is coming tomorrow. i feel it's my duty to make sure none of you EVER book a room at this place}, but they did upgrade us for our troubles and our room had a wall of all windows {complete with a beautiful window seat} overlooking the inner harbor and the baltimore skyline.  while i was taking in the view, the beau snuck up behind me and put a small box in my hand.  inside were the sweetest little diamond earrings.  they're just tee-tiny things, but they're so beautiful and he was so proud of himself.  i put them on immediately and haven't taken them off since.  loved hearing him telling the tale of buying them...the first time he has ever purchased jewelry.  hysterical.  i couldn't love them more.

we had a seriously decadent dinner at a restaurant in little italy.  the waiter treated us to cheesecake on the house in honor of my birthday and we split a bottle of sparkling wine.  we didn't talk most of dinner because there was a huge family sitting behind us and they all had crazy thick baltimore accents that had us in giggles.  if you've never heard a baltimore accent, think john travolta in hairspray.  they're hilarious.  we wrapped up the night at an irish pub watching the orioles game with one of his best friends from high school and his girlfriend.  and midnight room service of french fries while we watched shark week.

i think the beau said it best...we fell in love with each other even more this weekend.  it was the first real trip we've taken as just the two of us, and it was just so much fun...looking at neon blue amazon tree frogs, watching old guys play bocce in little italy, laughing at high school stories, and just rocking out to music on the drive. love that boy so much.

hope your weekends were as wonderful as mine!