It was for my birthday and my two great friends, Julie & Katherine, made my day incredibly awesome. It started immediately after getting the kids on the bus. A beautiful white limo, disguised as a mini van showed up in my driveway at precisely 8:30 am. The only instructions I had been given in days prior were clear your calendar for Friday, September 23rd, make sure your husband can get Summer off the bus and dress casual. I followed all instructions, and when my smiley chauffeur picked me up, I was ushered into the car and the first thing I saw was this on the passenger side floor.
Not that I had any doubts, but I knew immediately that this was going to be a special day indeed. I was then given a choice of breakfast locations (much to my delight because in the excitement of the morning I had only remembered to walk the dog, but not eat breakfast!). We ended up at Panera and were greeted there by the heavenly scent of fresh baked bread. After ordering a yummy sounding sandwich of bacon, egg & cheese on a ciabatta we looked around for a booth to sit in, but unfortunately they were all taken. Katherine took it upon herself to take one of the comfy chairs from the sitting area and have me perch upon it at our table as if I were royalty. What a great feeling to receive the red carpet treatment!
The breakfast sandwich was delicious as promised and the mango tea warmed my belly in preparation for a fun day ahead. The rain didn’t dampen our fun, although as I was told later it did provide a great deal of stress for my poor friends because the original plan was for us to spend the day having a picnic at the beach. Our next stop was the mall, I was completely in the dark as to our true destination until I was ushered into a quaint little nail salon and they announced that we would all be having spa pedicures. AAAAAAAHHHHHH :-) Is all I can say about that. We had great fun picking out polish colors and listening to the employees chat in Vietnamese as we enjoyed our massage chairs and the pampering that ensued.
It was mostly relaxing except for the part where they brushed the bottom of our feet as both Katherine & I are very ticklish. We howled and laughed and contorted our faces and laughed some more until the requisite brushing was finished and we could get onto the business of enjoying ourselves. I begged Katherine not to video tape me and put it on You Tube. She acquiesced but managed to snap this photo anyway.
I appear to be in the midst of torture, but I assure you it was all worth it in the end. We were all happy with the service and vowed to return. We’ve tried many places before and each of us didn’t like something about it so this was a feat unto itself :-) The prospect of pretty toes is enough to make any girl smile and we were certainly no exception. If the day had ended here I would’ve been perfectly content, but that was just the beginning.
After leaving the spa I was told there was still more to come and I still had no idea where we were going. They surprised me at every destination, I truly had no idea what they were up to next. About two miles before we reached our next destination, they had me close my eyes until we arrived. At the grand unveiling I realized, although it was pouring, we were indeed at a beach. I gasped as I saw the big expanse of water, some fisherman off the shore line, and 4 beautiful white swans. They had thought of everything and managed to bring me to the beach despite Mother Nature’s best efforts to thwart them.
It’s certainly hard to appreciate the view based on this photo and I’d love to go back when it’s not raining cats and dogs in order to appreciate it more. The thought was definitely heartwarming. I LOVE water. Living where I do, I get to feeling a bit landlocked often, as the ocean is 3 hours away. But this spot on the bay was a perfect respite for my water-loving soul :-)
Silly me thought that this was just a short visit to enjoy the view for a little bit and then we’d be on our way and then they both began rattling around in the car for stuff. Out came the cooler…
and then Katherine started preparing the food, here she is with a cutting board and knife, chopping up some delicious Honey Crisp apples…
and then came the cheese and crackers and before you know it we had our own little picnic going on in the car, with a great view of the water!
After we nibbled on our picnic spread I was asked if I had saved room for dessert! Really, there’s more?! I was astounded, and then speechless when this delightful, homemade display was handed to me.
And to make your mouth water, here’s a closer look :-)
Oh my goodness – homemade chocolate covered strawberries and Ghiardelli chocolate homemade brownies – I didn’t dare ask if it could get better than this! They of course tasted as divine as they looked. As so as not to miss a moment of making this special…
I was given my own faux-glass platter with an arrangement of strawberries just for me and to top it all off a pink candle to blow out and make a wish! I think if I had smiled any more at this moment that the bottom half of my face would’ve fallen off!
We thoroughly enjoyed our dessert and then changed venues once again and went to see the movie Contagion. It was a little slow in parts, but overall a really good movie. Little did I know that we were just doing that to kill time until the Oktoberfest at the Blue and Gray Brewery started. So once again I was informed to close my eyes and we made the last turn off so I could be surprised again. This time Mother Nature won as the event was outside under a tent and it was cold and the parking lot was full of water. So after standing in puddles in our sandals we decided to go someplace at little more comfortable.
We ended up at The Chatterbox and had some great food (I got the nachos that I woke up craving for some odd reason) and we had a few drinks and more than a few laughs. What a great day, with my great friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my day feel so special.
Not willing to let the fun end, we all got together at Katherine’s to watch a chick flick called Life as We Know It which was great warm-fuzzy kind of movie. Katherine’s husband. who makes the best guacamole in the world, whipped us up a batch to munch on with some chips while we watched the movie. Julie actually managed to stay awake the whole time, so that was a plus as well. A great way to end a great day.
I may not actually be royalty, but yesterday I felt like I was. It truly was a red carpet experience from beginning to end.
