Anniversary Weekend Rundown

As I mentioned, Mark has very little free time these days.  Being the dedicated man he is, though, he skipped a couple weekend meetings and spent a lot of time on the phone on the way to Petoskey, and was able to get away to celebrate our second wedding anniversary (despite making a whole lot of work to come back to for him).  He's the best!

We arrived to the Terrace Inn on Friday around 5pm and were greeted by the nice staff and the chef's CUTE dog, of which was hanging out in the back with no leash to keep her there.  I'd been thinking about how much I missed the girls, only to be able to instantly pet another pup!

We climbed the grandiose staircase to our queen whirlpool suite, unpacked, then went for a walk to check out the neighborhood:

We walked down to the beach (where, on Sunday, we hunted for - and found! - Petoskey Stones) and enjoyed the beautiful sky:

Later, we had dinner at the Inn's wonderful restaurant (oooooomg, it was so good), then rushed down to the shore to capture a few pictures of the amazing sunset before it nestled into the other side of the Earth for the night:

We even got a picture of the two of us, which is always hard to do when you're traveling alone:

The next day, we got up early, ate breakfast and went into town to shop for a bit before heading back to the Inn for our in-room massages (aaaaahhhh).  We walked past the most whimsical tree (which reminded me of the candlestick guy in 'Beauty and the Beast' and had me singing "Be Our Guest" for two days):

Then we bought a couple of presents for Chickpea - our first real purchases for the little one, besides some books I've been collecting over the years:

'Harper the Hippo'...could this be any cuter?!

This little pull toy was too much - I couldn't resist!

We went back to get our massages, then took a GLORIOUS nap before getting ready to go into town for a nice dinner.  Do you see a trend here?  Shop, eat, sleep.  Isn't that what trips away are all about, though?  LOVE.

The next day, we got up early, had breakfast, then headed to Traverse City and went to a couple of wineries so Mark could do some wine-tasting (we went here and here - the latter was the clear favorite, according to Mark):

It was my idea to go tasting, and while I was so happy Mark got to try some yummy wines, I'm not going to lie: it was a wee bit awkward being pregnant in that setting!  It was also quite hard to not take a sip or two (OK...so I did take a sip of one that we later bought a couple bottles of so I could enjoy it after Chickpea is here!).

We then drove into downtown T.C. and did some shopping after having a pizza lunch under the sun.  My favorite shop was the hat store!  I even got Mark to try a couple on...

And I totally ROCKED this Alice in Wonderland one, if I do say so myself:

Mark even put one on (but was a bit O-V-E-R the whole thing by this point; can you tell?):

Overall, it was a great weekend with my sweetie.  We talked and laughed so much.  On the way back, I was excited to get home to see Molly and Lucy, but also quite wistful that it meant I wouldn't have 24 hours a day to spend with Mark anymore.  He's just so fun to be with, and makes me grin in a way very few people or things can.  I can't wait to get away with him again, although I'm almost positive it won't be until after the baby is here.  What a year we have ahead of us!   

Bump Watch: 21 Weeks

Hello!  We are back from our anniversary getaway (following 5 days of no Internet at home - I'm trying to catch up on posts retroactively, as you'll soon see), which also means we are back to the grind.  We had a wonderful time together...it was so, so, SO nice to spend some time with Mark all to myself.

I haven't talked about it here, but I rarely get to see my guy these days, as he's running a statewide campaign and is working 18+ hour days.  Poor thing barely has time to sleep!  I like to think of it as his baby...I sit here and grow our baby, while he works to grow our future.  I think it's only fair. One good thing about this situation, I guess, is that I am given the chance to know that when I'm not with Mark, I really, truly miss him.  And when I'm with him again, I get reminded how how much I actually like and enjoy being with my husband!

We took a couple belly pics while we were away, but they didn't turn out so well.  Blurry (were there ghosts in the purportedly "haunted" bed & breakfast, messing with our lens?):

(Feel free to click on the photos to see just how blurry they really are...)

This was the first version of the thumbs up (whoa!): 

This one turned out better: 

Can you tell in these pictures that I'm super rested, having done nothing but sleep, eat, and laugh over the course of the weekend? *sigh* Can I go back now?!

Away We Go

I'm sitting in the comfort of my home in front of my own computer, waiting for my hard-working prince to come take me away for an anniversary weekend in Petoskey.  On Sunday, we will celebrate two years of loving and living as husband and wife.  It honestly feels like only six months have passed since we said, "I Do" - I'd say that's a good sign.

Stayed tuned for a schmoopy anniversary post (grab your barf buckets, boys and girls!) on Sunday.  In the meantime, I hope you have a happy, cozy, loved-filled weekend all your own. 

HUGS!

Bump Watch: 17 Weeks

Can you believe a week has already passed since the last belly pictures?  I'll be 18 weeks along on Thursday!  These pictures were taken tonight after a long, busy day at work following a fun and busy weekend spent visiting my best (and longest-running) friend, Tracy, in Chicago.

One thing I didn't expect but that was quite evident this morning is how tiring traveling is now that I'm pregnant.  I'm so glad Tracy and I got our girls weekend in (mani/pedi's and a Michigan Avenue chocolate tour!) because we might not get to do it again for a loooong time, but mama is TIRED!  This, my friends, would be why these photos were taken with me in my baggy pajama's.  And this time, Lucy Lu got in on the action.  How cute is she? And while I'm asking questions, how HUGE does my stomach look?! 

OK, gotta go.  Molly clearly feels left out and is sitting under the desk whining like you wouldn't believe.  And they say pregnant women are drama queens...  ;o)