The Big Surprise!

Yes Ben I do have an update! We had an open weekend this summer over the 4th of July. I had been telling Ben, let's go on a road trip, or do something fun over our 3 day (4 days for him!) weekend. He said he had a surprise for me that would last all weekend so not to plan anything. I was uber curious for weeks as to what this surprise could be. I thought maybe camping...or maybe a nice dinner somewhere. Hmm...I just couldn't figure it out.

Friday July 1st was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day.

So, my neighbor, Chris and I ditched out of work early and took a long glorious walk through Steward Park and then down along Alki Beach and finally making our way back home. Once we got back we were hanging out in her backyard relaxing in the sun, when Benjamin calls. He asks how long I until I will be home so we could start the surprise. I said 10 mins and shortly walked the 4 houses down to get back home. As I am cutting through the yards I see a purse on our porch, who was over!? Then I realize, I recognize that purse!!! IT's COURTNEY!!

She had flown in that day and just arrived. It was such a wonderful surprise to see her. It had been almost a year since I had seen my dear friend. They really pulled a fast one on me. Thank you both so much for the great surprise!

Courtney picked a great weekend to come to Seattle, it was sunny, hot and bright all weekend long. Friday night we went down to Alki to enjoy the view and some tasty food at our favorite restaurant, Cactus. The doors were open so we had a nice sea breeze throughout the meal. That night we got Tiki torches and talked and hung out outside in our backyard.

Saturday we went down to the Junction for a Mani/Pedi. It felt soo good. We basically got a full body massage and some pretty nails too! On our way home we swung by an amazing French Bakery for some croissants to take to the beach for a small picnic.

We sat by the beach and enjoyed a starbucks and croissant in the sun. It was so nice to just relax and people watch.

We came back from Alki and spent some time in our garden. I ended up doing some weeding in my dress. Nice.

For dinner we decided to go right up the block to Circa where our next door neighbor is a server. It was our first time and it was excellent. Great food, and even better dessert. The ambiance was nice and quaint as well. We will definitely go back there. Later we did a driving tour of Seattle at night and got to look at the pretty skyline. It is still beautiful to me each and every time.

We stopped at Tini Bigs in Lower Queen Anne for a drink and easy entertainment. All we had to do was look out the window at all these bachelor parties walking by and just laugh our tails off.

Sunday we made our way downtown for some shopping! We each found some things we liked so we were successful!

We stopped at an adorable french restaurant and sat outside in the Alley. It really felt European, even right down to the slow service :)

At the market we picked up tons of veggies for grilling at dinner time. We had our friend Art over and we grilled up some burgers and brats and loads of veggies.

After we got all amped up to go down to Alki for an evening campfire on the beach. Great Idea, right!? We even had fire wood already. Turns out all 7 pits were being used AND the staff goes around and puts water on all the fires at 10:30pm...it was 10pm. So instead we hung out down on the water and enjoyed the view sans fire.

Monday was Courtney's last day. We didn't have time to do a whole lot before she left but we did manage to sneak in a breakfast at the local record store/diner. It was perfect, we got a table outside and had a nice start to our day. Then it was time to say goodbye...

We dropped of Courtney at the airport and waved her farewell. Goodbye til next time. It was a delight to have you in Seattle! Come back anytime.

Stay tuned for fireworks pictures from that night...Ben will be posting those :)