Two Years

This weekend, Brian and I celebrated our second anniversary. We'd talked about going away but now isn't a great time for either of us to take time off work and I didn't want to spend hours in the car traveling to a weekend destination.  I thought we'd go to dinner and reminisce but Brian had bigger and much better plans.

Friday night he told me to pack my bags - we were spending the weekend away from home. Even better - we weren't going far. He planned the perfect mini getaway - a staycation, if you will. We packed our bags and set off to - the other side of town! He'd booked a beautiful room at the Ritz Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes.

We got to the hotel Saturday morning and it could not have been a more beautiful day.

B's getting pretty good with the one handed pictures.

We went down to the pool and spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine, munching on chips & guacamole and swimming in the pool. The weather was perfect.

Jill, just for you my crooked toe makes an appearance on the blog.

Saturday night we had dinner at Norman's - an amazing restaurant I've been wanting to try for years.

After seeing this picture, I no longer love this dress. (My first maternity dress.) Mooo.

Norman's did not disappoint. Dinner was absolutely amazing. The restaurant was kind enough to send out a champagne toast and brought me apple cider when I turned down the champagne. Chef Norman even came to the table to say hello. (And told the table next to ours a story about Charlie Trotter, his wife and Chef Norman's foie gras - which delighted me. Felt like I was privy to inside Chef gossip!)

Doubt you're interested in the menu but I wanted to include it for our memory.

We started with the fried green tomatoes and conch chowder - both were delicious. Brian had the pork tenderloin and I had the yellowtail. So good. We ate so much we didn't save any room for dessert. But the restaurant sent some out anyway.

We were absolutely stuffed and needed a long walk after dinner. There was a wedding in the courtyard and a few conventions taking place at the J.W. Marriott which adjoined our hotel. We thought about becoming wedding crashers or grabbing a lanyard and joining the convention receptions but thought better of it. :) 

Sunday morning we did some serious damage at the brunch buffet. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, cinnamon rolls, grits, fruit - oh my word, it was tasty. It reminded of us the breakfast buffet we gorged ourselves on each morning of our honeymoon.

After that, we went back out to the pool for a little more sun before heading home. I probably shouldn't have eaten quite so much at brunch - I was sporting quite the baby pancake bump.

It was the most wonderful weekend and a perfect way to celebrate our second anniversary. B - thank you so much for the amazing surprise. Marrying you is the best decision I've ever made. You make me happy each and every day. I love you.