On Turning 40...

I have to say that I had the BEST birthday this year and I have Steve to thank for it. Last week, on my actual b-day, he gave me my first "gift": a Wii!! We've been competing ever since. :) He got us several games, the Wii Fit and a lot of extra gadgets that go with it. Since I'm pretty compromised at operating these things, it's definitely something that we are able do to "together". (read: he has to show me how to work it)

Then on Saturday, he threw me a big party here at the house. Lots of fun! Old friends, new friends, staff members, etc came and helped me celebrate. Everyone ended up in the pool at least once, of course, and I hung out in the spa while Poppy grilled the food.

After that, all I knew was that 1.) we were going somewhere and 2.) I'd need an overnight bag. This isn't the first time my love has done this; he's really good at giving me surprise prizes. So Sunday morning, we packed and headed out.

First we went and saw the new Star Trek movie. Yeah! It was great! And, we both had been wanting to see it so that was a nice thing to do at 10am when it wasn't crowded. Afterwards, I was thinkin', "he had me pack a bag to throw me off so he could take me to a movie?". I should have known better. WAY better.

We headed down the hill and he still would not tell me where we were going. It wasn't until we were almost there that I figured it out: he had reserved us a large, beautiful suite at the Mission Inn in Riverside! This is one of my FAVORITE places to hang out! Simply gorgeous! So after checking into our beautiful room, he tells me there's one more prize and that I need to change clothes for that; then we headed down to the spa for a surprise couples massage. Those are ALWAYS great!!

This is a view from the window in our room:


After our massage, we headed to the bar, enjoyed some good drinks, some halibut ceviche, and then went off to dinner. I had one of the best prime rib dinners I've ever had, and Steve had a Surf and Turf special. It was absolutely fabulous!

Another view, from another window, in our ginormous suite:


We slowly got up and out of bed on Monday and headed back home to the real world.

Thank you, my beautiful husband, for making me feel loved and special and beautiful and all of those things that a husband is supposed to do for his wife. There is no bigger motivation to make a marriage the best it can be than for both spouses to simply love and be kind to each other.

Everything else falls into place. :)