this is a love story

A couple of weeks ago My Heart also entered his 31st year. It's a lot of pressure having his birthday just over a week after mine. I always have big shoes to fill in order to make sure his day is just as special as mine was.

This year I took inspiration from the movie (500) Days of Summer. It's not out wide yet but we saw it a while back and both really loved it. It was filmed entirely in downtown LA and the city really felt like a character in the movie. I also took a page out of a Mr. Dadd's (our financial adviser) book. He took his wife for a weekend out in the city and they pretended they were in NYC.

Step one was recreating the movie poster with personal touches (too personal to show here, sorry!). (31) Years of My Heart began early Saturday morning when I secretly left the poster with directions for the day next to my sleeping love as I went to run some errands. It cryptically said:

Please pack an over-night bag
1 outfit = dressy, fun, punk rock but with shoes to walk in
1 outfit = casual & comfortable

Be prepared to be away from home for most of the weekend.

Have your ID on you.

Relax. Enjoy.

P.S.
Car service leaves Avenue 37 promptly at 2pm today.
Be ready!

I think he was a bit anxious - not sure how much he really likes surprises but in the end he LOVED it!

First Stop:

The Omni hotel in downtown LA... the service there is amazing and you can sign up on their website to become a member (for free!) and receive even more perks - they saw that it was my husband's birthday so they sent up a complimentary bottle of champagne!

Next was a stroll through the city where we hit the Bradbury building and then hiked up Angel's Flight to the benches in the little park above that over looks a small piece of the city:





Then back to the hotel for a change of clothes before the big night... We had dinner at this great restaurant called Traxx that is located inside Union Station. We opted to sit outside which was really the great entrance hall to the train station. After dinner we walked over to Olvera Street to listen to the band and watch the people dance. And then the big event of the evening... Cirque Berzerk! We actually ended up running into some friends there which made the evening even better.





I had also arranged with the Omni to have a little cake and a bottle of champagne that I brought to be delivered to the room at midnight (his birthday was officially on Sunday).


The next morning we slept in, enjoying the peace and quiet (no furry kids!) until we decided we were hungry. We then went to this cute little diner a friend had told us about for an amazing breakfast:


Then we headed home so that we could spend the day in the comfort of our own home with our family - no pressure, just relaxation (I know that's important to My Heart). Oh, and for dinner I made this: