Friends, can I just tell you how much I adore my husband? I love a man who wants to whisk me away for a grownups-only getaway that involves shopping, sleeping til 10am, copious amounts of food, and desserts on demand.  I love that he appreciates the value of getting away – just the two of us.

When we go to Dallas, we almost always get our hotel via Priceline. Inevitably we end up at the exact same Westin hotel. Every time.  We have a storied history at this particular hotel: this was the same hotel we stayed at when he asked my parents’ permission to marry me. I had no idea what was going on, but I did think it was suspicious when my mom tearily wanted to take our picture in front of the (otherwise unassuming) hotel.   Then there was the time when the scrapbooking convention was there, and Simon made the biggest Freudian slip when he said to one of the scrapbooking ladies, “Oh, I didn’t know there were that many crapbookers. I MEAN SCRAPBOOKERS!”

Then another time, we went down to celebrate our wedding anniversary when I was pregnant with Jude. As we headed back to the hotel to dress for dinner, we noticed lots of fire engines. I mean a bunch. And as we got closer, the fire engines were all based at our hotel. And wouldn’t you know it, the fire was on OUR FLOOR. All I could imagine was my curling iron being left on. COULD IT BE?!?!?! As it turned out, someone had thrown a cigarette into one of the fake plants sitting by the elevators. Poor Simon – he’d already endured a pregnant woman meltdown at A Pea in the Pod over all the ugly clothes and my ever-expanding waistline.

So it should have come as no surprise to us this time when it turned out there was – of all things – an accordion convention. Friday night as we came back from dinner, we were greeted with a live concert, no less. I swear the tears streamed down our cheeks as we cracked up at the craziness of it all.

Highlights of the trip include exploring the original Neiman Marcus in downtown Dallas, getting my hair done at The Dry Bar (OMG!), shopping for new light fixtures (can’t wait to show you!), accidentally buckling my seatbelt into the belt I was wearing, treating Simon to a 3-hour meal at Rise No. 1 (souffles!), and cake balls. LOTS of cake balls.