Eric's Birthday Surprise
Well friends, I did it. I actually pulled it off and surprised my sweet husband for his birthday!
Shortly after the New Year began, Eric and I were talking about how we'd like to visit Nashville once or twice a year. We left behind some incredible friends, and the city is generally just an awesome place. It didn't take long to decide what I wanted to get Eric for his 33rd birthday: A surprise trip back to Nashville. I booked our flights, hotel and car back in January, let our friends know we were coming, asked my folks to babysit the cutest little boy around, planned fake events in Orange County so Eric wouldn't suspect we were leaving, and slowly pieced together a very fun trip for the best man I know.
Wednesday, May 4th:
It was only my 3rd day at my new job, so I dropped Cooper off at daycare, worked until 1:30 PM and waited for my parents to arrive at our house. We ran a few errands, and when Eric got home, we went to dinner with our friends to El Adobe. At this point, I don't think he knew anything. We slept on the aerobed that night (poorly, I might add), and Eric went to bed thinking he would have to go to work the following morning. (He also thought he had a playing lesson with his golf teacher during his lunch break, that he was playing a round with my Dad on Saturday, and a few other *fake* things, again, just to throw him off.) His boss at work, his golf teacher... pretty much everyone was in on this.
Thursday, May 5th:
After a night of little to no sleep, Cooper came downstairs chipper and ready to play at 6:30 AM. My folks, Coop, Eric, and I sat around and chatted / played for a bit, but I was about to burst and couldn't wait any longer. I had Cooper hand a gift to his Dadoo, saying that it was time sensitive so it was okay he was opening it a week early. He read Coop's card, and opened a darling luggage tag "Coop" made for him on Shutterfly.
Then I handed him my card (also made on Shutterfly)...
... and a piece of paper rolled up. He thought it was just our Dodger / Mets tickets for May 12th, but when he unrolled it, this is what he read:
He was highly confused, and his exhaustion didn't help. I told him I already packed our suitcase; all he had to do was get ready and we were off to celebrate! I didn't tell him where yet, though. After 2 hours of getting ready (I gave him a new Travis Mathew outfit for the trip) and playing with Cooper, we took off to... SAN DIEGO... where he thought we were staying. The fact that the Mets were playing the Padres and his favorite breweries are there really helped sell it.
We hit up his favorite brewery for lunch...
...and I acted as if we were headed to the next brewery... but as we drove past airport parking, he said, "Wouldn't it be funny if like... we were getting on an airplane today?" Perfect timing. So I said, "We are! We're going to Nashville!" He said the only thing that would have shocked him more, is if I had said I wanted a divorce... lol. (Side note: I *super* don't.) We parked our car and took off for Nashville.
We landed, got our lovely puke yellow color rental, went to Edley's for dinner...
...and checked into our hotel, The Hutton. Somehow we got the top floor, corner room, overlooking downtown Nashville. It was stunningly beautiful.
Friday, May 6th:
We woke up, and I handed Eric another gift (2 golf outfits, and a bathing suit). Then we headed to The Factory in Franklin where we met with our old marriage counselor and friend, Dr. Ramon Presson. He's such a good man, and also, hilarious. We shared 5 Daughters Doughnuts, Honest Coffee, and good stories.
On our way to our next stop, we drove by our old house and reminisced. It looked exactly the same, and I think we both missed it a little bit.
We drove to our buddy Ryan's songwriting office and dropped off a doughnut, then went to Eric's old company, Raven, for lunch with his old co-workers. It seemed like he had a great time, and it was so nice of them to have us.
After that, we headed to The Hermitage where Eric had a playing lesson with his old golf teacher. (I ran to Opry Mills while he played.) I picked him up, and we headed back to The Hutton for a little R&R before the night's events began. (I packed this day full!) That night, we went to the Nashville Sounds game with our friends, and while I didn't feel 100%, it was a lot of fun. After the game, we watched fireworks, and headed to The Flying Saucer for a bit to chat more with our buddies.
Saturday, May 7th:
Note to self: Don't make a tee time for 7:50 AM when you're on vacation. Lesson learned. Haha!
But it was very fun, and we weren't too tired to enjoy ourselves. The coffees from Star Bagel certainly helped. It also helped that the weather was incredible. We played 9 holes together at McCabe Golf Course, and I'm pleased to say that I actually had a lot of fun! I told Eric, "Oh man... I think I have to buy clubs now." After our round, we drove to our favorite jewelry store to get our wedding rings (etc.) cleaned. Eric also mentioned he wanted to take me around Aliso Viejo for Mother's Day to pick out a new jewelry store... but since we were there, he bought me my Mother's Day gift at Genesis Diamonds. Isn't it gorgeous?
Then we headed to the hotel to get ready for the day. We met our friends JJ and Kristina at Hattie B's and took our lunch to Centennial Park for a nice picnic.
There happened to be a craft fair so we wandered around for a little. Then we went to East Nash for a stop, and then walked around West End. It was a lovely afternoon. After we rested a bit at our hotel (and after grabbing a drink at the hotel bar)...
...we got ready for an awesome meal with our awesome-r friends at 5th & Taylor in Germantown. The food was great, but the company was better.
Some of us headed to South Street for a drink before calling it a night, and then we Uber'ed back to The Hutton.
Sunday, May 8th:
Typically on a vacation sans kiddo you sleep in, right? Not us. Haha! I packed our trip FULL. We went to our old church, Crosspoint, for a great Mother's Day service where I may or may not have cried for most of the sermon...
...and then grabbed a delish breakfast at Red Bicycle with our buddies Ryan and Kaeli (poor Ryan was sick most of our visit). Hate saying goodbye to best friends.
Then we met our friend Paul (a random, awesome surprise) in the cell phone lot of the airport. It just so happened that he needed to go to the airport to get his car, so we got a chance to say hey to him.
I'm so, so glad we got to see MOST of our best friends while we were there, and we'll catch everyone else on our next trip out! After returning the rental, we headed to the gate, boarded the plan... and now, here I am. Reminiscing about an incredibly fun trip... I can't believe I pulled it off. I can't believe it's over. Now onto the next trip...
Shout-out to Southwest for Coop's awesome note! When we landed... we headed to Mahe to meet my folks and Cooper, and had an amazing dinner, celebrating Eric, and Gigi and me for Mother's Day! It was fun, and delish!
Now, today... May 12th... I would like to say happy, happiest birthday wishes to you, my sweet, handsome Foo! I hope you had fun on our trip, this week, and tonight at the Dodgers / Mets game, and I hope you realize just how loved you are by everyone... especially by me.
Shortly after the New Year began, Eric and I were talking about how we'd like to visit Nashville once or twice a year. We left behind some incredible friends, and the city is generally just an awesome place. It didn't take long to decide what I wanted to get Eric for his 33rd birthday: A surprise trip back to Nashville. I booked our flights, hotel and car back in January, let our friends know we were coming, asked my folks to babysit the cutest little boy around, planned fake events in Orange County so Eric wouldn't suspect we were leaving, and slowly pieced together a very fun trip for the best man I know.
Wednesday, May 4th:
It was only my 3rd day at my new job, so I dropped Cooper off at daycare, worked until 1:30 PM and waited for my parents to arrive at our house. We ran a few errands, and when Eric got home, we went to dinner with our friends to El Adobe. At this point, I don't think he knew anything. We slept on the aerobed that night (poorly, I might add), and Eric went to bed thinking he would have to go to work the following morning. (He also thought he had a playing lesson with his golf teacher during his lunch break, that he was playing a round with my Dad on Saturday, and a few other *fake* things, again, just to throw him off.) His boss at work, his golf teacher... pretty much everyone was in on this.
Thursday, May 5th:
After a night of little to no sleep, Cooper came downstairs chipper and ready to play at 6:30 AM. My folks, Coop, Eric, and I sat around and chatted / played for a bit, but I was about to burst and couldn't wait any longer. I had Cooper hand a gift to his Dadoo, saying that it was time sensitive so it was okay he was opening it a week early. He read Coop's card, and opened a darling luggage tag "Coop" made for him on Shutterfly.
Then I handed him my card (also made on Shutterfly)...
... and a piece of paper rolled up. He thought it was just our Dodger / Mets tickets for May 12th, but when he unrolled it, this is what he read:
He was highly confused, and his exhaustion didn't help. I told him I already packed our suitcase; all he had to do was get ready and we were off to celebrate! I didn't tell him where yet, though. After 2 hours of getting ready (I gave him a new Travis Mathew outfit for the trip) and playing with Cooper, we took off to... SAN DIEGO... where he thought we were staying. The fact that the Mets were playing the Padres and his favorite breweries are there really helped sell it.
We hit up his favorite brewery for lunch...
...and I acted as if we were headed to the next brewery... but as we drove past airport parking, he said, "Wouldn't it be funny if like... we were getting on an airplane today?" Perfect timing. So I said, "We are! We're going to Nashville!" He said the only thing that would have shocked him more, is if I had said I wanted a divorce... lol. (Side note: I *super* don't.) We parked our car and took off for Nashville.
CHEERS, SAN --> BNA!
We landed, got our lovely puke yellow color rental, went to Edley's for dinner...
...and checked into our hotel, The Hutton. Somehow we got the top floor, corner room, overlooking downtown Nashville. It was stunningly beautiful.
Friday, May 6th:
We woke up, and I handed Eric another gift (2 golf outfits, and a bathing suit). Then we headed to The Factory in Franklin where we met with our old marriage counselor and friend, Dr. Ramon Presson. He's such a good man, and also, hilarious. We shared 5 Daughters Doughnuts, Honest Coffee, and good stories.
On our way to our next stop, we drove by our old house and reminisced. It looked exactly the same, and I think we both missed it a little bit.
We drove to our buddy Ryan's songwriting office and dropped off a doughnut, then went to Eric's old company, Raven, for lunch with his old co-workers. It seemed like he had a great time, and it was so nice of them to have us.
After that, we headed to The Hermitage where Eric had a playing lesson with his old golf teacher. (I ran to Opry Mills while he played.) I picked him up, and we headed back to The Hutton for a little R&R before the night's events began. (I packed this day full!) That night, we went to the Nashville Sounds game with our friends, and while I didn't feel 100%, it was a lot of fun. After the game, we watched fireworks, and headed to The Flying Saucer for a bit to chat more with our buddies.
Note to self: Don't make a tee time for 7:50 AM when you're on vacation. Lesson learned. Haha!
 |
| Our balls nearly touched on one of the holes. |
 |
| I got a 41 :), and Eric got a legit 41. Haha! |
Then we headed to the hotel to get ready for the day. We met our friends JJ and Kristina at Hattie B's and took our lunch to Centennial Park for a nice picnic.
...we got ready for an awesome meal with our awesome-r friends at 5th & Taylor in Germantown. The food was great, but the company was better.
Some of us headed to South Street for a drink before calling it a night, and then we Uber'ed back to The Hutton.
Sunday, May 8th:
Typically on a vacation sans kiddo you sleep in, right? Not us. Haha! I packed our trip FULL. We went to our old church, Crosspoint, for a great Mother's Day service where I may or may not have cried for most of the sermon...
...and then grabbed a delish breakfast at Red Bicycle with our buddies Ryan and Kaeli (poor Ryan was sick most of our visit). Hate saying goodbye to best friends.
Then we met our friend Paul (a random, awesome surprise) in the cell phone lot of the airport. It just so happened that he needed to go to the airport to get his car, so we got a chance to say hey to him.
I'm so, so glad we got to see MOST of our best friends while we were there, and we'll catch everyone else on our next trip out! After returning the rental, we headed to the gate, boarded the plan... and now, here I am. Reminiscing about an incredibly fun trip... I can't believe I pulled it off. I can't believe it's over. Now onto the next trip...
Shout-out to Southwest for Coop's awesome note! When we landed... we headed to Mahe to meet my folks and Cooper, and had an amazing dinner, celebrating Eric, and Gigi and me for Mother's Day! It was fun, and delish!
(Side note: I couldn't wait to land and squeeze our little man, Cooper Nash! We FaceTimed a lot, but I wanted hugs and kisses and snuggles and giggles and... everything.)
Now, today... May 12th... I would like to say happy, happiest birthday wishes to you, my sweet, handsome Foo! I hope you had fun on our trip, this week, and tonight at the Dodgers / Mets game, and I hope you realize just how loved you are by everyone... especially by me.
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