: Anniversary Celebration Weekend :

We start off our weekend by heading to the spa to have a couples massage {we had bought this massage through groupon so it was only $90 for two 60minute massages- DEAL!} - it is seriously the best investment! Melts all the stresses of life away and is such a great way to start off our weekend of celebration. Notice the no cell phone rule on the table --- ahhhhhh! So great!

After our massage made us have rubber legs, we walked around through Granville Island and enjoyed all the sights that Granville Island has to offer!

We then enjoyed dinner @ Dockside in the Granville Island hotel {had no idea there was such a hotel!} This was the view from our table! So great!

Yummy espresso&biscotti

Beautiful restaurant, check out that chandelier!

We checked into our suite, and this is what the view was...spectacular!

And at night, just as amazing!

I had put together a little gift basket for Paul. Since the weekend away is really our gift to each other we're not supposed to do "gifts" -- but this was kinda a "gift-to-you-for-me-too" type gift. It included two mini bottles of champagne, a container of macadamia nut caramels, Starbucks Anniversary blend coffee, a VW magazine & a new stainless Starbucks travel mug for Paul.

We did a whole lot of lounging around, at least we felt like we did. It's amazing how much time you actually have in a day when you don't have little ones to worry over and take care of!

We shopped our favorite shops and used up some gift cards I had been holding on to for years {like 5!} and had fun doing it! Our favorite stops when downtown are Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Urban Barn, Liberty, Mienhardt's, Anthropology & Urban Fair.

We drove through the most beautiful places of town

Had a picnic in the Stanley park while watching a game of cricket which after watching for almost 2 hours we still didn't understand it any better then before!

This is right close to where we got engaged 9.5 years ago, ahh memories!

We walked part of the seawall...and the sunshine broke through. So we stopped and enjoyed the last little bit of Summer peaking through the clouds!

Headed out to eat again for our official Anniversary dinner - We ate on the patio at Cardero's -- it was lovely as we didn't have to pay anything out of pocket cause we had a gift card..ha ha!

The next morning we headed across the bridge and walked around West Vancouver window shopping and enjoyed a Starbucks...well at least Mr. L did, mine was GROSS, I was so disgusted by it I couldn't even bother to go and get a new one {if you know how much I love my Starbucks, you know how bad it was!}

After we had shopped through West Van we headed back over the water and headed to sushi for lunch to find that our favorite sushi joint was under renovations and we couldn't go there! We were SO disappointed but thankfully there was our no.2 place to eat sushi and it was just around the corner!

We then walked down to the sea wall closest to our suite and enjoyed a nice long walk. We went back to the suite and packed up our stuff then headed back to Pottery barn to purchase something that I couldn't live with out ;) then off to Ikea to do some shopping for the new house.

After Ikea we headed back toward home, just to find out that the boys were just being put down by G&G and to not come home...really! So we headed to Tim Hortons for a bowl of chili just before we saw the movie "Contagion" -- I enjoyed the movie but since I woke up on Sunday morning with a cough it made it a little unsettling to Mr. L as I was coughing through a movie that was all about a cold/flu epidemic! Ha Ha!!!
And that's it!!! It's been a bit of a mad house around here since arriving home, I now have a full blown cold and I feel horrible!! But no rest for the weary, we have lunches&homework, packing&papers-to-sign for the new place as we're moving at the end of the week! What a crazy life we are living right now!

We are so thankful for the time we got to escape the norm and enjoy each other and the beautiful city where we first fell in love!

*Babe - Thank you for your love & devotion to me and our little family! Every year I fall more in love with who you are. God is so faithful and I am so thankful. With all my love, honor & respect, Your Gurl xo*

Ps. next year you don't have to buy me such a big gift, you really outdid yourself by buying me a new house this year ;)



~ HUGE thank you to my parents for taking care of our boys so we could get this time away, we're so thankful you survived ;) ~