Last week Mr.Pate and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. We are not huge gift givers, and we typically celebrate in more of a small and laid-back style. This year I convinced Mr.Pate (read:insisted) that we should have a getaway weekend.
We do not take vacations. In fact, we use our vacation time each year to take the youth to camp. Mr.Pate isn't much of a traveler anyhow, so it works out well that we don't have much time or money for trips. Ha! Anyhow, I have just been very exhausted and needed some time away with him. So we decided to go to Cincinnati for a weekend getaway. Yay!
(A blurry view of the city at night as we drove in)
We dropped the kid off in Louisville to spend the weekend with his Grandma, and then we headed to the Gap factory store in Northern KY. Mr.Pate was such a trooper and let me shop and get some great deals!! He even hunted for pants for me. Love him and his task driven personality.
After getting a new wardrobe, we headed to our hotel and to eat. We stayed north of the city so we could be close to our two main destinations: IKEA and Pappadeaux!
Saturday morning, I had hoped to at least sleep until 8:30. I didn't think I would make it past that. Well I woke at 8 and made myself go back to sleep- and then didn't wake up until 10:30!! Crazy! After getting ready, we headed to a local cafe, Alreddy Cafe. It was cute and eclectic and the food was wonderful. Thank you Urbanspoon!
Then we headed to IKEA! I have always wanted to go. It was sooo fun. The upstairs is all setup as different apartments/houses and is fun to see the different ideas. We loved it.
A couch we love love loved...
How cute is this cabinet??!!
An island we think Uncle D should put in his house...
The downstairs was our favorite I think. They have so many house accessories! I didn't know that. We bough griffin a new dresser (pics to come once we build it ha!), and then little small stuff like a napkin holder. The warehouse area is just nuts! For all the big things, you write down the aisle number etc and then go and pick it up here...
It was no joke. Then there was more food at the end. I was very impressed overall with the atmosphere and food and just the fun experience. I am ready to head back :-)
I even convinced Mr. Pate to take a quick pic with me!
Then we headed to Barnes & Noble and browsed the game section to find this:
We love Big Bang and I love love love Clue, so I want this so bad! Ha! We bought a Catan dice game and headed back to the hotel to play. Later we went to Pappadeaux to eat. Many of our church family loves this place and talks about it all the time, so I couldn't wait to try it... But I ended up having to wait over an hour to get seated! Ha!
The seafood was AMAZING so so good! And the dessert was awesome too. Halfway through dinner I finally realized that we were both in stripes. Matchy matchy without trying.
Sunday on the way home Mr.Pate even agreed to go through a "50 questions to ask your spouse annually" thing I had printed out. :-) It was such a good time of reconnecting and getting to share our hearts.
Loved the weekend so much. It was just what I needed.
Happy 8 Years Babe!
- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone
