9-Year Anniversary

Matt and I got to celebrate our 9-Year Anniversary this past week and it was so completely wonderful! 

I was a little bummed because Matt could not get out of work and had to be in California but I decided I was going to make it a great day anyway.  I got Abi off to school and got a shower and then there was a knock at the door.  To my surprise, there stood my parents!  They told me to call Matt with big smiles on their faces and proceeded to bring in their luggage.  I called Matt and found out that he had planned a huge surprise for me and that I needed to pack quickly because I had to get to the airport to catch my flight to San Francisco.  I called Matt when I landed and he told me to walk out front.  He said I couldn't miss him. 

There he was standing with 24 GORGEOUS roses and a huge grin. 

He made a quick call and a couple minutes later a black limo picked us up. 

It was so fun to see the city again because I haven't been here since I was 3 years old and I really don't remember too much about it.   

We were driven all the way to the top of Knob Hill to the gorgeous Mark Hopkins Hotel. 

This place was incredible and we stayed way up on the 14th floor in this huge corner suite with view of the whole city.  I don't know how Matt pulled that one off! 

We were able to have dinner at the "Top Mark" restaurant which is quite exclusive and we didn't even have to go far because it was on the roof of our hotel.  Our waiter must have gotten a good laugh out of Matt and I because we weren't drinking any wine, we weren't dressed super-formal and we ordered the most casual dishes on the menu. 

This was my DELICIOUS Lasagna!!! 

We were able to sit and watch a beautiful sunset from our table.  If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the Golden Gate Bridge back in the setting sun.

This is the view from one of the windows in our room.  You can see the harbor off to the side and we could see ferries going back and forth to Alcatraz.

This is the same view later in the evening.

And finally, the same view at night - simply breathtaking!

In the morning we woke up to go out on the town and I knew I had to wear my "I Love My Hubby" shirt!

We couldn't come to San Francisco without riding the Trolley so we hopped on and headed down to China Town. 

We walked around there for a while and got lots of laughs from the locals as Matt would greet them in Chinese.  They did not expect that from this big white man!  :) 

 Next we jumped on another Trolley and headed down to the shopping district. 

This was the end of the line for the Trolleys and it was really neat to watch them get on the spinning platform and be turned around. 

The shopping district was my sort of heaven on earth... granted, I didn't even bother walking inside Saks or Tiffany's!

I spent a few hours down there just going crazy while Matt popped into work for a bit.  (May have been mistake on Matt's part to leave me alone in that area like that! j/k)  :)

I have not just gone shopping like that, alone and peaceful, for a long time!  I had a BALL!

I also had to go explore the Grace Cathedral that was right across from our hotel. 

 It was very beautiful and there was even a youth choir practicing there while I was exploring inside and their voices filled the whole place with beautiful music.

The driver picked me up at the hotel and then Matt at his work and we were taken to the airport.  Matt even got us both upgraded to first class on our flight home.  This trip was like living in a fairy tale because I was literally treated like royalty the entire time and it was AMAZING although the best part of all was just being with the man I love and celebrating our 9th year together! 

I wanted to have a souvenir of sorts to take home from this wonderful vacation so I took some picures to create that souvenir:

The "L" is from a wondow section on our San Francisco Trolley.

The "O" is from our hotel, The Mark Hopkins.

The "V" is from a building in China Town.

The "E" is from the Grace Cathedral.

Here is what it will look like when it's all put together - although I will have it nicely matted and framed.  :)

It's the perfect souvenir from the perfect trip!