30 Before 30: # 13 Spend a Night Away with Tim

Tim and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary a month early this year. With our impending birth, we decided to not risk missing out on a night away together because once Peanut is out, it will be quite a while until we can leave her overnight. We left early on a Tuesday in October and headed down to my 38 week appointment in San Marcos. Tim was able to hear Peanut's heartbeat again and we had a chance to discuss and finalize our birthplan with our doctor. Then, it was on to San Diego! We planned NOTHING! Tim did have some possible plans in case we felt up to doing anything, but for all you parents out there, you know what I mean when I say that what we wanted the most was to sleep in and do nothing. Or, maybe we are just boring =) Regardless, Tim took me to this Mexican place famous for its connection to Nacho Libre-esque wrestling called Lucho Libre. The ambiance was very fun and festive, the food was ok. It was a novelty type eatery and we enjoyed pondering how one can sit at the gold-plated "Champions" table. We decided to try and get an early check-in at our hotel: Andaz. Originally, we had booked at the Omni, but we decided to try and save a few bucks and be spontaneous by using Priceline. We chose our desired neighborhood (Gaslamp- we were all over the map the previous weeks checking out everything from Downtown highrise to Coronado condos to La Jolla motels to a resort on Shelter Island) and our desired hotel level (4 star) and we let our price do the picking. We ended up at a Hilton called Andaz. Tim was concerned because he really tries to make everything perfect for me, and the one thing I told him I wanted was quiet and relaxing. So, when we found out that this hotel was very famous for being a club first, then a hotel, he started to worry. He checked out the site and found that the rooftop pool boasts some 800 socialites looking for action on the weekends. So, we were interested to see what it would be like on a Tuesday night. We were able to get an early check-in and were very impressed with the modern decor. This boutique hotel also had two pimped-out Escalades that would taxi you anywhere within a 2 mile radius, we were enjoying the luxurious catering. The concierge, Phil, upgraded our room to a junior suite and it was awesome! But, like most of the reviews told us, this hotel is not kid-friendly! (picture of our room). We got into our room and took a nap! Yup, we napped for about two hours before laying in bed and reading.

We went to dinner at 'de Medici, the restaurant we went to on our 1st date. I had saffron risotto with lobster! Oh my goodness, it was amazing. Tim had ravioli, and it was delectable.

We re-visited the rooftop pool and the huge rock fire pit. We went to bed around 9:30! I know, we are so lame, right!? Then, we slept in until a blissful 9am!! We grabbed a Jamba Juice for breakfast and checked out at 12. We had the Escalade take us to the harbor where we boarded the ferry to Coronado. We enjoyed a stroll on the island and some lunch and by then, it was time to come home. It was wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed joking, snuggling and just loving the other person with no pressures or agenda or discussions pressing. We grabbed coffee on our 22 block walk back to our car (we kinda missed the ferry to the convention center and had to disembark farther upshore) and chatted on the ride back home about nothing and everything. It was perfect and relaxing, just like we wanted.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life

Love, Lauren