A Staycation in Denver

Y’all, guess what Will did this weekend? He surprised me with a staycation in the city!

We had tickets to the Adventure Film Fest in Boulder on Friday night with Cindy and Craig, so we ate lots of sushi, drank a bit too much sake, and stayed out way past my bedtime. We enjoyed a leisurely sleep on Saturday morning, but I was shocked when he rolled over in the morning and informed me that we had plans all weekend. What?!

First up? He made my all-time favorite breakfast for me: spinach crepes with herbs and honey goat cheese. This cheese is so delightful that I would literally eat it by the stick if I didn’t think that I’d go into cardiac arrest immediately afterwards (Who am I kidding? That doesn’t stop me; I devour this cheese!)

After breakfast, he told me the schedule for the rest of the day. We were headed out to meet my best friend for lunch and to hand over Tally; she would be watching my pup for the night. Unbeknownst to me, Will and Angel had been communicating all week and I was the only one NOT in on the secret! I had called Angel the day before and she hadn’t returned my call, which was a little unusual. My poor best friend absolutely cannot lie to me, so she had avoided calling me back for fear that she would spill the secret!

Denver skyline

After lunch, Will drove us into Denver where we spent a few hours shopping for a dress for me! I spend most of my time in workout clothes or shredded jeans, so I really enjoy getting to dress up on the rare chance that a fancy occasion rolls around. We found an adorable black dress at Banana Republic as part of their “fit and flare” line, and I totally love the thing. It’s fitted up top but flares out in the skirt, so it’s all feminine and girly while still being comfy. I had packed these black lace heels that I already own, and I knew they would look perfect with my snazzy new dress!

After finding my new outfit for the evening, we headed over to Embassy Suites—Will had booked a hotel for the night! It was a beautiful suite with tons of room for our stuff, and I’ll be honest: it was spectacular to not worry about driving home at the end of the night. Denver has so much cool stuff to explore, but I rarely spend tons of time there. Because we were sleeping smack in the middle of the action, it was so easy to wander the city and check out the fun.

After an hour or so of primping—where yes, I actually styled my hair (barely) AND wore makeup!—we walked the two blocks down to dinner where Will had made reservations at Oceanaire Seafood Room, a mouth watering restaurant that flies in their seafood daily. Y’all, I hate the expression “mouth watering” because it’s just weird, but I can’t think of another way to describe the food. IT WAS SO GOOD! We started with their Merroir et Terroir, which is a half dozen oysters paired with three white wines—a sauvignon blanc, a pinot grigio, and a rose (and coincidentally, the only photo I snapped. Sorry guys—not a food blogger. I was too busy eating!)

After that, we moved onto jumbo lump crab cakes and pan seared scallops which were phenomenal. I have crazy high standards for seafood after living in Maine, so I was psyched to realize the crab cakes were just as good as the stuff on the east coast. I would’ve been happy eating plates of that for the rest of my life! We followed all of our appetizers up with some sweet potato hash browns with duck confit, a mixed fall greens salad, and the best meal on the face of the planet: black and blue Alaskan halibut with lumps of crab. Basically, this meal is Oceanaire’s flagship meal and it’s like heaven on a platter. The “black” is pepper and the “blue” is blue cheese, so when you throw that in with pieces of crab on top of halibut, there literally is nothing better. Ever. Ever, ever.

We debated dessert (especially after we saw a chocolate cake go by that was the size of my head), but decided to save that for later. After all, date night wasn’t over yet. Will bought tickets to the ballet!

I had mentioned weeks ago that the Colorado Ballet was performing Giselle, a classic ballet that I have yet to see. So, being the sneaky devil that he is, Will had purchased tickets to surprise me. We finished up our meal and walked the few blocks back down towards the Performing Arts Complex.

Modeling his new suit by an old phone booth we passed

Giselle was beautiful and I was once again reminded of how much I love the ballet. I love ‘em all! Giselle is a tragic story about a woman who dies of a broken heart but then saves her love from beyond the grave. Sure, it’s cliché and cheesy, but all of the classical ballets typically run in that same vein. I mean, The Nutcracker is about a magic doll! That aside, I love the ballet, regardless of what is performing. Having been on Saturday, I’m now counting down the days till Christmas when we go again!

Finally, we wrapped up the evening by walking back over to the 16th Street Mall, an outdoor mall in the center of Denver. There are lots of street performers, restaurants and shops, so we wandered down to the Paramount Café for some dessert. It’s definitely more of a rock ‘n roll-type bar, so we stood out a bit in our clothes: the bouncer, the hostess, and our waitress all commented on our attire! I wasn’t super hungry since our huge dinner was only a few hours before, but that didn’t matter—we ordered a vanilla milkshake and a fudge brownie sundae and inhaled BOTH of them!

For the record, let me be honest here: Will ordered the milkshake while I ordered the massive whipped cream-vanilla ice cream—fudge brownie monstrosity. So yes, he drank his happy little milkshake while I wolfed down the whole flipping vat of sweetness on my plate. He may have helped a little, but the majority of that dessert now resides in my belly where it belongs. And it was delightful.

We waddled our way back to the hotel where I was once again thankful for its proximity to everything! I literally felt like Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka after eating so much food, but the fact that I was wearing stilettos wasn’t helping the situation. Have you ever seen a bobble head on stilts? That’s about how I felt! It was amazing to dive into the only-in-a-hotel comfortable bed with the fluffy pillows and thick feather bed on top of the mattress. My head hit the pillow and I was OUT!

Obviously, it was a fantastic weekend and I had such a good time. I think I’ve thanked Will at least three dozen times, and I’m not sure I’m done just yet! Naturally, I love a zillion things about the guy but what he did this weekend is probably one of my favorites: we love to play in the dirt and go backpacking and spend weeks in the woods without showering, but he never, ever forgets that I like to be a girl too. He sure knows how to make a gal feel special!

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What were you up to this weekend?