Fall is my favorite time of the year. My family indulges my swooning over the trees changing colors, cool temperatures, pumpkins and all things orange. As favorited as fall is in my world, it's also the busiest time of the year preparing for back to school and homeschool co-op classes. Once we get in the swing of things and nail our routine down, the roar of preparation subsides and life settles into rhythm. So, you know, birthdays are nice and everything ... but really, who has time to take the weekend before school starts to celebrate a birthday? Not me, no way. Impossible. Can't be done.
Fortunately, LtDan has no such perfectionist compunction to let putting ducks in rows take precedence over celebrating a birthday, and he planned a surprise weekend getaway that he knew would be a welcome respite once I got over my notions about how things "must" be done.
We went to the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas, less than an hour away, and our old stomping grounds from newly married years. Las Colinas is a business and residential development complete with hotels, townhomes, restaurants and businesses. It's quite convenient to DFW airport, and is about in the middle between Dallas and Fort Worth. The Omni Mandalay sits beside Lake Carolyn, a small lake that runs into the canals of Las Colinas.
We made ourselves at home and enjoyed the gorgeous artwork throughout the hotel before we convened with wine overlooking the lawn and Lake Carolyn. I fell in love with these two gorgeous fall-ish prints in one of the conference rooms.
The corner rooms of the Omni are special ... they have a curved wall and a huge rounded window with a balcony, and the floorplan feels more like a small apartment than a hotel room. Simply gorgeous! Standing on the rounded balcony feels like being the queen, and the views are stunning, both day and night.
Our view was toward Williams Square, home of the Mustangs at Las Colinas. These are giant sculptures, sitting at the base of huge buildings - if you ever want to feel small, this is where you should go. You can just make out the mustangs in my picture from the balcony (sorry, blurry phone pics), but click }here{ for a better idea of how magnificent these sculptures are.
We opted for a leisurely breakfast in the room - my favorite, and my favorite breakfast entre, smoked salmon. There may or may not have been sharing.
We took a stroll along the canal, remembering distinctive shops that were there back in the day, but sadly the shops we remember are no longer there. I teased LtDan that he'd planned this, since we were supposed to shop for my birthday gift on the canal. The architecture has a Spanish flair and the landscaping is beautiful. Even though there are 'no fishing' signs posted, we passed three fisherman who proudly showed us a catch of six huge catfish. If I were a fish, I would want to swim here.
Back at the hotel, we scoped out where we wanted to spend the evening, and the courtyard patio did not disappoint. While Friday night had been fairly quiet, the hotel filled up on Saturday with New York Giants VIPs and their families, which was kind of fun.
On the way home, we stopped at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and I picked out my birthday gift, which was a much bigger deal than I was expecting. My dream of having a comfy place to stretch out and take naps on the porch is about to come true ... happy birthday to me!
If you've never been to Nebraska Furniture Mart ... well ... you must go. Quickly. Go there. Think Ikea, except bigger. And they have everything. Furniture for the house, inside and out, kitchen appliances, decor, rugs ... and I'm not sure what else because we didn't even go upstairs ... !
Coffee understands :o)
I was expecting to have the whole weekend to wrap up loose ends before starting school, but instead spent it in the lovely real-life suspension that is staying in a hotel. Although I'd convinced myself that the weekend was necessary to prepare for school, I sensed that everything would be fine if I just relaxed. Sure enough, LtDan and I had a marvelous weekend, it was a great first week of school, everything was more than fine, and the kids were happy to be back in class. Here's one great gift of getting older: you learn you can trust yourself. Even if all the ducks aren't in an absolutely p e r f e c t row, it's probably quite good enough, and the perfectionist should take her birthday off. Birthday Girl for the win :o)
Shared joy is doubled joy ... let's double the joy for both of us - what are you most grateful for today? Click below to leave your comment. I'll go first :
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