Ink, Celebrations and a Huge Birthday Surprise

This year, Justin and I celebrated our birthdays (which are 5 days apart) with extremely memorable gifts! For years, Justin has been talking about wanting to get a couple tattoos. He talked about finally getting one this Spring for his birthday, so we made it happen. After plenty of research and planning, we made a little trip up to Ace of Spades in Asheville, NC. We ended up spending the entire day in Asheville, since they don't do over-the-phone appointment reservations. We met with a guy (who I keep saying looked just like a scary, 'white supremacist' dude), and discussed what Justin wanted. The guy was definitely intimidating.. He was bald with tats all over his head.. He wasn't very friendly, or the jokester-type, and one of his eyes were permanently half shut. Buh. I wanted to ask him for a little zap-dot of tattoo, just to say "I got one!", but I was to scared to ask him. I was proud of my hubs, though. I know it had to hurt. It was cool to watch the whole thing, especially since Supremacy Man had his headphones in the entire time, relieving us from any forced, awkward conversation. 

For over a month, I planned a huge birthday party for Justin with a beach-inspired theme. I had never really thrown him a party before, other than a mini-surprise thing I did a couple years ago (lame!). With lots of help, I planned a pretty fun night, surrounded by good music, yummy food, his brothers and all of our closest friends. If you missed the post, you can view it here! We spent Justin's actual birthday-day driving to West Palm Beach and making a spontaneous detour in Folly Beach! Check out our road trip adventures here!

I really had no clue what Justin was planning for my birthday this year. We had just returned from West Palm Beach the day before, so I expected it to be pretty low key. I knew he was throwing me a little party. I had no clue what kind of party, but he had been spending lots of time in our guest room with the door closed, warning me that I couldn't go in there! I was really curious, because if you know my husband at all, you know that he's extremely good at paying attention to detail and will go out of his way to pull off an amazing surprise. 

On my birthday-day, he came home with sunset orange roses. Augh. I love roses. I know they're pretty common, but I have always loved them!

Like I expected, we had a really low-key night. We decided to have dinner downtown, at Trio. I've only been there a few times, but every time I've gone, I've loved it. Dinner was fantastic.. It was the perfect evening.. laughing and being silly, delish food and sweet champagne.

Well guess what my birthday present was from him? I new little puppy! I just about died when he told me he had done some research and saving, so that we could finally get a little girl Yorkie! It was such exciting news, especially since we've been wanting a little friend/sister/possible wife for Romeo. We made plans to pick her out later that week. She's an absolute dollface and we named her Coco Chanel. Ahh! I'm overjoyed.. 

Not only did we have the excitement of a new pup, but Justin's party for me was the following weekend after my birthday! I spent the entire day hosting a baby shower for my friend Tiffany, so I was beyond preoccupied with making sure the shower went as planned, setting up, taking it all down.. Whew! After the shower, I came home to a clean apartment, totally decorated in the most beautiful greens, aquas and blues.. a total spring-inspired birthday party. Perfection. No joke, it took my breathe away! More posts to come, so stay tuned! 

Such a memorable year already, and it's only April! 

xo