The original plan for our two-year anniversary was to do a whirlwind 24 hour trip up to Minneapolis to get dinner and do some shopping. I was supposed to be traveling until Friday evening so we were going to leave Saturday morning and come back Sunday afternoon.

At least that's what I thought!

After my travel plans were canceled at the last minute, Page arranged with my boss to take Friday off. On Thursday night, he surprised me by telling me that not only did I not have to get up for work on Friday morning, but that we were leaving early and had an extra night in the Cities!

But the surprises were only beginning. Pager had done his research with some help from friends and made dinner and brunch reservations, and bought tickets to a Mat Kearney concert. I learned about all of these fun things throughout the weekend…they just kept coming! The over-the-top thing was when we loaded up the car to leave and Page had gifts (wrapped wonderfully nonetheless!) to load in the car. I'm not sure what I did to get so darn spoiled. Feeling very lucky to say the least!

We got into our hotel Friday afternoon and my parents were so sweet to surprise us by learning our hotel and sending champagne and strawberries to our room! We took the light rail to the Mall of America (Page's first trip there) and I just have to say…I LOVE having a husband who is efficient and loves fashion and shopping. We mapped out our must-hit stores and skipped over everything else. We only got about an hour in before we had to get back and change for dinner at Max. (delicious!) Max is in our hotel, which used to be a bank, so they have turned the vaults into wine cellars that you can walk through. Very cool.

Saturday we woke up to (gasp!) SNOW but bundled up and headed to our reservation for brunch at Hell's Kitchen – might be the best brunch I've ever had! Portabello Benedict and AMAZING mimosas! The decor was a riot – We walked in the entrance to a chandelier of butcher knives, and sat at our booth under a bare bulb reminiscent of a creepy dark basement. The servers were all wearing their pajamas in the spirit of breakfast, which was funny to see.

We got more shopping in and then back to the hotel to change for the
concert. We saw him at First Avenue – a venue that has stars stenciled everywhere with names and dates of performances past. It was really cool to see names like Joe Cocker (1970) all over the wall. The venue was great and Mat was awesome live (even better in person if that's
possible!) and we made it back to our hotel to catch the fourth quarter
of the Iowa game (Thank you, Hawks, for a great anniversary present!)
The night ended with a midnight run to Luc̩ for pizza Рdelicious again!

Sunday morning was gloomy and cold but we toughed it out to head to the Sculpture Garden. My ultimate goal for the weekend was to get pics with the giant spoon and cherry statue – a Minneapolis landmark. By then, it was time to get Pager his coffee (definitely past due by then!) and we went to check out Cupcake, a place I had heard about online, for breakfast/lunch, coffee, and of course CUPCAKES.

And what was in those presents? Well here's a hint 🙂

Like I said…best (and most organized surpriser!) hubby ever. Here's to 2 years and many more! 🙂