My sweet Matthew gave me the BEST birthday gift this year...an entire day on the town with one of my dearest friends, Natalie. Oh, and a $100 bill :) I plotted and planned where I wanted to go and what I wanted to buy for weeks. It has been a very long time since I've had time alone and money to spend on JUST ME. It was an amazingly blissful day.

We started our morning at one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, Brasserie Ten Ten. I love their simple and delicious French fare...and you cannot beat the ambiance. We talked and talked and laughed harder than I've laughed in awhile.

I have dreams of their Eggs Florentine: poached eggs, seared greens, tomato confit, english muffin & hollandaise. Like I said, very simple...but the taste is outstanding. I savored every bite without having to take anyone to the bathroom in the middle of it all.

Next on the list was a leisurely walk down Pearl St. with stops at some of my favorite stores. We spent a lot of time in Peppercorn, a fabulous home/kitchen store. I have a little bit of an obsession with the gorgeous Le Crueset cookware line. I'm thinking of asking for one for Christmas. I spend so much time in the kitchen every day...one of these beauties would make me happy every time I touched it.

I can't pass up an opportunity to meander through a bookstore without children...and Boulder Bookstore is a mighty fine place to do that. And when I have a voracious reader at my side, it's even more fun. Natalie and I had fun picking out random titles and laughing at their contents. I ended up picking out a spy novel at her suggestion and it's great so far!

I love love love a little store on Pearl called Bliss. So many fun things to look at. Lots of stationary, paper, cards, candles, jewelry. A store you can get lost in.

We ended our day with steamy cups of almond milk Bhakti Chai at The Laughing Goat. After sitting down at the very last open table, we continued chatting about marriage (have you read her guest post on that topic yet?), travel, holidays, and more. So good to catch up. Our time was coming to an end...it all went by WAY too fast, but I was so thankful that we had that time to celebrate my 35th birthday together.

Are you wondering what I bought with my birthday cash?! :) I've had my eye on this gorgeous Anthropologie mug forever. I've been longing for it ever since my friend Khrista starting posting photos of her beauty with gorgeous lattes. As a side note: her blog is a beautiful place to hang out. Go there!

I love salt. And I REALLY love it when I'm pregnant. While we were at Peppercorn, I spied this mortar & pestle and tons of delicious gourmet salts. I've wanted one for awhile, and this was the perfect time. I also picked up this cute little handmade & fair trade salt bowl and spoon at Momentum. I found some yummy plum colored hand warmers there as well.

And lastly, Natalie made me this awesome hand painted sign..."Let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see". Ahhhhh...yes my friend. Let us. Thank you for sharing in my beautiful day!