On Friday, September 9, Michael turned 29!  Michael loves a good surprise so this year I kept all plans a secret.  I found it incredibly stressful but I think that Michael found it incredibly fun, which makes it alllll worth it.

Friday morning started with breakfast-in-bed.  This is a long-standing Harper tradition so it wasn’t a total shock, but what I made was the surprise.  Swedish Pancakes!  Although this was Michael’s favorite breakfast growing up, we have never made it at home so he was totally surprised.  They weren’t the prettiest in the world, but they tasted good.

Swedish pancakes, fruit, coffee, juice

We had both been eager to check it out and it did not disappoint.  The pasta dishes were a-mazing.  Definitely want to go back.

After work I rushed home and decorated the house with streamers and balloons.  When Michael got home he had a gift on the coffee table and inside was a Giants t-shirt and 2 tickets to the game that night.  I said, “Surprise!  We’re going to the Giants game!”  We’re a 5 minute walk to the stadium so we headed over to the game.  As we were walking up to our seats I kept talking to Michael so that he was distracted.  Then, once we were closer, the whole group of friends who met us there jumped up and shouted “Happy Birthday!” as they threw confetti and blew party horns.  That was one of my favorite moments of the night.

The next surprise of the night came right after the 5th inning.  The Harper family got Michael a “Happy Birthday” scoreboard message WITH a photo!  It was awesome!

We celebrated and sang to him over Julie’s AMAZING brownies and as we sang the entire section joined in.  All in all, we had such a great time — thank you to all the friends who came!  And BIG thank you to Dr. and Mrs. Harper who treated the crew to a round of food & drinks!

After the game a group of us headed over to 21st Amendment for some post-game beers.  (Funny enough, 21st Amendment was on the Bar-Crawl agenda for Michael’s 28th birthday last year.)

Next up was a little bit of a wildcard…we went to a club called “Harlet.”  Harlet turned out to be pretty hilarious and really fun as we took over their VIP section and had an amazing dance party. (I’m still not sure why they didn’t throw us out.)

Needless to say it was an incredible night celebrating the most incredible man on earth.  🙂

Sitting here at the close of another Labor Day weekend and I’m wondering if it isn’t one of my favorite holidays.  There is never anything that you have to do over Labor Day, so you have tons of freedom to fill it with whatever your heart desires.  We filled ours with a lot – starting with the Friday night fun I already posted about – so let me tell you about Saturday.

Saturday started with a major adventure — my first EVER Yoga class!!  Somewhere between the drinks and the Super Mario Brothers on Friday night, Leah and I decided that we should go to a yoga class on Saturday morning.  Now, I am not much for working out, I’ve never done yoga, and my typical Saturdays include sleeping in and staying in bed until 10am, then slowly moving to the couch to enjoy some coffee and breakfast (likely that Michael prepared after he completed a jog or some other workout) and watching Saturday TV until 2pm.  And you know what?  I LIKE that!  But this Saturday was different.  Leah and I had made a commitment and so we went.  We checked out a spot not too far from us – Satori Yoga – and took an hour and a half general yoga class.

Now, I’m still trying to figure out if I like Yoga or not, but  I can tell you a couple things: 1) an hour and a half is too long – especially for your first time!  2) it was much more difficult than I expected, and  3) I’m still sore!  What I really like about yoga though, is that it is a workout that kind of sneaks itself in.  I want to be healthy but I don’t like to feel like I’m working out, so yoga seems like a great solution.

OK, so back to the Saturday fun.  Yoga was followed up with an amazing night of filled with fabulous friends and a Shrimp Dump!  I grew up calling this a “Shrimp Boil” or a “Low Country Boil,” but “Shrimp Dump” is fun, and pretty accurate, so we’re going with that.

Julie & Nathan Aleman’s have the CUTEST little back yard/garden area which was perfect for the dump so they were gracious enough to host 4 other couples over.  All of the girls are in my Bible study group but it was fun to get to hang out with their spouses too.  Attendees included (in order from Left to Right): Julie & Brendon Manwaring (front), Sean & Courtney Cox (it’s her married name),  me & Michael Harper, Laura & Daniel Zimmerman and Julie & Nathan Aleman!

The food was DELICIOUS — shrimp, potatoes, sweet corn on the cob, sausage and great spices.  Cooked together then dumped on newspaper.

YUM!

Michael and I went out last night in our neighborhood, SOMA, which stands for South of Market (Street).  We went out with Leah, a good friend and former classmate of Michael’s at Georgetown who is now also practicing law in San Francisco.  Leah also lives in SOMA so it was fun to grab dinner and drinks in the neighborhood, all within a 20 minute walk from our apartment.

The night started at Orson for a cocktail.  The chef at Orson, Elizabeth Faulkner, was on Top Chef!  The restaurant space is a newly renovated old warehouse and they project old movies on the wall behind the bar!

Then we headed to Zuppa for a fabulous meal of prosciutto, muscles, deep pasta dishes and beautiful pizza!  Finally, we ended the evening at Bar Baisc with a final beverage and a little 1987 style Mario Brothers Nintendo!

Although it was a fabulous weekend, it feels so nice coming home after being away.  (It’s amazing how quickly a little apartment in a new high-rise in a new city can feel like home.)

This weekend Michael and I went down to Monterey, CA for our church’s “Community Group (CG) Leaders Retreat.”  Michael co-leads a mens’ CG with a good friend of his, Brendon, so the guys wanted to go to the retreat.  Brendon’s wife, Julie, and I were “founders” of a women’s group, so although we aren’t really CG leaders, we went along too.

The retreat was a great learning experience and a really fun way to get more plugged into our church — getting to know the pastors, staff and other leaders within the body.  We learned a lot about the mission of the church, the role that we can play in that, and we enjoyed some pretty amazing wine (thanks Hal!!).

We had a little bit of down time on Saturday afternoon, so Michael and I took the 17 Mile Drive and checked out Pebble Beach and a little peak into Carmel.

On the way back we made a stop in Menlo Park for me to attend a friend, Christie’s bridal shower!  The shower was held over tea at an adorable tea room and it was such a sweet gathering of friends and family.

Now it’s off to doing laundry and getting settled back in before another week begins.  Love, Ashley