weekend: babymoon

As of today, only 6 weeks left to my due date... so we thought this weekend was a good time to fit in a little pre-baby getaway. Planning a quick trip out of town is nice for any couple at any time - so refreshing to spend time together away from regular life stuff - but especially nice for us right now with Peter's weekend work schedule of late. So I planned a few fun things for us in Columbus, a short drive from Cincinnati, plus we even enjoyed two of the pre-baby bucket list items: sleeping in and going out for breakfast.

Though our babymoon was only about 24 hours long, it was pretty perfect:

The big event (and why we picked Columbus) was seeing this Cirque du Soleil show (and checking off one of my 30 before 30 items). It was so. much. fun.

The big tent was set up not too far away from downtown, where we stayed at the Hilton, which was fabulous. Loved all the original artwork around the hotel and the modern design, plus waking up to this ceiling was fun. Peter's idea of fun: lounging on the bed and checking on tennis/football games for a bit before the show.

In the evening, we walked a few blocks to the Short North district, which we hit on the gallery hop night. So rarely are we in the happening place, homebodies that we are - it was kind of crowded, but fun to check out the popular area.

Our first stop was Da Levee for a dinner of yummy cajun food along with fun people watching while sitting at their front window.

I had the jambalaya; Peter had a poburrito (po'boy/burrito combo with chorizo). Then we walked around a bit and stopped at this really great store with fun vintage and new vintage-inspired stuff - and found a great old classroom map for baby's room.

After a leisurely sleep in and a little reading in bed, Sunday's big event was a stroll down to the Northstar Cafe, where we arrived with perfect timing - walked straight up to the counter to order (the ricotta pancakes for me; bacon, eggs, and a biscuit for Peter), snagged an outdoor table that opened up right after that. By the time we left, the line was out the door... It was a perfect morning to sit outside, and the food was great.

We had such a nice time together, it of course would have been nice to have a bit more time to spend away, but the quick trip and only 1.5 hour drive meant that we also had plenty of time at home to do other weekend things like chores (Peter: work reading; me: vaccuming), working out at our ideal times (Peter: during the Lions' game; me: spinning class), and catching up on our DVR, which was also nice.

My only regret for the weekend was that while it was only a few blocks from our hotel, we didn't get any of the famously delicious Jeni's ice cream - when we finished dinner, their line was out the door and around the corner, so we decided not to wait that long. We did find ourselves a giant ice cream sundae to share while listening to live music outdoors on our walk back to the hotel though, so in the end, not really all that disappointed...

How was your weekend?

p.s. in other news: on his 50th birthday, a big shoutout to my dad, who has given me his sweet tooth (and made me lots of great cakes), my love of Kate Atkinson and Tana French books, many excellent memories and travel adventures, all the things/opportunities/advice a girl could ask for, and a great example of how to love and raise my own child. Wishing I could be there to celebrate the occasion in person, but I'm sticking a little closer to Cincinnati these nearly-full-term days...