a Weekend in Houston — letters from a Good friend

Last week Joel turned 30!! He handled the whole thing very well, but it stressed me out a little bit! But that didn't stop me from planning lots to celebrate my favorite guy's big birthday!

Last month I brought up to Joel that we could do "30 Days of Joel" for the whole month of June, to celebrate all month long! He HATED my idea right off the bat (probably thought I meant some big, loud, attention-to-him type of celebration haha) but on June 1st he saw my quiet version of "30 Days of Joel" and was okay with it (: [most mornings] I pack Joel's lunch for him (because he does not ever leave himself enough time to do it himself!) so for the month of June I made 30 days worth of post it notes for Joel's lunch. Some are fun (like "You have such a nice butt!") and other's are a little more mushy/thoughtful. This has been a lot of fun to do for him, and I'm keeping all the post it's to incorporate in another gift (that I'll mention below)

Joel's actual birthday was on Friday so he still had to work. He woke to presents and coffee in bed, and the annual handmade card. We had Joel's pick for dinner (steaks, broccoli & onion, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs) and an Oreo cake I made for dessert with our friends at the RV park (for the first time making it, it turned out really cute and yummy!) (click here for the Oreo cake recipe from TASTY)

Joel's last present was a special one!! I had thought of this one MONTHS before, and it was so hard to keep it a secret for so long because I was so excited about it! I collected cards and letters from Joel's friends and family, some of whom he doesn't get to talk to/see very often. I put them all together in a little binder as a keepsake for Joel. He was so surprised and LOVED reading all the nice things his friends and family had to say about him and the love and memories that were shared in them. (in the back of the book is a spot for all his "30 Days of Joel" post its from me!)

Saturday we headed to Houston for Joel's "official" celebration! The weather was a little questionable, so we didn't get to do everything I had planned, but we had a great time exploring Houston a little and just getting away for a night. (Special thanks to my neighbor/friend who watched our two crazy mutts over night! She doesn't like her picture taken, so here is a picture of Jake with her dog Olive, who is Jake's girlfriend (: )

After a great lunch at Mod Pizza on our way to Houston, we stopped at Kaboom Books which is not too far from Downtown Houston. This used book store was really great, and we had fun browsing the enormous selection they had. I was obsessed with the two HUGE, beautiful fiddle leaf fig trees by the door!

We then headed to the hotel. We stayed at the Aloft Downtown, and it was an okay hotel. I was a little disappointed with just a lot of little things that should've not been issues, but it was clean, and the location was good, and they offer a free shuttle service to and from anywhere Downtown so that was a huge perk.

Saturday night we went on a guided walking food tour of Downtown which was awesome!! We had such a fun group of people on our tour, our guide was very informative about the restaurants and also shared some Houston history, and we got to taste some really delicious food. We were having so much fun (and drinking many margaritas) and I honestly just forgot to take very many photos! Food tours might start being a must-do in new cities we go to! On our walk back to our hotel we stopped by a few bars, none that we really liked enough to mention though (we aren't really bar people anyways)

Sunday we ordered breakfast in and hung out in the hotel room watching reruns of The Office until check out. To end Joel's bday weekend I had scheduled him a massage in the Woodlands for on our way home. While he relaxed and got some well-deserved pampering, I did some grocery shopping and then we headed home!

Coffee while checking out the rooftop pool at our hotel

All in all, a very fun weekend celebrating Mr Good. We are looking forward to returning to Houston sometime to do some more exploring, specifically some of the parks and local events we missed out on this past weekend!