Luxury is in the eye of the beholder

I forgot what it felt like to sleep in. And be alone with my husband. And read uninterrupted *not* at night time. And linger over a ridiculous dinner for close to 3 hours. And take a bath at 10am, after sleeping in.

That, my friends, is the new definition of "luxury" for a new momma. And it was friggin' awesome. Thanks to the employment of R's brother at a lovely resort in Sonoma, we were treated to a lovely and amazing 2 days at the Fairmont. Holy mother of all things that are good and pure! And R2 generously requested an upgrade to a huge suite complete with an iced bucket of champage, chocolate-covered strawberries and a handwritten note of congrats for our anniversary. Sweet!

The hotel room was gorgeous and perfectly appointed. The complimentary champage (my fav--Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir) and strawberries were so yummy. Then R's brother went ape shit on our dinner. We only ordered the lobster mac & cheese to start and 2 entrees. But R2 decided that a proper dinner starts with an amuse buche (yum), a caviar & cauliflower custard and foie gras before our mac & cheese (I forgot, there were black truffles shavings on top too). Then he sent over the wild, local halibut (out of this WORLD!) with the biggest and sweetest peas known to man, a tender piece of Sonoma pork tenderloin (mmmm) and came out after to see how it was going. All the while, Renee, the sommelier, kept bringing amazing wines she paired with each course... filling us up even more. So when R2 came out to see how we were, I almost waived a white flag. But we decided to soldier on to our entrees with a small request that he scale them back a bit. Thank god he did. But the Maine lobster M ordered was amazing and my red snapper was simply divine.

Then R2 sent over the most amazing sorbet and fresh berries followed by the pastry chef's pot de creme (holy goodness) and three other chocolate desserts that were beyond amazing... and we were D-O-N-E.

I didnt think it was possible for 2 people to eat that much and survive. And then get up and eat again the next day. But we did.

After sleeping in till 9am, the huge tub called to us and since I brought my L'Occitane lavendar bubble bath, we felt like we had spent an hour at the spa. We meandered to breakfast at Big 3 on the property and had a simple and lovely meal there too. And on the recommendation of Renee, we checked out and headed up to Pride Mountain Vineyards. YUM. The only bad part was that we can't afford to roll out with an entire case like we usually do.

In short, we spent 2 luxurious and extremely gluttenous days in Sonoma and came back totally refreshed. That's the best part of a vacation. It gives you the will to push through the rest of the work week (since I came back to work today), albeit a little slower on the uptake. And the memory of the luxury is still fresh enough to make me smile.

So, the biggest shout out to R and R2. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing us an amazing time, stretching the outer limits of my stomach and giving us back a piece of something we hadnt seen or experienced in a long time.

Cheers!!