I decided that I wouldn't tell him anything and then give him clues along the way. I also tried to mislead him a bit in hopes that it would lead him off course making the surprise even more exciting!
We started off by heading south to Gilroy to stop at the outlets for The Hubs to get some new jeans. I wasn't too worried about him knowing we were going south since there are SO many places that we could head from that direction - L.A., San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Barbara. While at the outlets, I ended up getting myself some fun things as well.
A new Coach purse and wallet in my favorite colors and perfect for fall!
And my first Le Creuset Dutch Oven in Carribbean blue! I can't wait to use it to make some fun one pot meals!
I gave The Hubs his first clue which was a California Sea Otter. At first he had NO IDEA what it meant, even though I thought it was pretty obvious. Finally after a little bit of leading him along the right path he guessed Monterey. We stopped at our hotel, checked into our room and then I gave him his second clue for our next activity. This one was a wine glass, so it was fairly easy for him to figure out we were going wine tasting.
We headed to Cannery Row so that we could enjoy the Monterey Bay and do some wine tasting at one of the many tasting rooms there. Although we thought the weather might be cold and gloomy in ended up being a gorgeous day!
We stopped at the Bargetto and Schied Tasting Room and enjoyed quite a few delicious wines. We ended up buying a red wine at each.
We also bought a couple of fun ornaments. We love buying unique ornaments at the places we visit. We've been trying to accumulate our own ornaments since a lot of the ones on our tree belong to our parents! I chose a Starfish Santa, while The Hubs picked a Coca Cola bottle cap. He LOVES his Coke!
Next on the agenda was dinner reservations at Monterey Fish House. I had never been here before, but it came with good recommendations. We got there a bit early and there was already a line out the door waiting to be seated! I was so glad I made a reservation, as we were able to sit right down. I forgot to take pictures of our meals, but I had oak grilled salmon, while The Hubs had oak grilled swordfish. Both were delicious and we were extremely full by the end of the meal!
I was so excited because it was almost time for the main event. The Hubs was excited too as he had some ideas in his head and wanted to see if he was right. I gave him the last clue.
He looked at the clue and said "Seinfeld?".
I smiled excitedly and said "So you know what we are doing???""
"Seeing Jerry Seinfeld stand up on a boat." - I had sorta lead him along a boat route thinking maybe we were going to do a cruise or something. Ended up not being such a good idea since he seemed pretty exciting about the boat...
"Well, yes, but not on a boat!! Are you so excited??"
He replied... "Sure!"
"Isn't it great that you get to see him live for the first time???"
"Well, I've already seen him."
Cue Jen's Ego deflating... (I should have watch Oprah's Lifeclass earlier in the week to learn more about defeating the ego so I could have avoided getting upset. More on that later this week...)
"Oh.... I didn't realize." I replied. Then proceeded to get upset that the surprise was a big let down.
The Hubs said it wasn't, but I could still see that he expected something different after I built up the surprise so much.
We went to the show, which was at the Golden State Theater. It provided an awesome ambiance for the show. We ended up laughing the whole time! Seinfeld was hilarious and the show obviously wasn't the same as the one The Hubs had seen years before, but in the end I still felt a little bad. I kept thinking about all the things I should have done instead. Maybe I should have gotten him Garth Brooks tickets since he's never seen him and it's on his bucket list. I should have saved the money and done that instead. I should have known that he had already seen Seinfeld, of course... Nothing like the ego to kick me repeatedly in my own butt while I'm down!
I know I probably overreacted, but I really wanted to do something BIG for his 30th birthday and since he'd already done this activity before, it wasn't exactly the reaction I expected.
After the show we went to get sundaes at Ghirardelli, which was yummy deliciousness. Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Although things didn't turn out exactly as planned, I think I would still consider the weekend a success. We had a great time shopping, wine tasting, enjoying the show and each others company. I need to remember that we have the rest of our lives to experience fun and exciting things together and I can try to pull off a different big surprise hopefully in the coming years!
Have you ever tried to pull off a big surprise that didn't turn out as expected?
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