 |
Brian’s birthday last year enjoying
my birthday specialty:
Ice Cream and a Pirates game |
This was the question that had been boggling my mind for the past two weeks, as my 31-year old boyfriend’s birthday slowly creeped closer and closer.
There had been mentions of a
Playstation, a whole-home sound system, and a few other electronics, but none
of them were really striking a cord with me.
After all, we’d been dating
now for five years, and I had yet to really WOW him on his birthday.
Every year on July 22, my bank
account always seems, well - unstable may be a good word - and I fall into
almost the exact same gift year after year: two Pirates tickets and a Dairy
Queen ice cream cake.
But this year, I wanted to do something special and after
pondering a few days over what the “special” would be, it occurred to me that
we could use a little time away. Our
beach vacation is still weeks away, but I thought a weekend getaway could just
the perfect birthday present.
A few random places crossed my mind….Presque Isle, Atlantic
City, Washington D.C…but there was one underlying factor that was keeping me
from leaving our Northside home…my 31-year old boyfriend, Brian, did not want
to leave the Northside the weekend of his birthday. With the Pirates playing the Marlins
literally less than a mile from our home, it looked like a bad case of Bucco fever
was going to prevent this trip from happening.
Unless…
And there it was.
The. Best. Idea. Ever. Brian and
I had been living on the Northside for almost as long as we had been dating and
just last May, he made it quite clear he wasn’t leaving the Northside any time
soon with the purchase of a house located right in the heart and center of the
neighborhood.
We’ve sporadically been to many of the Northside’s local
establishments and attractions, obviously PNC Park WAY too many times, but we’ve
never actually been able to fully embrace all that Pittsburgh’s Northside has
to offer. And, with Brian being an avid
supporter of all things Northside, a birthday weekend with nothing but
Northside activities could be the absolute perfect gift for the soon to be
32-year old man.
So as I started building an itinerary for the weekend, I
felt something was still missing...and it wasn’t a DQ ice cream cake. This wouldn’t really be a ‘getaway’ unless we
actually ‘got away’ from our home that is.
In fact, I had a sneaky suspicion that if we didn’t physically leave our
home for the entire weekend, the itinerary would probably lose out to MLB Extra
Innings. Luckily, I knew just the place to stay for our Northside “staycation”
The Priory Hotel.
I’ve known the wonderful staff at The Priory Hotel for quite
a few years now, mostly through work functions, but really never had a reason
to stay there, since, well, it’s located on the Northside just a few blocks away
from our home. I’ve walked through its beautiful corridors though – from the
newly added bedrooms, to the quaint Refrectory room where breakfast is served
every morning. A recently added
full-service bar - the Monks’ Bar - and an outdoor courtyard that makes you
feel like your miles away from any city, always gave me the desire to want to
stay there to experience the total package and fully enjoy The Priory’s undeniable
uniqueness and charm that no other hotel can provide.
And just like that, I was booking our weekend birthday stay
that kicks-off tonight - Thursday night, July 19 at the Priory Hotel’s monthly wine
tasting – 3rd Thursday of most every month. Now all I have to do is
get Brian there. Luckily for him the
weekend still includes Pirates tickets, since PNC Park is on my list of
Northside attractions.
Courtesy of my friends at the Priory Hotel, I’ll be blogging
my Northside journey all weekend long right here, so I hope you stay tuned for
the ride.
- Stephanie
- Stephanie
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