Biltmore Getaway

 For Christmas, Justin gave me two postcards and asked me to choose. One was a picture of the Biltmore Estate with a date weekend of staying a night at the Biltmore Inn, dinner at the Biltmore Inn, chocolates from the chocolate shop at the stables and fresh flowers. The other was a picture of downtown Asheville with a night at a suite in downtown, dinner at a fancy restaurant downtown, chocolates from one of my favorite chocolate shops and fresh flowers.

I chose the Biltmore package.

Three weeks ago, we packed our bags on Saturday for our date weekend. Our first stop: Babies R Us. Since we both had the day off (which never really happens these days) we took advantage of our time and finished our baby registry. After spending about 3 hours in Babies R Us, and with this momma to be getting very hungry, we made our way over to the Estate. We had lunch at the Bistro, which is a casual, European style restaurant near the winery. After lunch, we took a tour of the winery and Justin enjoyed some wine tasting, while I sipped on some yummy grape juice.

We checked into our room and rested for a bit.

Dinner at the Biltmore Inn is very formal, with a dress code. Remember this dress that I wore just a few weeks ago? I was planning on wearing it again to dinner, and after several tries, Justin informed me that there was no way that zipper was going up. I decided to wear one of my maternity dresses and try to dress it up a bit. 

 it no longer fit :(

Dinner was wonderful. There were beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, a huge, elaborate fireplace with a fire lit. We both split a pumpkin gnocchi dish, then I ordered the filet minion, while Justin got beef ribs. For dessert, we split a sampling of five macaroons.

Staircase going down to the dining room. 

As my parents like to describe it- it is like the Titanic

 When we got back to our room, we discovered that the Inn had turned down our bed, left a real red rose, chocolates and tomorrow's forecast on our bed. Fancy Smanshy.

 The next day, we grabbed some pastries for breakfast at the little bakery near the house and then walked through the Biltmore House and gardens. We ended our trip at the estate with lunch at Cedric's, an Irish pub restaurant on the grounds. (In all we at at 4 of the 5 restaurants on the estate!)

 haha- i liked his face in this picture :)

It was such a perfect weekend, perfect date and perfect Christmas present. With our very busy schedules it had felt like we had not had a date night or getaway in a while. Justin had kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas, and I couldn't think of anything. At one point, I stated that I would just take a date and some quality time with him. I also wanted to have a little weekend getaway or 'babymoon' before our little guy arrived. Even though our 'babymoon' was not a true getaway, I loved the time that I was able to spend with the man I love.