he got me

I have always put myself in a “not surprisable” category.  I am wicked nosy and suspicious of what is going on around me and figured I would always be impossible to surprise. 

Nate swore up and down he “did not celebrate Valentine’s Day” and it was “a ridiculous holiday” and I should “make plans with my girlfriends to celebrate.”  His reaction to my begging to do something, or anything to celebrate the holiday made me pissed off, bummed out, and kinda annoyed. Hi, this is my first Valentine’s Day with a boyfriend, and you aren’t even going to acknowledge it or have dinner with me or at least make-out with me?!

Tickets to paradise!

 I got Nate Bruins tickets for his birthday to see them play the Red Wings Friday night at the Garden.  After work we were heading for his house to change into some black and yellow and while questioning him for the 100^th time what our exact plans were (aka where were we going to eat dinner, how were we getting to the game, what were we doing after the game, etc) he stopped me while walking down Brookline Ave and told me that he got us a room for the night at the Royal Sonesta for Valentine’s Day. (Side note: Nate wore this to work on Friday. How delicious is he?!)

Break me off a piece of THAT

I was so surprised and was in such disbelief that he pulled off such an amazing feat that I damn-near pushed the kid into three lanes of Longwood/Boston rush-hour traffic.  How DARE he pull something off like that without my knowledge? What a little sneak!  What hurt the most--definitely my face because I was smiling so hard for the next hour or so.

We threw on our B’s gear, grabbed a few bottles of Two Buck Chuck and drove over to the Sonesta to check in. We walk into our room complete with a view of the Boston skyline across the Charles River, and find the most delicious looking chocolate covered strawberries for our palettes’ pleasure. (Nate got the “Romance Package”… oooh la la)

Can't go wrong with Chuck

Our view

The berries!

We only had about an hour and fifteen minutes before the game started so we decided to eat at Dante, one of the restaurants at the hotel. We told the waiter that we were in a bit of a rush and he suggested that we order a few of the appetizer/tapas, so we did and it was the best decision of the night. Naturally, we also started with an extra-dirty martini with extra olives on the side. Whoever thought to throw olives in a drink is my hero.

Hi, we'll have two extra dirty martinis and extra olives for her on the side

woof.

We ordered 5 different “little tastes.” And they all come super highly recommended.

 

Orange: roasted veal, tomato sauce, pickled cauliflower

Purple: little pork burger, Vermont cheddar, maple sugar, pancetta

Green: calamari

Red: whipped roasted hot pepper and marscapone dip, carrots, crostini

Yellow: little beef burger, buffalo mozzarella, smoked pepper aioli, arugula, fried cippolini

Nate’s favorite was the little pork burger, which he could not even take his hands off, not even for one second so I could snap a picture. I loved the marscapone dip and the little beef burger. Our waiter was fantastic the entire night and after we paid our bill he came over with two delicious mint-ish shot/drink things.  Karma J

We left for the game but neither us nor the valet team at the Sonesta could get a cab.  After 10 minutes of trying, and with a little liquid courage, we decided to walk run to the game.  I tightened up my Cons and Nate laced up his boots, and we made our way past the Museum of Science, over the river, and past the 93 onramps to the Garden. 

Bruins Marathon 2011

 Upon our arrival to the Garden, I see a beacon of light coming towards us in a medium-blue North Face fleece.  I recognized the jacket and soon saw the face of the one and only Jaclyn Elizabeth Long in front of us. After some screaming and a long embrace over the barricades in the Garden, Jackie and her friend Jen head out to the liquor store to buy a flask so they don’t have to buy drinks inside. Smarty pantses. 

Nate and I head up three sets of mile-long escalators, stop for a beer, and end up in the 12^th row of the balcony for the first period. There was a man sitting next to us in a full-blown suit. Hi, don’t come to the Bruins game in a suit unless you are important.  And, no matter who you are, don’t sit in the balcony in suit.  You look out of place, uncomfortable, and ridiculous.  Jackie informed us that there were 4 seats in front of her 2^nd row seats that remained empty after the first period, so we made the executive decision to head on down and check them out.  

Before...

Thanks for the heads up...

after!

 HOLLA. No one came to kick us out of our seats, so we remained in the front-row, on the blue line for the remainder of the game. 

We saw Recci…

 And Thornton…

 And caught burrito tee-shirts… 

 And I watched a fight between my boyfriend/best friend… 

 It was phenom.  I had the best time and it was SO awesome to unexpectedly run into J.

Post-game J and J left for greener pastures in Boston and Nate and I met up with our favorite Dans.  

 We went to JJ Foleys for drinks and photo-shoots…  

he picked a winner

 And then to the classy Courtside for karaoke.  The four of us belted out a mean “Bye Bye Bye” at the end of the night. When we had had enough, Nate and Danny struck a pose, and we hopped in a cab. 

 Perhaps the best thing after a night out is a recovery breakfast the next morning.  Nate and I ate at the other restaurant at the Sonesta and had some fantastic egg creations.

We then recovered for the rest of the day at Nate’s house watching movies and being lazy.  It was a fantastic Valentine’s Day celebration. In fact, the best one to date in my book.