My Grand 40th!!!!

Mark and I before our dinner at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island celebrating my 40th birthday!  The hotel photographer snapped these of us before our fancy dinner.  Men must wear suits on the grounds after 6 pm and ladies must wear dresses.  It was so nice to see everyone all gussied up!

It is such a magical place, such a step back in time, no cars, only bicycles and horse drawn carriages are allowed on the island.  The Grand Hotel is very old, so much so that  the movie Somewhere in Time was filmed here.  I was treated like a queen,  my mom and sister (and her family) surprised me with a night at the Grand, and a whole new wardrobe from J.Crew to wear along with  this cute little black ruffled  cocktail dress. It was  my dream come true, a night away with my prince charming at this gorgeous, super romantic getaway, I have been wanting to do this for years.  As a little girl my grandmother took my whole family for several days and I remember it fondly. My most vivid memory was the gorgeous dining room with the Jamaican waiters dressed in their jackets with tails.  I was so glad that some things were just as I remembered.

This is the Grand Hotel in all its glory. It boasts the  longest porch in the world, lined with white rocking chairs,  we spent some good quality time rocking away while overlooking the Straits of Mackinac. We had a huge surprise when we arrived and realized that they had upgraded us to a named suite.  The Tiffany Suite!  I literally made Mark go back downstairs and make sure we were supposed to have this $650 a night room!!!  Sure enough it was!!! We were so blessed!!

The room was so gorgeous, everything at the Grand is decorated by Carleton Varney.  Our room had a signature canopy from Tiffany's in New York.  It was called the Honeymoon Canopy.  Ohh. la la!!

We even took a dip in the pool originally built for an  Ester Williams movie. This is when we wished the kids had been there with us....well we thought that for a minute or so and then got over it!! Just kidding! 

We then came back to our room and got ready for our most delicious dinner, the dining at the Grand is an experience in itself, this was our quaint little table by the window.  Mark presented me with a charm for my Trollbead bracelet as dinner was served, I loved it!!

The parlor of the Grand is magnificent!  Here I am cheesing it up!!! This is what 40 looks like on me!!!

Outside of our room, we  were right on the porch level, at night they had removed all of the rocking chairs from outside of our windows for privacy!

We sat in the parlor after dinner and listened to the harpist. After this we went for a walk and came back inside for a champagne toast and a slow dance. 

We woke up to this view outside our window.

This was the first thing I saw when I woke up, this gorgeous canopy over our bed!

A  beautiful horse and carriage is the taxi to the docks

Mark and I rented a tandem bicycle and rode 8 miles around the island, it was beautiful and so much fun at the same time!

The scene on the main street

In following with the Tiffany's theme, Mark purchased a beautiful silver bead bracelet for me!

Here I am on my actual birthday, see my pretty bracelet on my left hand! I love it!!! He also surprised me with a huge Vera bag!!!

Me and my sweetie pies on my 40th! 

Thanks so much for the sweet birthday wishes, 40 feels great!

(my other computer is still sick, hopefully next week it will be better!  I will post more details from Mackinac after I can upload from the other computer)