KG's Hideaway

Well, I must say I was pleasantly surprised about this trip. Maybe that sounds silly, especially in light of the fact that Craig's company paid for the entire trip. What's not to enjoy, right? Well, we did the same thing last year (and they paid then, too) so I just figured this would be a total repeat of last year. WRONG!!!

Craig and I flew in on Thursday because he had some meetings with CV$ that needed to be done. We flew into Boston and drove into Providence. (Last year we stayed in Newport) Our hotel was The Westin and it was oh so fab! I mean any hotel that is adjacent to the MALL has to be rockin'.

Friday morning I slept in while Craig held his meetings. He got back to the hotel about 1pm and we ran over to Fire & Ice (we also ate at this restaurant while in Tahoe) and pigged out. Then we needed to walk off the food so we decided to make a cursory run through the mall and I had to drag Craig into my favorite store, Tiffany's. I showed Craig all the things on my wish list and he asked a few questions, pretending he was interested (this thought will come back to haunt me!)

Friday evening, after Craig's employees got there, we hosted a dinner for them and their wives at 3 Steeple Street . The food was good, but not great but we all had a good time just visiting and hanging out (not to mention the wine!!!)

Saturday morning Craig and his clients played a round of golf at Waverly Oaks in Mass. He played great, winning 2nd place. But the ladies decided this was our best opportunity to REALLY shop and boy did we ever! I bought a few things but I was, by NO MEANS, the lady who bought the most. I think I was probably middle of the road. Wanna see what I bought?

Got these shoes at Macy's for 1/2 price! (Only $32)

Got this black clutch to carry to the gala (more on this in a sec) at Macy's for only $21

Got this black Fossil bag for $38

Got Craig some great preppy golf shorts, a couple of Izod golf shirts and a couple more Nike golf shirts. Then I got, what was for ME, the best purchase of the day.

I found this great red, short trench coat that had been marked down from $109 to $54 so I took it to the cashier. She pointed out that the jacket was marked down even further so I got the whole thing, tax included for $21.80! Crazy!

Sunday morning was the pro-am at Rhode Island Country Club. This whole thing is for the 10th anniversary of the CV$ Charity Golf Classic. Craig and three of his clients played in it ( it cost Craig’s company $20k for the foursome!) and they chose Jeff Gove as their pro and finished at 8 under.

This is Jeff Gove (dark blue shirt) his caddy and Craig on the 3rd green

I don't know how well you'll be able to see it on here but I love this picture. Craig is hitting the ball and a huge chunk of grass came up (you can see it) and you can even see the ball right in front of Steve (in the red and white shirt). Along with Steve, Craig's other clients with CV$, Mark and Frank, are standing at the golf cart with Jeff.

Pretty darn good! He came home with a HUGE bag of golf clothes and shoes plus a putter that they give all the competitors. At this point I was seriously wondering if I needed to go buy another suitcase.

Monday was the start of the regular tourney so we went to the course for that but didn’t stay long because we had to go to the gala that night. I was already a nervous wreck because we were going to be seated at the table of the CEO of Craig’s company and the head of CV$. I really needed to make sure my mouth didn’t overload my ass. Know what I mean?

So we’re about to leave the hotel to head to Newport for the gala and Craig says something about a problem with my makeup. I look in the mirror and don’t see anything different from the same old ugly mug I look at every day but he really kept pushing it. Finally he said, “Why don’t you go into the bathroom and use that mirror because the light is much better in there!” So off to the bathroom I go… only to find this

OMG I screamed, “You sonofabitch!” (I know, not what you’d normally say when someone gives you a gift!) I was just so shocked and caught completely off guard! He’s rarely able to pull anything over on me like that but he got me this time!

In the bag I found this

In the box I found this

In the pouch I found this

It could have been another red pipe cleaner and I'd have still loved it. Besides, TIffany has the prettiest shade of blue anywhere!! I don't care that the vast majority of my jewelry is yellow gold. I've got quite a bit of white gold, too, so I guess I'll have to start wearing it. The jeweler says that nowadays people just cram it all on there together. Whatever!

God, I love this man! It’s not that its terribly expensive or anything. It’s just that he wanted to make the night really special. I’ll certainly remember it for many reasons but this will be my favorite.
Then we headed to Newport to find The Breakers. All I can say about this is WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! It is the “summer cottage” of the Vanderbilt family… if you consider a 70 room palace a summer cottage. It’s truly stunning and sits right on the edge of the Atlantic. Breathtaking, really. We stayed for a few hours, then headed out when the Pointer Sisters (I know!!!) got to their fourth or fifth song.
Tuesday we went back to the tournament for the finish but a huge storm blew in and it all went to pot pretty quick. These next two pics were taken from my cell phone. This is the 18th green under water.

Then we headed to the airport where we ran into the back half of the storm and the hail was so bad they had to bring out the ice scrapers to get it off the roads. It’s ice that you see in the middle of the highway. I wish I’d been able to get a shot of the hail on the sides of the road. It looked like snow piling up!

We got to the airport at 4:30 for a 5:35 flight. Got to the gate at 5:10 so we lost our first class upgrades (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaH) but the plane back away from the gate RIGHT ON TIME. Then, a HUGE bolt of lightning hit the ground near the plane so the little tow truck thingy drove off for cover and left us sitting there…. For 2 and a half hours! I was so pissed! That’s almost exactly what happened last year!
We finally got home around 11 last night and I’m pooped. Ryan and I got in a little shopping today but I didn’t even have enough energy to really enjoy it.

Still, I had a great week!