Richmond is for lovers...and the Donnellys.

For Ryan's birthday, I decided to surprise him with a weekend trip. After budgeting, searching, and figuring out the timing, I decided on Richmond. Why? It's not too far. It has some history. It's crafty & I found some neat record stores. Not to mention, they apparently were known for some good food. Check, check, & check.

The ride was about four and half hours. Not too shabby & we only hit a little traffic.

After checking into the hotel, we headed into the city to Steady Sounds just for Ryan. The street was a little "shady", but the place was pretty neat.

Ryan was happy and walked away with a few records.

After walking around the city, we got pretty hungry (& thirsty). So we headed to Legend Brewery for some refreshments.

The food was pretty yummy. But we both admit, the beer was weak. I really liked their unicorn glass though!

Saturday, we headed into what we thought was Carytown to do some shopping. For some reason, we ended up on the opposite side and were disappointed at first. But we found a nice bookstore & then this sweet Urban Farmhouse Market which had some awesome coffee (and beer).

We walked a few blocks under the railways & enjoyed the main street station...

...along with some art murals on the walls. 

Finally realizing our error, we went to Carytown (for real this time) & were amazed at the stores we found.

I really enjoyed the used bookstore with their cat in the display window.

Along with this farm bus which takes local produce to the streets.

We headed to another record store (Deep Grooves) for some more browsing/shopping. The owner was super nice & gave the birthday boy a shirt on the house.

Later, we went into The Fan to Sticky Rice which we was on our list of "must do".

Their Sticky Balls are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!! I can't even describe how good they were. It was heaven in my (our) mouths. Just looking at the picture again gives me a craving.

On our way back, I told Ryan I could re-enact this picture. The only thing I'm re-enacting here is how-to-let-one-rip. I'm going with you-were-too-quick-on-the-snap excuse...

On our last day, we went on a whim to Strawberry Street Cafe for brunch. They had their brunch buffet in a bath tub - it was pretty neat (& yummy).

 Would we go back? Yes! It was a nice little getaway & not too expensive on our part. We may have to hit up major cities on the east coast this year..