Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Ok...so I know that Valentine's Day was actually three days ago...but I'm going to post about it anyways!  Ever since Cody and I have been together we've started this tradition of eating a fancy, romantic dinner at home.  It's kinda like part of my present to him...I cook it all and he just gets to enjoy it!  This year was no different except that we celebrated Valentine's Day a day early this year.  Because I always cook, and it's something that usually takes longer than the normal dinners that I make, I didn't want to have to get home from work on Monday and be so busy with trying to get dinner ready that we were just rushing around and not enjoying the evening.  So, I cooked on Sunday!  I made something that I've been wanting to make for a long time now...and I'm so glad that I finally tried it because it was SO good!  I made Beef Wellington...and I will be making it a lot more!  Since the main course was so heavy and rich, I just made herbed broccoli and fruit salad for the sides.  Then...the encore of the meal...the dessert!  I made a red velvet cake.  No...not one from the box!  I made the entire thing, icing and all, from scratch.  It was also very yummy!  It was nice that we weren't rushing around during this whole preperating, eating, and cleaning up too.  I started cooking around 2:00 in the afternoon so I had plenty of time to sit and relax in between cooking.  We were done eating early and still had time to relax together before we had our Life Group that evening at 6:00.  I shouldn't say that we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day on the actual day...because we did actually do something!  We each got each other little gifts and we ordered Bonzai for pick-up.  We just really aren't into fighting all the crowds that comes with Valentine's...plus we didn't want to wait in line to eat for an hour...or longer!  So, we called the order in, went and picked it up, then came home and watched a movie and ate yummy food in our pj's!  It was wonderful!  There's nothing like eating dinner from one of your favorite places in the comfort of your home in your pj's with the hubby!  It was definitely a good Valentine's weekend...and we're looking forward to many more together!

This was our Valentine's Dinner...it's nice to bring out the nice dinnerware, flatware, and serving pieces for times like this!  It makes it so much more special!

Snowdays and Birthdays

Well...it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted.  And let me just say that it's been the craziest and coldest two weeks ever!  I went to work on Moday, January 31st and it was almost 70 degrees that day.  In fact, I remember wearing capris that day!  That night, it sleeted and snowed almost six inches!  It was freezing!  It was so cold that school was closed for four days and we were cooped up inside pretty much the entire time.  The only places that Cody and I went during those days were the grocery store and the gym.  It took us almost an hour to get from our house all the way over to Hendrick Health Club.  But we had to get out and at least go to the gym...we were going stir crazy just sitting inside all day.  It was nice though...I think I could get used to one day work weeks every once in awhile!  I was able to get tons of cleaning, cooking,  homework, and relaxing done.  The relaxing was my favorite part...and was what so good about it is that Cody was home too.  Usually when I have a day off or it's a holiday, spring break, or summer, I'm the only one home.  Since he's a part owner of a business, he doesn't get too many days off.  So it was nice for us to both be home with the dogs and just relax and spend some time together.  I'm glad that it finally cleared up though.  It was a treat to finally see the sun come out on Friday.  And it was perfect timing because my brother's birthday was that Saturday!  He turned 20 on February 5th...and I can't believe it!  I remember being at the hospital the day he was born and being so excited to have a baby brother.  Now, he's in his second  year of college...time goes by so fast!  He's always been so very special to me and we have always been super close.  The entire family went out to eat for his birthday and just spent some time together.  We went to Bonzai (if you haven't been there...go...now!) and sat at the grill so that we could watch the chef cook our food on the Hibachi grill.  It's just crazy to sit back and think about how fast time goes by and all the things that you do and accomplish within a year.  Maybe if I had more six day weekends I'd really be able to just sit back and enjoy reflecting on all those moments!  

This is our house on Tuesday after all the snow hit



These are the sugar cookies that I made on one of the snow days...they're all gone now!

And this...this is my little homework station...luckily I got it all done early in the week so that I could enjoy most of the snow days!

Me, Michael, and Cody after we got back from Bonzai for his birthday