Happy Halloween!!!

I'm still struggling with finding enough time to blog, but I couldn't let the last day of October pass by without a little recap of some of the fun stuff we've been up to this month :)

A few weekends ago, Peter and I took a little trip to Woodbine, MD, to do some apple picking and pumpkin selecting at Larriland Farm.

 Obviously, we were not the only people at Larriland Farm that day :) It was quite the happenin' spot!

I had never been apple picking before, and I loved it! Part of the reason I loved it was probably because we only spend about a half-hour picking. Some of my fellow apple-pickers looked like they had been there all day and had bushels and bushels of apples. I wondered what they were going to do with all of those apples?!!!

Searching for only the best!

Gotcha!

We also visited the punkin' patch which I had not done since I was a Brownie in Girl Scouts. We had some trouble picking our pumpkins so we created a pumpkin line up of sorts :)

And the winner is ...

We also made sure to sample the apple fritters that the local high-school cheerleading team was selling as a fund-raiser. Yum! So much appley goodness!!!

Last weekend the carving of the pumpkins and the roasting of the pumpkin seeds took place :)

 Pumpkin guts seriously make me want to throw up, but Peter is definitely OK with them. Gross!!!

The finished products. Mine is supposed to be winking. Peter's is supposed to have been maimed in some kind of pumpkin brawl :)

We also roasted pumpkin seeds which Peter always did growing up. It was super easy, and the roasted seeds were pretty tasty (and I'm assuming extremely healthy). We washed them off really well, sauteed them in a couple of tablespoons of butter, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and then roasted them for 45 minutes in a 200 degree oven. Ta-da!!!

Whatever your plans are for tonight (trick-or-treating, handing out candy, awesome costume party, etc.), I hope that you have a very fun Halloween :)

Favorite Dinner Party Recipes

Since we're getting ready to host a little gathering for Peter's 30th birthday, I started thinking about the dinner party recipes that I return to again and again. I really like to experiment and try new recipes, but it's nice to have a few good ole standbys up your sleeve that always turn out great! And if they look and taste like you slaved all day in the kitchen but actually were a snap to put together then so much the better :)

1. Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate Cookbook:

(image from Simply Recipes)

This recipe calls for prunes which you might think sounds weird and a little disgusting (I did too when I first saw the recipe!), but trust me (a prune-hater), this dish is delicious. It looks very elegant in a serving dish and always gets rave reviews from guests (most of whom also usually hate prunes).

2. Creamy Slow-Cooker Chicken from Southern Living:

(image from Southern Living)

My husband, who thought he hated mushrooms when we first were married, is now a mushroom convert because of this dish :) So, so easy (it uses cream of mushroom soup and a slow-cooker) and so, so yummy. It's especially nice in the winter - pure comfort food! Pair it with Roasted Vegetables and Rice as seen in the picture and you have instant dinner party fare :)

3. Shrimp Casserole from Southern Living:

(image from Southern Living)

There is also a chicken version of this recipe if you don't like shrimp (which I have also tried), but I think that the shrimp version is a little tastier. What's super great about this recipe is that you can make it ahead and freeze it if you won't have much time to prepare before company comes, and it's just as delicious as if you made it right then! People also tend to get very excited when you serve them shrimp :) I'm not sure why (except that it's very tasty!), but shrimp seems to be a sure winner at dinner parties!

 

 4. Chicken Tortellini with Asparagus and Olives from Southern Living:

(image from Google)

 

This is hands-down my husband's favorite dish :) This is the dish that he requests for every birthday (in fact, this is what I'll be making for his party in a few weeks!). You do have to make it right before guests arrive because the asparagus tends to become very wilted if you make it ahead, but it's a crowd pleaser and simple to make. Pair with a salad, garlic green beans, garlic bread (we like garlic in my house!), and white wine and life is good :)

5. World's Best Lasagna from AllRecipes:

(image from AllRecipes)

Who doesn't like lasagna? And this is the best lasagna recipe I've ever tried (and I've tried many, my friends!). This does require making your own sauce which takes a couple of hours to simmer, but it's worth it. This also feeds about a thousand people so it's great if you're having a big shindig :)

Peter and I love hosting friends and family for dinner so I'm always on the lookout for the next, great dinner party recipe. What are your fave recipes to serve to company?

Weekend Recap

Happy Tuesday! I'm a little late with the weekend recap again this week, but I had a serious case of the Monday blahs yesterday and couldn't motivate myself to do anything that wasn't absolutely necessary :( I feel much brighter today, though, so here goes:

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day here (75 degrees and sunny!) so Peter and I took full advantage of the weather after work and played tennis for an hour and then took a dip in the pool. For dinner, I made dirty rice from a recipe I got from Kate at Elefantitas Alegres.

(image from Internet Cooking Princess) 

The original recipe is so aptly named "I Heart Dirty Rice." Amen! I love me some dirty rice for sure :) After dinner, we read our respective Harry Potter books (2nd for Peter, 5th for me) in preparation for seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II on Saturday!!!

(image from IMDB)

As you can tell from my previous statement, I did not meet my goal of reading all seven HP books before the last movie came out :( I seriously considered putting off seeing the movie until I had read all 7, but this past weekend was the only time that our other friends/fellow HP fans could go with us so I just decided to go. And I don't regret that decision because it was pretty exciting to go see the movie on the opening weekend! The theater was packed, of course, and everyone was cheering for HP throughout the film :) After the movie, we went to Z Pizza which I had never tried before, and I highly recommend it. I discovered that I really like artichoke hearts on pizza :)

(image from Z Pizza)

Sunday was church and then a run to Target and the grocery store. I made the Tortellini and Tomato Salad from this month's issue of Southern Living for dinner. Yum!!! Two thumbs up for a nice, light summer salad :)

(image from Southern Living)

I realize that I included a lot of pictures of food in today's post :) Oh well! Peter and I certainly enjoy eating!!! I hope that you had a great weekend filled with good food too!

Weekend Recap

Argh ... life has been so busy lately that I'm yet again doing my weekend recaps on Wed.! I'm going to try to get back in the blogging groove this week :)

Friday was a day off of work for me, and I spent it, for the most part, cleaning. Sounds awful, but I actually enjoy cleaning somewhat :) It gives me a feeling of accomplishment to see my shiny sink or polished table or vacuumed floor. The only household chores that I really dislike are taking out the garbage (which my husband now does - thank goodness!), washing dishes (which Peter also does - hooray for sweet husbands!), and ironing. On Friday night, my friend, RAM, cut my hair (she's a professional hair stylist so no worries!), and we had a great time catching up. It had been way too long since we had chatted! I meant to take before and after pictures of my new style, but I was in too much of a hurry to meet her and forgot. I love my shorter hair, though; I was really ready to get my hair cut before summer came. I can't stand hair on my neck in hot weather!

On Saturday we hiked Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park with a group of friends. We had a perfect day for hiking - sunny and warm but not sweltering! Old Rag is pretty challenging (there's a steep trail to the top and a difficult rock scramble) so we were fairly exhausted by the end, but we had a ton of fun :)

Our friend, JW, is a little too fearless when it comes to cliffs :)

What was I saying about JW being fearless?

KJB, AJH, and Peter taking a well-deserved rest at the summit of Old Rag.

I look like I could really use a nap (and a shower) in this picture!

On Sunday, we went to church and then relaxed the rest of the day. I made Asian Glazed Drumsticks  from Gina's Skinny Recipes  for dinner.

Have y'all tried Gina's Skinny Recipes yet? I've heard raves about her recipes from other bloggers, and this was my first recipe to try. Peter really liked it, but I thought it was just OK. Maybe I did something wrong because my sauce was much darker that what is shown in the picture?! I'm planning on trying several more of her recipes in the next few weeks :)

Weekend Recap

Friday was a day off of work for me that unfortunately started out with a doctor's appointment (Ugh!) but then improved as the day progressed :) After the doctor, I was excited to go to Target and peruse the new Calypso St. Barth collection, but I was unimpressed with the offerings. Tie-dye and beading/sequins just aren't my style, and the Calypso collection was heavy on that look. Oh well! The rest of my shopping trip was successful, and I returned home to tackle some much-needed chores around the apartment before heading out to join Peter for a nice, long walk around a neighboring town. We picked up a milkshake for him and a smoothie for me for some sustenance on our trek :) We came home, and I tried the Spicy Chicken Shawarma recipe from Cooking Light that Virginia Belle had recommended a couple of weeks ago. Super yummy, and a perfect Friday night dinner!

(image from Cooking Light)

Saturday morning we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then I headed out for a little shopping. My Junior League chapter was selling a "shop around" card that gave buyers discounts at many area retailers. It's a great idea and raises lots of money for literacy-related programs in the DC-area. I bought a new Murfee scarf at the local Lilly Pulitzer shop and a new pair of platinum Jack Rogers to get ready for summer :)

(image from Jack Rogers)

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to our friend KLW's house for her Derby party. I forgot to bring my camera so no pictures, but I promise that we had a great time! KLW makes a mean mint julep :) The Derby is always the most exciting two minutes in horse racing, but this year was especially exciting with Animal Kingdom coming from way behind to win it. I think that he was in 15th or 16th place at one point in the race! When we returned home, Peter and I munched on leftover Black Bottom Cupcakes (my food contribution to the party) and watched the movie Metropolitan.

(image from IMDB)

We were really liking it until the last 20 minutes or so when everything seemed to fall apart and not make much sense. I definitely enjoyed the preppy fashions from the 90's, though :)

Sunday was church and then a fun bike ride on the Capital Crescent Trail which connects Georgetown in DC to Silver Spring, MD. Peter and I had not biked this trail before, and it was a great find! We didn't have time to bike the entire trail yesterday, but we're going to try to take a Saturday in June to do the whole thing. It was a gorgeous day in DC yesterday, and there were many people out and about enjoying the weather and celebrating Mothers Day. I missed being with my mom and taking her out to lunch for Mother's Day, but it was great to talk to her on the phone later in the day. My beloved maternal grandmother passed away last July so this was our first Mothers Day without her which made it a little sad. I'm very thankful that I was able to spend so many Mothers Days with her during my life, though :)

Weekend Recap

It's a sunny Monday here :) This weekend was a pretty rainy, cloudy, chilly one here in the DC 'burbs, but it's gorgeous today, and I'm very thankful for a little bit of spring!

On Friday, I had the day off of work so I spent the morning doing some errands and then headed over to my friend, RMZ's, house for lunch. Her sister (also one of my friends), MM, was visiting from New Jersey, and we had a great time catching up over some very yummy taco salad. After lunch, I took the train to Alexandria, VA, where I volunteered for a Junior League event. I think we had about 60 Girl Scouts plus leaders come to spend the night at a historic inn/tavern (now a museum) and learn about Alexandria's history. They earn a badge for it, but I forget which one :) I was a Brownie for a few years in elementary school, and we never got to do anything like that! I would have been crazy excited to do an overnight in a museum when I was little! I also managed to find time to pop into Lavender Moon Cupcakery while I was in Alexandria (I always find time for a cupcake) :) They were running a "happy hour" special while I was there so I got 6 for the price of 4 (I couldn't turn down a good deal even though I was originally only going to buy 2!). Peter and I tried 3 of the cupcakes when I got home around 11:00pm. We had never tried cupcakes from this bakery before, and we agreed that they were OK. Some of the cupcakes were dry, but the frosting on most was really good. Not Georgetown Cupcake delicious, but I also didn't have to wait in line for 2 hours to get my cupcakes :)

Saturday we had a lazy morning of sleeping in and then making a big breakfast. We made a "Dutch Baby" (I know it sounds weird, but it's really easy and good!) I had never heard of a "Dutch Baby" before Peter and I were married, but he grew up eating them. It's basically a baked pancake (it puffs up in the oven and then deflates when you take it out) that you serve with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar.

(image from Martha Stewart)

Then I went shopping in search of a pair of white jeans for the summer. I've been a little hesitant to buy white jeans (I've never been a huge fan of white clothing, shoes, etc.), but they look so cute with tunics that I thought I would give a pair a try this summer. I had no luck finding anything, though :( Most of the stores that I visited didn't sell white jeans, and those that did have some in stock did not have petite sizes. If anyone has recs for a good pair of petite white jeans, please send them my way! Saturday night I made Orange-Glazed Salmon for dinner, and then we watched Gran Torino which I had never seen before.

(image from IMBD) 

I'm still thinking about/processing this movie. Wow! Clint Eastwood is a great storyteller - and actor!

On Sunday we went to church and then came home with plans to take a bike ride on the Crescent Trail to Georgetown, but it was fairly cloudy and chilly yesterday (even though the weather crew on the news had promised me a day of sun and 73 degrees!) so we scrapped those plans and just stayed home until a dinner that we attended at our church. We are planning a bike ride tonight when we get off of work, though, to take advantage of the loveliness that is outside right now :)

Weekend Recap

The first weekend of April was a good one :) On Friday night Peter and I went grocery shopping after work and then came home and watched some TV (I've become a little addicted to the British mystery series, "Midsomer Murders," showing on PBS) while I baked "To Die For Blueberry Muffins" in anticipation of the arrival of Peter's brother, CEGC, and sister-in-law, LHC, the next day. CEGC and LHC live near Boston so we don't get to see them nearly as much as we would like! Before they arrived around 7:00 on Sat. night, I cleaned our apartment and then made dinner. I made one of my favorite recipes, Chicken Tortellini with Asparagus and Olives, from Southern Living for dinner. Peter requests this for his birthday dinner every year :) After dinner, we talked and talked and talked ... I'm really upset that I forgot to take a picture of the four of us that night. Oh well! I am taking pictures more frequently this year, but I still have lapses sometimes :) We all went to church together on Sunday morning and then to Jason's Deli for lunch afterward. After CEGC and LHC left to drive back to MA, we took a long walk around our neighborhood and then had leftovers for dinner. All in all a very relaxing weekend!

Weekend Recap

I'm a little late this week for my weekend recap, but I have a good excuse. My camera wasn't uploading pictures yesterday for some reason :( Everything seems to be A-OK this morning, though, so here goes!

Friday night Peter and I had dinner at Jason's Deli in College Park and then watched the University of Maryland men's lacrosse team win against UMD - Baltimore County. Friday was such a lovely day, and it was the perfect night to be outside watching a game! Peter played lacrosse in high school so he was able to explain the rules of the game to me, and I really enjoyed it. More lacrosse games might be in our future :)

There were other fans at the game. All of the spectators were sitting on one side of the stadium :)

Saturday was a lazy, restful day. We made Martha Stewart's Yogurt Waffles for breakfast (Yum!), and then Peter headed to work and I headed to the outlet mall for a little shopping. And then I headed to the grocery store for a little more shopping :) I tried a new recipe for English Cottage Pie from Cooking Light for dinner on Sat. night, and it's definitely a keeper. Peter said it goes especially well with a Guinness (I didn't try this combo, but I trust his judgment) :)

(image from Cooking Light)

Saturday night we watched The Social Network and were pleasantly surprised. The previews did not seem that appealing to me, but I really liked the movie. Very good acting and very interesting discussion of exclusivity and belonging.  I ended up feeling slightly sorry for Mark Zuckerberg, but I was also angered at the way he treated people.

(image from www.imdb.com)

Sunday was church and then Peter and I went back home for some lounging around and talking with our families on the phone. This week and weekend will be very busy so I'm really glad that this past weekend was nice and relaxing!!!

Weekend Recap

Peter and I had a really low-key weekend so nothing exciting to report but it was nice just to slow down a bit and relax :) I had Friday off of work so I ran a few errands (Ikea, Michaels, etc.) and stopped at Chik-Fil-A for lunch. I had a "split" (a.k.a. Arnold Palmer; half-lemonade & half-sweet tea) to drink, and it tasted like summer to me :) I only crave those when the weather starts getting warmer. Peter and I took a long walk after he got off of work, stopping in at Starbucks for some refreshment, and we realized when we arrived that we had missed Starbucks' giveaway of cake pops that day by about 10 minutes. Boo! A cake pop would have gone really well with my coffee :( Friday night we watched UMD lose to Duke in the ACC basketball championship. I'm sorry for the disappointing end to the Terps' season, but I'm really looking forward to March Madness!!! I grew up in a basketball town (Go University of Memphis Tigers!!!) and in a basketball family (you should hear my mom cheer for the Tigers!) so March is one of my favorite months of the year :)

Saturday we made Praline Pecan French Toast for breakfast, and it was heavenly!

 (image from Southern Living)

Such a good recipe to make if you have house guests for the weekend and you need something that can be made ahead of time and then just popped into the oven in the morning! I got my hair cut Sat. afternoon, but I just got an inch cut off so it looks pretty much the same :) I'm still toying with the idea of cutting it shorter; maybe when the weather gets hot, I'll be more inclined to go chin-length! I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping (found some cute Lilly pieces at local consignment stores!) and then organizing some things at home and paying bills (not fun but very necessary!). Peter and I watched Easy A on Saturday night.

(image from IMBD.com)

Blech! I'd like to have that one and a half hours of my life back! I usually like modern re-tellings of older stories/books so I was intrigued when I heard that this movie was based on The Scarlet Letter but it really didn't deliver.

On Sunday we went to church and then took another long walk when we got home. It was such a nice day in our area yesterday :) I made gumbo for dinner last night, not realizing that Peter had never tried it before. I was more than happy to introduce him to the deliciousness that is gumbo! I used a new recipe from Southern Living ("Big Easy" Gumbo), and I think it's a keeper. I had forgotten to buy celery at the grocery store so we had celery-less gumbo, but it was still good.

(image from Southern Living)

Weekend Recap

I'm ridiculously proud of myself for doing my weekend recap on a Monday :)

Friday was my day off so I spent the morning going on a Target run and buying a gift for a friend's baby shower this coming Sat. I love picking out baby gifts for friends, but I seriously dislike Babies R Us! Lots of things that are listed on registries as "available in this store" are, in fact, not available in this store. The aisles given for different products are always wrong and/or the aisle numbers are difficult or impossible to find. The store employees, while nice, do not seem to know any more than I know. Ugh! I did find a cute gift, though, and then was off to meet my husband for a little ice skating :) We both love to ice skate (we're not skilled/graceful, but we love it!) and realized last week that we had almost let the entire winter go by without skating. So Peter took off of work for the afternoon, and we went skating at our local ice rink. I had a great time, except when the rink guard was showing off to a group of little kids by skating really fast backwards and slammed right into me. Ouch!!! Thankfully I wasn't really hurt, just a bit bruised, but I was kind of upset that the rink guard who was supposed to be enforcing rules and protecting people made me fall. Not cool! When we got home, I made Deep South Shrimp and Sausage over Spicy Cheese Grits (thanks to Rachel from In No Simple Language!).

(image from Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast, Oxmoor House)

This was dangerously yummy and very easy to fix! The recipe has already gone in my "favorites" in my recipe file :) After dinner, we watched Despicable Me which we really enjoyed. I wasn't sure I wanted to see this one, even though I usually like animated movies, since the previews didn't look that great, but I decided to take a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Sat. morning I helped set up for the Junior League of Washington's annual consignment sale, Tossed & Found. This weekend was the last weekend for members to drop off their stuff for sale, and, let me tell you, we got loads of stuff! The clothing alone made a small mountain in the middle of the room :) It looks like it's going to be a great sale! After my morning shift, I needed to go to Bloomingdales and Sephora to pick up some make-up, and while at Sephora, I fell in love with this:

 (image from Sephora)

Smells great and makes my lips rosy and soft. I think I'll be using this a lot this spring and summer! Sunday we went to church, came home and had lunch, and then I had an advisor meeting for Junior League to go to. My provisional year is almost over; I can't believe it! After I came home, Peter and I went for a walk around our neighborhood since it was nice outside and fed the ducks in the nearby lake. After dinner (TJ's Orange Chicken - always a fave in our house!), we attempted to watch the Oscars but ABC was not coming in on our TV for some reason. So we eventually gave up and watched The Simpsons :) I did check out some of the dresses online this morning (the only reason I watch awards shows!), and I loved Natalie Portman's dress (she is radiant!).

(image from Vogue UK)

I also loved Cate Blanchett's dress! So different - kind of structured yet frilly and feminine. Maybe I'm just really into purple too  :)

(image from Vogue UK)

Weekend Recap & Menu Wednesday & Thoughts on The Bachelor

I'm really going to try to do better at doing my weekend recap posts on Mon. (or Tues. if Mon is a holiday) instead of later in the week. It just feels weird doing a weekend recap in the middle of the week! It also feels weird to do a Menu Monday post on Wednesday :)

On Fri. Peter and I took full advantage of the nice, spring-like weather in the DC-area (temps in the 70s!) and took a walk at the college campus where he works and the nearby neighborhood where we used to live. All of the college students were out and about enjoying the weather too; there was really kind of a street-party vibe going on. We gave up trying to count how many frat house barbecues we passed :) We were hoping that some college students would invite us to share their hamburgers and hot dogs but no luck so we headed home for pizza and a movie. We watched Eat Pray Love. Cinematography=gorgeous. Acting/Storyline/Etc.=mediocre. I remembered from reading the book that Elizabeth Gilbert certainly had a way with words but that overall I thought the book was a bit on the self-indulgent side, and I felt the same about the movie. Sat. was a lazy morning with a yummy breakfast of biscuits and honey and then we ran some errands that we had been needing to do for awhile. Peter got two pairs of new sneakers, and I got a bike! My bike was stolen last year (apparently a rite of passage when you live in the DC-area), and I really missed riding last spring and fall. Now I'm fully prepared to tackle those trails when the first signs of spring come (so excited for that!) :) Getting home from the mall was quite an adventure on Sat. because there were brush fires in our area!!! It was an extremely windy day, and a fire that started at some kind of factory ended up burning acres and acres of land. The smoke was so bad that the police had to close I-95 for awhile. Needless to say, traffic was horrible, and Peter and I had to be creative taking back roads home. After that, Peter took me out to eat (in the opposite direction of the fires!) for our belated Valentine's Day. Deep Creek Restaurant and Marina was terrific! We both love seafood, and our meals (he had scallops, I had crab) were fantastic. We had a table looking out onto the water, and a group of swans (?!) decided to swim by while we were eating which was fun to see. Sun. was church, lunch with friends (we went to a Vietnamese noodle place which was a new experience for me, and I loved it!), a grocery store and library run, and then talking to our families and relaxing. Mon. was a holiday for me, and I stayed home the entire day and cleaned like a crazy woman! Maybe it was spring fever or something, but I really went to town and was exhausted that night. I also almost finished organizing my recipe cuttings into binders. I've had a drawer full of recipe cuttings for about five years now and it was getting out of control (meaning the drawer was overflowing and I couldn't find anything in there!) so I finally decided to do something about it. P can't tease me any more about taking 3 years to find a recipe :)

Speaking of recipes, I tried one new recipe last week that I think deserves a shout out: Bacon Pierogi Bake

(image from Cooking Light)

Potato dumplings and cheese in cream sauce baked and topped with bacon, tomatoes, and green onions. Yum! Low in calories, fat, etc. and quick to prepare and easy on the budget. Even better! Peter didn't think that he liked pierogis, but he liked this and I'll definitely be making this again.

I don't really have a good transition into speaking about The Bachelor so I'm just going to jump in. I'm SO glad that Michelle was given the heave-ho last week!!! I was worried that she was going to be kept for the drama factor, but, thankfully, no. I really think that she thought she was going to win with all of her shenanigans and couldn't believe that her scheming didn't pay off when Brad didn't hand her a rose. Not sad to see her go at all! I was sad, though, to see Shawntel leave this week. She seemed so nice and genuine, and I really admired her for having such a different occupation. I'm rooting for Ashley now, even though I like Emily too :) I loved the hometown visits this week, and Ashley's family is too cute for words!

(image from ABC.com)

Can't wait to see the finale!!!

Weekend Recap & Valentine's Day 2011

Whew! What a busy weekend!!! I like being active and having things to do, but I have to say - I am looking forward to some down time this coming weekend. Last Fri. was my day off of work, and I spent it running errands - some enjoyable (Michaels), some not (post office). On Fri. night, I volunteered for an event for Junior League and met some really fun ladies, but it was LATE when I got home and I was wiped out. Thank goodness P and I didn't have anything to do Sat. morning so we slept in and made awesome blueberry pancakes. I found this recipe from Martha Stewart, and let me tell you - my husband and I thought we had died and gone to heaven while we were eating these :)

(image from Martha Stewart)

Sat. afternoon I was crafty :) (maybe I was channeling special Martha Stewart vibes from the pancakes) I made the Valentine's Day card for my husband while he was at work for a bit, and I made cake balls. The card turned out nicely; the cake balls were not all that I had hoped that they would be but they were much better than the last batch that I made (which was a total fail!). I think I just need to tweak a few things, and they'll be Bakerella-perfect!

I kind of realized after I had made the card that I might have made my husband the girliest-looking valentine ever, but I gave it to him anyway and he thought it was "cool" :)

 

My smile of relief after the cake balls turned out 100% better than before!

Sat. night my church hosted a super fun square dance to raise funds for the youth group's mission trip to Jamaica this summer. The square dance caller was a hoot and totally looked the part with his cowboy boots and bolero tie! He threw some disco and 50's tunes in with the country while we were dancing :) Peter and I always forget how much fun we have square dancing until we do it again. We're doing to have to find a way to dance more this year! Sun. we went to church and then we went out to lunch with a big group to celebrate the baptism of one of our friends. We spent the rest of the day getting some chores done around the house and talking to our families on the phone. 

We had decided last week not to celebrate Valentine's Day on Mon. since we didn't want to be pressed for time trying to go out to dinner and do something special on a weeknight. I gave Peter his present and card, and we ate cake balls but that was about it. That turned out to be a very good decision because Valentine's Day turned into a bummer for me with a really shocking and sad announcement at work. I can't go into details, but it just wasn't a great Valentine's Day from that perspective. After my day at work, I didn't feel like celebrating anything so I was only too happy to stay at home and enjoy some relaxing time with my husband. Peter has a belated Valentine's Day outing (a surprise!) planned for Sat., and I'm really looking forward to it :)