Valentine's Day 2015

This Valentine's Day was our 2nd one being married and our 4th one together. We wanted to do something low key - restaurants are crazy busy and I looked into a weekend trip but the prices were jacked up for Valentine's Day. We decided to go to our local park and grill out rib eye steaks. The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed spending time together outside. Sorry, I'm not sorry for the picture overload...

Friday after work, Stephen and I made these delicious chocolate covered rice krispy treats.

Saturday, we slept in and then attempted to make a heart breakfast with cinnamon rolls and bacon. The cinnamon rolls worked really well but the bacon, not so much,

We packed up all our goodies and headed out to the park later that afternoon. Thankfully we were able to get one of the only pavilions that is next to the lake!

Stephen trying to get the charcoal going

I decided to try to go all out for our picnic this year. I found the tablecloth on sale at Target and snagged it since it's reusable. We had crescent wrapped baked Brie, olives (Stephen's new favorite), coleslaw and raspberry lemonade to drink.

A creepy ice cream truck came strolling through so we had to get a picture - didn't realize Stephen got me in it though, I thought I was his picture decoy.

Cheesin'

We had to get another picture with the meat

While Stephen was working on cooking the steaks, I decided to get some outfit pictures. I kind of got hooked on wanting to do more outfit posts after doing a Pin-spired post. It was a little chilly and unfortunately, I don't have very may warm red or pink clothes so I decided on my plaid scarf which had some red in it. 

Scarf / Shirt / Jeans / Boots / Clutch / Sunglasses / Basket

Pretty much my whole outfit is older so I don't have any direct links to specific items (I realized my shirt is from high school... goodness)

We exchanged gifts when we got home - we decided to only do cards and candy this year.

Sorry it's so blurry - Stephen was joking and said we'll enjoy getting fat together with all this chocolate

We had a fantastic Valentine's Day this year and we look forward to loving each other more and more everyday. I hope everyone else had a great Valentine's Day as well!

Linking up with Biana.

Happy Valentine's Friday!

Woo hoo! Another Friday is finally here and it's a day before Valentine's Day nonetheless. I hope everyone enjoys their Friday and enjoys celebrating a day of love tomorrow. Onto my five...

One
Valentine's Day is tomorrow! Okay I guess it's not super exciting but it's always fun to show those you love that you love them. Tomorrow we're planning on cooking a Valentine's Day breakfast with bacon & cinnamon roll hearts then head over to a nearby park to grill out a steak lunch/dinner. Of course this will all vary on the weather but whatever we're super excited about it - I may or may not have bought a cute tablecloth from Target just for the occasion :)

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I also decided to finally paint my nails for Valentine's Day. This color is Chapel of Love and it's the perfect shade of pink.

If you need any last minute Valentine's Day ideas check out my posts on Valentine's Day inspired food, past Valentine's Day treats (Stephen approved) and Valentine's Day gift ideas.

Two
Since I wasn't blogging last year, I thought I'd share with y'all what we did for our first Valentine's Day being married. Stephen had the day off work so I took a vacation day and we went to Animal Kingdom and had fun goofing off. Our dinner consisted of Publix sushi while sitting in our car - it was a great Valentine's Day.

Three
Last night I got to have a Skype date with a dear friend of mine from high school. This was my first time getting to Skype with my friend Susannah since she gave birth to her 2nd son a month ago. It's always the best getting to catch up with good friends and see her precious baby boy. Can't wait to go visit them in a month!!

Four
This week some of my girlfriends got together for another pizza night! We all had a great time but unfortunately I had to leave early since I have a long drive home and it was on a weeknight (#oldladystatus). The pizzas turned out fantastic so I had to snag a picture of them.

Five

I am so close to purchasing this stripped skirt. It's on sale for $42 and shipping is free. I usually wouldn't spend that much money on a skirt, but it's super adorable and I have some leftover Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket. Caitlin and Danielle recently did a post with this skirt and they kind of sold me on it... so I'm thinking about finally hitting the "checkout" button today.

Past Valentine's Day Goodies

Every year for Valentine's Day I try to make Stephen something special, I mean the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach... I don't think I made anything special last year (maybe a cake) but the last 3 years before that I made the things below.

Chocolate Dipped Oreos
These were delicious! I'm pretty sure I attempted to put these on a stick and only a few worked (buy double stuffed if you want to put them on a stick). It didn't matter though because they tasted delicious and that's all that mattered to Stephen.

I Love You Cookies
Another year, I attempted to make cookies like the ones below but I think I put reasons why I loved Stephen on these cookies.

Rice Krispy Pops
One year I decided to go big and made Stephen a lot of chocolate covered rice krispy pops. Oh my word these were so good but definitely a labor of love. After making all of the pops, I put them on a stick and stuck them into a foam square in a Target Valentine's box holder thing (super descriptive). I cut the zipper off Ziploc bags and tied them together with a red ribbon. I also made little labels that had reasons why I loved him and attached those to the ribbon. These turned out so well, I decided to make them again this year!

I hope this helped give you some good last minute Valentine's Day treat ideas!

Linking up with Mary.

Weekending

This weekend was pretty low key but a lot of fun. Things have been pretty busy for both of us at work lately so it was nice to be able to relax and spend some good, quality time together. Friday night we made nachos and watched Apollo 13. I'd never seen that movie before and apparently didn't pay any attention to this event in school because I had no clue what the outcome was going to be (#historyfail). Loved the movie though - if you like historical space movies, I'd recommend watching The Right Stuff. I just think this movie is fantastic, although it's a little long.

Saturday we made pancakes and spent a few hours working on our second room. After realizing the fabric glue I bought made the colors bleed, I resorted to sewing 4 yards of fabric by hand. I cannot wait to finish but unfortunately the hand sewing is going to slow down the process. That afternoon we ran to the outlet mall to find some bachelorette gifts from the Victoria Secret outlet store. If you live near Orlando, you need to go there. Everything is last season (so who cares) and is super cheap! I got a swimsuit cover up for $7 and a swim suit top for $7. I also ran over to the Kate Spade store and found a purse I really liked but wasn't 100% sold so I opted out of getting it (here is my long-winded Kate Spade purse debacle). I couldn't decide between the cream and black purse - the cream will show dirt and I already have a black purse so I decided to wait and look for one for my birthday (hello July 4th sales!) Hopefully this one or this one will be on sale - the brown color matches everything. Random but I had a really hard time walking away from this dress at J Crew Factory.

Love the side strap option

Definitely want to look for a purse with the bowler shape for my birthday

After the mall, we ran over to Downtown Disney for dinner and dessert. We had to get our favorite Greek salad from Earl of Sandwich and a cookie bottom sundae from Ghirardelli. 

Disney is now selling tails... super weird if you ask me but I had to try one on

After church on Sunday, we ran to get some gas and since the lotto is up to $400 million, we had to buy a $2 ticket. I've never bought a lotto ticket before so Stephen let me get this one. Wouldn't it be amazing if I had beginner's luck? We also ran to Wal-mart to pick up some more thread for our 2nd room sewing project and I saw some men's tanks for $4 so I had to pick one up for the summer. I'm thinking about getting it monogrammed but we'll see.

Please excuse my mix-matched purse, I didn't feel like switching it over

Got all this for less than $20! Can you tell I'm ready for summer?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Linking up with Biana

Friday!!!

One
I'm so thankful it's finally Friday! I cannot wait to relax this weekend and finally work on finishing up our office/second room project! Last weekend we went to Jo Ann's and got some fabric and flowers. I'm already loving my flowers on my desk and I can't wait to add the fabric to the room.

Two
It's girl scout cookie season... uh oh... usually Stephen and I are pretty good about not going overboard on these cookies but the last 2 years, I haven't been able to pass up ordering a box from a lady at work. Just helping the cause ;)

Three
For Christmas, I wanted a monogrammed ring dish but we couldn't find a good one for the right price. Stephen found this one on sale at J Crew and I received a free small vinyl decal  with another Christmas present purchase, so we combined them and got the best ring dish! I love the size because it's not too big on my dresser but it's big enough to keep my everyday items in. Right now, they're on sale at J Crew for $12!

Four
I got an exciting invitation in the mail Wednesday! One of my really close friends is getting married in May and I cannot wait for her bridal shower and bachelorette party in March! Aren't her invitations super adorable?

Five

Is it just me, or is the Bachelor getting crazier and crazier?! This season seems out of control - it's like there's no rules and Chris allows every rule that does exist to be broken. This week's episode was a special type of crazy from the "love" guru to finding out Britt doesn't shower (and still looks amazing.. HOW?) to Jordan coming back and asking for another try to Britt and Chris taking a nap together to Kelsey using her dead husband to get a kiss then faking a panic attack. Can't believe they're making us wait a whole week to see what happens!!

Pretty much my face the whole episode. If you love the Bachelor and want a great laugh, check out Sheaffer's weekly Bachelor recaps. They are a RIOT!

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Valentine's Day is next weekend so it's time to start getting ideas for some heart day gifts! Stephen and I aren't ones for big Valentine's Day gifts. Last year was the only year we did anything big but it was mainly because Stephen wanted new floor mats for his new car so I used it as an excuse to get a new Coach purse. Negotiating at its finest ;) This year we've decided to give each other the usual - chocolate and cards (maybe Stephen will get me some flowers too... hint, hint ;)) Since we're not going big on gifts this year, I decided to go big on my gift ideas and put together a list of things that would be AMAZING to get for any holiday.

Boots / Bar Necklace / Bracelet / Croakies / Pearl Necklace / Purse

February Pin-spired & Weekending

Happy February! I recently saw Mix and Match Mama talk about doing a February Pin-spired linkup - I'm not one for taking "fashion" pictures (a little out of my comfort zone) but I figured this would be something fun to participate in! Since I only heard about it a few days ago, I don't have too many pictures but here are 2 items I was pin-spired with this month. 

left / right

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I love the look of a great plaid shirt and vest. It's been pretty cold (for Florida) so I've been enjoying wearing my fall/winter clothes... if only I could dress more casual for work.

Plaid Shirt (similar) / Vest (similar) / Jeans / Bag / Shoes / Necklace / Bracelet / Watch / Sunglasses

This was the first time I curled my hair and it looked decent in YEARS - had to document it on the blog

I also love a good sweater-over-a-button-down combo. I recently paired a gingham shirt from Old Navy (no longer available) with a loft sweater (similar) for work one day.

Bracelet / Watch / Necklace

Here are my inspirations for the outfit and jewelry combo. 

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You can follow my fashion board on Pinterest here.

Now onto our weekend that was filled with shopping, relaxing and cooking (super exciting, I know). Friday after work I went to a networking event at a local upscale bowling alley. I didn't do any bowling, but it was fun hanging out with everyone!

Had to get a picture from that night since I never go out (with my friend Caitlin)

Saturday, we went to town to go shopping. We had lots to look for (birthday's, the office redo, etc.) and Old Navy had $10 khakis! I had to grab a pair. I've never had skinny khakis so I'm excited to see how I can style these. I also picked up this shirt, which was on sale. 

On Sunday, I did a lot of cooking for the Super Bowl. We aren't really into NFL football but we enjoy watching the commercials, the half time show and it's an excuse to make "fun" food I wouldn't usually make. On the menu - ham & cheese sliders, pigs in a blanket, skinny spinach & artichoke dip and cookie dough, brownie cheesecake to wrap up the meal. It was super delicious! 

Some notes about the Super Bowl:

- The commercials were super sappy this year. So many dad commercials, I was tearing up pretty much every commercial break

- Even though she's crazy, the Kim Kardashian T-Mobile commercial was pretty funny! Nothing funnier than embracing what people make fun of you for

- The half time show was fantastic! I was surprised at how good Katy Perry did - all her props and outfit changes were great!

- The Missy Elliot performance at the half time show was probably my favorite thing of the whole night

- The game was pretty close the whole night which was also surprising for the Super Bowl - makes for a good game!

- The interception by the Pats at the end and then the fight?!?! OH.MY.WORD. It's getting real...

Linking up with Shay and Biana