Valentine's Day 2015

I wasn't planning to post anything about my Valentine's Day, then one of my coworkers said she was looking forward to reading about it on my blog, and I started thinking. I always enjoyed Valentine's Day as a single gal, but I know the eye roll that goes along with the tenth bouquet of roses and chocolates and sappy post about my wonderful boyfriend/husband that you see on social media. I don't want to contribute to alienating single people, but maybe it would be helpful to see a dose of real life. 

Things aren't as fancy around here as they used to be.  Last Valentine's Day: 

I sent my gal pals a photo Valentine's Day card (who does that?! me.), and I had a few friends over for a girly dinner party, complete with a fancy and delicious chocolate cake that my SIL made. I LOVED sending Valentines and taking care of my single girl friends on V day. 

This year, I'm engaged. That means I had a grand, romantic Valentine's Day with flowers and chocolates and a whole day spent with my love, culminating with an expensive dinner out and champagne, right? No. At least not exactly. 

Zack is wonderful every day, and Valentine's Day is no exception. I still choose him if/when he is not wonderful, but I have yet to see it. We're living 388 miles apart right now, and he is working 14 days in a row. I could have gone to see him, but it was questionable whether he'd be home or have flown to Canada. 

I was home sick part of Thursday, and I answered the door to a woman with this bouquet. My fruit went great with my dad's birthday pie :)

On Valentine's Day, I sat around in sweats most of the day, running out only to go through the Chickfila drive through with Dan to get some free iced coffee and a heart shaped biscuit (worth the carbs). I baked bread to take to a girly Valentine's dinner at my friend's house. It was an awesome day of rest. 

While I was getting ready for my friend's party, my mom and Tracy came in with a beautiful hydrangea. They're my favorite flower, and I'm hoping this one will survive inside in its pot until it warms up and I can plant it at our new home. I had told Zack that I'm not into grand gestures, and this was perfect. I ate the fruit, and I'll plant the flower, and that's that. Perfect. 

What did I get him, you ask? Well, I mailed him a card and a box of "little happies" as my SIL would say. By the way, my engaged friend and I had a laugh together about the Valentine's cards available for engagement. I only found ONE card for a fiance, and it had a watermelon on it and said something about "sweet" and "delicious" ... no. I'm pretty sure what I actually sent Zack was for a husband. 

Back to Valentine's Day. My friend Kelly and I went to the party, where we enjoyed good food and games. Then, literally while the hostess was acting out The Excorcist in a game of charades, the power went out. The wind was howling, and it snowed on our way home. 

At home, I scrolled through Instagram and felt more jealous of all the happy couples than I ever did when I was single. Maybe my memory is clouded? Engagement can cause delusions. However, I truly have no room to complain. I'm so thankful to have him, even if we never spend a romantic Valentine's Day together. 

pumpkin week

This week entailed a lot of pumpkins and fall pretties in general. After a rough day on Monday, Zack made it all better with lots of surprises, including picking out pumpkins. We took our parents a few tiny pumpkins and chose two similar larger pumpkins to carve with our friends. 

We learned a bit about carving pumpkins with children. A child may spend 90% of the time meticulously cleaning out the inside of the pumpkin and 10% drawing a face for you to carve. He may spend 99% of the time drawing tiny black marker lines all over the pumpkin then 1% of the time asking you to cut out a beard (where even is the face?). Each child has his own personality, and they are never boring. How much richer of an experience than just carving my own *perfect* pumpkin at home! I love that my small group includes children. 

Oh yes, these flowers! Hydrangeas are not in season this time of year, but I suppose any flower can be bought for a price, and they are my favorite. I am spoiled, and they made my Monday afternoon so much better. 

Sometime in the last few weeks, Zack found this paleo pumpkin pie recipe and brought over the ingredients for us to make together. I finally got around to making it on Wednesday. It was fairly simple and a decent substitute for the real thing. (Check out the pumpkin muffins that I made last year here.)

I whipped up some cream and sweetened it with honey to make a paleo topping for our paleo pie. My pup sure enjoyed licking the whisk. 

What pumpkin treats have you made this year? How are you celebrating fall? 

Independence Day prep

The last few years, I've enjoyed wearing patriotic outfits for all of July 4th week. Blue and white is my favorite color combination for spring/summer, so it's easy to put together outfits that fit the week's theme. 

This blue floral printed scarf is my favorite hand me down scarf from my mom. Her hydrangeas have been gorgeous the last couple of weeks, and I decided to snap photos with them while I tried out a few looks with the scarf. I had a great outfit and hairstyle in mind (those ideas don't always turn out how I picture them) with a head scarf and my long hair, but I forgot to do it before I cut my hair! Oh well. It looked a little silly, so I tried the scarf some other ways and liked the big bow ponytail. 

What do you like to wear for Independence Day? Do you dress for the holiday all week? 

Loren Hope color play

Loren Hope hosted a contest throughout the month of May with the tag #LHcolorplay. She encouraged putting together a colorful outfit, including Loren Hope jewelry. I love my Loren Hope jewelry, but most of my pieces are monochromatic. I decided to put on a patriotic outfit and use all of my mom's red LH pieces. These were only sold at Monkee's of Raleigh. 

Dan got involved, of course. He ended up eating the berries right out of the bowl. 

Loren Hope jewelry // Ralph Lauren oxford // J. Crew skirt (old) // Sperry Topsiders

thirtieth birthday party

A few weeks ago, my friends and I hosted a thirtieth birthday party for our friend. 

The party was at my house, so the table was set with hand me down china. My mom got ahold of a big set of Spode Blue Room Collection 'Willow' china from my grandmother so that we could all match. This was especially for my friend Allison, who says we eat on a different set of china each time she comes to my house.

My sister-in-law was one of the hostesses (she did everything), and she made this cake for our friend, who loves monograms and prints. Her bakery's blog is here. 

Allison made a special punch that went perfectly with my punch bowl. 

Our friend enjoyed her party, and she makes 30 look fun :)

wedding weekend

I just wrapped up a great, full weekend, which included witnessing TWO weddings!  

Friday night, I went over to a friend's house for a delicious dinner and even better company.  I shared salted fudge brownies.  

Saturday, I went to a morning wedding at my home church then went across town to see my good friend Elizabeth, whose shower I recently helped to host, get married in the afternoon.  

They both had beautiful programs.  I save all of these for my mom because she collects invitations and programs.  

Elizabeth and I are in the same sorority, and our sorority's shape is the quatrefoil.  I got so excited when I saw quatrefoils on her cake, and I immediately sent my sister in law these pictures.  She is also in our sorority and bakes cakes, so I knew she would love it!

It was wonderful to see Molly!  We were determined to make this picture happen, so I'm glad she got it.  It's only appropriate that at least one COHV married a COH boy.  Elizabeth was a gorgeous bride and Hanna a beautiful bridesmaid.  

This morning, we attended a post wedding brunch, and Elizabeth sent me home with some flowers.  I wish I had taken more pictures of her flowers because they were SO beautiful, but I have arrangements to admire at home now!  

I enjoyed the perfect weather on Sunday by reading outside.  I finished The Ponder Heart and started Men Without Women.  

What did you do this weekend?  Any library book recommendations?