sweet sweet valentine

image via studiodiy

we tend to keep our valentine's day celebrations to a minimal. while i thoroughly enjoy this holiday, between my birthday, christmas, and our anniversary, joe and i are fully wined and dined out. so for the last four years, we spend the night together and cook for each other. no reservations, no jewels, no fancy dresses.  just us, hanging with the wiz, exchanging cards and some chocolate fondue. and likely a walking dead marathon this year. 
seriously, we are hooked. 

happy valentine's day!
xoxo

an anniversary

Today marks four years together and what a journey the last four years have been. We've slowly been connecting our lives together and (after long-distance and short-distance) we now share this little home that we are making ours. There's always going to be a few ups and downs but from where we're standing right now, things are looking pretttty great. Happy Anniversary you. Thank you for your continued support, friendship, wisdom and, of course, love. XO. 

PS. our lovely friend Casey snapped a few photos for us to use in our Christmas card! 

au revoir, 2012

image via weheartit

2012 will always be a year of silver linings in my book. We rang in 2012 in Des Moines, with sparkles and party hats. Winter months came and went, and I did alot of growing up and learning. I spent alot of time working and enjoying moments with the boyfriend, friends and family. Spring into Summer gave us time to make some big decisions, celebrate with many dear friends and in the Fall, we bought a house together. And as we move back into the Winter season, I do feel older. I feel stronger and wiser and ready to start a new year.

Saturday night, Boyfriend and I got struck with a bout of food poisoning. We spent our Sunday curled up on separate couches, covered in blankets and trying to hold down liquids and crackers. We watched football, slowly ate applesauce and tried to enjoy the sick day together. This morning, we both woke up feeling a lot better. Maybe not 100% but ready to give solid foods a try and get out of the house. We might not ring in 2013 in style, sparkles and loud music, but we'll still ring it in with good friends, a champagne toast and together. Together is key. 

Cheers to being stronger, healthier, more organized and even more curious. I resolve to travel more, date Joe regularly, train harder and more often, continue this process of being a homeowner and make smart choices, personally and professionally. So here's to 2013 and whatever you may bring! 

our first date of christmas!

was a surf and turf date night in.

we cooked, we laughed and we ate. 

and it was delicious.

cheers to our 12 upcoming dates of Christmas.

thanks for an awesome first date! 

happy halloween weekend!

photo via cupcakes take the cake 

it's by far one of my favorite weekends of the year! so thankful that the weekend is (almost) here! boyfriend and I are dressing up as the fantastic duo Mario and Luigi. 

Cheers + Happy Halloween! 

up late

image via london dream

It hasn't happened in a long while but J + I had one of those nights where we stayed up late, laid in bed and just had a long conversation. Our intentions were to fall alseep but instead we talked about family, our friends, our goals, new pets, this new home and other things to fill the quietness of the night. The next thing we knew it was five a.m.

happy birthday, boyfriend!

i love you & am so happy we are together.

xoxo

three years

today Joe and I celebrate three years as a couple.
what a wonderful three years it has been.
and its weeks like this that remind me how lucky i am to have him by my side.

so so so lucky.

love letters

dear boyfriend,

somewhere around 4AM you woke me up when you crawled into bed (wiz in your arms) after staying up with your buddies. you even tucked Wiz into bed and wouldn't let me move because she was snuggled in. and when my alarm went off at 5AM, i was pretty sleepy+grumpy. but that all changed when i got into work and was looking through my old emails for a file and stumbled upon that graduation letter you wrote me back in 2010. i definitely didn't remember what i was reading -- i almost thought it was something i had secretly written for you. but then i remembered and could only smile. and to think, at that point we'd only been together for a little over a year. and now its almost three. and some of the things you talked about still ring true.

so thank you for that 7AM surprise. though i bet you are still sleeping right now.

i love you.

a wonderful little quiet morning

on new years day, boyfriend and i shared a sweet quiet moment at 7 am. we both woke up unexpectedly and instead of falling back asleep, we cuddled up and chatted for a few minutes. we laughed, reminisced about the night before, and maybe even had a tickle fight. i dont think i can remember everything we said because we eventually fell asleep curled together but all i know is that it was lovely.

it was a great start to a new year.

image via

on our eighth date of christmas...

... we went to uptown diner in minneapolis for brunch.
eggs benedict for me + cajun breakfast for joe.

on our seventh date of christmas...

... we had milkshakes, burgers and fries at The Convention Grill.
it was a little date + my birthday dinner.
and it was delicious.

on our fourth date of christmas...

... we slept in, woke up late,
and had donuts & coffee.
it was the perfect way to start a lazy Sunday.

*i have a slight feeling that we're not going to be able to finish all twelve dates before the end of the month. maybe. we'll see (smile)

on our third date of christmas...

.. we went on a sushi date! at wakame.

i spent some time looking for new places for sushi (since wakame is our normal go-to) but alas, it was raining and wakame is close to our apt so we opted to go there. we chatted over a few drinks and tried some new rolls and we even found our new favorite! we joked about what to do for my birthday and J showed off his sweet chopstick skills.

yeah, he's basically a ninja.

wishlist: j's

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

i may or may not have helped him pick some items out.

on our second date of christmas...

... we ate pizza, popcorn + movie theater snacks, made s'mores, built a fort and watched Elf.

that was until Wiz thought it'd be fun to try and walk on top of the fort and it came crashing down. joe said i looked so sad when it all fell over but he got up and helped put it back together.

it was a really, really, really nice night in. plus, can you believe j's never seen Elf before? it's a christmastime classic. we may have to do this every year.

on our first date of christmas...

... we made lasagna, drank wine & caught up.

i stumbled upon this idea here and thought that this was a sweet way to celebrate december, the holidays and christmas. so cheers to twelve dates of christmas, twelve dates to celebrate the holidays and twelve dates to spend with my love.

breakfast in bed...kinda

I think everyone should have breakfast-in-bed. or as boyfriend likes, breakfast-in-bed but really in the living room because the TV is there and we can watch Saturday morning cartoons. Yeah, that's really how it goes.

Breakfast casseroles and I don't get along the best. Something about the soggy bread & sausage combo that never comes out of the oven the right way.  Also the fact that i have to roll out of bed an hour early to turn on the oven, get back into bed, and then roll out again after it's preheated to put the actual casserole in. Boo. But this... this potato & bacon breakfast casserole is a casserole I can get behind. Still involves the early morning roll out but at least it comes out tasty. I omitted the green onions because boyfriend doesn't like those, but I added some chopped onions in the potato mix.

Perfect breakfast-in-the-living-room start to a snowy Saturday.

But to be fair, on Sunday, he gave me a real breakfast in bed. Omelettes, hashbrowns and our little kitty in the sheets with us talking about how we should invest in one of those breakfast/bed trays.

traveling

last week I was traveling for work. i spent alot of time working from my hotel, getting use to eating meals alone, living out of my suitcase & got to meet some of my colleagues from other campuses. i tackled three airports in two days but i'm still no expert traveler (i need one of those mini-tin rolling suitcases). overall, the events were a success. but i couldn't wait to get home to these guys.



♥

Not Complaining

Last night, Wiz was upset. Poor little munchkin is gonna miss boyfriend for the next five days. I think she planned to tuck herself into his duffel bag and tag along for the trip.  As you know, he's going out of town to see some of his buddies in Indiana and I am trying really(really) hard not to whine, miss him too much, complain cause, well... it's only one week.  He hasn't even left yet. whine whine complain complain. I'm putting on my big girl pants, filling up my calendar and hoping St. Patty's Day comes sooner (rather than later).

And boyfriend. if you read this before you drive off (no textin while drivin!):   I miss you already. Poo. I don't know what to make for dinner tonight and already extended an invite to Jenn to come join me. I set the blanket out by your luggage so you didn't forget it (and don't forget your phone charger). I hope my car treats you well for the 10 hour drive and I look forward to our looooong phone call to break up the time. Have a good time out there -- feel free to come home early if you get homesick! I love you.

xo,