.Warehouse.

With busy schedules, we decided to celebrate Valentine's this weekend with Ashley and Raz at Warehouse Bistro.  It was our first time there, but we instantly fell in love with the setting, service, and oh... their dessert.  I had never had bread pudding before, but with the strong recommendation from our friends we had an order and my affair with sweets will never be the same.  With the sudden and dramatic chill in the air, hours of conversation over our meal, next to the fireplace made it a wonderful night.

Valentine's last year.

.There are few better ways...

There are few better ways to spend an evening than getting all dressed up in an electric blue dress, high suede and studded heels, a messy updo, and a little dramatic eye makeup for a baby-less date in a brick-exposed and industrial-styled restaurant, having thought-provoking dinner conversation with your husband, and enjoying the ridiculously mild winter while walking arm in arm downtown...

...except maybe hours later when the baby is picked up, and the family is all in their night clothes, and you continue talking over chocolate icecream in bed.

.Date Night.

Earlier in the week when G suggested we take some time for ourselves and have a date night, I immediately panicked.  I've had Dylan with me everyday for nearly a year and didn't know if I was quite ready to leave her yet.  I knew though, that part of being good parents to baby girl is remembering that we're partners and the importance of taking time to nourish our marriage as well as ourselves.  Plus, I knew we were leaving her in good hands for a few hours with her loving Gigi and Poppy. 

Although I cried before we even left their neighborhood, G and I had a great evening together.  We ate pasta and bread until our stomachs hurt at our favorite Italian place in town and because the weather was nice, we walked it off downtown... hand in hand... talking and people watching.  Later, once we picked our sweet girl up and started the drive home, all I could think was how blessed and happy I was at that moment, and how glad I am to have a thoughtful husband  like G to experience this all with.

.Quality Assortment.

We're trying to absorb as much quality time as possible together before we two become three.  It's a challenge not to be selfish and wait on her and God's perfect timing, so we've been distracting ourselves with long games of chess, movie nights, outdoor meals, fun preparations, reading, fishing, warm walks, and comedic evenings with friends.

Baby girl, you can take your time but realize all the fun you're missing out on.

.Details of Longing.

G and I recently watched The King's Speech as part of one of our Friday Food & Film Adventure's.  Along with it being a fantastic movie, it made me long for several details of the past not seen as frequently now.  A time of top hats, round tortoiseshell eyeglasses, bowties, fabulous hats, gigantic doors, massive fireplaces, and phonographs.  G and I might just have to revamp aspects of our home and closets to better reflect some of these classic staples of the 1920's and 30's.

glasses: Etsy

bowtie: Southern Proper

door 1: Masterwerks
door 2: Interior Decorating-Furniture Designs

set photo Via
all other images found here

.7 Year Valentine.

Well, this was our 8th Valentine's together to be exact but today is our SEVEN YEAR anniversary (yes, since we started dating because I think that's still a milestone that should be recognized).  Our Monday evening was low-key but nothing short of flawless.  G surprised me with flowers when I awoke even though I specifically stated it was unnecessary this year due to saving money for other upcoming events (of course I still loved it).  After a long day of work G started a delectible fish course for us as I prepared our activity for the night. 

Although I'm not an artist, I do enjoy creating art in various ways, so I thought it'd be nice for us to make a little eye candy for our baby girl's room.  We want to create a vintage-inspired, world traveler feeling in her room so I thought, what better than to paint some of our favorite cities as a Valentine's Day gift for her?  G was sweet as could be and tried his hardest at his first painting ever, and New York City doesn't look half bad!  London was a little more challenging than I anticipated, but now she will always have a little something that her parents made; just two crazy kids in love sharing some of their past favorite adventures with her.  (Special thanks goes to our friend Emily for loaning us her supplies!)

The perfect ending to the evening?  Romantic musical stylings as we enjoyed our own fruit and chocolate fondue dessert.

We'll be celebrating our anniversary today traveling on another adventure, but our Valentine occassion was definitely one for the books.

.Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.

Lovely little blog, how I've missed you this week! 

School + real life had to consume my waking hours but I'm back in action and have a splendid weekend to look forward to.  While I spent an inordinate amount of time daily dominating, the memory of our equally productive but much more fun weekend stayed on my mind.

Two days full of donut dates, market shopping and watching adorable elderly couples that still hold hands, registering for near-future necessities, poker nights, lunching with the in-laws, and rummaging through G's old baby clothes that I totally intend to put DG in.  All that quality time spent was more than worth all the bitterness of the week.  Not to mention... the sun finally came out.

.Night on the Town.

G surprised me Friday night with plans for a night on the town... just us two.  I was thrilled, as we have been strictly hibernating since the temperature dropped and the addition of school work to my duties.  We ate here, which was a nice change of pace from our usual time-efficient meals and dinner was full of quality conversation that G and I hadn't been able to share for quite some time with our multi-tasking schedules.  In other words, the entire evening was just what I needed.

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* My 19 week bump