He Hates Valentine's Day

Out to dinner
My lasagna was delicious. I had warm bread and sparking wine with it.

We were in the car on our way to dinner and I mentioned that the street corner flower/balloon booths were already setting up shop to cash in on Valentine's Day.  "I hate Valentine's Day."  Those were the exact words that came out of my husband's mouth.  I immediately slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road and told him we would not be going any further unless he took it back because I can't be married to someone who hates Valentine's Day and we 'aint gettin' a divorce.  We never made it to dinner.  Okay totally joking!!!  It is true that my husband hates Valentine's Day but I'm okay with that as long as he indulges my girly romantic side at least a little bit.  I don't expect nor do I want a big to do about Valentine's Day but a little somethin' somethin' is nice.  Tuesday is really not the best day to celebrate anything so we were headed out to dinner on Sunday at Il Postino's; this cute little Italian restaurant Mj had been wanting to try. 
 
Me and my cookie Bouquet

That morning at work I got a very special delivery of of giant monster sized iced sugar cookies and balloons.  Oh, how I love these cookies.  I like flowers but they die and I can't eat them.  I got him a nice 90 minute massage using good old Groupon which I know he can really use right now because he's been working out almost every day.
Not so fancy V Day Dinner:  Cabbage & Rice with Turkey Sausage

Valentine's day dinner was Cabbage and Rice with Turkey Sausage.   It's good and all but not exactly my idea of a "special" dinner.  It's something I know how to make and we already had the meat so I went with it.  I haven't been in the kitchen much so I think it was a nice treat that I cooked for him even if it was just something simple.  It was actually pretty tasty but not even close to what Mj made for dinner last year on Valentine's Day.  After dinner we chilled out on the couch and watched Teen Mom 2 and then I worked on our budget.  I know....way romantic.

It's a fake commercial holiday with no historical significance whatsoever made up so that people can make money.  There is no point of making one day to express love when you can do it all year long or on a day that actually has some real meaning like an anniversary.  Blah, Blah, blah.  I get it and even agree to some extent but I still have a soft spot for February 14th.  My husband hates Valentine's Day but he loves me!  So it works.

Laughter: Fuel for the Soul

Pic from a couple years ago but it's basically how I looked all night
Mj's friends cousin has been doing stand up comedy around town.  Friday night we went to one of his shows.  During the week I saw a commercial for sparkling wine.  I can't even remember what brand, but ever since then I had a craving for it and I was really excited about going to the show just so I could get some.

The last show we went to seemed a little bit like amateur night so I wasn't sure what to expect.  There were 7 comics and they got 10 minutes each.  The host opened the show.  He was hilarious.  Good sign.  These guys were all good.  One after another each comic got on stage and made us laugh.  Good old fashioned straight from the belly mouth wide open head tilted back uncontrollable laughter.  I laughed hard and loud in between sips of my sparkling wine; thank goodness they had some!  Laughter is such good fuel for the soul.  It just makes you feel good.  I love laughing and I love to see Mj laugh.  He was laughing so hard his eyes were all watery and teary.  For a second I thought about what a racket the night was.  It cost us $10 each to get in and on top of that there was a two drink minimum at $7 each.  That's $24 bucks each just to get in the door!  But it was a really good show and we were supporting a friend.  Laughing out loud for almost 2 hours straight while drinking wine after long week of work was well worth the price of admission.

Drink More Water!

 I've been struggling with my water intake for a while now.  It's better then it was but I still have some work to do.  I can tell when I haven't had enough because I'll wake up in the middle of the night positively parched.  That should never happen.  My body is telling me what it needs and I just have to get better at listening.  Having water come out of our refrigerator has helped a lot.  It's just always there and cold when I need it.  This water bottle is the latest weapon in my arsenal to combat against insufficient water drinking.  I'm hoping this cute 12 oz water bottle in my favorite color that I can keep at work will inspire me to get guzzling.  The recommended intake is 48 to 64 oz!  It's always represented in ounces of water but we do get water in other ways from foods like fruits and vegetables.  Between the work water bottle and my 24 oz Tervis tumbler at home I'm hoping to manage at least 48.  If I just drink the one water bottle at work it's a minimum of 12 oz which is better then nothing but I'm definitely shooting for double that and then more at home.  I forget, I get busy, it makes my stomach too full.  I'm not sure what it is about drinking water that makes it so difficult to keep up with but it's so hard! 


Speaking of water.  Have you tried Mio liquid water enhancer?   It makes water delicious and it's calorie and sugar free. I love Fruit Punch and Sweet Tea.  You can adjust it to your taste by adding more or less.  Mj brought a few of those home last year and they are so good.  I actually like the taste of water but with the Mio I like it even more and it makes it so easy to drink.

How much water do you drink in a day?

Home Decor....Slowly But Surely

It takes so long to get a house decorated.  We got all the furniture we need it's just the details and accents that are taking a while to come together.  Once you figure out what you want sometimes it's almost impossible to find it in stores and at the right price which can be really frustrating but slowly but surely we're getting there.
Vintage looking Boudoir lamps from Pier One
Finally, after 1 1/2 years of living in our house we finally got bedside lamps for our night stands.  We have recess lighting so it's more decoration then anything else.  I looked everywhere!  First I didn't know what we wanted.  Then we decided to add color to our room with the lamps but finding the right one in the right color at the right price is hard.   I originally went in looking for a different lamp but found these pretty vintage looking ones at Pier One Imports for $40 bucks each.  I had a $10 off coupon so that was a bonus.  I had to take a picture and send it to Mj for approval and he liked them too.  We could have gone bigger because our headboard is high and our nightstands are a good size but eh...I just wanted something small.  These are 18" high.  I plan to add a satin ribbon around the bottom rim to add color once we get some accessories in our accent color; which I think will be purple.

Bargain price ottoman found at Ross for $99

Room for everything
Mj let me keep the black Ottoman.  He didn't say anything for about a day or so and then decided that he liked it.  My pajamas are all nicely organized now in one place where they all fit and are convenient for me to get to.  It's a nice little seating area too.  We're going to find a nice piece of wall art to put over it.

We didn't get the mirror that came with our dresser.  We found our own.
Can't wait until these make it onto the wall
 Back in October we found a large black mirror to hang over our dresser at Marshall's for $99.00, which is great because like everything else mirrors can get pretty pricy too.  I got a great deal on these matte picture frames at Michael's and framed our wedding pictures over Christmas Break.  They've been sitting there waiting for hanging for a while and they will go right over our bed.  Mj if you are reading this...how bout this weekend?  The black rimmed full length mirror needs to go up too. 

Sloan Espresso Leaning Book case.  Photo Source:  Crate & Barrel

Red Bamboo Vase-Photo Source: Pier One

In other rooms.  Just before the holidays we bought two leaning shelves at Crate & Barrel to put on either side of our TV downstairs in the living room. I was trying to go for the less expensive Walmart version but Mj wasn't having it.  At $149 each it's more then I wanted to spend on these but they are great quality and they look good.  We also bought a red vase from Pier One that we filled with sticks.

Next up.  We are getting the downstairs carpet and flooring replaced with hard woods.   Our kitchen counter tops will be replaced with granite and we're adding back splash.  We'll be getting started on those projects after we get our tax refund.   And lastly, we want to do something with our master bathroom.  I'm kind of itching to do it now.  The flooring is builder basic vinyl (like our kitchen) which I actually don't mind so much but I hate our very hard to keep clean fiber glass shower and tub surround.  It really can wait until next year though.  One thing at a time.  It's a work in progress but I love our house and I love how everything has been coming together.  House pics coming soon.