happy weekend!

Today was a rather girly day - shopping with a friend in the morning, lunch out, and a bridal shower in the afternoon. When I got home at 6, I was exhausted! Here's the snuggly face I came home to, though the picture is from a different day:

my cute Oscar cat sleeping under his knit cat-mat.

My husband got home early today, which ended up being about 15 minutes after me. Happy!

He was also exhausted, so we canceled our plans to attend a concert together in favor of a home-date night.

We snuggled up on the couch, grabbed our kettle corn supply, and watched a movie together: good old Aladdin. It was sweet and fun to remember our different childhood experiences of that movie and to marvel at how far CG has come since it first was used in film making.

Later, we opened up the Keith & Kristyn Getty songbook and spent some time playing and singing together. It means so much to me that my husband shares my faith, and that we also share a love for music. It's just wonderful to be able to make music together and to do it in a way that honors God.

To top off all the happiness, I found an adorable skirt (for $3.99!) in this morning's thrifting. It's a nearly new (?) Banana Republic skirt in a pretty, light lime green cotton, with the perfect amount of sheen. It's a fitted A-line, and I'm excited to wear it! I think it might be the beginning of an Easter outfit - perhaps with a crisp white shirt and a light pink cardigan? Pearls and white strappy-sandal heels? Curly hair? It has potential, which this picture does not do justice to. Some ironing is also in order...


I had some time yesterday to make dinner - we had Italian sausage, cornbread muffins, and peas. I also whipped up some Devil's Food chocolate cupcakes and an 8"x8" cake for dessert, but the cupcakes have already made it to the freezer for safekeeping. I'm hoping to decorate the cake tomorrow! Maybe Nutella icing? Maybe peanut butter icing?

I got a bit adventurous with the muffins, and used up the last of my raspberry jam (thanks, Mommy! it was delicious!) to put surprise filling in them. Mmm! Here are the only three I have left:

I love the way the bit of raspberry jam kept the muffins so moist, and I like the bit of red peeking out of the muffin tops. I'm planning to try this again with other fillings...

Happy weekend!

my entertaining valentine

(another until-now-unpublished post. more happy reading to you!)

happy.

my husband and i celebrated Valentine's Day last weekend...meaning, a week early, by going out to a fabulous Italian restaurant. very yummy. and so this past weekend, we weren't going to go out. (and we didn't.) that saturday morning, the girls and i made valentine's day cards for each other and for our significant others... my husband's card is very sweet, if i do say so myself.

wednesday, i bought myself raspberries, because we agreed that we wouldn't do big presents...and raspberries are comparatively little. and so good.

on friday, my dear husband stopped by at my office with a hershey's chocolate bar, tied with ribbon and the note "to: wife. from: husband." so very sweet! and more than i expected.

then when he picked me up he gave me a container of feta cheese. it was supposed to be a joke, but i fell for it hook, line, and sinker. i thought it was another v-day gift. i had a headache, so i wasn't thinking straight. and there was no way i was going to offend him, especially not now! so i said "thanks! this is so thoughtful - you know i would never buy this for myself and how much i like it." lol. go figure, right?

when we arrived home, he went out to get the mail and came back with white tulips for me! whoa!

on the actual big day, my friends and i had a "single" girls' party...we made pizza, and then they all went out to a couple of chick flicks. my hubby said i could go if i wanted, but the movies weren't really my thing. so i came home...

and we watched a really hilarious movie together, enjoyed some sweets, and had a lovely evening together. being with the girls makes me so much more thankful for my husband. i feel like the luckiest woman alive.

and i am so blessed.

love!