Chef Mike

M surprised me with a pre-Valentine's day dinner complete with wine and appetizers. The time and effort he put into finding recipes, shopping for the ingredients, and preparing the meal would have impressed me in itself. I was so happy, I didn't care if it was good. But then I realized just how amazing each and every bite was and decided it was one of the best meals I've ever had. We had delicious appetizers of 3 cheese fondue with apples and bread for dipping and homemade bruschetta. The main course consisted of pecan crunch coated salmon with red potatoes and green beans. He offered my favorite dessert of vanilla bean cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory but I instead opted for a few spoonfuls of leftover salmon topping. It was that good.

{White wine with bread and apples for the cheese fondue}

{three cheese fondue}

{homemade bruschetta}

He made a vase of the most amazing tulips, which I adore. We also used our new china for the first time and it was a million times prettier than I'd imagined! I love it and can't wait till we can use it for a house full of guests one day!

{delish!}

He did such an awesome job... I think I'll keep him for, oh, forever. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing you all a happy, love-filled day!

{oh-so-pretty valentine tulips from the hubs}

Our little vampire kitty

M and I have been talking about getting a new kitten for awhile now. We decided to go look at the Nashville Humane Association after getting home from winter break. We visited with all the older kitties and, although I tried to figure out a way to rescue every single one, we knew we really wanted a kitten. After playing in the kitten room and deciding all the little guys resembled Pouncey's playful and crazy nature (we were looking for one a little more cuddly this time around) we decided it was not the day for us. As we were leaving, I saw a tag for a gray and white, 10-week old kitten named Sully. Monsters, Inc. was the mister's and my first date (yes, it came out in 2001, wow!) and we always joked that we wanted to name our first pet after the lovable, fluff ball, Sully:

{Sully- Monster's, Inc.}

We just had to go back to hunt for this new possibility and were surprised to find a fluffy gray tail sticking out of a hole waaaay up high in the fake kitten tree. I climbed up the tree and got the little purrball down (note: we still have NO clue how he managed to get up there). We cuddled with the little man for half an hour or so before deciding to adopt him. He fell asleep upside down in my lap on the way home and I was in love. It took awhile for Pouncey and him to adjust to living together without trying to kill each other (we're pretty sure that's what they were doing rolling around biting each others necks). We ended up deciding not to stick with the name Sully as it just didn't seem to fit. It took us awhile but we finally decided he reminded us of his namesake Jasper Hale from Twilight. It was a combination of his crazy little look, amazing speed and super sharp kitten fangs that didn't fall out when he was a baby and might leave him with permanent double canines.

{Jasper- Twilight}

Jasper has quickly become our little cuddle buddy. You can't hardly sit down without him jumping into your lap and purring to be snuggled. He and Pouncey have taken to a similar schedule of psycho kitten in the mornings and night and sleeping most of the day. They seem to get along for the most part now and are endlessly entertaining for their parents. We love our little furbabies!

He's a very funny sleeper.
Our two boys.
Perhaps angry that we were watching CSI and not playing with him.
Standard behavior when I study.During naptime under Daddy's bike.

Newly in love with shoes

I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but somewhere over the past year I morphed from a girl who wears reefs every. single. day. to one who spends far too many should-be-studying hours drooling over shoes. Nashville weather has left me dreaming of these frivolous luxuries which, unfortunately, my grad student budget cannot quite justify.

Delicious, glossy, fuchsia. What more could you ask for to combat the never ending Tennessee rain? Well, besides the coordinating fleece socks, of course.

{Hunter Original Gloss, $115}

And what could be better than a little sheepskin hug for your toesies to cope with the frigid temperatures? Especially since they come in this adorable baby pink.

{UGG Dakota Slipper, $100}

And while we're on the topic of amazing, but oh-so-overpriced shoes- if I could do the wedding again... I'd be begging the Mister for these beauties. They're totally re-wearable, right?

{Christian Louboutin Glitter Pump, $595}

{Inspiration found here}

I've been a bad blogger...

...if you could even classify me as one anymore! Apparently, I started grad school and promptly forgot about updating. Anyway, I am newly motivated by my blogging friends at An Overton Park Proposal and Two Eat Philly (you should definitely check them out!) and will try my hardest to post regularly! I've realized how hard it is to be away from everyone in the last couple of months and am determined to keep in better touch in the future!

This past weekend was an exciting one for us. It kicked off with my first snow day on Friday as Nashville received a pretty good covering. Mike and I and our two kitties (update on that soon!) sat by the window most of the morning in awe of the never ending white powder. It took the cats a few hours before admitting defeat in their attack on the falling flakes.

The kitties watching the snow in the window.

In spite of the snow, we managed to make it to the airport and on board our flight on time. After waiting 2 hours for deicing (ugh!) we finally made it to Denver. We spent the weekend visiting family and enjoying the mountains. Saturday started with a great run for me and my Dad (despite the lack of air Colorado is known for) and a trip to the Denver Children's Museum. This was truly an amazing place for kids. I think Lauren and Blake had a blast (as did us "big kids" in the assembly line area!). We tubed Sunday with Ryan, Milissa and Lo at Fraser hill in Winter Park. We had had an awesome time there last year and were really looking forward to repeating the experience of trying to find the fastest way down the mountain. We were not disappointed! Monday the 4 of us (Ry, Mil, Mike and I) headed out early for skiing in Copper Mountain. After readjusting to the ominous ski lifts and actually learning to do something other than snow plow from side to side, I had a great time. This is by far my new favorite ski mountain and I can't wait to go back. I have disappointingly few pictures from our weekend as maneuvering a camera out of a pocket and actually taking decent pictures is a difficult feat in ski gloves.

Blake and Grandpa reading what might be the most difficult book ever. Darn dinosaurs!

Mike and Lo in their ski bibs ready to tube.

They're such cuties!

View from the top... kinda cloudy.

Ry, Mil & I

Me and the boy

Cause everyone wants to be on camera eating a corndog...

Scroll to the bottom to see Mike and I eating a corndog at the Spring Arts festival last spring. *sigh* :)

http://www.gvlculturalaffairs.org/website/programs_events/DFAS/downtown_art_fest.html

Thanks to Erin for pointing this out.

One of my favorite places

Mike and I spent last weekend at my grandparents lakehouse, Sandy Run. It was, as always, a fun and relaxing time. I have spent countless summers at this spot and am always happy to return- something about turning down that familiar gravel road takes you away from your everyday life and offers the perfect place to unwind. Our time was spent laughing with family, eating way too much of Grandma's delicious cooking that's always too tempting to resist, boating and fishing, and playing washers and dominos. We didn't take many pictures but I'll share a few that we managed to capture.

We had to take the ferry over the river. I was not excited by this. At all. If you look in the mirror you can see the semi behind us. We were convinced they couldn't possibly let it on the ferry with us as it was full of milk and must weigh over the limit. We were so wrong. Miles of fields on the way there.We caught a billion of these blue gill.
Baby fishies!Then he caught a monster cat fish without trying. Pretty sure it made his day :)This is the tool we wished we had remembered to take on the boat with us!