Valentine's and Galentine's

I was really lucky to get to have back to back 

celebrations of love this year. 

One with my man and one with my ladies. 

I found this valentine for Joe during my recent Portland trip. 

I knew he would love the cat on it. Oh wait, that was me. 

Joe surprised me with some Harry & David goodies. 

Yum!

I got my hair colored and put on a really bright 

pink/coral dress for my date with Joe. 

We had an amazing dinner at Dahlia Lounge. 

We had cocktails and apps and then went for the main courses and wine. 

I had the Dungeness crabcakes, which were thick and fluffy 

and full of delicious crab. They were accompanied by

 furikake yam which was so, so good. 

Joe had top sirloin. And we saw Tom Douglas himself! 

After dinner we went to "Comedy of Love" at Unexpected Productions, 
and improv theater in Post Alley at Pike Place. It was really funny! 

 The next night I had Lauren and Kelly over for a Galentine's dinner. 
I made baked brie, a pomegranate champagne punch, 
a salad, and Smitten's Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes. 
Also Smitten's Red Wine Chocolate Cake with whipped cream. 

It's always fun hanging out with these girls :) 

I would definitely call the holiday a success. 
Did you have any fun Valentine's or Galentine's plans? 

Cabin Weekend

Monday's are extra challenging after a fun weekend. 

Instead of grading (which I really needed to do) 

I took a two hour nap and baked banana bread. 

And now I'm blogging.

Sigh. 

So here's a little weekend recap: 

Friday afternoon Joe, Tony, Grace and I headed over 

to the far side of the state (new territory for me) 

to spend the weekend at Joe's cabin on Bead Lake. 

We got there in the dark and were surprised to find 

over a foot of snow that had clearly been around for a while. 

After getting the car stuck and pushing it out of the driveway, 

we only managed one round of Rainiers before heading to bed. 

The next morning I could finally see where we were, 

and there was a frozen lake out the window 

and icicles hanging along roof line of the cabin. 

We played scrabble while Joe made breakfast. 

 

Joe forced us out on the ice despite our "city-folk" trepidation. 
He even put on some ice skates while we tiptoed around the edge. 

After seeing all the people ice fishing 
we decided it was ok to explored the frozen lake. 
No one fell in so I would call it a success. 

That afternoon we went sledding. 

I haven't been sledding since I was a kid and it was a total blast! 

The sledding hill ended on the lake so we could get a good slide in at the end. 
Needless to say there was plenty of Rainier kept cold in the snow. 

In the evening we made dinner, played monopoly 

and watched Indiana Jones on VHS. 

On Sunday we went snowshoeing around the lake. 

There were plenty of moose tracks 

but we didn't run into any actual moose. 

We cleaned up and headed out on the long drive that afternoon. 

I got back around 7:30, made a grilled cheese sandwich and crashed. 

I am so happy that I got to enjoy some winter recreation. 
It felt so good to be outside in the snow. 
It was also a great time spent with people I really enjoy. 
Pretty perfect weekend all around! 

skiing

I used to ski. 
In like, 7th grade. 
I took lessons and I loved it. 
Then I went to college and had zero dollars. 
Then ten years went by and I never went skiing. 
Until this past weekend...  

We went to Crystal which was the perfect choice. 

Look at that gorgeous view of Mount Rainier. 

(Reminds me of that super fun wedding in August!) 

We were able to escape the Seattle clouds/fog 

and it was gorgeous sunshine and fresh air up there. 

One thing that has changed in the last ten years is that 

EVERYONE wears helmets now. 

Back in my day, you were a total doofus if you wore a helmet. 

Now I'm the doofus without a helmet. Go figure. 

I was honestly terrified to try skiing after that long. 
Fortunately, it is indeed like riding a bike. 
I remembered how, but I am no long my fearless 7th grade self. 
No more black diamond runs for this old lady. 
I do, however, see more skiing in my future. 
I am a total sucker for the mountains, fresh air and views. 
Conversation from the drive up: 
Me: It's sunny! It's so beautiful! I'm going to take SO many pictures!!! 
Joe: Remember, we're here to ski... 

This was on my 28 before 29 list. 
Check! 

life lately

First off, here's a little update from last week: 

Obligatory cat pictures, duh. 

Which reminds me of a conversation with my Little Sister: 

Her: What's that picture on your phone?

Me: My boyfriend holding Dean. 

Her: Boyfriend? Gross. At least you're not married. 

Well you kind of are, to your cats. 

Kids say the darnedest things. 

Anyways...back to the photos. 

My ticket stub from a date night last Wednesday. 

Joe was sweet and saw "Silver Linings Playbook" with me. 

I LOVED it so much. My ideal kind of movie. 

And finally, some homemade hummus for the Super Bowl. 

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe where you peel the chickpeas. 

She is a genius - it makes the smoothest hummus ever. 

An early morning latte on Saturday on the way to Crystal. 
The view on the slopes (I have another post about this day coming soon). 
Joe's shirt (and beer) pre-gaming at The Ram. 
The Husky basketball game vs. Arizona State. 
I am not a huge sports person but this game was SO exciting. 
I was jumping and squealing and acting like a crazed idiot. 

I don't have photos from this week so far... 
Monday I went to dinner with my Little Sister's family. 
The hostess gave me a kids menu (that would make me...12 tops?) 
Last night I made chili and cornbread and Joe and I watched 
a classic: "I Love You Man". Slappa da bass! 

Also this is probably weird to write on my public blog 
but usually I just feel like I'm talking to myself or writing in a journal.  
Some special words were said over the weekend that have me pretty giddy... 
Yeah, you know the three I'm talking about. 
I am feeling really lucky and really, really happy. 
Hopefully that's ok to share on the interwebs.