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Happy almost-Valentine's Day, my loves! Sorry I have been so MIA... I have been busy busy busy, as usual. But I just had to share with you these cute Valentines I made for The Stationary Place's first-ever handmade Valentine swap!

I met Lyndsey at Dionne's SoCal Blogger's Bee on New Year's Day, which I never posted about-- sorry! It was amazing of course. Nothing less with Dionne as the organizer. (I mean, just check out this Chocolat-themed Valentine's party she threw. I am in awe. Who wouldn't want to be invited to that party?) Maybe one of these days soon I will post about the incredible goodie bags us SoCal bloggers received... so many wonderful artists represented in that bag!

Anyway, like I was saying, I met Lyndsey at the meetup and soon after discovered her blog, dedicated to all things paper. When she announced she was having a handmade Valentine swap, I couldn't resist joining in the fun! Here's a closer look at my creations:

Now, I can't take all the credit for these adorable greetings. I used a kit from my favorite stationary store, Paper Source. Still, I made them my own by adding a few extra hearts here and there and on the interior. And of course the message inside was all my own. I hope the ladies who received them loved them as much as I enjoyed making them!

So, did you send any Valentine's this year? Don't you miss those grade school days when you would bring Valentine's and chocolates for the whole class and drop a little sweetness in each of your friends' pouches? At least, that's what we did at my school...

Hope you are having a sweet, love-filled weekend!

xoxo,

I believe in love.

Even when I don't feel it.

Even when I don't see it.

Even when I don't have it.

I believe in love.

Because when I really look hard enough, there it is.

In my family. My friends. My puppy's wet kisses. 

So whether you are single, taken or things are just, well, complicated, here's a collection of pretty and inspiring images I rounded up to help you feel the love this Valentine's Day.

And maybe even, believe.

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{you know I had to throw Hazel in there!}

Happy Valentine's Day, my loves! Thanks for being here and being awesome.

xoxo,

A weekend in pictures

Hey everyone! I hope you had a happy Valentine's weekend (and President's Day!). Here is my weekend, in pictures:

On Valentine's Day morning, RR had to go to work pretty early-- as a golf pro, he usually works on Saturdays-- so I wasn't able to make the fancy breakfast I had planned (more on that, later). Instead, I whipped out the Bisquick (I know, tisk tisk!) and made some quick blueberry pancakes, which he loved. It was a good start to the day and I hope it made going to work early and in the rain easier for the bf.

Full disclosure: These are not my pancakes. No, I forgot to take a pic of those. Sorry, it was really early! They kind of looked like this, maybe not as pretty, but mine were still pretty delish, if I do say so myself. Most important thing is the bf liked 'em and ate 'em!

When he got home from work later that afternoon, he had bought me some yellow roses (my fave) and a card. Good boyfriend! He remembered.

Here's a close-up shot of my roses. This was actually taken yesterday after the petals opened up a bit.

Here's all the Valentine's Day goodies we got each other. I bought him some of his favorite candies: Swedish Fish, Happy Colas and, of course, Sweethearts. He is not a big chocolate guy, but I got him some Hershey's Kisses of course. Ok, that might have been a selfish purchase but he does like them too! I also got him that lion you see, holding the heart that says "Wild about you." So cute, I couldn't resist. Ditto for the red and pink V-Day bowls...

Oh, and funny story: We almost got each other the same card! He got me the one one the left in the pic above-- it says, "There's nothing that I wouldn't do... for a Valentine as sweet as you"-- which I actually picked up and put in my basket at the store the other day before changing my mind and getting the other one. I always take forever to pick a card and go back and forth a million times before settling on one. But how funny would it have been to give each other the same card? Great minds think alike I guess.

Here's Hazel, chilling on the couch as we tried to organize and unpack from the move this weekend. Much of Valentine's Day was spent doing just that: cleaning. Not so romantic, but productive.

After organizing our closets, hanging pictures on the wall and doing other moving-related things, and after RR asked me a dozen times what I wanted to do to celebrate V-Day, we finally decided to go out to dinner later on that evening, at about 9 o'clock. I told you he is not great at planning. But he can be sweet when he tries (see roses and card). Anyway, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant called Sisley. Here's us before we left. You can't tell, but I was wearing a cute dress, even though it was cold and drizzly out.

Cheese! The bf is not a fan of these self-portraits but he smiles anyway...

We definitely indulged at dinner. We both got "specials", which really is just code for "over-priced." But hey, if you can't splurge on Valentine's Day, when can you? I dined on the Chilean sea bass with mashed potatoes and broccoli and RR had filet mignon, also with mashed potatoes and asparagus. For dessert we shared a Bailey's Irish Cream cake. Yum yum yum!

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The next day, Sunday, happened to be our year-and-10-month anniversary and since RR was able to stay home, I made the Pain Perdu, or fancy French toast, I had planned to make the day before. The recipe comes courtesy the Barefoot Contessa. Though it is labeled "intermediate" and I made a mess of the kitchen, it actually turned out fabulously, just like the pic on Food Network. See for yourself.

I'm sure the bf loves this I-just-woke-up-and-am-still-in-my-pajamas shot. Ha! See how I am not in it? I look a hot-mess in the morning!

RR doesn't like almonds so his didn't have any. The only thing I did different from the original recipe is I used Shepherd's bread instead of challah or brioche because I couldn't find it in the store. But I think it turned out just as good!

Here's a close up shot. I cut the recipe in half and it was still too much! One piece was plenty!

So that was my weekend. Time to get back to work. But tell me, what did you do to celebrate (or forget) Valentine's Day?

Pancake Image via Smitten Kitchen (which has some good tips for making blueberry pancakes... not that I followed them! Mine were out of a box, but it's the thought that counts!)