Surviving

January and February have both been those kinds of months that are filled to the brim. In retrospect, they weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be, but I'm still impressed I survived. And that, my friends, is why there has been no blogging lately.

Other things that didn't get done:
*Mailing Kenna & Beth's birthday gifts
*Cleaning the bathrooms
*Mopping the floor
*Emailing/calling people who I really should email/call (Adrian and Mindy, to be specific)

Things that did get done:
*Planting (and hoping not to kill) a pot of chives
*Updating my scrapbook to April 2005 (that's right--Jon and I are officially dating in Scrapbook Years)
*Organizing/beginning our 3 month storage
*Organizing Seth's clothes (thanks Sheri & Lenae!)

I now present our Valentine's Day/Week in a short photo essay:
Our V-Day was very mellow--we just relaxed after surviving our 7 hours of Girls' Camp fundraiser (babysitting) the night before. For dinner I cooked Crispy Orange Beef Stir-Fry, which has great potential, but needs some minor adjustments.For dessert we had some chocolate-dipped strawberries I made. Some of them were going to be tuxedo strawberries, but I was too lazy to add the bow tie and buttons. Deliciousness.

We didn't give each other gifts for Valentine's (well, Jon let me take a nap, which is ALWAYS wonderful). We did, however, purchase some lovely new things for our home:
That's right--after three plus years of marriage, we finally bought a bed frame. Which means we can finally use the bed skirt we've been toting around for 3 + years of moves...
My parents and grandparents sent us money to go out for Valentine's, so we promptly used it to buy this lamp, which I love and which will last much longer than the delicious meal we could have bought. Thanks!
We also got our painting framed, which really helps the ambiance in the living room (as opposed to before, when I had it push-pinned to the wall. I'd have to say that was detrimental to the ambiance...). Yes, it was ridiculously expensive, despite Michael's alleged 50% off sale. Funny side note--while hanging the painting we discovered that our piano is not level. So do we level the painting to the ceiling or the piano? Decisions...

We officially had our Valentine's date last weekend. Yes, we went to Red Lobster. It's tradition--that's where Jon & I ate right before he proposed. Are we embarrassed to be eating at Red Lobster when we live in the Seafood State? Absolutely. We may have to adjust our tradition, especially since Red Lobster no longer carries its so-rich-it-might-kill-you Lobster Bisque (which is really why we go).

Many thanks to the lovely Marley for watching Seth so we could eat in peace. Luckily he was perfect for her, despite having forfeited his second nap that day.

To finish off our celebrations, we had the Finnigans & Oliveras over for dinner. Apparently we were going for a cultural theme:

General Tso's Chicken for dinner...

...and crepes for dessert. We then played a rousing game of Acquire, which Carlos managed to win handily despite none of us thinking he was even a contender.

And, since I get in trouble if I don't post pictures of our child, here's Seth texting his Grandma. His accomplishment this week is learning to roll over (again) and then promptly forgetting (again).
PS--recipes are on our Recipe Blog