modern romance – Page 28

if you can’t tell by the title of this post, i was sliiiiiiightly excited for valentine’s day this year… i’ve always been a fan of the holiday because i love every excuse to decorate with hearts and girly colors and to eat chocolate, but more importantly, i had a date this year! a pretty good one, too. ;) [come on, don’t act so surprised!!] but besides v-day and my favorite birthday ever, the themes of this february would have to be: 1. snow days. 2. seafood. and 3. cozy. umm, not terrible things for the month of feb to be summarized by, in my opinion. i’m not complaining. in fact, it was pretty awesome.

it was also the month of leaving my former company and starting my new job, which was surely bittersweet but has been so good for me. there’s nothing that makes you grow more than getting out of your comfort zone, and i have been out of my comfort zone more times than i can count lately! but it’s been really rewarding and really fun too. between the new job and some other stuff in my personal life, i’m loving this new chapter so much, and although it hasn’t left me much time for blogging, i’m hoping that as things calm down a bit, i will be able to find my routine and get back into the habit of making time for it.

and what am i looking forward to in months to come? warmer/sunnier/springtime weather [this last month has been so unlike texas!], and with that, pool season!! aaaaaand lastly, this semester of culinary school being OVER! still have a couple more months before the latter happens though. fingers crossed that i make it through this semester ~~with decent grades~~ period.

and onto the good stuff…

{pink cactus dreams}

{one night i heard a ridiculous amount of sirens that were way too close and saw several fire engines out my window, so i went outside to check it out [yeah, i’m a little nosy] and counted 14 fire engines/emergency vehicles blocking the street next to mine. turns out there was a fire in the 22-story high rise next door, although it turned out to be a lot less dramatic than the scene portrayed. ironically, the next day i was in culinary school and our classroom smelled like smoke, so we were evacuated and the firemen came and checked the place out. again, it didn’t turn out to be anything crazy, but i don’t know what it was with me and firemen that week! anddd on the right… the thickest, yummiest chicken noodle soup from whole foods, plus i tried mammoth coffee for the first time. you know, the one with coconut oil and grass-fed butter? it’s really tasty but a bit too rich for me, at least for everyday drinking, but i’m glad i can say i’ve tried it!}

{from our “valentine’s eve” dinner at my parents’ house… it was sooooooo good.}

{my bae, giving me v-day kisses!}

{that face!}

{i love everything about this picture… the way he’s looking at me, our wild hair, my sequin ban.do heart, his texas tag.}

{happy love weekend from my coffee-drinking, bed-lounging self on the morning of v-day!} :)

{funny friend valentines}

{we had the most gorgeous weather on valentine’s day… i literally don’t know if it could have been more perfect.}

{and then i got a dozen roses from a handsome man…}

{…and we had champagne – the real deal – because besides spending valentine’s day together, we had a promotion to celebrate [him] and a new job to celebrate [me]. it was a great bottle.}

{after champagne, sandro took me to a lovely dinner at dish, which i had never been to before. very yummy, and we had such a fun night!}

{…and then he gave me italian lessons. [insert smiley with hearts for eyes here] !}

{so yeah. it was a pretty swell v-day. and the next morning i wasn’t ready to come down from the valentine’s day high and start my culinary school homework, so i proceeded to eat flourless chocolate cake [homemade by my mama!] with raspberry sauce in bed. for breakfast.}

{on the left, sandro and i went to social house on mardi gras and had crawfish etoufee and seafood jamalaya + hurricanes and abitas! and then later on in the month, i met his sister and some of her friends over in trinity groves. it was the best night – we started at resto, had dinner at amberjax [picture on the right: i had crawfish etoufee – AGAIN! i love it so much though!], and finished with drinks and coffee at LUCK. so much goodness in one night!}

{and because i couldn’t get enough seafood this month, here’s dinner at mac’s with my mom and both grandmothers: sea bass topped with crawfish and a lemon butter sauce with a side of linguini. pretty much a dream of a combination.}

{isn’t this vintage sheepskin purse so fun?? my former co-worker so generously gave it to me as a going-away present when i left. i love wearing faux fur in winter, and every time i wore it to work, we would laugh about this story she once told me about how she had carried this purse to church and a little girl kept eying it until finally she came over and asked, “can i pet your puppy?” on my last day, she brought the purse to my desk and told me she wanted to give it to me. it was such a kind and thoughtful gesture and i’m absolutely enamored with how darling the purse is! every time i see it, i’ll think of my sweet co-worker and all the fun we had working together.}

{i had to document my last day of work at my old company. this is a serious face because it was a serious day for me! bittersweet for sure. but i’m feeling blessed and thrilled to be able to dive in to this new opportunity and for the way it’s going so far, and cheers to all the people who have made and will make this career journey meaningful for me, both personally and professionally. i love you all!}

{my new boss was so sweet to have the most gorgeous bouquet sent to me on my first week. love her! and just a little throwback to my days on the hotshots [the best team in the league!], purple uni’s, and gaps in my teeth. circa 1999ish? oh, soccer days.}

{and one more from 1999… third grade in mrs. borkey’s class. i loved that year! i’m the one in the first row, third from the right, rocking the saddle shoes. again, the uni’s!}

{as i mentioned in this post, the week i started my new job, we had a snow day to start off the week and it proceeded to snow/ice/sleet three more times that week. and this was the last week in february. i think the general reaction for everyone in DFW was confusion. [isn’t this normally the time of year when we’re at the pool working on our spring break tans?] anyway, monday and friday were the worst days – friday’s weather came in during late morning while i was at work… i snapped the photo on the left looking out from our back patio at the office. i couldn’t get over how dreamy it was. i went home just after this and it literally took me 2 hours to get home [it’s usually a 35-40 minute commute], but at least we had a short friday! and then on the right, the very best part was that mom had been at a conference in downtown dallas, and she was supposed to go home that day but got stuck because of the weather, so she took the DART to uptown and i picked her up and we had an impromptu sleepover!}

{we had dinner at public school 214, the new gastropub in town that has a fun, school-themed vibe. i love the decor in there, especially all those globes! it’s also nice to be able to walk so many places, especially when the roads are bad.}

{it was such a fun night with my mom!}

{i got shrimp and grits [MORE SEAFOOD] and she had the short ribs. so delish.}

{…and then we shared this nutella cookie sandwich for dessert: chocolate chunk cookies, vanilla bean ice cream, and bacon brittle!}

{we got a redbox and had a fire in the fireplace and sipped on wine and just had a grand evening.}

{my dad sent us this picture of the house… that hill is all grass, but in this case, it was all ice! it looks pretty cool in the dark though.}

{and we were also texted a picture of cute lucky in the snow!}

{the next day we walked over to social house for some chilaquiles! by the time we were done, it was beginning to warm up and the ice was melting, so mom was able to head home. it was such a fun surprise to have her here for the night though!}

{then the NEXT week, i woke up, opened the shades, saw this, and went right back to sleep! yep, yet another another snow day. the prior week, it had been monday and friday to make for two long weekends, and this one was on a wednesday to break up the week. i mean, is there a bad day to have a snow day? i say no. BUT i was extremely lucky because during those two weeks, each of my three culinary school classes was cancelled once, which was sooo nice.}

{that last round, we got lots of snow. footprints on the right, and cat prints on the left, i’m guessing? i must be mildly trypophobic because those paw prints on the left make my skin crawl. if you don’t know what i’m talking about, then i’m just going to seem crazy to you, but IF they make your skin crawl too, do not – and i repeat, DO NOT – go google “trypophobia” because people have posted horrific, disgusting, frightening photos to freak out all the trypophobics [and probably normal people too, in all honesty] that will give you nightmares and images that you will want to burn from your memory but will keep coming back to haunt you. call me crazy, but just DON’T google it. i warned you.}