YOU GUYS! dude. your comments in my last post took my breath away. y’all are such sweeties. and what i really enjoyed was reading all the super cute engagement stories! seriously, if you haven’t checked them out yet, go back and take a look. there are some sweetie husbands in blog land, that is for sure. but i think we already knew that!
well, instead of posting another jamaica recap, i decided to post this and that and the other regarding things since i got home from my trip. i figure i better do it now before my memory fails me ;)
so this will be a regular post, but it will also be all over the place.. hmm.. so i guess not so regular after all. enjoy!
valentine’s day <3
i started the day with a long lost love.. YOATS!
ohh how i missed the gloriousness of hot oats, cold greek yogurt and bulgarian peanut butter. delicious.
since marshall and i had just spent over a week together in jamaica, we decided that hanging out all day on sunday (valentine’s day) wouldn’t be a big deal. i ended up going snowboard with one of my bestees and that was quite romantic! love you j5.
i came home from snowboarding and marshall was planning on making me dinner for valentine’s day. marshall makes two things: tacos and spaghetti. last valentine’s day he made me tacos. he made me spaghetti the night before we left for jamaica. he decided that tacos were the best option and when i told him that i hoped he would have something different NEXT year he declared, “tacos will be the valentine’s day tradition!”
haha, ok. that is fine by me. i’ve never met a taco made by marshall that i didn’t like.
i hung out in the kitchen while watching him prepare dinner. the kids helped.
these were marshall’s five tacos.
and he made me a hugh jass taco salad!
after he fixed my salad, he gave it to me along with a little stuffed dog who he named “sylvio”… hahahaha
i let sylvio hang out while i took photos.
this was so delicious! maybe the boyf the fiance can only make two things.. but damn he is good at making those two things.
awhile after dinner, we decided to have dessert. vanilla bean ice cream with diced red pears.
YUM!
can you tell which one was his and which one was hers?
this was before he added his pears, obv.
and that was that! a sweet ending to a mellow valentine’s day. i don’t like to get wrapped up in the fuss of the holiday.. plus, we had quite the fun time in jamaica so we weren’t too worried about celebrating the day of love.
birthday dinner!
for my friend rory’s birthday last night, we went to the dodo..
we had two appetizers that were both AMAZING!
first, the tricked out red pepper hummus~
blended chickpeas, tahini, red pepper, garlic, onion and spices. topped with feta, kalamata olves, tomatoes and green onions. served with warm pita wedges.
and second, the baked cream cheese~
baked cream cheese, marinated in soy sauce, breaded with toasted sesame seeds. served with apple and asian pear slices and crackers.
for my entree, i went with the blackened chicken salad:
the birthday boy had some peanut butter pie for dessert!
happy birthday, roro!
FUN MAIL!
i have received not one, not two but three valentine’s day packages since returning home from my trip.
blog friends rock my face off.
package #1:
haha.. ummm.. yeah, a little beat up! this one is from lauren and apparently the dogs got to it before i could :(
i was able to read the sweet card!
and some of the goods were salvaged.. i am so stoked to try the barney butter! never have!
the amazing meal and trader joe’s fig bar, on the other hand.. they had to go in the garbage :( along with whatever other goodies were in the package before the dogs got a hold of it! shoot!
THANK YOU lauren!! you are such a sweet pea and are so kind and generous.
package #2:
at first i thought this one was from my secret bloggie valentine, but then i opened it and was super surprised to see that it was from shannon!! are you kidding me?! shannon you are such a babe!
so much fun stuff, and there was a peach theme going on. this made me so happy because peaches are my favorite fruit!
peach salsa, peach tea, peach chapstick! a cute care, my FAVORITE flavor of kind bar, some PJ pants and the best part~
check out this awesome bracelet she made herself! i love the cute lemon on the end. so awesome :)
THANK YOU shannon! you are such a fantastic friend and a PEACH and also thanks for the wedding advice you emailed me today! so stoked!
package #3:
last but not least!
this one was from my secret bloggie valentine! my secret bloggie valentine was mel from a taste of life!
it came today and i was so excited when i saw what was inside.
COFFEE!! i love coffee so much~ i can’t wait to try this blend. she said it was roasted locally where she is from.
also.. super cute mini container of hot chocolate, you all know how i love little things~
changes color to pink?! hot dog! can’t wait to try it.
also in the package was a way cute mug and some awesome cookie cutters. i will have to do some baking soon :)
THANK YOU mel! you are such a sweetheart and i am so grateful for this awesome vday gift!!
dang! rad mail. love it.
i have been having such a great time seeing all the secret bloggie valentine packages that everyone has been receiving! if you haven’t sent me a photo of your gift you received yet, please do! i will be doing a recap post with all the goodies next week :) thanks to everyone who participated! this was so fun! also, if you don’t see your package in the next few days, email me and i will try to sort it out.
random eats!
here are a few note-worthy meals in the past few days..
mighty maple chia protein oats:
chicken, artichoke & sun dried tomato pizza from squatters brewery:
not sure why they didn’t spread out the artichokes and tomatoes! i took care of that after the photo. this was epic.
greek yog+vita mess:
yes.. that is the NEW dannon greek yogurt. i saw that my grocery store had this dannon greek yogurt as well as the yoplait greek yogurt. i am pretty surprised that these mainstream brands have come out with a greek yogurt!
i didn’t buy the yoplait one because the fat free plain had 10g carbs and 14g protein as well as a bunch of added ingredients including gelatin. not necessary.
the dannon had more impressive statistics~ 15g protein with only 6g carbs and the only ingredient is cultured grade A nonfat milk. the way yogurt should be.
my thoughts on the dannon greek yogurt?
well, it is definitely creamy. and thick. TWSS. passed the test!
and the flavor passed the test too! i liked it a lot, actually. no, it is no oikos, chobani or voskos, but it was tasty. and it was only $1.19 for the container. not bad. the biggest upside to this yogurt being delicious is that the regular grocery stores carry it. before, the only yogurt they had was regular and the greek gods greek yogurt which has horrible stats in the protein department. i am stoked that i can just go down the road to get greek yogurt if i am in a bind.. and i don’t have to make a special trip to whole foods or somewhere that has the greek goodness! yessss. thanks, dannon.
WELL. this was long! but i hope you enjoyed the randomness of it all. i have REALLY missed regular posting~ i have two more jamaica recaps and then life will be back to normal here on meals & moves.
well.. not normal.. i am sure there will be a whole slew of wedding talk. don’t worry, i will get to that soon enough ;)
three BIG things that are on my to-do list FYI.. so you know i haven’t forgotten you:
- reply to your questions you have left in comments
- reply to your individual emails several of you have sent me
- catch up on my reader! ack. it was up past 1,000 but i have skimmed through a lot of posts, still have a lot to go…
please bear with me while i get caught up at work/in life and i PROMISE i will be replying ASAP. if anything is urgent.. let me know :)
okay~ thanks for listening to me ramble! love you all!
have a GREAT wednesday and don’t forget to eat your waffles. that’s an order.
Qs~
1. what did you do on valentine’s day? single or taken, i want to know what you did! do you go all out? or treat it like any other day of the year? or somewhere in between?
2. what is your latest note-worthy meal that you ate? mine are up there, in case you missed it ;)
xo. janetha b.
p.s. today (the 16th) was national almond day! hope you celebrated! i did :)
Next Comments →
Your taco salad looks awesome! Last note worthy meal was dinner, simple but I love Indian! I celebrate almond day with some almond butter and yogurt…delish!! I prefer low key Valentines Day too…flowers are way too overpriced around this time and restaurants SO crowded.
That taco salad (and pizza…oh my…kinda random the pile of artichokes) looks SO good. Taco salads have to be one of my favorite things to eat.
I’m not a Valentine’s day type. We hung out around the house just cooking and being together like any other normal day.
yum everything looks/sounds great! love how the pups made it into the pics, so cute. haha dodo- so random! my valentine this year was ME and i wouldn’t have had it any other way! unless we’re talking about some hot celeb or something…whatever. it included lots of yummy festive food (heart shaped tofu and red quinoa, yes!)
You have the cutest fiance ever. I’m going to say this every day probably. And soon enough, I’ll be saying “you have the cutest husband ever.” What a dimey couple you two are!
Faaaab foodlettes throughout this post. Your yoatgurt seriously BLEW UP over the blogosphere when you were gone. It’s amazing!
Uh, I totally skipped over Valentine’s Day on my blog, whoops! That’s because I did nothing. I worked out, tidied, organized, chilled on my couch, longed for the weekend. Please tell me I’ll meet real men soon. Right? Please? I’m so discouraged by/over the guys here.
Latest noteworthy meal, well, there have been many, but I’m still yearning for some huevos rancheros. I cannot believe what I’ve been missing!
I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, my love! Love you! xoxoxo
We went out to dinner on Saturday night (mainly because the toddler went to “Movie Night”). It was nice and pretty low key. We had a nice breakfast on Sunday. Other than that, we didn’t really do anything special… :)
We had spaghetti with organic beef & vegetable sauce tonight; it was really good! :)
Hey Janetha great presents you got in the mail! And a major thank you to all the effort you put in to the guest valentines thing…while you were organizing 63 guest posts and going on a trip…do you enjoy flooding your life with make-work projects like that for the benefit of others or does it just come easy for you LOL!!! Seriously girl, i cannot imagine the undertaking of the guesties AND the Vday exchange, all while going away. you’re amazing. Thank you.
Thanks for getting caught up on my posts and to answer your question, no, you didnt miss anything. Same ole same ole round here :) but i missed you and glad you’re back!
You got hooked up!! People love you, they really love you :)
The taco salad looks tasty.
Ha! He named the dog after my boyfriend! (Ok not exactly because his name is Silvio.. and I have no idea why I’m writing this to be honest).
That salad is HUGE! Love it! The world needs bigger salads! ;)
Your meals look so good and so do your gifts! Mail is so much fun (if they’re not bills.. or adverts.. or boring catalogues..).
V-day. Yeah. I don’t celebrate it. It was a normal day like any other and we both agreed not to give each other any presents. Works for us :).
Latest noteworthy meal was a chickpea/spinach/mozz/quark/bell pepper pizza. Good stuff!
Haha that is TOO funny about the package!!! Oh well. I’m pretty sure that the pups may have gotten a hold of some things that didn’t even salvage the wrappers (like a few bags of Food Should Taste Good Chips, some more granola bars, and a little chocolate). Oh no! I just realized there was chocolate in there. Oh my, I hope they are okay!!!!!
Well, regardless, I meant every word and I do love you to death! I am so happy for you and I can’t stop smiling when I see how happy you are! You totally deserve everything girl! :)
Baked cream cheese? Yikes where can I get myself some of that deliciousness!?! Valentine’s Day was low key and lovely – mac and cheese, red wine and cookies from my favorite bakery – the boy knows how to make me happy that’s for sure! Oh and I definitely celebrated almond day…er I do that every day!!
Yummy eats!!
Aw, so cute that he made you taco salad instead of tacos :) I love the his n hers ice cream bowls. Guys haha. My best meal this week was WAFFLES with the boy on Valentine’s Day. He was so adorable manning the waffle maker. Have a great week!
Isn’t it fun to come home to packages? Seriously, they make my day every time! You got some exciting stuff, too!
Congrats again on your engagement.
YUm, yum–I have never been to the Dodo, but I think I need to go! Valentine’s day was the best ever, but not for any particular reason. D and I are both between travels, so it was nice to just have some time together. We took a walk and made heart shaped pizza. I put a bazillion heart all over his door. Ha! xoxo
I’m glad that the package got there in one piece! I was worried that the mug would break in shipping!
I spent most of valentine’s day baking cupcakes for a competition with my boyfriend. Well, I baked, he just sampled and told me if they were edible or not!
What a nice, laid-back V-day you had! And those packages are so sweet. Pups can be little devils but they are so worth it.
And Janetha, I am eating oatmeal with EAS protein right now and I LOVE it! Thank you so much!!!! Finally, a non-gaggy protein powder. Hugs hugs hugs.
What a sweet V-day dinner! Your man sure can make a taco salad :) And awesome V-day packages! You racked up!
1. I spent V-day with the new guy, “A”, and ironically he made fajitas! Also, Saturday night, he made us spaghetti!…what is it about guys that the only things they cook are these two things? haha so funny
2. Probably the sweet potatoes I roasted as part of dinner last night…I’d been craving them all weekend!
My boyfriend and I usually don’t go “all out” but we did go ice skating in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in DC on Saturday. On Sunday, we had a cozy breakfast and he gave me Jazz Fest tickets!!! Quite the surprise :)
That baked cream cheese looks…incredible.
Now that I have Greek yogurt (!!!!) I MUST try your yoatgurt. I always used to put yogurt ON TOP of hot oats, but I never actually stirred it in. Don’t ask. And that baked cream cheese! Goodness gracious.
1. I went to Halifax to party it up with my bestie :D Except, on the actual day itself I had a blogger meet-up and then spent four hours driving. And ate sugar cookies. It was a seriously good time!
2. Waffles!!! Actually that’s singular – waffle. I made a giant one this morning and topped it with peanut butter, blueberry jam and maple syrup. LOVE the mid-week breakfast treat – hope you’re having a fab hump day!! xoxo
I tried your ‘yoatgurt’ last week and really loved it! It surprised me because I’m a food temperature snob but the hot and cold went really well together.
1) Dave took me on a surprise trip to Idaho Springs, CO with 3 other couples for a couple nights. It was fun, besides the fact that the place was haunted!
Lots of mail for one day! Looks like fun, though!
1: My Valentine’s day was really chill – just like I like it. :0]
2: The latest “note-worthy” meal that I’ve had would be a recipe from Real Simple that I tried out called Lemony Shrimp with white beans and couscous. It was so good!
awww sucha CUTE fiance giving you your salad with a valentine stuffy pup!! (i’m sure you LOVE using the Fiance word ;) …hehe you are too cute!
1) my man was in Seattle for v-day :'( …ours will be celebrated soon though! (he sent me a tree)
2) best meal recently was my Dad’s ‘grill master skills dinner’…first (outdoor)grilled meal of the ‘season!’
I hope you are having a fabulous hump day chica! I am so envious of how tan you and your man are! :) xoxo!
Looks like such a great Valentines, the salad alone would have won me over ;-)
Yay packages! Great stuff! And Marshall’s tacos look fab.
For V-day I had brunch with a friend and saw the movie Nine. Then I went to Target, worked out at home and did laundry :)
Best meal was said brunch. I love decadent breakfast foods I don’t have to cook.
Love you dear!
My sweet husband made me dinner and then suprised me with a VITAMIX!!!
Well hello there Sylvia…pleasure to meet you :)
Our V-day was super low key too. Just some good old fasioned snuggling, then we saw Valentine’s Day.
Noteworthy meal: Homemade shrimp pizzas. The hubs and I are obssessed and we are making it a weekly Lent tradition.
It’s too funny that your honey only makes tacos and spaghetti. That’s about all my husband has ever “cooked.”
I actually tried custard oats last night instead of my usual nighttime popcorn snack and I instantly fell in love. Egg whites just elevate the oats to a whole new level. Berries made it magical!
Can Marshall fly to Atlanta and make me a taco salad please?
YES! I bought the new Dannon Greek yogurt last week and it’s not bad. I’m loving that I don’t have to make a special grocery store trip to get it too.
On actual Valentine’s Day I went to a Mardi Gras parade. I wish Mardi Gras could be on Valentines every year. And then the day after, my family cooked a hugh Pioneer Woman meal and celebrated our love for each other. Man? Who needs a man?
You didn’t think the Dannon Greek was tangier then normal greek yogurt? Might just be me though.
Man and I went to Costo for Vday and then drove around town taking pictures of random letters for a project we are working on.
Woohoo for a fun Vday :/
mmmmmm taco salad. That’s a keeper you got there!
1) My boy recreated our first ever valentines day (5 years ago) at home which was pretty much adorable. It was actually probs my best valentines ever.
2) Last night I made the big daddy of lasagnes and that was certainly worthy of note…post on that defo to come.
Yay for all your fun mail…love that shiz. And love you!
That’s cool that you were able to go out and Snowboard on V-day! What a sweet gift :)
LOL at Marshall only making two things. I can TOTALLY relate. The tacos (salad) do sure look good, though! Yum!
LOVE BUGGGG wow what a post and made me drool and I just finished lunch LOL, that taco salad, your man knows how to cook up a salad thats for sure! and sylvio is supa cuteee
for vday me and my bvoy were in canada with his family skiing at mt tremblant which was AMAZING by the way! you would have LOVED the conditions and mountain and trails. It is by far the most amazing ski resort I have ever been to (pics on my bloggie!!)
love the pacakges you got, you are s0 lucky! the amerretto coffee looks awesomeeee. I cant wait to hear how it is :)
i tried the yoplait greek yog last week and meh, not great and would not buy uit again. It just tasted like plain yogurt and didnt have all the protein and more carbs and sugar than choabani or oikos. Oh well, ya live and learn!
love ya girl!
The taco salad looks SOOO good! So sweet that he made you a hugh jass ;)
You mean there is a new greek yogurt out that won’t cost me my firstborn child?! Yessss!
1. We totally just hung out and did NOTHING. It was awesome. Went for a hike, looked at books, ordered Chinese, played Wii, and drank champagne.
2. Hmm. This one is tough. It has actually been a while since I’ve had a meal that was truly memorable. I’ll have to work on that this week ;)
so much awesomeness in this post…seriously, you could prep food for me anytime and I would be happy (and that’s saying something because I don’t let anyone make my food!) Love the vita + greek combo. Dannon’s yog sounds good! I am a die hard Fage fan- wasn’t loving Chobani or Oikos for some reason. A man that cooks a mean taco meal or spaghetti is miles ahead of probably 80-90% of guys ;)
1. what did you do on valentine’s day? single or taken, i want to know what you did! do you go all out? or treat it like any other day of the year? or somewhere in between? Nada. Single.
2. what is your latest note-worthy meal that you ate? I am so obsessed with the cold oats/pumpkin/cinnamon/Fage combo right now. You have to try it in summer! Also regular cereal mixed into Greek and left to go really soft/mushy. OOOOH! And sweet egg white scrambles with vanilla, laughing cow cheese and jam. Delish.
I loved my valentine gift too such a good idea! I’m loving these sea cakes I have recently discovered they are tofu and sea veggies so good! x x
Oh em gee I NEED to find greek yogurt here in Canadia! I am SO craving Yoats! And that vitamix/greekyog combo looks dreamy. Anyone wanna smuggle me some into the country? Anyone? ;)
Marshall is the cutest fiance for making you a big taco salad for dinner!
Those V-day packages are the cutest! I am very sad I have not yet recieved my own secret bloggie valentine package, I hope it didn’t get lost! =(
1. For V-day the boy and I laid low, made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, I made him a big ol’ dinner and some red wine and we relaxed and feasted, twas nice =)
2. I ate a peameal bacon sandwich on Saturday that was off the hook. But as for food I made myself, V-day gnocchi was pretty bomb, as was last night’s Fat Tuesday pancake meal!!
xoxo
Kris
1. what did you do on valentine’s day? I spent the morning with my sister, went for spin class then met my lovely friends for a catch up :)
2. what is your latest note-worthy meal that you ate? Pancakes for pancake day! mmm!
Baked cream cheese and peanut butter pie?! PLUS hummus?! That restaurant sounds fantastic! Aww what great gifts from the bloggies! Good to know that Dannon gets the job done :)
I ran in my first 10K on V-Day…but the boy was there with me to celebrate:)
Last note-worthy meal was probably my pasta with TVP sauce I had last Saturday.
ahhhh just catching up on your posts now! girlfriend — did you have the time of our life or whwat?! amaze! and Marshall is the cutest thing and I want to steal you too and carry you around in my pocket ’cause you’re so stinkin’ cute! I am RIDICULOUSLY excited for you, girlfriend, and I can’t wait to hear all the wedding plan-age. I vote Penny should be the flower girl.
oh my peanut butter – what the heck do the bulgarians put in that stuff to make it so ‘gasmic?! Me wannnnnt.
p.s. I haven’t gotten my secret bloggie valentine yet :( meh. Cupid must’ve missed me with his arrow. Ah well, at least I have my overstuffed caterpillar (read my most recent post for explanation)
LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EFFIN’ THRILLED I AM THAT YOU WERE HOME!!!! the guest posts were great but life just isn’t the same without my beloved meals and moves. <3
what a GREAT vday!!
i am soo glad you are back- I MISSED YOU!
and we are fb friends now.. wheeeeeeee!
chia in oats?! whats it like?!
LOVEY OU
TOmg I’m going to have to keep an yet out for some cheaper Greek yoyo and also some that’s not a special trip. Luckily I have a TJs with ff gy that’s cheaper than the okios and the like.
Taco salads are my numero uno meal. I have boiled chicken all ready to make “Mexican” but I forgot to buy 1/2 the ingredients :(
1. Umm I forget…. ha! I think his mom made us breakfast. We went outlet shopping and watched lots of Olympics pretty much a regular day. Wish I was boarding with you!
2. I had the best meal today but I’m trying to chug h2o now to get all the sodium out of my body. HOT DOGS! Well actually chilli dogs from The Hot Weiner. My bosshas been talking it up so I was a little obliged to Try it yummy though.
So I wAs at safety training today band they said being awake For 20 hours straight is like having a BAC of. 1! Reminded me of your first day in Jamaica hehe
I’ll shoot you an email soon!
with love!
Ha right- the kids “helped” marshall- they helped when the meat fell into their mouths :-) Cute though. Sweet of him to cook for you.
We were in portland with friends. But kinda celebrated by having drunch (dinner/lunch) at sunset in Malibu at an ocean-side restaurant, then seeing a movie.
Fave meal: OMG in Portland- the STREET food- the pods- OMG- sooo good. We shared a bunch of stuff: thai chix, Pho (vietnamese), gyros (lamb), salad rolls with shrimp & tofu (vietnamese) and a flight of soups. OMG OMG OMG.
i think next valentines day marshmellow should make spaghetti tacos..
..no?
look at you all back in action yoatgurting it up! you have created a yoatgurt frenzy in the blogosphere missy! thats whats been up over hurrrrrrr
marshall is so cute. seriously.
and yoatgurt is life changing. i had it for the first time a couple days ago. gahhhhhhh, amazing. i also had it this morning. obsessed, officially.
argh, gotta get back to work. LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU
The Yoplait greek yogurt is GROSS. Do not get it. :^)
HOLY HUGE Taco Salad ~ LOVE his addition of the pup!
Comments on this entry are closed.