valentines

                  

It's 6:09 pm EST and Valentine's Day has pretty much come and gone for us.
Nice while it lasted.

We both have tests tomorrow so we're preparing for those instead of enjoying an evening of Valentine activities. :(
It's not really a big deal. Valentine's Day is not one of my core holidays.
And we're going to hear comedian Hannibal Burress at Club Down Under tomorrow night. That will make up for tonight's study session.
Today I participated in a psych study at noon (extra credit for Personality).
Then I headed over to Lucy and Leo's for CUPCAKES!
It's been a LONG time since I've been there. The holiday season is filled with homemade desserts, so I haven't had a cupcake craving in awhile.
I pre-ordered a "Love Box": 2 Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, 1 Champagne Raspberry, and 1 Death by Chocolate.
Ben and I split them, and I am currently embracing my sugar coma.

We decided that EVERYONE would be eating out today, so I spent the afternoon preparing:

French Beef Stew with Red Wine and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

It was worth the effort and the entire bottle of Cont du Rhone.

But perhaps not worth breaking our blender that we just bought within the last year. 

I don't know what happened. 

I blended the majority of the potatoes...and then I started smelling burnt rubber. 

I turned the blender off.

And then I couldn't turn it back on. 

Oops. 

More on that later (when I figure out what to do about it). 

Speaking of burning... 

Last weekend I was making a pasta bean soup on the stove and one of the coils of the front burner corroded and started on fire. 

Underneath the stock pot. 

Kind of like you're just holding a 2 in. flame under a pot. 

Luckily I was standing right there when it happened. I heard the sizzling and then saw the flame appear.

I quickly turned off the burner and away the flame went. 

I was all prepared to grab the fire extinguisher though.  

So let that be a lesson to you.

Don't go too far away from your oven. 

I also received my "Ancient Happiness" tea in the mail from Gong Fu Tea in Des Moines, Iowa.

I'm a little ashamed to be shipping my tea from Iowa to Florida, but this tea is awesome.

The lady even wrote me a little note on my receipt.

Paula and Tom live in Des Moines now (I think I've mentioned that) and love Gong Fu Tea, so for Christmas I received this lovely little lime green, ceramic, loose leaf tea pot from them along with a little bag of "Ancient Happiness" (a green citrus loose leaf tea). 

It matches my Kitchenaid quite nicely.

I can't wait to visit all of their other favorite spots in Des Moines this summer when we go visit. 

Yet another pair of Bethel friends got engaged last weekend that are planning on getting married this summer.

I don't have much room left.

I'm already missing 3 weddings before we move back (1 in March, 2 in April)

Then I have 2 to attend in June.

My own in July.

I'll miss 1 in July because it's the day before mine (Catholic Friday wedding)

2 more in August.

Plus this new one...whenever that's going to be. 

That's TEN (with mine).

That's a new record.