it's cold so i'm dreaming of beaches

fun fact: my hair used to look like this in 2010.  also do not even try to guess what was going on in this picture.  you will be wrong and i will laugh.

i don't think it's gotten above fifty degrees this week.  i'm trying to remain cheerful about this because 1. it is riding boots season (and riding boots are probably the cutest most "outfit-making" shoe choice ever) 2. it is possibly the last year we will spend in such arctic conditions, which yucky freeze aside, does introduce a nostalgia factor 3. scarves (oh how i love cute scarves).  

however, i hate winter.  not like aww i prefer warm weather, but seasons are great; like 80 degrees F 24/7 s'il vous plait.  yep, let's face it, i'm a girl who could dig a natural year-round tan.

we are still trying to finagle where our future home will be... my sister is bragging about wearing flip flops right now... hey wesco, i know you need steve in san diego, right?  right???

ok enough stream of consciousness blogging about the weather.  point being:  i'm currently vacation planning.  the next 10-11 months are mainly going to involve pure insanity about mass-produced food, stationary, and probably cummerbunds, so i'm going to do my best to focus on pure relaxation ala beaches, palm trees, and all-inclusive in-room minibars.  yup, it's time to make plans for our honeymoon!

originally we'd hoped to fly into dublin and have a shamrockin' guiness & castle-filled week of oirish romance.  then i realized that planning a euro-trip WHILE planning an insanely expensive party with upwards of 150 people was not a way to remain calm, happy, zen or even remotely sane (also flights from the D to ireland are currently more expensive than flights from chicago to paris... mathematical logic where are you?).  we realized that traveling to europe is something we are both huge fans of doing, and therefore we don't really need to worry about getting our butts to the irish moors asap; inevitably it will happen on easier terms.

however, neither of us can imagine why we would opt to bask in five star tropical luxury if not on our honeymoon.  that isn't to say five star tropical luxury isn't top notch, it's just not our travel style (we're usually more into museums than hot rock massages).  so in honor of the ultra-sexy-two-person-jacuzzi honeymoon cliche (as well as the whole 'we wine you, dine you, and entertain you with the price of your room' thing) steve and i have opted to go the all-inclusive caribbean resort route for our post-nuptial vacay.  this means two things:

1.  pasta, you and i are about to put some distance into our relationship.  i know, i know, you're inexpensive and delicious, but i'm going to be spending an unusual amount of time in a bikini with my smokin' hot new husband around, so it's probably best if we limited our time together.  same goes for you, cheese.

2.  i, um, actually have to select one of these insanely amazing white sand beaches on which to sunbathe and make-out with steve... i know, hardcore first world problems right?

so far, here are a few destinations we are looking at right now:

jamaica

dominican republic

cancun

st. lucia

what's your pick?

word count: 33.365 (oh hush... writer's block /  wedding planning)

charleston preview

so i may have gone a little overboard with the camera on our vacation, because today i realized i had taken over 300 pictures of our 4 day trip.  this means i still have a lot of photos to sift through, but i'll post more as i get through them.  here's a quick sneak peak!

you'll probably end up noticing that i told some lies about what i was packing because the weather really was more formidable than tank top dresses could allow.  even with all my spring fever, the tulip skirt dress from anthropologie wasn't going to cut it in terms of warmth.

i have some great etsy finds to share later today, but check back tomorrow for more pictures from our road trip!

happy valentine's day !!

so today was officially the best valentine's day i've ever had.

but don't read too far into that, valentine's day isn't a big deal.

i was totally shocked at work when a delivery man stopped by with a lovely bouquet of red and white flowers for me from steve.  it absolutely made my whole day and i kept catching myself with a big grin on my face.

then we got dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and chowed hard on curry.  i LOVE indian food.  

i power walked downtown on my lunch break and picked us out some valentine's day cupcakes.  2 red velvet, 2 german chocolate, and 2 girl scout samoa cupcakes.  so we can basically run on simple sugar forever now.

if you recognize any of the photos in the collage i made for steve... you've probably been to charleston, SC!  i found us an incredible deal on a hotel in charleston and decided to give steve a valentine surprise.  we are headed down south for his spring break!

it may not be jamaica but 66 degree whether sure sounds better than what we've had here.

hope everyone had a simply lovely valentine's day. and if you didn't, that's ok there's always next year.  it's just the 14th of february after all.