Valentines Day 2014!

Valentines Day 2014 was a very special day! 

We started off the day by waking up early and having a tasty Valentines Breakfast together. Pink chocolate chip pancakes, strawberries, heart shaped bacon, and juice! YUM! We made it together and enjoyed the feast!

I have to be at work at 7:30am so it took some major love from both of us to wake up even earlier than normal! (It was definitely worth it though)

Before heading out, we took a little Valentine selfie to document the day. Plus it's a rare day when I wake up early enough to get this dolled up! 

Sure love this sweetheart of mine. Wakes up extra early to drive me to work every day! Such a rock star.

After work, Brandon picked me up and we went to a lovely local restaurant, Portofino, for some tasty Italian food. It was very fancy!

P for Priday right? haha 

We liked trying some local cuisine and I loved that they gave me my own carnation and wished me a happy valentines when we left!

After dinner Brandon had gotten tickets weeks ago for a showing of this new movie we thought looked good: Winter's Tale. (I mostly wanted to see it because Sybil from Downton Abbey was in it.) hahahaha Let's just say that this movie was apparently supposed to be a romantic fantasy but it was seriously one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen. 

See if you can follow this plot line: In 1914, this thief falls in love with a sickly heiress and Russell Crowe has it out for them and somehow this magical horse keeps rescuing them but their love isn't enough to revive her and she dies. Oh and somewhere in there, Will Smith shows up as Lucifer. ?? Confused? So were we. Flash forward 100 years to 2014 and the thief is still alive, still 25 and doesn't remember anything. Somehow he figures it out and makes friend with a woman and her cancer-stricken daughter. Russell Crowe's still around and chases them and the horse saves the day but the sick girl is dying. The thief give his 'miracle' to her and she lives and he rides off on the horse into the stars to see his love. hahahahaha who makes this kind of stuff up? We were literally laughing through it. So much for a beautiful romantic movie on Valentines Day but we both definitely were amused! Word to the wise, skip this one unless you want to see Will Smith play Lucifer or "Lu" as he's called. Haha!

After the movie, we went back to our traditional Valentines fondue dessert. 

(Can you tell that we celebrate all holidays by eating good food?) Love this boy of mine!

  

Brandon was VERY creative this year and designed specially made M&Ms for me! Some had my face on it, or 'best wife ever,' or 'Happy Valentines Day!', or 'I love you Kara!' Such a personal touch! I asked Brandon if it was cannibalism if I ate something with my face on it- he has assured me it's not. :) Such a fun, thoughtful gift! I gave Brandon one of his favorite movies: Phantom of the Opera.

I especially loved these stunning pink roses Brandon got me! I am so incredibly grateful for Brandon! He is truly the most patient man I've ever known. He is a sweetheart and being his wife is such a joy! Happy Valentines Day Babe!

Snow Day!!!!

Last Thursday, thanks to a massive winter storm, we got a SNOW DAY here in Virginia! 

It wasn't enough snow to do too much damage in Colorado and Utah, but the 8-10 inches we got canceled pretty much everything in DC & Virginia.  

And boy wash I excited! A full day off of work and school to sleep in, hang out with Brandon, get things done, and play in the snow! It seriously was a dream come true. 

Brandon and I had so much fun playing around in the snow that day! (Sporting his new Redskins hat like a true DC resident I might add)

This snow day was MUCH needed day off after a rough few days of work. Besides having to call patients from home to tell them we canceled, it was a lovely day to relax a little.

Do you wanna build a snowman?? (man I love all the music from Frozen)

The snow was the perfect consistency for a snowman and I think it turned out great! 

I love how we combined different items from each of us to make our masterpiece. 

But of course we had to take our hat, gloves, and scarf back so we left our bare snow man with a fond farewell. 

And Brandon loves a good snowangel! Even though the snow was so wet, he had to go big before we went back home to warm up!

Love some down time to play in the snow and relax! 

Tatiana's Visit!

At the beginning of February, a blessed, most joyous thing occurred: one of my dearest friends, Tatiana came to visit!!!! 

This darling girl has been my friend for 4 years now and I'm seriously so lucky to have her in my life!

I haven't seen Tats since we moved in August so having her come out to Arlington to stay with us while she had a grad school interview was like Christmas in February!! 

First thing after picking up this beautiful girl from the airport we headed to get some dinner at our favorite spot: Good Stuff!

We introduced Tatiana to our favorite burgers and shakes. And MAN was it good!

My burger is a little smashed but seriously I don't think I could ever have a better burger. Brandon and I have this place practically on our speed dial we love eating here so much. This is called the farmhouse classic. Brandon loves the Prez. Obama burger. mmmm! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

And this my friends is my all time favorite ice cream treat: The Milky Way Malt! Caramel, hot fudge, little toffee pieces, and a whole lot of yum!

That night we chilled and watched the Opening Ceremonies to the Sochi Winter Olympics!

I LOOOOOVE the Olympics. I might be obsessed. I loved watching the ceremonies but must say I was not a fan of our 80s Christmas sweaters that Team USA wore. blech! Come on Ralph Polo! That's the best you can do?

Saturday we went downtown to the National Archives! 

Location of the "Charters of Freedom"- The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We really enjoyed seeing the original copies (though I must admit they were pretty impossible to read being so old) and we definitely felt like we were going to run in Nicholas Cage on his plot to steal the declaration!

We weren't allowed to take any pictures of anything inside, but we enjoyed lots of cool exhibits about the importance of records and "secret" files on everything from UFOs to the Nuremberg Trials. One of my favorite rooms was an exhibit full of letters written to the president through the years and their responses. One was from a group of obsessed Elvis Presley fans who begged the president to not cut his hair when he went into the army or else "they'd just die!" haha pretty cool stuff!

We loved the gift shop afterwards. I think Brandon would make a knock out Abraham Lincoln if he grew a beard! Rocking that top hat!

And Tats found an awesome patriotic scarf. 

Such a lovely museum trip with my favorite girl!

Love this sweet man of mine!

To finish up our DC afternoon, we took Tatiana around some of the monuments.

Vietnam War Memorial 

The Washington Monument!

Look at this knockout hanging with Abe!

LOVE THIS!!!!!!! 

All my favorite people!

We made some tasty valentines cookies as well later that night.

Love how cute they turned out!

Tats' awesome bakery skills were so helpful! 

Tats went down to her grad school interview on Monday and flew back to Utah the next day, but man was it fun to have her in town! Just like the good ole days!

I'm so grateful for a dearest best friend like Tatiana! Fingers crossed she moves out this direction for grad school so we can continue our awesome East Coast hangouts! LOVE YOU TATS!

Chocolate Lovers Festival!

A few weeks ago I surprised Brandon with a little Saturday adventure: we went to the Chocolate Lovers Festival in Fairfax, Virginia! And I must say we weren't disappointed! 

It was such a cute festival- with a few different events and activities spread out throughout downtown Fairfax.

First event we went to: the chocolate chip pancake breakfast at the firehouse! 

This tasty plate was a great start to our morning!

They also had some face painting for kids. I loved what a family-friendly event it was. It's pretty rare to see a lot of kids and families right in DC so it was fun to see all the kids with their faces painted.

YUM! I love chocolate chip pancakes! 

Next event: the Taste of Chocolate 

You could buy these "pogs" at the door and try different vendors' chocolate creations for a 1-5 pogs each.

Such a beautiful sight!

We got a few of these truffles- quite scrumptious!

My personal favorite treat there was this belgian chocolate fondue fountain. Seriously so good!!

Jealous? haha it was SO tasty!!

Brandon loves marshmallows and choose this chocolate-covered marshmallow pop. He was a fan.

The last event we went to was the Chocolate Challenge. It had about 20 entries from professionals and amateurs alike and we got to vote on the people's choice award. Some were definitely more impressive than others. There were a few that looked like 3 year-olds made them... haha Maybe we'll enter next year! 

This one was by far the favorite and from the results, won all the big awards. It's all edible yummy chocolate & cake!

High Heeled Cupcakes! Pretty clever!

We had a lovely time at the festival and definitely satisfied our sweet tooth and then some! I felt like I needed to go work out for 2 hours after. :) But I think we might have to make this annual tradition to kick off our February every year!