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valentine’s day brought a dozen red roses.  this week was spent watching them bloom on my desk.  i was fascinated after actually looking at the white baby’s breath that came in the bouquet at how adorable those tiny little flowers really are.  you usually take that fluffy stuff for granted, but it is actually very sweet.

amelia got the sillies this week.  she flip flopped all around in her doggy bed on the floor beside my desk, which she usually does about once a week.  however this week she took it to an all new level.  this week she flopped out right on the floor and wiggle wormed all over the room.  just a flippin’ and a floppin’!

i attempted to make a low carb cheesecake.  however, i severely underestimated the amount of truvia that would be the equivalent to one cup of sugar.  i put in 5 packets, tasted it, and thought it was good.  however, when i baked it and husband served us up a slice i was informed it was not very good.  i had to agree.  next time – much – more – truvia!

we’ve had rough weeks and nights lately.  husband has been working until about 3-4 am each night and then getting up to go to work on regular schedule.  this week i attempted to stay up with him each night, but ended up falling to my sleep on the sofa beside him.  he’d wake me up in the early morning telling me it was time for us to go to sleep.  i think he thought i was a trooper because wednesday afternoon he surprised me with a delicious little cupcake from the wake forest coffee shop – yum – yum – yum.

this week i got big news!  we found out i was selected to be yelp elite!  drumroll please!  there were about 20 other local yelpisans who got this coveted award this week so we all went to the first ever yelp event at city beverage in durham on thursday evening.  it was great to meet all of my fellow yelpers and get to know them.  we had good food and great company and look forward to another yelp event soon!

i posted the v-day blog from the lap top so i could not add in my photos.  what’s a blog without photos?  just words.  boring words.  here they are now:

we had an amazing weekend full of loving. 

our weekend started out with snow on friday night.  they forecasted it, but i still did not think it was going to happen.  i waltzed out of target and it was like a blizzard!  we woke up saturday morning to about 4″ of snow on the ground.

as most of you know, we love food – so our weekend’s focus was the indulgence of nc!  luckily the snow was not on the roads, so we were able to get out and get ourselves some amazing coffee and donuts in downtown wf.  (loving this kind of snow!  it’s gorgeous, but it does not put a damper in your plans!)

we had some errands to do on saturday after our morning breakfast fun, but got those things taken care of so we’d be ready for our amazing dinner at frazier’s in downtown raleigh. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fraziers-raleigh#hrid:whRKk3NzFO_JywFjmpeMJg/src:self

rudy and keek got will a gift certificate to the urban food group for helping them eradicate a virus from their laptop this winter.  we were stoked since we’d already said we were not spending big $ on this year’s valentine’s dinner, and would save our $ for the baby fund.  luckily we got to go big at frazier’s without spending much money outside of our gift card.  thanks rudy and keek!

after dinner we had a great time relaxing with each other and opened our v-day gifties!  husband got me the bulgari perfume i’d been coveting for two years now.  he also had a dozen red roses and chocolates delivered saturday afternoon.  i got him a new back support pillow, a giant box of valentines (the kind you got when you were a kid in grade school), his favorite bottle of wine, and his favorite candies. 

after church on sunday we (as foodies) headed out on a search for the most amazing bakery in durham.  we had to eat outside because it was so busy, but it was totally worth it! 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/guglhupf-bakery-and-patisserie-durham#hrid:Cg4zbksAhVz4DOvv5NAptA/src:self

after brunch we indulged even more and went to the town’s best sweet spot in chapel hill – aka – sugarland.  can you say sweetness?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sugarland-chapel-hill#hrid:dprW_6VkshTZHrk5HI_mrA/src:self

after gallivanting around town we came home and spent the rest of the day with our sweet pups.  they were super sleepy tired on this v-day and made for good cuddlers. 

just when you thought we could not eat one more bite, we ordered a papa john’s pizza this evening.  we met at jmu almost 14 years ago.  our first “meal” together was a papa john’s pizza – so we just had to take it all back to where it first began.

baby, we’ve come along way.  here’s to loving.  loving each other.  loving what each other loves.  loving our lives. loving our future together.

people call and they ask, like – what’s new with you guys?  – well, really – honestly – nothing.  we’ve both been working like dogs these days.  things were going to get better in 2010, but so far neither of us has seen the effects of this great revolutionary change people talk about when the clock strikes midnight on new years. 

this past week i never even took my camera out of the case.  shocking, i know.  when we were not working we were catching up on chores, laundry, mopping, dishes, cleaning rugs, vacuuming, dusting, you name it – we cleaned it.  aside from being like cinderella, we really have not been anywhere or done anything too terribly exciting except for dinner with the neighbors last saturday evening.  we had a great time and really loved the restaurant we went to.  most of you already know that i am a huge fan of yelp.  (www.yelp.com)  for those of you who do not know what yelp is, well – you’re missing out.  its a site you can go to to not only read reviews about any local businesses in the area, but you can also write reviews of your own.  the site is pretty amazing because they allow you to upload your own photos of the places you’ve tried and people get to vote on your reviews and your photos.  right up my alley.  having the background in customer service evaluations, and all of dad’s history with the food industry, yelp is a natural past time for me.  i normally take my camera with me everywhere we go, and just take photos of anything i find beautiful or interesting.  however, when we go out with friends we don’t know very well i try not and scare them by dragging my camera along.  (some people are terrified of cameras.  i never got that, but hey – to each their own.)

well, with a tighter budget and less going out to eat this year it makes it harder for me to “get my yelp” on.  however, when i do, i get super excited about writing the review and watching to see the comments that come from the reviews.  (people actually read them!)  yelp is pretty new in raleigh (compared to chicago) and we just got a new feature in january called the ever elusive “REVIEW OF THE DAY”, otherwise known as ROTD.  i’ve been watching the front page every morning before getting my cup of coffee to see who’s funny review lit up the front page with its brightly golden colored star.  then, this past week, with things being so busy – i did not even check.  i got to work and when i stopped for a lunch time break i checked my email to see i had a compliment from a fellow in seattle, congratulating me on ROTD!  i started freaking out because i was so excited that i got the ROTD!  i went to the page and took a screen shot so i could memorialize this event, then i was going to call rudy and share the good news.  (after all, she is the one who got me into this in the first place.)  bummer, total bummer – rudy was at school this week so i could not call her.  let me call husband, nope, not available.  who else can i call and share this good news…  i called kathy, she was like – umm- okay that’s great.  haha!   she did not get so over-the top excited like i wanted her to.  i was like  man, this is big, big news!  finally, when rudy got home from school later on that night she gave me the (smoke up the a**) kind of boost i was looking for.

however, i must give kathy credit as well – after all – if she had not been hospitalized last week i would have never been to which wich and i would have never gotten rotd, so thanks to kathy for allowing me the visit to that side of town and the starvation running through my veins that made us stop at which wich, which resulted in my rotd award!

check it out for yourself:

www.adritaylorwhite.yelp.com