Love Is...

...when you don't need to be reminded to show affection just one day of the year,
because you act like every day is Valentine's Day.

And after almost 8 years together, it's still kind of awesome to hear the words
I love you every single day
(especially when I'm feeling about as pretty as I look in that photo).


Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Is...

...when you're so in tune with each other

that you unintentionally make a weird face at the same exact moment.
Because after close to 7 years together, you're practically the same person by now.
And it's fantastic.

Happy Valentine's Day!



{There's still time to enter the Chicnova Giveaway!!}

Montreal

{view from Mont Royal, the mountain that Montreal is named after}

Last week my boyfriend and I went to Montreal to celebrate our 6 year anniversary.  It was our first time there and we both sort of fell in love with the entire city.  It's artsy with colorful graffiti almost everywhere; has lots of quaint cobblestone roads; it's friendly, hip, diverse, and just a fantastic time!  We spent a few days there enjoying delicious food, practicing our French with the friendly & patient (and thankfully also English-speaking) people, stopping at cafes to sit outside for a drink or bite to eat on pedestrian-only streets, and oh yeah, wandering around a huge week-long music festival that happened to be taking place 2 blocks from our hotel!

Love Is....

...when even after
six whole years together
your heart still skips a beat when you see his number pop up on your caller ID.
 Because you are still just that excited to talk to him.

I can't even express how lucky I feel to have such a wonderful, loving, supportive boyfriend who I am also proud to call my best friend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Vegas, Baby! {Part 3}

It may be hard to believe, but I still have more Vegas photos to share with you.  I'm telling you; it was hard to pry the camera away from my eye the entire time we were there.  Things might have gone a little too far when I found myself watching life through a camera lens more than without it.  But can you blame me?  I am a girl, and am therefore inexplicably and uncontrollably drawn to bright and shiny things.  And as a blogger, I am compelled to capture each and every one of those things on film.

Vegas, Baby! {Part 2}

If you've ever been to Las Vegas, then you know that one blog post full of photos just doesn't cut it.  There are so many exceptionally beautiful, interesting, and strange things to look at, which translates into precisely three posts' worth of pictures.  So here's installment number two.  If you haven't had your fill yet of bright lights, interesting art installments, and other random bits of this captivating town, then you'll be happy to know that round three is only a couple short days away.  And if you're just sick of seeing all of these happy memories of mine, well, then you're not a very nice person, now are you?  And also, hang in there because I'll be back with regularly scheduled outfit posts next week (except they'll be coming from Florida where I'll be visiting my sister for Thanksgiving.  What a turn of events!  I'm so full of surprises!) 

Vegas, Baby! {Part 1}

Last week we went to Las Vegas.  The timing couldn't have been worse; our flight was scheduled to leave the day after Hurricane Sandy hit NJ.  Needless to say, that flight wound up being cancelled, but we were lucky enough to get on a flight the following day.  We wound up losing one day of vacation, but after several days without power, the abundance of electricity and the ability to take a (much needed) hot shower more than made up for the time lost.  We had a blast there going bar hopping, eating to our hearts' content at buffets, pretending to be high rollers while playing $0.25 video poker and getting free drinks (score!), strolling around town, and taking in a show (if you ever have the opportunity to see Cirque du Soleil's Beatles LOVE, do it do it do it!).  But the biggest bonus of the entire trip was the fact that one of my cousins, who lives 400 miles away, just happened to be there at the same time for a friend's bachelorette party.  Getting to meet up with her for a few hours in a posh rooftop bar with views overlooking the whole strip was an unexpected surprise that made my entire month.

Guess Who's Back

Thanks, everybody, for all of your concern and well wishes.  After 10 days without power due to Hurricane Sandy, I'm finally back on the grid.  Luckily we were on vacation for 6 of those days (photos coming soon), but the few we endured without electricity, heat, hot water, or the ability to cook a hot meal were less than ideal.  At first hunny bunny and I were excited to sit in a romantic, candle lit apartment and chat while eating snacks & drinking beer, but after a few hours of breathing the cloying, nausea-inducing smells of about 20 oxygen-sucking scented candles, and realizing that there'd be no TV to chase away the boredom, the novelty wore off pretty quickly.  Fortunately, a bunch of wonderful volunteer workers from Ohio came to personally restore my town's power.  Without them and their generosity, I can only speculate as to how long we'd still be without electricity.  It truly made my day when we went out for a run on Saturday and saw them hanging out, waiting for their next assignment.  We stopped to talk with them for a bit and express our sincere gratitude for their kindness.  Not only were they friendly and just downright nice, but they were genuinely happy to help, and were excited to learn where they'd be sent to help next.  To know that there are people like these men, who are willing to leave their families for 2 weeks, drive hundreds of miles, work during a cold and windy snowstorm, and even miss their chance to vote in the presidential election, and who do it all with a smile on their face, warms my heart and makes me proud to be part of the human race.

{that's me in front of this year's Christmas tree}

Don't get me wrong, besides a fridge full of rotten food and a large tree falling in our yard (miraculously missing everything and landing in a spot where nothing and nobody were), we came out relatively unscathed.  But it is heartbreaking to see the massive damage and destruction Sandy caused to other parts of NJ and NYC.  The Jersey shore is no more.  Parts of New York's subway system and tunnels were flooded, downtown Manhattan was underwater; there was fire, flooding, destruction, and death.  Sandy is in the top 5 worst storms this country has ever seen, causing more damage than Katrina did to New Orleans.  Some families have lost everything and have nothing to wear, nothing to eat, and no place to call home.  If you'd like to help please click here, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief.  Every little bit helps.

Celebration

                                                                                                                                  via

If you have been following my posts since the beginning of the week, you will be happy to know that Sarah's operation went very well this morning.

Since my boyfriend's family is in Switzerland and we're in the US, he's only been communicating with them by text so we haven't gotten all of the details yet.

But what we do know is that her doctors are 99% sure that she will recover to be just as healthy, intelligent, and completely awesome as she was before.

{Plus, she looks super cute with a shaved head.}

And that's a cause for celebration.

Have a happy weekend!!

Love Is....

...when you're having a bad day, so your boyfriend brings you a glass of wine, and then proceeds to

paint your toenails for you.

Using colors he chose himself.

And because he is the greatest man you have ever known, he even adds the clear top coat.

I feel so lucky to have this man in my life.

I would be lost without him.

Happy Valentine's Day!