Mid February: 2015 Recapping.

As per usual, I've been way behind on catch up posts - I'm honestly so impressed by all of you who balance work, family, social lives, and social media along with blogging; I legitimately can't seem to get it together no matter how much I determine myself that I'll post more regularly, upload pictures more quickly, etc. So seriously - I'm in awe and can't wait for they day that I stop doing these way late and ridiculously long catch up posts!

New year, same me.
I say this considering that I never even posted about New Year's Eve, which was a low key, but amazing celebration with Anthony, his brother, and his sister and her husband. We first went out to dinner in Hoboken, then back to his sister and her husband's apartment for (too much) prosecco, wine, Clicquot toasts at midnight, and drunken dancing. It was the perfect way to bring in 2015, though I woke up the next morning with a slight case of food poisoning (initially thought to be a hangover due to the copious amounts of drinks and beautiful dance moves). This was cured by House of Cards, and being taken care of by a very sweet boyfriend who braved the cold to buy me ginger ale, Saltines, and chicken noodle soup (which he had, since he forgot chicken noodle soup is not vegetarian friendly).
Prosecco in goblets.

Birthdays was the worst days...
Next up (after many game nights, time with family and friends, and nights in - specifically finishing up House of Cards), was my 27th birthday.
I've never been a fan of celebrating my birthday, probably because I haven't had a good birthday celebration in years - it always turned into a headache where I spent more time trying to appease what everyone else wanted to do versus actually celebrate as I would want.

This year though, after I was kind of bummed about planning it (by bummed I mean super mopey and not into planning at all), and Ant completely stepped up. Not only did he find the perfect restaurant for he and I to go to, but the restaurant had the most gorgeous rooftop bar where friends were invited to join us.

On my actual birthday, my mom, dad, brother, Ant, and I headed to a restaurant/lounge near me for Fig Moscow Mules (my dad ordered a Raging Bitch instead - I think just so he could say it while giving my mom a side eye), delicious food, and then headed back to my parents house for this gorgeous cake my mom made me (I bought her cake decorating classes from Carlo's Bakery for Christmas, and she used what she learned to make this for me, in my favorite color!).

The following Saturday, I headed to the Manhattan Vintage show with Anthony's sister, where we spent hours perusing the different booths, buying vintage odds and ends, and just having some quality girl time. It was a really fun and special time (and she was totally accurate in her recommendation for me to only bring the amount of cash I was prepared to spend - I easily could have spent my mortgage payments there).

After returning from round one of the city, Ant and I got dressed up and headed to Print (it's located in the Ink hotel in Hell's Kitchen - it's kind of adorable, Ink hotel, Print restaurant, and Press Lounge), where we had one of the most incredible meals ever (seriously, so worth the visit if you're in the city). Everything is farm to table, they were accommodating with the fact that I didn't eat meat (put the pancetta on the side of our gnocchi appetizer so that he could still enjoy it and I could feast on gnocchi), and the drinks were fabulous. The service was also some of the best I've ever had.

From there, we headed upstairs to the Press Lounge, which has the most incredible city views (this will have to be a repeat summer visit since they open up the entire balcony that wraps around the perimeter) and amazing drinks (I had Old Fashioneds all night that were perfectly made). The NYE crowd from Ant's family was there, as well as a handful of other friends that made the trek in (or from the Upper East, which is a considerable hike) on the cold day. It was one of the best birthday celebrations I've ever had - and I got to wear my new jumpsuit which I was crazy excited about.
The best looking, most thoughtful boyfriend ever.

On the Sunday following my birthday, I headed to Anthony's parents house, where his family made me dinner, which included his mom's vodka sauce (which now beats Carmine's for best vodka sauce EVER), and a salted caramel chocolate tart handmade by his dad. It was a fabulous time, and featured more amazing and incredibly personal gifts.

Valentine's Day.
I think that every girl (I know it's a generalization) at some point, totally romanticizes Valentine's Day. We long for that guy who loves us to show up with flowers, tell us we're beautiful, plan surprises, etc. and somewhere along the way, after these things never quite happening, we kind of give up on the notion that those kind of scenarios exist in real life.

I was there too until a few days ago.

Ant and I had planned to go to the Catskills to a bed and breakfast we had gone to after Thanksgiving for a blissful and completely relaxing three nights away. Relaxing and being pretty secluded sounded like the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day, so we booked in December, and had been looking forward to it for months. Ant showed up on Thursday, chocolate and red roses in hand - my first Valentine's flowers of my entire life (besides from like, my dad and grandpa), which was already more than enough.

We headed up to the Catskills the Friday before Vday, and got to our bed and breakfast with the perfect amount of time to relax, drink the complimentary champagne they had given us, and take in the sunset. It was an absolutely perfect night (made even better when I kicked his ass in Phase 10).

On Valentine's Day, we set alarms and woke up for breakfast (the breakfast really cannot be missed at the lodge - it is unreal), and as we sat waiting for our breakfast, Anthony remembered he'd left his wallet upstairs, and had no money to leave a tip. Upon coming back, we devoured our pancakes and then headed back up to the room to exchange gifts - it didn't take something like this for me to know that I have the best possible boyfriend in the entire world, but I'm telling you, he continues to blow me away. We walked into the room, where I found the reason for his trip upstairs.

To me, Valentine's Day can be overrated because it seems like so much emphasis is put onto one singular day. However, it was that much more meaningful to me since I have someone in my life who treats me with so much love, thoughtfulness, and respect every single day that it's easy to see a holiday like Valentine's Day as an extension of how everything typically is.

It was a snowy day in the Catskills, so we decided to cancel our dinner reservations at a French restaurant 17 miles away, down a very serpentine road, and instead, called a local pub to order pick up, and ended up walking in a snowstorm (with me wearing two layers of pants, three layers of sweaters, fur earmuffs, and Uggs) to get it before eating it in the lodge's dining room.

It ended up being the perfect Valentine's dinner, where we opened a bottle of wine, sat by the fire, and just talked. I honestly could not have asked for more, and think this night completely trumped anything else we could have done. It breaks it back down to the fact that it's not what you do, it's who you're with when you're sharing things. It was definitely a perfect weekend (and so hard to leave!) and one where I continued to pinch myself wondering what I could have done in life to get so lucky and have such a wonderful boyfriend.

Vday burger, soup, and wine (unsure of why the photo quality is so grainy, but that's okay).

Anyway, that is my mid-February status update on 2015 so far - here's to hoping I get it together (and order a new computer since mine is officially dead and the work computer doesn't quite cut it) and don't take forever for more status updates.

I hope you all had beautiful Valentine's Days, and whether you're a fan or not, I hope you know that you're loved by so very many people. xox