Valentine's Day

The night before Valentine's Day I had an EXTREMELY bad migraine which kept Taylor and I both up most of the night. So... Friday (Valentine's Day) didn't quite start off the way we were hoping. I had class at 8 and we both woke up extremely late and I figured Taylor wasn't going to do anything because we both had an VERY busy week and I didn't think he'd have time, I didn't do anything for him - and he mentioned the night before that we could see a movie or something...let's just say I felt like crap and my hopes were low.

Taylor dropped me off at school at 8, he then goes to class and work at 9:30, I come home at 11, then I pick him up at 5. While in class I kept thinking that all I wanted to do was sleep - but I also really wanted to do something for Taylor. I stopped at my parent's house and made some hearts to decorate our apartment with - she also gave us a few treats and then I stopped by the BYU Creamery to get a mint brownie and ice cream (his favorite). When I got to the Creamery there was ONE brownie left - I about died I was so happy and relieved. I had determined I would clean the apartment as the rest of Taylor's present (when you are married that is surprisingly the best present) AND I was going to take down Christmas! Finally.

When I walked through the door I was in such a terrible mood - I was just tired and my head was still killing me but I really wanted to make the day good for Taylor and clean things up. On the table I found these HUG GORGEOUS flowers, a beautiful box of chocolates, and the sweetest note. I started crying like a baby - I had no idea how he was able to keep it all a secret and sneak these flowers into our car/apartment without me knowing. He is amazing. It literally was the biggest and best surprise in the world. He's too good.

The rest of the night was full of more surprises. He told me to dress up and that we'd need to leave at 7:00. We drove to BYU campus - which made me extremely confused at first - he took me to the CDT dance concert (which is so thoughtful since I love dancing). After the concert we took off to... another parking lot on BYU campus - again extremely confused - where he handed me a wrapped present. I honestly didn't expect ANYTHING else - the flowers, chocolate, concert, and I knew dinner was coming - it was all too much. He gave me an adorable T&B engraved bracelet {pictured below}. I love it so much. We finally then headed to dinner - at Chef's Table (the dressing up nice finally made sense). We have been there once before - for my 18th birthday. It was so amazingly delicious. 

I love my sweet Taylor more and more everyday, he is literally my better half.

I am so incredibly grateful to have him.

 ^^the set up for Taylor when he came home from school (Sans-Christmas)^^

 ^^the little treats I got for Taylor^^

 ^^flowers and chocolates from sweet Taylor^^

 ^^yes, the flowers are half as tall as me which means 2 1/2 feet^^

 ^^my other surprise - he found and ordered if from my Pinterest board - such a stud!^^

 ^^butternut squash soup, prime rib and lobster - so so so yummy!!^^

catching up: last week in NYC.

AH!! I am so behind on life. Things have been insane trying to get settled into our new apartment, starting my marketing program, teaching 6 jazz classes a week, and starting back up at Avenia. Not to mention all the million other things I have on my list. So, I am currently waiting for Taylor to get out of a meeting (we only have one car now) and all my books are at home so I thought I'd post about our last week in NYC.

 after grocery shopping on Monday I bought our last Levain Bakery cookie - sad day.

I worked Tue-Thurs.

Taylor worked Mon-Fri.

^^My building on Park Avenue.

 ^^Taylor on his last day of work. They gave him cupcakes!

 ^^cruising the UWS on our way to Shake Shack.

 ^^genius concrete: vanilla custard, bananas, marshmallow sauce, and caramel. Yes, please.

^^we spent a long time hanging out under the trees along Central Park. It was a perfect evening.

On Saturday we headed to Chelsea Market and the Highline one last time for lunch.

 ^^Hands down the best Mint Oreo milkshake in the world - Ronnybrook Dairy.

 ^^DELICIOUS fresh blueberry ice cream cone. 

  

We came home and started to pack and after a while we decided to head back into the city for dinner. We went to a Mexican place in the village. 

The village on a Saturday night is not my favorite place - but all the drunks are entertaining. And loud. It was too dark in the restaurant for a photo but the guac was yummy and my tilapia tacos were amazing! I was craving Mexican since there isn't much of that here in Utah. The restaurant was called Diablo Royal.

^^We were craving cannoli's and sure enough there was a place close by with amazing yelp reviews. When we arrived I recognized the place. My mom and I had actually been to this place before in 2008 when we went on a food tour of the village before I was familiar with the city. It was AMAZING. I think it was my favorite cannoli yet. Taylor tried a chocolate dipped one which was also good. The place is called Pasticceria Rocco. I highly recommend. Even if you don't like cannoli's they have about a million other options that all looked divine.

On our last day we went to the Frick Collection - my favorite museum. I knew Taylor would love it because of all the architecture and house design. And I was right. Our first and only museum this trip. We also took a trip to Roosevelt Island (between Manhattan and Queens) and ate lunch at a yummy restaurant on the Upper East Side.

We packed all night and headed to the airport the next day for our very long journey home!

a weekend filled with a few favorite things..

 ^^The Temple View^^

 ^^New Shirt (Taylor picked out from Anthro for me!)^^

 ^^Dinner at LUCE - Best Mushroom Ravioli^^

 ^^Dessert for Two^^

 ^^Walking the UWS Streets of NYC^^

^^Panini at an Outdoor Cafe^^

 ^^Pretty Buildings^^

^^aBree Fashion^^

 ^^Columbus Circle^^

(Taylor's first view of Manhattan as a missionary was coming out of this subway station and I used to come here almost everyday for work fall 2010)

 ^^He Is My Favorite^^

 ^^Visiting My Old Work - J.Crew^^

 ^^Remembering Milan with A M A Z I N G Grom Gelato^^

(Salted Caramel, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Melon)

 ^^Happy Girl^^

^^NYC Midtown Style^^

 ^^L O V E Ralph Lauren's Madison Shop^^

 ^^Some Pretty UES Architecture^^

 ^^Eating H E A V E N L Y Macarons in Central Park^^

 ^^Salted Caramel (UNREAL!!), Chocolate (okay..), Mint (Amazing!), Vanilla (Really Good).^^

^^Central Park^^

^^Breakfast Complete with Leftover Magnolia and Netflix^^

(Sunday we spent most of our day sleeping in and finishing Heroes (which we started on our honeymoon) we figured it'd be our last relaxing day for a very long time... we topped off our lazy cuddle filled day with popcorn and marshmallows, mango licorice, and cookie dough)

We had to fit in all our favorite things because we only have ONE MORE WEEK left!! Crazy how fast time flies. This weekend will be filled with packing and preparing to move. 

We are sad to leave NYC but are excited to be starting up again at BYU and be close to our family and friends. ((Also very excited to start working out again every day!))