End of February Photos

So I didn't do so well with the pic a day thing this last week of February.  I worked late several nights and didn't have much going on.  But I still got some pictures of a few great things this past week!

I was going through pictures on my computer and I realized that I don't have many pictures of our Friday night Bible Study, so I snapped a few last week

 Sunday we had beautiful weather, so we took Lily for a walk at the park.  We took her down by the creek and let her off her leash and she had a great time exploring.

 Lily in Action :)

 Monday we had a 5 favorite things party at work.  Each person brought 5 of their favorite item (under $5 each) and then we drew names to see who got which gifts.  I took sets of the elastic hair ties I made last week to give out.  And I got Dr Pepper, Hot Tamales, M&Ms and Pens, A Chick Fil A gift card, and gardening tools.  We had a lot of fun!

And now February is coming to an end.  I'm excited for March--warmer weather (for the most part!), family birthdays, a trip to Austin, and lots of regular good time with friends!

Pic a Day: February 15-21

Another week has come and gone.  It's hard to believe that a week from now it'll  be March!  I'm loving the warmer weather we've had and the promise of spring coming

I posted about our Valentine's date on Saturday.  At 10 a.m. we were sitting down to enjoy breakfast of biscuits and gravy casserole and some cinnamon rolls

Sunday we had our friends Lucas and Yali and Barton and Lucas' parents over for lunch.  Lucas' parents headed back to China on Monday, so we were glad to get to spend time with them before they left.  Since they had introduced us to hot pot, we decided to have them over for a good "American" meal so David grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.  We ate and played games and watched some of the Olympics.  My apartment is definitely one of my happy places and I love when we get to host and have people over

Tuesday (I skipped Monday--oops!) my friend Jill and I enjoyed our free chicken sandwiches in honor of Chick-Fil-A's 50th anniversary.  There's nothing like the smell and taste of free lunch :)

Wednesday I shared from my morning Bible Reading.  The prompt was I am... and all I could keep thinking of was God using that name for himself.  I am doing a daily reading plan where I'll read through the entire New Testament and half the Old Testament this year (plan came from Brook Hills church's resources) so I read 2 chapters a day and this week I was getting into Exodus where God seeks out Moses.

Thursday night we stayed in and watched the Olympics.  And I worked on some of my crafts.  I recently found a pattern for a blanket that I am working on knitting--it's the first thing I've made that's bigger than a scarf--and I also made some elastic hair ties.  

Last night we had our weekly ICF Bible Study.  We had a lot more students than we'd been having so far this semester and our conversations were very encouraging last night.  We had chili for dinner and it re-affirmed that the Crock Pot is my favorite invention ever.

First Married Valentine's Day

This weekend we celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  Friday night we have our ICF homegroup, so we spent that with our international student friends at Bible Study.  Couldn't think of a better way to spend the evening!

Luckily on Saturday we had absolutely no plans.  Which never happens on a weekend.  So we decided to have a day just us.

I start by making breakfast of our favorite biscuits and gravy casserole and some cinnamon rolls

Then we exchanged a few gifts.  

David gave me the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor.  I first saw this at a party we went to last fall and I decided I really wanted it.  So my sweet guy bought it for me all on his own :)

I had given David 14 days of Valentine's treats starting February 1.  They were little gifts with really cheesy notes to go with them such as the ones below:

And for his Valentine's gift I found an idea to do a years worth of sports themed dates and modified it a little to fit our interests.  He got this invitation and February's date card for Valentine's Day and then there are 11 more envelopes to open--1 in each of the coming months between now and next January.  It was a fairly simple thing to put together--but one that I think we will both really enjoy

(I'll definitely post about our dates as we go, so stay tuned!)

Then we headed to lunch at Outback for their Valentine's special--appetizer, steaks and dessert for two.  Yum!

It was a perfect day with my love :)

Pic a Day: February 8-14

Saturday we met up with some friends from the Young Adults group to hand out flyers for a new ESL program getting started.  Our church has an ESL program and is partnering with another church to get a new one started in East Plano.  We took to the shopping centers to hand out flyers and let people know about the free program.  My caption of the day was that I so admire people who come to a new place and have the start all over.  Which is completely true, I can't even imagine that.

Sunday I woke up to an email about On the Border's weekend brunch.  So after church we gathered some friends and headed for Mimosas and Breakfast fajitas.  I love going to brunch!

Monday we had our quarterly All Staff meeting at work where all of our ECI offices meet in Plano for training and announcements.  They had dessert for us and I did my best and resisted the temptation of the chocolate cake balls my friend brought to our table!

Tuesday brought a surprise Valentine's treat from David's parents!  (I have not done as well resisting the temptation of these yummy cookies!)

We had acquired free passes to Studio Movie Grill from a friend, but they expired on Thursday night, so Wednesday we took a chance to relax and enjoy a movie and dinner.  We saw the Lego movie and it was really cute--we enjoyed it a lot!

Thursday I had a late evaluation, so I was gone for work for over 12 hours.  After I went and worked out I came home and we sat on the couch and caught some of the Olympics.  I am so glad we are back in our schedule and doing all of our weekly activities, but all the things we have going on throughout the week really make me cherish our nights at home!

I gave David 14 days of cheesy, corny Valentines and this was the last one I left in his car yesterday :)

Pic a Day: February 1-7

I decided to participate in a photo a day challenge for February--I feel like it's a fun way to catch little things each day.  And I thought this one was fun (and super cute--it's currently my phone screensaver so I can remember the list) so I started it last Saturday.  Here's a recap in a week of pictures

Day 1: Pink.  Even though most of my apartment is de-girly-ized since getting married, there are still a few pink accents... my pink Wii remote among the black ones, my pink laptop, and my purse.  And I spent Saturday with Erin and we headed to Sprinkles for cupcakes and we got to experience the fun pink ATM :)

Day 2: Selfie.  Since this was the first of many cold days this week, I took a bundled-up selfie before I headed out to church.  And then I took another one that afternoon once David made it home from a weekend away-- we spent the afternoon resting to catch up from a busy (and sickly, for me) weekend

Day 3: Heart.  I've posted about my burlap wreath in my Fall and Christmas decorations.  And I love that because my Christmas ribbon was just red and white, the addition of a heart makes it perfect Valentine's decor!

Day 4: Letter.  I got an email from my sister-in-law about sending letters of appreciation to my nephew's school for Valentine's week.  So I made him a Valentine from us with a note on the back

Day 5: Sweet Treat.  I met up with my friend Sami at her house to catch up.  We curled up on her couch with hot tea and snacks for a great night of conversation

Day 6: Red.  Thursday was our snow day!  It snowed most of the day while I was at work and by the time I made it home, I was ready for a nice hot meal.  What's better than grilled cheese and tomato soup on a cold night?  Not much.

 Day 7: Flower.  We ended our Friday with our Bible Study with the International Students at UTD.  I didn't know how to get a picture of flowers from the day so I took other random pictures, but then there was this fun flower centerpiece at dinner.  We love our Friday night dinner and Bible Study.