We Are Young Thursdays

A few weeks ago, Levi and I started a weekly tradition called "We Are Young Thursdays." The idea is to do something on Thursday night that makes us feel young and spontaneous... planned spontaneity! ;)

Our first week, we met up with a couple friends at a wine bar, sipped champagne, made friends with strangers, went out for a late-night snack after the bar closed, and stayed out really late. It was awesome and exactly what I needed! The next week, we went back to the wine bar. This time I smuggled in our own cheese plate, consisting of roquefort, red wine jelly, and dark chocolate raspberry hearts. I even stuffed an entire baguette into my purse. We shared. It was fun.

Last week, we decided we absolutely could NOT go back to the wine bar a third week in a row. Getting stuck in a rut would have been a slap in the face to the essence of We Are Young Thursdays. So instead we went to the movies, which I thought sounded kind of boring and not exciting at all. We ended up having SOOOO much fun. We saw One for the Money because I found a coupon to purchase tickets for like $5. It was absolutely, 100% horrible. So bad. We went to the 10:00 showing, and there was only one other couple in the theatre with us. They left about a quarter of the way through. We stuck it out and made it more bearable by making fun of the movie and talking through the whole thing. We got out around 11:45 and decided to go to the midnight showing of The Secret World of Arrietty. We neverrrrr go to movies this late, and we never see two in a row. It was awesome! We loaded up on snacks before the second movie just to feel extra young (and kinda irresponsible). I'm so glad I went along with Levi's seemingly boring plan of going to the movies. He was right. We had fun.

I love this new weekly tradition and look forward to Thursdays every week. I really need adventure and spontaneity in my life (I'm an "Energizer" according to this awesome personality test) and having a night where we focus on that is making us both more adventurous during the rest of the week.

P.S. No pictures for this post because We Are Young Thursdays aren't about capturing the moment; they're about living in the moment. ;)

Nail Polish: A Story & a REALLY GREAT Deal for YOU

This post is about nail polish... seriously. That sounds kinda silly, but I have my reasons. Here we go.

I used to never wear nail polish. When getting a manicure, I never even let manicurists use clear nail polish. I always hated how it felt. And I was always terrible at painting my own nails.

After my miscarriage, I felt like I needed a really small, frivolous, silly new goal or hobby, so I chose nail painting. I decided I wanted to give myself a weekly manicure. Levi has always told me stories about how his mom used to give herself a manicure every Saturday night, so that her nails would look nice for church on Sunday morning. She even had a kit! It was all kept in a box. He remembers her filing and trimming and waving her hands around trying to get her polish to dry faster. All while watching Lois and Clark.

So maybe I'm romanticizing nail painting just a tad, but I always liked the picture in my mind of Julee performing her Saturday night ritual... and I've always thought her hands looked beautiful in photographs. I notice them because her wedding ring became my wedding ring.

I've been doing my manicures for three weeks now, and I'm getting really into it! And strangely enough, it's kind of helping me with my sadness and loss. Life really is all about the little things.

(my Valentine's manicure - all my nails were red except for my wedding ring finger)

I even signed up for the Julep Maven program. Essentially, it's a nail polish of the month club! Fun, right?! I got my first box last week. It included these two gorgeous polishes:

I'm going to use the glittery gold shade (Oscar) for an Academy Award manicure.

This week, Julep sent me an email with a discount code to share. Just click this link, take the style quiz (to find out your Julep Maven style; they have different boxes based on your preferences - I'm "classic with a twist"), enter SHAREONMAY in the promo code box, and you'll get your first box for $.01. Seriously one cent!

Once you're a member, you continue getting a new box every month (mine included a dark chocolate bar this month - I love Julep), and if you don't want a box that month, you can opt out for the month while still remaining a member.

If you take the quiz, let me know what your nail polish style is! I'm curious to find out! :)

Be Mine

Levi and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going out to breakfast (just like last year... apparently, it's becoming a tradition). We decided to go to Madison Square & Garden Café in Laguna Beach... only to find out that they're closed on Tuesdays, even if Valentine's Day falls on a Tuesday. Instead of getting upset when we showed up to a closed restaurant, I just laughed. Don't quote me on this, but I might be learning to roll with the punches a little bit. We'll see.

Anyway, we went to the restaurant next door instead (The Cottage Restaurant). It was supremely mediocre, but we didn't care. I knew Levi had a little surprise planned for me afterwards, so it really didn't matter.

By the way, when I say "breakfast," I mean our first meal of the day. We didn't get down there 'til 1:30 because I slept 'til 11:00...

Anyway, this year, I decided that we should write haikus for each other for Valentine's Day. I text messaged mine to Levi at breakfast. Super romantic, right?!

After breakfast, Levi grabbed a blanket and basket from the car and took me on a little picnic.

How cute is that basket?! Levi lined it with the tablecloth from our wedding and decorated it with paper hearts that he made. I'm in love with the hearts. I think they need a place of honor in our home.

The inside of the basket was decked out with paper hearts too.

Our picnic view:

Levi packed a cheese plate for us with stilton, pecans, apricot preserves, mini croccantini, and dark chocolate raspberry hearts.

He also packed two mini bottles of prosecco... complete with straws for sipping. He knows me so well. :)

After our snack, we laid on our blanket and listened to this week's This American Life podcast. It was so relaxing and perfect.

We decided to go out for coffee before heading home. On our way, I saw a garden full of poppies and a street called Poppy Street. It made me smile. I love seeing poppies and thinking of my sweet little baby. It's sad and comforting all at once.

We found out that my sister was headed to the same coffee shop at the same time, so we decided to order her coffee and surprise her with a pretty pink tulip... that I posed spastically with.

The drive home consisted of me singing my heart out to Ben Harper's cover of Sexual Healing and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On... it is Valentine's Day after all. :)

A Hope & a Dream

Over the weekend, I had a dream that Levi and I had the prettiest little blonde baby girl. Her name was our very favorite little girl name. She was stubborn, very girly, and very charming. She had her daddy charmed for sure, laughing and smiling with him. Levi and I had nicknames for her, and we were all so happy. I woke up feeling very peaceful and in love.

I'm choosing to believe that this dream was a vision of things to come. Very very soon.