Is it really February already?

Wow, January sure did fly by quickly. Even though my first wave of midterms has passed, I still don't feel like I'm really in the "groove" of the semester yet. Maybe I'll get there by the end of this month if I'm lucky! 

Well, we started off the month by saying goodbye to two of our best friends, Kiel and Emily. They had been gone to D.C. all of fall semester, but we were lucky to have them in town for a few days before their big move to California. We'll miss them lots, but hopefully we'll be able to visit them when we're in the mood for warmer weather :)

We also got to brush up on our babysitting skills thanks to the Driscolls, our good friends in the ward. With our little nieces spread out all over the country we never really get to be around kids anymore, but we certainly love getting to see Shaylee. We love her little attitude and her dancing skills!

On a different note, I think Nick's good luck is rubbing off on me. I mean, it's not too often that someone wins a trip to LONDON right? That's only the beginning of his good luck streak, too. OrangeSoda had their holiday party right after New Years, and my name got drawn out of the raffle for Oakley sunglasses! I was pretty surprised, but I attribute my luck to Nick. Haha. 

I met up with Lindsey and Kyndra at the Grand America bridal fair and I absolutely had to try the goodies at their new French pastry shop. They definitely didn't disappoint. 

I've also been looking everywhere for a place to get French macarons in Utah and I was so excited to hear that they had them! I'm a little bit obsessed with them. 

I'm also a little bit obsessed with the Grand America chandeliers as well. After seeing how they're actually made, they're so much more amazing to look at. This one was so perfect for the new pastry shop. 

We finally ordered our wedding canvas wrap! I know, it only took us about two years, but we're so happy to have it in our apartment. The flowers on the table are thanks to my floral design class. It's so nice to actually take a fun class for once. I love it!

And last but not least - my birthday festivities! It fell on a Thursday this year so we used it as an excuse to celebrate all weekend. Thursdays are probably the busiest out of the week for Nick and I, but he was so sweet to take me to my favorite dessert cafe, The Chocolate, for some yummy cupcakes. 

My sweet mom drove down on Friday and took us out to dinner at Happy Sumo - one of our all time favorites. Then on Saturday we couldn't pass up using my birthday coupon from Tucanos. It was definitely the best weekend for food we've ever had! 

I'm typically not a huge beef fan, but every once in a while I crave really good steak - the filet mignon wrapped in bacon is a recent favorite. I always take the bacon off, but the beef itself is a-mazing. 

 And I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a non-blurry picture of the Riverwoods mall. I love that they keep the lights on even after Christmas. 

My dad got this adorable Cath Kidston bag for me. I had never heard of her brand before but my dad is way more exposed to the world's fashion trends than I am. He has some killer shopping skills :)

We also decided to use my birthday as an excuse to upgrade my camera. I've been using the same little Cannon since my dad bought it back in 2005. I loved how little it was, but after 6 years the buttons were starting to wear out. I'm seriously surprised it even lasted that long though!

We went from this:

To this! We stuck with the Cannon but we upgraded from 4 mega pixels to 14. Haha. Thanks to a great sale and an awesome BestBuy giftcard, we got a great deal.

And I couldn't pass up sharing my other favorite birthday gift - my sister put this little message on her blog for me on my birthday. It seriously melted my heart and I watched it a million times. I'm so excited to see them in a couple weeks!