BEAUTY & THE BEARD: so THIS is 27!

I won't even be bashful about it - IT'S MAH BIRTHDAY!

I've always loved my birthday, and I have no problem being THAT girl sharing that fact.In addition to it being my birthday today- it's Michael's birthday tomorrow!

This of course means we'll be celebrating... so this is the last post you'll get from me this week.

Here's what's been good lately:

A couple weeks ago Michael & I went to a Frozen themed event for the Clean Lakes Alliance- everyone was told to wear silver, white, or blue... and I ended up finding this AWESOME silver dress with some killer beaded sleeves:

Obviously I had to make Valentine's cookies...aaaaaaaaaand put them in rainbow order. Like usual.

Onto more Valentine's cheesiness... I had to bust out my heart sweater too. :)

In other Valentine's Day news- this marked 6 years of my favorite tradition. Want to hear about it? Read more HERE!

Okay. Saving the best for last, everyone.

So on Valentine's Day, Michael and I had a great dinner at home, and were just relaxing with some drinks and Scrabble (yes we're nerds). We're sitting on the couch when Michael insists he really wants some good beer for the night - and since it was 8:45, we had to rush to the grocery store across the street to grab some. After complaining like crazy about having to go out- I went along with it and went with him. He went to go "grab beer" and I went to the candy aisle, obviously. I turned around and realized he was...watching me instead of getting beer. I yelled at him to go grab it before 9pm came around ... and then... my sister walked out of an aisle a little ways down. I was completely shocked. There she was...in all of her cute, short, puffy black coat glory. Naturally I squealed and we hugged and hugged and hugged.

She drove all the way to Wisconsin to spend less than 24 hours with me for an early birthday gift. Oy it was good. We watched Pitch Perfect and went out to get food and gossiped and hugged. Besides giving me the gift of her presence- she also gave me this adorable penguin she made (she sells ceramic spirit animals in her shop!) which is lovingly named Gladys.

Whew. Talk about emotional. THANK YOU LOU!