the weekend + committing to... + happy valentine's day!

happy monday, friends -- and happy valentine's day! how were your weekends? mine was pretty great -- on friday night, i ended up randomly going out with my friend t., who generously bought me a glass of wine at one of my favorite local pubs and provided some awesome conversation while she was at it, and then she and i had the most random and hilarious conversation with the guy sitting next to me, who was...well, let's just say inebriated and not afraid of sharing. good times. (the writer in me loves learning details like the ones he shared about people's lives, though; there's always fascinating stuff to be discovered in everyone, even if they've had six cocktails.)

on saturday, my friend k. and i walked the ringling bridge with her adorable pupster, emma, and then i baked a big batch of the "pink cookies" from molly's lovely book, a homemade life, which you can see in the photo above -- they really do taste best when topped with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. i also quite literally sat down on the floor with some construction paper, markers and scissors and made the valentines you see in the first photo. i put bundles of cookies in the paper bags, and then gave them -- and the cards -- to my girlfriends at our valentine's day catch-up session later that night, and i think they were a hit. it was really fun putting everything together; i'm not a particularly crafty person, but there's something undeniably appealing about making something from scratch (especially for people you love), isn't there?

sunday was more spending time with friends, cooking (this shrimp curry recipe is seriously divine, and so simple -- and it would be equally tasty with tofu or chicken), cleaning and exercising -- a pretty perfect sunday, if you ask me.

i've been feeling pretty great about life in general lately, and i'm hoping to carry that positivity with me into this next week. so, on that note, here are my little commitments for the next several days:

+ continue to make as much food from scratch as i possibly can. the simplicity and deliciousness of that curry really resonated with me -- it's so easy to resort to boxed or frozen food, but it's so much healthier -- and so much more worth it -- not to.

+ spin class, spin class, spin class!

+ sleep.early.argh. (why, oh why, do i have such trouble with this?)

+ remember live in the present moment. i'm still waiting on some potentially big news (hi, my name is cryptic), and it's too easy to drift into future thoughts and "what ifs." so i need to remind myself about what i said about feeling good about life right now, try to embrace it wholeheartedly, and remember that my decisions are just that: my own.

i hope your days are filled with love, friends. xoxo

photos by me