Valentine's Day in Woodstock

Kev and I had the chance to spend Valentine's Day in one of our favorite places--Woodstock, NY. After our short time in NYC, we drove the short drive north to spend some time in this great hippie town. I made us reservations at The Bear Cafe--it was set in the woods and looked like an old log cabin, it was beautiful and I'd love to go back in the fall when the leaves are all colorful. I had lobster bisque, a beet and goat cheese salad, and carrot cake! Kev had a big chicken caesar salad and warm apple crisp. It was all delicious! There's lots of window seating, but we sat by the fireplace. It was relaxing and just perfect.

Friday we woke up early and walked around the town--it was a bit deserted, February must be a down month for Woodstock. We went to see Levon Helm's grave and found Rick Danko's--both members of The Band. Everything was pretty similar to what we saw the last time we were in Woodstock, but it's still fun to see. We had a great breakfast at Oriole 9 then drove to see Big Pink--the house where members of The Band lived and recorded their album "Music From Big Pink." I've become kind of obsessed with that Jane Fonda movie "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding" and it's all based in Woodstock, so it was neat to see the places where scenes from that movie were shot.

Breakfast at Oriole 9.

Kev outside of Big Pink

Cheesin.

Valentine's Day.

Ok, I know Valentines Day was six days ago, but hey, every day deserves a little love. I made some homemade Valentines this year. You know that dollar bin at Michaels? Well every time I'm there I snoop through it and end up spending way more than a dollar. That's where these cards and stamps are from. The rest of the supplies I found around my house. There's something relaxing to me about getting all this together and taking some time to make some homemade love.

Valentine's gift from my BFF, Kate at Newlywed Kitchen!

Valentine's Day.

Alright, I caved in and decided to wish everyone a 

Happy Valentines Day!

Although I do believe that if you love someone, every day should be like today,

and if you're alone, you should love and appreciate yourself all day, every day.

So, enjoy this extra bit of love today!

Valentine's Day Blogger Swap

I just took part in my first blogger swap.

For those who aren't sure what a blogger swap is, don't worry I didn't really

know what they were either--until recently that is!

I stumbled across this great blog, Fabulous But Evil, and saw a post about a

Valentine's Day "Blogger Swap." 

Basically you sign up on the host blog, and then get paired with a random blog--

you have some time to read through the blog & get to know the person, then

you get together a little box of goodies to send to your new blogger friend!

Well, I got paired up with Elizabeth from The Young Retiree.

Let me tell you, Elizabeth is one amazing woman.

Her husband recently got deployed (he's in the Navy), so she is once again

adjusting to life without him. She is a hopeless romantic and always comes up with

cute and fun packages to send to her husband. I sent her a "Navy Wife" necklace, 

a bright orange Gardner Ann's flower clip, a Lush bath bomb and some other fun things.

And here is what I got:

I knew just by the look of the package that I was going to LOVE it!

She told me she loved bright colors, and I told her I loved peacocks!

How pretty is this handmade card?

Ahh and these peacock notecards! They're beautiful!

Flower stud earrings.

And this nice note : )

I definitely lucked out with my first blogger swap!

It's such a fun idea and for $10-15 you can really brighten someones day!