It Began with Red Velvet

You know my love for Valentine's Day, and I shared some of my plans for love day here.

We indeed had the red velvet pancake breakfast, and those pancakes were unbelievable.

After the first bite, Neal and I looked at each other and declared, "tradition!"

I'm honestly really surprised these aren't on the menu at every breakfast restaurant in Chicago.

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We had agreed not to give gifts this year, but I couldn't help sending a few surprise valentines to Neal throughout his work day.

Strawberry milk is one of his favorite treats, and so is snickers.

He ended up bending the rules just a bit too, and surprised me with a letterpress desk calendar.

I love it, and now I don't have to dash to the kitchen to look at the calendar when I'm at my computer!

It's the little things.

Our Valentine's date landed us at Ben Pao, my favorite Chinese restaurant in Chicago.

Don't tell anyone, but we actually went there last year too.

I just can never get enough of good chinese, and I love that my valentine knows that!

They sat us in a couples booth, where we got to sit side by side on a rounded bench at our table.

It was romantic and cozy, just like Valentine's should be.

Since we were there last year, it was fun to talk about how life is in a different place than it was when we were there last.

Not perfect, but much, much better.

Red velvet cupcakes for our students!

They loved.

I love spoiling them.

I might have eaten the leftover cream cheese frosting on graham crackers last night.

Anyone else do the frosting-on-graham cracker snack?

It was a fun treat my mom used to have for us for an after school snack once in awhile.

It's yummy and sweet!

Speaking of sweet, so are you, friends.

Thanks for being here!