Weekend Recap: HVD!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you're just overwhelmed with the amount of love and support you have in your life? I'm so incredibly thankful to have experienced that this past week and weekend. From a beautiful handmade card sent to me by a friend, to surprising wedding plans from those so close to me--I've truly felt "#blessed." Last week was sandwiched between two relatively high stress work weeks, but gave me just the energy I needed to finish out February strong. 

The weekend started out with Mexican and margs with the bestie and my second mom. Piece of advice: margaritas before a Walmart trip makes everything too funny. Saturday started out on a surprising note as the fiance arrived just in time to go to a wedding meeting with my MOH and mother. That's another thing: my mom took her entire day to just come and sit with us at the wedding venue to confirm all of my very detailed details. Our wedding location is three hours from her--each way. And she still came! I am thankful to have such involvement in my life from her. 

Follow me on Snapchat: @piperellice 

After our wedding meeting, I met up with one of my bridesmaids, Amanda, as she picked out her wedding dress! I'm so excited to be a part of her wedding in July. Christopher and I started celebrating Valentine's Day on Saturday night by having dinner at Coconut Thai here in Statesboro. Neither of us had ever been there, and we were able to snag a table among the many reservations. It was so yummy! I've never had Thai food before, but we will definitely be going back.

My funny, sassy card.

Oh, it's reversible!

After dinner, we decided to open gifts. I'm not very good at waiting even as much as I love surprises, and Christopher had told me earlier in the week that he had a major surprise. So of course I made him open his first--the fuzziest, warmest, Southern Proper vest! He texted me a few weeks ago after my V-Day His Way post and said, "I think I figured out what you got me for Valentine's Day on your blog." I lied, and said no, but have actually had the vest in my possession for over a month. He loved the vest and it looked so good on him, too!

I always like to guess what he's gotten me before I open my gifts, Most of the time, my guesses are right...or at least really really close. This time, I was so off. I had guessed a box of our wedding china, because of the size and weight of the box, and the white paper looked like the Belk wedding wrapping paper. When I opened the box, I honestly burst into tears. Christopher had gotten me a brand new Canon Rebel Ti with two different lenses, lens filters, a camera bag, and the coolest SD card that sends pictures straight to my phone {I'll definitely be doing a details post soon}!  

Did you see this over the weekend on my Insta? Find me
at @piperellice on Instagram, too!

I was floored. I kept crying and saying, "Really?" over and over again. We had just been talking about cameras at dinner, in relation to the steps I want to take to really grow my blog. But the camera thing was so far down the line! Christopher has really taken an interest in supporting me in this area of my life. He's been asking so many questions, reading all of my posts, and just been overall really encouraging. It's been such a blessing to me, because sometimes I don't feel as proud as I should about this little corner of the Internet, and to know that my fiance wants me to succeed and enjoys making my dreams happen together means the world to me. He researched to find just the perfect camera for this project, and I am so excited to learn all I can about it! 

On Sunday, I madee a special Valentine's Day brunch for the two of us {and began taking pictures on the new camera of everything! Never have I ever been so excited to take the dogs out at 7 a.m. on a weekend; I took tons of good morning light pictures of the girls.}. One of the very first things I ever made for Christopher was strawberry 'stuffed' French toast. I resurrected one of my favorite pins for this special breakfast--check it out here. The best part of this recipe is definitely what is referred to as "The Goodness"--the cream cheese, Cool Whip, powdered sugar concoction sandwiched between two pieces of French toast. 

To keep with the pink Vday theme, we had pink lemonade mimosas with champagne from my January bridal shower. I love any and everything strawberry, and topped off our brunch with some extra delicious ones which were such a nice surprise for February! 

After eating way too much good food over the weekend, we capped it all off by having dinner at 441 Public in Statesboro. If you're in the area and want to try very uniquely crafted food, head here. So delicious. Also, one of the best bars in town. Christopher had a Jack and Coke, and I had the delicious Gin Fizz. He tried the filet special which was cooked to perfection, and I had my favorite shrimp and grits. I'm not usually a brown gravy girl when it comes to shrimp and grits, but 441's is so spicy and delicious; it's definitely in the top three of my all time favorite shrimp and grits recipes.

We topped it all off with a huge slice of chocolate cake. 441 makes everything--even the ketchup and mayonnaise--in house, so it's all extra yummy. Owner Seni Alabi puts his touch on every dish, and it does not disappoint. Although, he was pretty disappointed when he stopped by our table and heard about my delicious box brownies...I guess I'll have to learn how to make them from scratch, in addition to figuring out how to make non-packet gravy to keep my soon-to-be husband happy! 

In true blogger form, we had to try the new camera to get some #OOTN posts. Doesn't my beau look so handsome in his new vest? His outfit details: Southern Proper All Prep Vest, Cotton Brothers red gingham button down, Bass Lee Chelsea Boots. My outfit details: CYNTHIA Cynthia Rowley dress, Sam Edelman pumps, LC Lauren Conrad for Kohls blazer, similar. 

I hope your Valentine's Day was just as sweet and full of love!