Sunday, December 13, 2009

Celebrate Good Times


Yesterday was a day to celebrate many things!

A lot has been going on in the past few weeks. New jobs, successful surgeries, finally recovering from the trials of unexpected medical complications. Toly and I thought that we deserved a night of celebration, so a celebration is just what we had.


Backing up a bit, I woke up feeling better than the past few mornings. Each day is getting a little better. Knowing that my spoiled mornings of oatmeal and Gossip Girl will sadly be no more, I wanted to take advantage of a quiet AM and indulge in this pleasure one last time.



Pumpkin Pomegranate and Banana Oatmeal with a side of Gossip Girl, all before the hubby woke up. It was splendid!

After breakfast, I made it over to the gym for a good run. It felt amazing to run again. Resting your legs really does make a world of difference in your agility and speed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the house. I did some more Christmasy things, baked (don't worry it was from a Trader Joes Bread mix so it was painless), and worked up an appetite for lunch.



Veggie Burger Salad


Roasted Kaboocha



Lunch was completely satisfying.

A few hours later, I got ready for our date.

We went to see a late afternoon movie. The Blind Side was fantastic! Really, one of those feel good movies that leaves you tingling with tears. Love those!

After the movie, we were both starved and ready for our romantic dinner at a restaurant I have been wanting to try for months!

We headed downtown to Bricco. Bricco is an award winning Mediterranean fusion place that has really stirred up significant buzz with the critics. All I've been hearing is raves for this spot, so of course, I had to see for myself.

We waited for a special occasion to make a reservation to Bricco, because, well Bricco is a "special occasion" kind of place.

I started with a fine glass of Malbec for toasting our accomplishments!

My first course was the Roasted Pear, Beet, Argula Salad with a hazelnut encrusted goat cheese medallion. As you can imagine, it was wonderful!




Next up, the most phenomenal Sweet Potato Ravioli I have ever had. Oh my oh my, this was incredible! Even Toly agreed that this dish was delicious!

And for our entree, Toly and I shared the Pizza Special of the night. Shrimp, Spinach, Artichoke, with a Parmesan Creme Sauce.

It was divine! I had 1 1/2 slices but probably could have eaten the whole pie if I knew I wasn't intending on saving room for dessert.

I saw this on the menu online and there was just no questions. Pumpkin Tiramisu.

Tiramisu is my favorite dessert and if you remotely know anything about me and my love affair with pumpkin, it's obvious why this was ordered without any hesitation.

Toly and I shared our dessert, sipped our cappuccino, and talked about how blessed and fortunate we feel for such an amazing year.

We truly had a wonderful evening. It felt great to get out of my PJ's that I have been living in for the past 10 days, and enjoy a romantic, celebratory date with my true love!

Wishing everyone a perfect day! ;)

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21 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you're doing better, and that dinner looks absolutely stellar! Have a great Sunday!

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  2. Man you make that veggie burger salad look delicious (not that it isn't... just, it looks better than mine would look :)). So glad you and Toly had a wonderful date with good food!

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  3. Feeling better + celebrating = FABULOUS!! :)

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  4. awwwwwwwwwwwww! What a cute date night (and well deserved I might add). The food looks so good. A hazelnut encrusted goat cheese medallion? that sounds freaking amazing. You looked super cute. Glad you got a run in too. Wonderful to hear that you're feeling so much better

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  5. aww Lauren, sounds like you guys had such a romantic evening with such AMAZING food!!! The ravioli and the pumpkin tiramisu (OMG OMG) sounds SO totally up my alley...if only i could steal a bite from the pictures!!!

    You look so good and so close to 100% i hope the recovery is going well! :) So great to see you smiling and so happy girl!!

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  6. What an amazing dinner! That salad looks fabbo and delish! I'm glad that you guys had a great date night and were able to enjoy each other's company. :)

    Congrats on the new Mac! Take it from a long time Mac user, the one downside is that pics tend to eat up memory quick. It's best to store pics on an external hard drive. :)

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  7. i LOVE shrimp on my pizza! there is this amazing cafe & they have an avocado/shrimp pizza and it is to die for. i'm so glad you are feeling better & were even able to run!! i think you really took good care of yourself :)
    ps- i really do love this new format!!

    xoxo
    shelley

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  8. Glad you are feeling better! All of the food looks delicious, but especially the Pumpkin Tiramisu!! I love Pumpkin and I love Tiramisu! I bet that was a great combination!!

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  9. you two are too cute! and that restaurant looks amazing - every single thing you ordered sounded completely amazing. your dinner was a well-deserved reward...glad you enjoyed girl!

    also, 11 more days until christmas! that is something to celebrate too, then a whole new year! isn't the excitement of something completely new so much fun? hope you are having a lovely weekend my dear!

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  10. you guys TOTALLY deserved a celebratory night out! and you are so beautiful :) sweet potato ravioli sounds SO good. i am glad you guys were able to go out and have a fun time. cutest couple EVER!

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  11. Your meal looked absolutely scrumptious and completely deserved. Glad to hear your run went well, I'm sure that was a great feeling!

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  12. That four course meal looks PERFECT!!! Sweet potato ravioli is right up my alley! So glad you got in a celebratory meal--and so much sooner than we all though, right?! You look gorgeous!

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  13. I think I would have chosen all of those items off the menu too, especially the salad. Glad to hear you're doing well =)

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  14. Gosh, you two make a poster couple.
    I'm loving the looks of that sweet potato ravioli...what a gorgeous meal for a pair of gorgeous people!

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  15. so glad you had a great date girl!! yall are seriously ADORABLE. and i love your ravioli! yumm!

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  16. You look so happy! Beautiful pictures, great blog.

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  17. I am so glad you are feeling better. I wish I could've been there on the couch eating oatmeal and watching Gossip Girl with you! PUMPKIN TIRAMISU!! My mom made me some on my last birthday. Such a genius idea don't you think? But really, your whole dinner sounds phenomenal and your lunch sounds scrumptious. I wonder if I can find a kabocha down here in FL that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

    Sending you all the love in the world!! XOXO

    p.s. when I get back to VA I think we should meet up! I'm coming back a week before my semester starts up again. So that means Jan. 12 I should be back up there

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  18. I don't know if I've said this before or if it's new but I love the slide show of pictures on the right!

    Aww what a sweet date night! Tiramisu is LOVE, pumpkin? Fantastic!

    PS. That purple sparkly shirt - is it from Express? I almost bought it! I love it!

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  19. Date nights are the best. I want to try for one per week!
    BODA weight loss

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  20. beautiful, delicious looking and sounding eats! you sound like you're in a great place.

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