an early birthday & anniversary gift.. :)

so this may sound a little dumb, but it's always been my dream to go to the apple store and walk out with a new macbook in one of those cool looking bags they give you. their laptops are amazing, but also pretty pricey. but because i've been using the old laptop at home way more now that i'm in school, we thought this would be the perfect time to invest in a macbook. after talking to the husband about it, we decided that this could be my early birthday/anniversary gift. (both days land in may, so just two months early ;)) 

yesterday, we headed off to the apple store and i could barely contain my excitement. 

 ^^!!!

 ^^finalizing the purchase!

 ^^caught off guard. i was much, much more excited than what my face is showing in this picture, lol

 ^^totally asked one of the workers to take our picture. embarrassing, much? 

 ^^there's the excitement! (snapchat obsessed, obviously)

 ^^blurry picture, and i look crazy. but we were about to open it together!

^^removing the plastic is always the best part

 ^^personalized :)

i'm currently blogging from the macbook and i absolutely love it. i'm so, so happy with it, and feel super blessed that my husband got it for me. i love you, saadu! i'm so lucky to have you. :)

day trip to chi-town

back in the beginning of february, a few friends of ours were having their wedding reception in chicago. we ended up flying out for about a twenty-hour trip to the windy city. a few friends flew with us from atlanta and back.
there wasn't much time to do much there so once we landed we had lunch at pei wei husband's favorite) then were off to our hotel.
we rested up a bit, attended the reception, then back to the hotel again. we stayed up all night until four a.m. to catch our flight back home the next morning. it was a quick, fun, yet exhausting trip.
we were happy to have celebrated our friends big day and the beginning of their lives together. :)

birthday boy

just two days after valentine's day is the husband's birthday. so similar to last year, i wanted to surprise him in some way and also do some cool themed cake again. there was a lot of pressure though, since last year was such a hit with the surprise plus the cake and all. ;)
i started looking online for different cake designs i could do but also stay within a certain budget. i also needed to make sure that all of saad's friends were celebrating with him somehow since he is super social. the guy has a lot of friends. :)

the first day of celebrations were to be on friday, the 13th, just a few days before his actual birthday. i had a group message going with his family, boss, and work friends to meet up for dinner at a persian restaurant called sufi's. i had told saad we would do our usual date night that friday and i made him believe that i was planning something a few days later with his friends for his birthday. he ended up not suspecting a thing. it was great. :) it was totally worth the sneaking around i did for his cake and presents the week before.

 ^^i put together a gift box for saadu. i ended up getting him a tie for valentine's day, his favorite cologne, a bb gun which he has been wanting forever, and some other little goodies that i know he loves :)

^^all put together

^^his cake was hookah themed. one of his favorite things. also, the hookah is real and actually works so that ended up being another one of his presents :) he loved it

 ^^my birthday boy <3

day two of saadu's birthday celebration was at the house a couple of days later, on the 15th. we got his favorite flavored cake (black forest, yumm) and had his family and his other close friends over. :) it was a fun hangout and he was celebrated, yet again.

 ^^forever selfie-ing

 ^^sister-in-law :)

 ^^what's a birthday without a little cake on your face

 ^^newphew!

over all, i know that saad enjoyed his birthday. and the effort i put in was well worth it.
i love you so, so much hubby. you're my biggest blessing, and i'm so happy to celebrate you today and every day :)

celebrating love

last year on valentine's day, the husband and i ended up not doing anything. because it's his birthday just two days later, that week is usually a busy one for us anyway. but this year, we decided to go all out. and to be the biggest living cliches ever. ;) 

for saad's birthday, i gave him a gift box which also included a red tie along with a note. in the note i told him i had a matching red dress and asked him to please, be my valentine. so cheesy, i know ;) 

i'm not the only cheesy one because at midnight, he asked me to go "get his jacket" for him from the backseat of his car. that's where i found my present. i was so surprised. wasn't expecting it at all. gotta love sneaky saadu :)

 ^^the presents

we went to cheesecake factory for dinner, even though the wait was insane. we ended up getting lucky and got a table in the bar area within about forty minutes (which is not long at all compared to the almost three hour wait to be seated elsewhere.)  

after dinner, we tried to go to the revolving restaurant at westin in downtown but the wait there was also two hours so we left and ended up getting sprinkles cupcake and ice cream. 

 ^^matchy matchy

 ^^the boy

 ^^the two hour wait for dessert had us disappointed

 ^^sprinkles saves the day!

 ^^ice cream and cupcake? best.combination.ever

^^me all happy with my dessert ;)

before this year, i always thought i loved the idea of valentine's day. but after going all out, matching outfits and giving gifts to each other, i realized that these are things we do regardless of it being february 14th or not. plus, it's a real pain in the ass dealing with the two hour waits everywhere you go. so starting next year, we'll be less cliche and more simple. :)

so here's to celebrating love, no matter what the date is and whether you go all out or not. i'm forever grateful for this life with my best friend, today and every day :)

p.s. here's a little throwback of two years ago. when saad showed up on my doorstep in albuquerque, all dressed up in his red button down holding a bouquet of red roses. he gave me the surprise of a lifetime on our first valentine's together :)