Five Loves on Friday

Happy Friday, friends!  This week totally flew by here!  Did yours?  Well, whether it's raced by or has felt like a crawl, the finish line is in sight and the fabulous prize of the weekend awaits!  But first, it's Five Loves time!...

One // Ice Storm Day

Monday we had an ice storm in the area (which didn't turn out to be nearly as big of a deal as they predicted, but...) my husband's work closed for the day, so we ended up with a long weekend as a family!  Cue the confetti and happy dancing!  Seriously, when my man gets an unexpected day at home I'm every bit as excited as those elementary aged kids who see their school's name scroll across the cancellations on the bottom of the tv screen.  It's a big, fantastic deal!

On a typical weekday I wake up with Jason and prep his breakfast while he showers.  This ice storm day as I came out of the shower I was greeted with this ...

Ham, eggs, and extra cheese, toasted and tasty with a ice cold glass of O.J. ... MmmMmmMmm!

And he put a brisket in our smoker that morning which cooked up to perfection all day long for our dinner!  The four of us spent the day all cozy as could be and thankful to be home together indoors, safe and sound.  I thoroughly enjoyed every sweet and scrumptious bit and bite of the day together! 

Two // Sweets with my Sweets

I received this Sisters Gourmet goodness in my December Popsugar Must Have Box and if you follow along on Instagram, you likely saw this marvelous mix baked up to cookie perfection!  

Every snow or ice day is worthy of a sweet treat, right?  Well, honestly we enjoyed two!  We polished off the bakers dozen the mix yielded that afternoon.  Then, Princess decided to bake up brownies for dessert (for after dinner, not a post cookie dessert ...although that could totally be a thing, right? ;))  So, it was basically Christmas in January here!

... Calorie counting begins, tomorrow. ;)

Three // Blog Planning Like a Boss (or at least that's what my Ashley Brooke pencil tells me)

I have been making excellent use of my new blogging planner!  I took an evening this week to map out my blogging game plan for the entire year.  I started a new blogging series this week which will feature posts you may have missed from the past four years of blogging.  I've got one penciled in for every Thursday through 2017!  Trip Report Tuesdays are back once again which I'm super excited about!  (Thank you to those who stopped by and left such fun comments!  You guys make my day!)  I also have another new blogging series in the works as well!  Stay tuned for more on that!  I'm so excited about all that's to come in this new year!  There's so much I'm looking forward to sharing with you and I can't wait to hear back from you within the comment section of those posts as well!  This blogging community makes my heart sing! 

Four //  It's the Little Things

The other day after turning all my to do's into "ta da!"s  I gave in to my sleepiness.  I grabbed my soft electric blanket, a fluffy pillow, hit the couch, and took a nap.  Naps are seriously underrated, friends.  I felt like a new woman after that sweet snooze.  Also, it was National Winnie the Pooh Day so this quote was way too cute not to insert here.  It's the lit'l things in life, friends! ;)

Five  // Date Night was a Great Night!

(Sorry for the iPhone blurriness.  The pizza was too good to walk away from to get an actual camera! ;))

Last night my parents invited my girls over for dinner and to spend some time at their house, giving Jason and I some one on one time!  We strolled down misty brick streets downtown and grabbed some delicious New York style pizza.  We came home, changed from our presentable "date night clothes" into comfy pajamas and settled in for a couple episodes of The Eighties on Netflix.  There was a whole lot of "I loved that show!" comments of nostalgia from us eighties kids.  It wasn't as fun as those old VH1 "I love the 80s" shows, but it took us back.  Cheesy pizza (Jason's slices were actually shrimp covered, but I was celebrating National Cheese Lover's Day an evening early ;)), memories, and cozy couch time with my handsome man.  Winter date night perfection in my book!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Wishing you a fab weekend ahead!  Hope to see you back here again on Tuesday for some more Cali fun in the sun!

In case you missed it...

Earlier This Week at Chatting Over Chocolate:

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Trip Report Tuesday: California Day 1 // Arrival and Huntington Beach

&

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*NEW SERIES!*  Throwback Thursday // Mickey Mouse Munch

Join me in the adventures to come!

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Linking up with:

My sweet blogging friends, Tif, Katie, & Della for High Five for Friday & 

Friday Favorites with Momfessionals

...If you're visiting from one of these link ups, be sure to say, "Hello!"  

I'd love to come check out your Friday favorites too! ;)