A Relaxing and Special Weekend

Life is SO beautiful! 

 Sometimes I have to stop, step back and really make a conscious effort to be grateful for every small thing, every dear friend and the loved ones in my life. 

Speaking of loved ones... this past weekend I celebrated a special anniversary with a special someone, someone I'm truly, truly 

grateful for.

Here is a little re-cap of the weekend in pictures and words:

Friday morning.... Hair did and makeup done, I bundled up and went out to a local patisserie where time was well spent drinking coffee and catching up with an old friend.  

Fully caffeinated, the rest of the afternoon was spent grocery shopping and picking up fun surprises for my dear mother in celebration of her Birthday!

After spending three long hours searching for ridiculously hard to find special ingredients, I finally returned home to tackle a triple layer chocolate mousse cake!!! =)  I'm not going to lie, this cake seriously scared me at first, not only because the ingredients took hours to find, but because of all the tedious steps involved in making it, I guess for me that was all the more reason to make it.  

And yes....another three hours later and the cake was complete, complete with a few mishaps along the way, but nonetheless COMPLETE!!!! 

Ssshh don't tell her, it's still waiting in the freezer.  Best part about this cake is the fact that you can 

make it ahead of time and freeze it.  

My beautiful mother just got back in town from Florida (sooo jealous) and still doesn't know we are surprising her!

I love planning a birthday when the birthday girl is out of town.

Then came Saturday....
Three hours to kill in a Mall on a Saturday morning and this is what happened!!!
Guess this will be my ONE nice buy for a while.  =)
I've been looking for a little purse like this for a long time, so happy to finally have found it!

The best part of the weekend.....

Saturday evening I went on a hot date with this guy in celebration of our meeting each other one year ago!

The two of us went to see Les Miserable at the local iPic movie theater.

A few wonderful hours were spent talking together over drinks and food in the relaxing lounge area before our late night showing. 

The food was amazing!!!  

And our seats were even better!

I tried so hard to not fall asleep in these comfy recliners, total fail. =(

Time was spent Sunday afternoon listening to the Les Miserable soundtrack while laminating and filing away all the recipe cards collected over the years. 

Then a little coffee and blogging time and I'd say it was a wonderful weekend!!!
I'm so thankful for my mother and family, for my sweet boyfriend and dear dear friends.
What people in your life are you most thankful for?

XOXOXO
Maggie