Cara Box Reveal! {February}

Let's talk about Cara (pronounced car-rah) Box. It's. awesome. Around the end of January I was browsing through Glam Hungry Mom's blog and came across her post on a Cara Box that she received from a fellow blogging friend. A gift in the mail? Who doesn't love gifts in the mail!? So I hopped on over to Wifessionals to check out what this was all about. Each month you sign up to participate and get paired with two others ladies - one to send your gift to and one to receive your gift from.

I love giving gifts. I love getting gifts. Sign me up!
Go on. Go check it out (if you haven't left me already out of excitement for such wonderfulness!).
Sign up for March's swap here! (Not sure when sign-ups close so get on it!)

So February I sent my gift to Andrea over at Glam Hungry Mom. Wait? What? That's how I found out about Cara Box in the first place! Loved that! And I received my gift from Shelly over at Our Motto is Patience.

I had a fun time putting together Andrea's box and you can check it out over at her blog!

Ok. So my fabulous Cara Box from Shelly!

btw. Shelly's last name is "Motto," hence her blog name, "Our Motto is Patience." Love it.

She made me feel poopy for not wrapping my Cara Box up all cute with ribbons and such. I just put it in the box. Poo. Next time!

So here's what' inside the cute wrapping.

Yummy hot chocolates - Salted Caramel, she must know my heart, and Mexican Cocoa, which Fab will love. He doesn't like Salted Caramel. I mean, really? Crazy hubs.

And some delicious "Cupid Crunch" caramel corn with chocolate. I may have opened that immediately and had a few pieces.

And some glass mugs, which Fab already broke in.

And a cute book that Fab and I can fill out called "what I love about you." Technically it's meant for one of to fill out and give to the other but we'll probably do it together. Love it!

Thank you so much, Shelly!

We haven't had our at home date night yet. Thought about doing it last night but we ended up going out to eat at a local place, Italian Express Pizzeria, simply because we didn't want leftovers and I didn't have any plans for dinner.

If you live near East Boston... Italian Express Pizzeria is super yummy Delish pizzas. Delish meatballs. Delish pasta dishes. It's very small but also very friendly - the owner is out chatting with you and meeting all the patrons... asking them where they live, what they may be in town for, chatting with the regulars. Awesome sauce. The sign above the door says something like "Come a stranger, leave a friend." Yup.

xo - Kem

a jazzy date night

One of the things that I look forward to every week is Friday night date night. That's Fab & I's set night for doing something a little different together that's focused on one another and no one else. Sure, it sometimes gets moved around a little but we rarely go with out our one-on-one date time each week. I love it.

Last night we went to a jazz bar & kitchen in the South End - Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen. They served up live jazz, great service, and delicious southern comfort food. Growing up in the South for the first half of my life, the Southern goodness made me a happy camper.

It was certainly very LOUD and we had to do a lot of yelling and stretching across the table to hear one another when the live music was playing but that's ok once in a while. The music was great. The place was fun. The manager greeted us several times, let us know how much longer we'd be waiting for our table, checked in with us during and after our meal & danced with the two birthday ladies celebrating that night.

It was small and we definitely waited a good 30-45 minutes but I think that is to be expected anywhere with live music on a Friday night and when you're listening to music and you can grab a drink at the bar, if desired, it's ok. (There's a $3 cover charge per person that's added to your final bill when there's live music, too.)

We were boring this time and both ordered the chicken & waffles after reading some good reviews about it on Yelp... Yelp is our guide to everything. Neither of us had ever had it before though so now was the time! I rarely fry food at home... so messy. 

It was DELICIOUS. Crispy and juicy chicken. Fluffy buttermilk waffle. Butter. Maple syrup. YUM. 

Look at that big hunka chicken. Never understood the chicken & waffles thing but always wanted to try it and see what all the fuss was about. Fuss understood.

And Red Velvet cake for dessert... with sweet, homemade whip cream. And layers of rich & thick cream cheese frosting & chocolate ganache between the cake layers. YUM. It wasn't my favorite red velvet ever... I prefer the fluffy to just on the verge of dense cake but it was very tasty.

Family Fun Fact: "Tasty" means bad in my family. Or at least that's the joke. Mom happened to make something that was just NOT good once, it's an extreme rarity for this to happen, and dad called it "tasty," jokingly... so now, anything that's not the greatest is deemed "tasty." Although, in this case... it was ACTUALLY tasty, the good way, not the bad.

Despite the rain outside and walking home from the blue line, in that lovely rain, instead of waiting 25 mins for the next bus, it was a fun and filling evening with my favorite man.

Do you have a date night scheduled in? How do you mix it up without spending a lot? (We don't always go to pricey restaurants on our date nights!)