Heart Shaped Things

February 14th is my mom's birthday, so Valentine celebration's  have always taken a back seat to celebrating such a wonderful woman. Matt and I had the privilege of celebrating with my parent's last night, who got into town from Oregon yesterday! (Not before making a pit stop in Vegas for a couple days, of course.)

We were able to fit in a some romance, though. On Wednesday night, I collapsed on the couch after working 12 hours and woke up around midnight to a sweet little card perched up against a plate of pureed mango peppered with little rum gelly hearts. (Matt has been experimenting with 'modernistic cuisine' which means lots of recipes that blow my mind.) We enjoyed breakfast in bed the next morning and then spent the rest of the day celebrating my beautiful mother! After they got into town, we drove up to Santa Barbara and enjoyed one of the fanciest meals I've had and then came home for desserts and present-opening! The photo book my Dad made for her definitely stole the show. So creative and thoughtful!

I'm so glad they're here! It was so fun to get to spend her birthday together. As I was slathering layers of jam into the lemon batter yesterday, I realized it was the first time I've ever made my mom a cake! It felt weird not having the whole family together, but I'll take what I can get since we're spread out over a couple continents.

Happy birthday Momma! I adore you and I'm so glad I could be with you on your birthday!