Thursday, February 15, 2007

Love is...



Spinach Pizza with Red Pepper <3s



Banana Split Pudding Brownies

I stayed home from work yesterday partly because of the weather and partly because I wasn't feeling well. My doctor thinks I have an ulcer so I've been eating some really bland food lately. Poor M has been suffering through steamed veggies and rice for too long! I had to make him something really fantastic, so I made this great pizza and his favorite brownies. Nothing says 'I love you' like some comfort food, right?

Valentine's Day is an extra special day for us. 4 years ago on February 14th, M asked me to marry him in the restaurant we had our first date at. I accepted and have been playing the happy role of fiancee ever since. We're procrastinators, so we really haven't planned anything for a wedding until the past few weeks. We're looking to get married this October. How exciting!

Now for all of my married buddies, does anyone have any helpful hints for the reception/ceremony/etc? I look to you all for guidance! :)

30 comments:

Tracy said...

Your pizza is really cute! And the brownies look scrumptious.

Twisted Cinderella said...

Love the pizza! And the brownies look yummy!

Feb 14, 2002 was my six month wedding anniversary.

laura k said...

Wow, those look delicious! V-day is such a special day to get engaged! I don't have a lot of suggestions for you... I didn't plan my reception at all. But I'm sure it will be lovely! Congrats!

theONLYtania said...

Ahh that's such a great story about V-day and the proposal. I didn't know you were engaged.. get married already! And have a huge awesome vegan wedding cake! The pizza looks delicious!

About those brownies.. I've seen a lot of people make them and they never really LOOK that appetizing.. but do they taste alright?

Kati said...

Well gee, this is weird...I thought I was just sick, too, and I was given the diagnosis of gastritis (irritation of the stomach lining), which is close kin to ulcers. That means that I've also been eating my share of bland food lately. I hope you feel better soon!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! :D I think fall is the perfect time to get married - so pretty!

aTxVegn said...

Congratulations! I'm not married and haven't been for quite a while, so I say elope to Las Vegas. Just kidding - I'm sure Boston has some wonderful options for you two.

Your Valentine's dinner looks like pure love!

MeloMeals said...

Food looks great! I loved the heart shaped pizza...

Take care of yourself... an ulcer!! that hs to be painful.

I have no suggestions about your wedding.. my wedding was a very small affair, and I catered it myself... all for under 600 bucks including the dress...

Mikaela said...

Aw! Love the spinach pizza with hearts! Good luck with the wedding planning :)

KleoPatra said...

Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet! Very nice. Congrat's, too... HOORAY!

Anonymous said...

I don't have any suggestion, i have a very simple weeding, but i want to say Hooray! way to go.

hope you feel better soon!

Emmy said...

Your heart-shaped spinach pizza is too cute and the brownies sound delish. Sorry to hear you might have an ulcer :( I hope you feel better soon.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding this fall!!! I don't think you're a procrastinator at all....We had a long engagement of 7 years....then decided to elope. I'm not one for rushing into things. LOL

As for the reception....just follow your heart and do what you two WANT to do. If your guests don't like it, tough beans. We eloped and then had a reception at our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant a month later. It's all about you two so make it something personal and unique that reflects both of you...Good luck with your wedding plans :)

Anonymous said...

I hope you're feeling better soon! Congrats on your wedding. Fall will be such a beautiful time to have it. I love what Emmy said. Just do what you want and don't let anyone else talk you out of it. When Marty and I were planning our wedding, we knew we wanted it to be a simple and frugal ceremony. I'm not really into the whole poufy white dress thing and he hates dressing up also. I wanted to elope and get married in Aruba or Hawaii but he thought I'd regret not having a ceremony with my family around (which I'm still in disagreement with him). So we had a very small (family and few friends - max 20 people) ceremony at a vacation house we owned in Northern California. It was perfect for us. Very casual and low key. I spoke to a lot of people who spent thousands of dollars on a wedding and a big percentage regretted it. I guess the important thing is to remember your priorities and what the day means to you and what memories you want to take with you. Good luck!

Carrie™ said...

Awwww! Nikki! What a lovely post. I love the heart shaped pizza with the heart shaped peppers. That is so adorable!
Wedding hints. Hmmm. I've been married twice. First time I was a military wife & got married by the Justice of the Peace. My family was there, but not too exciting. My dad hosted a small reception & it was very nice.
Jim & I were engaged for two years before we got married. Don't you get so tired of the questions - have you set a date? what's taking so long? etc. We knew we didn't want a big wedding and debated getting married in Scotland. I did a lot of research & it would have been too expensive for us at the time. We were going to wait, but then a friend of ours - an older, wiser friend - said "What are you two doing. Just get married already." So we decided to elope right in the city where we live. The church we attend is right next door to where we used to live, so it was super convenient. We met with the minister & made all of our plans in secret. Jim bought a new suit. I bought a new dress - not a wedding dress, it was burgundy. We had our best friends as witnesses & one guest. Jim's mom. I called my parents the night before to tell them (they live 1500 miles away). I had announcements made and mailed them after the fact. I ordered a lovely cake, got my flowers in the morning & made my own bouquet. For our reception, we took everyone to one of our favorite restaurants. We didn't feel like we'd missed out on anything. After all, the day was about us and that's what we wanted. Maybe on an anniversary sometime, we'll have a "reception" for everyone. But really, I didn't want to go into debt to get married. I wanted a marriage, not a wedding.
Only you can decide what is perfect for you and M. Follow your heart and do what makes you happy.

Carrie™ said...

After I left a big long comment, I thought of something else. I don't know if finances are an issue for you when it comes to a wedding, but I had friends who were both going to university when they got married. They were average poor students, so they had a potluck reception. Some people thought it was tacky, but I thought it was a lot of fun. There was food galore! They had a friend offer DJ services & everyone ended up having a blast! Set a budget that you can comfortably afford and stick to it.
But again, I can't stress enough - DO IT THE WAY YOU WANT TO!! It's your wedding, no one else's. If a big, lavish production is what you want, then go for it! If you want an outdoor wedding in someone's backyard, do it! If you want to get married while skydiving, then do that!
I don't know if I was much help. I can't wait to hear what you decide! CONGRATULATIONS!

Anonymous said...

THose browies look great. I don't have any wedding advice but a friend of mine's daughter is planning hers and it is already up to $16,000. That seems so excessive to me but she said that's about what weddings cost now. My daughter already knows that when she's ready to get married, the wedding will be on the frugal side (she's okay with that).

urban vegan said...

I <3 your pizza.

Candi said...

You are so sweet! You didn't feel well and still made M this awesome dinner and dessert! :) :) I hope you feel better!

Congratulations on the upcoming wedding!!! I have never been married, but I go to at least one wedding per weekend and know most all the major wedding facilities in the Metro-West. My favourites to work at are: Harrington Farm (very New England and very pretty!), Zukas Hilltop Barn (Gorgeous...just beautiful!), and also Harding Allen Estate. In all of those, you can be married on the premises, if you choose. I was just at Harrington Farm last night shooting a wedding that was so elegant. I know more places if you need more ideas! I'm not sure exactly which are you are looking to be married in, but I give you more ideas and tell you who to contact for a meeting if you want! Just Myspace me! :P

wheresmymind said...

Congrats on your vday engagement anniversary! :D

bazu said...

Happy anniversary to you guys! I am also 1/2 of a procrastinating pair- we were together for almost 7 years before we tied the knot! A friend of ours got ordained on the internet and married us (wearing a fake white collar-sacriligious!) We got married on the waterfront in our old NYC neighborhood. We only had immediate family and a few friends (~20 all together). Then we went to a restaurant for the "reception" so everyone could eat and drink what they wanted. All together very simple.

There is one thing I regret though, and that is that we didn't hire a photographer or even plan photo taking very well, so we don't have any photos. I highly recommend that you be as frugal as you want on every issue, but do look into a photographer. (Hire Candi!!!)

One last thing, we got tattoos instead of rings, and we simply love them. Everyone oohs and aahs about them whenever they see them.

Congrats and good luck and hugs!

Unknown said...

i'm late with commenting, but it still looks great!

i have some ideas for decorations! we can chat when we get our vegan donut delivery. (!!!)

Unknown said...

oh, and i hope you're feeling better!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Love = this post. Happy anniversary & Wedding planning!

Jody from VegChic said...

What a cool engagement story...

Cute pizza, the brownies sounds interesting where is the recipe from?

Oh and hey, you aren't procrastinating... What is the rush really? If you two are happy, a piece of paper and a ceremony isn't going to change that. Congrats on 4 years together.

Also hope you are feeling better!

GStorm17 said...

The Picture does not do these Brownies justice. They look, smell, and taste divine, and this might I add is coming from an Omni who knows good food.

Congrats on the Wedding plans, but I have to say: IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!

Love ya, G

Anonymous said...

please post soon!!! <3

Candi said...

I know you are too busy thinking of your wedding to post, but I miss you!! :) :)

VeganHeartDoc said...

I'm hearing rumors of a vegan dessert potluck in April.... do tell me more :) shenkh75@hotmail.com

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Hey Nikki: Check out the March/April issue of VegNews -- they have an article about Veg Weddings!

http://vegnews.com/vegan_weddings_07.html

bazu said...

Hi Nikki. Congratulations, your guess of tamarind was right, and you are the winner of my little give-away contest! Would you please email me your mailing address to bazooq (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will get the package in the mail ASAP. Cheers!

Emily said...

Whoa! I had no idea that you'd used the red pepper heart idea! I should give proper credit where due!