An elegant Valentine week

Really. We've had a very elegant week. First, though, lets blog in chronological order.

Two weekends ago, we had a delicious dinner with friends. We invited over a couple of friends and spent a few hours eating, talking, laughing, etc... we ate stuffed mushrooms, Tuscan chicken, chocolate galore... it was incredible. We topped off the meal with some delicious wine and port. Great night.

The following day, a few of us went to the Sports Depot, a local sports bar back in our old neighborhood, to watch the Superbowl. I experienced my first bouts of excitement about 3 hours after I started watching the game - the 4th quarter. What good football! We lost, but we watched a great show for awhile!

Brad and I spent most of this past weekend racing. On Friday night, I raced the mile. I didn't run exceptionally well, but I posted my fastest time this season. Still, I'm a little off my PR (track talk for fastest time). That night, a bunch of us went out to dinner and talked politics, apple-tinis (inspired by Brad's drink), and mental disorders. I loved it!

Saturday, I raced the 1200 leg of the Distance Medley Relay and Brad raced the mile. It was the first mile he raced this season and he was excellent. He ran aggressively but intelligently, which is difficult to do and usually requires a few races under one's belt (in a season) to execute. Brad did it in his first mile race of the season. He's so dreamy.

The highlight of the weekend was a romantic Sunday brunch at Cafe Fleuri, a restaurant smack in Boston's financial district. Brad took me there to begin our Valentine week celebration. We were there for about 3 hours and ate everything from quail to lamb to crepes to boar to very smelly cheese. I got a little carried away at the chocolate fountain table.

Last night, I took Brad to Sel de la Terre (http://www.seldelaterre.com/) and we had the Valentine Day meal. It was a 5 course meal with wine pairing - delicious. For the main course, Brad had veal and I had lamb (I love lamb!). For everything else, we had a bunch of French stuff that I can't pronounce. We ended the night with a cappuccino and some outstanding chocolate blob.

Even though today is Valentine's Day, Brad and I are spending the night at the track for our Thursday practice. We'll top off the night with some champagne martinis in our Valentine martini glasses my mom got for us a few years ago. They're awesome!

I'm happy we both experienced an indulgent week. We've had a series of bad news over the past month or so and we have both been feeling a little emotionally worn out. This week served as a really kind way to take care of ourselves during a pretty troubling month.

Go Obama!