Oh January.  That month where you try to recover from the holiday’s, try to keep resolutions, and generally try to stay warm (even here in North Carolina).  Poor January hardly gets any time to itself as well all seem to go straight from New Years Eve into Valentine’s Day, too!  But I’m kind of, ok, really excited to share with you my new Valentine’s Day treat this week, so I’m not too sad about the jump straight to v-day.  Not yet though, you’re going to have to be a little more patient than that.

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January was focused on getting back into the swing of a balanced life for me because, as I mentioned before, I had been living a little too indulgently.

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I’d love to say that January marked a “fresh start” and the beginning of finally feeling organized again – but maybe I’ll get there in February…

January did start off with a birthday celebration, complete with pancakes with homemade whipped cream and berries, as well as creme brulee cheesecake – by request.  YES, it was so good!  The “balance” came in after this birthday weekend.

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We headed to Charlotte to see the Charlotte Symphony (again!) with Randy Newman this time.  Yes, Randy Newman, do you know who he is?  I had no idea until a while back when my lovely boyfriend introduced me to his “real” music.  I just referred to him as “The Toy Story Song Guy”, which is incredibly accurate, but definitely not all he’s known for; or so I’m told.

Randy Newman

Anyway, it actually was a really good show – he’s super quirky, and old, so it made for an interesting night of entertainment.

Also ate some awesome Neapolitan style pizza out of these awesome ovens!  Love unique finds like this!

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To end January with a bang, the Wine and Chocolate Festival was a must-do.

My favorite part was the sea salt booth – which I know sounds crazy coming from a festival containing my two favorite things – but this sea salt came straight from the ocean LOCALLY!  How cool is that?!  There were different varieties flavored with all kind of goodness to sprinkle on top of dishes.  I couldn’t leave without the garlic sea salt – made with their own homemade organic elephant garlic.  Check them out at Sea Love Sea Salt.  I never knew salt could be so good.

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What was your favorite part of January?!