February in Boston

Us and the Ungs celebrating Mardi Gras and Whitney turning 26 at the Beehive in Boston's South End

The Medical School Formal in Downtown Boston

One of our favorite hangouts in Boston: Harpoon Brewery!

The day after Valeentine's, Trader Joes was giving away roses

Whiskey Pear tart for our friends the Lamz

Waiting for the Ungs to arrive, we discovered that it was Mardi Gras! (sorta slipped our minds)

...is actually pretty mild.  It's been in the mid-forties for days now, and hit the 50s the last couple days.  We've been pretty busy with Valentine's Day, then Whitney's birthday/Mardi Gras, along with my school's formal dance and time with friends. 
Whitney recently completed her application to UMass Boston and the FAFSA.  If I'm honest, I would prefer that Whit got into UMass and went there instead of Simmons, since it starts 3 months earlier, is 3 months shorter, and is 1/2 the cost.  Regardless though, we are both excited to send Whitney back to nursing school since she has been wanting a challenge for a while now.  Sometimes I think about all the school we'll have taken as a couple, and it's pretty crazy.  Sometimes I wish we were both just working and in careers so we could just start a family and not be living on the East Coast for so long, but we have been having a really fun time over here.  I recently met with my adviser, and for the time being it looks like I'm on track to finish my PhD in three years, so hopefully we're approaching the halfway mark of our time here.  The biggest drawback is that when we meet people in Church, we invariably will be here long than them, and with two of our good friends already moved away, it's sometimes hard to spend time getting to know people who will leave in 2 years.  Though as problems go, that's not much.
Church has been a lot of fun, with many new couples attending.  Whit and I just picked out the location for our married couples retreat in April, and will announce it on Sunday.  We'll be heading to North Conway, NH, for a long weekend in April with 9 other couples.  Last year's retreat to Chatham on Cape Cod was a lot of fun, and I expect this one will be too, since we'll be near lots of great "mountains" and outlet shopping ; )  Whitney was sad because we were trying hard to rent a castle in NH for the retreat, but the castle would have been just a tad too expensive for me to be comfortable that we'd fill it.  Really though, the fact that you can rent a castle makes me wonder if we could do it near Seattle sometime...
Weekends have been filled with dinners, small group, and outings.  I got Whitney the sequel to her favorite dessert cookbook, Baked Explorations, and she promptly made a Whiskey Pear tart, which we served to a new couple that began attending whom we had over for dinner.   It was delicious, though almond paste can be a bit powerful we found. 
The week of Whit's birthday my school had its formal dance in the same location as two years ago.  We went, though I don't know if we'll go another year.  Definitely next year would be our last, as I know less and less people as new classes of students come in.  However, we went to a pre-dance party at my friend Olga's house, and the dance itself was fun, with lots of good food and great dancing.  We ended up staying past midnight, and didn't get to bed until 2:30.
Tuesday the 21st Whit turned 26, and we went to the Beehive.  I've eaten there plenty on the school's tab with applicants to the MD/PhD program, but this is the first time Whitney has been there.  We arrived at 5:30 after doing a Harpoon tasting, and discovered it was Mardi Gras!  Grabbing masks and beads, we headed to the bar to await our friends Lloyd and Kim, and had some drinks and sage frites.  When they arrived we grabbed our table and had a wonderful dinner while enjoying the Beehive's nightly live jazz music.  It was a lot of fun, and since the Ungs got Whit Betrayal at House on the Hill, they came over and we introduced them to it.  Whitney won as the traitor, and that was a great way to end her birthday.
Our next trip will be out to Essex, VT, for our 3 year anniversary!  Crazy to think we've been married that long.  We'll be near Burlington and so of course will visit the Ben and Jerry's factory and Magic Hat Brewery.  Can't wait to tell you all about it!