in honor of valentine's day

Andrew and I had a perfectly lovely Valentine's Day. He got back from his man weekend in time to take me out to dinner at Caffe Luna in downtown Raleigh. Generally, I'm not really a fan of Valentine's Day. At least not a Valentine's Day out on the town. I hate how crowded it is and I would much rather hang out in my PJs with a pizza. So imagine my surprise when I was expressing this a few weeks ago and Andrew said "So would you be disappointed if I told you that I already made reservations?" Way to go, Page.

Actually, I was MORE excited because that's totally not something Andrew would do without a little coaxing. He's romantic in a more non-traditional way. Imagine my surprise again when he came home with flowers in tow. I think he's trying to get on my good side before he leaves in me 3 weeks (3 weeks?!). Regardless, I'm glad we went out because we had a great time.

While we were at dinner, Andrew asked me to put my superhuman memory to work and recall every Valentine's Day since we've been together. Then he said that we need to document the early stages of our relationship, so we remember it all 20 years from now. Here's the Valentine's day version of that documentation:

• Year 1: Ten days before we got engaged. Andrew actually told me ahead of time that he wasn't going to propose on Valentine's Day, so I shouldn't expect anything fancy. He brought me roses and we went to Macaroni Grille. Even though we had reservations, we had to wait 45 minutes for a table. We just enjoyed the meal more since we were good and hungry when we got there!
• Year 2: Three weeks before we got married! I drove to Aberdeen - we rented a movie (License to Wed) and ordered a pizza. Remember what I said earlier about that being my ideal date? I totally meant it. Andrew gave me a set of patee knives that he found at an antique store. He actually meant to give them to me for my birthday the year before, but he lost them. He happened to find them the week of V-Day so it was perfect timing.
• Year 3: We cooked a nice dinner for ourselves. Steak, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and (I think) tiramisu. I got my hair cut earlier that day and I wasn't crazy about it, so in all the pictures my hair is pulled back. I got Andrew a card with 2 penguins on the front and the inside said something about being happy doing whatever as long as we're together. It was perfect since he'd been unemployed for the last 3 months.
• Year 4: Caffe Luna, where we had our rehearsal dinner. I guess I didn't mention that before, but that's why it was such a sweet gesture. We even splurged on dessert and it was well worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day, my love. Whether we spend it in our fancy clothes at a swanky restaurant or in our PJs with takeout, here's to many, many more.