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.

the big reveal

I'm embarrassed to say that I spent many (several) hours today getting this new fancy blog together. It wasn't just choosing a template, my friends. There was designing and html code-editing and quite a bit of frustration. But I loved it and it passed the time! I think I found a new hobby.

Here's what I'm thinking. Andrew and I are about to do some incredibly crazy things over the next few years. Blogging, dears, will be much more than the "what we did this weekend" recap. I imagine that at times it will be my therapy.

New beginnings should come with a new blog, don't you think?

trial run

I'm all alone! Andrew is spending the weekend with some guys from college. We won't call it a going away party because he's refusing to think about the fact that he's leaving, but that's essentially what it is. And believe it or not, in the almost-two-years since we've been married, this is the first time I've stayed alone. He's been gone before, but it always worked out that I had plans too. Not this time. Just me and Mr. Rudy. Who is NOT HAPPY, by the way. He's been uber pouty since I got home from work and he realized that I didn't bring Andrew with me.

Anyway, all week I've been preparing for this weekend - planning all kinds of things to keep me busy - and actually looking forward to it. Here's the list:

1. Clean - DONE! I wanted to do that ASAP so I could enjoy the rest of the weekend.
2. Play on my sewing machine.
3. Pick up a few things from Target.
4. Update my craft/idea books.
5. Clip some recipes from a few magazines and maybe organize my recipe box.
6. Redesign the blog. Get excited.
7. Read - I'm currently reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks and Desiring God by John Piper.
8. Maybe check out the flea market tomorrow morning?
9. Organize my closet.
10. And don't laugh, but I may or may not start packing for Disney World. Because it's going to be 70 degrees down there and I'm just THAT excited.

Let's see how long I can keep myself busy without feeling lonely. Also, it's snowing (again) which may put a damper on any of the plans I have for outside the house. Although, Andrew did leave me with his new fancy 4-wheel drive truck for the weekend.

Things could get very interesting around here.