Happy Valentine's Day!

Its February, the cold is bitter, and life feels rather depressing with day after day of below zero windchills and temps (we've have 40+ such days this winter so far). There is a tiny bit of sunshine tucked away in mid February. A day to celebrate those we love and cherish so very much.

Drew and I have had exactly .01 minutes to ourselves since Christmas. I was utterly exhausted from lots of various stresses (maybe more on that later, but maybe not), and desperately needed a moment to not think about anything but food and wine.

It arrived. A hot date on V-day. We sauntered down to Barrio, a local Minneapolis tapas place (which momentarily reminded me of our honeymoon in Spain, and then I started to really want to go to Spain again, which lead to daydreams of vacations, and for 10 glorious minutes I was on my way, alas, reality regained hold when the waitress alerted us to the many specials of the evening). Barrio is a trendy place, famous for being a tequilla bar (which in solitary form really wasn't super appealing to me, but the Margarita, on the other hand, had my name written all over it), and because of its trendiness they expected a big crowd for Valentines day meaning the tables were exactly 4 inches from the one next to you. You think I'm kidding. I'm really not. I heard the two ladies alongside us the whole dinner. Had I been bored on my own date I probably would have joined theres, it was much like we were sharing a table. Luckily, I wasn't bored at all, since I had such a handsome face to look at and lots to talk about.

When we planned our date, I took care of dinner and the sitter, and left the rest up to Drew. I've grown tired of being the "event planner" in our life, and so I've handed it partially off to my dear husband, who for the first time, took it on like it was his job (because I guess, now it is). I was pleasantly suprised that he planned two things, a trip to a a local icecreamery called Sebastian's in uptown where the icecream is all made in store everyday, and then on to a movie.

The icecream was so delicious. I had some chocolaty heaven thing. I forget what it was called but the icecream was dark dark dark chocolate and it was filled with surprises of health, little crunch things and other chocolate chip things. Mmmmm. Just thinking about it makes me happy.

Since it was something like 6 degrees out, icecream isn't in the same kind of demand as it is in say, July. So Sebastian's has a little discount plan: the colder the weather outside, the more you get off. I think we ended up with 20% off or something. A girl feels good when she gets icecream and its on SALE.

Then we went to the theater to see Her. Drew picked the movie. Props for staying in the romantic comedy genre. It was an interesting movie. I can't say I really liked it or didn't like it. The plot revolved around a man falling in love with his computer, but not in the comic relief  kind of way. More like in the serious lets make this digital/human love thing work. It left me feeling all disturbed on the inside and asking all kinds of weird questions. Like "Will this shit really happen someday???"
The weirdness though didn't spoil the fun of being on an uniterupted date. I loved it. I love dates. I wish I could go on one every week.

And so, I've decided, in the coming months after a period of adjustment, I'm going to start going on one at least every other week. I think it will help me stay sane.

Valentine's day wasn't all about Drew though. The boys were in on the fun too. Collin worked out his valentine's for school, which thanks to pinterest, turned out adorable.
See for yourself:

We're all about the puns on words around here. Plus, I felt less guilty handing out goldfish crackers than candy. Mostly because I feel bad for the kids with moms like me who take that candy and throw it away. Luckily my boys don't miss it.

Owen, on the other hand, still doesn't realized valentine's day is over, and I have no plans of ruining it for him. All day today he's been saying in his little Owen voice "happy walentine's day, momma! I wuv you!" to which I just scoop him up and thank him graciously. The kid is so darn adorable and I love hearing it that I won't really mind if it goes on for a week or so.

Anyway, in the yearbooks of our lives, this valentine's day went down with great success. No gifts were necessary, it was all about the time and understanding that those we love are exceptional parts of our lives, and deserve to be celebrated every so often. Although, Drew did get me some alcohol that I really love. I'm not sure how I feel about what that seems to say, but we'll drink to it, nonetheless!