Valentine's Day

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of those people who doesn't care about Valentine's Day unless she's got someone to celebrate it with. And since The Hubs married me, I get to care about it for the rest of my life!

Last year, it wasn't a big deal. I don't know why, but it just kind of came and went and there were some flowers and cards, but no big deal. This year, Jack was working on my Super Secret Gift, so I think that kind of upped the excitement quotient for me. I 'wasn't allowed' (read: we didn't have any) to spend any money on him, so I made him this:

It's (0bviously) a Valentine's Day Coupon Book filled with 12 coupons of various levels of raunch. I'll spare you the details. You're welcome. I handmade the coupons and the envelope using left over materials from the wedding. Total cost? $0.00 and about 3 (wo)man hours. He enjoyed it.

As for me, I finally got the one thing I've always wanted. I had asked The Ex about a million times, and I had severely hinted, and then finally flat-out begged The Hubs, and he came through. Of course he did, that's what he does. And that's why I married him (among various and numerous other reasons, of course).

Anyway, Jack called me at work during his lunch break on Wednesday "just to say hi". He never ever calls "just to say hi". But I didn't think anything of it. Then on Thursday, he called me during his lunch, but I didn't answer because I was on a conference call. Then he called again during his afternoon break. I'm thinking "boy, he's really missing me this week!" but then, about an hour later, I get these:

He had flowers delivered to my work! Yay! Finally! I have always wanted it - it's torture during holidays like these, when you see delivery guy after delivery guy coming in with huge bouquets of roses, and big heart balloons, and teddy bears, etc. and you never get anything. But I did! I don't need the huge bouquets, and the balloons, and the teddy bears. This was perfect, and colorful, and it made me happy.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the revealing of the Super Secret Gift! Originally, this was meant to be a Christmas gift, so The Hubs also ended up not spending any money for me on Valentine's day, since he had already bought the materials. His man hours, however - there are probably over 20 man hours in this gift. It may not look complex, but The Hubs never does anything half way. And he made me something, which I just think is amazing, and totally sweet. So without further ado, here it is:

He made me a shadow box! I love it! He hand-stained the letters, carved out the center of the heart, painted it, and assembled the whole thing. Here are some close-ups:

I love it!

So last night, after we opened presents, we headed out to dinner. I had made us reservations at one of our favorite restaurants and we had a great meal. If you ever go there, you MUST get the Chicken Fried Chicken. It's hell on a diet, but man, does it taste good! It was so worth it! And then we had a city staple for desert.

Our night hit a few rough patches when we started talking about a couple of non-Valentines-y topics. I think I need to encorporate a moratorium on all non-lovey-dovey topics of conversation during Valentine, birthday, or anniversary dinners, just so that our night doesn't hit that temporary snag. All in all, though, it was a very nice night.

We got back home and went to bed, and The Hubs says "Do I have to use a coupon?"

LOL...I love that man.