Love Day Recap

I can't believe I have to wait another 364 days for the next Valentines Day.

Seriously ... I love this holiday.

Yesterday at work, people kept stopping by my desk with treats.  By 12:30pm, I realized that all I'd eaten that day was a strawberry cupcake with cream cheese icing, a snack pack of gummy hearts, and some Brach conversation hearts for good measure.  Yep, my kinda holiday.  And it only got better from there.

Ian knows how much I love tulips, so he had this arrangement waiting on me at home.

I had the dining room table set for dinner ... which, funny enough, is the first time that he and I dined solo in this room.  We typically eat at the breakfast room table, the bar, or in front of the television!

Pardon the state of the chair rail -- you can see we had the molding put up, but it is still unfinished.  We're having it caulked and painted this weekend!

I scattered silk rose petals on the table and even broke out our nice Ralph Lauren wine glasses with the gold rim.  You know it's a special holiday when you don't care about handwashing your stemware.  :)

I picked up these cute vintage-inspired Valentines boxes at Michaels.

Even our chandelier got a makeover!

I picked up a bottle of one of my favorite red wines.  Apothic is so completely yummy, and you can usually pick it up for about $10.

For dinner, I made the most delicious filet recipe from my girlfriend Ashley.  You sear the filets for a minute each side (after seasoning them with S&P and olive oil) and then pour over them a mixture of red wine, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and brown sugar.  Then just reduce the heat and cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side.  Oh my word, it's a favorite recipe.

To accompany the filets, we had sauteed kale.  I sauteed it in some olive oil, a little butter, and chicken broth.  Salt and freshly ground pepper seasoned the dish, and Ian topped it with a little parmesan cheese.

For dessert, I made a lemon cheesecake pie topped with cherries.  We never have dessert like this on weeknights, but it was so fun to splurge.

With dessert, we opened cards and presents.

And I am the proud new owner of a Swell Caroline Moon & Lola monogram necklace!  It's the tortoiseshell script monogram necklace, and I love it.  It's a lighter color tortoise than Ian and I were expecting, but still pretty.

After dinner, we watched The Devil's Double which is not at all romantic, but a haunting and captivating story.  It's one we'd been wanting to watch for a while.  We didn't plan to watch it on Valentine's Day, but it's just what we had on hand from Netflix. 

I stayed awake for MOST of the movie, which is a huge feat for me.  Ian had to clue me in on how the movie ended, per usual.  Does that happen to anyone else -- once you're in the dark and snuggled up to another warm body, it's lights out?!

A fantastic Valentines Day celebration indeed.  I hope yours was lovely, too!