Valentine's Day Celebration

February 14th isn't the best day for me; it comes with too many memories and it's a difficult day.  I like to be busy and distracted.  Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse for it.  Unfortunately, Nick had to work all day.  When he came home, he needed to study all night for an exam he had Friday morning.  But we still did a little something.

Wednesday night, I cooked him his favorite cake (angel food cake) and added those little sugar letters to them.  Anytime we're grocery shopping and we're in the baking aisle, he wants to buy those just to eat.  So today was the perfect time to get them for him.

(Nick dug into it right away lol)

I also got him a card from each of the dogs (normally he gets just one but I found two that were absolutely perfect for each of their personalities) and obviously one from me.  I also wrote in his notebook.  (This is a notebook I write in a little, okay... a page or two (or three)... love letters each month on the 11th (our wedding anniversary day) or just random days).  We agreed NO gifts because we're poor so I just got him a simple little box filled with Reese's hearts (he's obsessed with the seasonal, and only the seasonal shaped Reese's.  Apparently the eggs, trees, hearts, pumpkins, etc have a better peanut butter to chocolate ratio????)


When I woke up on the morning of the 14th, I walked out of the bedroom to see these gorgeous flowers sitting on the table.  It was nice to have a little surprise from Nick even though I wouldn't see him until that evening.

The day wasn't all the bad.  I managed to keep myself really busy.  Part of that was torturing my dogs and taking my usual "holiday photos" with them.  Except, this year didn't include headbands or props ;)  (Nick was NOT amused with my doggie fun for the day)

Nick got home around 5pm and immediately began studying.  While is sucked to not actually spend "quality" time with him, he was at least next to me on the couch, which is better than not being home!

Around 8:30pm he decided to take a break and asked if I wanted to go out to eat.  Of course my answer was yes so we headed to Applebee's to use the Valentine's Day gift card from my parents (they know us too well).

Once we got home, it was back to studying for Nick and we headed to bed around midnight.  Not an exciting day, but it was much better than I expected AND I at least got to have dinner out with Nick.


On Friday the 15th, Nick again worked most of the day but got home around 4pm (which was still later than expected).  He had asked if we could celebrate Valentine's Day this day.  While it doesn't erase my memories of the 14th and I've become anti-Valentine's Day, I'm slowly getting back into the celebration of the day.  Not to mention, Nick likes to celebrate so I agreed.
When he got home, we immediately hopped in the car and headed down to NAS Pensacola.  A friend had told me about a spot where you can see dolphins in the evening.  (Little did I know this was the place we were told about when we moved here over a year ago, but had no idea we could see dolphins if we stayed later in the evening!)

The dolphins did not disappoint.  As soon as we arrived (later than we wanted, thanks a lot Navy, for keeping Nick later than you were supposed to which majorly cut into our sunset time!) they were there in the channel, just swimming and playing.  We spotted about 6 of them.  It was amazing!

We spent the evening on the beach, just laughing and having an amazing time.  Sunsets on the beach are my absolute favorite thing in the world so this made my day!!!!  We don't get to experience this often with Nick's schedule so it was awesome!

It's the cutest when he just hugs me so tight, over and over again!  He's like a little kid that
can't get enough of me.

Kissing me so hard he's squishing my eye

Afterwards, we went home where Nick had planned to make dinner for me.  Nick making dinner for me isn't anything crazy special because he's an amazing husband and we share the cooking responsibilities and a lot of the time we cook together!  But this dinner was special because he made my favorite dishes that I don't get too often because he's not a fan of them.  So that truly meant a lot that he not only made them, but actually ATE them!!!!
When dinner was ready, he lit some candles on the kitchen table, turned out all the lights in the house, and poured some wine.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation by candle light.

Afterwards, Nick told me to sit on the couch and he lit more candles around the living room.

He came over with our wine and our cards to each other.

We opened them, he read his love letter, and then he told me the plans for the rest of the evening were to just sit on the couch, cuddling by candle light and just talk (and enjoy chocolate covered heart shaped pretzels).  All often, especially in this world, we have so many distractions.  Phones, laptops, television, etc.  It was nice to just sit there, us two, and talk by candle light.

How perfect is this?!  Well, if you know Yadi, then you know it couldn't be more perfect!
That dog will eat anything and everything (rocks, sidewalks, bugs, leaves, etc.)  Not to mention,
it's  a Weim on the front of the card.  But it didn't describe perfect Vino because she does eat or rip apart anything she's not supposed to (and never has).  So I had to find one from her.
{Excuse my scratched out typo.  I wrote this card at 3am.}

And luckily I found the perfect one.  Again, if you know Vino, you know she does NOT stop wagging her tail.
In fact, she more so wags her entire back end because she's so happy!  And when it comes to Nick, it's in over-drive.
She is so obsessed and in love with him!  So this was obviously perfect.

We talked about important (but exciting) topics such as nursing school, Nick's naval career, buying a home, and starting our family.  We laughed and joked around about our past, the present, and anything else you can think of.  These are the moments I cherish.  When we decided to go to bed, we realized we'd been sitting for hours and time just flew by.  I guess that's what happens when you marry your best friend ;)


The evening was simple but perfect.  It combined my absolute favorite things of the beach, sunsets, wine, and great conversation all with the love of my life.  We agreed no gifts and that's probably a good thing.  No gift could have made me happier than this evening together.  I'm a simple girl and just quality time together, especially in a crazy life, means the world to me.  I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day celebration with a significant other, family, or friends.


{It shouldn't come as a shock to you that these are nowhere near all of the photos from Valentine's Day.  If you'd like to view them more, please visit my SmugMug page HERE.}