Valentines Day

We decided to go ahead and do it early this year since Valentines Day falls on a Thursday and seriously, what Seminary student can just take off for an evening of exceptional romance in the middle of the week? 

Anyway. 

On Sunday immediately after church as I made dinner, Joey excused himself to "go run an errand".  I happily made my delicious Beef Tortilla Casserole experiment (it turned out great!) and listened to NPR while Joey was gone.  He returned shortly with his hand behind his back. 

"Close your eyes," He instructed me.  And then, "OK, now you can open them."  I did as I was told.

"REALLY!?!?"  I shrieked, as I looked at his outstretched hand.

I got flowers for Valentines Day.  (My first ever.)  And they were in the cobalt blue Le Creuset pitcher I'd been eying for weeks!

"It was cheaper to buy the daisies and put them in the pitcher than it was to get an arrangement," Joey told me, putting to rest my fears of overspending.

He then presented me with a piece of chocolate from one of the sample stations at Central Market, which I ate, and then a smallish bar of delicious fudge that he admitted he had bought on impulse.

So now I can't say I've never gotten flowers and/or chocolates on Valentines Day before, because now I have. 

"There's one more thing..." Joey said, dragging it out.

"WHAT?"  I said, aghast and seeing dollar signs in front of my eyes.

"Yes, it involves horses."

The dollar signs multiplied.

"Really?"  I asked.

"Yes.  You and I have two tickets for the 6:00 show of the World Famous Lippizanner Stallion show."

I screamed. 

I will not try to replicate my scream here for the sake of your poor eyes, because I'm sure it hurt Joey's ears.  I have been wanting to see the Lippizanners since I was....oh, probably 10.  I used to check out books from the library on them and I had a make believe stable full of them that, since it was make believe, I was awesome at riding.

Unfortunately we forgot our camera or we might have some pictures to post here of our amazing experiences at the horse show.  I'm pretty sure it was the coolest thing I've ever seen.  I even cried for about the first 10 minutes of the show but managed to pull it together shortly thereafter.  (It's very hard to notice the fine movements a dressage horse is doing when ones eyes are misty with tears.)

I think my favorite parts were when the horses did the jump-kick war moves and stood on their hind legs and shook their forelegs to ward off potential attackers.  Joey liked those too.

I said, "Those horses are ripped" more than once.  I think I traumatized Joey the first time I said it, too.

After the Lippizanner show we headed to...Burger King!  (So romantic, I know.)  We realized that we had run out of money in our date category because the cost of a hamburger was much, much higher than we'd been expecting from our Studio Movie Grill experience (complete with That Woman) on Friday.  Anyway, we scaled back from La Duni to Burger King and we'll hit La Duni for our anniversary or something.

Burger King was as delicious as Burger King can be at 8:15 on a Sunday night.  We even splurged on a piece of pie.  All in all, though, I'd say this was a very successful Valentines Day.  What's even better is that after my flowers die, I'll still have my blue Le Creuset pitcher to remember Joey's surprising gift. 

I have the best husband ever.  And I'd still have the best husband even if he just gave me a sweet card, although he did that too.