Valentine's Day

I heard on the radio yesterday that most girls don't buy anything for their guys on Valentine's Day. Apparently, most girls see it as a day for the guys to pamper them and see no reason to turn around and pamper the guys. According to several of my friends, a lot of couples don't do anything but go out to eat. Both of these things shocked me because A) I always buy Alex something and B) We have always exchanged presents and even though it is smack in between our birthdays, I usually get decent gift (meaning something like jewelry rather than just candy and flowers)

Anyway, I had to work from 9-2 yesterday, but I did follow the whole "pamper the girl" thing and decided before heading into work I was going to forget my diet and go get Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Doughnuts (original glaze) have always been one of my non-chocolate weaknesses and back home, it was a rare treat to get to go get fresh ones because the closest place was in Huntsville. However, when I moved to Tuscaloosa I've had to make myself forget that there is one about 10 minutes away from my apartment because if I thought about that every day, I would be as big as the side of a house :) I've only gotten doughnuts three times (including yesterday's trip) in the five years I've been here and once was to share with Alex, and the other two times were to take for the office. I decided to get a dozen to take with my to the office and to my surprise, they were doing all of their original glazed doughnuts in a heart shape yesterday. So I carried my heart-shaped doughnuts back to the office for everyone to enjoy.

Work was not all that eventful and was thankfully overall very quiet. I decided on my way home from work that I was going to treat myself to a pedicure. So, I headed to my usual nail salon and got a pedicure. I got the least expensive package, but I would pay that just to have my feet rubbed - forget the actual polishing part :) It was a nice and relaxing so I was in a good mood to head home and get ready for the night.

If you know Alex, he's always so good at holidays and special occassions. Last week was my birthday and as I mentioned, we went out to a fancy dinner so we decided to do dinner in for Valentine's Day (plus it meant no waiting in line in crowded restaraunts!). Alex is an amazing cook so staying in and cooking is never an issue. I have to say, last night I think he topped himself though!

He had class until about 7:30 last night so it was obviously going to be a late dinner. I was so anxious, I got ready fairly early so I was definitely ready to go as soon as he called. He called when he got home and I thought I would be able to come right over, but being the perfectionist and gentleman that he is, he said I had to wait until everything was ready. About 8:00 he finally called and I headed over to his apartment.

When I got there, he opened the door for me and I walked into a dimly lit room, with Frank Sinatra crooning from the surround sound. He even had a dozen roses in a purple vase on the coffee table (the picture was taken with my camera phone) :) He of course greeted me with a kiss and immeadiately made me go sit down while he finished preparing the meal. He did take some time out for us to open presents though:

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are both huge fans of the Rat Pack and all of its members (especially Frank) so I had taken him as part of his present to go see the Rat Pack: Live at the Sands show at the BJCC. Even though that was part of his Valentine's Day present, I hated not to give him a few little things on the actual day. I ordered him a CD of the real Rat Pack's show at the Sands and a DVD copy of the show we saw at the BJCC. I also got him a bluetooth ear piece for his cell phone because he is constantly complaining that it's hard for him to talk on the phone and try to do something at the same time. He absolutely loved all of the above and even played with his ear bud all night! :)

Alex is one of those guys that has amazing taste when it comes to girls. Every girl that he has ever dated will gladly admit he knows how to buy presents. I even had one of his friends tell me after we dated in high school, "I can't believe you didn't stick around long enough to get one of his presents!" and now I see what she meant. He has bought me a lot of jewelry which I absolutely adore so when I saw the usual gold bag from Kay's, I knew I was getting some new bling. I used to be able to tell what he was going to get me because it would be a missing piece from the set, but he's gone beyond the set and just purchases extra things so I'm always thrown off. This time, he got me a cute necklace that he described as "You Have the Key to My Heart" :) It makes a great addition to my other 2 necklaces, watch, bracelet, earrings, and ring from Alex :) Oh and back when we dated in high school, Alex had a goatee. I had been trying to convince him to shave it off, and on our first Valentine's Day together, he did. Well he decided to grow it back a couple of months ago, and I along with everyone else have been trying to talk him into shaving it again. Well I didn't notice until he pointed out, that he shaved off the goatee yet again :) I was so excited!!! He said he didn't promise for how long, but for now it's gone :)

After opening presents, we started on the meal. For an appetizer, he brought out homemade shrimp cocktail and Moet. Then he brought out the main course: rock lobster tail, a piece of flank steak stuffed with spinach and provolone cheese, green beans, homemade roasted red potatoes, and a croissant. Don't get me wrong, Alex is an amazing cook and he always makes amazing and sophisticated dishes, but this was probably one of his best and most sophisticated he's ever made! It was so yummy! We decided to watch a movie and since neither of us went and got one, we got "No Reservations" off "On Demand". Alex normally doesn't like to watch movies like that, but being such a great guy and putting my interests first we chose to watch it. It was actually a really good movie and he actually enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to finish the movie because the one guy that was working at the bar injured his hand and was unable to bartend during heavy times so Alex had to go to the bar and take care of things when it got busy so he left me here while he did that. We don't get to spend much time together as it is thanks to the bar, so he was not happy with all of his bartenders that flaked out on him at the last minute. While he was gone, I watched TV and took a nap since I knew he'd be late getting back. When he got back, we finished the movie and had dessert. Normally he forgets to get dessert, and I usually make chocolate covered strawberries just in case. Yesterday, I went to Target to pick up a few things and of course they had no strawberries. I sent him a text asking if he had gotten dessert, but I figured he hadn't so I picked up a Cheesecake Factory chocolate cheesecake. To my surprise, he had picked up dessert and gotten a Valentine's Day cookie cake from the Great American Cookie Co. in the mall. He laughed and said it was cheesy, but Alex never really goes the cheesy route so I thought it was cute and it was so yummy! We decided to save my cheesecake to eat later :)

So that's my Valentine's Day in a nutshell. It was wonderful (despite Alex having to leave for the bar) and I hope Alex and I have many more Valentine's Days to share :) I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's (or Single Awareness) Day! I'm off to pack to go home tomorrow (Josh is in a prom fashion show on Sunday that I'm going to - I'll post pictures when I get back) Have a super fabulous weekend!

Love,

Maegan