Our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

You have to celebrate the small things in life, right? Well, Valentine's Day for us is just another excuse to have fun and celebrate our love. I know a lot of people hate this day, but, we love it! We celebrate everything else in life...why not celebrate our love?!

This Valentine's Day was very special for us. Last year we celebrated our first (and only) V-Day being Engaged and this year we are celebrating being married (way better!) :)

In the years past, we have always gone out to a fancy restaurant and splurged. This year, we decided not to go out. I think this was the first Valentine's Day in 7 years that we did not go out to dinner. We have really been trying to save money where we can and we both figured that we should enjoy the one thing that we have waited so long for...living together!

I decided I would cook up a big meal, just like it would be if we were eating out. I put together a spinach and artichoke dip appetizer (SUPER easy to make, by the way) and had a pork roast slow cooking all day. I made an apple glaze to go on top of it and it made the entire house smell amazing! I found a yummy recipe for ranch-garlic mashed potatoes and so I decided to try that as well. Since I had to work all day, I did not have enough time to get everything prepared by 7 AND make a dessert. So, we decided to have chocolate fondue for dessert. I bought a bunch of dippers (strawberries, bananas (for Doug), pound cake and marshmallows) and some chocolate. SUPER EASY and really romantic.

We have dinner every night at our kitchen table so I decided to do something different and MUCH more romantic. We have a big chest that sits in front of our couch in the living room. I took white linens and covered the table and then put a thin red linen down the center. I sprinkled flower petals in between votive candles down the red runner and dimmed the lights. And what's a romantic evening without the music playing softly in the background???

We sat on big pillows and enjoyed dinner together. It was really good (thank goodness...talk about a downer if the food didn't turn out good!) and exactly what I was hoping for. We opened a bottle of champagne that someone had given us for our wedding and we used heart shaped champagne flutes that we were given as a gift for registering at Crate&Barrel.

We agreed to only get each other cards and not to do anything for gifts. Our gift to each other was a quiet and romantic dinner together in our home. As I was getting the fondue together, Doug had put a gift at my place setting. When I saw what it was, I totally freaked out!!!! He had gotten me a Coach wallet!!!!!!!!!! I have been needing a wallet for the longest time now and have been putting everything into a little wristlet. He completely caught me off guard and got the most beautiful wallet I have ever seen!!!!!!! Yes, I really do have the best husband in all of the world!

We ended the night with chocolate fondue and went to bed early. And...I even went to bed without cleaning up the HUGE mess I made in the kitchen (which is really NOT an easy thing for me to do!). Guess there's nothing better to spoil the mood then cleaning a kitchen.

Doug and I both agreed that it was the most intimate and special Valentine's Day we have ever had!

~Have I mentioned lately how much I ADORE being married?!?!? ;)