Valentines Day with my Sweeties

So in keeping with my tradition of doing posts about two weeks late, and long after the point where you cease to care, I'm just now getting around to Valentine's Day.

I like to think that we're really getting the hang of this holiday thing, because this was our best Valentine's Day yet! Marcos surprised me at work with a visit from him and Gigi, with a basket full of Orangina and all sorts of trail mixes and non-sweet snacks to help me make it through my work days, as well as a single rose (the rest of the flowers were waiting for me at home). It was so sweet I was a little embarrassed.


But the nicest gift was his card. Even despite the long year prior to our wedding, when we lugged through a long-distance relationship of 8 time zones and a swapped hemispherical difference, this Valentines card is only the second (count them: one, two) hand-written note I have ever received from Marcos. He is always nervous about writing in a medium where he can't "control z" or "cut and paste" his words together, so it was a stretch for him to compose something on paper. It still makes me feel special to read it, so he must have succeeded, big-time.


It was the perfect surprise gift at work, and a great kick-off to our Valentine's date that night at Squids Restaurant in Chapel Hill. We have been on a fish kick lately, and Squids did not disappoint. We had a fantastic dinner that satisfied our hankerings: Broiled salmon with the best mashed potatoes ever, horseradish encrusted tilapia with roasted potatoes, cream sauce and life-altering green beans, and hush puppies! We highly recommend Squids to anyone living in the Chapel Hill area. A big thanks to my Aunty Katy, who sent us the gift card that made it all possible!

We considered taking Gigi along to dinner because she comes to everything with us, and she's our little love magnet, but we decided that we deserved a night at a nice restaurant just to ourselves. I can't even remember the last time we ate together, just us, but I'm sure it was before Gigi was born. Many, many thanks to our sweet friend Becca for being with Gigi while we enjoyed our date! We were a little worried because we rarely leave her with anyone, and she has recently grown into a phase where she clings to us much more than before, but thankfully the evening was uneventful and Gigi enjoyed her time playing with new friends and new toys under Becca's loving care. Thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing us a perfect dinner date to celebrate Valentine's Day!