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Valentines Day

In the past, Valentines Day was one to be despised. I would wear black, feel irritation, and basically dread the god-awful day of cheesy couples prancing around celebrated the day of love. .........Well, a few years later--things have changed dramatically, for I am now one of those "googly-eyed fools"...except on February 13, not 14.

Last year Ryan & I had really big tests the day after V-day...so knew that V-day would be spent long and arduously in the library. So we celebrated it the night before. It was amazing. We went out to dinner, and we didn't have to wait for a table--it wasn't busy, and we were one of the only people eating out on a random February night. Then on the 14th, we basically had the library ALL to ourselves, and it was amazing.


So this year rolled around, and we decided "Why not make it a tradition!?" Ryan & I are so enthuistic about our love, we have to celebrate it a day early! So we went to the gym after class Friday night, had a fun and hard work out--headed to the commissary and picked out our food and drink for the feast.

We got home and as I unloaded the groceries, Ryan had to run to the store to get some strawberries. He came back with beautiful yellow tulips, and Austi-Tosti (our favorite sparkling wine.....introduced to us Thanks to Ryan's mom :D). Ryan & I had decided not to do any gifts this year, so the flowers were a surprise (and they are my favorite flower ever..so he did well)


So after shower, getting ready, I donned my apron and we began to cook! The menu for the night was grilled Filet Mignon, scalloped potatoes, and asparagus. We planned on having Strawberry Shortcakes for desert, but were too full and decided to save them for actually valentines day evening.

As the dry rub was marinating the steaks, Ryan poured us some refeshing Mojitos, and we started on the scalloped potatoes.


And the finished product was delightful.... :)
As the potatoes were baking in the oven, we put on our coats and went out for a nice hand-in-hand evening walk. Throughout the night we laughed and relived the story of our first meeting, the beginning days, and how we fell in love. We came to the conclusion that God truly must've really wanted us to meet because we were BOTH very anti-relationship when we entered our sophomore years at UND...and were dating head-over-heals within two months!!

After our walk, I put the asparaus on the stove, and Ryan grilled the Filet Mignon. The finished product was absolutely beyond amazing.

(I am well aware that we are dorky for putting our Save the Date card in the display)

After our dinner, our cheeks hurt from laughter, and our tummies were very very full. We did the dishes, and headed to the couch for some relaxation after a wonderful evening!

Saturday morning, we woke up and made a wonderful healthy nutrition breakfast of egg white, spinach, and pepper breakfast burritos! We made a LARGE pot of coffee--put it on our traveling thermos, and headed to the library for a day of studying. We found a study room at the library (Yes, we were one of the only people at the library Saturday morning at 9....) and studied alll day long!

(We took a brief break to have a sandwich in a garden courtyard to enjoy the beautiful day). We returned home, and hit the books again. Finally at the end of hte evening it was time to relax again--and it was valentines day #2. We rearranged the furniture in the living room, layed out blankets and pillows, and watched a Romantic comedy. We did the same tradition as last year, and had pizza and beer for our evening feast....but didn't eat TOO much pizza--because we still had the Strawberry shortcakes!

Ryan assembled the shortcakes, and they tasted absolutely amazing...and were accompanied with 2 chocolate covered strawberries, and a glass of Austi-tosti :)


The evening was extremely relaxing and fun. The entire weekend was very rejuvenating and made us realize just how lucky we are to have each other! In the midst of all the fun & romantic dinners, and visits to the gym....we even put in 14 hours at the library in a matter of 2 days!!!








Comments

Lisa's Yarns said…
Wow - that looks delicious. I adore scalloped potatoes. :)

Andrew & I also had pizza on V-day. Ours was heart-shaped so he thought that was pretty cool!

Glad you guys had a great Vday!
Abby said…
I love scalloped potatoes too. And last year...back in my apartment in Grand Forks, I wanted to make them for Ryan to "impress him" one evening....I didn't think I needed to follow a recipe and this is how my thought processing went :

"Hmm...Ryan loves spicy food,and he likes manly things--so I will use pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar. I don't have a cheese grater, and I don't want to use anything processed...so I will just cube a block of pepperjack cheese."

So I cut the potatoes, cut up the cheese, poured in some milk and threw onions in a pan, and put it in the oven for 40 minutes.

It did nothing...so I just kept extending the time until it was black, charred, and spicy

Not successful!
Mama Nastase said…
Wow! What a wonderfully romantic and relaxing Valentine's weekend you guys had! Everything looks delicious, in fact it has my mouth watering at 7:20 a.m.! I wish every couple could find love like you two have...and cherish, nurture and celebrate it, too! I am so proud of you guys for a million reasons; the strong love you have and continue to grow is at the top of my list.

xo Lora
Momma Bear said…
The only way to get good scalloped potatoes around here is to go to Lori Bertholds....Ryan grew up with Bertholds and helping out with their cattle. By the way, tell Ryan they began calving...4 in one day...and twins....Momma has no milk so we are helping they bottle feed. If you guys get any spare time...come out and give us a hand...haha. Enjoy your weekend! We love and miss you both very much.
Jan

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