// Our Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is my favorite! Seriously, I could say it a hundred times (I'm sure I have, actually). It's my favorite holiday because I love all of the red and pink and hearts and love. Yes, I love the love! haha This year was super special because Mike's parents offered to take the kids off our hands for a full night! What! I mentioned last week that I had a little bit of anxiety about leaving Linden overnight, but I'm so happy to report everything went so well! Too well, maybe? That baby won't sleep through the night for me, but he magically slept from 8:30 to 2am, and then 2:30am until 6 (and then 6:30 til 8am!)... I definitely made Terri tell me all of her secrets haha! I'm currently trying to implement all of them at home so fingers crossed we get him on a better night schedule soon!

Anyway, that was a tangent... Valentine's Day! Yes! Okay, so we dropped the boys off in Lawrenceburg around 12:30pm and then we headed south to Florence (Alabama) for the day. We grabbed lunch, bought some goodies at the book store, roamed around downtown, picked up a few bottles of wine, had drinks and dinner at Rosie's Cantina, and then started the too-long drive home. We cuddled up and enjoyed a night with just the two of us. No tiny space heater between us ha! It was such a special day/night and I'm so glad we were able to spend it together. It meant a lot to us that Mike's parents were willing to tread into the "unknown" with Linden. Maybe they'll request both boys over more often... (hint hint, if y'all are reading! haha)

I made Mike my traditional handmade card for occasions like this. This year I opted to create a double decker bus and wrote lyrics to "There's a light that never goes out" by The Smiths. It's one of our favorite songs! I also got him a big bottle of whiskey and his favorite City and Colour album on vinyl. He treated me to roses, a delicious candle, some bulldog salt and pepper shakers and a new coffee mug. Perfect! Toby brought me home a chocolate rose that he won at his school's Cake Walk on Friday, too. The boys got a few little treats from us and from my parents. And lots and lots of kisses! 

Overall I give the day "two very enthusiastic thumbs up!" (Name that quote!) I'm so glad I was able to spend my favorite holiday with my favorite guy. What did you get into?! xo

// Sneaking Away

One thing we've learned since becoming parents is that it can incredibly difficult to "get away" and spend quality time together. An entire husband and wife vacation getaway? Forget about it! A solid day of just the two of you? Probably not that either! We knew we'd be incredibly short on alone time once Linden arrived, so we've been making it a priority to sneak in little mini dates where we can.

Sometimes that means a quick 15 minute jaunt to Sonic for half-price milkshakes. Then just sitting side by side in the car, slurping them down while Toby spends time with his grandparents. It's a date even with a sleeping newborn in the backseat. Cheers for tiny pockets of togetherness! We're not above making a "date" out of a trip to Lowe's or Target, either. We do what we can. 

How about you? What are your favorite mini "dates" to enjoy together? And yes, dates is in quotes because I know it's totally a stretch! haha

Surprise Date Night!

Mike had left for work yesterday morning after making sure that I knew to be dressed and ready at 6:30pm when he got home from work. It was date night. He gave me no heads up on what we were doing or where we were going, or even what to wear. He just said be ready and I'll see you then. I spent the day working on designs and responding to emails before finally finding the motivation to get up, get ready, and get dressed. I opted for a caramel floral dress, grey cardi, my brown waffleweave jeffrey campbell litas, and my new (huge!) Betsey Johnson bag. I was ready. 

I was going through my email when I heard a knock at the door. The girls got all excited and were barking like mad. I picked up Pip (she'll dart down the hall!) and went to open the door. All I could think was "Who is knocking at 6pm on a Sunday?!" I opened the door to find the most dapper fella standing on the other side. Grey blazer, white dress shirt, hat, dark jeans and even some brown loafers. And he had roses in his hand! Eep! He said he was here to pick me up for our date. I die! Maybe I'm biased but my heart melted and I felt like that was the sweetest thing ever! I mean, he knocked!! At our own house! Love!

I grabbed my purse, gave him a kiss and off we went! He said the dinner plans had been foiled as the restaurant he had planned on taking me to was closed on Sunday. Instead we opted for a little sit-down restaurant in Mt. Juliet on our way East. He never let on to what we were doing but about an hour later we are driving in the middle of absolutely nowhere and I start to get an idea. I didn't share the idea because I thought he'd think it was silly if I were wrong, but sure enough we pull into a sweet little drive-in theater! Double feature, please! We settled in to watch Harry Potter (so good!) and Horrible Bosses (so funny!). 

He had planned it all on his own and best of all, he kept it a secret! I have a tendency to figure out what he's scheming so I tried really hard not to this time around! It was such a wonderful date and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!

Isn't he the best?! xo

PS; I had to do the picture below to assure people that we hadn't just gotten engaged! I guess the 2nd picture up there hints of it but I'm assuming these people weren't aware that we got engaged in March! hehe That picture is the lock screen on my iPhone! I love it (thanks to Susannah and Chris for snapping it!)

PPS; I feel bad for basically begging for votes but I had a look-see through the AE rules and prizes and get this... If I'm in first place tomorrow at midnight then I'm automatically in the final 4. If I win the final round then I'll get $3,000 to put toward my small business dreams! AKA my mobile shoppe! AKA I wanna come visit you with it! This would mean I wouldn't have to take out a small business loan! It could speed things up like no other... so with that, I beg of you.. please throw a vote or two my way! If you could share it with your friends I'd be infinitely grateful! I don't even care about the campaign part... not having to rely on my credit or anyone else for funds to start my business would be amazing! Here are my three entries: ONE // TWO // THREE! (If you go to the LCH Facebook page, you can just click "SHARE" underneath the post and share with your friends! <3)