celebrations.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  Cori and I will be celebrating twice this year, not because we're so sweet and romantic, but rather because I'm pretty lame.  I told Cori that while I wanted to do something special to celebrate our first married Valentine's Day, I knew I wouldn't enjoy it as much if we went out on Tuesday night.  I love my job, but it's exhausting, and with two days of work behind me and three ahead, I knew I wouldn't be in the mode to go out for a night on the town.  So we decided that we'll stay in for the actual Valentine's night; I'll cook one of our favorite dinners (pork marsala + mashed potatoes) and Cori will pick up a bottle of wine.  My prediction is that we'll enjoy our dinner, relax on the couch, and be in bed by 11.  Our bigger celebration will be next Saturday, and it's actually a combination of celebrations.  December 18th we celebrated two years since our first date, one year since we got engaged, and (almost) 6 months of marriage.  I had told Cori that this was a big deal to me (hey, communication is important in marriage!) and certainly responded!  He found a living social deal for a dinner yacht cruise, but found out after the fact that it couldn't be used right away.  So, for our actual anniversary, we went out to a nice restaurant and saved the cruise for another time.  Well, that other time is here!  I'll definitely post pictures after the fact.

I was thinking through the other Valentine's Days we've spent together.  This year will only be our third, and it's funny to see how each one marks completely different stages in our relationship.  This year we're married (obvi), last year we were engaged, and the year before we had been dating for less than 2 months.  It's sad, but I have fuzzy memories of last year; I'm pretty sure that we dressed up and used a gift card from my parents to go to a swanky restaurant in NOLA.

Our first Valentine's Day together revolved around surprises.  I love being surprised, and Cori has always embraced that.  Example: our first date, he blindfolded me and took me to a park that had tacky lights.  He had made a list of items (like Santa in a helicopter, a big bow) for me to find.  That blindfold was used on several dates, and I always loved getting in the car having no idea where we were headed next.  So of course, that night, Cori blindfolded me and took me to a lake where we could watch the sunset.  The downside?  I had taken too long getting ready and we missed the majority of the sunset.  However, it was still beautiful AND Cori had bought a rose for me! We got a few fun pictures... 

After our photo shoot, Cori surprised me again by taking me out to Semolina's- Semonlina's being the restaurant that makes shrimp roban, which if you've read any of this blog at all, you know I'm obsessed with.  I'd mentioned it to Cori before but we had yet to go together.  After dinner, Cori indulged me by taking me to see Valentine's Day.  


It was a wonderful night, and I think this last picture captures how I was feeling about Cori then.  I was one smitten kitten!

 

I'm so thankful that I get to spend the rest of my Valentine's with this man!  I love you, Cori*.  :)




*hahaha... so, just for fun, I linked to Cori's 'blog.'  I put blog in quotations because he created it before he went to Ecuador for the summer a couple years ago.  He had great intentions but obviously didn't keep up with it.  My favorite part is his first blog entry where he's talking about how he got to New Orleans and the beginnings of his life there.  It's kind of a 'part 1 of 2' entry, except he never got around to part 2.  He mentions meeting me and thinking that I was loud.  That's it!  Not, 'loud but I knew one day she'd be the woman for me,' or 'loud with a beautiful spirit so I knew I would one day pursue her.'  Just 'loud' and then a brief mention of how I was intriguing but he was busy with school.  Oh, Cori... so thankful we got past the fact that I'm loud.  :)  (Which, for the record, I totally am- but he loves me for it!)