VALENTINED

Hey kids – did everyone have a good weekend? I hope you each felt loved and safe this Valentine’s Day weekend. I know I did.

On Saturday night, C and I went to see Valentine’s Day – it was GREAT! He had low expectations for it, something I discovered while we were sitting in Opry Mills mall traffic for 45 minutes. Knowing it would be a busy night, I had bought tickets ahead of time on Fandango. But sitting in that traffic, I was intensely scared we were going to miss the movie and I would be out $22. I started calling the movie theater to find out what would happen if I was too late to get a seat because they had the traffic equivalent of the Iron Bowl in their backyard, but luckily, we parked the car and made it inside with just enough time. Honestly, you would have thought they were giving away money at Opry Mills. I have NEVER seen it that crowded. Picture mall traffic on the five days before Christmas… then combine all five days. That’s what we were dealing with Saturday night. From what I could tell, it ended up being a bunch of people teenagers just going to the mall. If we had not have already purchased tickets, I would have not even bothered getting off the interstate. It. Was. Insane.

But I digress. After the super cute movie, I figured someone* would want to go home post-haste to watch some Olympic coverage. Turns out, he had other plans. C surprised me and drove us to Rumba, the restaurant where we had our Valentine’s dessert last year. How cute! We enjoyed a drink and dessert each. And no one was upset that there was a TV showing the luge footage in the bar behind us.

Sunday night, we started off the day as all days should start – with a big fat breakfast at Waffle House. Full as ticks, we spent the day together on the couch, watching - Olympic coverage - before I split to finish gift shopping and get ready. C picked me up and we went to eat at J. Alexander’s, which was delicious. I love dressing up and eating out, but more importantly, spending time with C. Really. We could have just as well gone to Shoney's. And we have! He’s just so fun to share a booth with, it doesn’t matter where we go. Or, as Sugar said in Some Like It Hot, "It's not how long it takes, it's who's taking you." He's a good one.

Anyway - pardon the Hallmark moment. After dinner, I wanted Chris to try the wonderful cookie-dough egg rolls at Jackson’s, so we made our way over there. In a shocking turn of events, he was more interested in the accompanying ice cream than the cookie-dough egg rolls, which meant more for me except I was so stuffed from dinner that I couldn’t finish them. Oh well.

We headed home and swapped presents. I received some dark chocolates, some new perfume and my favorite gift, a stuffed kitten with big blue eyes like Chris’s. Hilarious. This way I don’t have to subject him to a real kitten (except I might still get a real kitten). But this one is a good sub! For instance, the stuffed kitten—which was promptly named Delilah—spent the night doing pretty close to what a real cat does (unless the real cat is Kate’s cat): sitting pretty in my lap and keeping quiet. Chris received equally silly/useful gifts – some sweets, some toys and games, and in the useful department, a pizza stone and the Hangover DVD. But both of those useful gifts? Not just useful for him, my friends. I love pizza, and I love the Hangover. So a happy Valentine’s Day it was indeed.

Hope you all had a good weekend. It flew by too quickly and left snow in it's wake. Boo. Spring, where are you?!?!

*Chris LOVES the Olympics. Ever heard of a hunter’s widow? This weekend withstanding, I am an Olympic widow. See you in March babe.