Strawberries and Nacho Dip

Valetine's Day has become more of a taboo holiday than any other in my life.  It never fails that on that day, there is either a massive blizzard, or we are in some kind of fight, or both of us just assume the other is planning something for the day (cue annoying buzzer).

This year it was MY turn to plan the holiday, and really I didn't know what to do.  I dared not take my chances of actually going somewhere because with our luck the roads would be snowy or icy which they somewhat are. I had to figure out something to do without leaving campus.

I made personalized cards at cardstore.com where you can add photos and names of people to the printed cards.  They were only$0.99 each so I bought 8 personalized cards and made of "stack" of mail tied with red ribbon for him to open (Hey, I put a lot of thought into those cards so don't call me lazy).

I've made a certain Velveeta sausage dip previously which I wanted to make again but it didn't seem like very "romatic" food for Valentine's day so I made chocolate covered strawberries too :)  I read multiple articles about "tempering" the chocolate...meaning melting it correctly.  Pretty sure I didn't fully follow the directions but they turned out AMAZING!

Now, I had been asked a couple times "What do you want for Valentines Day?"  The age old question that applies to multiple holidays.  The first few times I said "I don't know" in that girly way that girls say so well.  Actually, the whole time I was thinking "Flowers, flowers, flowers..." but girls don't ever really tell cause they like to be surprised right?  And then we get upset when the guy doesn't get what you were hoping to get right?  I decided enough was enough and I sent him a simple email:

Since you may not know,

and you don’t know what to get,

I love getting beautiful flowers...

they are a safe bet.

Now before you roll your eyes and say "Jacquelyn thats not how Valentine's Day works," let me just say that the key to a good relationship is (drumroll) ...communication.  Surprises are nice but sometimes you need to say what you need to say Mr. Mayer.  And while getting the food warmed up our picnic, I found a gorgeous bouquet on my desk with my favorite flowers in a adorable heart vase:

(The thing about living in a suite room is that people can knock on your neighbor's door and go through the bathroom to get into your room...creepy but in this instance, handy.)

So you know everything was all going good...I had everything set out on a picnic tablecloth on the rug for a Mid-winter indoor picnic (complete with apple raspberry punch I made).  I suddenly realized that the chord that connects the DVD player to the TV was left at my grandma's house, therefore we could not watch Time Traveler's Wife which is one of the best movies I have ever seen...  Ok well scratch the movie no big deal.

While eating, we talked about keeping journals and the like and through a series of discussions, led to discussion about some deeply philosophical and theological ideas such as "What is forever like"  "How old will we be in heaven"  etc.  and also how we both felt there are certain things about the world only we feel that we can see or feel a certain emotino about.  But then everybody probably feels that way...I don't know.

Have you ever felt only you can see and write something a certain way?

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to see your soul outside of the body?

Just how intricate are the networks of events in life and what happens if they change?

One coversation went like this:

"Imagine the impact that checked box on the organ donor section of your driver's license is.  That organ could save someone else who gets to live longer and make some kind of chain of impacts on the world."

Okay, so Valentine's Day met my philosophy textbook this year. We were close to having a normal Valentine's Day (whatever normal is). And yet I feel Valentine's Day is also about LEARNING to love the one you love more.  Their philosophy and outlook on life/death is no different.  I suppose.

So today isn't so much about looking at each other.
Its about looking ahead WITH each other no matter what the direction.

I suppose it's 1am and I should head to bed.

Happy Valentine's Day friends and goodnight.