Valentine's Day Circa 2004

It was February 14, 2004.

Valentine's Day was finally falling on a Saturday and I had been dating a great guy for 3 months.

I was so excited to see what my new man had planned for me on this special night. 

I took my shower, curled my hair and put on my new XOXO pink jeans. I looked through my closet to find a cute top to wear....nothing.

So I looked up a little higher to my sister Brittney's section of the closet (we shared a room).....still nothing that tickled my fancy.

I tip-toed to my sister Michele's room and found the perfect top to complete my Valentine's Day outfit. It was a black, short-sleeved blouse with tiny pink flowers embroidered on it. Michele had just purchased it at Charlotte Rousse and it was PERFECT for my Valentine's Day date.

I spritzed on my perfume, tied the laces on my chunk heel black boots and waited for my Prince Charming to arrive.

Around 7:00pm the doorbell rang and I raced to answer it. 

There was Mike, standing in the doorway holding a small teddy bear and a rose.

I smelled the rose and smiled then grabbed my coat and we were off.

We pulled into the driveway of Mike's house and he opened the car door for me...I had never dated a guy who did that! We walked into the house and he had the fireplace raging (my first thought....this is a serious fire hazard....this guy lit a fire and drove over to my house to pick me up...what was he thinking??)

Mike took my coat and escorted me to the dining room table where the place settings were set. He pulled out the chair for me and I looked down on my plate to see a small heart shaped red box.

I smiled at him and asked "is this for me?" (wow I really hoped so because how embarrassing would that be if it wasn't?) He nodded and I opened the box to find a gorgeous 3-tiered heart necklace. 

It was the perfect Valentine's Day gift.

He put the necklace around my neck and proceeded into the kitchen to cook me dinner.

Several minutes later he walked in with 2 salads and 2 big plates of spaghetti all prepared by him.

(to this day I STILL give him a hard time for forgetting the salad dressing for the salads....I ate my salad dry anyway).

We spent the whole night laughing and talking and enjoying eachother's company.

Right before Mike was about to bring out our dessert course we heard car doors and voices outside.

The front door opened and Mike's parents walked in.

 "Dad wasn't feeling too well....I think he ate something that didn't agree with him at dinner." Mike's mom said. "sorry to ruin your night by coming home early."

I just smiled.

There's no way they could have ruined our night....it was the best Valentine's Day I ever had.

We brought our dessert into the family room where we relaxed by the raging fire and watched a Freddie Prinze Jr. movie on the couch.

Fast forward to February 14, 2013

I woke up this morning to Mike's alarm going off at 5:45 am.

He got up, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and came back into the room and kissed me and said "Happy Valentine's Day!!"

I opened one eye and said the same thing back and smiled.

This is the 10th Valentine's Day I've spent with this guy and I'll never forget that first one back in 2004.

I got out of bed and pulled out my 3-tiered heart necklace from my jewelry box.

It might need to be shined up a little bit and the chain may have a knot in it that I can't seem to get out....but it's still the best Valentine's Day gift I've ever received.

Happy Valentine's Day to my love:)

a quick trip back to 2004...