Valentine's Day, First and Ten Style

We have done just about everything for Valentine's Day in the almost 10 years we've been together. There were dinners at various low-key favorite restaurants, intimate meals at home, all out splurges on some of LA's finest meals, some years where we just sat around in our PJs, and other less memorable years where we got into teenage fights and spent the night pouting.

Roses <3

 With all that history, Valentine's day tends to not be quite as exciting when you've already celebrated 9 of them.  We tried to celebrate together in Santa Barbara the weekend before, but ended up spending the trip with E's father. We weren't going to make a big deal out of it at home, but since it was our 10th Valentine's together, and our 1st Valentine's married, we decided to go out and brave the Los Angeles Valentine's day traffic and dinner rush.
 
In keeping with our relaxed theme, we gave each other our Valentine's gifts last Friday. I got E a new aftermarket battery for his 2006 Macbook Pro, which is sadly on the verge of dying and probably worth less than the cost of a legit apple battery, and he got me a 2 pound box of chocolate and sea salt carmels that I had been admiring on woot.

Chocolatey Carmel Goodness

  With most of the niceties observed, I wasn't expecting much yesterday but was looking forward to spending some one on one time with E.  I had work all day but E was off, so while I was gone he cleaned the house and bought me a beautiful bouquet of roses (from him) and an adorable stuffed bear with kisses (from our puppy). He also scheduled dinner at one of our favorite, laid back Italian restaurants and got dressed up in the shirt he proposed to me in, complete with the cologne he used to wear when we first started dating. 

Milou's Valentine's Bear

When I finally got home about half an hour late (thanks LA traffic), he presented me with his goodies and I gave him his other Valentine's gifts, a sweet card with puppies whose tails wagged, a giant See's truffle and a bag of his favorite Lindt truffles. We then hauled ass into the car, sat in lots of traffic, and finally made it to the restaurant which was packed to the brim with hungry couples. Since E had been snacking on nothing but goldfish all day in preparation for our dinner, he was famished and on the verge of eating the steering wheel so I wanted to get us seated fast. The soonest available table was one outside under some heat lamps instead of the warm tables inside the restaurant, but we took it and I figured my coat would keep me warm.

Spumoni in Santa Monica

We had been expecting to get our usual, and much loved, pasta dishes to keep the bill low, but as soon as we sat down the waiter presented us with one of those lovely pre-fix Valentine's menus with conspicuously absent prices. This put a bit of a damper on the evening, since my favorite dish wasn't there and we figured we'd end up dropping at least twice our budget. Resigned to our changed plans, E ordered his usual lobster ravioli, which was thankfully on the menu, and I ordered a fillet, which would have been my first choice at any other restaurant had I not been dreaming of spaghetti bolognese. They both came with bruschetta, a marinated pepper salad, and tiramisu or a cannoli.

Mmm Cannoli

About halfway into our salads, the adorable little red sandals I was wearing began to become less adorable and more impractical since all the cold air was blowing up my pant legs. After inquiring about turning up the heaters, which were already at full strength, E slipped off his warm dress shoes under the table and let me wear them for the rest of the meal. I had to keep my toes jammed in the front to keep them from falling off but they warmed me up almost as much as his sweetness did.

Not surprisingly, the food was absolutely delicious and to our happy surprise, turned out to be ridiculously cheap. We could have easily spent more ordering our pasta and Caesar salad without appetizers or desert, so I think Spumoni may have been the only restaurant in LA that didn't hike up their prices for Valentines.

All in all, it was a very successful Valentine's Day and I loved sharing it with E. Even with the changing plans and freezing ankles, I'm really glad we went out and can't help but look forward to another 75 Valentine's Days with my sweetie.