Valentine... a little delayed

So, this was scheduled to post a week ago and didn't actually post. Just when I think I am getting back into the swing of things.... Ah well.

 

Our Valentine's Day was a really nice one, I have to say. Ryan finished his first cycle as an instructor and had a long weekend and I was finally recovered enough from being sick from my surgery to go out and do things. We woke up in the morning and I gave Ryan a small painting I made him. I did not photograph it because it wasn't that good but he seemed to like it! We got ready and drove down to Topsail Beach to walk on the beach a bit. It was absolutely freezing so we only walked for maybe five or ten minutes before retreating to the warmth of the car, but it was still gorgeous to look at!

 

 

After the beach we continued on to Wilmington where we had a late lunch/early dinner at an all you can eat sushi place we kept seeing but never actually went to. It was absolutely delicious and we were full to the brim by the time we at our six or so special rolls! We then stopped at Trader Joes for some munchy foods for later that evening. My parents also sent us some Georgetown Cupcakes to celebrate me feeling better, Ryan's upcoming birthday, and of course Valentine's Day.

 

I also redecorated our mantle for the occassion. After my surgery my mom and I had made a trip to Hobby Lobby and everything (aside from my angels) came from there. It was my first time ever in a Hobby Lobby and I must say I need to avoid it lest I spend a TON of money on a regular basis!

 

We ended with a low key evening at home with our stuff from Trader Joe's. We had a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and a chocolate lava cake with frozen raspberries for dessert. Ryan lit a fire in the fireplace and we put the Frank Sinatra station on Pandora and had a nice evening together. Dancing may have been involved.

 

Overall it was a very low key Valentine's Day, but we spent it together, which is always a bonus in my book!

 

My Valentine

Since Ryan is 3,000 miles away Miss Rylie was my Valentine today. We had a date with the vet for some vaccines (including rabies) and my porker pup is 26 pounds!! She also got an adorable bandana at her visit, which surprisingly she has on still. I wonder if she even realizes it is there!







And an instagram version, just for kicks!



I leave for Las Vegas Thursday and we plan on celebrating Valentine's Day (and his birthday!) this weekend so I am holding out until then. Ryan's gift arrived in the mail yesterday thankfully, I was worried it wouldn't make it!

Enjoy your night!

Valentine's Dayyyy

First of all this was the weather! So I was pretty happy.


Then my boss got Georgetown Cupcakes from her husband... and shared!

But when I got home the chain was on the door. I was locked out! I hear, "Hold on a second!" Now I am curious. Ryan lets me in and makes me close my eyes. So he guides me to the living room and I see this set up, but with lit candles!



All from this wonderful guy....




Who also got some magnets from me in his card that looked like this because I could not resist...



We then went to my FAVORITE restaurant for dinner in Old Town. We even walked like old times this summer since it was nice out! It is a greek restuarant that I just love. Usually it is closed on Mondays but it was open for Valentine's Day and Ryan got a reservation. We had saganaki, an amazing bottle of red wine, and the sampler platter for dinner (yes we ordered the same thing, but it is my favorite that I always get!). It comes with Moussaka, Pastitsio, Dolmades (my absolute favorite), Soudsoukakia and Spanakopita (Ryan's favorite!). YUM. Plus bread and spiced olive oil and I am full. We sat for a long time talking and finishing our wine. As we were just about done the owner gave all the tables a free glass of dessert wine (or port?). Oy. It was just amazing. I love that restaurant and if I could go there once a week, I totally would!

We had a very full, slightly tipsy walk home where Ryan told me to pick out a romantic comedy on Netflix. Really??? So we watched When Harry Met Sally because I thought he actually would like it. He did. But scarily some of the things Harry said in the movie are SO Ryan it kinda weirded me out. I made this dessert the night before so we ate this too...



It is a mini cake with raspberry jam and toasted almonds inside, covered with a chocolate-y shell. I may share the recipe (it is pretty simple) if anyone wants it! My mom sent it to me.


And thanks to Liv at Simply Sunshine and Daisies for the awesome Valentines! They definitely made me smile, especially the Mickey and Minnie one!




I couldn't help but take more pictures of my flowers this morning.

Ryan's Valentine's

For Valentine's Day I got my husband two tickets to the DC International Wine Festival (thank you Groupon!), which was yesterday. I had to give him his present early obviously so we could go! Ryan looooves wine so this was perfect for him! We got up in the morning, went to IHOP, church, and then took the metro to the Ronald Regan Building for the festival. And I forgot my camera... that never happens! So excuse the poor quality cell phone pictures!

When we got there it was like a maze! People were wandering around and trying to find the entrance and tickets and security... oy. This girl looked at me and said, "Do you have a Groupon too?" I was like, "Yes..."

"Oh we're not going to get in til like 6pm!"
"Wait, what?"
"For about every ten people with tickets they let in one groupon person. Apparently someone was supposed to be here to collect them separately but aren't. Anyway, it's messed up. I am going to try and sneak in. My fiance did so yea, it's this way."
"But, but... that wasn't in the fine print!"

So I am blindly following her with Ryan following me. We get to the ticket area and the girl cuts left and is gone. I see a woman standing there with a stack of tickets. As I am looking a couple with the Groupon papers hand their papers to her and get tickets. So I shrug and drag Ryan to her, give her the papers, and we get our two tickets. Suspiciously easy! What wait was she talking about? We walked right in and got tickets! I walk to follow everyone else in to the main area and I see the line. All of them holding Groupon papers... easily about three hundred people long. And we cut them all.

Oops.

Buuuut we had our tickets... and our Groupon was already were collected... so we couldn't get it back or anything... *cough*

So we go in to the festival! It's crowded and basically every man/woman for themselves. You are handed a glass and then you go to the tables!


Our glass!

We went around and elbowed our way in to the front of tables and got some really good wine!! I liked this one white Tokai wine from Hungary, and this South African red wine called Cafe, which had coffee undertones! I don't like coffee but I loooved that wine! I want it! (:


Cafe is the one with the red label

The side rooms also had vodka, rum, and absinthe. That was good. It tasted like a mixture of sambucca and anise/fennel and instantly made your mouth cold. I only had a little bit but it was interesting. No little green men though!


The crowds

We also tried some good chili, crackers, tomato things, cheese... it was yummy! We also ran into Ryan's old Platoon Sgt (he got out and is in school now) and his girlfriend Katie, who is a doll. We went around with them and this other hilarious couple we met and just had a blast. I was pleasantly tispy and enjoyed the day immensely! We went to Old Ebbitt Grill after and then stumbled home on the metro! We had a great time together and I was very happy he liked my gift! Now only a week til his birthday.... crap.

A few more pictures:


Our favorite Spanish wine..... man oh man was it good! We're big red wine drinkers.


Ryan enjoying his present!


I was there too!



Ryan is taking me somewhere (?) for dinner so I will update you all tomorrow. Happy Valentine's Day!

Snowpocalypse Indeed

Sorry this has taken me a little while to write, but I wanted to upload pictures of the snow to prove my point and I can't find my camera! My room has turned into a black hole... I know it is here somewhere but I just am not positive where. Eek. Well I need to clean it sometime before Ryan gets here FRIDAY (YAY!).

Oh wait! Picture uploaded from my cell phone....



This was outside of our hotel on Wednesday the 10th. YIKES. Behind Ryan's car, that white lump in the background is a completely burried car! And it was snowing still so hard when I took that.

I took the train down on Tuesday, I left at like 6:30am with my Dad as he went to work. I was on the train by 7:20am and then in DC by 11:45am, only an hour late or so. Not bad compared to what would come....

So I get to Union Station and the metro is running for the first time in days. I manage to metro to Eastern Market and I found Ryan shoveling snow on 8th St. It was soooooooo good seeing him. He was still working so I went back to his room (and cleaned it, I am nuts that way) and waited for him to get off work. We grabbed some food and went to the hotel in Alexandria, about 10 minutes or so away. The snow started that night as we celebrated Valentine's Day. I gave him a red coffee thermos that's awesome (but he lost it in the snow the next morning) and we had some red wine in the glass I bought since the second glass shattered in my suitcase.

We went out around 8pm or so and cleaned off the car and went and got Ryan a snow scraper since he didn't have one. Boys. We meant to do a quick trip but with the snow we got turned around and shuttled to Route 66 and it took us nearly an hour to get back. Which was stupid as neither of us had our phones, I didn't have my purse or ID or money, and it was just stupid. But we got back ok.

Cleaning the car off the next day was torture. Some guys staying at the hotel helped us and we helped them with their car. We borrowed shovels from the front desk and somehow got out of our spot from over a foot of snow into the blizzard. Did I mention it was a blizzard??? So somehow I end up in the backseat sitting on Ryan's laundry between two tvs (that I gave him over a month ago and are still there) praying we don't crash as I can't buckle. Oh, and we had Dave in the front seat. Dave from Chicago who helped us dig out the car and needed a ride to the metro or Connecticut Ave. He got the metro. As you can guess I was not thrilled with the arrangement but Ryan said we needed him if we got stuck. Luckily nothing happened. His wife was glad we got him to the metro to go find her in the end. But it took us 2 and a half hours to do what would be a 15 minute drive!!!! No side roads or even minor highways were plowed so we had to stick to the still terrible main roads. We were the only car driving, everyone else (and there were not many) were in trucks and jeeps with 4 wheel drive. We had 2 wheel drive and slid around a bit. At times the wind was so bad it was literally white in front of us. Driving on the beltway during a whiteout is not fun. At all. But we made it. Finally.

So we grabbed lunch and I got a phone call that my train was cancelled. Crap. My parents were leaving Thursday to go to their new house in North Carolina for the long weekend and I had to get home. I got on a train for the next morning, but I had to pay $320 for a hotel room to stay over night! This was in walking distance of the barracks and metro, we couldn't drive anywhere and trains weren't running so I had no choice. It was that or the street. Ugh. It was worth having another night with Ryan but that was too much for a room for one night. I think they took advantage of me.

And of course that night I had cramps so bad I literally had to take half a percocet to not be in agony. Ryan kept soaking wash cloths in hot water and putting them on my stomach for me but I was so uncomfortable. Uggh.

The next day I get on what seems to be the only train leaving DC. Sold out of course. And all the trains after it are cancelled. So we get as far as Baltimore and almost to Wilmington (after leaving DC half an hour late) and we stop. Apparently we hit a snowbank and the air supply to a car was cut off... so we sat there two hours. Then an acela came and we got on that by crossing on a bridge between the two trains. I got a seat but some people didn't. Naturally the girl on the floor next to me was coughing her brains out, luckily I haven't gotten sick yet. Then we get to Phili and all of us not originally on the acela had to get off onto ANOTHER train that was already half full so people were on the floor again. We get out of the station in Phili, literally like going ten feet and stopping due to an electrical problem. More waiting. My three hour train ride became a seven hour train ride (with three different trains!). I got home by 6pm and my parents and Stefan left.

Saturday I went to the Anointing of the Sick mass. It was beautiful and very emotional. When Father Tom did the laying of the hands and blessed me with oil I can't lie, I got very teary. I even read at the mass which I hadn't done since Easter. I can only hope it helps. After I went to mass and Jill, my cousin met me there.

Ryan had 24 hour duty Sunday so no Valentine's Day for us. He did send me red tulips and blue irises (our wedding colors!) and chocolate covered strawberries. I love that man! But Jill came over Saturday night and we hung out, watched chick flicks, and drank Chocolate Lab (a chocolate sort of wine. GET IT!)

That's about it for now. Just working at the pharmacy, planning the wedding (invites are in! we went back to the Marine invites as homemade just wasn't in our budget or time frame), and just missing being with Ryan. Sorry for the longwindedness!