Valentine's Day

"I choose you. And I'll choose you over and over and over. Without pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I'll keep choosing you." — (Unknown)

 To those who know me it is no surprise that I started preparing for Valentine's Day in mid January. Valentine's Day is my second favorite holiday after Christmas. I love hearts, cards, flowers, and chocolate. I also am a big fan of love. This year Valentine's Day is extra special because for the first time we will actually be together. We both work much of the day, but after spending months apart, any time we get together feels special.

This year for Valentine's Day we decided to celebrate like we did last year. Last year we celebrated with a Skype date. We both made lasagna and enjoyed dinner "together" on Skype. As a tribute to last year, this year I made lasagna and chocolate lava cakes. I also made another strawberry lemon heart shaped cake. We both felt it would be more fun to celebrate together at home than to try to go out to dinner on such a busy night. We plan to go out to eat sometime over the weekend so we can continue our Valentine's Day celebration.

Valentine's Day morning started out with a stressful commute to work for me. I had an early meeting and traffic was worse than normal. Another car hit my car from behind while on the freeway. Luckily no-one was hurt and the other driver took responsibility for the accident. My car had only a minor dent a scratched paint. Other than being very late for work, everything turned out alright.

We both had to work during the day on Valentine's Day, so we did not open presents until we go home that night. We had planned to have dinner and then open presents, but I was so excited by my present for Tracey that I made her open the present the second she walked in the door. I gave her a picture of our family I ordered from a wonderful, extremely helpful, and kind shop on Etsy called DrawmePlease. The drawing of our family makes me smile every time I look at it. Tracey ended up liking the drawing just as much as I do. Leo really makes the drawing complete, and our family whole.

Tracey gave me a stuffed love pug (I have a slight pug obsession), Ferrero Rocher chocolates, a London themed pillow case, a stunning engraved wooden card, and a beautiful card. She did a wonderful job making me feel loved, and spoiled. The pillow case was my favorite part because it is adorable, super soft, and reminds me that is just a few months we will be heading back to England to spend some time exploring London and visiting with our English family and friends.

By the end of the evening I was feeling very sore from the car accident so I went to bed early so happy for the chance to celebrate our first Valentine's  day together.

Valentine's day was a fun excuse to remind each other how much we love each other. Being a long distance couple really helps us appreciate all of the time we are fortunate enough to spend together. Although we celebrated this holiday before whole apart, I had no idea how much fun it would be to celebrate Valentine's day together. I hope you were able to share your love with those who matter most this month. I also hope you felt loved, because you are so very loved.
- Shannae Johnson