Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, to one and all!

I am blessed with a lot of love in my life:  a dear child, who truly is our little miracle and a husband who loves me as much as I love him, which is a LOT.  This is the day every year where I feel my luck because of all of my many blessings in that regard.

We realized this morning that this is our 20th Valentine's Day together.  A bit of a milestone, really, and one we've worked hard to reach despite ours being a true love match from the very start.  It does take work, even when you are meant to be together; sometimes a lot of work, but it is definitely worth it for the two of us to make this a "we" and not a "me" type of marriage.

I hope that you have the same in your life.  We all deserve to feel special and loved and supported.


Especially now that I'm facing a great and scary unknown, it makes all the difference to have that unconditional and constant support and love holding me up when I'm feeling a little down or weak. 

I wish that everyone could have this, too.  It means the world to me, knowing that whatever I face, we will face it together.

So today, I wish everyone as much love as they can handle, a lot of joy, and some laughs along the way.  Who couldn't use that every day of their life?

Happy, happy Valentine's Day!

Last night, most of my time was spent throwing together a Valentine's box for The Peanut, who had 3 hours of dance classes and no time to make one (she'd forgotten that she needed to make one all week and then came home in a panic yesterday about it...ooops!).  We decided on a theme -- dolphins (of course!) -- and then she was dropped off for dance class and left me to figure out how to get it done.

This morning, I would like to say a special thank you to the makers of Glue Dots and the person who invented the color printer.  Because nothing says AWESOME!!!! like a Valentine's box wrapped in turquoise paper, with a parchment rippley border cut to look like sand dunes at the beach all around the bottom, with dolphins jumping up all the way around, carrying hearts in their mouths.  It's awfully nice to earn the Best. Mom.  EVER. seal of approval, I have to say, and making it was a lovely, crafty diversion last night.  (Forgot to take a picture -- will try to snap one and post it when she comes home this evening.)

I was thinking about the fact that I haven't really had time to do anything special for dinner this evening.  It is as though we are all holding our breath here, waiting for a call about test results, which has meant that meals have been a little haphazard this week at best.  I think I'll change it up a little this evening and actually cook something yummy.

Something says slow cooker miracle meal to the rescue today.  We'll have to see what I can come up with for us all.

In the meantime, if you are looking for something special for your Sweetie, might I suggest something easy yet really fun?  Valentine's heart cakes with messages written on them in frosting like those little heart candies.  Adorable and very easy to make -- directions can be found here.

Have a wonderful day today.  Do something loving for yourself -- you absolutely deserve it!

(Photo by Christy Hardin Smith.  All rights reserved.)