my valentine.

Stephen and I originally thought we would be in separate places for Valentine's Day so we celebrated early and then we ended up being together so we celebrated again!

The week before last week, I decided to send Stephen a formal dinner invitation for February 7th at 7 o'clock in the evening. He said yes!

I really tried to do it up right. I set the table (correctly), bought candle sticks, bought a jukebox so we could have some jams (The Red Hot Chili Peppers greatest hits CD) haha. I'm laughing thinking about how silly I am.

I bought all the ingredients, including the fillet mignon, from Sprouts. I watched numerous YouTube videos on how to properly cook a restaurant style steak. This is the recipe I followed for the process. I seasoned mine with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper on both sides. That's it and they were amazing! Like A-Mazing.

For the mashed potatoes, I followed my mom's famous recipe! It is as follows (for a small serving):

Ingredients:

• 4 red potatoes
• 1 can pet milk (found in baking section)
• 1-2 TB butter
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Peel potatoes and boil with water.
2. Boil until you can stick a fork in them and they are really soft.
3. Once potatoes are really soft, drain water and mix with hand mixer.
4. Add butter, salt, pepper, and HALF a can of pet milk.
5. Taste. If more salt or pet milk is needed, then add it.

I made sweet potato mash for myself. Basically, it is the same recipe as above except I omitted the pet milk!

For my asparagus, I followed this one.

It ended up tasting and turning out beautifully, but only because I spent an honest amount of time prepping and planning for it. I mean I was adding the steaks to our plates as Stephen was ringing the doorbell. Perfect timing! His job was to bring the Merlot and he did a great job!

I'd say I met my 2014 New Year's Resolution "cook more."

I'll be honest and say I did not bake a dessert. I picked up an individual slice of cheesecake from Tom Thumb and it did not disappoint.

Set Timer Photography!

We spent the evening sipping wine, visiting, and enjoying my $30 jukebox! I'm still daydreaming about how perfect it was. :)

As mentioned above, we celebrated twice.

On actual Valentine's Day, Stephen surprised me with roses, wine and a sweet card:) and had the idea of having a picnic. Uh, yes please! We went to Eatzis (aka Heaven on Earth) and picked up our lunch. I got a salad and he mashed potatoes and chicken. Stephen insisted on getting a dessert.

Side note: I can have self control and not get dessert. Stephen doesn't have self control and always gets dessert. Now on the flip side, he can take TWO BITES and be done. I take ONE BITE and can't stop. I hate it! So yeah he took 2 bites. I took 12.

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up a fancy picnic blanket and then headed to Arbor Hills. Y'all, it was sunny and 75. The perfect day for a picnic. We also brought a little Boss music player and listened to George while we ate.

It was seriously one of my favorite days since I moved to Plano and I got to spend it with my favorite person.

I'm excited to spend many more Valentine's with my one and only Valentine.