2/14/08 Love Me Like You Do...

Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!

I just checked all of my favorite reading blogs, and it seems a lot of you are cooking fancy Valentine vittles to celebrate today. I don't cook (anything. ever.) so cooking for my sweetie would probably make him wonder what he did to deserve such punishment rather than to swoon with love and appreciation. That's okay though. We celebrate our own way.

I'm celebrating by wearing my official Valentine socks with pink and red hearts all over them (Mom gave them to me, cause she loves me and she's cool like that!), and my official Valentine red fuzzy sweater (which was technically given to the Seester, but it was a size too big for her, so Mom got her a smaller size with every intention of returning this one, but she never did, and it just rode around in the back of the car for a year or two, and then finally she gave up and just gave it to me, so now I wear it for Valentine's because it's red).

Tony and I will go to a Japanese hibachi place tonight because many moons ago when we first started dating, Tony asked me what restaurant I wanted to go to, and I said Japanese hibachi cause nothing says love quite like shrimp sauce and ginger dressing. So we went, and a romantic dinner was had by all (or as romantic as you can get sitting at a giant table with 8 strangers while someone lights a pile of fried rice on fire). What Tony didn't realize is that this would rapidly become a tradition, and no matter what state we happened to be in at the time, or how difficult it is to get a table, we're doing hibachi for Valentines. Tony would probably rather eat somewhere else, but he knows that I will never grow tired of my eternal hibachi love, so that's where he gets a reservation. THAT'S the sign of a good Valentine.

Much to Hallmark's horror, we also skip the whole card thing. The first few years we did Valentines cards, but it didn't make sense to spend 45 minutes looking for the perfect card and then paying $4 for it to just read it once and immediately throw it away. To be honest, it's kind of a relief not to go through that whole funny vs mushy card debate. We also don't do the whole traditional jewelry or flowers. I do occasionally drop hints for chocolate since by the time February rolls around, my Halloween stash has been long depleted and we still have another couple of months before Easter, so he usually stops by Wal-Mart and picks up some chocolate goodies. He's a good hubby, so he gets me what I really want. And I'm not talking those heart-shaped boxes with those random mystery chocolates either. He knows that I like chocolate pretzels, and Symphony bars, and Chocolate Oranges, and Andes mints, so that's what I get. He's such a good Valentine!

I try to be a good Valentine too. Every year, I ask him what he wants for Valentines Day, and he always says nothing. And I try to get him Twinkies or cupcakes or something, but this year I hit the Valentines Day jackpot! Remember when he drooling he did over his rack of ribs when we went to Famous Dave's? Well, it seems that they do to-go orders too, so I picked him up a rack of ribs last night on my way home from class. Maybe pig meat is not the first gift you think of when you think of Valentines Day, but let me tell you, he was thrilled! We may have to make that another Valentine's Day tradition.

Hallmark can keep the mushy cards and diamond heart pendants and dozen roses. Barbequed ribs, heart-covered socks, chocolate pretzels and shrimp fried rice spells L-U-V to me.