Mother of the Year

Image via WikipediaAs a matter of fact, YES.
I am breaking into my son's Valentine's Day candy generously gifted to him weeks ago by his tiny preschool friends, all while he sleeps peacefully (and without clue) just down the hall. It's all in an effort to keep my resolution this year of eating 1) more kale (speaking of, try these and season it like crazy and have a party in your mouth) and 2) more chocolate. Because who wants to be on their death bed one day, regretting their under-consumption of chocolate? There are dozens of other things I'll be too busy regretting, so I refuse to let a lack of chocolate be one of them. So obviously in this instance, the ends totally justify the means. My son needs a strong, determined Mama who sticks to her resolutions, right?

Anyway, as I was picking through the precious heap of Valentine's, I noticed that his friends gifted mostly name-brand chocolate this year. Nice touch, kids. This has not gone unnoticed in this house. Buddy, you are such a great judge of character. Clearly, friends like yours who gift name-brand chocolate are friends you should hang on to forever. Because when it comes to chocolate, one should really go big or go home. Who has time to mess around with Hershey's when there are dozens of Dove chocolate hearts screaming your name?

And this has been another motherly pearl of wisdom I pass down to you, my darling son.

Date Night

Image by Martha★ via Flickr

Saturday night was our Valentine's Day Date Night, and we thought we had bamboozled the entire public by going out and celebrating a whole day early. What a couple of CRAZY kids we are! Here was the recipe for our date night beat-the-crowd success (in case you want to take notes and plan better for next year):

1) I went to Ross and found one very adorable/ridiculously comfortable/very affordable dress to wear approximately one hour before Date departure time. In this instance, $10 was a small price to pay for the level of cuteness I brought to the table. And when Dan saw this level of cuteness, he knew it was time to bring the big guns.
2) Dan bringing the big guns = Dan got super cute himself and applied Marc Jacobs cologne (which Ben passionately praised Dan for before we left the house, claiming that he smelled quite "fresh"). Dan also wore his new fedora which made him even taller and sexier and further affirming my decision to marry him 5 years and 3 months ago. I haven't always made the best decisions, but that one stays at the top of my "way to go" list.
3) Went to dinner ridiculously early (because this sneaky tactic will always yield many table possibilities AND increase your chances of arriving upon some sort of "happy hour" special).
4) Went to see a movie that has been out for 2 months (in our case, the very "romantic" Avatar) and consequently the dust had settled around the hype of said movie. Therefore, we were able to claim two decent seats. And honestly, half the fun of it all was smuggling in 3 bags of M&M's that we purchased from the gas station just minutes before. Because when you're paying $11 for a movie ticket (can you believe they charge $2 whole extra dollars for the 3-D!) buying M&M's for a decent price feels like a small victory. For the record, and for those curious, I did enjoy Avatar. It was visually incredible and really quite beautiful. But I'm sure anyone reading this already knows the reasons to see Avatar because Dan & I were most likely the last people on earth to see it.
5) Drove home holding hands, arrived home relaxed, paid the babysitter, received one angry voicemail from our grumpy neighbor who complains about our dog (we're going with the "kill them with kindness" approach), cuddled up and fell asleep within 3.5 seconds of hitting my pillow.

I hope I always get excited to put on a dress for Dan, and I hope he always gets excited to put cologne on for me. Because in our crazy day-to-day lives, both gestures are rare.  But I cherish having such a simple way to let him know that I love him with all of my heart.

Really, it was quite the perfect evening.