The day of Love 2013

When I walked out of my bedroom on Valentines morning, I immediately did a quick eye scan of the entire house. Knowing my husband, I just knew he'd have something up his sleeve. Nothing was different or out of place, so I assumed the surprises would begin when he got off work and went about making my daily breakfast burrito. Just as a sat down with my plate and my mug, I opened up my laptop to catch up on all of my favorite blogs- it's like reading the morning paper for me. He knows me well too, apparently, because there it was.

"Good morning baby, Happy Valentines Day." I know I've done this hunt for you before, but why not again since you had so much fun? Well, eat some breakfast and if you are, enjoy!"

Sure he had done this before with my birthday gifts, (see part one, and part two) but I was already smiling so hard knowing the search I had coming. I scarfed down my burrito, chugged my juice and let the hunt begin. 

"Ok, that was easy. Now on this hunt I'm just giving you clues and you have to figure it out. You're smart, you will! Ok, are you ready... for your first gift, your clue is X marks the spot arrrrrrr."

Aren't his quick little sketches so funny and accurate, by the way? I had to laugh every time. Anyway, I was stumped for awhile on just the first one and I thought, really? Am I that smart? Will I get this? Maybe he overestimated me. The clue obviously made me think of pirates so the first place I went was to our bar cart. I picked up every single bottle of rum and whiskey and vodka and found nothing. Next I went to our globe and lifted it up. Nothing. After standing in the middle of our living room and slowly spinning around to see all my options, I was officially defeated. I even called my mom to see if she knew of something I had that was at all piratey. Right when we got off the phone I walked into the bathroom and it jumped out at me like a snake. My jewelry box looks a lot like a treasure chest! He even set a pack of matches with a skull and cross bones against it so I'd really know.

"Great you got it. Congrats on finding your first gift and figuring out the first clue, yay!!!!!"

"I love you soooo much more than all the clothes and dirty clothes in the world. Ok- Next clue mama bear! Goo into the dining room and look under the first puzzle we finished. Well, the only one we've finished."

Back to the hard part! I couldn't exactly remember what fish our friend Tim brought us for Gian's birthday, but I had a feeling it was some kind of tuna. We sometimes get that canned tuna, so I looked in our pantry and there was none. Next I went to the freezer and then the fridge and all we had was salmon and no notes. After standing in one place for five minutes and letting my brain wheels turn, it clicked that in my stash of boxes used for shipping out our etsy goods, was a box with a tuna label on it! I ran and opened it up and wah-la!

"Hooray! You found it! I hope you like it! Couldn't get the flag- well not yet. I hope you'll like it since summer's around the corner and we are going to Florida and you'll be hot."

I had mentioned that I wanted to get a California flag to put up in our baby boy's nursery, so I knew it was somthing Californian. How cute is that giftbag/tissue paper combo, too?!

When he got home from work, I gave him this vintage Italian cookbook he'd been eyeing and then we got cleaned up for a night out. We went to our favorite mediterranean place called Gypsy's and got our usual. We like to get a couple of entrees and two small plates and share everything family style. This way we can try a little bit of everything and we don't get bored of one taste. It was all so delicious!

We tried something new to start and we both loved it. Domes- Grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs. Then we got our favorites- Slow cooked lamb shank braised in tomato-basil sauce with persian style basmati safron rice and tabouleh salad. Along with falafel patties, roasted hummus and pita bread.

Another perfect Valentines under our belt. I can't wait for next year!

Drey $ Nicole