Valentine's Day 2012

I hope that all of you had a fantastic Valentine's Day!  Remember yesterday when I told you how excited I was to celebrate our first Valentine's Day as a married couple & how Mr. Robinson made promises of "blowing my mind?"  Well, consider me mind blown.  It was perfect in every single way.  :) 

Source: thebowtielife.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Valentine's Day morning started out a little differently from our normal mornings.  Don't worry.  I'm not going there.  All I mean is that my husband has been feeling under the weather for the past few days and was feeling even worse when he woke up yesterday morning.  Poor baby.  I got up and went about my usual morning routine to get ready for work at 9 am.  
I asked my husband when we were going to exchange gifts. I was very excited about the things I'd picked out for him.  :)  He said that he didn't buy me anything.  My face probably fell, but I was honestly fine with that because I knew he had an amazing night planned for us.  I was still excited about giving him the gifts I'd bought and the card I'd made.  I even learned how to draw cartoon penguins for him!  I went upstairs to my craft room to get the gifts I'd stashed and to put the finishing touches on his card.  I sat with him on the sofa, gave him his gifts & card, and he had a card for me as well.  
I made him a card based off of an inside joke we have about penguins on icebergs AND the card I gave him last year, on our first Valentine's Day.  I gave him a really nice travel coffee mug that says "World's Best Husband" on the side - maybe he won't have to use my Victoria's Secret PINK! travel mug anymore.  I also bought him an orange plaid bow tie.  Orange is his favorite color and he's been wanting a bow tie for quite sometime.  The card he gave me was sweet, as always.  :)  We snuggled for a minute, I kissed his snotty  face, and scooted off to work!  
He went to the doctor during the day, and found out he has a sinus infection.  He got some good medicine to start taking.  I tried to talk him into postponing our date, but he was determined to follow through with the mind-blowing plans he'd come up with.  
At the end of the day, I left work to come home and freshen up.  I changed out of my work clothes into something a little more festive.  I put on a dress I bought from Express years ago, but had never worn.  It's black, v-neck in the front and back, banded, and form fitting.  I put on black tights, leopard print heels, and a red sweater.  :)  

He got dressed up in his khaki's, purple shirt, and purple plaid neck tie.  He looked so handsome.

  I touched up my make-up, we put Zombie in his kennel (he chews EVERYTHING if we leave him out), and off we were!  He opened the car door for me, which he always does, but it reminded me of our first date.  I still had no idea what we were doing or where we were going, but I was excited and it the excitement just kept building! 
We drove about 45 minutes over into Pawley's Island, and turned into The Hammock Shops.  I saw the sign for Nosh, a semi-new restaurant I've been to try since it opened!  It's been advertised as an "artful dining" experience and I knew it would be amazing because our wedding planner was the mastermind behind decorating the restaurant!  If you are EVER on the coast of South Carolina, go eat at Nosh!          

We walk into the restaurant and it's absolutely gorgeous.  It felt like an old home, except it was furnished with modern furniture.  John Marshall, our wedding planner, turns everything he touches into gold.  Nosh was no different.  We were taken to our table.  I was so excited to see that our table was in the corner!  I love sitting in the corner - it makes me feel secure and cozy.  On our table was a handwritten card propped up on a napkin and a single red, long stemmed rose.  We sat down.  I red the card and smelled the rose.  I had a feeling that there might be a gift under the napkin, but he told me he didn't get me a gift.  I didn't want to go digging around the table.  You know..."that awkward moment when you've opened a gift and you're digging through the tissue paper looking for the rest of it...only to find out that was it."  Haha.  I didn't want that!  So eventually, Mr. R moved the napkin and revealed a tiny little Pandora box.  I squealed!
New Pandora Charm for Valentine's Day!!!!!  

And he said he didn't get me anything... I love it!  I'm so obsessed with my Pandora bracelet.  I love it because it's almost like a little piece of history.  Each charm is exciting.  I love the way the charms sound when they bump against each other.  I love that each new charm changes the way the bracelet sounds.  :)  

I put my new Valentine's Day charm on the bracelet immediately and we ordered cocktails.  They were strong.  I was buzzed immediately.

A cello player came into the dining room and set up.  Mr. Robinson kept saying it was a violinist, but he wouldn't turn around and look at her.  He said that he just "knows things."  Except it was not a violin.  I was much bigger.  Haha.  It was cello.  She serenaded us (and everyone else) with live music while we ate.  Her music was beautiful.    

We ordered an appetizer.

TRADITIONAL BRUSCHETTA

FRESH FRENCH BREAD GRILLED IN A GARLIC-BASIL RUB, LAYERED WITH ROMA TOMATOES, FRESH BASIL AND MOZZARELLA, DUSTED WITH AGED PECORINO ROMANO CHEESE, THEN TOASTED 

For our entrees, Mr. Robinson had Ravioli.  His meal came with a soup or salad.  He chose the egg drop soup.  

RAVIOLI DELLA CASA
TRI-COLOR, JUMBO RAVIOLI SERVED IN A SWEET BUTTER SAUCE WITH ROMA TOMATOES, FRESH
BABY SPINACH AND PARMESAN CHEESE

I had Mahi-Mahi with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.

PESCE FRANCESE

MARKET FRESH FISH LIGHTLY EGG-BATTERED, PAN SAUTEED THEN SERVED IN A CAPER AND LEMON BUTTER

WINE SAUCE

For dessert, we ordered a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing.  It was heart shaped.  We shared it.  John Marshall sent us a complimentary bottle of champagne.  

We took our time eating and savoring every bite.  The food was absolutely amazing.  I was so proud of my husband for trying so many new foods!  He's a very picky eater, and I'm a very adventurous eater.  I was so happy to see him branching out!  

When we were walking out the door, a violinist was coming into the restaurant.  We knew it was violinist because he had a violin.  :)  Mr. Robinson was all excited and said, "See!  I told you there was violinist!"  Yes, but we were leaving.  We had full tummies.  Haha.  He said that he had arranged for the violinist to play our wedding song (God Gave Me You) at our table while we ate.  But we missed him.  That's totally fine.  My husband made such a huge effort for us to have a perfect Valentine's Day plus One-Year-Anniversary of our lives together.  It was perfect, even if all of his plans didn't play out exactly how he had planned.  I felt like the luckiest girl in the restaurant!   

We buckled the champagne up for the long ride home.  :)

And we took a typical "I'm in the car and my wife is wasted" picture, haha. 

Yeah...about that.  Thanks to the half-of-a-cocktail and a glass of champagne.....

I was pretty much drunk.  I kept quacking on the way home.  Do I know why?  Absolutely not.  Haha.

When we got home, we took pictures! 

Why, yes, those are hand drawn penguins. ;)

This was the car that was on the table at the restaurant.  It's John's handwriting - Mr. R just told him what to write, haha. 

This was the card I got in the morning! 

All of our gifts! 

I love you, hunny!  :)  You're the best husband in the whole wide world and I'm the luckiest lady in all the land.  Thank you for a perfect Valentine's Day!  It's been a perfect year! 

 Oh, and he is still sick this morning.  So instead of taking Zombie to work with me like I usually do, I let hubby keep him for snuggles.  They're so cute they give me chest pains.

    

How was your Valentine's Day?!