Valentine's Day?

My gift to Joe for Valentine's Day was to allow him to take me shooting. Yeah, like guns. I am completely uncomfortable around them but my husband is of the variety that believes that it is, 1) every American's right to own one and, 2) if more people owned and carried guns fewer crazies would get away with killing mass numbers of people on college campuses, etc. So I did what any good wife would do, forbade him to buy one and when he bought it anyway, I forgave him. (Sigh.)



To Joe's disappointment this was the only picture that I took of him shooting.  To be honest, I thought about getting up and walking behind him and taking a few close ups looking down the barrel of the gun or at his target or just more of him shooting the different guns that Steve had, but I was afraid I would distract him and he would accidently shoot me or Steve or Alicia, or himself.  Not as a discredit to him, he had great aim and behaved very professionally (no pistol twirling like I imagined) but I was very nervous.  I also felt like I should be kind of respectful of something that is capable of taking human life.  I didn't want to trivialize it with too many pose pictures.  

I am still uncomfortable around guns and I don't understand the whole fascination some men have with them and shooting things.  But it made me happy to do something that Joe really wanted to do.  There were 5 or 6 times where I wished I had taken a picture of his face and the pure boyish joy and excitement that I saw there.  So while I can't understand the source of it this time, I sure do love seeing my husband really happy.

Birthday: Part 2

In college one of my friends threw a party on Valentine's Day where we watched Pride and Prejudice (A&E 5 hour version), made valentines for whomever we wanted, and ate delicious and beautiful food. I was telling Irene about it about 6 months ago and she said, "I am going to do that for you for your birthday! I wont forget."

She did not forget, and so she threw me my second birthday celebration. I know, I am completely spoiled and I was a little embarrassed driving up to her house, feeling like I am taking advantage of her. But it quickly faded away into complete chocolate + Mr. Darcy induced bliss.

To be honest we did not pay a lot of attention to the movie.  We preferred talking about a whole range of topics that cannot be named here due to their extreme girly-ness. But it was awesome background noise and who wouldn't stop to notice this dreamy gaze. 
We were just an intimate little group but it was so much fun! (Pay no attention to the large bowl of peanut M&M's directly in front of me...)
Irene, thank you for hosting! The party was perfect, your house was beautiful, the food was delicious- you know me way too well! You are such an amazing friend! I hope I can someday return the favor!

Surprise!

This year I have unknowingly set myself up to be completely spoiled for my birthday. I must have been talking about it a lot- the big 30 - and how I wanted Joe to throw me an awesome party. Somehow one of my dearest friends, Alicia, got the idea to throw it herself (with a little help from Joe)! She cooked an insane amount of food to make chicken, beef or fish tacos, she invited a ton of people, she put together a slide show, decorated in a tropical theme. It was so fun, so perfect I went through the whole day TODAY with warm fuzzies because I felt so loved. Thank you Alicia- you are truly one of the most thoughtful people I have ever known.



I should also say that it was a joint birthday party for Lauren (Lauren on right, Alicia on left, and no- that is not me in the middle. That is a stranger). These are some fun girls! Happy birthday Lauren!