I love Valentines day and I really dislike Valentines day.
First, why do I dislike it? I really can’t stand the fact that we (guys – and to some extent girls) are pressured into expressing some sort of mega-love and affection on one particular day. I always feel that if we don’t do something spectacular or if I don’t come up with the world’s most creative date then somehow I have failed. I guess I also feel a little guilty because I know I should be expressing the mega kind of love on a regular basis.
But I also love it because it does lend itself to more creative outlets. Its also a blast if you have a daughter. As Mia grows older I want her daddy to always be her valentine. There is not a lot of things cooler than being able to buy your daughter a flower.
This year I got Mia a couple of small presents and a flower of course but the last couple years have been all about the Valentine card that I give her. This year I made her a card with some of her favorite people: Diego and Boots. I happened to have a picture of her in an explorer hat so she got to be Dora.
Mickie and I had a great time as well. We started the afternoon out by going to see the movie “He’s Just Not That Into You” which was cute and fun and a pretty good date movie. Though I was thinking during the movie how awkward some of the scenes would be if you really were just dating and watching that movie. There are so many awkward stages in dating and while fun at the time I really wouldn’t want to go back and re-enact them…
After the movie we hopped in the car and drove back to Polk City to Lakeside’s building on the Polk City square. All the guys from our small group decided to put on a dinner for our wives (we had originally just tried to get reservations at a nice restaurant but couldn’t get them – this ended up being waaaay better.) Each couple had their own table draped in a vintage table cloth, a set of candles and some pre-meal entertainment in the form of a Valentine word search. All of the girls had special heart filled name cards at their place as well.
The romantic atmosphere was enhanced by quiet music in the background with songs including Valentine Girl by the New Kids on the Block and Elvis’ Love Me Tender among others. We also had a looping fireplace video, with crackling and popping sound effects, on the wall.
For dinner we paid one of the guys in my small group to serve us. He went all out and wore black pants, white shirt and tie and was really awesome – he even provided us with some Andes after dinner mints. (Ethan, you rock!!) We catered in Chicken Spiedini from Latin King and a cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory. Despite the pasta being a bit cool the meal was really very good.
After the meal we played the Newlywed game which Mick and I came back to tie for the win.
It was a great night and a lot of fun. Now I need to start working on what we will be doing next year.