Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

A Valentine's Day Poem:

Roses are Red. Violets are Blue. My boyfriend is the best. And you should be jealous.

I know it doesn't rhyme, but I wasn't really going for that. If you have a weak stomach, stop reading because shit's about to get nauseatingly romantic and sweet.

Here begins my February 14th, as I cross Number 71 off my list. I wake up to the nicest text, filled with emoji hearts and kissing smiley faces. Well played, sir. You have set the tone for the rest of the day.

Next came the beautiful flowers I received while I was out at my eye doctor appointment (getting some new contacts...finally, I can see again). I was just about to send a text to him complaining about the hundo's I just dropped at my appointment, when I got to my desk and froze. These beauties were staring me right in the face. Please feel free to read the note and swoon.

I mean, how gorgeous are those? Seriously....

So I call him, and thank him, and immediately start online shopping to get him more goodies because I'm already way impressed and know it can only get better.

Fast forward 7 long hours. He picks me up, opens the door, and we start to drive to the surprise destination. He made resi's a month ago but since I ruin every surprise, he swore this would remain a secret. He did let me know that it would be one of two places. For the last month, the suspense nearly killed me. Being the sleuth I am, I told him I'd be able to figure out where we were going based on the route we took, since the 2 options he gave me were in different parts of the city. We got to the turnoff point, and as we were stopped a the red light, I said, "Well I guess we're going to Sotto Sotto since if we were going to Ecco you would have turned right on red.". Light turns green. He turns right. Sneaky little devil.

We get to Ecco (which for those of you who have seen The Change Up will recognize it...it's the restaurant where Ryan Reynolds and Olivia Wilde go on their fancy date) and it is gorgeous! We get a cocktail at the bar and wait for our table - which is BY FAR the best seat in the entire place. A corner booth overlooking the main dining room and open kitchen.

We dined on Fried Goat Cheese Balls, while my wood-fired pizza and his homemade pasta cooked. We ended the evening with Champagne Truffles and Olive Oil and Sea Salt ice cream. And I should mention, no fancy dinner would be complete without a nice bottle of wine...so that was happening too.

 At this point, I'm all like..."This has been the best Valentine's Day of my entire life," and "I had to kiss a ton of frogs to end up with this Prince Charming," and "Can someone please pinch me because I have to be dreaming...how did I get so lucky?".

Then come the presents. He got his last two "14 Days of Valentines" gifts. An apple because "he's the apple of my eye" and a bottle of champagne (yes, more for me than him) because "he makes my heart bubble over". He did his actual gifts first...a pair of shoes he's wanted and has been wearing since Gasparilla. I caved and let him have them early. Then he got a shiny, new wallet. WOW. Oh, he also got one hand-written love letter, by yours truly. FYI...Everyone should receive one at least once in their life. It's a good way to let someone know how special they are.

My turn.

I got a nice little box of chocolates and.....wait for it......eeeeeeeeeeek. These babies.

Needless to say....HE DID AMAZING. And spoiled the shit out of me. I would have been good with some new socks and a box of wine, but he went above and beyond. So again, let me say:

Roses are Red. Violets are Blue. My boyfriend is the best. And you should be jealous.

Until next time,

L

Surviving Nemo

Someone once said, "Spontaneity is the quality of being able to do something just because you feel like it at the moment, of trusting your instincts, of taking yourself by surprise and snatching from the clutches of your well organized routine, a bit of unscheduled plea".

So that's what I did this weekend. Totally spontaneous move stemming from the unpredictable winter weather the Northeast sometimes faces, allowing me to cross Number 79 - Spontaneous Vacation Decision off my list.

Seven days ago, I checked the weather for my upcoming weekend getaway to The Big Apple. Much to my surprise snow flurries were in the picture and I got excited at the possibility of checking some bad-boys off my list. Later that day, I discovered it was in fact not only snow flurries...but a nor'easter storm grazing through the City right when my flight was scheduled to land.

Oh, the horror.

Thursday morning, I called AirTran at 8:30am to see what could be done about my Friday night flight. They told me it wasn't serious enough to prompt waived changed fees or flight cancellations, but to keep checking back. So that's what I did. Every 20 minutes. Check, check, check, monitor, monitor, monitor. Finally at 11:30 I updated my AirTran.com flight page to see that LGA was finally under a weather alert. I called them immediately to see what could be done.

"Well ma'am (in her sweet old woman southern drawl), I don't know if any flights will make it to New York on Friday. Nemo's - a - comin'. But I do have one seat left on the 8:50 flight tonight. Do you want it or do you want to call back? No guarantee's it'll still be here though...". I took it without hesitation. I'm glad I did, because at 11:36am an email went out to all AirTran customers encouraging them to call and reschedule. Ha, I beat the rush and got a flight out before the snow started. Then I felt an awful pang of guilt and anxiety wash over me.

I didn't request PTO 2 weeks in advance...crap. My supervisor isn't here, he's in London...what if he freaks out? How can I spin this to make a weekend trip to visit your besties sound more like an emergency? What if I get fired? These thoughts (and others) ran through my head all morning. And all afternoon. And right up until 6pm, when I got a response back from my boss saying it was okay. Phew. Now I can enjoy my Business Class flight to NYC (thanks to an amazing boyfriend who upgraded me using points).

Let me tell you, the flight into the City at night is unbelievable. I felt like I was filming a scene straight from Gossip Girl. Then I remembered, Chuck, Blair, and Serena have private jets - they don't do commercial. Oh, and they are fictional characters.


So I arrived. It was cold but not snowing...that didn't happen until roughly around noon on Friday. Then it didn't stop. A continuous wall of snow fell all day and all night long.




It allowed me to cross a couple other things off my list. I caught a snowflake on my tongue...and in my eye...and all over myself. Number 58 - Done. I also built the saddest little snowman EVER. Who knew that was so hard? We made her super fancy by giving her my headband, a pearl earring nose, and candy for eyeballs. But she was still pretty pathetic. I turned around and saw a MUCH better snowman. I'll just claim that one instead. Number 87 - Done. I'm also going to add "Make a Snow Angel" as Number 87.5. I can also cross that off my list. Check out my form...it's the best 3am, post bar Snow Angel I've ever seen. Even if I did get soaked from the snow and almost froze to death. Number 87.75 was also accomplished - Throw Snowballs in Central Park. Okay fine, these last two did not belong on my list, I was just really excited to be in the snow.

This trip to NYC was by far the BEST TRIP EVER. Not only did I get to see snow fall, but I got to see  two of my very best friends: Lauren and Loren. We dubbed this trip, "L, L, & L Weekend 2K13". It was one for the books. Not only can I not wait to get back up to the Big Apple, but I can't wait for more snowy adventures....This Florida girl, now a Georgia Peach absolutely loves that fluffy, powdery, white, cold stuff that falls from the sky.  I'm so happy I made the spontaneous decision to fly up, not knowing if I could and would survive a blizzard, and if I'd be able to make it home. Sometimes you have to take a blind leap of faith and hope it works out. For me, it did...I survived Nemo.

L

Short...but oh so sweet.

This post won't take up much of your time. In fact, it's not so much of a post as it is a celebration.

Of what?

Of this.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm working on an actual post, but until then, just stare at the picture to your right a bit more and send me congratulatory thoughts, cards, and/or presents (since I cannot and will not be buying myself presents anymore as much).

L