celebrating valentine's day

It took 3 attempts at celebrating Valentine's Day.

1st Attempt: Well it really wasn't an attempt. Last Wednesday February 11th, Rollin and I were planning to go to Madden's (we had a gift certificate). We said that would be part of our 8 months of marriage and Valentine's Day celebration. I asked Rollin to make reservations, but he decided not to because he didn't think there would be a lot of people going out to eat on a Wednesday night. We drove to Madden's at 6:00 to find out that Madden's wasn't open. Then on the drive back Rollin and I argued about who was right and who was wrong about calling ahead of time. I argued that I was right because if Rollin had called to make reservations we would have found out that Madden's wasn't open on a Wednesday night. We agreed that Rollin was completely wrong and that I was partly right (I asked him to call to make reservations so that we wouldn't have to wait, not to check if it was open). We ended up going to Carino's and then renting "Inception" and watching that.

But since we didn't go to Madden's, I didn't could that as REALLY celebrating Valentine's Day. So I asked (insisted maybe...) that we should celebrate Valentine's Day ON Valentine's Day. There was a lack of communication because Rollin was quite confused. Yet, I kept saying "Can we do something special? I made you a present, are you going to get me one?" I wanted to do something special and out of the ordinary.

2nd Attempt: This was on Valentine's Day. Rollin had planned to get salmon and we'd made green beans and mashed potatoes with it and then rent the movie "Wallie" for us to watch. Rollin left to go "get stuff" at 5:15....secretly inside my hopes and expectations were rising that Rollin was going to surprise me and we'd do something special. He was gone a while which made my hope rise more and more. He walked in a 6:00 with a McDonald's sweet tea and sat on the couch looking sad. Since I love sweet tea he went to get me sweet tea while running to get Apparently he had many mishaps happen on his outing. It took him forever to get from McDonald's to HEB and when he finally got to HEB they didn't have toe sockeye salmon we like! Crushed, Rollin came home.

Inside I was really disappointed. I cried and Rollin was sad. We talked about everything. We realized there was a lot of miscommunication and Rollin felt obligation and pressure. I realized that I was confused about what I really wanted our Valentine's celebration to be. Part of it is that Rollin and I are still learning each other's love languages. Since that day we've discovered that one of Rollin's love languages is quality time and one of mine is gifts!

We ended up spending time with the Lord and going to bed early. It turned out all right :) And we decided that we would celebrate Valentine's Friday evening (February 18th) and go to Madden's.

3rd Attempt: Friday February 18th. We went to Madden's for DELICIOUS FOOD!

We got all dressed up...

Outside our apartment complex

At Madden's.

Our appetizer. It was something crab. Really tasty.

Rollin got the special. Hawaiian sea bass!

I got a beef tenderloin. It was the best steak I've probably ever had.

Then we came home and exchanged gifts. I made Rollin three coupons: 1 coupon for a scalp massage, 1 coupon for a back scratch. And 1 coupon for a massage. Rollin got me the COLLECTOR'S EXTENDED EDITION of AVATAR!

We are learning how to love each other.