Valentine’s Day means something different for every person. For a long time, I really disliked Valentine’s Day; however, as time has gone on, it’s started to grow on me. I think because life gets so crazy and busy, it’s nice to have a holiday where you can set some time aside and spend a romantic evening together. Last year Andrew and I decided to not share gifts, but instead to just spend the evening together and that would be our “gift” to each other. I already know that he loves me, so it’s not necessary to spend money on gifts to prove it.

That being said, I did cave a bit this year. I have no self control, I swear. We are on a pretty strict budget (because school and loans and saving for the future) so we don’t set aside very much money each month for going out to eat or just for splurges. I think because of that, I wanted to surprise him. Andrew loves Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so I drove out to the nearest one and picked up an assorted dozen. They had some really cute Valentine ones that I couldn’t pass up. I picked out a couple “love bug” doughnuts for him. They also had some “bee mine” doughnuts, but they had chocolate filling and neither of us are fans of those.

I also bought him a bunch of candies, which also wasn’t planned. But when I went in the store to just get something quick, I kept seeing things he liked and just couldn’t resist! It was fun to surprise him in the morning before he left for work. The quickest way to both of our hearts is obviously the stomach.

Almost two years ago, Andrew took me to the Melting Pot and proposed to me. Before I even knew what he was about to ask me, it was the most fun I’ve ever had on a date! So I wanted to try and recreate that at home. We were gifted a fondue set as a wedding present and hadn’t used it yet., so I thought Valentine’s Day would be a perfect opportunity for a fondue night. We started out the evening with our “cheese fondue.” I put that in quotation marks because we just made Rotel dip and ate it with tortilla chips.

The Melting Pot also has these really delicious strawberry daiquiris, so I bought some mix and frozen strawberries to make those as well. I have never made them before, though I’ve had friends who have made them at parties. They weren’t too hard to make – just required ice, mix, rum, and strawberries. We added more strawberries than the directions said so they would have more flavor. They turned out pretty good!

Then we moved on to chocolate fondue – my favorite part of the night! I bought all kinds of treats for dipping: graham crackers, heart shaped marshmallows, pretzels, rice krispy treats, bananas, and strawberries. We didn’t really use the fondue forks because some of the food was hard to dip with them, so we just used our hands.

We watched How to Steal a Million while we ate. It wasn’t on our IMDB 250 list, but it’s a classic we hadn’t seen before and we both really liked it! I lit a couple of candles, which Andrew didn’t even know I had because I never use them!

We were stuffed by the end of the night and turned in about 9:00pm. He was tired from work and I seem to always be in a perpetual state of tiredness. We are such old people now. Nonetheless, it was a great first Valentine’s day as a married couple, and I always cherish the time that we can put aside to do something special.