I agree. Continuing to "date" each other throughout the year is important, because it keeps the relationship fresh and new, but you don't have to do anything fancy for V-Day, man. Just make it a special day for her, to show her how much you love and appreciate her.

This year is a new year. You should try to keep the past out of the present and the future, because you can't have a better year holding onto something negative that happened in the past.


Don't be concerned about what other women think, focus on what your woman thinks. In healthy relationships, it's no longer about you, it's about the other person. It's about serving the other person. I try to go all out on V-Day every year for my lady friend :D but that's not what it's all about, it's about spending uninterrupted quality time together, it doesn't matter how you're spending it.

85-90% chance that I'll be taking a really good friend out to a sushi place I discovered last year. She's never had sushi and this place has made converts of many, myself included, so I hope she'll enjoy it. If that doesn't pan out I'll probably do what I do every Monday.

Re, creative cards: I was going to do one that I haven't anywhere near the artistic skill to do, but wish I did. Since my friend goes by Eevee (from Ivette) I was going to make a pokeball-shaped card/case that opened up with a thing inside that said "you've captured my heart." A bit corny but she likes Pokemon (she introduced herself to me as "Eevee, like the Pokemon" in fact) and I think she'd appreciate it.

Get something for B's mom and say it's "from him." At least a card, dude.
We agreed that this day is about me. This is my first V-day with a boyfriend since like 9th grade. He is making sure this day is completely and totally about servicing me. :D

However, I promised that his present would be off the chain. It's only fitting with the amount of effort I am requiring. I'm getting him something for his car, can't go wrong there.

Why, thank you. ;) I'm a little sad b/c he has a flight to catch V-day night, which means he's reserving most of the weekend for me then we have special plans Sunday night. However, my mom's birthday is Sunday and it's a family tradition to have a birthday dinner. She understands and really wants me to have my V-day with the man but I can tell she's disappointed that I'll miss her b-day dinner, even if she's insisting that I spend that night with him. Poor Mommy, she just really wants me to be happy. :(

Animate: For most women, it is about the thought. The first Valentine's Day after my ex-husband and I got married, our daughter was 1 month old. It was a very cold and snowy winter so I had barely been able to leave the house while he was working 6 days/12 hours a day. I was totally exhausted/sleep deprived and going nuts with a colicky baby who screamed for 12 hours a day. I managed to make him a heart shaped brownie for Valentine's Day and had his favorite meal ready when he got home from work. This took a LOT of effort under the circumstances. He got home from work at 8 pm and didn't even have a card. He said "I tried to find a florist that was still open but couldn't". I was so incredibly hurt that I had found a way to make an effort in spite of my limited ability to get anything done and he hadn't found a way to even buy OR make a card.

He also didn't recognize my first Mother's Day as a Mom that year. Our first year of marriage and two major strikes. Not good.

In neither case did he need to spend a lot of money or make herculean efforts to recognize the special days. There aren't that many special days. It takes 10 minutes to do something nice. There's no excuse not to.

I'm thinking a "I didn't have time to get a card/flowers, but let me take the baby for the night and you get a full night's sleep." would have gone a long way in this case. Besides, there are NO florists open at 8pm on V-day? Lame....and besides, 99% of grocery stores sell flowers.

We're going to the casino again. It's become a fun Valentine's Day tradition for us, which I love.

Hubby is taking me to Smokey Bones for dinner. He asked where I wanted to go, and that was my response. I have learned that the fancy schmancy places just arent my thing. Give me some BBQ and a movie, and I'm happy.

Well unfortunately, I have to work on my day (payback for me having a week off due to storms last year around this time) but the wife and I found a nice little restaurant in downtown DC a few months ago, so I will take her there on Sunday.

But NOTHING can top the surprise party my fams had for me last year despite the blizzard!

....I gotta get back into the habit of taking my day off!

ohhh Yum ..I'm jealous .. for some reason Tucson doesn't has any good BBQ :-( at least not that I've been able to find.

Yeah...I sound like the bitter old man lol.

I'm really not trying to hold last year against her it just makes things more interesting this year.

I'm not overly concerned with other women. I just find it a rarity to hear women talking about what they are going to do for their guy on the day. The women that do get major kudos from me. I'm not even big on gift giving occasions because i feel like I don't deserve any of it so to get anything is a blessing to me. I did just get an idea on something to do part of that day so I guess plans are in motion.

They sell V-day cards for a month in advance... not being able to come up with something was totally lame. Truth be told, he didn't think about it until he walked in the door and I had his favorite dinner and a heart shaped brownie for him.

Uh, ... PrettyBoy, ... may I snip a piece of your hair, so that I may clone you? :D

That's my kind of Valentines!

Is Smokey Bones like a Famous Dave's?

She and I were supposed to do something together with Brandon, but she's now being a bitch about it.

Sort of, except Famous Dave's>>Smokey Bones.

So I take it that Smokey Bones was first? I've never heard of them. Sounds like a good place to eat.

I don't have any plans, just hanging out with friends that weekend. No man in the forecast, as usual.

He needs to shave all of his hair off and just start passing it all out. PB, if it doesn't work out with you and your little girlfriend, send me a pm Lol.

Hmmm, I've never had famous Dave's before, but you can check out SB's website at http://smokeybones.com/

That place looks like it's got some good eats. You'd like Famous Dave's but it doesn't look as good as what you just sent me.

You've got too many hang ups, kiddo.

We've decided on a nice family dinner at home:

Margarita Fish Tacos with Chipotle Mayo
Corn & Blackbean Salsa
Rice & Beans
Bud 55 or a dry, sparkling white wine (Bud Lite for the husband)

Haven't decided on desert, but maybe a low-carb Key lime Cheesecake?

dinner at Lexington's finest Italian ristorante on V-day itself and then on Tuesday the 15th we will be in the lower Rupp Arena for the Kentucky vs. Miss. State basketball game :)

Wait! Nobody's going to watch Watson the computer taken on Ken Jennings and Dave Rutter on Jeopardy! next week?????

Oh my gosh I totally forgot about that! We probably will though.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._5256501_s.jpg

LOL...so, the raspberry heart on top of my key lime cheesecake turned out more morbid-looking than romantic. Oops. It will still taste good.

BF and I spent the weekend together - unfortunately I won't get to see him until Thursday night this week....but we're hopefully going to a hockey game and "re-celebrating" again then.


p.s.
Happy Valentine's Day to all my fellow GCs!!!! :)

nothing big, since it's a monday night AND we have a bunch of engagements coming up. i'll take home some heart shaped donuts tonight, and we'll see what happens.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...G5eTvpcqfdme0A

It certainly looks tasty!!:D

I'm super sick with the flu... so nothing exciting for me! :(

I'd just like to say that I think it's really cute when dads get their daughters flowers, whether they're single or not.

Want.

I posted about my weekend in the random thread. It was our own Series of Unfortunate Events. :p But I could not have been happier at the end or have wanted to spend that time with anyone else.

Happy V-day, GC! :D

Krispy Kreme would definately be a winner here :) Haven't had one in 2 1/2 years

We went to Waffle House, because apparently we're that redneck :o (Wound up being quite entertaining, actually - the line cook dropped an entire bucket of waffle batter, which went all over the kitchen and all over her, even winding up on the ceiling.)

It ended up being REALLLLLY good.

Funny thing is that it's low-fat, gluten free, and diabetic friendly. I used a gluten-free gingersnap recipe (cut the ginger in half) and made cookies to crunch up for the crust, low fat creamcheese (not fat free, that's just going too far!), and Ideal sweetener.

My family has become hard to cook for.:p

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day and I'm glad to see that everyone else had a great V-Day, too.:)

Well, maybe everybody who actually had plans did...lol.

Glad you had a good time.