for the love of it

we do a lot of things for the pure love of them.  going out to eat on certain holidays is just one of those things.  this year was different.  in our urgency to save as much money as we can for this upcoming adoption we decided (made a joint pact) that there would be no frivolous spending on things we did not need, one of which being a fancy dinner out on valentine's day.

dinner out at a fancy restaurant is a lot more than just the food that we order.  we love a dining experience.  we love the time together, the ambiance of the place, the music they play, how the wait staff interacts with you during the meal, trying new things, being indulgent, and having a reason to get dressed up.  by skipping the dining out experience this v-day we still did not want to give up on the typical fun that we find in the fancy restaurant so i planned us a fancy schmancy dinner at home.

husband came home to find a deliciously made from scratch four course meal with wine pairings, a perfectly set dining room table, menu cards, and our favorite tunes playing on the ipod in the back ground.  we both got semi-fancy in attire and played just like we'd gone out some where.  we rated the food, ambiance, lighting, and music all a 5 out of 5.  we both sincerely enjoyed our night in with the quality time together and celebrated in the hopes that this would be our last v-day without a little one.

we've  never eaten a meal on our wedding china before, so we figured this was the perfect occasion!

this is a little menu card that i made for our special dinner!

celebrating our 15th valentine's day together!

we loved the ambiance of "chez nous" and had a wonderful time together!

happy valentine's day 2011!