Monday, February 16, 2009

...valentine's day...

i'm going to skip past somethings that i have been meaning to blog about and get to the most recent event in my life... valentine's day. so for those of you that know me, know that i love holidays because of the fun you can have with them and such. i love 'em partly because of the excuse it gives you to be cheesy and stuff. anyways... valentine's is probably up there with christmas and my birthday as one of my favorite holidays. and for sake of argument we'll put it up there at number 3 of jen's top three favorite holidays. ok... 'nuff small talk.

where to start... where to start... well let's see a few weeks ago bry had mentioned that he may "disappear" for a while seeing as spring training was about to commence here in arizona and that he just wanted to give me fair warning about his love for baseball and most importantly the chicago cubs. and then the idea hit me for his valentine's day gift. it couldn't have been more perfect. so i went to work. i went online and researched game schedules, looked for the perfect cubs hat that he didn't have, and made a list of everything you would need for an afternoon baseball game out on the berm. then... i was hit with another glorious idea. so that took me to michael's. giant sugar cookie lollipops... frosted in the cubs logo. i was so excited to try to create what was in my head and make it a reality for him. he was going to LOVE it! crossing my fingers. i'll spare the details of the late nights of baking and frosting. not to mention the long details about the hand made card filled with puns because puns are the new black with us (i just have to say that i did hand weave the infield).

the basket was delivered by my wonderful roommates to his door while he and i talked on the phone. thanks brooke and leeann. i couldn't have done it without you. here are some pictures...




In the CUBS basket:
  • BIG LEAGUE chewing gum
  • 2 IBC root beers
  • baseball sweat bands (not to really use, more for decoration)
  • a HUGE Hersey's almonds chocolate bar
  • good and plenty's
  • lemon heads
  • red vines (for me b.c. i don't like NIBS)
  • NIBS (for bry)
  • a baseball filled with baby ruth's (the official candy of the MLB)
  • sunflower seeds
  • a CUBs hat
  • 6 baseball base eggs (each filled with something that i love and admire about him)
  • 5 large hand baked and hand frosted sugar cookie lollipops
  • 2 tickets to a game of his choice
  • 2 tickets for hot dogs at the game
  • Cracker Jacks and Peanuts would have been included, but unfortunately i couldn't find any at the stores i went to... lame right.
a few nights before i gave him another card asking if he would be my valentine... it goes with a previous conversation he and i had about what our views were on guys and girls roles during this "holiday." i also made him a clay heart in kindergarten and made a photo array of some of our pictures to put somewhere. he loved them all. of course right? lol.

on friday night bry surprised me with flowers. they were awesome. non traditional. and that is what i loved most about them. picture speaks for itself. it included all of my favorite flowers.

that night we went to a YSA activity and i saw two of my favorite people from utah who were visiting and both thinking about moving down to az. i'm all for them moving down here. come to az jordan and 'nessa! we'd love to have you.

i was up that night until 4 in the morning trying to finish valentine's stuff for bry, bry's family, and my roommates. sigh. i got 4 hours of sleep. and the next day was going to be a busy day. i had no idea what we were doing. i was just told to be ready by 2 and to bring a jacket. my roommates helped me with what to wear. and then it was all unknown from there.

bry picked me up in the mini and told me that we were going to sedona for the day! i was so excited. i have never been up there before and leeann had just gone up there the past weekend and gushed about how gorgeous it was. so for the next hour and a half or so we chatted and enjoyed each others company.

upon arrival we went to a small market place called Tlaquepaque . There we walked through the small galleries and little shops. we ended up at a place call How Sweet It Is... and i would finish that with ...loved by bryan bluth. lol. we got hot chocolate and picked up licorice caramels for jackie.

next we headed to the airport. the airport in sedona is on the 102 things that you have to do while in sedona. bry really did he research! love that about him.

so we had some time before sunset. bry of course had a plan. in the back of the mini was a picnic for two! but not just any kind of picnic. it was a picnic of heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, martinelli's, and grapes! so cute! it has a back story too (birdie), but you get the picture. i managed to eat my sandwich with a grin across my face. we ate our yummy picnic in the car, then bundled up to watch the sunset on the red rock of sedona. oh my goodness it took my breath away... oh and the sunset was good too.

there watching the sunset we sipped our hot chocolate, took pictures for other couples, had our picture taken, and i almost got knocked over by a woman who lost her footing on the slope. oh and she called me a peanut to her group of friends after apologizing. lol. oh and a guy commented that bry and i could do a coffee ad together with our cups. here are some shots of what that ad may have looked like.

and then... yes there is more. so lucky right. we went to the local theater and bought tickets for confessions of a shopaholic then jumped back in the car to scope out where the restaurant was from the theater. movie-funny. a good pick.



....drum roll... dinner. yum. but... when we pulled into the restaurant parking lot bry said that it was time for my present. i was a little shocked seeing as earlier in the day when he got his present he commented that he was sorry he didn't get me anything. so he said he lied and that he did. first the card. Laughed.."FRRRR!!!" lol. so sweet. carried it with me in my purse since then... then came a black and white polka dotted wrapped box. i was nervous. i had no idea what to expect. i wasn't really expecting anything at all... i was happy with just the super cute wrapping paper (simpleton).

i slowly took off the paper... and under it read a black matte box...."marc by marc jacobs" i almost peed my pants. lol. in my head i'm thinking..."oh my gosh... oh my gosh... oh my gosh..." haha. i finally opened it, after requesting help from bry because i'm obviously opening boxes impaired. and to my delightful surprise its was watch. a totally cute watch! i LOVE it. it was more than i could have asked for. thanks love. he had noticed that i didn't wear one and thought it would be a wonderful idea to get me one.
dinner. food. we love food. bry's parents recommended the place we ate at. they had loved it so much the night they ate there that they went back the next night for some more. it is called dahl & di luca. it was named the most romantic restaurant in sedona! look out. the menu was mouth watering. bry was having some blood sugar issues and looked like he was going to pass out or something. so we munched on a few gummy bears and took in the scenery. have no fear our waiter Caesar got bry an appetizer asap to help calm the stomach. that of course was only after telling there were all out of the portobello mushrooms. lame. i had the lamb and bry had the fillet. and we topped it off with flour-less chocolate cake and ice cream. mmmmm....

the lamb later we found out should be cooked more than i like my steak.... "you should be ok with it medium...." yeah should have thought twice about that one.

and that was that. we drove home that night. stopping to chat with the cashier at the local chevron. bry had a red bull to stay awake. i did not and therefore fell asleep for about an hour or so. the next morning... i woke up, saw my flowers next to my bed, and sighed. awww. haha.

this is by far the best valentine's day ever. all around best one! thanks bry!
here is a picture of the v day stuff i put together for his family. we had borrowed a few vases for a previous valentine's day celebration the last weekend (birdie). i could just return them without anything in them...so here is the idea i came up with. there were also valentine boxes filled with lip and heart sugar cookies. yum.