Love Retreat

Valentine's Day is surely a Hallmark holiday because I feel like you shouldn't need a "special" day to show someone that you love them. However, it is a nice excuse to plan a much needed weekend away. Matt planned an amazing surprise weekend away last year to a lovely "cabin" in Luray, Va. We had a really great time so we decided to go away again this year while we are still in Virginia. Ps. we are definitely leaving Virginia. It is sad to think about leaving because I've been living here for 20 years but I am looking forward to a new start and it is exciting to think it will be Matt and me against the world in a totally new area.  

We left for Luray after work on Friday. You have to bring everything with you (linens, towels, etc) so we had quite a bit of packing to do. We got there and got settled then ordered pizza in town. After we ate and had a few Cherry Wheats we opened a bottle of Clicquot and settled into the hot-tub. It was FREEZING outside and this is my favorite time to do hot-tubbing. When it is hot outside I just get overheated. I did not have an overheating problem this time because somehow we pushed some wrong buttons and put the hot-tub on sleep mode and couldn't figure out how to fix it. Oops. We enjoyed it until the the temp decreased to 95 then it was just too chilly for me. We stayed up until about 12:30 talking then crashed early (we are really lame, I know). 

Gotta love the decor

yummy bubbles and great company

The next morning I woke up and Matt wasn't there but I found him in the kitchen making breakfast. I also found a nice Valentine's surprise on the table.

The chocolates he chose were delicious!

:-)

After breakfast, we enjoyed coffee, music and reading on the porch overlooking the Shenandoah River. 

He loves that cactus mug

Beautiful view from the porch

There were horses right across the river who just walked right down the water to have a drink

Reading and relaxing with Pope Joan

After our porch hang, we had the left-over pizza for lunch then looked through wedding magazines for a few hours to get some ideas. After that, I got back to Joan for a while and had a couple cocktails while Matt took a nap. I soon also fell asleep for a nice afternoon nap.

Napping by the fire

Yummy Tanqueray and tonic

Last year, Matt took me out for a really nice Valentine's dinner but we figured we would stay in and cook a nice meal at home instead this year (the economy is bad, have you heard)? I got the recipe out of my new Vegetarian Times (thanks Kenny) and I thought it was quite good. 

Fettuccine with Three-Herb Pesto, Black Kale, and Oyster Mushrooms

That night we figured out how to fix the hot-tub and we enjoyed the hot-tub at 101 degrees. We were pretty tired from all the nothing we did all day and headed to bed fairly early again. The next morning when we woke up, it felt so late but it was only 9:30. We had bagels for breakfast and left-over pasta for lunch then packed up and prepared to leave. That afternoon we drove to my parents house for the night to celebrate the engagement and discuss the wedding. 

Shenandoah Valley is so beautiful

We got to my parent's house and my Mom and a pretty cake waiting for us. She brought out my Dad's and her cake topper from their wedding over 30 years ago.  It was cute to see her so excited about everything. She got me the Ultimate Wedding Organizer by Mindy Weiss which hopefully will make things easier when we really start planning. What a great gift Mom, thank you! 

Cute!

Those are the same utensils used at my parent's wedding

We went to dinner at Eckard's and it was delicious as usual. Unfortunately, most restaurants do not have enough imagination to create a vegetarian dish that is not pasta based but the manicotti was pretty great. After dinner we had cake and things got a little messy :-)

Good lookin' rents

I buttoned it right, look!

Monday, we hung out and discussed the wedding. After we worked out the kinks in the guest list everything was smoother. They say the hardest issue with wedding planning is the guest list and I'm glad we have that out of the way so everything else should be pretty easy, right? 

I'm lucky to have my Mom who is so excited to help plan and who has a great aesthetic eye. 

It is not set in stone yet because of logistical issues involving Matt's future school but we are planning on May 24th, 2010 on Sanibel Island, Florida. It will be an intimate affair and I'm looking forward to the beautiful setting and beautiful weather. 

Valentine's weekend was great, thanks Matt for being such a wonderful partner. 

Thanks to Jill and Bill for the beautiful Waterford Crystal. Wow! Looking forward to seeing you in April. 

Thanks Mom and Dad for the gifts and a great dinner. I love you!