The "Not SO Bad" Valentine's Date

It has been Andrew's mission to get me to like Valentine's Day. It has never been a favorite of mine, and I can easily say that I loathed it at one point. I used to gag everytime I saw those corny red and pink decorations draping the aisles of Wal-Mart. It's a sickening holiday filled with high expectations and disappointments.

ANYWAY.

For the last three years, Andrew and I haven't gotten each other anything more than a card, at best. It's wonderful. We DO go on a date. We browse the local antique shops and laugh at all of the crazy items people used to have in their homes. We finish the night with dinner at an Italian restaurant and sometimes a movie.

Andrew flew home this weekend, and I was very excited that we were going to be able to go on our date. Our day started out a little differently this time around.

We got pulled over.

You see, in New York, it's common to not stop when the light turns yellow. We think that's due to the slick roads in the winter. Anyway, Andrew has gotten far too used to driving there, and he barely ran a red light. I mean, he would have had to slam on his breaks to stop. So, he drove through it. Of course, we got pulled over. We had to laugh when...

... we saw that the officer's name was Valentine. Ironic much? Andrew blamed me because of my dislike for this sickenly sweet day. But, seriously, who could be upset after seeing that name? And, if we were upset, then there wouldn't be a single ounce of humor in our bodies!

After we met Mr. Valentine himself, we were good to go!

Our first stop was our favorite of the antique shops. This place has the best prices- and the coolest items. I found two brooches here for a project that I'm working toward.

In the other shops, we found the humorous items.

This is a pair of earrings. Guess these weren't any use to the girl after she reached 24.

This bird was hilarious. Andrew had to pat him on the head.

Bat? Or bee? Or bird? We couldn't tell. I think it's a cross-breed.

We couldn't resist this little guy. He made us both laugh. When we saw the $3 price tag, we had to snatch him up. I carried him around like my little pet through the rest of the store.

With that treasure, it was time to call it a day- and head home to get ready for the date.

Once home, we introduced Theodore to our treasure. He was NOT impressed. At all.

We then set up the camera to get some date pictures. I absolutely adore this shot of Andrew and me. Since Theodore was being a creepster in the nook of my arm, we decided to get a picture taken with him as well.

Isn't this hilarious? He was being super weird and avoiding eye contact with the camera. Just in the nick of time; however, a bird flew by the window causing him to look straight into the camera. A perfect picture was snapped at that time.

All in all, it was a GREAT Valentine's date. We had the restaurant to ourselves (we went at 4), and we saw a really good movie. I must say that it's been my favorite one yet... and that's saying something from the girl who used to wear black in protest.

But- no worries, I will NOT be wearing pink... or red... or white... tomorrow. I still have a little dignity left.