Valentine's Day!

I haven't posted in FOREVER, but I need to start again. 

I had such fun with Valentine's Day this year.  I literally got my husband three different cards, plus a packet of these tiny cards, which I hid in different areas of the house:

My husband love love loved all the Valentines he received.  For dinner, we had our beloved tomato/mozzarella/salami combination with balsamic vinaigrette on pieces of a baguette.  Delicious!  We finished the meal with these delicious mini Nutella cheesecakes, the recipe for which can be found here.  They are SO TASTY.  I would describe them more as like a nutella cream pie in texture, possibly because I beat the mixture for a while.  I finally got to use my new hand mixer!  ($12 at Big Lots - winning!)

Sooooooo tasty!

Also, I put together a great present (if I do say so myself).  I'd been eyeing some delicious stationery with a Pittsburgh theme for MONTHS but couldn't justify the $18 price tag for just 5 cards.  They're made by several local artists - a photographer who shot the images featured, a sketch artist who turned them into sketches and a letterpresser (is that a word?) who created the gorgeous notecards.  The paper is just wonderful to the touch.  They are amazing.

I picked three of the images - the Smithfield bridge, the old train station and the Macy's clock - that are dear to my husband's heart.  I put on my Valentine's Day mustache socks...

...and got to work.  Between the L.L. Bean slippers and the plaid flannel pants (I have an evil cold, so spending a lot of time in pjs when not at work), I'm clearly a Mainer.

I used my schmancy new mat cutter system - someday I will get one of the ones where the blade runs on an actual track, and cutting those windows will take 30 seconds.  A girl can dream, right?

In any case, here's the finished product:

I'm pretty pleased with it, and my husband was thrilled.  Yay!

For his part, he definitely made our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife very special, despite me being the snot monster.  He knew I loved the Jason Wu for Target line, which I hadn't been able to get myself as it sold out immediately.  So he managed to get me the canvas tote bag.  It's adorable, and the cat on it looks just like one of our little miscreants.  What a thoughtful husband!

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day!