Valentine Day

photo by me ;)

I am not a big fan of Valentine but the Mister is, so that incents me to get into the holiday. We started the day by exchanging gifts. I was so surprised when Roosevelt told me this is the first time he received a gift on Valentine Day. I guess society sets as the norm that women should expect a gift on this day and for men they are just SOL. Well hearing that made me beam from ear to ear. And he especially liked it since it was "hand made" and from the heart.

A couple of weeks ago I used Iphoto to create a small 3.5"x4" 70 page book listing reasons why I love Roosevelt along with photos of him and of us. It didn't take long to pull together and for so little work it was a huge reward to see Roosevelt's smile when he opened it. (This is not my original idea,  I shamelessly stole the idea from Mrs.Candy Corn of Weddingbee.)

I created a custom envelope for it out of Amy Butler 12"x 12" scrap book paper.

With my gift Roe once again surprised me. I had mentioned probably months ago that I love to give edible fruit arrangements as gifts but I had never received one. That is until yesterday.

It was a big one! I was barely able to make room for it in the refrigerator. We will be having fruit for a while. But wow is it YUMMY!

That evening we went out to the Prime Rib in Philadelphia which is in the historic Warwick Hotel. The food and the service was SUPERB! A great way to end the day.

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Wedding Gifts Keep Coming

Last week marked our three month anniversary, so I was surprised when we got delivery from the UPS man yesterday.

It was a wedding gift from our registry. Now gifts at anytime are always appreciated but it was a surprise (albeit a pleasant one) to get a wedding gift. The gift came from a couple that did not attend our wedding but we will be guests at their nuptials next month.

If you have been following my wedding blog, you may already know that we had a very small wedding. We topped out at 36 guests down from the 48 that was our original guest list. I was skeptical from the beginning that we would get much off our registry. My husband and I went through the typical back and forth about the value of the registry. Me being a stickler for etiquette deemed it necessary and a way to guide our guests in getting appropriate gifts for us that we truly needed and would enjoy. My husband felt as though since we are older and more established the registry was not necessary and he preferred a cash gift. (Cash is always appreciated but it should not be first and foremost in your wedding gift requests). Since we had a long engagement we got quite a few registry items as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, and from my shower.  We were also  able to complete a substantial portion through redeeming rewards points accrued on our credit card from wedding related purchases. (It was always a source of much glee for me when a vendor took credit card. Rewards cards are a great vehicle for paying for your wedding AS LONG AS YOU PAY THE BILL OFF IMMEDIATELY. I can not stress this enough. We paid for our wedding out right and no one should go into debt to get married. Go into debt for a home, for an education, but not to get married. Its not worth it for one day. Ok I am off my soapbox.)

I know I will be putting this buffet server to good use next week at Christmas.

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