Me and My Valentine!

First of all, before I forget, the winner of my One World, One Heart drawing is Changeling Things (a knitting blog, purely a coincidence, but it was delightful to discover!) I'll look forward to hearing from you and getting your information!

Now, about the cherub with the bow -- his aim was very good!

I'll show you a bit of his present a bit down the post, but first I have to tell you what an amazing Valentine he was!


As I arrived at Rick's for dinner, I was greeted by a lovely table with a wonderful menu, printed in French (sort of!) for our dinner!

Upon closer inspection, I could see what work he had put into our evening!


And oh, it smelled wonderful!

We had a wonderful spinach dish... I know -- it just looks like creamed spinach here, but it was exceptional!


These potatoes-to-die-for where he thoughtfully carved our initials...


Steak on the grill...

And I brought the dessert -- Remainders d'Partee were leftover brownies from our visit taking dinner to his aunt and uncle on Saturday (plus a few chocolate covered strawberries and candy hearts!)

And the wine! Oh, it was wonderful, just wonderful.
I would definitely recommend this bottle of Bordeaux!

The flowers were beautiful, too. I love African violets -- they seem to be the one plant I can't kill! And these were beautiful in their little basket and so many pink-and-white blooms!

If you've read The Gypsy for awhile, you may recall that a Valentine's Day tradition I created with Rick is to each year make him a poetry book with photos that summarize our year.

This year we had a lot of depressing events -- cancer and bike crashes and other sickness. I had trouble coming up with many happy poems! So I included a few depressing ones, because after all, ups and downs are part of what we all are.

But all in all, I'm pleased with the book. The book itself was handmade with a wonderful textured paper as the cover and brown pages inside. The heart and key were affixed to a small watercolor I did, and the title reflected our relationship. It was "sewn" with very thin wire and has a beaded spine.

And while the poetry is nothing to write home about, it's a way to capture some of our experiences and marry them with photos.

Everything from Christmas to Rick's accident and bike rides, Greg's cancer surgery and even wine tasting was included!

I went with a blue-green theme for the cover to make it look a little less "girly," but the pages inside were brown paper and I used hand-painted tissue made at an Artiscape workshop to add some texture. Then I added embellishments and photos. (The button is by Joanne of ad libitum and the top photo in his "Fiddler" cap and vest is Mama K's husband, my cousin David.

Inside I included a couple of tags.

I especially liked this one, with the musical notes "coming out of" Rick's hands. Three cheers for tape transfers!

And yes, he liked it! Very much!

Now, onward to participating in Karla's "Alice in Wonderland" swap!