Valentine's Day!

For being the tradition-loving people that we are, I've noticed we really don't have traditions for Valentine's Day, other than to celebrate it whole-heartedly. I don't think we've done the same thing twice any of the years we've been married!

* The first year we were married, we stayed home and Ryan grilled a whole beautiful dinner for me. We exchanged gifts, I got roses at work, and it was a beautiful day!

* The second year, we had the day off together, so Ryan made me breakfast, we exchanged gifts, and then we headed to Fort Wayne for a marriage retreat - and shared a DeBrand chocolate float!

* The third year, we had a fondue date at home, complete with gifts, sparkling grape juice, flowers, candles, and NO CROWDS. 

* The fourth year, we celebrated a day early with a cooking class! Though we celebrated on the actual day with a low-key, at-home date, the cooking class was our big adventure and it was so much fun!

* The fifth year, we did finally go out to eat on the actual holiday! Dinner at Ruby Tuesday, dessert at Orange Leaf - and a token trip to Lowe's. Because of course!

* The sixth year, we went out to dinner again - this time to Red Robin! We made an impromptu stop at the Cake Bake shop for dessert, and I'm dumbfounded that we got a seat. This place is booked with reservations months in advance all the time. I have no idea how our luck turned out so great, but I loved it! 

* Last year, Valentine's Day fell on a day we were scheduled to care for Ryan's mom, so we shared the day with her. I made a special dinner and we took it out to the cabin. 

This year, Ryan outdid himself in making the day sweet for me, and I soaked up every single minute.

He took me to work in the morning, stopping at McDonald's on the way to get me a breakfast burrito. Haven't had one of those forever, but I surely did love it! (Sorry for my not-so-awake look.)

I knew he was going to pick me up at the end of the day and take me to Indianapolis, but that's all I knew. I haven't had a single day crawl since I started this temp job, but that day c-r-a-w-l-e-d. So slowly. 

Just a few minutes to go!

When he picked me up, we had to stop at a viewing for one of his former patients, and even though we got there when it first started, we still had almost an hour wait in line. Once we got back on the road, I started getting really curious about where we were going to land!

I started asking for clues as we got closer to our destination and I finally learned that we were staying in an Airbnb! 

It turned out to be an apartment building right on the canal in Indianapolis - with this stunning view of the skyline. It was on the top floor and a little tiny space that was cute as a button!

I seriously could have just parked myself in there for days, soaking in that beautiful view!

The building where the apartment was located had a coffee shop IN THE BUILDING. It closed early in the evening, so we scurried down there after we checked in to get some fresh brew so we could warm it up later in the evening. And then we went for our dinner! Ryan found a burger place also located IN THE BUILDING that we went to for our Valentine dinner. We only ate half our burgers, but oh my GOODNESS were they ever good!

We got a dessert to go and headed back to our apartment to enjoy the night skyline, a movie, coffee, and apple crisp!

We exchanged gifts, too! I wanted to get Ryan some gifts for our porch, because he loves it out there so very very much! A little water fountain and a sign:

And he gave me a shirt that I love! And it's true! :) 

I have loved every single one of our Valentine's Day celebrations - even as different as they've all been! But this one holds a very special place. He did a GREAT job planning!