Happy Sunday, darlings! So, I know Valentine's Day was a little over a week ago, but my husband and I were on a much needed vacation with some of our family and friends this past week and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things. So without further adieu, here is my Valentine's Day recap!
Holiday Style
My style has definitely changed (hopefully evolved) over the years and I find myself moving towards more subtle decor when it comes to "theme" decorating (holidays). This year, I opted for subtle, sophisticated touches of Valentine's around the house. Below is an example. I dressed up this vase with ribbon in a hue of red with gold accents.
Valentine's Cookie Decorating
No holiday would be complete without some activity with my adorable nieces. My nieces Ava and Audrey came over a couple of weeks before Valentine's Day and made sugar cookies. (My youngest niece, Amelia, was too sick to partake in the festivities--next year!) My nieces made the cookies--from start to finish--all by themselves, and dressed the cookies up in Valentine's colors.
Audrey enjoying the sweets of her labor
The sweet, colorful, sparkly, end result. Did I say the cookies were sweet? VERY sweet!
;-)
And, as a special treat, I have a short video that my amazing husband made of "Cookie Day" with my nieces! Enjoy!
First Married Valentine's Day
So, as I was trying to tie up work for the week, finish schoolwork and pack for Cancun, I had my first married Valentine's Day to prepare for as well.
For our first married Valentine's Day, my husband and I decided to give eachother one of the most priceless and precious gifts of all in our busy lives--time. We decided for our first married Valentine's Day, we would stay in and cook a meal together.
I started the day out with this little surprise for my husband. I leave for work much earlier in the day than he does, so when he awoke, he found this little surprise waiting for him.
Heart-shaped cheese danish!
Something cute and fun because I was inspired by the craft box nearby. :)
While I was prepping for Valentine's dinner, I took some time out to make some special little packages for my nieces--flowers and heart-shaped boxes full of chocolate!
All three nieces loved the gifts, but I think my youngest niece Amelia had the cutest reaction. When she finished smelling the flowers, she took a deep breath in, raised up on her toes, grabbed her belly and let out a dramatic "Ahh!" and smiled. She did this over and over again.
After my nieces' Valentine's Day gifts were delivered, I returned home to finish prepping the table decor surprise for my husband.
The ombre trend has been "in" for quite some time (a fancy way to say "tie died" in my opinion), but in an effort to not get too themey, I went for an ombre-ish setting. The spectrum of colors for the tablescape ranged from cream to fuchsia and was present in the ribbons, roses, vases and the hand died table napkins.
I'm not super crafty, so I was proud of how well my cupid arrows turned out for our table markers! :)
Pinterest and Etsy have made the whole "cut your invitation out and place it in an ornament bulb" trend very popular. As a spinoff of this trend, I decided to make Valentine's bulbs to place on our New Year's tree. I found some beautiful, slightly transparent, pink-hued paper from the craft store to use for the paper that I'd place inside the bulbs. I typed up a list of reasons why I love my husband, printed them out and cut the sentences out into strips. I made a total of three bulbs, and filled them with the "I love you" strips of paper and rose petals and hung them with ribbon from the tree.
I kept the color of the rose petals and ribbon that the bulbs hung from in line with the ombre-ish theme and wrapped the trunk of the tree with pink ribbon. (See the light to dark ombre transition in the ribbon and bulbs?) I daresay even Lisa Vanderpump would be proud of this table spread! :) (That's a "Real Housewives" reference for all you RHBH fans!)
My husband absolutely loved the sentiment behind the bulbs
I filled the table with roses ranging from cream to fuchsia.
Candlelight was scattered about our table in various sizes and hues of vases
We sipped on a pink, French rosé (Delicious!)
My husband loved the tablescape, but more importantly--the effort put into it.
After I revealed the table surprise, we got down to cooking. On the menu: Parmesan-topped red snapper and orzo salad. It was SCRUMPTIOUS!!
Seasoning the snapper
Beautiful color in the orzo salad
Getting ready to go into the oven
A beautiful black and white diamond bracelet that I received from my husband
My Valentine's Day was superb this year and I am so fortunate to have spent it with so many of my favorite people.
Our table just before we sat down for our first married Valentine's Day dinner.
Cheers,
Samara
Very nice Samara... you are such a talented woman..
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Marcella! :)
ReplyDeleteThree things: Amelia is getting so big!; Beautiful roses, dinner, and presentation!; And you really need champagne glasses ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine's Day, you lucky lovebirds!
Thank you! And yes, she is getting super big! We actually doooo have several champagne glasses, but since it was a wine, (whether it was sparkling or not, haha) I used it as an excuse to use these big, fun wine glasses. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy (belated) Valentine's Day to you, too! :)
Oh silly me, I thought you had champagne! Yum either way ;)
DeletePS - I love all of your artsy decorations, and your new bracelet! What a nice hubby :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! :) :) :)
ReplyDeleteHe's the best!! :)