Happy Valentine's Day

Yeah, yeah, Hallmark holiday, consumerism, blah, blah... I do. Not. Care. Any opportunity to get my holiday on is alright by me. I feel a little silly decorating for non-Christmas holidays since it's just us, but what the hell? 
 

{Valentine's decorating from years past}

Side note: As soon as we add some mini Cusis to the family, I may have to be restrained. There will be holiday crafts galore! St. Patrick's Day, Flag Day, Dr. Seuss's Birthday... Apparently June 6th is National Yo-Yo Day... I mean, come on! The possibilities are endless! I may even let Tom tell them about Star Wars Day (That would be May 4th for you non-nerds, as in May the Fourth be with you... Groan. On second thought, maybe we'll skip that one.) Bottom line - as soon as we add a baby to the mix - it's gonna get real festive up in here. Babies like appreciate holidays, right?

Anyway - point is, a couple of weeks ago, I got out my clay, my heart cookie cutter, and my alphabet stamps and got to work... First I used the non-terrible conversation heart sayings. [There are a lot of terrible ones. "URA10?" Gross. "Tweet Me?" Just...no.] Then I went on to more personal ones - our wedding date, inside jokes, etc. Then I had the brilliant (according to me) idea to look for inspiration in a list of Prince song titles at which point this became a slightly more risque craft... 

The whole project took me a couple of weeks because as much as I love a good craft, I don't tend to think them all the way through, sooo many missteps. In the batch pictured above, I forgot to poke holes for the string to hang the things on. In another batch, the holes were too small and I broke a bunch of them trying to force the string through. Then there was the whole challenge of figuring out how best to paint them... So after several crafting sessions/Call the Midwife marathons (Watch it!), I ended up with forty-something pink and red hearts, which I strung on some red and white bakers twine.

 

Despite starting this project at the end of January, I only actually hung these babies up two days ago. I'm definitely going to have to work on my efficiency. We'll see how long Tom feels like celebrating...

In other news, the end of January brought some changes to Casa Cusimano... Tom is no longer at the Corporation That Shall Remain Nameless. While this has some obvious downsides, it also means that we get to enjoy a brief period of extra QT while he prepares for the next great thing. This is particularly lovely on Valentine's Day when I got to take advantage of having my man around for a cozy, indulgent breakfast. 

As I may have mentioned, I love a holiday...hence, heart(ish)-shaped pancakes.

In a rarely achieved moment of perfect timing, I am wrapping this post up as my multi-talented, super sweet husband is putting the finishing touches on lobster tail and baked oysters. I am a lucky girl...

{Had to share this angle so that everyone can have a glimpse of Herman, Tom's childhood bear, who wears Hawaiian-print short-alls and lives on his bedside table. Unrelated - is that crooked lampshade making anyone else's eye twitch?}

Week 9: Tom and Devin at the Belly Up

On the last Sunday of February, I watched Tom and Devin open up for America at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. I have done this at least three times before, so that in itself doesn't qualify as a new activity. I have not, however, ever seen Tom play at the Belly Up, a stage he's wanted to play since he moved to San Diego. So that was new, and it was the first time I can remember not watching the Oscars. My grandma had Oscar's Greatest Moments on VHS, and I must have watched it ten times when she got it; I've been in love with the Oscars ever since.

{Includes such classic moments like Sally Field's "You love me...you really love me" speech, the streaker interrupting David Niven, that time Cher wore that ridiculous outfit, a Native American woman awkwardly declining an award on Marlon Brando's behalf, and many more!}

 The pagentry, the camp, the cheese, the self-congratulatory absurdity of it - I love it all and usually celebrate it with an equally cheesy theme party. This year, however, I spent Oscar night cheering on my husband instead of critiquing red carpet performances, and that was just fine with me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know it's a cheesy Hallmark holiday, manufactured by corporate America (Maybe? I don't know if that's true.  I honestly haven't bothered to research it.) to make us feel like we must buy cards, flowers, and candy. I'm aware of all that, but I can't bring myself to get mad at Valentine's Day because a.) I love holidays of any ilk and b.) How bad can a day that celebrates love be? Which brings me to my mantel...

{Festive, no? Calla lilies courtesy of my valentine.}

So, yeah, I spent an hour on a Saturday night cutting out hearts and sewing them together... I drank wine while I did it. Does that make it less lame? I may or may not have cut out a few extra to include with the card that I mailed to Tom's office... He sent me the following picture today in a text. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but the text said, "You're adorable."

In some sort of Valentine's Day miracle, I was struck with a bolt of V-Day inspiration this weekend when I realized that my contribution to Valentine's dinner should most definitely be cannolis. See, in case you were somehow unawares, the husband is Italian, like three generations removed from the motherland, but Italian nonetheless. Soooo, I thought I would throw my hat in the ring for Wife of the Year and make cannolis for Valentine's Day.... Turns out, you need a special tool called a "cannoli form." I do not own a cannoli form, so I talked the Whole Foods bakery peeps into selling me some empty shells.

So, hey, new thing for the week! I made cannolis...sort of. I dipped the shells in chocolate, made the filling, and...filled them. Maybe next year I'll invest in these so-called cannoli forms...probably  not. In any event, my half-homemade cannolis turned out to be quite delicious.

I also gave my valentine a present that was more about the wrapping than the actual gift... (something he apparently realized before he opened it...)

Then he made me an ah-mazing dinner of seared scallops and shrimp with balsamic strawberries... Seriously, it was next level delicious.

So, yes, February 14th is technically no different than any other day. And, yes, we should demonstrate our love every day. That said, Imma stick by Valentine's Day. Here's one of my new favorite love quotes to close out this V-Day post.

"We're all a little weird.  And life is a little weird.  And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness - and call it love - true love." - Robert Fulghum

Happy Valentine's Day

We decided on a low key, homemade Valentine's celebration. So, inspired by this, I made this while Tom was out last night:

{I'm still cleaning glitter out of my hair, but it was an all around good time}

{Look at me, I even bought a glue gun.}

 

And inspired by my sister, I also made these:

{Red velvet cookies, cream cheese frosting, pink sprinkles} 

 

 

 

I strung up my glittery, sparkling Valentine's greeting before I left for school.

Lest you think that I swept Valentine's Day, I must say that Tom did pretty well himself...  I received a lovely bouquet at school which in addition to brightening my day and my desk, served as a teachable moment...I used it as an opportunity to remind the young men in the room that you can never go wrong sending flowers to a woman at work. After work, I was treated to a delicious dinner which I was too busy enjoying to photograph.

Sure, it's a commercialized, Hallmark holiday, but a day devoted to love can't be a bad thing.

My Favorite

For some reason, this past week has been particularly exhausting. Maybe the Santa Anas really do hold some sort of inexplicable sway over behavior, and my students' mood swings and rowdiness can be attributed to a solar disturbance or an imbalance in the ratio of positive to negative ions in the air. Or maybe they are just teenagers who are high in energy and low in attention span. Whatever the cause, they were in rare form this week and I was off my game...never a good combination.

In any event, the fact that the last hour of my day at work was spent supervising a "spirit assembly" wherein 2600 students spend fifty minutes screaming, shouting, and pounding their feet, combined with my general state of fed-upedness with all things school related, created an intense desire to ignore all adult responsibility and enter a vegetative state to the soothing sounds of Dr. Phil immediately upon my return home. Don't judge - this week I had a student ask me,  "Which goes first, the period or the question mark?" Think on that for a minute...he wasn't aware that it was an either/or kind of situation. So, yeah...Dr. Phil taking a self-declared "spoiled princess" to task for stealing ten grand from her grandma? It was a healthier alternative to chemical mind numbing agents.

I realize this sounds like a lot of bitching for someone who is supposed to be focusing on gratitude, but the fact that I could collapse on the couch in front of mindless television secure in the knowledge that I would still eat dinner, made it very easy for me to decide what I am most thankful for today...

I have a husband who likes to cook. Yay!

{Bonus-he cooks topless!}

 

Not only does he cook, but he's also incredibly patient. He tolerated literally forty-seven underexposed, blurry, poorly composed shots like this one --

It wasn't until shot forty-eight that I got this face -

{Apparently, I avoided turning to booze, but I drove my husband to drink.}

In addition to being a talented and willing chef, Tom is also wonderfully non-judgey. Even when I am a whining, self-pitying, Dr. Phil-watching, misanthrope who takes crap photos and lives in sweatpants, he still manages to love me. Or...at least he fakes it until I get my act together. And that is obviously something to be thankful for.

Plus - he looks super handsome in old timey pictures and he writes songs for me. What more could I ask for?

Amazing how a less than stellar week can make you all the more grateful for the very bright spots in life...

MWAH!

I cannot believe that it has already been two years...I still get a little thrill when I see the wedding band on Tom's hand. I still get excited to call him my husband, and every day I love being his wife just a little bit more.

Two years ago today really was the happiest day of my life. It is such a cliche, but they are cliches for a reason... It was wonderful beyond words to be surrounded by everyone I love as I officially, publicly joined my life with my best friend's...all while wearing the most beautiful dress I'll ever own.

  {And the flowers...oh, the flowers!}

Never in my life have I felt so lucky and so loved. Loved by Tom, of course, but also by everyone who was there, everyone who took the time to come and celebrate with us. It was the most incredible feeling to look around and see all of the people who were there because they loved us. I mean, there were definitely a few people who were there for the free cocktails, but mostly there was the love...

It's too bad that one only gets to be the bride for one day, because, man, the perks are great! I'm smiling now as I write this, remembering how amazing these lovely ladies... The day would not have been complete without them.

And, of course, my family...I really hit the jackpot there, no question about it.

{This family group hug was one of my favorite moments}

The love I feel from and for these people is indescribably huge... Plus, they throw one hell of a party!

 This feels like a wedding recap that is two years late, but I'll take any excuse to look through these pictures and relive the day. It was extraordinary.

Tom - you're my favorite. Thank you for making marriage so much fun. I love you.

 { I can't wait to see where this ride will take us.}