Valentine's Pretties!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day to you all, or, if you'd rather, Happy Presidents' Day!

MK and I aren't really ones to make a big deal about Valentine's Day. In the past, it has actually led to arguments (but for a different reason), but I wouldn't say we have any traditions or do anything really special. We usually set a price limit on gifts (which MK usually breaks...like the year the price limit was $20 and he got me the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer!), and try to have a nice dinner together.

This year I decided to take MK to IHOP for breakfast/late lunch. We left the house around noon, and were hoping to avoid the Sunday morning/church crazies that flood our local IHOP on Sundays. No such luck - I think we waited about half an hour? And on top of it all, I smashed the corner of the car door into my face as I was getting out the car. Ouch. We were at IHOP for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!), between waiting for our table and our food, but MK enjoyed himself, so that's all that really mattered!

After eating, we headed to the "big mall" to do some shopping. MK had just come back from an overnight winter hike on Saturday, so we went to REI and I got him some hiking gear.

This is an "ice axe leash" or something like that. Used to keep yourself attached to your axe.


These are "points" or something. They are used to cover the spikes on crampons.


And this is a little camera/device bag. We picked this up after MK dropped my camera and it went sliding down the mountain! Luckily it is okay, but I got him this cute bag to prevent future trips down mountains. :)


I also got MK a new watch to take hiking with him (this is probably the 5th watch I've bought him in the entire time we've been together). We got a nice, sturdy Timex at Target, but I can't find a picture of it online. It's digital, with the basic Timex features (timer, alarms, stopwatch, indiglo, etc.). MK managed to set the alarm on it while he was trying it out, so we walked around Target with the alarm going off every minute until I figured out how to turn it off!

After REI we went to Tiffany to get my present! I had seen a ring in the Tiffany "catalog" that I liked, so MK had said he would get it for me for Valentine's Day. I looked on the website, and found a couple other rings, so sent them to him and told him to pick one out (that way it would feel more like it came from him).

The first one is this "I love you" ring. I didn't really care for it in person. It's much smaller in person (as I've been finding to be the case with Tiffany online pictures vs. real life), and I didn't like it as much. Interestingly, this was the ring I had initially wanted, but it was the one I liked the least in real life.

The next ring was this one with Xs and Os around. Again, I didn't really care for it that much in person, but I liked it a lot better than the first one.


This one below, the Modern Hearts ring by Paloma Picasso, is the one we ended up getting. It was my favorite, and also MK's (although it was like pulling teeth to get him to say which one he liked the best)! Like the other rings, it's not nearly as substantial in person as it is in the picture, but it's still very pretty, and I love it!



Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day/Presidents' Day weekend!