handmade something: a day to celebrate love

my love, dressed to the nines

And also, a day to be spoiled by the one I love, apparently! My day was filled with flowers (first at work, with instructions not to bring my lovely tulips home, then again at home with a pink mixed bouquet!), Trader Joe's chocolate, a special song written by my love and then the excitement of a real dinner date. We got dressed up. I wore high heels and make up. Mark wore a tie. The meal ended with chocolate cake. Now that's a date (am I right?)!

Although I appreciate being treated to all of the special things Mark did, I have to say it is always my favorite when he writes me a new song. The first time he played me a song he wrote, we weren't even officially dating yet. I was turning 26, home to Texas for a week with my family and spending my birthday in the hospital, where my mom was admitted for dangerously low blood pressure. I was having a pretty crummy day, and very worried about my mother. Mark had been texting me and told me to check my email, that he sent my gift to my g-mail account. It was a recording of him singing New to You, posted privately on YouTube.

I had never received a more thoughtful gift and know that the ways he expresses himself is one of the reasons I fell in love with him.

Since my birthday song, several written in the distance of a long term relationship, and his proposal song, I've enjoyed hearing him play on a regular basis. I think, though I appreciate his music in all its forms, that I can't help but appreciate the songs he writes for me the most. What can I say? I love to hear how he sees us.

After six months of marriage, it would be easy to get to that state of comfort where romantic notions cultivated during wedding planning are a thing of the distant past. But Mark knows just how to take how we are and how we've changed and make it sound like, well, we were meant to be this way. He's real about us in a way that doesn't make me feel either like we are over-romanticized or that we need to somehow overcome how we are. But, he also makes me love us even more than I already do.

Here's to a day celebrating love that is cultivated through the work and partnership of both of us, everyday!