Happy Wednesday, friends. With Valentine’s Day on a Monday this year, I’m curious about what ya’ll are up to. But first, February is Heart Health Month. My work does a heart health challenge in February to encourage employees (and anyone else) to get up and moving. Sharing the chart below that you can use throughout the entire month to encourage – or even start – some healthy activities. I love that on Wednesdays they encourage you to relax and rewind, which really is just as important as getting in physical activity.
Each year, my work does a 10-minute heart walk each year, and I’m trying to get up and get out each day to get myself (and the dogs) moving. This week is especially busy at work, and I’m digging into a pretty massive project. So, it’s more important than ever that I follow some of my own advice to take a walking meeting when I can, to get away from my own desk at lunch when possible and to try my hardest to stick to a hard stop at the end of my days. Which leads me to Valentine’s Day.
V-Day Ideas
I’m very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day because my project will be off my plate by then! (all the praise hands). I’m not quite sure what our official plans for the big day are. We don’t love going out to dinner on Vday because it’s more expensive, crowded and we would honestly have more fun at home. We might order dinner from a nicer restaurant to pick up and bring back home, and have a fancy meal here. Or, maybe I’ll whip up my heart-shaped pasta that I picked up at Costco and grab a really nice bottle of wine. Caymus is my fave when I’m feeling a little fancy.
Aaron and I don’t do Valentine’s Day gifts, but we do exchange cards, and we do try to make the day special in small ways. Last year, we had some plans to do a cooking class with two of our friends, but a massive winter storm (hello Uri) was set to hit Houston. So, we opted to stay in due to the bad weather. So, we are almost nearly a year to the day that we went without power, which led to burst pipes and an overall house renovation. Fingers crossed this year is better.
A couple of year’s ago, we ordered the heart-shaped pizza from Pink’s, stayed in and had some nice champagne. One of our favorite things to do is just catch up on life, and Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to disconnect from technology and focus on each other. It’s so easy to get caught up in work and the daily grind (if you will) that it’s nice to set some intentional time aside to connect.
Valentine’s Day 2021
Last year, we opted to make our own pizza at home and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine. I got the crust from Trader Joes, and we had ourselves a little pizza night. Here are the ingredients you’ll need if you want to do that this year.
- Package of two frozen crusts (or you can find the pizza dough if you want)
- 1 jar of their pizza sauce
- 1 package of shaved parmesan, Romano and asiago cheese
- Salame
- Hot honey
- Jalapeños (the ones in this photo aren’t from Trader Joes)
It’s easy, not hard to make and a fun little way to mix things up. You and your husband/boyfriend/roommate/Galentine can each make one with some of your favorite things on top!
And finally, Valentine’s Day is always special because it was the weekend we flew our wedding photographer out to Houston from California to take our engagement photos. These are photos that I still cherish to this day, and I’m glad we did them in Houston so Buttercup and Sawyer could take part.
So, as soon as I know what our official 2022 Valentine’s Day plans are, I’ll let you know. And, if you have any ideas, send them my way.
