Planning Ahead

Is it terrible that i've been planning 2 weeks already what i'm going to do for Husband for Valentines Day and there is still a week before the big day? it's not like Valentines is anything significantly special to us as a couple other then the fact that it's Feb 14th, the Valentines Day holiday just like it is for everyone else. But for some reason i'm so excited its the only thing i can think of. At first i think it had a little to do with the fact that we had this impending "separation" in March when Husband would be deployed for a month with the Coast Guard. i haven't been looking forward to this idea at all, so i wanted to have special things to do with him this month before he left. His birthday is in March, so we were going to have to miss having that together again. We haven't spent any of his birthdays together ever. When we were engaged he was deployed at the end of Feb for 5 months, so we missed that birthday, and then again last year after we got married he was sent to school for 5 months at the end of Feb to North Carolina. Wow....no wonder i'm trying to make a bigger deal out of this month then i normally would. Its classic conditioning, the military is training me to be separated from husband every year at the end of February! Those guys are tricky.... ;)

But, it now looks like husband will actually NOT be getting deployed next month. What's this?? Its because they lost his military passport. He can't go to Central America without it. Apparently this losing of passports for these guys isn't unheard of though.....but how that happens is beyond me. So, while someone travels around on husbands "lost" military passport doing who knows what (hopefully not getting husband into trouble), i'll be enjoying my husband through the month of March, for his birthday, and even for a few more months then i usually get to this year. Yea! We just found out this on Monday. There's a small possibility that the missing passports will be found (it would have to show up by Monday though) and he could end up going in the end, but chances are they won't turn up in the next 2 days.

But, since i've started my Valentines Day planning already, there's no reason i shouldn't follow through. I still love my husband! This year we're watching what we spend and saving as much money as possible so we can go to the beach in a few short months, so i've been trying to come up with ideas to make it fun but still inexpensive. First off, I'm planning a pretty cake (yes, its because i've been looking for an excuse to use all my cake decorating stuff i got last year). Its the first thing i need to start on if i'm going to make everything for it. I'm thinking i'm going to make something similar to this:

I'll be making the flowers out of Gum Paste, i just need to get a small foam mate to make the petals on, and a flower cookie cutter. I'm pretty sure i know where i can find it at. I'm not going to do the chocolate frosting though. I'm making a red velvet cake because that's husbands favorite, so i'm going with a white cream cheese/marshmallow frosting, then i'll cover it with marshmallow fondant which i'll have to make (it tastes better then regular fondant).
So there's that. Next, i'll be making this for dinner:

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini

I found it on the Food Network site when i was looking for ideas and i think it'll be perfect with asparagus and spinach salad. i may even have husband cook in all up with me. Thats romantic right? I think it is. He's been helping out a lot more in the kitchen this week and i'm thinking its super great and sweet as heck.
Then for my gift for him i've decided to go with a combo: The Candy Gram! If you don't know what that is, in my case its going to be a message for my special someone with some of the words replaced by candy bar titles (with the candy in it). Its a gift/card/candy all in one! The other week i saw someone eating a Big Hunk! candy bar, and suddenly it was all i could think of. I wanted one soooo bad, but they didn't have them at our grocery store a few blocks away so i never got my fix of it :( But it got me thinking about the times i have had them and i remembered how perfect they are for candy grams. So thats where i got the idea for this gift for him this year. i know where i can get a Big Hunk! in the next town over i think so it'll be in the message for him for sure. He's my Big Hunk. Its a pretty inexpensive gift, and homemade by me. Isn't that what makes for a great special gift? Something made with love :]
i can honestly say i haven't asked for any gifts from husband for Valentines this year. All i'm hoping for is that he'll share some of his candy to be honest. Last year he got me flowers, a movie, and one of the best cards i've ever gotten in my entire life that was so sweet it still makes we tear up just thinking about it. He always manages to say the best things to me :] i love him. This year....i think he wants me to pick out my gift for him. its my own fault for helping so much with Christmas though. But i really mean it when i say i don't care if he gets me anything, so its up to him what he does.

I don't know what we'll do after dinner yet, but if i don't come up with something it'll be something like watching The Princess Bride or some other romantic movie he's willing to sit through. But i'm open to suggestions so if anyone has any good ideas please let me know!
Husband doesn't read what i write on this blog if i don't tell him i've written and my goal is to keep this all secret from him until next weekend, so if you know husband do me a favor and not tell him of my plans ;] I'll take pictures of how the whole thing really does turn out, so keep a lookout for that after the big day. Until then, i hope every one has a great Valentines Day this year!