13th Valentine's Day *EDIT*

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Just edited to add pictures of the roses. Want to see how I got them home?



Hey, it looks silly, but they fit perfectly in Ari's carseat. And here's a better shot of the 50 roses. Don't try counting them, because I'm sure I wasn't able to fit them all in this frame. A few are getting floppy already, but hey... I could take them out and you wouldn't even miss them.



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I had 50 long-stemmed roses delivered to my office today. Yes, I said 50--five-zero. There are 25 purple and 25 white. Somehow I have to figure out how to get them home with me today.

I got a call from the front desk telling me I had a package. "They might be flowers!" the receptionist added in a sing-song voice. When I got there, waiting for me was a long, large cardboard box--the kind that roses come in. I carried it back to my desk, a little perplexed about why they weren't in some kind of vase. When my boss saw me come in, she cried, "Oh, they messed it up!" Apparently, Tony had called her a few days ago to arrange this whole thing with her. He was going to have the flowers delivered to her so that she could arrange them all in a vase and give them to me. I think that was what touched me the most about this gesture--not just that he did it, but that he went to all this trouble to plot behind my back about it.

(On a side note... I need to remember to ask him how long he's been planning this. Because just the other day, I told him "No gifts--cards only" and he acted like he agreed. And come to think of it, he never really said yes. And of course, I didn't get him anything but a card...)

So I ended up arranging them myself, which was fine with me. It killed about 30 minutes in my work day, anyway. I cut the bottoms of each stem and pulled the bottom sets of leaves off, and stuck them in the vase. I played around with them, trying to get a good mix of purple and white (instead of just purple on one side and white on the other) and trying to keep the taller ones in the middle. I'm not about to quit my day job, though--flower arranging is not my thing. But they look gorgeous and smell heavenly.

I took a picture of them with my cell phone and sent it to Tony, with the words, "What is this about? :)" We talked on the phone right afterwards--he kept asking if I was surprised. Then after we hung up, he replied to my text message...

You asked--What is this about? I wanted you to know how I'm so very much still in love with you! This is our 13th Valentine's Day, and I wanted you to feel a bit surprised of my love for you--even after all these years. I can still surprise you!

*melts*

Tony keeps talking about wanting to go out to dinner tonight, and I keep hesitating (especially now that I know he spent however-much money on these roses). I told him a few days ago that all he had to do for me for Valentine's Day was take me to Coldstone for ice cream. But last night, he started talking about going to dinner.

"I was thinking we could go to that place across the street," he said.

"I told you that you only had to take me to Coldstone."

"Well, we can go to Coldstone afterwards."

"I don't think you understand--Coldstone will be my dinner."

"That can't be your dinner."

"Do you have any idea how many calories are in their ice cream alone? And you think I'm going to eat a whole meal, plus ice cream?"

So it will be interesting to see who "wins." I have a feeling we'll end up going out for dinner--Pete already offered to babysit Ari for us. But if we do go out, I'll probably just order an appetizer or something. Gotta save room for ice cream!