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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day friends! I hope everyone is feeling extra loved and adored…because you are!

You know I love decorating for holidays, so here’s a fun banner I made to fancy up our mantle-less fireplace (all in due time!).  I used doilies and cupcake wrappers and glue and twine- super simple and extra cute!

Super easy- step one- flatten the cupcake wrappers (I stuck mine under a stack of books for 24 hours).
Step two- place flattened cupcake wrappers on top of (or under) doilies (depending on size/look).
Step Three- glue in place, let dry for 24 hours
Step four- tape onto twine
Step five- enjoy!

 

I also gussied up this fun wreath I made (super easy tutorial coming tomorrow).

I added these sweet hearts made out of paint chip cards (since our second home is Home Depot) and this Martha Stewart craft punch!

Isn’t it super cute? I just made the punches and threaded the twine through the holes and tied the ends into the wreath! 🙂

I love Valentine’s Day.  Always have!  As a kid it was so fun to craft up some creative gifts for your classmates- and see what you got in return! As a teen it was more about getting to wear red and pink unashamedly and have fun “girl’s parties” with my friends at our house.  In college it was always fun to see what guy I’d go out with that week, and had a pretty constant stream of guys to choose from and buy me flowers (what can I say, I was a player back in the day.  Surprised?)  But my favorite Valentine’s Day ever was 2008.

I had been on 2 great dates with this guy I had just met, named Scott.  He was really kind hearted and godly and cute. He made me laugh and let me talk for hours about nothing and didn’t tell me he couldn’t stand how much I talked and would be breaking up with me now (true story of one of those revolving door college guys…boo your face, sir).  He had asked me a week in advance to spend Valentine’s evening with him for our third date, and I happily agreed.  We had gotten risqué on our second date and held hands (ooooh) but that had been the extent of the “romantic” stuff.  He was such a gentleman!

On Valentine’s 2008 however, I was at work watching all my coworkers get flower delivery after flower delivery after flower delivery.  I was struck with a really intense bought of jealousy and allowed my heart to get really bitter and angry.  “Valentine’s Day is just commercial and stupid,” (I grumbled to myself) “I don’t even know if this guy likes me.  Probably another dead end relationship.  Tonight probably won’t even pan out.  Why would a nice guy like that want to go out with me anyways…” and on and on and on.

As the day went on, and every single woman in my department got flowers besides me, I got crunker and crunker. (Yes, crunk).

Around 3:30 pm, my coworker ran over to me and said, “TANIA!! You just got a delivery! Come see!” I really thought she was joking and rolled my eyes and said “you are so mean to me”.

In turn, she rolled her eyes, walked down the hall and came back with a giant bouquet of red roses. “These are for you!! Seriously!”

My whole office had been following the Tania-Scott date stories (it was good entertainment) and so as 12 people gathered around me, my shaking hands reached for the card.  I will never, ever forget the message. It said:

“Hey Tania! These flowers are telling you that you are amazing!! Super super amazing 😉 Scott”

(I have this card framed (bordered with Washi Tape) in our kitchen :))

As the women shrieked and I blinked, I felt a woosh of air leave my lungs. I started to shake and tear up.  I put my hand to my heart (this is a true story!) and blinking through tears whispered to my friend “he really likes me”

She said: DUH.

Haha!!

So that changed my sorry attitude real quick.  Suddenly I couldn’t wait for my date. I left the building proudly carrying my beautiful bouquet, head held high. “he likes me, he likes me!” I went home, got dressed up and at promptly 7pm Scott was there to pick me up.  We went to MiMi’s cafe, I had wine (he didn’t drink at the time, but I sure did!), a wonderful meal and decided to hold off on dessert.

“Now what should we do?” he asked.  I had the beginnings of a plan in my head.  “Want to go to my parent’s ranch?” I asked him. “I mean it’s like 75 miles away and it’s dark and it’s kind of a silly idea-” “Absolutely” he grinned, cutting me off in mid sentence. “Let’s do it!”

So off we drove to Bells, TX to my parents ranch.  We decided we wanted to stop for dessert but the choices in Bells are limited so we ended up at a gas station that sold Dicky’s BBQ.  There was a man who worked there, named Rich, who smiled at us “city folks” all dressed up and re-opened the closed restaurant so we could snag some ice cream.  He said it was “on the house in the name of love”, and beaming at Rich, Scott took my hand and we drove off toward the gravel driveway of my parent’s ranch.

(After we got engaged 5 months later we went back to thank Rich.  We had thought of him fondly for months and wanted to share how special he made that evening for us.  The times we went the people working there insisted that there never was a Rich working there and that they weren’t open that late, especially on Valentine’s Day.  An angel?  Who knows :))

Once we arrived at the ranch we sat on the wide, wrap around front porch and looked at stars.  It’s so beautiful there.  My parents don’t live there but my grandparents do so we decided to take a walk into the acreage.  There’s over  60 acres so while we didn’t cover all of it we walked into the pitch black clutching each other’s hands for about 20 minutes in silence.  We came to a fence line and we turned to look at each other and gently cupped my face in his hand and said “happy Valentine’s day, Tania” and kissed me.

Stars flew and butterflies were having a dance party in my stomach.  And still, in the back of my mind, “he likes me, he likes me!”

After the kiss, Scott took my hand and said gently, “I better get you home.” In the car, the entire way home we kept glancing at each other and smiling.  After walking me to my apartment door and giving me one last peck on the cheek, he was gone.

And here we are, 5 years later.  So much has happened and so many great memories in between, but in my mind that Valentine’s will be tough to beat.

And now for the super sappy part!!!

Scott-

Baby I just want to honor you.  You are the most amazing, incredible man that’s ever been created.  You are so kind, so gentlemanly, so godly and so respectful.  I respect you. I honor you. I love you.  I want to serve you and care for you as long as I have breath in my body.  You are my best friend, my soul mate and my better half. Much much much better!! I still write “Mrs. Tania Griffis” with hearts and xoxo’s all over all of my notebooks. You are my prince!

I really didn’t think fairy tale true love was possible.  You have made it an every day reality.

I can not fathom where I would be today without you.  Your gentle leadership and humble heart have gotten us so far.

Even on days like yesterday, and today (yes, right now) when things aren’t going our way and plans fall through and dreams are delayed…I feel secure.  I know you will take care of me. You always have a Plan A, B, C and D.

I don’t know how else to put it except this….

I am head over heals, straight up, maddeningly in love with you. Always have been, always will be.

xoxo

Tania

 

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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