Love is in the air!

Valentine's day is such a special time of year for me, for a few reasons.  For 24 years of my life (until I met my future husband), my Valentine was my dad...every year...because he is the birthday boy.  No other man could even come close!  But that all changed three years ago, when on February 13th, Mike got down on one knee in front of my entire family in our backyard in Southern California, and asked me to be his wife!


Since that day in 2010, not a Valentine's holiday has gone by without my husband making an extra effort to be romantic and make my heart flutter, and this year was not any different.  Mr. Mobley had quite a few surprises up his sleeve for this February 14th.

It started with a delivery of roses that made me blush!  In our 5 years together, Mike had only had flowers delivered to me once...and that was last V Day...a modest display of my favorite winter flower...tulips!  So I was a bit taken aback when this giant bouquet was delivered to me while I was tapping my pen against the desk anxiously waiting until the end of a conference call.  What a beautiful...BEAUTIFUL way to brighten my day.

I know that dinner out on Valentine's Day can be ridiculously over-priced and have limited choices with pre fixe menus galore, but we had a reservation at Eleven Madison Park that I was looking forward to all day.  It was a 16-course culinary adventure!  We had no idea what was on the menu and we put our meal into the hands of the talented servers and chefs on the most romantic day of the night.  Each course came out deliciously surprising and more satisfying than the one before!  We tasted little bites of oysters, sea urchin, scallops, lobster, duck and of course...dessert.  Every ingredient in the entire meal came from within 150 miles of New York City - from the locally farm raised duck, to the sea salt from Amagansett.  My favorite course was the cheese course right before dessert, which was presented to us in a sweet little picnic basket.

You'd think that a restaurant with this much cache in Manhattan would be stuffy with some snobby staff members.  But they were sweet and accommodating from the moment we stepped into the restaurant.  They even presented Michael with a Tide Pen on a sterling silver platter when he spilled the entire carrot tartare (yes, it was amazing!) on his light pink shirt.

We had a few little gifts for each other when we got
home from dinner and Mike was so proud to tell me how much research he had done to find the best rated yoga mat for me (and in Bears colors too!).  But of course I saved a few kisses for my other favorite guy, my sweet little Mr. Winston.

No, it doesn't need to be February 14th for me to have a reason so show my husband how much I love him, and every day of the year should be a day of love when you are with your best friend and soul mate.  But when have you seen the Mobleys let any holiday go by without celebrating and capitalizing on all the festivities that come along with it???

When I walked into Eleven Madison Park after work last Thursday at 6:30 on the dot, I got little butterflies looking at the handsome man in the festive pink and grey suit waiting for me with a martini in hand at the bar.  It's hard to think that he could make me any happier than he did 3 years ago when he asked me to marry him...but he's done it.  He made me giddy with excitement when I left work for the first time in 2013 by 6pm for a very important date.

Even for those naysayers who don't celebrate Valentine's Day, it's pretty impossible not to feel the love in the air.   The Empire State Building was bright pink last Thursday because even the city that never sleeps loves a little romance. Whether it's a little extra love for your husband, your boyfriend, your family, some co-workers, or your beloved pup...we could all use a day to celebrate everything that makes our hearts full.  Happy Valentine's Day to you all!