Last week’s post was a glimpse into the reality of marriage, so it seemed fitting this week’s post should be a glimpse into the fairy tale that can be being married (especially to Ryan Shippy).

Valentine’s Day, 2011.  To date, it was Ryan and my most successful and sweet valentine ever – the kind of amazing my high expectations DREAM of.

To quote my cousin Donielle, “No Cranium Valentine’s for you!”

I’m going to let some pictures do the talking as I walk you through our evening…

I get a text message around 2 o’clock stating I must call before coming home. Already I’m excited.

So I call on my way home and he says to go on in, and he’ll be there shortly. This is what I see on my door:

And then I open that door to find an ENTIRE houseful of Post-It notes EVERYWHERE.  Last fall I had a radio interview with Karen (my BFF/MOH/favorite author) and when the host heard that I had written letters to my future husband for 5 years prior to meeting him, he suggested (on air) that I give Ryan some Post-It notes and encourage him to start writing me back!

I ADORE AND LOVE (and okay, sometimes EXPECT) sweet little notes, and this alone TRULY made my day.

All of the notes had arrows around them all leading to this:

And inside I found…

A pillow pet. And flashbacks of me asking for a kitten as a little girl and receiving a stuffed one for my birthday came flying back in my mind…

UNTIL.

I saw his little collar that read: A symbol of what is to come!!!

And STILL I wouldn’t let my hopes get all the way up (see how much I’ve learned through the V-Days, people?!) because I asked, “Wait. When?  Do you mean like 5 years from now?!”

To which Ryan replied, “No!  Like, THIS WEEK WHEN!”

And that is when I finally allowed myself to get the OHMYGOODNESSYAYAYAY kind of happy that involves jumping up and down and shrieking.

I mean OUT OF CONTROL happiness. Sweet little notes AND a kitten!? Annnd the fun didn’t stop there. Ryan had found a new restaurant for us to try for dinner! I didn’t even really like the food, but I didn’t even care because HE MADE THE PLANS!!!

It was Valentine perfection.

Sweetest part of all though? I had wanted a kitten so badly that two weeks ago, I resorted to hinting publicly, but that is not where it ended. I had asked one of my best friends to PERSONALLY hint to Ryan. So, naturally, being the bestie that she is, she did. And then she reported back to me that Ryan said he asked our landlords and it was a no go. Katie made sure I knew NOT to get my hopes up.

Here’s where the sweetest of all sweetness comes in. Ryan knows me SO WELL that when Katie emailed him, HE KNEW that I had probably told her to do so. So while he knew he had received permission for me to have a kitten, he tricked Katie AND ME by strategically telling her we couldn’t have one!

All of that planning and work and clever thinking to give me one Valentine surprise I won’t soon be forgetting.

PS:  And if you were wondering what I did for Mr. Awesome Valentine himself, here’s a pic:Almost my entire Valentine for him right there in one picture. Because another lesson learned over the first few V-Days together—he really doesn’t care what you get him on this holiday.  And as for the “almost everything”… well I’ll let you just think what would have been the perfect thank you for such a fairy tale, first married Valentine…