Valentine's Day, Then and Now

Linzer Cookies for Charlie - hardest cookies to make but so worth it!

Yesterday, our cable and Internet got installed in our new place. Since it was Valentine's Day, I resisted the urge to hop online and blog. Instead, Charlie and I cooked dinner and had a little QT time. It's amazing how far we've come since our first Valentine's Day "together" -- best. story. ever.

Charlie and I had only known each other for about a month when he asked me to join him in the Riviera Maya, along with a bunch of friends. At first I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't. So I booked a plane ticket to Mexico using my air miles. We couldn't get on the same plane, but we were flying the same airline and I was arriving about an hour before him so we thought we would meet up at the airport. It was President's Day weekend and also Valentine's Day. 

When I landed in Houston to catch my connecting flight to Cancun, my cell phone started blowing up -- Charlie and his friends had missed their flight! Not only that, as the day unfolded, they were unable to get on another flight until the following morning. Which meant I had to fend for myself in Mexico (poor me, right?), until he got there, which wasn't until 2 p.m. the following day. Luckily, his other set of friends did arrive in Mexico on time and we connected. Mind you, this was the first time I was meeting anyone that he knew. I could have been totally pissed and freaked out, but at the time, I traveled a lot on my own for work and was used to having to make conversation with people I had never met before. I just remember thinking, "Oh good, these people drink. Everything will be fine." By the time Charlie finally arrived, his friends were on their way to being my friends too. Two Valentine's Days later, the six of us are all engaged, and Charlie and I bought our first place together. 

Playa del Carmen, February 2010