A Morning With My Valentine

It is true when they tell you marriage is hard work. And in my opinion, it's especially so when the two of you have kids together. Our little ones bring us so much joy and truly mean the world to us, but I'd be lying if I told you they didn't make things harder for us in the dating department. 

Gary and I have been extremely blessed as his mom and my aunt (plus the chungs before they had kids, and my parents when they're in town) always offer to watch the kids for us so we can spend alone time together. In the very beginning, I often hesitated to take up on their offers because I loved doing things together as a family (which I still do, of course) But with Gary being slightly less busy at his current job, meaning he gets to come home during normal hours and be around the kids more during the week, we try to seize every childcare offer that comes our way. Because in the midst of our busy lives, it really is easy to lose focus and attention on your spouse if you don't remember to be intentional about it. Of course, going on dates aren't the only way to spend quality time together. Many nights we work on our laptops across from each other at the dining table, which can somewhat feel like a date if your heart is right, haha. Sometimes we sneak into bed at night to chat and talk about our day after the littles are in bed, or we catch up on our favorite TV shows while munching on chips together. We used to work out together at night, but it definitely is just a thing of the past now ;)

This year, for Valentine's Day, we had our nanny come over for the morning while Gary and I went out for brunch in downtown. This date felt extra special because we didn't have Izzy with us! (she usually tags along on our dates because she's still little and hates bottles.) The weather was nice so afterwards we just took our time wandering around downtown.

Cafe Campagne // My love drinking coffee <3

It was our first time at Cafe Campagne. I love the cozy interior but I'm sad to report that I'm really not into french food. That pain au chocolat though, mmMMm. And right after we sat down I realized I never put the memory card back in our camera after I used it so all these pictures are from our iphone 5s.  

I love those flowers and the green+white striped awning

Picking tulips to bring back for connie. I never realized how much I like tulips until I saw them at whole foods a couple weeks ago. So so pretty! I'm too practical to spend money on flowers normally though :)

Harbor Steps // I was being very awkward and uncomfortable because my husband was taking pictures of me instead of with me

We don't usually do gifts for Valentine's Day, but I decided to surprise Gary with these matching striped shirts last minute. These shirts are from Everlane, an online clothing brand that makes minimalist basics. They tell you where the items you're buying come from (like when we want to know where our food comes from) and they do transparent pricing by listing the true cost of each item on their website. They've been my favorite place to shop for the past two years, and I just love the clean cut and design in their stuff. Anyway, can you believe this is Gary's first striped shirt ever?? I think he looks good in it! One of the ways I know he really loves me is that even though he rolls his eyes at my "matchy matchy" idea, he'll still wear it out with me in public :) :) I'm a lucky wife.

My favorite picture from that morning :)