Steak, Champagne & Chocolate

Sounds like the makings of a good Valentine’s Day, no?

Our date at The Capital Grille was wonderful. That place really knows how to make Valentine’s Day extra special.

Ryan and I decided to get dressed up for our special date since we don’t frequent fancy places like this all too often.

Me & My Valentine

All Dressed Up

The service at The Capital Grille was amazing. Our waiter, Kenton, was knowledgable, attentive and had great recommendations.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we were both given a complimentary glass of champagne to enjoy right when we sat down.

Champagne!

Ryan made a beautiful toast. I can’t believe that next year on Valentine’s Day will be a married couple. Wow-zaa!

To start, we split a bowl of the lobster bisque. It was amazingly creamy and had generous lumps of lobster meat throughout. Between the bisque, champagne and freshly baked bread, our meal was off to a great start!

We both took Kenton’s recommendations to heart when ordering our main course. I ordered the filet mignon with cippolini onions and wild mushrooms while Ryan opted for the Delmonico steak.

My Filet

Ryan and His 22 oz. Steak

Both were very good, though Ryan’s was better. 🙂

The real show stopper??? The lobster macaroni and cheese. Thank you to those of you who recommended we order this. It was beyooooond amazing.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

We also enjoyed steamed asparagus, but it didn’t hold a candle to the lobster mac.

Asparagus

When our check was delivered, our waiter brought me a gorgeous long-stemmed red rose and a box of chocolate truffles for each of us to enjoy.

Rose and Truffle Boxes

Our Valentine’s Day date was perfect. My date was the best and the restaurant he selected impressed both of us. I have never been to a restaurant that pulled out all the stops like The Capital Grille did for Valentine’s Day. It was quite a memorable experience!

Lucky for Sadie, we didn’t forget about our puppers and asked our waiter to box up our steak scraps for our girl.

Ryan’s car smelled divine on the way home because of our yummy bag of leftovers!

Drivin' Home

Though Ryan and I love getting dressed up for a fun date, after putting on our pajamas, we both agreed that loungin’ around in comfy clothes, cuddlin’ with Sadie is the real us. Throw an ice cream Snickers bar into the mix, and you’ve got the perfect conclusion to a wonderful Valentine’s Day! 😀

Valentine’s Day Mission Gifts

In case you were curious as to what $15 (more or less) allowed me and Ryan to buy for each other on our Valentine’s day mission, here are the goods:

Ryan’s Gifts (aka Foodie Fun Bag):

• 2 Clif Bars (Carrot Cake & Banana Nut Bread)
• Farmgirl Apple Cinnamon Pancake Mix
• Yogi Green Tea Triple Echinacea
• Whole Foods Gourmet Spiced Olives
• Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

I made sure to fill Ryan’s goodie bag with foods I know he loves but doesn’t buy very often. The Jelly Belly jelly beans were extra fun. They were like the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans from Harry Potter… You didn’t know if you were going to eat a  good flavor or a disgusting one (like a caramel corn jelly bean or a rotten egg jelly bean). We had fun with that until we both tried a moldy cheese jelly bean. Yuk!

My Gifts (aka Girly Fun):

• My Best Friend’s Wedding & The Wedding Planner duo movie DVD
• Yankee Candle (Apple Spice)

I loved my gifts! My Best Friend’s Wedding is one of my all-time favorite movies. My best friend/college roommate Laurel and I used to watch it on repeat in our room. “From the moment I wake up…” 😀

I also opened a wonderful Valentine’s Day gift from my parents: Gap Body red pajamas with teeny white polka dots and fuzzy red slipper socks. I love ’em! Thank you!!!

V-Day Gift from the 'Rents

My mom always did a great job of making Valentine’s Day extra special and emphasizing the importance of showing friends and family how much you love them today as well.

On that note, I gotta tell you guys how much I love you and appreciate your comments and constant support of this blog that means so much to me. ❤

Lobster with My Lobster

Yes, another reference to the best show ever… Friends! 🙂

For breakfast this morning I enjoyed lobster with my lobster.

Ryan and I went to the grocery store right when we woke up and they had lobster tails on sale for $5 each. We figured eating lobster for breakfast on Valentine’s Day morning would be a neat treat!

Lobster Tails

I broiled the lobster tails until they were bright red and lookin’ tasty!

Ryan had his with eggs and toast, while I enjoyed mine with egg whites, zucchini, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.

Ryan's Lobster Plate

My Lobster Breakfast

It was a yummy treat!

Valentine’s Day Mission

After breakfast, I headed off to the gym for a quick workout while Ryan got a head start on our Valentine’s Day mission.

This year’s Valentine’s Day mission was to spend $15 or less on a simple gift for each other.

My workout was awesome. I was totally in the zone on my run and I caught myself lip syncing to the Wicked soundtrack on more than one occassion. I ran five miles in 44 minutes before walking on an incline for another six minutes to cool down. My hair was sweaty and I looked like a brunette when I was leaving the gym!

I then headed off to tackle my end of our Valentine’s Day mission. I have no shame shopping without make up, looking red-faced and sweaty, but maybe I should… 😉

When I arrived home, Ryan and I took Sadie to the dog park for an hour before arriving at an appointment to see the house just down the street  from our current apartment for the second time this week. We wanted to check it out again as a potential place to rent when we move out.

We saw the place in the middle of last week and really liked it a lot. The landlord is a cool guy and seemed to want us as tenants. We were hoping to find a cheaper place, so when he called us last night to say he’d drop the rent by $100 a month for us we were super excited!  

We ended up submitting applications and are hopeful! Cross your fingers!

Lunch

We ate lunch late today and I was a hungry lil’ girl! 

Pasta was sounding great, so I made a big pasta bowl with broccoli, marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Pasta Bowl

I enjoyed a couple Gingersnap cookies for dessert and two squares of dark chocolate Dove chocolate. What’s Valentine’s Day without chocolate???

Tonight

I’m off to shower up for a hot date with my handsome Valentine this evening.

Ryan made reservations for us at The Capital Grille for a romantic dinner. Neither of us have ever been, so we’re very excited. I’ve only heard wonderful things about it and can’t wait!

See ya later tonight! 😀

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope you are surrounded by love on this special day!

XOXO