How February Goes

Cole and I generally do a pretty laid-back Valentine's Day.  The first year we dated, we exchanged flowers and candy.  The next year during my student teaching, Cole took me on a surprise dinner to Mama Carolla's Italian restaurant in Broad Ripple.  It was here that we fell in love….with horseradish mashed potatoes! If you visit there, you must try them! For the last two years, we've gone bowling for the night and that was the plan again for this year, until Cole said that he had hockey tickets for the Indy Fuel vs. Cincinnati Cyclones game.  We went with our friends, Jake and Mallorie, and I couldn't believe how great the seats were! Front row in the corner, and three fights broke out! We had such a great time pounding on the glass and yelling with the crowd.  At half time, the team's biggest fan proposed to his girlfriend out on the ice and married all at the same time. Apparently the MC was ordained for the occasion? It was definitely a first.

We had such a great time! Later on, Cole had asked me if we had any plans coming up for the week. We didn't, but on Tuesday marks my 9-years-free.  He knew what I meant, but for those of you who don't, I was diagnosed with a malignant tumor, Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), my junior year of high school.  It's not something I talk about often, and I'm just thankful everyday that we caught it when we did; we thought it was a cyst the summer before, so I put off having it looked at for a long time.  We were quite shocked with what it turned out to be.  If you're interested in knowing about DFSP, you can click the link here.

Anyway, I never said anything about my anniversary to Cole again.  During the week, he and I were trying to make it to the gym--our new year's resolutions aren't quite progressing at the rate we set out.  When Tuesday came around, Cole got out of work a bit early and called to ask what we wanted to do: go to the gym, go to dinner, or both? I didn't want to be the one who opted for skipping the gym since I did that for the entire last week, but I couldn't do both because there wouldn't be time for a shower in between and it would be getting late.  He chose to just go to dinner and that we should meet at the house first to get down to one car.

So he starts driving and I ask where he wants to go and I get the reply, "Ummm, I don't know.  What are you thinking?" And we talked about a few possibilities and joked that we would just change up our normal scenery and eat at a different Qdoba location.  Then, he asked if I remembered the District Tap and started to turn into the parking lot.  I was excited because they have good food and we joked about the back dining room that we've been seated in every time that we go there, regardless of what company is running the place.  Then, Cole started to park by Nordstrom Rack, and I thought, Uhhh, I'm not walking that far in the cold. 

And it was then that I realized we were really going to Harry and Izzy's!  I still didn't understand why we were going somewhere so fancy on a Tuesday.  We ordered shrimp cocktails, steaks, and mashed potatoes and Cole held up his glass, saying, "Cheers to Chelsea. I'm glad to have you around." And I realized that he planned the dinner to celebrate my 9-years-free.  I am so lucky to have a guy who is so thoughtful… :)

I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day! Stay warm out there!