Valentine's Day: A Tribute to D.

Ah, Valentine's Day. D. and I aren't huge fans of it. The expense, the crowds, the horrific jewelry store commercials all add up to something that feels very forced to us. As D. pointed out once upon a time, it's important to cherish each other the other 364 days, too.

Whether or not you love this holiday, I hope that everyone takes the time to cherish and appreciate their loved ones. Be it a parent, a best friend, or a significant other, we're not whole without those in our lives who love us unconditionally. The ones who cheer us on and aren't too hard on us. The ones who are always there, no matter what. I knew D. was the real thing when I was at my lowest... and he stuck with me.

I can't say it as eloquently as Shauna does over at Gluten-free Girl, so I'll leave it at this: just think about what loves means and who the important people are in your life.

D. and I met in college, so we did a lot of growing up together. By the time our wedding rolled around, we were nearing 10 years of togetherness and all of the battle scars that come with it. Today, we're better than ever. He's the unfailing good in my life. He's thoughtful, kind, courageous, selfless, and wickedly funny. The man can hardly remember what he did last Tuesday, but he'll remember an offhand comment and BAM! turns it into the best Christmas/birthday/random present ever. My biggest cheerleader, he has a way of reminding me in my dark, ranty moments that life really isn't that bad. Thanks to him, I see the good in life more often than I would on my own.

I bring a lot of chaos in my life with my billions of extracurricular activities, sudden career changes, and general inability to say no to something fun or challenging. If it wasn't for D., I wouldn't understand the beauty of a simple Sunday morning with him, Bear, and a bowl of oatmeal. I'd just blast through life without stopping to appreciate anything, let alone the little things.

To celebrate his awesomeness, I thought I'd tell y'all about our wedding favors. Remember that D. is a master of domesticity? Well, it wasn't any different when we were planning our matrimonial festivities. One of us had to have our act together and it was him. We debated on whether or not to have wedding favors, but decided that we'll have really simple ones. He baked cookies with the help of our best man and groomsmen and I made tags for store-bought tea bags.

Points to anyone who figures out where the teabag-tag's line comes from.

The bags came from Twig & Thistle's Valentine's Day Brownie Bags (updated for 2011!). We made our own version of the design on PowerPoint and printed them out on our inkjet printer. The teabag-tags were made on PowerPoint and punched out with a tag-shaped punch. We also added small cuts into the cookie bags, slipped a seating tag into the cuts, and the favors doubled as our seating chart.

Note: the bags are a little hard to find, but look for "craft brown" paper bags. Twig & Thistle has an Etsy shop that carries them. Also, they can be found in restaurant-supply and industrial-supply websites, but you'll have to buy them in bulk.

Last, but certainly not least, D.'s ass-kicking recipe for chocolate chip cookies. He said the recipe's based on the recipe found on the side of a bag of chocolate chips, but he forgot the brand. He also likes to use extra chocolate chips, so one 12 oz. package is technically enough.

D.'s Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Inspired by a bag of chocolate chips, brand unknown)

2 cup plus 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 12 oz. package of semisweet chocolate chips or increase to roughly 15 oz. (it comes out to about 1 1/4 packages of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift flour with baking soda and salt. Separately, cream butter with sugar and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until batter is smooth and completely combined. Stir in chocolate pieces. Using a small cookie scoop (or heaping teaspoon), place scoops of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!