Valentine's Day... can you feel the love?

Yes, I know Valentine's day was five days ago, but I gotta say, it was a pretty cool day. First of all, the biggest thing is that it's also my Lola's birthday. She turned 95. EVERYONE who could make it was in town to celebrate. We're talking most of her 10 children, a lot of her 31 grandchildren and lots of her great-grandkids.

I woke up early so I could get ready for the day and also bake heart-shaped brownies for my family. I let the cool by the sink on a rack and turned my back to put another batch in the oven. Next thing I know, I hear this *CRASH* I turn around and Tink is sitting in the sink w/ the brownies dumped over on the other side of the sink. Her eyes are huge saucers that speak volumes of "Oh $h!t, I'm in trouble now!"


Needless to say she was. I unceremoniously picked her up by the scruff of the neck and tossed her on the ground. It wasn't til later that I realized it was her birthday, too...Her FIRST! (Yes, indeed, Tink is a Valentine's day kitty.) I was thinking maybe she thought the brownies were hers? hehe

Later that morning, my sister and I met our cousins at "The Beach House" for brunch. Our cousin, Mary, set the whole thing up because we rarely get to see each other. It was a blast catching up and also meeting their spouses...our newest cousins. I love that our cousins picked the most amazing people to marry. They're all so perfect for each other and I'm glad to finally have met everyone :-) There was lots of laughter, so much so that even our waitress couldn't help but laugh and joke as she served us. You gotta love my family :-)

That afternoon, Luz and I went over to the restaurant to decorate for Lola's party. Pretty soon the whole room was filled w/ heart-shaped balloons, sparkly decorations...and PEOPLE...LOTS of PEOPLE! We have a pretty large family just on my mom's side. Lola has 10 children, about 31 grandchildren and countless great-grands. Even two of Lola's sisters were there with a few of their kids. I think she was pretty overwhelmed w/ the crowd, but I think she loved it judging by the huge smile she had the entire time.





There's more pics of the party here. Everyone had a great time.

I should add one more thing. When we got home, Chris gave me some Valentine's day cards. I say 'cards' because he bought several of them. He told me he had a hard time deciding which one to buy because they were all perfect. I'm smiling now because they were pretty cute and funny :-)

THen there was one more. From Tink.
The Front:

Inside:

Love Transcends Distance

I read this amazing story today on MSN: "Boy Photoshops a Girl: A Flickr Love Story". It just goes along w/ what I believe about Soulmates and fate. Here are two people who live thousands of miles apart across an ocean, but meet each other, of all places, on Flickr.com. Her friends noticed they had a similar photography style. Around that same time, he just happened to notice her work, too, and contacted her.

I won't go into too much detail, but what I love is that they started emailing back and forth due to their common talents in photography. This lead into an incredible collaborative project. You have to check out their page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aknacer/sets/72157605881081844/

The rest is history. My romantic heart hopes that everything works out for them so they can be together :-)