Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

For a special holiday over a week ago, I received a big box of chocolates that I'm just finishing off as I write. This year, for St. Valentine's Day, I got to celebrate with this lovely Irishman that I know. 

Now though neither he nor I particularly subscribes to passé gender roles, he remains the planner in most situations because I think I am happy doing whatever, however it's probably more likely due to my utter apathy and complete lack of interesting ideas. Valentine's was no different, and D worked on a day of surprises.

For more than a week prior to Valentine's, he kept saying that if the weather was bad we might not be able to do whatever it was he had planned. He also said that even if the weather was good, I would want to bring a change of clothes. Obviously with such weird, ominous provisos (and knowing that he'd asked all his friends and they'd approved), I was terrified.

With the horrible, skyfalling kind of weather Ireland's had recently, I packed a bag thinking that we probably wouldn't be doing much. The morning of, I woke up to the sound of a howling wind and rocky hail bashing my window, and I assumed we would be staying home. So I battened down and waited to hear from him. Well, he called soon enough and said something that surprised me and went something like:

D: Sarah, you're weird, and I don't think you'd be against getting soaking wet on an adventure today. 

Me: Nope. Not really.

D: So we're going, okay?

Me: Cool. 

Turns out, we drove all the way to Waterford, near his family's house, to climb up to Mahon Falls. The falls are allegedly usually only a smaller waterfall, but I know them as something like this:

The falls were so big, halfway hidden behind clouds, and overtaking so much of the valley, that I was honestly a little nervous to even get closer. But we climbed down and baffled over it in the pouring rain anyway! By the time we got back to the car, we were so cold and wet that I thought we'd never warm up. We took turns changing in the backseat, and decided to get milkshakes instead of anything warm. (Lovely man surprised me with coffee anyway). 

When we finally made it back to Cork, a little colder than before, he had set up the table to cook dinner (this guy does not cook), and he even had a bottle of champagne for us while we watched Boy Meets World. It was wonderful!

It was a great Valentine's and a great day! Adventurous, adorable, cozy, romantic, surprising all at once. It's going to be hard to live up to the hype! 

These photos of D and I are not from Valentine's; rather they were taken by the lovely, ginger S a few weeks ago. Thanks, girl!