Love...

4 1/2 years ago my twin and Mom watched our little boy while Fran took me out for dinner.  A delicious Anniversary dinner of steak and fish, followed by a walk around the lake.  My hands tucked up under Fran's down vest to keep warm in the Fall air.  We talked the whole way. 

It was sweet.

It was memorable. 

In truth though, it was the last time that we went out. 

We are NOT a date type of couple.

And that is the way that we like it.

Occasionally  we give each other a gift, but for the most part in regards to gifting, we focus on our boy. 

Last Valentines day Fran surprised me with a gift certificate to a local spa.  It was thoughtful, as I had injured my back after falling in the attic a few months earlier and he thought that a massage would be just the ticket to straighten it out.

But with my schedule and my tendency to procrastinate, the gift certificate sat on my desk until a few days ago.


(The day that it was due to expire.)

As I drove to the spa, I was thinking over what I would like to do with the gift.  I went back and forth between a massage and a facial.  I'd never had a facial (Lord know's my face could use one right about now) and I really enjoyed my massage there the last time that I had gone with Laura and my mom but my back was feeling fine now (a whole YEAR later).


Hmmmm.

Once I got to the front desk I was struck my the smells of their bath/shampoo product section.

So many yummy smelling bottles and pots of goodness. 

In a second I knew what I was going to do with my certificate, and it didn't involve a stranger touching me.

 Two masks to give MYSELF a BUNCH of facials.

Sugar butter scrub ( that smells like cake batter ) to exfoliate the dead winter shell that I have grown.

And lastly, a rose scented bath soak.

Once I got home, I added them to the rest of the tiny bottles, toners, ointments, and lotions on my side of the bathroom shelves

and promptly took a rose scented tub.....with a mask on my face. 

But it didn't last long.  The rose scent was so over powering and I had to get out.  I was kind of let down with the potent-ness of the soak as I watched it swirl down the drain.

Then I had an idea.

I diluted the leftover soak with triple the amount of Epsom Salts.  It ended up being the perfect mix.  And the bonus is that I now have three times the amount of baths to look forward to. 

The gift that keeps on giving.

So, yesterday, we exchanged cards. 

Complete with heartfelt sentiments from one Love to another.

It was perfect.

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I hope that you all had fabulously sweet Valentines Day's with the loves in your own lives.