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Stealthy Valentine's Sneakiness

Another rerun here on the ol' blog? Yeah. I was secretly on vacation before, gallivanting all over California (no exaggeration - we went from north to south and back again) and was too busy devouring all the free Marriott breakfasts (cinnamon raisin toast!) to buckle down and write a new blog post. And now that I'm back? There was a terrible, awful, worst-thing-ever traumatic incident that happened during my getaway and now whenever I sit down to write about it (or just sit down to read a magazine or just sit down), I'm overcome with sadness and tears. People you think will always be in your life will shatter your heart. (Not SN, by the way. I should probably clarify that. He has been great.) So, for now, I'm sharing a Valentine's Day rerun from 2013:

This morning, I was startled awake by the sound of Pica and Biscuit barking. They bark at everyone, including us, but at just after 7am, I should have been home alone. Sexy Nerd would have been at work for almost an hour by then and our dogs normally sleep until I get up.

Panic? You betcha!

I bolted out of bed and double checked that the bedroom door was locked. (Because, you know, those little twisty doorknob locks would really slow a deranged killer down.)

I heard the loud whirr of the automatic garage door open, then close. The dogs were silent.

For a moment, I wondered if maybe it had been Sexy Nerd. Could he have gone into work late because he was setting up some grand Valentine's Day surprise? Today is our 10th Valentine's Day together, after all. Based on previous Valentine's Days though (unromantic Valentine's Day here and here), it seemed unlikely.

Taking a deep breath, I peered out the bedroom, then crept cautiously down the stairs with my fists in balls, prepared to defend myself in case my initial instinct had been correct. Pica and Biscuit were asleep. Nothing looked out of place. I couldn't see any romantic Valentine's Day surprises. Even our chalkboard door was blank. (Which is just silly. Sexy Nerd, you could have scored so many points by simply drawing a heart on that door!)

Then, I saw this:


Yay for Sexy Nerd! He had actually gone into work late for me. He had left our house, driven to Duke City Donuts (my favorite), and come back to set this up.

2018 update: Duke City Donuts has gone out of business. Perhaps if SN had been a little more romantic a little more often...


Not impressed? He bought me a Girl Scout Samoa donut (which, as a Bay Area girl at heart, I really must insist be called a Caramel DeLite donut). I mentioned this donut to him last weekend after seeing Duke City Donuts featured in Rachael Ray magazine.

He had been paying attention and had remembered!!! (Yes, 3 exclamation marks. This just isn't something men are known for.)


There was also an Oreo donut and one with teensie tiny heart sprinkles.

Can you spot the teensie tiny hearts?

Of course, this means that now I need to think of some sort of a romantic surprise for Sexy Nerd. I did okay on past Valentine's Days (click here to be impressed by my romantic surprise awesomeness), but I hadn't really given Valentine's Day much thought this year. Hmmm, what to do?

Want to hear another "of course"? The 3 Duke City donuts pictured above are looong gone!

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