Happy Valentine's Day from Me and Stylish Monday!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I just love Valentine's Day!  It is one of my most favorite holidays.  Our winters in Wisconsin are so long and cold, so Valentine's Day is like a little glimmer of happiness in the middle of winter.   I think even if you don't have a romantic partner, you can still enjoy Valentine's Day.  I celebrate everyone I love in my life on Valentine's Day.  I give all my children and grandchildren cards and gifts, and if I have the time, even my best girlfriends.

My husband and I always try to do something special on Valentine's Day.  Some years we just stay home and I decorate the house and make a nice dinner.  Other years it's "Dinner and a movie".  This year I was itching to get out and away for a little bit so we went to a nearby town only about an hour and a half away and did some winter hiking (I will do a travel post on our hiking adventure in the near future).  Even though we could have easily driven home on the same day, we decided to rent a room and I'm so glad we did because I had no idea our room would be so Valentine perfect!  I mean, a RED chaise lounge in the room!  It was so romantic.

Now, normally the second Monday of every month is our "Stylish Monday" link up.  This month the leaders of the group decided to do something different since it landed on Valentine's Day.  Instead of a link up, they asked us just to do a Instagram post and tag our fellow group members.  I will do that, but I still wanted to do a post and talk about my Valentine's Day.  But there will be no link up this month.

I don't normally buy new clothes for Valentine's Day but I spotted this beautiful peachy/pink blouse at TJMaxx for only $20 and I thought it would not only make a perfect Valentine top but it will be great for Easter and spring too!

I just love the fit of this blouse on me and the sleeves are incredible.  They have an elastic edge and when you push them up your forearm they flounce out so prettily. 

I styled my new top with things I already owned.  It was only 10 degrees the day I wore this outfit, so I wore black tights and tall black boots with my short black skirt.  

For jewelry, I chose a long pink pearl necklace, a multi-strand pink pearl bracelet, and rose gold earrings.

This hotel was so modern and beautiful.  The bathroom was exquisite!

Because it was a small town there were no fancy restaurants to eat dinner, but we still had the most amazing meal.  They had a "Prime Rib Valentine Special" and they allowed us to order the largest size and split it, which saved us like $25.00 that way.  We didn't even finish the whole thing and ended up taking about 1/8 of it home.  It was so delicious!  The meat literally melted in my mouth.

My husband and I each wanted different side dishes so they accommodated that by only charging us $1.50  more for an additional side dish.  

I ordered the Red Pepper soup as one of my side dishes, and it was incredible!  I love butternut squash soup, and it kinda reminded me of that.  I am definitely going to look for a recipe for this soup and try making my own at home, it was that good!

For dessert they gave us little chocolate cupcakes.  The heart pick had some kind of liquor inside the heart.  You squeezed the heart and I put the liquid inside the cupcake.  It was so yummy and such a nice, light dessert after a heavy meal.

Well I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day too!  Please enjoy yourself and celebrate the loved ones in your life whether you have a romantic partner or not.  I know we're supposed to love on people all year long, but it's nice to have a holiday to show some extra special love.  When we were eating our dinner we noticed the restaurant start to fill up with teenagers wearing long, sparkly, red evening gowns.  Eventually we realized there must be a Valentine dance that evening and the kids were grabbing dinner before the dance.  Anyway, we noticed a lot of the kids didn't have dates and many table were "just girls" or "just guys" and we thought it was great that they were getting all dressed up and having a good time whether they had a date or not.

Have A Great Valentine's Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

A Dressy Valentine's Day Outfit

 On Monday's Fashion Post, I shared a Casual Valentine Outfit.  Today I wanted to show a more dressy option, but still weather appropriate if you live in a cold climate like I do.

I don't like to run out to the store and buy all new items for a special occasion if I don't have to.  I prefer to shop from my own closet.  Everything I am wearing I've had for a few seasons or more except the bag.  My daughter gave me the gold handbag this year.

Leopard and red are one of my favorite pairings.  Since the top exposed quite a bit of skin for our cold temperatures, I added this furry leopard print infinity scarf to keep me warm.

My top is just a long sleeve tee with tab sleeves from Express.  The skirt is black pleather and has little tiny holes all over it.  If the skirt is too edgy for you, you could easily recreate this look with any black skirt suitable to your taste.

To keep my legs warm, I wore black tights and black suede ankle booties on my feet.  I tried my new over-the-knee boots with this outfit for extra warmth, but I felt like the small space of flesh between the bottom of the skirt and the boot was odd.  Although, it would have been nice for the extra warmth.

Since Valentine's Day falls on a weekday we will be celebrating the holiday this weekend.  I'm not sure what we will be doing yet, probably just dinner and a movie.  Last year we went to the cities and saw a Broadway musical and got a nice hotel room.  And the next day I left for Florida for two weeks to see my kids!  This year, it's not quite as exciting, but we are also spending a lot of money remodeling our new master bedroom.

On Monday I asked you which outfit you think I will actually wear on Valentine's Day.  Knowing me, and now knowing my plans, which one do you think it will be?

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.
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