In Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

I left you all lingering about whether or not I would see my boyfriend of one whole year again (that’s a long time when you are a teenager!). This was all outlined in Part 1 of my Valentine’s Day posts.

I remember the day I told him. I went to pick him up at TAFE in my red Subaru Sherpa and blurted out that I had been accepted into the University of the Sunshine Coast! Then I continued with the fact that I would be moving away from Port Macquarie and heading up north. He took it well, as Kirk always does with everything (his nickname was Kroozy…as in ‘cruisey’). We talked about the fact that we would just have to have a long distance relationship and we left it at that.

Kirk at the University of the Sunshine Coast

Fast forward about one whole day and Kirk tells me that he has decided he is going to move up north too. He’s going to apply to get into a Bachelor of Sport & Exercise Science at the same uni as me. My parents were already moving up to the Sunshine Coast with me and my little bro so Kirk was invited to join in on the journey. They had already fallen in love with Kirk so there was no question about it.

Kirk and I drove up in my little red car (NO idea how it made that huge trip!) and he spent the first week staying with us until he found some accommodation down the road with a guy we had met at a church on the coast. We couldn’t believe how good this worked out. He was just a street away. Kirk also got into uni with ease and before we knew it, we were both studying together and by each others side every moment - inseparable.

At uni.

Kirk's way of giving me flowers

Weekends up at Rainbow Beach with the family - my brother, dad, mum, me and Kirk

Kirk and my brother sandboarding on the dunes.

We spent the next four years living it up on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Noosa. We were going to uni together, attending a church in Noosa,  at different stages I worked at resorts and cinemas and quit my uni degree halfway through to make the change to teaching. Kirk finished his course, made venetian blinds (he was known as the ‘Blind Man’), worked night duty at a different resort and then ended up working at a cafe in Noosa. Life was good.

We talked about marriage and knew we would get married eventually but it was a matter of Kirk popping the question. We were still very young. If you know Kirk personally, you would already be aware that no decision is ever taken lightly. He has to think and process it and make sure it is all done properly. I really like that about him. I know that any decision he makes (including buying a new vacuum cleaner) has been well thought out. It all takes time.

‘The question’, the wedding and life as newlyweds coming up next in Part 3…

After all the sweet reminiscing, I felt like a recipe to match (umm, more precisely, chocolate)  so I began scouring the internet for some healthy raw chocolate recipes to make hubby for Valentines Day. We don’t eat refined sugar any more, but we both still love chocolate. I had decided that the recipe I was going to make had to be awesome. Like, really awesome cause there is no point in eating chocolate unless it tastes like the real deal.

I found my little Valentine’s Day choccies through a link of a link of someone elses foodie blog. Stumbling across Cara’s website, Fork and Beans, has been a worthwhile event. Her recipes are my kinda recipes! In a nutshell: she rocks. I like that Cara has very similar food interests as me. Her recipes are easy and not too fancy to put you off from having a go yourself. She has a brilliant Gluten Free info page on her blog too: Guide to Gluten-Free. I have found it really helpful and refer to it often!

Photo by Kirk Vagg Fine Art Photography

Sweet Hearts

• 1/4 cup (60g) coconut oil, melted
• 3 Tbs (15g) raw cocoa powder (if you don’t have this, you can always use the regular cocoa powder)
• 2 Tbs (45g) maple syrup
• dash of vanilla extract (optional)
• heart candy mould

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
2. Using a spoon, gently add chocolate mix into heart candy mold.
3. Freeze for 10-15 minutes.

Photo by Kirk Vagg Fine Art Photography

You have enough time between now and Valentine’s Day to make these quick and easy chocolates for the one you love….or for yourself! You may not want to share, and that’s okay.

Oh, do you like my pretty pink heart background for the blog?  Just adding to the VDay love <3 .