Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Any excuse to celebrate love right?

The final instalment to my love story all in the name of Valentine’s Day! If you missed the first two chapters, you are being very sneaky and skipping to the end of the book! Go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 first.

So, here we were. We had been dating for 5 years and there was still no ring on my finger – hmmph! Mind you, I was only 22 years old, but I was still itching to marry the love of my life.

Mr Practical (Kirk) wanted to ensure that he could provide for me. He is very traditional like that and I have his parents to thank for this. Kirk always treated me like a princess (still does!). He would open doors for me, pay for our meals, carry things and just take really good care of me. A true gentlemen!

I remember it was around our 5 year ‘dating anniversary’ and Kirk wanted to take me out to dinner. This was our tradition for these anniversaries so I thought nothing of it. We had been trying to plan our dinner for a few weeks and I kept on getting called into work (I was working at the cinemas and doing my teaching degree) and we would have to cancel. When I got my roster one day I noticed that they had given me a Saturday AND a Sunday off work, which was unusual as I normally have to work those shifts. I started wondering if maybe I had done something wrong and they were cutting my hours back!

Kirk booked us in for a very ‘posho’ dinner up at Montville for our anniversary finally, which actually ended up being about 3 weeks after the actual date. Before we went out he took me shopping and bought me a top to wear for dinner. I thought to myself, what a lovely boyfriend taking me shopping and buying me clothes – a real keeper that one .

On the way to dinner we drove past a lookout at Montville and he mentioned that we should check it out later if we have time after dinner. It was just a passing comment. At dinner it was all normal and we ate like kings and queens – such beautiful food and we really spoilt ourselves.

After dinner we ended up going to the lookout on the way home. It was windy and cold but we chatted for hours. There were rose petals scattered all over the grass from a wedding that day and the moon was stunning. From our view we could see the whole of the coast lit up under the night sky. I was getting a little tired and cold and mentioned that we probably should head off, but Kirk managed to keep me there a little longer. I was clueless to what was actually happening and all of a sudden Kirk gets down on one knee and asks me if I would marry him and be his wife. I looked at him and said no. Just tricking you, of course I said yes. It was such a great moment! I knew how much it meant because no big move like this would ever come lightly to Kirk.

After all the hugging and squealing he tells me about the lead up to the evening and popping the question: asking my dads permission while I was away over a month earlier (my parents were apparently just as frustrated with all the dinner cancellations that had been going on previously cause they knew Kirk’s plans), having to organise with my work to get me the Saturday and Sunday off without me knowing (so we could have dinner and the next day go ring shopping together – like my mum and dad did when they got engaged), waiting for our anniversary so I would have no idea what he was actually planning to do and not become suspicious, and his stoked-ness on finding the place already scattered with rose petals from someone else’s wedding – good timing! I was quite impressed with the workings behind the scene.

Our Wedding

Buying our land and building our first home.

We had our wedding 6 months from our engagement and it was all such an awesome whirlwind! Our wedding was smack bang in the middle of my teaching degree (we had our wedding and honeymoon during my uni holidays) and our first year was spent renting a small place in Noosa. It was the best start to our life together. 8 years later, and it just keeps getting better and better.

So, that is how I ended up marrying the man of my dreams. You got the details in a nutshell and I hope you enjoyed the story on this Valentine’s Day 2012.

So much love…anyone for some food?

Check it – the Including Cake blog is wicked…wickedly good! When I read it, I  find myself drooling over some of those recipes. I need to buy some bibs or something. Here is her fudge recipe, with my own little additions. Please check out her blog, you will not be disappointed!

Lovely Fudgely Chocolate

• 200g or ½ can black beans- rinsed and drained
• 1 medium mashed banana
• ½ cup (35g) cocoa powder (or raw cacoa powder for an even healthier boost)
• 1/3 cup dates (medjool dates)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp stevia
• ½ cup (40g) ground oats (quinoa flakes)
• 2 tbs (10g) ground flax
• 2 tbs chia seeds (optional)
• 1 Tbs raw honey (optional)
• 5 Tbs Rapadura sugar (optional for sweeter)
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped up
• organic desiccated coconut for rolling the logs in

Hope you have a great day celebrating the ones you love: family, friends and pets. It’s all about L.O.V.E. xox