Sweet, Thoughtful, Romantic

We really out did ourselves this year. After celebrating our big four year anniversary the way we did, it would seem that perhaps we should be more practical for a holiday happening only four days later. But that's not the way Dave and I do things. This year we both had big secret plans.

For the past few weeks I was struggling to come up with gift ideas. The best Valentines formula would be a combination of be something sweet, thoughtful and romantic.

For the sweet ingredient, I knew that I definitely wanted to get him some of our favourite chocolates from New Zealand. So two weeks before Valentines day, I ordered one box of chocolate and macadamia covered toffee bars called Macadamia Butter Toffee Crunch from Makana Confections. On Monday the 11th, it thankfully arrived at my workplace. But chocolate wasn't going to be enough because I knew Dave had something big planned...he always does!

The Best Chocolate in the World Has Safely Arrived

We recently got an iPad because Dave's computer from college finally crashed. I love browsing on the iPad while we're watching TV and one app I've been using a lot is Pinterest. I searched "Valentines gift for him" and got an endless list of ideas. The bacon roses caught my eye, but I knew that I wouldn't have time to prepare it because he's home more often than I am. I did fall in love with a DIY valentines bedroom idea.

So at this point I had the sweet and romantic components covered, but I wanted to surprise him during the day. On the night that I bought the compendium for our anniversary, I went into a specialty stationery store. The first card I picked out was perfect.

If you want to be

Happy for a short time, get drunk.

Happy for a long time, fall in love.

Happy forever, take up gardening.

The Chinese proverb gave me inspiration. The afternoon before Valentine's day, I visited different flower shops around Milsons Point and found two easy to care for plants for Dave's office desk. He loves plants and I know one day when were old, he's going to have wonderful garden for us. I grabbed an empty wooden box and asked the florist if she would sell me the plants with the box and add some moss and a ribbon. She was impressed with my creation and was happy to sell it me.

The "garden" was a metaphor for our 'garden' or family that we'll grow one day.

On Valentine's day mornings I told Dave that I needed to get to work 30 minutes early because I had a lot of work to do. When I got to work, I wrote in the card and walked the plant arrangement and card to North Sydney where he works. Luckily I could go on foot because it is only a 15 minute walk. I had contacted our friend Jutta who works with him to meet me outside of their building to do the hand-off. She had a big grin on her face because she had no idea what I was handing her until I approached her with my plant arrangement. "Just leave it on his desk like it's no big deal."

Dave Took an Instagram Pic of His New Plants & Card

We were so busy that day and finally were able to connect by phone at 2 pm. He loved my present and felt the same way about the card as I did. We met as friends spending a lot of fun nights together. Then, we fell in love. We can't predict the future, but we plan to grow a 'garden' (and a real garden) together someday. The ingredient of thoughtful was a success.

He told me to be ready at 5:30 pm. Dave was at my office door with 12 fully bloomed red roses. They were luscious and fragrant. I was so proud to have such a loving boyfriend. I hooked my arm around his and walked in pride with my large bouquet through the train station.

I expected a lot of women looking like me with their flowers, but that wasn't the case. There were a few men with single roses. When I bought the supplies for the romantic bedroom set up, the clerk told me she wasn't very busy this year. She said celebrating Valentine's Day was on the decline. Even if flowers aren't the choice gift this year, I hope Sydneysiders are celebrating somehow someway.

My Beautiful Red Roses

We were travelling the way we would to go home, but instead of hopping off at Kings Cross Station, we exited at Martin Place. Perhaps he was taking me to Jamie's Italian (as in Jamie Oliver!)? We kept walking past Martin Place and through the Botanical Gardens. Perhaps we were going to some Valentine's pop up restaurant in The Domain? We kept walking past the Botanical Gardens and headed to Woolloomooloo.

We started to veer into the line of restaurants at Cowper Wharf and I knew this would be our final destination. We sat down at Manta, a restaurant I had planned on taking him to for his 26th birthday, but never made it because it was raining.

Dave pre-booked our Valentine's dinner (having to pay a $100 deposit!) and it was so easy to walk to and see that our table was ready for us. Despite Sydney's lack of Valentine's Day hype, the restaurant had planned for an influx of customers looking for a romantic evening. There were roses at each table and a Valentine's Day menu. We opted to create our own menu starting with oysters.

Lord Nelson Beer & Fresh Oysters

Oysters From Different Parts of Australia?

Aren't Oysters an Aphrodisiac?

The oysters came fresh with slices of lemon, red wine vinegar with red onions and white vinegar with finely diced shallots. My favourite was taking the fresh oysters and squeezing lemon on top - simple and delicious.

Being a seafood restaurant, we opted for fish mains. I liked the sound of pan seared trout with king crab risotto, but when it came out, the risotto was made of barley, not Arborio rice. And the trout tasted like salmon. It was all delicious, but unexpected. I was envious of Dave's main, which he actually thought was my dish because his fish was white, but described as pink. Thank goodness we like to share bites of each other's dishes. One thing we could both enjoy to the fullest extent was the truffle oil potato chips with Parmesan.

King Trout With Crispy Skin, Pearl Barley& Alaskan King Crab Risotto, Green Olive, Grape Tomato & Mint Salad

Pink Snapper, Heirloom Tomatoes, Confit Pencil Fennel, Pantelleria Capers & Baby Basil

Manta 'Angel' Chips With Truffle Oil & Parmesan

We never leave a fancy restaurant without having some dessert. In my mind, I was hoping Dave would be too full because the New Zealand chocolate was waiting for us. 

Milk Chocolate Mousse, Honey Comb Crumble, Pineapple, Chocolate Soil & Raspberry Sorbet

But just as our dessert was set on our table, Dave laid a small box on the table. It was adorably wrapped with the only white ribbon he could find in our apartment and left over brown parcel wrapper. He even drew hearts in a tessellated pattern all over the box.

Such Beautiful Wrapping

What Could be Inside?

I hadn't expected another gift. The roses and this dinner was thoughtful and just enough for a holiday that fell so closely to our anniversary.

I opened it and saw SEIKO on the white box. A watch! I was quite surprised to know there was a box inside because he had given me a watch for my 25th birthday (my first birthday in Australia). I opened the box and there was a shiny gold watch looking back at me.

I have always wanted a gold watch and with trendy designs like Michael Kors' style, I thought I wanted a big blingy one. Dave knew better. He chose a watch that would look good today and for the years to come. I appreciated the gift even more when he told me how difficult it was to choose a watch. He first went to Myer and was met with a very grumpy and unhelpful sales woman. She had no knowledge of watches and ignored him. He had chosen a watch and after walking out, decided to return it. He went to a second specialty store in the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) and found great customer service and a even better watch than his first pick. The sales girl won him over when she explained that the watch was modeled after a Cartier style and had a more flat face, giving it a unique look and weight compared to regular watches.

My New Seiko Gold Watch

After dinner, we strolled home. As soon as we got home, I made him stay in the living room, while I prepared my surprise.

I bought balloons, gold ribbon and tape and was ready to re-create the Pinterest idea. I blew up six balloons for the six images I cut out and pasted onto black cardboard. That was the easy part. After tying the gold ribbon on, I then needed to get the balloons to stick on the ceiling with the tape. I jumped on the bed and reaching up towards the ceiling, I was still a foot away! I was reduced to jumping on the bed with scissors in hand to get the point of the scissors to push the taped ribbon on to the ceiling, which was uneven because it had a sprayed texture. This was all done with no fan on because I was afraid the balloons would pop. After 45 minutes, I was sweating and panting, but was finally done.

Romantic 'Pinterest' Valentine's Bedroom

The Pictures on the Bed

At the end of each balloon and ribbon, was an image depicting an important point in our relationship. In the last few months, I have been obsessed with Instagram. Because of their square style, they were perfect to print, cut out and paste onto a black cardboard. I took it one step further and pasted yellow cardboard on the back, so I could write a note about the image.

Because we enjoy a simple stroll together...

Because we can share our lives...

Because we love sleepies...

Because you are so thoughtful...

Because we love being close...

Because we can move and travel together...

Makana Chocolate

The final piece of the night was indulging in the delicious chocolate we had on our trip through New Zealand's South Island. We laid in bed with the pictures in hand reminiscing on all the great moments we've shared for the past four years. This has been a sweet, thoughtful and romantic Valentine's Day.

A Romantic Weekend Away

Four years. That's the time you spend in high school. That's the time you spend in college. These are the adult formative years when you realise who you are, who you want to spend your time with, interests become hobbies, classes become professional pursuits and some of the best memories are made.

Dave and I have hit that four year milestone and I can luckily say that I shared all of those formative years memories with him. Over this time, our highs and lows have challenged us to become better people. Furthermore, our interests and hobbies have intersected. A perfect example is that he now likes tofu and running and I now like poutine and sometimes flat hiking. I'm glad we both still retain our separate hobbies because we have learned that it's healthy for us to enjoy our individual pursuits too.

When we first came to Australia, Dave wasn't sure where he wanted to work. Learning of his strengths in statistical analysis and business from university, I pushed him to get into market research and he has flourished ever since. When I struggled in my jobs, he kept me sane and on track to endure even when I wanted to quit. Over the years, we have been each other's rock. We're so different, but we complement each other. We've had so much adventures these past four years and I'm so excited to see where we go in the next four years.

Dave is the romantic one. It's not because I chose not to be, but because he absolutely loves our anniversary and birthdays more than any other holiday. So I didn't question his motives when he told me to pack a bag on Thursday night. He did say I started asking too much questions when I asked if I could pack liquids larger than 100 ml.

I promised him that I would leave work on Friday at 5:30 pm on the dot. He had wanted me to take a half-day off of work, but a) I wanted to save my holiday for when we go to America in September for Emily's and Marco's weddings and b) I have been crazy busy at work and this was short notice. We got into a fight on Wednesday night about this very issue, but Dave as he always does understood my frustration. I could see that Dave wanted so badly to for his plan to work out perfectly and I understood why that Friday afternoon. 

He Kidnapped Me From Work

Me, My Flowers & My Carriage

He was at my office doorstep right at 5:30pm with a bouquet of flowers, snacks for the road and a luxury car (something that was one step higher than an economy car) ready for our road trip. Like a perfect gentleman, he handed me the flowers and took my bags and packed it into the trunk. He opened the car door for me and we were cruising off to the unknown destination.

The reason why Dave urged me to take a half-day off work on Friday was the very thing that would frustrate us - traffic. It took us an hour to finally get off the city and drive the speed limit. However, it was our first trip south of Sydney and it was nice to see the coastal towns we had never seen before.

Vietnamese Meal in Wollongong

Our first stop was Wollongong. It was already past 8pm by the time we arrived. We were so hungry because our last meal was at lunch nearly seven hours ago! Wollongong is the next largest city south of Sydney. It is a sleepy coastal town that reminded us of the towns we stopped by in New Zealand. It was like everyone knew each other because when we walked into Mylan, the #1 restaurant according to Urbanspoon, everyone looked at us like we were 'not from 'round here.' We had a lovely Vietnamese meal that would keep us content since we still had over two hours to go to this unknown destination.

We picked up groceries to last us the weekend, so I knew we were staying in a self-serviced place.

I was getting very irritable when the clock was getting closer and closer to 10 pm. I had been at work all day and here I was sitting for another four hours to a unknown location.

We finally arrived at 9:45pm to an empty driveway that led into a locked garage we weren't allowed to park in. We parked in the driveway and was expecting a regular little house.

The house was breathtaking. It had manicured lawns with beautiful potted plants and Buddha statues around the garden. There were two outdoor seating areas; one in a gazebo and the other on a porch.

While we were driving, I had asked Dave how we were getting into whatever we were staying in if we were getting in so late. He said, he's got access. When we arrived at the house, Dave had to dig in the utility room punching in codes to get the key.

When he opened the door, what laid before us was a beautiful house decorated like a zen Buddhist retreat. The word 'RELAX' in wooden block letters was the first thing I saw sitting on a coffee table. It was painted in a calming yellow, ocean blue and grey palette. Immediately, I walked through every room of the house, finding it was not a one-bedroom, but a three-bedroom house that we had for the entire weekend all to ourselves! Each room had large flower paintings and ornate bedspreads. The bathroom even had Frangipanis decorated on the wall and sitting on the toilet roll.

My favourite part of the house was the living room. It had a large L-couch with tons of pillows. One wall of the living room was glass with doors leading to the balcony that overlooked the lake. This place was magical and it was all ours!

Our Weekend Zen Home

Breakfast Alfresco Style

The next morning, we slept in, but Dave wanted us out of the house before midday so we could enjoy the beaches of Jervis Bay. We made one of our favourite breakfasts; buttered and peanut buttered crumpets, scrambled eggs and sliced tomatoes with a cup of earl grey tea and our daily vitamins. We set up the spread outside on the porch with the my new bunch of flowers to decorate the table. It was a dewy morning and so picturesque.

A New IPAD Keyboard & Snorkel/Flipper Set

After breakfast, Dave sat me on the couch and brought out his anniversary presents. He didn't wrap his, so I brought his out too unwrapped. Because I like to blog a lot and often have to bring my laptop on our trips, we bought us a keyboard for our new IPAD. It hooks on perfectly and works as a cover as well.

Ever since we got our scuba diving certifications, we have been wanting to go snorkeling when we can't scuba dive. So he bought us his and hers snorkel/flipper set.

I was struggling to find his gift for the past few weeks. I thought about getting him an electric shaver. I even went to Myer's electronics and housewares section to view my options. My mind changed when I realised there were too many options and Dave's beard requires special attention, which would be best sculpted with a regular razor.

A Leather Compendium

Thinking of what Dave needed in his life right now, the idea hit in the last half hour of late night shopping in Sydney (everything closes at 6pm, but on Thursday nights, retail stores close at 9pm). Dave was promoted to the Client Services team a few months ago. This new job requires him to go to meetings, where he'd have to write things down and bring presentation slides for the client. The answer was a compendium. I went to Kikki. K, a popular Swedish stationery store and found the perfect black leather compendium.

Enjoying the View & Sand at Hyams Beach

Perfect View of White Beach & Blue Water

We left right at midday for Hyams Beach. It was only 15 minutes away. Dave had researched the area and found out that this beach has the whitest sand in the world! It was a stunning beach. It stretched for about 2km. We walked to the half-way point where groups were scattered far enough we couldn't make out their faces and laid down our beach towels. We spent the next four hours sun baking and listening to music, swimming, snorkeling, digging in the sand and splashing against the surf.

Such Clear Water

A Beautiful Stretch of Beach

He Loves Digging in the Sand

He's Dug Himself A Hole

Four Years Together

DB & SL = Love

10/02/13

The Half-way Portage

By 4pm, the wind had picked up kicking sand in our faces and legs. We had been at the beach for four hours and were ready to go back to our luxury pad. Dave had a grand plan to canoe on the lake. We climbed down from our house to the lake front and unlocked the canoe. As Dave sat it down on the water, mosquitoes were abound. They were hungry and we were food. Dave tread the murky water with his bare feet to push us out and we kept getting bitten. It wasn't ideal canoe conditions so after five minutes we were back on shore. At least we tried...

Canoe Evidence

It was good timing for us to stop canoeing even if it was for five minutes because a storm came through. It was time for us to go back inside and relax in our pristine house.

Pasta Dinner Made With Love

That night, we took all the ingredients we bought at the Woolongong grocery store and whipped up bow-tie pasta with mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and Parmesan cheese. We enjoyed our delicious home made meal sitting at a large dining room table (much different from eating at a coffee table in front of the TV at home) discussing our last four years together and where we expect to be in the next four years. We both agreed travelling and dog would be in our near future.

At the end of the night we curled up on the large l-couch with wine and chocolate. What a perfect day together and the perfect way to end it.

Shore Path

The next morning, we cleaned the house and packed away all of our belongings in the car. We were sad to leave this beautiful place, but we weren't going to leave without a walk by the lake.

Such a Monkey

Sitting By the Water

My Favourite Room in the House

I took one last picture of the house in my favourite spot - one the l-couch in the living room overlooking the lake. I will never forget this house. It had a feng shei about it that made me forget all our responsibilities, stress and frustrations back in Sydney. This house will forever be a blueprint for my future holiday house.

Driving back to Sydney was a different experience compared to our ride to Jervis Bay. This time, it was day time and we could see the beautiful landscape of the New South Wales coast.

Very Windy On the Coast

To break up our trip, we stopped in Kiama. I kept hearing about Kiama because it is the first country town south of Sydney and is home to a blowhole, a popular tourist attraction. Unfortunately, this blowhole was waterless that day.

The Blowhole at Kiama

King of the Rock

It was a beautiful day to take the coastal drive back to Sydney. Being in the country away from the noise and craziness of the city was exactly what we needed. Ever since we came back from our big North America trip over Christmas and New Year's, work  and friends had kept us busy every weekend. But this weekend was our weekend to focus on each other and celebrate our life together. It really is incredible to reach that four year milestone. It's like we've graduated into the next chapter of our lives. We can't predict what will happen next, but we have the comfort of knowing we're in it together and are prepared to take on whatever comes our way.

Must Celebrate Chinese New Year with Chinese Food!

Lunch in Kiama

Our anniversary happens to fall on Chinese New Year and this year is the Year of the Snake. I'm not superstitious, but predictions have been made that this year will be full of blessings and turmoil. I'm not bothered either way because I know Dave and I would be grateful of the blessings and learn from any challenges that we face. Bring on the Year of the Snake I say! Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Four Year Anniversary to us!

Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

Dave is such a good gift giver. He loves surprising me with surprise trips away for our anniversary, taking me on a European tour for my birthday or printing this entire blog as a coffee table book. This Christmas, I wanted to get him something memorable. Being time poor (I know, not a good enough excuse) got me thinking to get him tickets to something. We live in such a cosmopolitan city and the most iconic thing about it is probably the Sydney Opera House. We have never actually been inside except for a free tour during Australian Heritage Week. This time, I wanted us to experience a show. I didn't want to go to just any show, but a symphony...after all the building is known for operas and symphonies. And what better way to experience our first symphony than one themed after one of the greatest video games that we both actually played.

So for Christmas, I got Dave tickets to see Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses.

Princess Zelda Figurine & Homemade Christmas Card

Dave so so psyched. When he opened my gift (a green sphere with a surprise figurine inside), he was happy just to get that! While he was playing with his brother's dog, I snuck away to his mom's office to create a homemade Christmas card.

When we all gathered to open gifts, Dave was one of the first to go because we were going alphabetically. He opened a few gifts and when he got to mine, I couldn't help but smile in excitement. My smile turned into embarrassment when he read my private card aloud to his entire family. At least they know how much I love him.

He looked back at the card and didn't realise what I had given him until I told him it was tickets to see Legend of Zelda, the symphony. His brother and Kendra's boyfriend gasped. They too, fellow gamers knew how awesome this gift was.

On the night of the symphony, we enjoyed dinner and drinks at Opera Kitchen. As the time got closer to the 8pm curtain call, we began to see a change in the people wandering around the Opera House. There were people in Link and Zelda costumes. I laughed hard thinking I would be walking into comic-con. Dave's eyes lit up in excitement.

Walking into the Concert Hall

A Packed House

Our Box Seats View

Can You Spot Link?

The show was introduced by the creator (later we found out our friend Danny is friend's with him!). In true geek style, he came out in blazer, jeans and sneakers. He spoke with passion about his love of the game and even held up the original Nintendo game.

This was the first international show and we were so lucky to take it in. The symphony was performed in a 4-part movement and conducted by Eimear Noone, a famous video game composer who's resume boasts of World of Warcraft, Diablo and Final Fantasy scores. Performed with the Sydney Symphony, the music was played with a compilation of 25 years of footage from the game and it matched perfectly!

I love classical music, but I'm not sure I could handle over two hours without a visual aid - this was the perfect symphony to get Dave and I into orchestral performances.

The Orchestra

When the orchestra played the finale piece according to the program, the packed concert hall gave a standing ovation. But it wasn't over. The creator came back out again and teased us with the encore. Once the encore was played, we all stood to give our praise to the composer. Then a second encore was played. The composer had each section of the orchestra stand and we all clapped thinking it was over, but then there was a third encore! This was more than a rock show and the gaming geeks (including Dave) were beside themselves. Dave told me this was one of the best presents I've ever given him. In my mind, it wasn't just a present for him, but for me too. What an excellent show combining a symphony and a beloved video game that my generation knows and loves.