Ridiculously cheap, meaningful and romantic Valentine's.

If you are visiting from the link over at The Street, please check the updated Valentine's post.

I knew what I was doing for Valentine's last month. It hit me like a lightning bolt from Zeus (thank you divine inspiration). My man and I first started dating nearly a year ago. Our first two months of dating were filled with amazing moments and memories. Like two or three months in, he was over on an extremely warm May day and I decided on a whim to take him to a local creek that I love. He brought the blanket, wine glasses and two buck chuck. We stopped by Trader Joe's and picked up raspberries, pita bread, hummus, a gorgonzola spinach salad and dark chocolate. We hiked far from humanity and spent three hours under the canopy of trees (it's a preserve of sorts) discussing philosophy, the plausibility of reincarnation and destiny. It was amazing... in every way possible.

This year: We are both so busy. I'm going full steam on my B.A. and he recently went back to school after nearly ten years to get his M.A. (he's quite a bit older than me). I waitress and balance friends and family; he works full time as a high school Language Arts teacher. Tuesdays I get off school earlier than usual, but he has class until ten pm. It's the only time I am at his house before he is. Soooo, I'm going to turn the fire on, lay out blankets and pillows and set up a picnic on the coffee table. I'm still debating whether to have the original food items from the picnic or to make us dinner. Regardless, I know he will love it.