I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, despite all the hate it gets. I love red and pink and hearts and chocolate and an excuse to get all dressed up. And obviously once Leslie Knope invented Galentine’s Day there was this whole other added layer of love. Fun Fact: during our courtship The Beard and I moved really slowly and took a lot of weird, non-traditional routes to relationship progress. That’s not the Fun Fact. This is the Fun Fact: I got a little bit dressed up for our Valentine’s date the year that we were “official,” but didn’t expect anything other than our usual Macaroni Grill dinner and Netflix. That’s still not the Fun Fact. The real Fun Fact is that I was completely floored when he took me to a nice sushi place and then RING SHOPPING. We had talked super generally and theoretically about the future so I was still expecting us to be months away from it. It was so surprising and romantic that I think it will always make Valentine’s Day special for me.

Blouse: H&M, Skirt: Downeast, Shoes: Jessica Simpson

Even if there’s zero chance I’ll get to wear something like this on a fancy Valentine’s date. Well, that’s not fair. It’s not that with Reese we’ll never go on fancy dates again. My mom literally gave us a dinner gift card, movie tickets, and an aggressive urging to babysit Reese as a Valentine’s present. Here’s the thing: We don’t like to ditch her that often. And since her birthday is so close to Valentine’s I’m guessing we’ll want to spend it with her for the next few years. Until she’s an obnoxious toddler I suppose.

But if you guys know anything about me it’s that I love to dress for occasions and I’m a little over the top. One of my all time favorite celebrity red carpet looks is Emma Stone’s Valli dress. It’s one that has stuck with me ever since. I love the bright color blocking and especially the festive choice of colors (even if she wore this in July). So of course I’m going to take this prime opportunity to copy it.

Instead of braving the dinner rush Saturday night we’ll be making a fancy dinner at home with our besties – the Findeis’, so I won’t be wearing this, obviously. It might make an appearance at church on Sunday. No way of knowing. But if I WAS going out for a fancy dinner date on Saturday night THIS is what I would wear. And The Beard would be in jeans, sneakers, a plain white v-neck and a Red Sox hat, per usual.

Don’t you worry about Reese. That girl has more Valentine’s outfits than she knows what to do with. My personal favorite is this emoji set my mom got her from H&M.

Outfit and Headband: H&M, Moccasins: Wright Design Co

Like, not only do we LOVE emojis – but it also features panda bears. Home run.

And since Valentine’s Day is so close to her birthday we MAYYYYYY have gone a little overboard. Between me, The Beard, my mom, and my Paletta cousins she got a very solid Valentine’s-y haul. Yes, that is 3 Valentines-y outfits (Minnie Mouse from H&M, Pink Hearts jumper from Old Navy, and the cute cheetah set was a gift from my cousins!). Not one but TWO Valentine’s pandas, three Valentine’s books, and it wouldn’t be Valentine’s day without some See’s chocolates. We’re crazy. And crazy lucky.

There’s a lot of love in our lives.

The Beard got her the baseball onesies, if you didn’t guess. He wanted her to be prepared, since pitchers and catchers report on Monday. 🙂 Anytime spring wants to get the memo to report as well… that would be welcomed.