Yesterday evening, I came home to my apartment to find a bouquet of flowers – pink roses and little lilies (lilies are my favorite), resting in my blender on the center of my dining room table. I called Kirios immediately, and told him how delighted I was with the semiversary surprise.

[I guess I should mention that the first time Kirios brought me flowers; neither my roommate nor I owned a vase. There were too many to fit in a regular drinking glass, so my roommate and I set them up nicely in her blender. We took pictures and thought it was hilarious, and Kirios never let me live it down. But whenever I tried to buy a vase, he would stop me – probably because it gave him an excuse not to buy me flowers – “You don’t even have a vase to put them in!” But news of my multi-purpose blender spread, and come time for my birthday last winter my brother and sister-in-law sent me a beautiful red and yellow glass vase. It’s quite pretty, and it makes for a lovely decoration, but the diameter of its opening is about the same size as a quarter. When Kirios bought me one rose, it was the perfect vessel. But for a whole bouquet, it just doesn’t cut it.]

Back to my phone call with Kirios – who was getting impatient waiting for me to return from work and find the flowers… I thanked him profusely and he told me sweet things and it was nice and I was super happy. And then he asked if I had checked my cabinets yet. So I walked into the kitchen and opened my cabinet to find a container of chai tea powder staring back at me. I gave up drinking coffee a couple of years ago since it was too harsh on my stomach, but I’m constantly drinking tea. When Kirios and I go out to coffee shops, we usually split soy chai lattes. From time to time we’ve purchased the powder or syrup to make our own chais as a special treat. In addition to the chail, I found a container of mulling spices. I had never heard of mulling spices, but I was excited from reading the description – orange rind, cloves, cinnamon, and other delightful spices. Kirios told me that we would warm up wine with it and drink it this winter – what a wonderful treat!

I left the kitchen and went back to the futon. I asked Kirios about his day and we talked about what we were going to do for dinner, etc. After a few more minutes, he asked me if I had opened the refrigerator since coming home, and said he strongly suggested I look in my little cheese drawer. In addition to the package of cheese curds and sun-dried tomato basil cheddar we brought back from Wisconsin, my drawer was filled to the brim with new purchases! Kirios had definitely gone on a Trader Joe’s shopping spree. There were packages of fontina, comte, creamy toscano with espresso, a spanish cheese tapas sampler with iberico, cabra al vino, and manchego, and wild blueberry vanilla chevre. A combination of cheeses that I feel comfortable eating, and those to push my palette. I’m particularly concerned about the goat cheese. I eat goat cheese when it’s a small component of a salad or a pizza without any problem, but I haven’t been a fan of softer cheeses in general, and it looks so weird and purple in the package! I do know why Kirios chose that particular goat cheese to try though – blueberries are my absolute favorite fruit and he’s already surprised me with them before. Anyways, I’ll be sure to report back on how it goes when I try them!

I apologize for writing an entire post about presents from my boyfriend, although I’ve already confessed that we’re that mushy-gushy couple. But his thoughtful surprises made me happy and left me wanting to gush. That, paired with leftovers from our duck dinner, and a weekly family skype date with my parents in Pittsburgh and brother and sister-in-law in Seattle, made for a great start to my week!