Valentine’s Day started with a gigantic handmade card, chocolates, pretty pink tulips, and a scavenger hunt to my car that had been loaded the night before with Sirius XM (thanks babe!). How it ended was not what I was expecting.
I’m the first person to say “treat yo’self” and take advantage of a holiday that means you can dress nicely, put on your favorite heels, and enjoy a nice expensive meal out with your favorite guy. Sure, you can go out any night, and express your love for each other every day – but throwing the words “Valentine’s Day” in front of the term “date night” just gives it a different feel, even for Ben and I.
Since last Friday, we had a dinner reservation for Valentine’s Day at Del Frisco’s Grille – a steak restaurant in Tampa. Because we made the reservation so late, the only time slot that we could book for dinner was at 9:30 at night.
Now ask me where we ended up for dinner last night. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t in Tampa.
It was the grand opening of a PDQ that was 5 minutes away from our condo.
You may be wondering why I’m not typing a ranting post about how disappointed I am. How I seem so okay with the fact that we ended up with chicken tenders and dipping sauces instead of perfectly cooked steaks and expensive wine. I’ll tell you:
- The later it got, the less appealing the hour drive to the restaurant became. Even though Ben and I’s dinner reservation was at 9:30pm, it’s safe to assume we probably wouldn’t have eaten until closer to 10:15pm. With a finish closer to 11:30pm (or later), we still would have had to make that drive back home. No thank you.
- Ben and I have never even been to Del Frisco’s Grille, so we don’t know what we missed out on. It was a last minute decision to get a reservation there anyway.
- We saved at least $150, if not more, by not going to Del Frisco’s.
- Our $12 bottle of wine from Publix tasted just as good as the drinks we probably would’ve ordered at $12/glass. Another money saver, and I have wine leftover for tonight.
- We were able to watch the premiere of #TheWalkingDead. It was so worth the omgs, no ways, and the what is literally happening right nows.
- Del Frisco’s Grille will always be there to try at a normal dinner time on any given date night without the rush of the Valentine’s Day-ers.
- And most importantly, it hit me that it doesn’t matter where you go for Valentine’s Day. You can go to a fancy steakhouse, or you can go to a local PDQ. You can end the night with overpriced dessert and a long drive home, or you can end it makeup-less, in pjs, sipping $12 wine with the the one you love, while watching zombs on tv.
I promise you’ll be just as happy either way.
