"I just feel sad today," I said on Tuesday afternoon, and he replied with an uplifting "Oh, you know what we should do? Celebrate Valentine's Day early! Let's go on a little date somewhere close."

So I got off the couch and put on a dress and curled my hair, thinking about how far we had come as our new dog napped on the floor of our bedroom. And we went to dinner and sat at a high top in the bar of our favorite neighborhood restaurant and drank martinis and ate goat cheese and I looked at him in the fading sunlight, wondering how in the world I ever got so lucky.

I don't know if Rob ever imagined that anxiety and overwhelm would make its way into my life at age 22, but it did and sometimes I just feel too swamped to think straight. And on days like those, he finds a way to make things better--like coming home Tuesday after work with dinner plans, a bar of fancy chocolate, and the microwave popcorn I had been fantasizing about for days.

Maybe he didn't mean or plan to be cut out for this, but he certainly is everything I never even knew I needed.

Six years ago my husband asked me to be his valentine, and since then I have encountered new things to be grateful for every single day.

A few weeks ago, my friend Jamie and I went to brunch at a sweet little place in Plaza Midwood called Zada Jane's, where I got an awesome dish called the Booker T.S. East Side Hasher, which was sweet potato hash browns underneath a sausage and egg frittata and topped with cheddar cheese. It was so good that I decided to make it a little Paleo-er at home over the weekend.

Ingredients: 

• About a cup of chopped sweet potatoes
• Two tablespoons of ghee
• One to two cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 cup chopped green peppers
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Four eggs
• One package of your favorite breakfast sausage
• Chopped green onions for garnish

Instructions: 

1. In a large pan, cook the sausage. Once both sides are thoroughly browned, remove from heat and set aside.
2. Saute garlic, onions, and green peppers in the ghee. Cook sweet potatoes according to this recipe. Once they're finished, remove from heat and set aside with the sausage.
3. Cook the eggs--we had them scrambled but they would be really great over medium or even poached. It's up to you!
4. To serve, layer sweet potatos, eggs, and (chopped) sausage. Top with green onions and enjoy!

We stayed put for a much-needed weekend at home, this time with a puppy! Rob and I managed to get out for breakfast and then to a brewery on Sunday afternoon, but otherwise it was lots of playing and naps and figuring out what our life like looks like with a dog. Ender already seems bigger every day.

It got up to 70 degrees this weekend and it has me totally ready for spring. The warm air, damp grass, and that spring smell always brings me back to March and April of my college days, which are full of so many beautiful memories. We're visiting Longwood at the end of March and I'm looking forward to it already. But for now, I'm hoping for more warm mornings and afternoons with iced coffee in my hand and a sleepy puppy in my lap.

How was your weekend?