The Haute Note: a snowy day and A Valentines Surprise

Wait, it SNOWS in Arizona?!?

This was an honest question I received from a midwest friend last week after telling her that we went on a snowy hike in the mountains a few weekends back.

Until we moved to Phoenix it was honestly something I had never considered either.

But lo and behold, if you travel about an hour north of us on winter day there is a good chance you will be captivated by powdery white snow capped mountains. Two weekends ago we were visiting friends for the weekend in Prescott, AZ. A small town that sits a mile high up into the mountains.

The roads were clear but the hiking trails were a winter wonderland, and my midwest born kiddos were in snow HEAVEN!!

For an hour at least…

By the end they were all wet socked and shivering and begging to go back to the desert sun.

They are warm blooded Phoenicians now….

After our hike we ventured to downtown Prescott for some lunch, window shopping and hot cocoa. I found myself mesmerized by the cutest little boutique shop with the most beautiful hand beaded denim jacket in the window.

I waltzed in, fell in love with the jacket and then looked at the price…. $325. YIKES!! It was LITERALLY a piece of art.

While I’m a firm believer of having a few good “statement” pieces in my closet, I wasn’t prepared to have a conversation with my husband during his busiest time of the year about buying a silly jacket — that was totally my style and I was absolutely in love with.

But I digress.

I settled for sending him a text with the above photo and a drool emoji. When he texted back asking the price I responded… “Something I need to save for.”

A Valentines Surprise

Valentines Day has always been a ho-hum day for our family. Tommy is always working, kids are usually at school and sports, so besides a stick balloon for the kids and heart shaped pancakes, it has always been a passerby holiday for us.

This past weekend Tommy flew home to visit. We had a busy couple of days with kids sports, family time and Tommy doing tax returns remotely.

I had asked him to get as much work done as he could on Friday and Saturday evenings because I had a surprise for him on Sunday.

Since this was the first full weekend we have EVER had together during tax season, and also Valentines week I decided to go out on a limb and book a couples massage at a local day spa.

On Saturday evening we were all kind of doing our own thing. The kids were watching a movie, I was reading a book and Tommy was working.

At one point in the evening Tommy walked into the room I was in with a big ‘ole suspicious smile on his face. He had a package in his hands and made a comment about how we both ended up planning a surprise for the weekend.

I opened the bag and inside was THE JACKET. The beautiful, hand-beaded denim jacket that I had found the weekend before.

He had arranged for our friends to pick it up and ship it so he could surprise ME for Valentines Day.

I had tears in my eyes at the sheer thoughtfulness, but also because we both decided on a whim to make a deal out of something we had never done before. It was very VERY special.

Later, when I asked him what made him pull the plug and decide to do this his response was:

I have never seen something more “YOU,” and I knew you needed to have it.

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In the spirit of Valentine’s week, I would LOVE to hear your best Valentine’s day story. Leave a comment below so we can all gush together!