Lauren Alaina has been with her boyfriend, Alex Hopkins, for more than five years, allowing time for plenty of romantic moments and memorable holidays. Still, the “Doin’ Fine” singer says for her, their first Valentine’s Day will always stand out the most.
“I was trying to be super cute and cook him a Valentine’s Day dinner,” recalls Alaina. “I was 18 at the time, and I’d just moved into this brand new apartment in Chattanooga. I was trying to get used to not living with my parents before I moved to Nashville, so I did like six months in Chattanooga in an apartment. And, my mom makes these really great mashed potatoes, which I’ve modified the recipe, but they’re delicious and I wanted to make him these potatoes, because I knew I could make these potatoes. Well, I did not grow up with a very updated kitchen, so I didn’t have a [garbage] disposal, it was very new to me. So, I peeled the bag of potatoes and put the potato peels in to the sink and tried to use the disposal and it broke it before he got there.”
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Although she can now laugh at the memory, the night only went downhill from there.
“I turned the water on, and I was baking chicken and I was cooking broccoli and mashed potatoes, and just turned the water on and then I forgot I had the water on, so I overflowed the kitchen sink with the potato peels, and it looked like something died in my sink and my sink was spitting it up. It was horrible. I was panicking and trying to get it all cleaned up before he got there, and he knocked in the middle of it – knocked on the door. He was early, of course. He’s always early, and he freaking knocked. I had potato peels flying through the air, my potatoes were boiling over. I was still boiling the potatoes. I was running behind and he was running early, so it was just crazy. But, we’ve had some great Valentine’s.”
The 23-year-old will hit the road this weekend, to serve as the opening act on Cole Swindell’s Reason to Drink Tour, along with fellow opener (and upcoming Grand Ole Opry member) Chris Janson. Dates can be found on Alaina’s website.
Photo Credit: Instagram/LaurenAlaina
