Don't You Just Love Love?!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of the couples and singles out there! I've always liked Valentine's Day and I'm suspicious of anyone who doesn't. Valentine's Day is a day for celebrating love and in the words of my favorite mermaid, "don't you just love love?!"

The only thing I dislike about Valentine's Day is how marketed it has become. It seems like the day after Christmas aisles in stores are filled with boxes of chocolate that could double as a coffin for your sugar-induced death and teddy bears so large you need a tractor trailer to transport it to the (un)lucky recipient. Why can't Valentine's Day exist without unnecessary gifts?

I like to think of myself as a realist but deep down I'm a total hopeless romantic. I love watching proposal and wedding videos on YouTube for hours (although there is usually a correlation between Aunt Flo's visit and the amount of tear-inducing videos watched), receiving love notes, and Pinteresting thousands of wedding dresses even though I can only choose one. What can I say? I love a good love story. On a side note, I found the cuh-yoo-test wedding video on all of YouTube and if you can make it through the entire thing without shedding one tear, congrats, you don't have a heart.

Here's the thing: you celebrate Valentine's Day and not go over the top! Maybe it's because Christmas, Jesse's birthday, my birthday, our anniversary, and Valentine's Day fall within a month and two weeks of each other but we don't really celebrate Valentine's Day! I love making cute cards to give to family and friends but I don't think Valentine's Day is the only day you should acknowledge your love for those people.

I love my family, friends, and Jesse 365 days of the year. It's lovely to have a day to celebrate that love but at the end of the day, I always tell those closest to me how much I love them. Jesse and I, for example, never go to sleep without saying 'I love you' (part of that is this superstition that I have of either one of us dying in our sleep and therefore never getting to say 'I love you' for the last time).

Today, whether you're single or in a relationship, looking for a &$#! buddy or doing the long distance thing, tell someone you love them! Don't go spend all of your money on roses (so cliché), jewelry, chocolates, or whatever other material objects that represent love out there! The best gift of all - love - is free!