All I can think about right now are the 40 or so Valentine candies that I have to prepare for the kids to take to school tomorrow.  I have bought the ones that have the little cards with them so all I have to do is write each child’s name on them, but still it is a chore hanging over my head.  I have to say I hate Valentine’s Day.  Here in the U.S.  it seems that it is much more than a day for lovers, it is a day to send everyone and anyone a piece of candy, a card, or some other gift of appreciation.  MM and I have never celebrated Valentine’s Day, we see it as a horribly commercial day and another ploy by companies to get you to part with your money.  I can’t bear the idea of sitting in a restaurant trying to be romantic on a Tuesday night with every other couple in Atlanta.  Firstly, if you ask me, love should be celebrated everyday and shouldn’t require one day a year to be devoted to it.  It just perpetuates the stereotype of men running around trying to please their wives/girlfriends, and fearing that if they don’t spend a fortune on red roses they will be in ‘the dog house’ for the rest of the year.  Secondly, February 14th is a day that is dedicated to Saint Valentine by the Catholic Church – not a day for us all to go out and buy heart shaped candy.  Call me miserable by all means – but see how you feel when you are told that you must send in a gift for every child in your children’s class.

Maybe I am scarred as Valentine’s Day just brings back memories of the pressure I endured as teenager, desperately hoping I’d receive a Valentine’s card.  I used to hate getting the bus home on Valentine’s Day as there would always be a few smug girls ‘struggling’ and giggling, carrying one of the huge oversize cards, bought by some lovesick boyfriend off Bury Market.  I never got one.  I remember one year actually having a ‘boyfriend’ on Valentine’s Day.  He bought me a card and then wrote an inflated price on the back of it to suggest the more he spent the more he cared…I know you might be reading this, and won’t name names, but don’t think I didn’t figure out your cunning plan!  Anyway, my point is that there is so much pressure in the years to come regarding Valentine’s Day, why introduce it for kindergartners?  They have plenty time to be concerned with it – please let’s leave it to the amateur lovers out there that feel they need to prove something to someone…

Okay now that is off my chest let’s talk about the Grammys last night.  My absolute favorite performance was Bruno Mars – what a great show – I was grinning from ear to ear watching him move.  Sir Paul McCartney was pretty dreadful in my opinion – come on Paul you don’t even need to do this anymore surely?  Overall I think they handled Whitney’s death pretty well – I thought L.L. Cool J. hit the tone perfectly at the start of the evening as he honored her and proceeded to remind everyone they were there to celebrate.  Congratulations to Adele on taking home all six Grammys that she was nominated for.  I haven’t seen her sing yet though as I could barely keep my eyes open after Sir Paul’s snooze inducing performance.  One last rant though, why oh why is Chris Brown still getting t.v. air time?

It’s another frigid day here and knowing I’m going to be sitting in a heated office most of the day makes it more difficult to decide what to wear.  Rather than basing my choices on the temperatures, I opted to try and provide some cheer for everyone with a bit of color.  I love the Boden colourblock tunics, they are so comfortable and easy to wear and today I have paired the violet one with Boden black leggings and my favorite Frye Jane Tall boots – all topped off with my black Patagonia Downtown Loft jacket which is so warm and yet doesn’t necessarily look like I should be out climbing a rock face.  A good thing really as I won’t be going near any today.