Now that February is here, thoughts will turn to that special, romantic day.
Valentine’s Day…images of a handsome, sexy man bringing us a gorgeous bouquet of red roses and a box of decadent chocolates comes to mind. A romantic dinner that we planned and whipped up (we got off work early to do this). Champagne. Mind-blowing sex. It is our heart’s desire for this to happen on that magical night…Valentine’s Day.
Usually, the reality is that we’re frantically getting ready for work and we burn our breakfast. The boss is in a cranky mood (probably because she burned her breakfast too). The internet breaks down for no apparent reason (those last four words are redundant, right?), and dinner is a bowl of cereal that we pour for ourselves while watching the Hallmark channel. If you have kids, February 13th is the day we all crowd into Target to sift through the dregs of the boxes of cheesy Valentine’s Day cards, scrambling to find the list of class names (the one that were passed out at the beginning of the school year with the fifty other documents that needed to be signed, right?!) and helping our kids to write the names of each child on the cheesy Valentine’s Day cards – sighing with exasperation when they get through five names and give up. (Sometimes, it’s easier to just write the names ourselves so that we can get the task done, right?!)
When the actual day rolls around, we breathe a sigh of relief that the valentine’s Day cards are all finished…then we race to the school because one of the kids left them at home…then off to work. During the day, we listen to the single ladies complain that they don’t have anyone to celebrate this magical day with and we hear the married ladies talk about the special things they did for their spouse – a dinner that they’ve been preparing for the past three days and wondering, skeptically, if their husbands will remember to do anything – while knowing that they’ll be reminded about this special day by one of their co-workers and grab something at the grocery store on their way home from work….!
Yeah, there’s a lot of pressure for Valentine’s Day, right?
More often, our expectations fall short and we’re disappointed.
So I’m suggesting that we take control of this day! We are strong, powerful women! We’ve taken charge of our lives, so let’s take control of Valentine’s Day! Here are my suggestions to make this year’s day fun and amazing!
- Order your own flowers so that they arrive on Valentine’s Day!
- Order chocolate covered strawberries. Yum! Or a decadent box of chocolates.
- Invite friends over for Chinese food, ask them to wear their ugliest bridesmaid dress. Don’t have one? Head to the Salvation Army or Goodwill store and grab one for $5-10!
- How about an Anti-Valentine’s Day Cookie-Fest! Make “Cupid is Stupid” or “Love Sucks”
- Organize a Valentine’s Day Pot Luck with your friends. Click HERE for recipes.
- Order a pair of silky, satin pajamas, some fluffy slippers, grab the remote and binge watch Hallmark movies.
- Make a “Secret Cupid” present for your co-workers (even the mean ones), get to work a little early and put them on each person’s desk. This day might be sucky for others so the small gesture could mean a lot to someone. This might be an easy, cute idea: Candy “butterflies”
- Make a simple, easy but fun Valentine’s dinner for your family.
In other words, don’t let Valentine’s day be a miserable one. Take control! Don’t wait for someone else to make the day special – do it yourself. And enjoy!
