Happy Valentine's Day weekend everyone. Yes, the infamous holiday is tomorrow, Monday, but most people, including myself, celebrated this weekend.
And, if you're like me, you did it on a budget. So, here's what my boyfriend and I did to make the weekend super special, and resonably inexpensive. Friday we went to the gym together – a great way to motivate and support one another, and to get the endorphines going for the weekend! While I had a meeting on Saturday, Saturday night we exchanged gifts: he took me to a chocolate shop down the street called Indulge. (HIGHLY recommended. A small selection, but wonderfully crafter, free WiFi if you'd like, and excellent soy mochas). Chocolate strawberries, dark chocolate peanut clusters, and chocolate covered Oreos filled my half-pound box and we left, drinks and chocolate in hand, hand in hand.
I gave him his card when we got home, and he made me one himself. Cards are cards, and they get thrown away eventually, so if you find that perfect card, that says just the right then, then great. Get it. It will mean alot. If you don't, however, don't fret about the $4.00 you're not spending. A handmade card with cute, homemade, sentimental touches means just as much. The words are yours, the thoughts are intimately your own, and the price is perfect.
I also made him dinner. He wanted some nice steaks so I bought Sirloin Tip Steaks from Whole Foods (on sale for $6.99/pound), and made a homemade "steak dinner" for two. It included baked potatoes, and steaks topped with parmesean cheese, fresh garlic and oregano, and a thin layer of spicy cheese. Baked for 20 minutes, the homemade dinner was intimate, quiet, perfectly priced and "the best steaks he'd had in years". (pat pat, yay amateur chef!)
There was a lot of "us" time, laughs, and great conversation. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be expensive, but it has to be thoughtful if it's going to mean something. You don't need to buy the sexiest and most expensive lingerie...you don't even need to buy anything. Wear his favorite, or something you feel hot in. Make him a dish you know he loves and doens't have often, surprise her with her favorite movie, chocolates, flowers, or even breakfast in bed. The little gestures mean the most, added up and thought out over the course of the weekend. Plus, that means bonus points for the late night, early morning, or mid-day rendezvous. Definitely don't skimp there, a study in a women's magazine showed women who have an active sex life for 3 or more days a week are less stressed, look younger, have better brain power, are overall more healthy, and, of course, just feel great. Men, I know the same would go for you.
So, if you haven't Valentine's Day'd yet, be sure to not let it pass unchecked tomorrow! And maybe both you and your wallet will even be happy too.
Happy Three Kings Day!! Or, as they say in Spanish, "Feliz día de los reyes magos". :-)
Yes, that's right, today, January 6, is the official day in which Christians celebrate "Epiphany," or the arrival of the Kings to the manger of baby Jesus (who, apparently was technically born today as well, fyi). In olden days, before Santa made his debut and Christmas was moved to December 25th to fall in line with pagan holidays so that conversion to Christianity was easier, January 6th was the day for "Christmas" celebration. Traditions vary greatly across hispanic cultures, but some include leaving piles of hay for the camels, receiving little trinket gifts or boxes of coal (hopefully you were good all last year!), or receiving all of your gifts on that day. In fact, New York City has a Three Kings parade in East Harlem, which can be found on youtube if you so wish to check.
So, if you want another day of presents, are looking for a new tradition, or wanted to know when the official "12 days of Christmas" ended...it's today! Enjoy!
Merry Christmas season! If you haven't already gotten your 'Holiday' on, might I suggest a few movies to help you get in the mood? Here are some of my all-time favorite holiday movies. The best part about movies is that you don't have to wait in long lines or fight crowds to watch them, you don't have to wrap them or hide them from the kids until Christmas morning, and they're great at lifting your spirit, getting you in the holiday mood, and/or transporting you back to the "days of yore" as your remember past times when you also watched these same movies.
Some recommendations:
Garfield's Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas (I will happily admit I love when the "schroeder" piano song plays on the radio)
A Christmas Story
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (personally, I prefer the cartoon version)
Elf** (one of my all-time favorites!)
White Christmas** (Another fav, and I love that it is still timeless and can connect with people today)
Love Actually ** (another all-time favorite, although I admittedly hated it the first time I watched it)
There are also the claymation movies and A Christmas Carol, regular, muppet, or theatrical versions. I might even recommend some hot chocolate with a candy-cane stirrer. Yum! Happy Holidays!
It's Christmas time! Aside from the snow, this is my favorite time of year. I officially started turning on the Lite FM Christmas station over Thanksgiving break, when the weather turned cold enough to suggest snow and I was on vacation, which I decided was a signal for me to transition passed Thanksgiving and into Christmas.
I noticed something this year though. I have responsibilities. (Don't cry for me. Don't pity me. And if you've said "well duh," know that that's what I say to myself all the time!) However, it was the first year that the reality of my life hit me. The day after Thanksgiving 95% of all my Christmas shopping was done, my Christmas cards had been signed and sent, and I do not own Christmas decorations, as it is not my place to decorate. I suddenly was happy to have all my Christmas "responsibilities" out of the way, and that knowledge made me take a step back. I was excited to be done. The idea of having no other holiday obligations until Christmas itself actually made me happy, and that threw me for a bit of a reality check. It is not that the joy of the season is gone, but the whimsy, the idealism, and the ease has changed.
Now, I have responsibilities. I have a job to go back to on Monday, I have bills to pay every month, I have car payments, insurance payments, and credit card payments to make, gas and groceries to buy, and a savings account to maintain so that I can accomplish things in the future. I have family parties to schedule, doctors appointments to schedule, work emails to address, errands to run, and food to make daily. No more are the days of having Mom and Dad drive you to the next family party or prepare your meals for you, you have no more completely empty weekends to fill with sleepovers and movie marathons on the couch, and the general fantasy of the season has changed from a naïve whimsy to an enjoyed quick vacation.
It was then, wrapping the last present for family and helping my boyfriend set up his own Christmas tree that I remembered with longing and fondness of the Christmases of my childhood. I used to spend an entire weekend with my Aunt, making gingerbread houses and watching the claymation holiday movies. I spent a Saturday with my mom making hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies, watching White Christmas while they baked, and finished the night with a full family marathon of The Santa Clause, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Garfield's Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. We used to put up decorations one weekend and spread out shopping and wrapping over the remainder of the weekends, listening to Christmas music while we worked, reveling in the holiday and the joy. There were snowmen to build and Christmas cards to open, and there was always someone else to make sure you had the work done or got where you needed to go. It wasn't a holi-DAY but a holi-month.
It is times like that that I miss, and times like now that make me appreciate how truly amazing the Christmases of my childhood were. They were magical and memorable, never to be truly replicated but always to be admirably remembered. So, I hope that you are finding your holidays enjoyable, and if you have kids or little nephews and nieces, remember that these are the Christmases they will look back on someday and wish that they, too, could replicate.
Happy Fall everyone!! Seriously, fall is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it: the weather, the changing leaves and vibrant colors, the smells, the food, the fact that it makes you want to snuggle up next to someone with a cup of hot cocoa or apple cider. Mmm. Perfect. Plus, it means Christmas is just around the corner, and I love Christmas!
I re-affirmed today some of the reasons why I absolutely love this season. October is my favorite, not because I love Halloween (in fact, I'm so beyond a huge scaredy-cat that I really don't much care for the holiday or anything scary for that matter), but because fall is in its prime. I walked the dog two mile, reveling in his desire to jump into piles of leaves, chase leaves blowing across the ground, and just exist in the same open space as the crisp, cool breeze. Later, at the store, I found myself totally excited. Yes, I get excited about grocery shopping in the fall. I'm a dork. I admit it. And I'm totally okay with it. I love it. I can't help it. And Whole Foods does a wonderful job of increasing my love for fall food. Pumpkin pies were on sale, honeycrisp apples (my fav) were on sale, all of my favorite squashes and sweet potatoes are available, which I couldn't wait to get home and make and drizzle with butter and brown sugar. Then there was pumpkin and walnut bread with apple butter for morning pick-me-ups, and I even bough cranberries to put in my wild rice dinner and a jug of apple cider and cinnamon sticks with which to make hot apple cider on days like today - just cool enough to make you want to wrap yourself up in a blanket in front of the tv and drink something warm and soothing.
October is finally here, and life is officially revolving around everything fall. Find your favorite treat and indulge. I know I will!
There was a lot of "us" time, laughs, and great conversation. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be expensive, but it has to be thoughtful if it's going to mean something. You don't need to buy the sexiest and most expensive lingerie...you don't even need to buy anything. Wear his favorite, or something you feel hot in. Make him a dish you know he loves and doens't have often, surprise her with her favorite movie, chocolates, flowers, or even breakfast in bed. The little gestures mean the most, added up and thought out over the course of the weekend. Plus, that means bonus points for the late night, early morning, or mid-day rendezvous. Definitely don't skimp there, a study in a women's magazine showed women who have an active sex life for 3 or more days a week are less stressed, look younger, have better brain power, are overall more healthy, and, of course, just feel great. Men, I know the same would go for you.
