♥ Love ♥

So here we are, running full bore into Valentine's Day weekend.

I swear up and down that Christmas was last week. My calendar disagrees. Where does the time go???

Anyways when I was a kid my awesome mom would always do all kinds of things for us for Valentine's Day. She let us know we were loved all year long, but on Valentine's Day there were always small gifts, chocolates, and things decorated with red hearts. She wanted us to know that we were loved. It worked! Even now, she still sends things for Valentine's Day.

(from lovemarks.com)

Turtles are one of my favorites!

Because of her, I never really associated Valentine's Day ONLY with romantic love. To me, it's a day to celebrate all love. This makes it easier when, for instance, The Good.Sport is out of town on Valentine's Day...not that I know anything about that.

But really, even when I was not romantically involved on Valentine's Day I rarely felt sorry for myself, because I was happy that there was love in the world, somewhere, and wanted to celebrate that.

(One of my all-time favorite Valentine's Days involved me, my couch, a few rented movies, a pizza, and a bottle of champagne. Bet you're shocked about the champagne part.)

So anyways, because I'm totally unoriginal and I saw The Pioneer Woman do this, I'm going to tell you a little bit about some of the things I love.

Thunderstorms

Dark chocolate

Curling up on the couch on a cold, gray, rainy day with hot cocoa, a blanket, and a book

Lou Malnati's pizza

Water!

The Good.Sport's voice

The way my dog picks up a paw when she sits as if to say, "I know what's next! You're gonna tell me to 'shake' and I'm already ready to do it!"

Polka dots

Argyle

The smell of ship engines (mmmm...diesel)

Looking down at a carpet of clouds from my window seat on an airplane

All the colors of the ocean (every shade from light turquoise to navy blue and everything in between)

Spreadsheets

Lists

Fleece pants

Soup in a bread bowl

Boston University hockey

Duke University basketball

Organization

Pictures!

The first day of school

The last day of school

Strawberries

Sushi

The smell of sunscreen

Smartwool socks

L'il Bro

The Chicago Skyline

Champagne!!

Seeing the warm cozy glow of a happy home from the street - especially if I'm headed inside!

Hearing what other people name their kids

Sharpies

Mint Milanos

Nudibranchs

Peanut Butter (creamy, please)

Funny people

The Olympics!

Rainbows

Puppy Piles

Rum Swizzles

Hawaii's obsession with Spam

The little donut things we used to buy from the kids at the bus stop in Ecuador for 10 cents a bag

People when they are in their element or talking about their passion

Crustaceans (both alive and on my plate!)

Bear hugs

Knitting something for someone I love

OK there are a lot more things I love, but maybe I'll make this an annual trend so as to spare you an insanely long post this year. There's a small window into things I love, anyway.

I know we all love our significant others and focus on that for Valentine's Day, and that's wonderful, but what other things are you celebrating your love for this year?

(It's ok if you want to say "When The Lady posts pictures instead of talking so much" - no, really. I'll understand. And I'll be back to pictures very soon.)