Funny Story. I Was In Such A Hurry At The Grocery Store The Other Day That When I Walked Through The Dangling Strings Attached To All The Valentine Balloons, One Of Them Stuck To My Lip Gloss And I Almost Made It To The Magazine Section Before I Realized I Was Dragging A Giant Inflatable Heart From My Mouth.

Every year I think I'll plan ahead and get my Valentine goodies purchased way in advance.  And, like clockwork, I find myself every February 13th lined up elbow to elbow with the rest of the bad planners in front of the card racks at the grocery store.  I don't know why this always happens.  They certainly give us plenty of time to get what we need since the stores are stocked with Valentine supplies shortly after all the Christmas goods are pushed into a corner and marked as 'Clearance.'  We have almost two months to pull it together and I never do.

Yesterday, I was there (of course) picking through what was left in the card section.  I felt like one of those birds that waits for the predator to finish eating their kill then sweeps in to gobble up the scraps left behind.  We were a pathetic bunch.  There were empty sections in the card rack where all the good cards must have been so the 1,500 of us gathered there were battling over what were clearly lesser options.  You get desperate after a while because so many of the messages are freakishly dramatic or x-rated.  I got excited when I found one that I kind of liked then realized it was apparently intended for the family pet.

I did manage to find something that worked, it wasn't easy and I still presented it with an apology and my usual, "What's with the cards lately?" comment.  Next year I'm going to plan ahead and see what kind of Valentine selection is available in January.  That or I'll just cut out a construction paper heart and write 'I love you' on it.  Proving that, along with naps and snack time, preschool was pretty much chock full of good ideas.

I'm wearing this:

Last year I dressed in pink for the special day and felt like a 3rd grader.  This year, I'm going neutral (but sparkly) with a bit of Valentine color in my earrings.  I feel so mature.

gratitude:  my Valentine loves,  Geoff, Eliza and JD, gray t-shirts, hearts, sunny skies

thanks and love.