V-Day

I know my thoughts on this topic are pretty controversial, but I couldn’t help but want to share when tonight at Wal-Mart I was greeted by this:

and this:

and this:

Yup, it’s that time of year again.  Time for Valentine’s Day.

And while women all over the country (and world) decide this is a time to stock up on wine and tissues, I happen to LOVE Valentine’s Day.  Single or not, this holiday has to be one of my favorites.

In fact, I rate it a solid 9.

Here’s why:

• My parents did a great job celebrating the holiday with us growing up, meaning I never waited around for the right guy to buy me chocolates or some flowers.  I knew every year I could count on roses from my Dad at home, and an awesome scavenger hunt from my mom.  It always started with our Valentine’s Card, which every year had a post-it inside that contained a clever poem leading us to the next clue.  If I happened to be dating someone and he did something nice, great.  If not, who cared?

• That being said, the holiday is definitely not about the gifts, no matter how much Wal-Mart and Hallmark will try to convince you it is.  The holiday is about showing people you love that you love them.  Not necessarily ‘I’m madly in love with you’ kind of love, but ‘You’re amazing and I’m so thankful you’re part of my life’ love.  And how many holidays do we have that encourage us to share that with everyone in our lives?  And what could be so awful about a holiday celebrating love?

-1 because of how many people do get sad about it.  I personally hate listening to the complaining for the two weeks before it, and hate seeing so many people sad about what should be a happy holiday.

The moral of the story is, I challenge everyone to reclaim Valentine’s Day and celebrate it for what it really is.  A chance to spend quality time with the people you care about, and show them how much you care.  Whether you do that best with flowers, a giant oversized Teddy bear, a homemade card, or just a hug.  Do it.  And why not start now?  Cause according to Walmart, it’s Valentine’s Season!

Until February 14, just living for the tens

Holiday Highlights

Christmas is over, the tree is down, the mustaches off, and it’s back to the real world.  Before heading back to school, here are a couple highlights.

SNOW DAY ROULETTE: 10

What I never knew as a student was that no matter how excited I was about the potential of a snow day (or an actual snow day), my teachers were TEN TIMES MORE EXCITED. Now I know this is a fact.

So Wednesday night I had a decision to make: already in the triangle for a basketball game, I could drive back to Gaston, or hope that we’d actually get snow and I could enjoy the day off.  While snow day roulette doesn’t always pan out, this time it did big time.  Forgetting for a second about the backlash I’m dealing with when it comes to my class due to the days off, this decision was definitely a 10.  Sadly no pictures to prove of the good times, but I promise they were real

Following the snow, my parents arrived from Pennsylvania for my grad school graduation.

GRADUATION PICTURES: 9

Many will know that the sole reason I wanted to attend my grad school graduation was to replace my horrible undergrad graduation pictures.  Due to a senior year full of partying and working at a (delicious) restaurant, I was about 15 pounds heavier than I am now.  The pictures show this, and while at the time I didn’t realize, an ex-boyfriend kindly called them my ‘fat pictures’ at one point.  I have yet to recover from this, so was determined to replace them.  Now that I have extra pictures of me in a graduation gown, I will promptly delete any memory of the old ones.

Sadly I had my cap on crooked for much of the ceremony, so I’m gonna have to take a point off.  Other than that, flawless

From there we headed north to visit the family in NH/New England.

SCENERY: 10

It’s nice to spend Christmas in a cute cabin surrounded by mountains and snow.  In fact, I can’t think of a better place to spend Christmas…

Yes, the picture is real.  My cousin took it on Christmas day on the slopes of Sugarloaf.  I love it.

CHRISTMAS DAY HIKE: 8

Thanks to an active family, it wouldn’t be a holiday without being outside.  So off my sister and I went with my aunt and grandpa to hike on a nearby path.  It was surprisingly warm (or not… maybe we just dressed well), and it was AWESOME to be outside enjoying the snow.  Plus it gave Cheryl and I plenty of opportunities to ham it up for the camera…

I must admit, however, that I always love hikes more when they lead to a peak, so the lack of uphill climbing and beautiful 360 at the top forces me to take off 2 points.

From there we headed down to NH to visit the other grandparents.

NEW HAMPSHIRE BLIZZARD: 8

Snow at Christmas is ALWAYS a good thing.  It’s a rule.  So clearly I was thrilled to see the snow the day after.  Only sad part was that it left us stranded inside with little to do.  Luckily I had a good book to keep me company    Stay tuned for a rating…

Plus, it’s HILARIOUS to watch Murphy play around in the snow with a cone on his head.  It’s like his own little bulldozer.

Next stop was PA for a day, and then off to DC for New Year’s!

GIRLS WITH MUSTACHES: 5

Probably not the most attractive accessory a girl can wear, but when it comes to theme parties I’m all in.  So there was no way I was going to a Mustache Fiesta to celebrate 2011, and not sport my own.  We started with home made versions, after looking at many stores with no luck.

Luckily Lupe Cantina provided us with an improved version once arriving…

After a couple fun nights in DC, visiting old friends along with new friends and staching it up, it was back to good old North Carolina

Phew.  That’s all friends.

Until next time, just living for the tens!

A Little J-Factor…

It’s Secret Santa week!!!

I will never forget my first year of teaching, and how this week alone prevented me from wanting to die.  There’s something wonderful about little gifts to brighten your day, and to remind you that there are other adults in the building.

Yesterday was a great start with some dog treats for the pups, and even better a surprise 20 oz. Diet Mt. Dew at the end of the day.  You seriously, SERIOUSLY can’t beat that when you’re exhausted, and there it was with my name on it

SECRET SANTA WEEK: 8

Overall I give the week an 8, as I clearly love it a lot.  However, if you want to participate you have to prepare things for your own person.  Which I do love, but the time can be worth -1.  Secret Santa week also has the potential to be disappointing if your person doesn’t care about it as much as you do.  Luckily this year I have no problem with that, but it’s always a risk, hence the second point off.

PLUS, today was Mr. Murcko’s birthday, which meant birthday cupcakes from Kara!  While normally this is not a big deal for me since I can’t eat cupcakes, today she brought some in covered with my favorite sprinkles.  Considering that her frosting tends to be vegan, I decided to just go ahead and eat the frosting off.  I rarely, RARELY crave sweet foods anymore, but when I saw these covered with sprinkles I could not resist.

And god were they good.  Absolute, definite 10 for the frosting with sprinkles