Valentines Day

I'm a big anti-valentine's person. Not because I hate love. Or hate seeing people in love. And not necessarily because I'm bitter about being single, and not having a Valentine. Even with one, it's not my favorite holiday.
I just dislike the pressures and expectations that surround it. Sure, it's also a bit depressing to be alone on a holiday that celebrates romance and love and couples. But really, I hate the anxiety I get of trying to find a great present for my significant other.
What if I get him something and he wasn't planning on getting me anything? Awkward. Or, what if he makes these elaborate plans and I have nothing to reciprocate. Again, awkward.

And then there's the weird circumstance where you've been dating for just a few weeks so you don't know what the expectations are for Valentine's Day, and you don't want to bring it up because you're an awkward turtle and can't talk about things like that. So instead you say nothing at all and don't expect to do anything because it has been such a busy week for both of you that you don't think you have time for such frivolities.

That was the situation I was in this year. I had no expectations for the holiday and in all honesty, I was okay with that. The day before, I had woken up at 5 for dance at 6:30, danced for 2 hours, worked for 9, had a two hour break, then spent the next 8.5 hours dipping strawberries into chocolate for our ballroom fundraiser. I was up until 3:30 AM working on this, not getting into bed until 4 AM. I had three hours of sleep before I had to get up for another 8 hour day of work. I was ready to sleep until the end of the world and had no thoughts of celebrating the "lovers' holiday".

Fortunately, my valentine had other plans. And fortunately for me, it ended up being one of the better Valentine's days I've had. Simple. Succinct. Just time together, which is really all I wanted since those opportunities are few and far between these days.
He even got sneaky and ordered me my own half dozen of chocolate covered strawberries from my team (before he knew how much time I spent on them, and also helping me with my fundraising!) what a swell guy ;)

Though I'm feeling a little less bitter towards the holiday, it still won't ever be my favorite. And that's okay I think. But for this year, it was pretty perfect :)

{And I have majorly sucked at taking pictures lately. It's either of things. Or food. So Valentine's Day wasn't actually documented. At.All. Unless you want pictures of the thousands (literally) of strawberries we dipped the night before...}