This year, while going through the Valentine candy aisles, I spotted something that totally made my day: a large bag of ALL-GREEN peanut M&Ms! The package said, “Green is the new color of love.” Peanut M&Ms are yumsilicious, and do I even have to reiterate that green is my favorite color??

Anyway. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Many of you know I’m not a huge fan of this holiday, probably from all the hype and the pressure that surrounds this day. It’s a formal occasion that opens up the chance for people to feel bad about themselves–and I’m not just talking about single people. If your boyfriend or husband didn’t say it with diamonds (or a large-enough one), you might feel a little bummed when your co-worker shows you her V-day bling.

Or if you guys only went out for McD’s (nothing wrong with that), while someone else got a crab dinner (an idea on which I’m trying to sell Matt because the blood drive is coming up, and we need to stock up on iron-rich foods!), that’s gotta be a little disheartening. And if you’re single, just carry around a barf bag all day.

You might think that my bitterness toward V-day stems from a bad experience, but I honestly don’t think that’s the case. (Halloween is a different story, but it surprisingly is one of my most enjoyable holidays!) If it is, I really can’t remember. I can only recall a couple of V-days:

1). In high school, I made some V-day crafts for a few friends…I cut out different sized and colored hearts and strung them on a piece of string. I then went around to my friends’ houses and stuck the hearts on the door of their house. One friend (not surprisingly a guy) told me that as much as I try to make V-day about showing love and appreciation to my friends, the day really is about romantic love (in other words, don’t try to make yourself feel better if you’re single by doing stuff for your friends)

2). I went out to dinner (I think it was pizza) in Old Sac with Kristie, Joni, and Trish. On the way home, Kristie was driving and said her eyes were tired. “I’m going to close my eyes, so tell me if there’s anything in front of me.” Of course I shrieked and told her that the freeway wasn’t the best place to close your eyes, ESPECIALLY if you were driving.

3). When Matt and I first started dating and still lived in different cities, I attended a missions conference V-day weekend, and he drove up and surprised me. He brought me chocolates that his mom and sis had made and told him to bring to me. Since we were still doing the long-d thing, it was a little weird to be hanging out in person

4). A few years ago, Matt and Dave Lew owed Nadia and me a homecooked meal (after losing to us at a boardgame), and after months and months of not getting our meal, we told them that if they didn’t cook for us by Valentine’s Day, they would owe us TWO meals. That V-day, after work, while I was at the gym, the guys were back at our apartment cooking. I came back all sweaty to find them busily cooking away. To get Nadia to come over, Matt called her to come get something that Dave needed. She was busy at her house cooking up a bunch of red-colored dishes, only to come over and find that her food would have to eaten another night. The food the guys cooked was…well, quite interesting. The effort was definitely there but they learned that night that you cannot substitute baking soda for baking powder.

5). Last year, we watched “Blood Diamonds” and got boba. (I probably only remember that last year because it was so recent.

So now that V-day is here, part of me is like, “Cool, a holiday for love!” But another part of me is like, “Gag me with a spoon–a holiday where people spend oodles of money on each other and act lovey-dovey!”

However you’re spending your day, have a good one! Here’s a Valentines Day “gift,” from our hearts to yours…