Why you shouldn't hate Valentines Day!

I love all holidays and I especially love Valentines Day. It really saddens me that Valentines Day is the most hated holiday of the year. One of the first things I always hear about Valentines Day is that it is a day to make single people feel bad. But this is not true at all. Valentines Day, while often seen as a day for married people/people in relationships, is not that. Valentines Day is a day about "significant otherS" not just a significant other. It is a day where you get to tell everyone in your life just how much you love them. I mean sure, you can do this everyday, but most people don't and so this date is a little reminder to appreciate the important people in your life. Sure you can say that it is a commercially exploited holiday, but that is only true if we let it be true! In my opinion homemade cards will always trump store-bought cards. With my limited Peace Corps resources, everything I gave to Mike for Valentines Day was homemade (aside from the carepackage of American candies.) Finally, people dislike that it puts pressure on relationships, but that is only true if you let it be true. While we were not able to exchange gifts in person on Valentines Day this year, I LOVED my presents and I hope that Mike loved his as well. In support of my original point, Valentines Day is about telling everyone important just how much you love them! Thus, this weekend I will be celebrating GALentines Day with some girlfriends from my region. For those of you who do not know, GALentines day is a wonderful way for ladies to celebrate ladies! We will be eating junkfood, watching a movie, and just having some good old-fashioned girl time. I am SUPER excited and cannot wait! Expect a GALentines day post later. Also a few weeks ago I sent home Valentines to my family (I hope they got there in time!) Anyways, sorry this post was so long. Spread the love tomorrow with some homemade cards and baked goods! Love is good for the heart. 

I'm so happy Mike understood this card, a lot of my friends did not get the reference... Do you get the reference?

I made Mike SnickerDoodle cookies (his favourite) for Valentines Day!

I also made Mike a felt fortune cookie with a special handwritten fortune, a knitted scar, some more memories for his memory jar (Christmas present), a few souvenirs from Cajamarca, a box of paper conversation hearts, a crocheted heart, and a care package of American candies!

Mike made me an even bigger better version of my Christmas present to him, a memory jar! A memory jar is a jar filled iwth slips of paper with previous funny/great moments. It is something you can constantly add to and a great gift! He also wrote me the sweetest letter, got me a beautiful handwoven scarf from the forest near him (great minds think alike!), and put together the most amazing care package of Japanese foods I was really homesick for! A FANTASTIC Valentines Day gift :)

My memory jar :) with 310 memories and counting!