a love letter to valentines day

Musings about a controversial holiday and promises for next year

I think Valentine’s Day might be one of my favorite holidays. And not even because of any plans I’ve ever made with my long term partner. No, it wasn’t until Valentine’s Day evolved into having Galentine’s Day the day before that I fell in love with the holiday. This addition completely redefined the holiday in my mind. It went from being a day to feel bad about being single or get cheap chocolate from your partner to a day to celebrate all the love in your life.

While having a loving partner is a comfort, there’s something much more magical about having loving, supportive girl friends. The power of a friend who you can vent to and depend on and gossip over drinks with cannot be overstated. Even if you only have one such person in your life, I think it’s important to have a day where you celebrate that connection. A day to revel in all of the most girlie things and celebrate everything magical about being a girl. Because believe me, there’s a lot of bad parts of being a woman in this patriarchal society. So if we can just have one day where we get to be frilly and girlie and drink fruity drinks and gossip without judgement then I consider that a win in my book. I’d scheduled a Galentine’s Day every month if I could.

On a purely design aesthetic basis, I love everything about Valentine’s Day. There’s something so amazing about all of the pops of pink and red that appear every January in the middle of the coldest and darkest parts of the year. They add a splash of color to a season that’s otherwise super dreary and dark and I think that’s incredibly special. Plus one thing you’ll notice pretty quickly about me and my artwork is the ever present pink tones in everything I create. My artwork is for the girlies and I don’t shy away from adding some pink into every color palette I make. So that means that a holiday entirely based around a pink color palette is RIGHT up my alley.

As this Valentine’s Day obsession of mine grows, I feel more and more inclined to celebrate it in a impactful way. I want to host my friends and eat yummy food and craft and just enjoy our time together. Or I want to write love notes to all of the women who have made a lasting impact on my life, no matter how long it’s been since we’ve spoken. Or I want to make handmade valentines to give out to all of the people I love to remind them of this connection. I have so many ideas, it’s hard to give any one idea my full attention and make it happen. But mark my words, I WILL be doing something special for the holiday next year. Love is something that deserves to be celebrated.

If Valentine's Day is just another day in the calendar of your life, I challenge you to think about what love means to you and how you can celebrate it. Maybe all you do is put on a little pink and get yourself a sweet treat (self-love is important too!). But I bet you’ll start to look forward to February 14th just like I do each and every year.

Wishing you all of the love in your life and I cannot wait until next year so I can add some more love into the world with my art and ideas. Already brainstorming all of the things!

Lots of love,

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