Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

Romance on Valentine’s Day – One Day in December

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412UfeEvhlL   Love at first sight? Only one true love? Josie Silver’s One Day in December combines the what if scenarios of Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie Sideways with a big dose of John Cusack’s search for his one true love in Serendipity. As one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks and a Book of the Month, the story carries a little more weight than the typical romance novel, while staying true to form. If you are looking for love this Valentine’s Day, this story will satisfy,  and if you have nowhere to go, or noone to be with, you could do no worse than to pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in to read it in one sitting.

When twenty-two year old Laurie spies a handsome guy reading a book at a bus stop, she is smitten.  He sees her looking at him from the bus and vainly tries to board, but the bus pulls away.  Anchored by ten years of Christmas celebrations, One Day in December is a charming story for the hopeless romantic who likes happy endings.   

shopping  For more easy distraction and romance, I am currently listening to Sophie Kinsella’s I Owe You One.  The posh English accent of the reader and the funny shenanigans of the heroine are putting me in a good mood.

If you are a fast reader, and need more to fill your day, these have potential (I haven’t read them yet – have you?)

The Winters by Lisa Gabriel is an updated version of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca

Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy explores Marilla’s young life before Anne came to live at Green Gables.

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We Go Together – Happy Valentine’s Day

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

9780547721293_p0_v1_s260x420Calef Brown’s We Go Together  offers a different twist for Valentine rhymes.  In a small illustrated book of 18 poems, this “A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse” includes a plan for starting a band in the eight lines of “Totally.”   Other pals include “Mirth Makers,”  “Two Scallywags,” “Two Kiwis,” and more – all accompanied by illustrations of snowmen, roller skating dogs, friendly creatures from outer space (with antennae) or lots of people laughing.  Some are silly, but all have the flavor of happy camaraderie.

My favorites:

Backup

If someone makes a crack
or puts me down,
you back me up
and stick around.
Always there
when I get in a tangle.
I lean on you
at a steep angle – 
I’m so inclined.
A better friend
I’ll never find.
 

Because of You

I was once
a half-emptyer.
Now I’m a half-fuller.
Because of you – 
the together-puller.
So if I should smile
And say something sunny,
Don’t look at me funny
or act surprised.
Because of you ,
I’m optimized.

Other Valentine Ideas:v8blnk

and happy birthday!

and happy birthday!

 

I Think I’ll Eat a A Cupcake

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Looking at the pictures in Miette: Recipes from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop is almost as good as eating the beautiful confections  – almost.  I first read about the bakery in one of the New York Times “36 hours” travel columns, but I haven’t been there yet – just drooling over the pictures and the recipes.  The book is my valentine to myself.

Have you been there?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Related Posts:

A Sex in the City Primer for Making Your Own Valentine Card

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Love Letters of Great Men is really a book, first published in 1924 – but not many had heard about it before Carrie Bradshaw read it in bed to Mr. Big in Sex and the City.

You can pick from Napoleon’s letter to his Josephine or Beethoven writing to his Immortal Beloved –

“…never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved, ever thine, ever mine, ever ours…”

Of course, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 is timeless.

“How do I love thee; let me count the ways…”

or John Updike…”We are most alive when we’re in love…”

Too much schmaltz for you?   How about Lisa McCourt’s  I Love You Stinky Face?

I found a site for free printable Valentine cards –

just add the words…