Valentine's Day. What's that?

I was looking at one of my favorite web sites tonight, Etsy.com, and noticed a link for Valentine's Day gifts. And I paused, then I clicked and clicked some more to find more links to other Valentine's gift compilations. Then I thought to myself "Valentine's Day... what's that?" Followed by another thought to myself, "did I really just think that?" then I realized I haven't experienced a hyped up commercialized Valentine's Day in a very long time. I mean, it has been almost a year since the last Valentine's Day and I seemed to forget in the meantime that Valentine's Day existed at all. Until tonight. When I saw the link. And I got a little sad because the clerk at the grocery store was hanging up a display of Easter egg chocolates the other day while another clerk exclaimed that they couldn't be hanging Easter stuff out yet because it's not for a couple of months. There wasn't even the slightest mention of Valentine's Day. There were no red, pink and white displays or roses or teddy bears or heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. There was nothing. It was forgotten. Or left uncelebrated because it is a trivial holiday that American cardmakers have over commercialized to capitalize on yet another relatively insignificant holiday.

But still, how could I, an American to the core, forget this most loving holiday of all holidays? Shame on me.

Now, down to business. It's 10 days into the new year and I have finally gotten back to the blog armed with photos and a strategy. I got this great idea from a friend - thanks, Gina! - to keep my blog up to date. I will take a photo of something from each day and post it to my blog with a blurb/anecdote of something that I did or learned or happened to me that day.

A few of life's little moments from the past few months that have stuck with me :

• I met a baby who's middle name was Possum
  
• My desk at work wreaked of patchouli when I got back from vacation and I still catch a whiff of it now and again
  
• The other week when I visited a house for work the owner told me her husband left in September. I thought she meant he left for work and she and her two young sons were moving to join him when she explained her husband had a mid-life crises, bought a sports car, and told her he needed his space. She had these two adorable little boys and the older one, who was four-years-old, insisted they stand in the doorway and wave to me as I drove away. What kind of person walks away from that? Argh!


• Lying in the cool grass under the shade of a Norfolk Island Pine in King's Park with my man on my birthday

Below are a series of photos that begin with some local Christmas light displays. It may have been hot, but some people still get into the spirit of the season... National Lampoon style.

The one at the right made the front page of the newspaper the week before Christmas. The display comprised a leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower and Sydney Harbour Bridge over the driveway. Donations were collected to raise funds for a local charity.

The house at the right is by the beach. It's big. These people are just rich.

Tomorrow, see what I got up to on the weekend!