Monday, February 13, 2006

Valentine's Day Observation

I stopped into Rite Aid today on my way home from work today(Oh yeah, the new job is going really well by the way- totally overwhelmed, but in a good way. I think.) to get a card for J. Granted, tomorrow is Valentine's day, but really, who needs more than a day of lead/prep time to buy a card?

I was irked to see that all of the cards for men including the "Love, for him" and "For Husband" etc were pretty well picked-over. Only some cheesy ones left. Then when I did find one that was okay, I couldn't find a matching envelope for it... (It was oblong).


Interestingly enough, the cards "For My Wife" "Romantic- For her" were completely well-stocked. And looked as though they hadn't been touched.

Not entirely surprising.


So readers, what are y'all doing for Valentine's Day? And if you respond with "Nothing- its just a holiday created by the greeting card industry to make us feel that spending money on our loved ones is the only way to show how much we care!" Please, be honest- do you really feel that way, or is that the opinion that you've had to adopt in order to avoid pending disappointment?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had a fun Valentine's Weekend, and am one of those whiners who wants to know the pagan tradition behind every holiday. Learning about the history just makes the holidays so much more interesting for me! Otherwise, I get annoyed at the expensive things I'm not buying and/ or the bright colored frosting I've ingested. So...St. Valentine- anyone have some PBS trivia to share?...was he a writer of steamy poetry, creator of massage oil/ melted chocolate or what? How did he become a saint? Did he adopt small cupid- looking children?

Anonymous said...

v-day is for suckers!

n8 b said...

Nothing, it's just a holiday created by the greeting card industry to make us feel that spending money on our loved ones is the only way to show how much we care! -jk
Flowers and dinner in Portland....

Lisaopolis said...

Staying home sick today. So romantic. Where is my Valentine's Day Caretaker? All I want is flowers, is that TOO MUCH TO ASK?!

Anonymous said...

Hi Gina! Happy V-tines Day to you and all your bloggers...I got some HUGE Eiffel Tower earrings from one of my grateful 8th graders who got into her top high school...and a few little other ones from kids...notably NOT one from Grace Finkel who gives Valentines to ALL her other teachers. A snotty 6th grader with an even snottier mom who is rich and is on the board of the school....so NASTY! I am thinking of passing out candy in class tomorrow and running out JUST as I get to Grace's desk..how old AM I?? Love,Cindy

Anonymous said...

Flowers from Hawaii, a donation to my sweetie's favorite charity in her honor and a romantic dinner. Believe it or not I have not had even one second to go purchase a physical card. Although I did send her an electronic one.

Anonymous said...

I spent a wonderful Valentine's Day eating Mac & Cheese with my dog. Casey had to fly and didn't get home until 12:30am or so... he did give me a wonderful card however with some mushy writing inside. I loved it!
I did notice that the card he purchased was one I saw at Rite-Aid when I was buying one for him two days ago!
Amy

Anonymous said...

Didn't realize Gina had a blog land. WOW!!! Well, I took Kari to a five star restuarant and had a bottle of champagne. We then went and had a helicopter ride over Dallas. The helicopter landed on top of the Marriot and we went and stayed in the Penthouse. It was a lot of fun. If you believe me you are redick. We had Spaghetti and went to bed. When I said bed I mean nothing but sleep

Love,

jeff

Anonymous said...

I realized no one answered Anne's question and I was curious as well so I found this on Wikipedia website (my absolute saving graces for the 20x a day I wonder - what ARE these people talking about?). And, in all actuality, this answered your question as well Gina:

St. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and is the traditional day on which lovers let each other know about their love, commonly by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The history of Valentine's day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day, in honor of Saint Valentine. The day's associations with romantic love arrived after the High Middle Ages, during which the concept of courtly love, which had a large impact on the modern Western conception of love, was formulated.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

Anonymous said...

Alright Jennifer!

Thanks for the lead on courtly love and card exchanging!

Ever played Balderdash? I'm guessing you'd win ;)

And Cindy...yes, isn't interesting how the wee ones can GET us! :)

Anonymous said...

did u like mcdreamy when he was a nerd in "can't buy me love"