How we do Valentine's Day ..

Let me let you in on a little secret: I have to be in the mood to blog, otherwise it's not happening. Let's just say, that mood has been nowhere to be found lately. Rather than me finding it therapeutic to blog, I find it therapeutic to craft. And boy, have I been crafting.

But, that's not what this post is about. Don't you worry your pretty little head. I've got plenty of that coming in subsequent posts. Crafting AND baking. Just you wait.

Let's chat about Valentine's Day for a minute. I respect all religions. I respect any celebration of any sort of holiday you want to celebrate, as long as it doesn't involve hate. And Valentine's Day? It involves love. It actually has quite an interesting history and the tradition goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. Just like Christmas, the holiday has been consumed by commercial advertisement and lost meaning to some. But, I encourage you to celebrate the holiday in YOUR own way. Throw away the negativity. Just be positive and have fun.

In this house, we celebrate Valentine's Day. My parents were married on this day back in 1981. I need to scan a picture of them from that day to share with you .. I'll put it on my to-do list.

I woke up to this:

Both flowers are bulbs, so they can be re-potted and will come back next year, too. (That was for all the "flowers-just-die-and-are-a-waste-of-money" non-Valentiners.) Yes, I just made that word up.

Then, we went here, as a total surprise to me:

Marineland!




Disregard my reflection! When she was right up to the glass, it was hard to avoid!









Recognize this, all of you Jax natives? I'm pretty sure I've got the same picture of me doing this back in 1991. :)

Typical.

You have no idea how much we enjoyed this. (This is a picture of a picture, hence the quality.)

Her name is Pebbles. And she's over 40 years old .. isn't that amazing?! At least, I thought so. :)

Sun, plus wind = crazy hair and squinty eyes.

It was a great day and a great surprise. We both love animals and jump at any opportunity to spend time with them and learn more about them.

Happy Monday!