the VLAentine (yuk yuk yuk)

i still don't understand valentine's day. i've always liked it very much, until last year, which, ironicly, was the only year i had a boyfriend. that was really lame. now that i'm single again and should stereotypically be wollowing in my alone-ness, i've been looking forward to the 14th for weeks, and honestly, i'm a little bummed now that it's over. i love excuses to tell people that i appriciate them or that i'm happy to be their friend. i like making people smile.

on monday i made a bunch of valentines (which was really more like drawing pictures and writing letters) for all my friends, and i bought lots of candy to hand out as well (nerds and smarties, of course. you are what you eat!). on tuesday night, there were actually eleven people over at my house for dinner, and we had so much fun! carmen made the salad and the bread (and the bread looked beautiful, it was incredible), and i made the spaghetti.

i really pride myself on my spaghetti sauce. i know, i know, it's pretty easy to make, but i put green chile and other secret things into it, and most times, people can't tell exactly what makes it taste the way it does. i love showing it off. steve insisted that i make a batch with no olives or mushrooms, which i agreed to, grudgingly, but i told everybody that the veggie one was better. and it was.

dinner was a blast. we had our friends from church and their two little kids come over, and they were cracking everybody up with their little kid-ness. and then the whole leader's team was here (jesse, scuba, and chris), and scott and steve and carmen and me. we listened to elvis and frank and ate (a lot) and danced (a little) and threw spaghetti on the wall to see if it was done and had SO much fun.

after dinner, since valentine's day was a tuesday, we had an iv meeting. this one was special, because we put together a panel of four married couples (including carmen and steve!) to tell their love stories and give advice and answer a few questions. i was a little worried that it would be awkward, but it was great! it was the best large group meeting we've had in a long time. scuba did a great job being the mc and moving things along, and the couples all had drastically different love stories, so it was very interesting. and sweet. :)

i got two valentines, and they were both kinda dark. okay, really dark. hmm, what does that say about me? my friend peter drew me a picture of a zombie that said, "i love you for your braaaaaaaaaiiins!!!" that cracked me up. i'm sorry if that seems weird to you, but... it's so funny. and scott bought me the corpse bride. talk about a perfect valentine's day gift. i love that movie.

okay, go ahead and psychoanalyze. i don't care! i know, i'm a weird girl who likes creepy things, but i like cute things, too! i have a care bears calendar! look, it's right over there! and i like flowers! and puppies!

but to be honest, both those valentines were a lot better than the disney princess fruit snacks and hang 'em high that i got from mike last year. what a loser. i mean, fruit snacks? and hang 'em high?!? that's not romantic. not at all!