Je t'aime Valentine's Day

What's with the use of French in the subject line, you may ask?

For some reason, conjugating French verbs is soothing for me. During a stressful moment yesterday, I started conjugating the French verb, entre. Saying, 'je suis, tu es, il est...' in my head somehow grounded me and kept my mind off what I was stressing about at the moments. Perhaps it brings me back to my Paris days where I would practice asking a question in my head in French before actually saying it out loud - it gave me such confidence to be able to speak to the Parisians in their language. So maybe by conjugating these verbs, I re-gain that sense of confidence.

I love the French language. I think it is beautiful. Of course, hearing the words, "I Love You" are wonderful, but hearing "Je t'aime" would be even better. Hmm, perhaps I need to marry a Frenchie.... or at least date a guy who can google "how to say I love you in French."

Anyways, with V-day just a day away, love is all around us. And boy are there A LOT of V-Day haters out there! Being a V-Day lover, I am definitely in the minority. Yes, I believe that you should show your love for your friends & family 365 days of the year, but I love that there is 1 day out of the year where we are reminded to show that love to the people in our lives. And no, I'm not buying into the Hallmark commercialization of the day - I think a simple - "I love you" or "J t'aime" more than suffices. It is one day out of the year where every person should fall asleep knowing that, through words or actions, they have showed the people in their life:

(image courtesy of here)

So how will I be showing my love for the people most important in my life this year?

• My grandpa has had a tough week. He had a pretty major heart attack last weekend and then had a tear in his aorta on Sunday night (which has since mended itself. The human body is an amazing thing). He's doing much better, but just in case this is the beginning of the end, I am driving up to Fargo tonight so I can visit him tomorrow morning. I need to be back in Maple Grove by 4-5 on Saturday, so it will be a quick trip, but the hour I'll get with him will be more than worth the 7 hours I'll spend driving there & back...
• Saturday night I will be babysitting for the boys so that my brother & his wife can go out to eat on Valentine's Day with some other couples. Babysitting for Kevin & Julie gives me an opportunity to show my love for them. It's so important for couples to have dates every now & then, but it's so tough to do that once you have kids, so I am glad that I am able to babysit so they can occasionally get out and enjoy a night of adult conversation!!
• I actually feel quite lucky that I will have TWO Valentines!! Matthew & Andrew really are so easy to babysit, so tomorrow night will be tons of fun!! Andrew is definitely my little buddy and refers to me as "My Lisa," so when I go to bed tomorrow night, I will definitely fall asleep feeling so loved and important.

So that is how I will be spending my Valentine's Day. I have a red shirt packed for tomorrow (I always try to wear pink or red on V-Day). I'm excited about V-Day. No, I won't get the traditional gifts of flowers or candy; instead I'll share a heart-shaped pizza with Andrew and we'll hopefully bake something together. And I can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day! I'm sure I'll have pictures to share...

So Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!!