it is perhaps unsurprising to most that i have a rather complicated relationship with saint valentine’s day. there’s certainly nothing wrong with saint valentine himself, patron saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers and young people. but i really could do without his conversion into the patron saint of consumerism fueling a 16 billion dollar(!) spending frenzy where the average holiday consumer spends $116! part of me really couldn’t agree more with a bright teenager’s apt description of the day, “happy arbitrary consumeristic representation of a romantic holiday day”.

i mean, the sanity train has left the rails when 53% of women in America would dump their boyfriends if they did not get them anything for valentine’s day and 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on valentine’s day.

but, then again – really – what’s so wrong with buying some flowers and chocolates as the smallest and humblest of reminders to the one you love that you still do?

( and, holy cow, theo’s pink salted vanilla caramels are TO DIE FOR! )