Barf. Everywhere.

For several weeks now Valentine's day has been taunting me, teasing me, and pissing me off. Albeit from a distance, it's now closer than I'd prefer. Why, you ask? Well for starters I am preparing to be bombarded by advertisements, annoying facebook statuses, and people "in lurve" all around me. Barf. Everywhere. That, and the fact that this will be my first Valentine's Day single since 2006. That's right. I haven't had a solo Valentine's day in 5 years. I don't recall how I spent the one in 2006, but I was most likely brooding because that was what I did best in high school, aside from wearing sweatpants every day of the week and consuming slushees in massive quantities. Currently I'm wearing sweatpants (on a Wednesday) and consuming massive amounts of Diet Coke. Clearly not much has changed. However, I have a plan for Valentine's day.

I'm pretty excited to have the night by myself without so much as a date planned. So I will take the initiative for about the third time in my life and plan a date for myself. First, a few days before Vday I will make a trip to Giant Eagle for part one. The fact that I don't go out on the actual holiday to retrieve these items is absolutely crucial. If I were to shop on valentine's day I would look like a sap, which I am not. This will include purchases of wine (red, obviously) and a variety of chocolate products. Going to have to weigh the options on that one, not sure which chocolate brand I want to drop some cash on. I could always drive to an actual chocolate shop, but that feels sad and out of my price range. Besides, let's be real, we all know the majority of my spending will be dedicated to the vino. Next I'll line up all of my favorite Valentine's day related TV episodes from shows like The Office and Modern Family, having a little mini-marathon of sorts. I expect this to last approximately 1.4 hours. This will be followed by a "chick flick". I'm currently leaning towards The Notebook simply because I own it (whoops), Ryan Gosling, just the right amount of sappy and sexy, I've seen it a million times, Ryan Gosling. Don't judge. During this time I will chat (hopefully) with the true loves of my life, some of my best friends who either happen to be away from their significant others on Vday or are single like me.

I fully expect to have concocted a fantastically terrible playlist of "love" songs, courtesy of the display of 69 cent ones currently available at the iTunes store. Especially some of my modern day R&B faves. I fully expect to be tipsy at the very least for part of the evening, during which time I will more than likely send out at least one embarrassing text message that I'll regret immediately or the following day. Lastly, I expect to have anywhere from 2-3 dance parties with myself, and at least one fifteen minute guitar session that will no doubt end in frustration.

I'd love to say I'm kidding about my Valentine's Day plans or the fact that I'm rather excited about them, but that would be a lie.

But if I may become an optimist for a moment :

"It's Valentine's day. It's not the day you run away from love, it's the day you track it down, tie it up, and take it home."