Celebrating Love
Hello everyone,
I hope you are enjoying the warm weather we have been having! This week, I wanted to talk to you about Valentine’s Day. I went back and forth on this blog because I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine’s Day (anyone else?).
I think it is important to celebrate love and the relationships we have around us whether that be significant others, family, friends, pets etc….but I don’t think you need a day to tell you when to do it. So on today’s blog I go through my top 5 ways to celebrate with our loved ones...whether that be Feb. 14 or any other day of the year!
1. A Night In
My favourite thing to do is have a night in! There’s nothing better than ordering pizza and watching a movie in your pajamas with the ones you love. I’m really trying to make an effort to be present with people. The best way to do this is eliminate distractions- put away our phones so we can have more meaningful time together.
A night in can be anything that makes you happy. I’m a fan of good ol’ fashioned board game nights or dance parties. Or my little cousins and I like to do our nails and play pretend. Anything that keeps you in the moment and brings joy with the ones you love. We are here on this earth to be connected to one another and what better way than to disconnect for a bit?
2. Gal-entine’s Day
This one is seriously so fun! My roomates and I used to celebrate it in university. It’s similar to a night in with your significant other or family except it’s with your gal pals (did I just use that phrase?). Friends will be there for you before the significant others enter your life and if/when they leave. So why not spent Valentine’s Day celebrating each other and the value you add to one another’s lives?
My friend Katie and I bought a heart shaped cake one year and each ate half! We would watch Grey’s Anatomy together and drink wine and eat cookie dough. Those are some of the best memories I have from university. Or my roomates and I would buy each other a small gift to let them know we were thinking of them that day. Women supporting women is so important!
3. Self-Care
Sometimes we don’t want to spend time with anyone and I get that. After a long day at work you just want to relax and spend time alone. Self- love is also so important. I once heard that we can’t fill up anyone else’s cup if ours is empty. Some of my favourite self-care rituals are meditating, taking a bath, yoga, reading, and journaling.
It’s also really nice on a day off to treat yourself to a spa day at home. Set a relaxing atmosphere by lighting a candle, turning on your twinkle lights, and listening to your favourite music. Put on a face mask, do your nails, try out all those samples in your bathroom drawer that you have been meaning to, exfoliate..the list goes on. It’s not always easy to carve out time for ourselves but it is so valuable!
4. Volunteering
Another thing I did in university that I just loved was volunteering at a nursing home once a week. I would go and paint nails every Saturday for an hour. This doesn’t seem like much but the ladies and I looked forward to it every week. It was another way for me to be present and spend quality time with others. We would have donuts and share stories and laugh. And for one hour a week they would forget their worries and so would I.
I really recommend volunteering with a significant other, friend, or family member. Working together towards the common good really brings you together while bettering the community. Oh man I’m already feeling warm and fuzzy after writing this blog haha.
5. Meaningful Gift-Giving
Sometimes it’s a beautiful gesture to give a gift and I have no problem with that! I love when someone says, “I was thinking of you today and knew you would like this so I picked it up for you.” We just need to make sure our gifts aren’t harming people or the planet.
If you are planning on giving a gift to someone special this Valentine’s Day, make sure it is ethically sourced! A great place to start is Buy Good Feel Good. They are an organization that features ethically sourced products from all over the world. They have an expo coming up in April that we will be at that I’m personally so excited for. I do most of my gift-buying at this show because I know every organization featured there does good!
At carlahackettdesign, we have new jewellery coming in this week for artcrawl! It is from A Million Elephants and their recycled bomb collection. What I like about these pieces is they are minimalistic and timeless. They match just about any outfit and are a great conversation piece. If you want to buy jewellery for yourself or someone else...these are a great choice! Stay tuned for them to arrive in store and online in time for Valentine’s Day.
What I want to stress at the end of this blog is gratitude. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle in life and forget to stop and be grateful for what we have. That is something I hope Valentine’s Day is for us all. An opportunity to look around at those who helped us get where we are right now. To celebrate their love and support and then remember to do this more than once a year!
Okay I need to go now before I get teary-eyed at work (who are we kidding, that’s already happened!).
Have a great day!
Melanie