Happy Valentine's Day!
JENN MCKINLAY: It's kind of ironic, at least to me, that I am moving into writing women's fiction/romantic comedies in addition to my mysteries this year and, yet, I am not a traditionally romantic sort of girl. Flowers are pretty, jewelry is nice, dinner out is terrific, chocolate is (quite frankly) mandatory, but if you really want to win my word-girl heart, it's all about the card. In fact, you can pretty much skip everything else by getting me the right (or would that be write?) card. And I am not looking for poetic declarations of undying love (gag). Oh, no, it's all about the puns, baby, and the punnier the better!
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| This one is eggcellent! |
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| Dare I say it's super or heroic? |
Bookmark this one as my personal favorite (librarian!).
Okay, Reds, I'll stop now. I promise. Since you now know cards and puns are my weakness, tell me what is your preferred Valentine treat? And, do you consider yourself a romantic?
Because I have never met a BuzzFeed or Cosmo quiz, that I did not feel compelled to take, I can help you with this quiz: How-romantic-are-you?
Spoiler alert: I scored a solid NO, YOU ARE NOT. LOL. How about you?
What a terrific Jungle Red Writers valentine!
ReplyDeleteMy husband loves silly cards; I have a soft spot for schmaltzy ones [as long as they’re not too ooey-gooey].
The perfect valentine treat is a small box of dark chocolate.
[By the way, I wasn’t surprised when the quiz said, “You’re very romantic”] . . . .
How funny; it never occurred to me those old time Valentines were punny. But of course they were. I just found half a box leftover from when my children had to hand them out. It was awhile ago--my youngest will soon be 30.
ReplyDeleteAnything dark chocolate. But my husband knows I'm picky about it, so he would never get me that.
In fact, since our anniversary is in a couple weeks, he usually saves his energy. Yesterday, though, I asked if he thought maybe the Valentine fairy might come down the chimney at our house this year. And if I hung my panties on the chimney if that would help.
It got a laugh, anyway.
Thanks for the card - love it. Hopelessly romantic here, but I live with someone who is not so much. He always brings home gorgeous flowers, though, and I arrange the dark chocolate. Since I can't leave the house right now, I'm going to get my son to help me make some dark fudge this morning. The day doubles as our anniversary!
ReplyDeleteThe video is wonderful--thank you Jenn!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not in the "chocolate is mandatory" crowd, so I'm making raspberry almond cupcakes this morning:).
Those adorable old cards remind me so much of my dad--he would always send one to us kids, signed:
4-1-4
ps Edith, hope your healing is going along without bumps this week!
Love the video ! You are so talented Jenn!
ReplyDeleteAnd I also cannot resist quizzes-sigh. It said I am not romantic--which I wrong, I am, but not the way you could judge in a quiz!
I am spending Valentines morning in the homeland security office -- applying for global entry! Now that is romantic!
Aw Lucy that is so cute..Dads are so clever..
ReplyDeleteThe quiz said I am not romantic...I am, but I am also private!
ReplyDeleteGram, that's me as well - I'm not romantic, but I'm private! Smooching and cuddling and pet names are lovely...in their place.
ReplyDeleteI love the punny Valentines, Jenn. I'd much rather get an adorable vintage card than one of the overblown "romantic" confections guys will be snatching off the drug store shelves today.
The most romantic thing my husband can do on any given Valentine's Day up in Maine? Shovel the driveway! Much more satisfying than flowers and overpriced candy.
Jenn, this is SO MUCH FUN!
ReplyDeleteI got up early this AM and made a batch of Lucy's granola for my husband. Made the house smell great and he loves the stuff. I'll make a fancy dinner, too. Maybe lobster bisque.
He got me a beautiful orchid plant, and this morning I woke up to a homemade Valentine cartoon-card. He's major into puns (his card says BLAPPY VALENTINES DAY), Jenn, so I'm sure you two would get along.
The quiz said I am not romantic either, but like Julia and Gram I am, under the right conditions and those conditions are usually the privacy of my home. And it didn't say what KIND of home, now did it?
ReplyDeleteMandatory are truffles from a local chocolatier and there are two boxes (because they got rid of their largest box) in my fridge right now. We used to go to the new car show (how romantic is that!), but we haven't been there in a few years. But I'll be in the market for a new car next year so, maybe this year.
Cards are nice - but they become one more thing I have to store so... And flowers are beautiful when you bring them home, but then they die. I wish I had a greener thumb to be able to keep a plant alive.
But the absolute most romantic thing? A lovely, quiet dinner followed by time in front of the fire, no kids around demanding my attention. Oh, bliss.
The video was lovely. Happy Valentine's to you all.
Jenn, love the video!!! You are so clever!
ReplyDeleteBut, no, I am not romantic, according to the quiz. And a good thing, too, as hub is a really big zero on the Valentine's thing. I bought myself some gorgeous red tulips at Trader Joe's on Sunday (Have learned to buy my own flowers to prevent being disappointed.)
I've never cared about chocolates, but I have discovered that one of our local shop/cafes has the most divine handmade truffles, so if someone bought me one or two, I would swoon.
I usually try to cook something nice for dinner, and have bought us a little heart-shaped two-person chocolate cake.
And I did get him a card.
Years ago, I had an entire box of Victorian reproduction Valentines. I LOVED those, but eventually used them all up and have never seen anything like them since.
I am an unabashed romantic. But since we live in New England, my gifts for my sweetheart this year are Bogs--waterproof insulated snow boots--and a ski mask. So while that may not seem romantic to most people, he'll love them. That said, I don't believe in practical presents for myself. I want roses and chocolates and jewelry and/or something I would never buy for myself. Let's hope he does it right!
ReplyDeleteWe are usually at our condo in AZ and the first year John went to the Dollar Store and bought me a rose and a balloon that said I love you. He has kept it and brought it out for all nine years! But only as a joke as he is rather generous and loves to buy jewelry and good cards
ReplyDeleteAnd amazingly that balloon has not deflated yer
Not a romantic here either, which makes me a great fit with my partner. We are decades past gifts for Valentine's Day too. For years we each bought lots and lots of cards and left them around the house to be found by the other, but recently we looked at the price, $$$, and decided it was a ridiculous expenditure. Now we resurrect the old ones and repurpose them! It is so much fun, reminds us of when we first got them, deciding that this one or that is possibly the best card of all time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a long way from some of those first Valentines that included romantic music, chocolates, champagne and diamonds. Well, opals anyway.
I did send a Jacquie Lawson e card for Julie to open when she got to work this morning. If not familiar with these cards, check out the web site.
Dinner out is another thing altogether, but this year we decided to make a frabjous Poulet a la Normande on Sunday, served with a farro and spinach salad. Cooking together that includes a roof burning flambe adds spice to our life.
Jenn, thank you so much for all your creative work this morning. The video is charming as are the punny Valentines. I hope your day and the day of everyone here is filled with hearts and flowers and love.
I enjoyed the video Valentine! Happy Valentine's Day from an "Ooey Gooey Romantic!"
ReplyDelete(I love puns, and we knew a guy named Bullett, and we spend a whole dinner cracking up and making puns about him: "he's a real son-of-a-gun," "a high-calibre guy," "always shoots straight," etc...)
I think, like some of you, my definition of romance doesn't fit the mainstream definition (clearly because I tanked on that quiz!). I don't care about cards and flowers; I care about the myriad thoughtful things my husband does for me the rest of the year. That's the same reason that wedding anniversaries aren't a huge priority for us. We mark them, but the important thing is how we treat each other the other 364 days.
ReplyDeleteWe're staying in tonight and having a cozy dinner at home, and we are up to our ears in the sweets that Chevy Stevens sent me last week, so no lack of sugar at our house!
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ReplyDeleteHub and I have volleyball tonight - so we're postponing our usual date night. Dinner out is usually our thing but tonight it will be a whole lot of yelling "My bad!" when we biff our sets and spikes. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI flunked the romantic quiz. No surprise there! Husband had a bag of heart-shaped chocolates for me I can share and a funny card. Love puns and funny stuff! I haven't decided what I'm doing in return. Soooo not ready for today. Currently we're riding out a thunderstorm with a cool front behind it. Maybe I'll try to make something edible later on. . .
ReplyDeleteI'm more of the mind that "romance" is the day-to-day stuff we do for each other like he puts gas in my car and I always make sure I pair up his themed boxers and socks so he can wear a matched set. Those little things we can do ourselves but having another person in our life take the time to do that small thing, it means more.
ReplyDeleteSo, I don't have a preferred Valentines treat other than getting to spend another February 14th with him. But I'll take a box of Schakolad chocolates any day he wants to bring them home. ;)
No wonder I love your books so much! I've never met a pun I didn't like.
ReplyDeleteLOL - Mark. I swear it's either an addiction of a disability! We can go to rehab together! Nah, where's the pun in that?
ReplyDeleteJungle Red is so high tech!!! 21st century women!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband bought roses at Stop and Shop, and (as he has done other years) described the card he picked up, almost bought, but could not spend $5 on. It said, "Birds do it, bees do it, let's fall in love." He wasn't sure the message was appropriate since this is our 52nd Valentine's day, but, he said, "The flowers on the card were pretty."
We're having my son-in-law and the three granddaughters for dinner -- teriaki chicken and chocolate fondue. My daughter is at work today in NYC, and will be home late.
So much for romance.
Oh geesh. Now he's brought me a little potted nerve plant. I still haven't done anything for him for V day.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jenn, I am such a fan of the pun. I love the punny valentines you posted.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't finished. My phone wouldn't let me continue for some reason.
ReplyDeleteRomantic. I think I'm more thematic than romantic. Whatever the occasion, I love running with its theme, and the hearts for Valentine's Day are especially fun. My husband is in Texas, so we won't be spending the day together. However, today is also my older granddaughter's birthday 🎉 and we will be celebrating her sweet sixteen by going out to eat.
Sadly, I'm not what one would consider a romantic.
ReplyDeleteWhich probably explains my single status.
It all comes off as so much game playing and I just don't care for playing what amounts to high school age games nearly 30 years after I left the not so hallowed halls.
Although I always bought him a funny Valentine card, my late husband wasn't one to get in the spirit of Valentine's Day. If I did receive flowers or a card, I knew he must have spent the day with a friend buying treats for his wife and I would laughingly ask ' "So how's Troy today?" and get a grin in return. One day, a few years after his death, I was remembering this in a conversation with my daughter who said, "Dad's valentines were sweeter, like always starting your car for you on cold days to get the heater going before you came out."
ReplyDeleteAnd she was right: a pre-warmed car on cold days is a sweet expression of love.
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ReplyDeleteWendy - I love that. Doing something for someone "just because" is the sincerest form of caring, I think. Hub and I are equally unromantic - I'll bake cookies he likes when I have time and think of it. He'll buy me candy randomly as it crosses his path. I like the "just because" gestures.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Is the term Galentine new? I don't think I've heard it before this year. I like it!
I used to swoon at especially dark romances like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights but as I've aged I'm more drawn to romances as incidental to the story. Not that I don't find certain pieces of music (Led Zeppelin's Fool in the Rain) incredibly romantic or thrill when a male character I adore puts his guard down. As for V-day, it's not really celebrated in our house unless you count saying Happy Valentine's Day as a celebration. ; }
ReplyDeleteSo, the Hub brought home flowers today! When questioned he admitted that Hooligan 2 texted him and told him to buy me flowers. LOL. I'm more touched that the boy thought to nudge his dad than I am by the flowers but they are lovely as well. :)
ReplyDeletemy computer is acting up again! I tried to comment yesterday though the computer would not let me!
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Valentine's Day! Love, love, love these cute punny Valentine's Cards!