For years now, Valentine’s Day has been my favorite holiday. My go-to reasoning is always that it’s “objectively, the cutest holiday,” and that is true. I love pinks and hearts and flowers and cupids, but I’m also a hidden romantic who secretly loves love—both romantic and platonic.
So, when it comes to celebrating Valentine’s Day, I have a lot of opinions. First: celebrating with friends is the best way to get the most out of the holiday, it’s technically why Galentine’s Day was invented, but I don’t see the need to separate it from the original. Over the weekend, my friend Brianna hosted people for drinks and decorated her perfect apartment with heart-shaped balloons and romantic floral arrangements. It made me miss own former Valentine’s Day parties I would throw while living in Atlanta with my roommate at the time. They were Romeo + Juliet themed (Baz Lehrman’s 1996 adaptation, obviously) and a touch more debaucherous, but I’ve dreamed for a while of bringing them back on an annual basis so my friends never have to go through the dreaded process of making their own V-day plans.
This brings me to my next point.
Valentine’s Day sells itself as a time to dress up, go to a fancy restaurant, and share a special meal with the one you love, but it’s just not. Valentine’s Day reservations are harder to get, the restaurant’s prix fix menu is more expensive, and they’re not putting their best dishes on them. Not to mention, the pressure is on for everyone to celebrate the most romantic day all year, and statistically, a lot of expectations will not be met. That is what anniversaries are for, the waitstaff will pay more attention to you, and you’ll probably get a free dessert out of the evening (or as my friend Callie calls it, the cutest couple award).
The obvious solution here is to stay home, prepare a special meal, and watch a rom-com—going this route, you are guaranteed a much better evening than most people dining out on this night. But, if you’re not willing to fend for yourself (this year, I’m not) your best bet is to go somewhere that doesn’t accept reservations, even on Valentine’s Day. With any luck, they’ll be serving their regular menu and the restaurant will be less crowded since most everyone else has had their plans set for weeks. Give it a try, let me know how it goes.
What I’m watching: As a self-proclaimed rom-com enthusiast, here’s my list of Valentine’s Day-approved movies that can be enjoyed with lovers, friends, family, or even on your own. (Note: a third of the movies on this list feature Nicholas Cage at his best—young, hot, and stupid.)
Moonstruck: The most romantic movie there is. It’s an opera, it’s absurd, it’s over the top, it’s one of my favorite movies of all time.
Sleepless in Seattle: I’ve never seen The Way We Were, maybe it will be on next year’s list. For now, you get this.
Raising Arizona: This movie is hilarious. But it also tells the story of the lengths a couple will go for their love, to have a family, to make each other happy. Which is sweet.
Romeo + Juliet: I once watched this movie six times in a single week. It’s everything.
High Fidelity: Maybe I equate this movie to Valentine’s Day because that’s the day the as good, if not better Hulu series premiered. It’s a movie about great loves lost, which I find very brave.
Heartburn: Another movie about heartbreak. But sharing a bowl of homemade carbonara in bed after having sex for the first is an extremely romantic act, imo.
What I’m buying: Due to a few unfortunate broken wine glass incidents, I’ve been dying to update my drinkware, and after Bri’s aforementioned Valentine’s Day party, which featured an impressive selection of glassware, I started shopping around SSENSE’s “everything else” sale section and found that my beloved Sophie Lou Jacobsen ripple glasses were on super sale. I bought myself two pink glasses for $25 each in 2020, and just added a SET of smoke grey ones for $29 total! Because I have no self-control, I went ahead and bought amber-colored double rocks glasses from Fazeek and a set of vintage metallic-stemmed wine glasses. I’m thrilled.
What I’m listening to: Boy’s a liar Pt. 2 by PinkPanthress ft. Ice Spice (h/t Kate and Callie)
That is all for now! I love you very much.
Love the amber colored glasses! Great picks