Nice piece. My ex and I always used to stay in on Valentine's Day. I would cook something fancy and we'd cuddle up to watch a movie. Neither of us wanted to submit ourselves to the scrutiny of the public looking around to see who was going to propose next. A card or something yes, but only as an affirmation of what we already knew - that we loved each other. And despite our breakup, still do.

If my husband hasn't already convinced me beyond a doubt that I am the sexiest woman alive, there's absolutely nothing he can do on Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mother's Day (I'm not his mother), or my birthday that will all of a sudden make me think otherwise. Neither of us even acknowledges the day, but all those **other** days - the 361 days left in the year - THOSE are the wonderful days!

My wife said, "No flowers! No stuffed animals! If you want chocolate, I will buy it for half price on February fifteenth!" I married her 'cause she's a practical lady.

We always stay in and cook something delish. I left D a sexy card on the bathroom counter for him after he got out of the shower this AM...then left one from our Boxer up on his bureau.

Tonight I'm making:
- Big, bone-in Rib Eyes with a shallot chocolate sauce (it's not as weird as it sounds)
- Carrot and Parsnip Puree with Honey
- Mixed green salad with green apple, cheddar cheese, walnuts and champagne vinaigrette
- Hot rolls with maple butter
- Home made whoopie pies
- Champagne

This meal above is typical for us, minus the dessert and rolls (carbs are our biggest splurge) but it's usually a weekend meal. Mondays we typically work out and don't see each other too long. I like the excuse to make Monday night into a fancy night!

Gretchen, that sounds fabulous! We're not doing much of anything, because we don't need to. We had a lovely day yesterday, spent the entire afternoon in bed. Drove eldest daughter back to school last night. Making shrimp scampi for dinner tonight. That's all we need!

I needed new tires a few weeks ago. When my husband asked if I wanted anything for Valentine's Day (we usually don't celebrate it, the whole thing irritates me) I said, "You already got me new tires!" That's all I wanted, and it had nothing to do with Hallmark's National Bullshit Day. Thrilled that my little car again gets traction on the Maine ice.

My kiddos woke up to little boxes of chocolates from me and daddy. I cut hubbys breakfast steak into hearts this morning. That is about as far as it will go over here..

I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Actually, I intended to, but they came out more like strange blobs.

For dinner we will have heart-shaped pasta with tomato sauce, and salad.

Baby is too little to appreciate it, but next year we'll do something I suppose!

He got me my vice food of the week, I made him his favorite dinner, and we spent the entire weekend snuggling on the couch watching vampire movies. It may be how we spend just about every weekend (although the vampire movies are our Valentine's tradition), but I don't really feel the need to change something we both love for the sake of a marketing campaign.

And if you have not yet seen "Love at First Bite" I highly reccommend it. George Hamilton makes a fantastic Dracula.

I didn't realize it was Valentine's Day until I read this message. We've never been into Hallmark holidays around here.

I'm happily single this V Day. I'd rather be happily alone than in a bad relationship just to get a big red heart. Usually I get my kids a little heart box of chocolate and make heart shaped raviolis. I enjoy the decorative aspect of the day and my kids will always be my Valentines!

Being 26 and single, it seems my age group is REALLY into Valentine's Day. Staying off Facebook today is my goal today so I don't have to hear about all the "fabulous" shit their husband or boyfriend got them.

I took a vacation day today, not because I'm depressed about being alone, but as a gift to myself. Lots of shows to watch off my DVR, going to walk my dog then going running tonight!

Making dinner at home tonight too. Future mother-in-law is here visiting, so she'll be with us. I got him a card, and I suspect I'll get flowers. He just bought me an incredible wedding band on Sat (we went to Jarod's! lol), so that was my gift. We're planning a wedding April 2, so we need to save our pennies. He spoils me every day of the year, and vice versa, so V-day isn't necessary. Amy is right. If you're not being nice to each other all year, doing it on one day isn't going to help.

@lovelysoul: ooooo jewelry!!! Congrats on almost getting married, lady :-)

So D is apparently coming to my office during my lunch break at 11:30 (early shift...). He said he'd be in costume. He knows I despise attention in public and grand gestures of romance (my definition of romance is him uncorking the wine to breathe while I'm in the shower, or asking me if I want a back rub; saying our vows in front of 80 ppl was really, really hard for me).

I am fucking terrified that this time he's not joking and might actually show up in a cupid outfit. If anyone sees a person jumping out the window of an office building in Boston, that'll be me b/c my husband showed up at my work in a damn diaper with a bow and arrow!!!!

Rofl, Gretchen! Surely, he won't do that!

I wish we were only having 80 ppl. Our wedding has grown to about 100. Darn expensive.

MIL announced she's staying 'till the wedding, so he asked me if we could move the wedding up. lol Poor guy is having to play bingo and yahtzee most nights.

MIL wants to stay through April...?

You must be a saint.

I must say, though, you are a bit grinchy on this Vday issue. I mean, heart-shaped stuff, chocolate, flowers, what's not to like?

I mean the same could be said for Christmas and birthdays!!!

I have a really nasty cold, but, other than trying not to get snot on my boyfriend, our plans won't change much. Cooking dinner (ok, let's face it, getting carry-out) and watching Arrested Development while eating strawberries.

@Ltw, Valentine's Day also reminds me of my ex -- in a good way. For our first Valentine's Day, we both promised each other NO GIFTS, because Vday is dumb. But, when I got in my car to go to work that day, I found a sweet note and a bundle of my favorite candy. And I knew that, once he got up, he'd find his lunch box already packed with special goodies and a note from me. Still makes me smile.

I don't necessarily object to Valentine's Day gifts and dinners if both parties are on board with it. It can be fun as long as there's no pressure attached. But it's not for me.

One year I saw a box of candy that I figured the hubby would like, so I bought it and had it waiting for him on V-Day morning as a fun surprise. It had the opposite affect of what I was going for, because he panicked and scrambled to the store after work and had a card and candy waiting for me when I get home. I'm laughing and saying, "You just bought this today, didn't you?" And he's like, "I didn't think we were doing anything for Valentine's Day!" We've since established that we don't need to celebrate it, and gifts don't automatically have to be reciprocated. :-)

"Goethe, for example, developed a series of crushes on unattainable women throughout his life."

I think I'm in this boat now... When crushing on the unattainable, you imagine them to be attainable in a way that you can actually accomplish. Besides if you are a not-very-social introvert, just finding someone to talk to is quite the accomplishment, not mentioning finding someone to date.

First mention of the word Valentine ("Voluntyne") in the English language, 1477:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12419712

The thing that irks me the most on Valentine's Day are the single people sneering at it. (I am single now and have been for more often than not when V-day comes around each year.)

In college I worked in radio, so when Valentine's rolled around, instead of being bitter, I played romantic tunes and requests (oldies 50's/60's -- plenty of material).

And people call me cynical. ;)

Goethe, for example, developed a series of crushes on unattainable women throughout his life.

Ugh, that sounds like me. What the H is wrong with me?

February 14 is my mother's birthday. She is the type that appreciates a bit of fuss made over her so we generally do. That is pretty much it for us today. I have a cold. Hubby has to work late. Kiddo went out to a nice meal with his girlfriend yesterday so today is all about Grandma. Life is good.

sofar: "I have a really nasty cold, but, other than trying not to get snot on my boyfriend, our plans won't change much."

I love that comment so much.

Yeah, I had to put up a blogpost about this too, but I was probably a lot meaner about it. :D

Honestly, has anyone really looked at those Valentine's commercials? I defy anyone to show me ONE where someone is suggesting the woman buy the man something. ONE.

I took my SO out to lunch today (really as an excuse for him to take the afternoon off). We're both pretty over the "Hallmark Holidays" so it's just another day for us.

I prefer that we treat each other like every day is Valentine's Day. We don't wait for the calendar to tell us anything.

My DW picked up take-out on her way home. Let's just say we aren't wasting any time on cooking tonight.

Cousin Dave, does DW mean Dependant Wife like it does in the military? I remember a t-shirt sold at Clark AB that said, "You can ignore me, I am a DW."

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/valentines_day

You want to touch a woman's heart? Give her a flower because it's Thursday evening, and you know she spent some of her day washing your clothes.

"Staying off Facebook today is my goal today so I don't have to hear about all the "fabulous" shit their husband or boyfriend got them."

Looks like your problem isn't Facebook; it's your friends on Facebook! I saw nary a mention amongst my friends there....

My view on Valentine's is that it's a good day to let all of the cherished people in your life know that you love them. I felt that way when I was single and I feel that way now that I'm hitched. We usually send our respective parents flowers or at least make sure to call them and wish them a happy day. It's a good day to reach out to friends, too.

As for the romantic angle....We both like flowers (in fact, I was the first flower-sender in the relationship -- around the time we had the "Are we officially boyfriend and girlfriend? Yes!" conversation, he experienced, well, a life milestone that I thought needed to be commemorated, so flowers -- in vivid, not pastel, shades -- it was). I did tell him, though, after we saw a V-day commercial for "chocolate" diamonds, that if he ever feels the need to get me "chocolate" diamonds, I would prefer that they be, y'know, made out of actual edible chocolate. We have the First World problem of having a whole lot of stuff vs. space at this point, so at this point we really strongly prefer highly useful gifts if we're talking about non-perishable items. Flowers are pretty, but don't require long-term storage -- a plus for us at this point.

We were going to stay in but went out to dinner at the last moment -- I hate dealing with Valentine's Day restaurant patrons, but we found a restaurant that was half-full and went late. Skipped the "Valentine's Day" menu though.

Our valentine's day was broken up. We had our "valentine's dinner" on Saturday because we went out to a friend's art gallery opening and wanted to eat dinner out since we already had a babysitter. We ended up eating the vday menu because it was available and a great deal. Dinner for two for about $50 and it was a great little Greek restaurant. Delicious.

For the day itself, I washed all the clothes, cleaned the kitchen and he cooked dinner. We started watching the movie "The Kids are All Right", but went to bed about half way through because my husband had an early day at work today.

Oh yeah, he brought me flowers. We've been married 4 years (anniversary was a couple of weeks ago). The potted orchids had 4 full-bloomed flowers, with one about to blossom. Thoughtful and sweet AND simple. He bought potted flowers because I'm trying to start a garden.

Long ago while making valentines cards and wondering what the heart thing was all about when the pictures I'd seen of a real heart only vaguely resemble the iconic shape I absent mindedly turned one upside down and added another above it oriented the usual way with some overlap of the points and it suddenly dawned on me, I got the picture, accompanied by a vague stirring in the loins! This happened in the forth grade and the teacher was not amused.

"Cousin Dave, does DW mean Dependant Wife like it does in the military? "

DW = Dear Wife, DH = Dear Husband. Comes from hanging out on ballroom dance forums.

My husband and I like Valentine's Day. It's a chance to do something a little special that we might put off until another time. We went out to dinner, he bought me some roses, and I bought him some chocolate-covered strawberries. It's fun.

I thought I was the one being a chick by being too into it over the last couple of years, but I didn't plan anything this year, and I kind of lost track of it. He must have missed it, because he pressed to go out for dinner. It's commercial, yeah, but it's also a good time.