Give Love

I was talking to my friend Jen last night, who I'll see next month at Natural Products Expo West (and is also planning a trip to New York this spring). "I think you need to try to discretely snap some pictures on the subway in the morning. I need to see some grit."

Hmmm...well, there's plenty of grit here in the Big Apple, though somehow the filter on my camera tends to seek out beauty (and sunshine), where ever I can find it.

I received my second Valentine of the season over the weekend, from someone who is also an aficionado of beauty, as well as the power of accessorizing....

This was taken late last fall, when I just moved in. Carly had come over to see me, just throwing on a little something for a Saturday visit.

Carly is very much a girly girl -- Hello Kitty, Princesses, American Girl, Hannah Montana, unicorns, rainbows, crafts and lots and lots of pink at all times. Her mother Stacy isn't quite sure where this came from. As you can imagine, Valentine's Day is Carly's holiday!

She and some of her little friends were creating Valentine's for family and school over the weekend, it was like a big factory with stickers, pink and red construction paper, multiple markers and sparkles everywhere. She proudly presented me with her first.

Stacy started a nice tradition a couple years ago (that I think, truthfully, was born out of a "Something's got to give" moment during a hectic holiday season when she was 9 months pregnant) by sending out Valentine's cards to their former December holiday card list. What began as a time saving strategy is now something special to receive mid-Winter.

Jason commented on the activity: "It's never a bad idea to tell someone you like them," he said, wisely.