I hope this Valentines day finds you all well & happy! I admit I haven’t had much luck with “Val’s Day” as I like to call it. Yes, there are quite a few stories here… I will say that my ex husband asked me to marry in on Valentines which was over fifteen years ago now & since it didn’t work out…well you get the idea.
My best unsolicited advice is that, if you don’t have a sweetheart or if you aren’t sure the one you have can take the pressure, then have very small expectations for the day.
The man I have been dating for the last five years + always somehow manages to get out of us celebrating this holiday at all…more stories on this subject that I don’t have energy to tell.
This year I have decided I will buy my own chocolate & if I get a kiss from him I will be grateful. I think we both suffer from Valentine angst, though no one is actually fessing up.
I am working on a set of paintings right now that has had me a bit preoccupied. I was thinking this morning how nice it would have been to have them ready to add to a post this morning but I am sleep deprived enough as it is.
Then as I was driving the children to school it hit me like a lighting bolt….I have the perfect inspired creation for this lovely Val’s day to share.
I am well aware that I tend to come across as a contradiction to others. My friend the astrologer David Porter says I cannot help it…something to do with the planets or stars I think…
I will tell you all day long, that roses are not my favorite flower but if you knew how many I’ve collected, planted, drawn & painted over the years you would think this was a lie.
I love orchids best though I must confess & my love of flowers in general leaves many beauty’s standing close together in the line of favorites. There is something about roses though. The fragrance & the ease in which I could get them to grow & the romance associated with them…
I am a Libra so beauty & romance is my passion. That is the excuse Davy gave me for it anyway. I am worried at times it is really just an undiagnosed mental disorder. I have always loved to have flowers around me & in my home. A few years back I had a rose garden right outside my office window so I could open up my windows & let the breeze invite in the fragrance which I would just drink it in as I was designing.
Summer through fall I had cut roses almost every day inside the house, in nearly every room.
Here is a section of my rose garden from my Herriman Home. In my previous home in Clearfield I had rows of rose bushes under the windows & knew I could not be without them ever again after that. In the Clearfield home I had a country garden with two full-grown wisteria’s vines, a large peony planting, with a small sweet pea garden & a honeysuckle vine growing around ninety percent of the fences. There is nothing like vases of honeysuckle, roses & sweet peas on the window sill in the summer. I had hollyhocks also, but they are not my favorite, based off their attraction for bugs or the other way around I mean…
I am not sure when I began to develop a passion for all these frilly flowers. I was a bit of a tom boy in my youth. I used to wear combat boots with my dresses in my teens…that paints a picture for you doesn’t it? Did I mention that I am a contraction already?
Maybe my flower lust has something to do with an art assignment I did in High school using acrylics & gesso paints. I am not sure what the criteria for the assignment was (it was that long ago) but I painted a stylized slightly abstracted painting of Roses & Sweet Peas for it. 
Someone bought it after that. I am not sure who. Some other school I think. I remember taking my money to buy new prismacolor pencils. Yes, that is what you do when you are a poor artist in school. I do however have a digital file so prints can be made up through imagekind if your heart so desired.
“Roses are red violets are blue”…I am going to have a great Valentines day (as long as I get my chocolate) & I hope you do too!
In all seriousness Have a lovely day full of love & happiness my friends.
Love, April Elizabeth
inspired to create by... 
Lasting relationships are no accident: http://wp.me/2cPNL
I whole-heartedly agree with that. When we show our love the best way we can, why do chubby cupids & commercialism tell us that if we don’t do it a certain way it isn’t good enough? I am actually very excited to surprise my Valentine with something I really think he will love…it is so not the typical gift but it is so him. I really enjoy the giving part more than the getting part. Years of dashed Valentines expectations has given me a very different perspective on things. I know many though who find this day lonely & painful. My wish is that it be a happy day for all, no matter where they are at. Thank you for your comment. I hope you have a Happy Val’s Day!
Lovely post! Enjoy your chocolate and your day! We love you!
Thank you Jewels! I love you too! I hope you had a Happy Valentines Day. Kiss the girls for me please.
I love to do a little something for the kids but just not in to it for a couple thing it just feels forced.
I can totally see that Lauri. I think for years we are feed that Valentines has to be something really special & fit a certain criteria…which may not even be a natural way for the other person to show their affection. Everyday should be a way to show our love & I think we forget what is really important with all that fussy stuff in the way.