Happy Valentine's Day!

Does my hair look okay for Valentine's Day?

Hiya, Friends!  Well, it's the day I've been talkin' about for weeks!  I got here to the office extra-extra early this morning so I could put all my Valentines I made and - slash - or filled out for my co-workers.  I left notes in the Valentines Mailboxes I found particularly inspiring.  I stopped by Donut Dude's on my way in, and gave him a Valentine's Day Apple. 

You see, a donut man can have all the donuts, cookies, muffins, and candy he wants, because sweets are his job.  And one of the times I was workin' with Donut Dude, I found out he really, really loves apples.  So I thought it'd be a nice thing to do, to give him an apple as a Valentine's Day present.

For me, Valentine's Day isn't all about oooooooooooooooh lovey-dovey stuff.  No.  For me, Valentine's Day is a day when I can let my friends know I care about 'em. 

Still, I DID take a little extra time on my outfit and my hair today.  It seemed like the right thing to do.  I just wouldn't want people sayin' Jeez, it's Valentine's Day, and Zoe looks like she just got back from camping, ten minutes ago!  Bein' told you look like you've just come back from campin' five minutes ago isn't exactly a compliment.  It wouldn't be a compliment to me.

I mean, I'm not lookin' to be a miss-priss.  I think of myself as kind of a sporty gal, but I like to look nice while bein' sporty.  I don't think it has to be all just one way or all the other day.  I think you can be sporty, strong, AND sparkly!

That's what I try to emulate, anyway.

So that's why I didn't just get up today and throw on any old thing, and stumble into work early this morning.  I took a little time, made sure I looked nice.

I still feel a little nervous. 

What if people don't like the Valentines I gave 'em?  What if my coworkers have been talking all week about how they think my Valentines Mailbox looks stupid, and I didn't know, and I just kept going on with my days as though everybody thinks my mailbox is pretty cool, just like I do?

What if Sour Girl comes by my desk and says I'm dumb for wearin' a fake flower on my sweater today and then goes off on some scree about how I'm contributing to global warming by buying a sweater with a fake pink carnation on it?

What if people don't like my Valentines I gave 'em?

Well, I guess I'll hafta take that last one with a lumpa salt.  Sour Girl looks like she dresses out of the dumpster at a building where everybody just got back from camping five minutes ago and just came home and threw away their clothes, and before you say Zoe, shame on you for being so catty on Valentine's Day- maybe Sour Girl can't afford nice clothes! let me just say that I'm pretty sure she can, because down at the switchboard, it isn't like they're paid in rice.  Sour Girl can wear nicer clothes, but she chooses not to.  I think she likes to make people think she's too serious to care about looking nice or being nice.  Pidgie McDougall works in the Switchboard Department, and she's a snappy dresser.  She's also kind of afraid of Sour Girl, too. 

Which really brings up a dilemma for me, Friends, even on Valentine's Day.  I think I've mentioned how Pidgie McDougall kinda gets under my skin.  And by "gets under my skin," I mean we don't really get along all that well at all.  But Sour Girl has sent her to the company bathroom, crying, and Sour Girl has sent me to the company bathroom in tears.  So does that mean Pidgie and I ought to be friends, after all?

I don't know.  I don't think a whole friendship can really be based on mutual dislike of Sour Girl.  But I did leave a Valentine in Pidgie's box, telling her I really liked her mailbox, and to stay sparkly.  And guess what?!  Pidgie McDougall came in early today, too, so she got her Valentine and chased me down while I was putting Valentines in mailboxes in Accounting, and she gave me a hug and told ME to stay sparkly, and we went around and put the rest of our Valentines in the mailboxes together.  And then we went down to the Coffee Kiosk and paid way too much for Bambinoccinos, but it's okay, because it was fun.  And then she gave me a little dish of Marshmallow Salad from the Little Kid Grocery, because she knows I really like it!  How about that?!

Maybe it was just a Valentine's Day armistice, Friends.  But I kind of liked talking to Pidgie.  It kind of turns out that we like a lot of the same things, besides both of us not really caring much for Sour Girl.  Who knows?  Pidgie and I might be friends, or we might be frenemies.  I think we both found out we're not as bad as each other thought.  One day at a time.  Baby steps.

What I do know is that no matter whether people like their Valentines I gave 'em today, or whether or not they think my Valentine's Mailbox looks stupid, or if they think my sweater and its fake flower are contributing to global warming, at least everything I do today is from my heart.  It's from my heart pretty much every day.  Pidgie and I talked about that in the elevator.  And if ya do something from the heart, you can be happy and at peace with your own self, and if somebody doesn't like ya, that's just on them.

Well, everything I do today, I do from my heart, no matter how people like it!  So I win!

So, Friends, this is my Valentine from the Heart to you:  Happy Valentines Day!  Thank you for bein' a pal to me, every day.  Thank you for puttin' wind in my sails.  Thank you for stoppin' in to see me and read my words, silly as they can be sometimes.

I know I say it all the time, but I mean it:  I love ya lots, Friends!  I really do!

And I'll see ya tomorrow. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  Muah!