Tag: valentines day

Happy Valentine’s Day 2020

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Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. We recently had Valentine’s Day and I continued my tradition of making my personalized valentine with the help from my amazing graphic designer friend Joan at bitsy creations. Her website is amazing and you should totally check it out for all your custom design products and needs.

So here is the valentine for this year:

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I went with this design because one of my most anticipated movies of the year is Wonder Woman 84 and so my avatar wearing her outfit seemed to sum up the moment in time for me. I loved the first Wonder Woman so I hope so much that this sequel lives up to the hype.

Plus I love how bright and cheerful it is. I do have so many wonderful people in my life and I hope they all know how much I love them. I love the background we came up with and the red heart balloon is so cute. I just love it!

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day even if, like me, you didn’t have a love to share it with. Maybe sometime that will happen and maybe it won’t. However, we can be happy now for the good we do have and the blessings showered upon us by the Lord. I am most grateful.

Sure love you all!

Rachel

Movie Munchies: Ratatouille

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Today I get to present to you the 2nd episode in my Movie Munchies series.  Just in time for Valentines Day Jacqueline and I make the french dish ratatouille and talk about- you guessed it- Pixar’s Ratatouille!  These videos were a huge challenge for me so I would love your feedback.  We plan to do a couple a month so if you have ideas for good movie/recipe combinations please put in the comments sections.

Also if you try the recipe let me know what you think.  It’s a very versatile dish that you can use as a main dish or side.  Very tasty.

Thanks so much for your feedback and help!

Recipe:
1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes
1 large eggplant (1 pound), cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large yellow onions (1 pound total), diced large
1 head garlic, cloves smashed and peeled
2 bell peppers (any color), seeded and diced large
2 large zucchini (1 pound total), diced large
1 lb mushrooms
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon oregano leaves
2 to 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

Salt the eggplant and squeeze out as much moisture as you can. Saute peppers, onions and garlic till translucent.  Add eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms and get some color.  Add tomatoes and then let stew on medium low heat as long as you can.  Serve as a topping for pasta or a side with meat.

2016 Valentine

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Hi everyone!  Happy Valentines Day!  I have a tradition of designing custom valentines each year.  It’s my way of embracing the holiday.  You can see some of my previous cards here

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And introducing this year’s valentine!

Rachel_Valentine2016I hope you all have a great day and know how much I love you!  Thank you for all your support over the years.

Friday 5: Favorite Love Songs

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Hi guys!  I just wanted to share with you my latest Friday 5 video.  This week’s topic is favorite love songs and I have done 6 songs, so you get a bonus!  I wanted to share with my youtube audience my 2016 valentine, which I will post here on Valentines Day.  Consider this a sneak peak.

What do you think of my picks? and What are some of your favorite love songs?

I hope you guys have a great Valentines weekend and feel lots of love.

Busy Valentines Day

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ValentineHappy Valentines Day!  I hope you all had a happy time either with people you love or thinking about the many blessings God has given you.  We are all richly blessed and if nothing else I love every person reading these words (it’s really true!).

I had an interesting experience today.  Valentines can be a little bit hard for us single folk who are without a valentine in their life.  Yes, yes, I know lots of couples don’t celebrate Valentines including my own parents.  However, at least you know if you were going to celebrate it you have someone to do it with.  As far as my life companion I haven’t found him yet.  He’s still hiding (come out! come out! Where ever you are!).

Mothers Day is actually the hardest holiday for me because I feel like I am not fulfilling my spiritual calling and purpose for being a woman not having a family.  It is all laid on so thick on Mothers Day that typically I do not go to church.  The Mothers deserve having their day but it is just too painful for me.

Valentines Day I have a tradition of designing my own valentine and this year was no exception.  This helps me have fun with the holiday and focus on my many blessings.

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But an interesting thing happened today. I haven’t been feeling well and been sleeping even worse lately. This has made it hard to get everything done including keeping up both blogs and my youtube channel. I ended up going 10 days without a video. Yikes! I had filmed 2 but the sound didn’t work so they had to be discarded. Then today I decided to make up for lost time and filmed 6 different videos and because of audio and other problems I had to film them each 3 times!!! I ended up working on videos for 11 hours!

Here’s how they all turned out.

This is a really fun one with my Top 10 Romantic Comedies (just in time for Valentines Day!).

This one gave me my first youtube crying moment! It’s a very special movie Song of the Sea. Read my review on the blog as well. http://wp.me/p4VRGy-13p

And then some unboxings

They aren’t perfect videos but I’m proud of them especially the movie posts.  I’ve certainly come a long way in the last year and will continue to improve.

But the interesting thing about making the videos is it took all day.  All of the sudden it was 10 pm and I finished my videos and sat back exhausted and happy.  It is probably the happiest I have been on Valentines Day in a long time.  It made me realize while we are often overbusy in this world there are moments where that comes in handy!  Where the best thing you can do is put your head down and get lost in creating something.  Forget about your problems, fears, anxieties and loneliness and just work hard on something you love.

In that sense making silly videos that probably not many people will see is quite powerful.  It made me happy and if I’m lucky it might make a few other people happy who get to see them.  I got a tweet from Song of the Sea director and creator Tomm Moore today thanking me for my review.  That made me feel like a million bucks!

tweetThat’s the Valentine I needed. It reminds me of President Hinckley’s Dad saying “forget yourself and go to work”.  Isn’t it the truth!

I hope you all had a great day too.  Sure love ya!

Being Single on Valentines Day

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Just wanted to share this video I made with you my awesome readers.  I made it to try and conquer the challenge that is being single on valentines day.  Please share it with those that find themselves in a similar spot and could use it.  Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines 2013

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Happy Love Day!!!  Today is Valentines Day as everyone knows.  I hope you are all happy and feeling loved this day.  As a single woman it is easy to feel down on couply days like Valentines (made up holiday or not it can still be like salt in the wound).  Well, last year I decided to do something to make the holiday fun.  I created a valentine using my own creativity and the skills of my friend Joan who is a graphic designer.

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I had so much fun making my valentine last year that I decided to do one this year.  (I am woefully late in getting them mailed but at least I got them emailed and posted on facebook).  I enjoy being creative and coming up with expressions and a concept for a card.  Then I use Joan’s artistic skills to make my vision a reality.  Here’s what I came up with this year.

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And yes, that is me in the swimsuit.  Isn’t it cute?  I love it.  It just goes to show with a little creativity and ingenuity you can turn something negative into a positive.  Now it is become a little tradition for me and it took me almost no time and very little money.  Why not!

To get your own custom cards, stationary, plates, whatever check out Joan’s store at http://www.bitsycreations.com/

I hope you all have a great Valentines and I will try my best to have one too! ( I got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphys.  What’s not to like about that? Although is it slightly pathetic to eat a heart shaped pizza by yourself?  Sigh…)

Most importantly I hope you all feel loved.  Loved by your friends, by me, by most importantly God and Jesus.  They love us more than you will ever know.  God bless and Happy Valentines!

Romantic Comedies that are Actually Romantic

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I know I’ve been doing a lot of posts lately.  What can I say- I’ve just been in the mood!  As everyone knows Valentines Day is coming up next Monday.  Fake holiday or not, it does tend to bring a girl’s mind to the romantic. I’m too old for visions of knights in shining armor and long passionate kisses but still the idea of falling in love has its mystery.  It is the great unknown in life.  When will it happen?  Who will it be with?  Is he walking by me right now? Have I known him forever and not known it…

While I don’t believe in ‘the one’ or fate, I do believe that God directs us in our lives to what we need.  There may not be ‘the one’, but I don’t think there are 150 ‘just rights for Rachel’ running around. If there are, they certainly do a good job hiding themselves!

Anyway, today I spent a few minutes filling out valentines for my sisters and nieces (the real loves of my life!).  As I signed my name to Disney Princess cards I began thinking about romantic movies and books.  My internet friend Forest Hartman recently put out an interesting article (he’s a movie reviewer I follow) of “romantic comedies that are actually funny.”  The point of his list is that most movies prescribed as romantic comedies are more romantic dramas or at best straight romances.

While I agree with this basic point, I do not agree with most of his selections, which include many of the modern raunch-filled, hard-R movies such as Something Like Mary, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  I must confess to only seeing one of these movies, I did not find it funny or romantic.  I was too distracted by all the adult content. A movie doesn’t have to be PG rated, but I usually wish the adult content was left out.

If my humble opinion were taken into account a romantic movie should be funny but it should also be innocent and tender.  A true genius like Cary Grant knew how to build romantic tension while still keeping the characters likable and funny.  All the sex and foul language make characters less sympathetic and ruin the romantic tension.  What’s it all leading to if sex is already off the table? Getting married? I guess but that’s not as tense and funny?

I guess I am just too old-fashioned for modern romance but considering modern romance includes three movies last year where women went to sperm banks maybe that’s a good thing? To some it might sound crazy but I believe in a romance where a girl meets a guy, they fall in love, overcome struggles, stay morally clean, get married, and have a family.  Isn’t it a little scary that this notion sounds archaic?

I am willing to make some exceptions.  For instance, I love Juno but I feel like the character learns from her mistakes and finds love.  The movie certainly doesn’t treat sex and love as nothing.  I also liked the movie Last Chance Harvey which was more of a drama but about real people who fall in love because of common interests not from stupid bets, competitions, pratfalls, and meaningless sex?

Almost all of the romantic comedies I have seen in the last 10 years have been awful- and most of them starring Jennifer Lopez, Ashton Kutchor, Kathrine Hiegel, or Matthew Mcconaughey.  Why do I keep going you ask? Good question.  Most of the time I give into peer pressure, figuring I’d rather see a lame rom com then be alone.  Tough call? Lately I have seen much better romantic movies on lifetime and hallmark channel original movies!

The main point is these movies are not romantic.  They aren’t even sexy or exciting.  The characters usually hate each other and are hateful throughout the film and then we’re supposed to believe ‘poof ‘ they fall in love.  They are also put through ridiculous impediments to their love- mainly because the right impediment, chastity before marriage, is considered a joke.

So to borrow Forest’s title I’m going to suggest a list of ‘romantic comedies that are actually romantic. I sincerely tried to think of a few selections in the last decade but could only come up with two.  Most of them are much older. It is a great list.  I highly recommend ordering them on netflix now and enjoying them with your honey on Valentines Day.  What movies do you find romantic?

1. His Girl Friday- the rom-com that all others have been copying for 70 years.  The way to do snappy dialogue and opposites attract right.

2. Shop Around the Corner/ You’ve Got Mail (2 different movies, same plot, both wonderful)

3. When Harry Met Sally (this one does have a tiny bit of adult language) but great Nora Ephron dialogue.  I love her!

4. Talk of the Town- may be hard to find but worth the effort.  A philosophic romantic comedy! Can borrow from me if you want.

5. Bringing Up Baby- if you want a rom com that is super funny this is it.

6. Roman Holiday- perfect for Valentines. Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck in Rome- perfection!

7. Return to Me- a bit of a stretch as a comedy but has comedic moments and I love it. I also love that they manage to fall in love without her taking her shirt off to show her scar.  Most Hollywood movies would find such a notion unrealistic.

8. Clueless- hilarious. based on Jane Austen’s Emma! (Mostly funny for those who went to high school in my era.)

9. 500 Days of Summer- wildly creative, love the ending, a few adult moments.

10. Moonstruck- family, betrayal, anger, love, humor and opera- great script and good performance from Cher! Who’d a thunk it?

11. Juno- I have to do an 11. The dialogue is a bit glib but I love it.  I think it is funny and romantic and tender.

Happy Valentines Day!  I love you all!