February arrived in Cyprus with a huge grin and gorgeous sunny days. I could almost smell Spring in the cool breeze coming from the sea, flirting with my veranda throughout the weekend and spoiling us with mild temperatures rising to 20 degrees celsius on the coast. But just about as I was starting to consider getting rid of coats, boots and umbrellas, today's stormy weather made me have second thoughts. February in Cyprus is a moody month. It will drift along lazily with its moods...on a whim. Now it's sunny, now it isn't!
Larnaca Medieval Castle
Mosfiloti
Mosfiloti - Larnaca
Regardless of its moody attitude, February is one of my most favourite months. Its birthstone is the amethyst which symbolises piety, humility, spiritual wisdom and sincerity. Its main zodiac sign is Aquarius like my husband whose birthday is on February 17. It's an unfortunate coincidence that this year his birthday is on the same day as the Presidential Elections. We'll vote and then celebrate over lunch for a change in order to watch the results of our Presidential Elections in the evening.
Alkis's 60th Birthday
Valentine's Day 2010
February is also the month which celebrates Love. Just like we celebrate Christmas,Easter, name days and birthdays on a special day, Love is celebrated on February 14th , Saint Valentine's Day.
I'm looking forward to yet another great Valentine's Day! How about you?
Alkis and I would usually spend Valentine's Day somewhere special. But this year we both had a long day at work, so we celebrated Saint Valentine's Day at home. After all, home is as special as any place can be.. It was 9:30 pm when I got back home from work. Alkis said he was starving but , nevertheless, greeted me with a red rose and a glass of champagne....despite the football match on TV - APOEL-LYON. As the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, I made my famous Beef Stroganof - Alkis's favourite dish! For starters, I made what I call "Love Nest" - a pastry pouch filled with French cheeses and smoked ham served with a great French red: Chateauneuf du Pape - Les Cadres. For dessert, we had some Valentine's Chocolate Heart bought at Zorbas Bakeries.
Many people don't believe in Valentine's Day but we do. Alkis and I believe that Love should be celebrated on a special day while enjoyed throughout the year - just like we shouldn't thank our loved ones on Thanksgiving Day only or thank God on Christmas Day only. Right? To me, love is turning an ordinary day into a party for two and celebrating it on a special day.
Both workwise and socially, it's been a very busy week which started on a bright note - Valentine's Day on Monday. I know I promised to cook a special dinner - I had thought of paté of duck liver terrine for starters and roast saddle of veal in cognac cream sauce with glazed shallots and pesto gnocchi. But due to work I didn't have time to cook, so we had an exotic meal delivered and a great greek red called "Vivlia Hora".
However, the highlight of the week was Alkis' 60th birthday - a milestone - which we celebrated just the two of us last night. A couple of weeks ago, I suggested throwing a big party, which wasn't such a great idea as we both had to get up early this morning. So, I surprised him with the traditional birthday cake which we devoured soon after a cosy and festive dinner out.
Tomorrow is the parents' evening - a cocktail party I organise for my students' parents during which we have time to talk about their children's performance and, of course, spend a pleasant evening together.
I am an incurably romantic person who believes that love is very important and deserves to be celebrated on a special day. Valentine's Day is an excuse to splurge a fancy dinner, eat chocolate to your heart's content and ....buy lingerie! It is also an occasion to say "I love you." I know that actions speak louder than words, but these three magical words can do wonders when spoken! Some of you hate the commercial side of Valentine's Day. But most of you celebrate Christmas or your birthday even though these days also have a materialistic side - organise parties, give and receive presents. We all expect presents at Christmas and on our birthday, so, why not expect presents on Valentine's Day? Not necessarily expensive presents. Valentine's Day is a also a great reminder that love should be celebrated every single day of the year because true love is timeless.
I'll love you and leave you with my most favourite love song - "Love on the Rocks" by Neil Diamond.
Love on the rocks Aint no surprise Just Pour me a drink And I'll tell you some lies Got nothing to lose So you just sing the blues all the time
Gave you my heart Gave you my soul You left me alone here With nothing to hold Yesterday's gone Now all I want is a smile
First, they say they want you They haven't really need you Suddenly you find you're out there Walking in the storm And When they know they have you Then they really have you Nothing you can do or say You've got to leave, just get away We all know the song
You need what you need You can say what you want Not much you can do When the feeling is gone Maybe blue skies above But it's cool when your love's on the rocks
First, they say they want you They haven't really need you Suddenly you find you're out there Walking in the storm And When they know they have you Then they really have you Nothing you can do or say Youve got to leave, just get away We all know the song
Love on the rocks Aint no big surprise Jsut Pour me a drink And I'll tell you more lies Yesterday's gone And now all I want is a smile
Despite the cold , 6*C at 8:00 this morning, I set off to the gym in high spirits. Forty-five minutes of Body Attack (my favourite class) were more than enough to warm me up for the rest of the day. Now I understand why I hardly felt the cold in Vienna (-6*C). That's because I walked so much every day! Ah right! Most of you know that I hate cold weather but I did survive in Austria and really loved the snow, yet I am looking forward to our long, hot summer.
This said, let us not forget that every cloud has a silver lining....even in the very heart of winter. It's precisely because of this silver lining that I love February! I love Saint Valentine's Day ! I love the party, the spirit, the roses, the teddy bears - what a wonderful way to celebrate Love! Unfortunately, this February I am going to miss Valentine's Party because I finish work late on Mondays. But I may just as well plan a Valentine's lesson for my IGCSE kids - a short break after all the hard work would be more than welcome, I think.
Soon after Valentine's Day, it's Alkis' birthday and then parents' evening. I feel I owe my students'parents a special treat and an honest report on their children's performance. There's so much to look forward to in February. Most importantly, February is the last winter month. And somehow, in late February or early March, a swallow will herald Spring.
Love is All Around: Valentine's Day Interview with Susie Bright
Susie Bright is an author, editor, blogger, podcaster, performer, and lecturer on all matters of sex, sexuality, and erotica. And she's been an extremely popular TypePad blogger since 2004. Out of personal and professional interest, we asked her a few questions as we scramble get ready for Valentine's Day.
What makes Valentine's Day special? SB: It's a pre-Christian Holiday with such a dramatic history you can't help but throb and weep!
"In Rome in A.D. 270, Valentine had enraged the mad emperor Claudius II, who had issued an edict forbidding marriage. Claudius felt that married men made poor soldiers, because they were loath to leave their families for battle.
Valentine invited young lovers to come to him in secret, where he joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had the bishop brought to the palace.
The emperor attempted to convert him to the Roman gods. Valentine refused to renounce Christianity and imprudently attempted to convert the emperor. On February 24, 270, Valentine was clubbed, stoned, then beheaded.
But while Valentine was in prison awaiting execution, he fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer. Through his unswerving faith, he miraculously restored her sight. He signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that would live long after its author died."
Now is that romantic or what! How should people keep the sparks of Valentine's all year long?
SB: The traditional gifts of Valentine's tell you everything you need to know. Surprises that smell good, taste good, silky and sensual, declarations of affection, flirtations, and most of all, generosity of spirit.
I also think of Valentines as a family and children's holiday. There is nothing more fun that throwing a Valentine party for a bunch of scissor-and-glue-happy kids. —Of all ages!
What would you change about Valentine’s Day?
SB:The "swan/consumer" role model of romance. It's not a day for bitterness and comparisons. It's a hot pink 24 hours to embrace sensuality, let your freak flag fly, love for love's sake.
I also miss my mother's valentines, now that she's passed. She was the first one to ever "send" me a Valentine card and her exuberance was contagious...Never missed a year.
What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day story? SB: Erotic: Well you'll have to visit my blog for some of those stories.
Mommy/Baby: My daughter's mushy valentines to me, every year. She writes a poem, draws a picture of me, and I melt.
Parties: My friend Scottie throws a massive crafty Valentine Party each year, turning his whole house and garage into a Warholian Love Factory. It goes on all night; there are people welding outside and glue-gunning, water-coloring in the kitchen, glitter-spewing, collaging with old National Geographic's and National Enquirer's. You bring your own scissors and stuff to add to the 20-year supply closet. Love is All Around, baby!
OK, it’s last minute, and I don’t have anything for Valentine's. Help! What should I do!? SB: Two ideas:
1. I'm not a hardened cynic. Life is too short to poison it with cynicism.
2. It's a break from routine amidst gloomy February days.
3. It's a breath away from hubby's birthday!
4. We celebrate birthdays, name days, national days, anniversaries, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween..the list is endless. Why not love? After all no one can live without love!
5. I love teddy bears and red roses!
6. I love shopping the perfect gift for my Valentine ...such an agreeable occupation.
7. I look forward to a great aphrodisiac dinner!
8. People in love need a special day to celebrate as they're on the way to be extinct!
9. It's the time to say for the umpteenth time "I love you!" to the love of your life.
10. As my friend Laura said ....miracles can still happen on Valentine's Day!
This year, Alkis and I celebrated this beautiful day of Love with some of our closest friends.
We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Author Unknown
Love is missing someone whenever you're apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you're close in heart. ~Kay Knudsen
You learn to like someone when you find out what makes them laugh, but you can never truly love someone until you find out what makes them cry. ~Author Unknown
True love is when you put someone on a pedestal, and they fall - but you are there to catch them. ~Author Unknown
You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well. ~Author Unknown
Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. ~Author Unknown
I ran up the door, opened the stairs, said my pajamas and put on my prayers - turned off my bed, tumbled into my light, and all because he kissed me good-night! ~Author Unknown
Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold. ~Zelda Fitzgerald
If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden. ~Attributed to Claudia Ghandi
Are we not like two volumes of one book? ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense. ~Mark Overby
Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. ~William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Night's Dream, 1595
Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939, translated from French by Lewis Galantière
When love is not madness, it is not love. ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart. ~Author Unknown
For you see, each day I love you more Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow. ~Rosemonde Gerard
Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. ~Author Unknown
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