Love Memories

It's one week until Valentine's Day. Although sometimes I let celebratory days come and go without celebrating; I find I'm happiest when I make an ordinary day a little more extraordinary.

Sometimes, we're busy with life and then, at the last minute, we settle for an okay celebration. We can make Valentine's Day or a love anniversary more memorable with a little planning. We can also look at Valentine's Day, which may not be as important to us, as a stepping stone towards a bigger anniversary celebration.

I'd like to share some ideas on how to use our memories for more meaningful celebrations. We can then capture memories we make in the present that we'll enjoy in the future. 

Photos

Many of us feel overwhelmed by our photo collection. A great way to take a small bite out of the overwhelming project of organizing our photos is to focus on a theme when these opportunities to celebrate come up. We can use these special days as nudges to take a small step forward in preserving our memories.

Although I love looking back at memories; our happiness occurs in the present, so we want to focus on memories that enhance our present. We can start by looking back at past celebrations. 

• What have we loved in the past and may want to recreate? 
• What are our favourite activities and foods? 
• What do we care the most about? 

We have tools to help make looking back easier. We can look at 

• our photos from past Valentine's Days
• calendars (do we have restaurant reservations or travel plans?)
• old bills or budgets (what stores or places did we spend in February?)

On an iPhone (and possibly other phones), if you search Valentine and then scroll down, past categories like "Photos", "Text Found in Photos", "Moments" or "Albums"; it shows "Dates". By clicking on "Valentine's Day", we can see photos taken on February 14th over the years.

When looking at these photos, we can put hearts or stars to rate our favourites or copy our favourites into a specialized folder or album.

On Valentine's Day, we can see memories using the TimeHop app that shows all photos and social media posts from that day when we link it to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

To see Facebook posts at any time, we can search our profile for keywords like Valentine; or by date (year and month), but this is more time consuming that doing it on Valentine's Day using the TimeHop app. I used to take screen captures of my favourite TimeHop memories so that they would be in my photos to look at any time.

Celebrations

When looking back at past celebrations:

• Which ones make you feel the happiest? 
• Do you prefer celebrations out or at home? 
• Do you prefer to splurge or spend mindfully?

We can recreate experiences or "recycle" them by returning to a restaurant or place we've been; or we can upcycle by adding something more extravagant or meaningful. Perhaps when we were younger, we didn't have the money for the full experience but now we could do it properly. For example, we used to go to fancy restaurants for a cheaper lunch rather than dinner or we would find a local place or cook foods from a place we've travelled to. Perhaps we've rushed a celebration in the past that we can upcycle by making it more meaningful with more thought and planning.

Cards

I love using photos to make greeting cards. Sometimes I print them and give paper copies and other times, I email or text a digital copy. I enjoy the creativity in creating my own cards, but the more important bonus is that I am spending time with my memories to find the photo(s) I want to use. By scrolling or searching through my photos, I am reminded of the stories and memories which helps me to remember. 

I love the BeCasso app that offers artistic filters to edit photos to make them look like a watercolour, a cartoon, pencil drawing or in the style of famous artists. I use the edited photos to make cards. I also use Creative Memories digital paper and decorations to create digital and printed cards using Pages or Canva. 

Food

Food and decorations are also important to me. I enjoy making heart-shaped cookies, cakes and pizzas. I love using love-themed dishes, mugs and glasses on Valentine's Day. It helps that I looove hearts. 

I store my heart-themed and past Valentine's cards (inside a box decorated with hearts) in a storage box that I open in February. When I open it, I'm surprised and excited to see my special items again and it reminds me of how happy I am when I celebrate! I love staying in on Valentine's Day to enjoy my memorabilia, but it's also special to go out.

We were on a family holiday one year and we enjoyed a special meal at the French restaurant of the resort.

We've been lucky to have had a few amazing trips that included Valentine's Day; looking back at these memories brings me happiness and hope that we'll plan future holidays in mid-February.

My husband and I have surprisingly, also been apart quite a few times on Valentine's Day. I would joke that it's Valentine's Day every day; so it's not a problem if we're not together celebrating on the actual day. Even when he's away, I enjoy celebrating with heart-shaped ravioli with lobster, a heart napkin and heart confetti. 

Many specialty grocery stores sell heart-shaped ravioli in February and this is a favourite tradition for me. The local shop in midtown Toronto I used to get it closed a few years ago. Last year, I bought some at Continental Noodles on Valentine's Day (feeling very lucky they still had stock). I searched early this year to compare and found some at Pusateri's, Summerhill Market and Pascale's Gourmet. 

I normally try to find special wine, whether it's a quality one that we love or finding a heart on a label or the word love that makes me purchase it for the label appreciation.

Most of these are not available now, but sometimes it's the search and then the find that is exciting; rather than just buying one I've had before. Sometimes, I see one in the summer or fall that I save for Valentine's Day. I haven't found my Valentine wine for this year yet. I'm looking forward to the search and if I don't find one, we have some special wines with meaningful stories we've been saving for a special occasion.

Music & Entertainment

Music is a big part of my life. On Valentine's Day, I enjoy listening to a smart playlist I created in iTunes/Apple Music of songs that contain the word love or heart (it's a fast and easy although imperfect playlist that also includes breakup or irrelevant songs). 

• Send my love (to your new lover) by Adele
• Horseshoe in my glove by Embrace
• Every Day I Love You Less and Less by Kaiser Chiefs
• Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2

My playlist is almost 24 hours long so I can't listen to it all, but I put it on shuffle and see what comes up. I also have a favourite love songs playlist that is more curated than a smart playlist. It takes more time to create it, but it's a work in progress. I add to it when I hear a song I feel belongs in it.

Sometimes we enjoy watching a Valentine-themed movie like Valentine's Day, An Affair To Remember, Sleepless in Seattle or shows like A Charlie Brown Valentine. Back in the day, our favourite shows would have holiday themes. Now that seasons are on streaming services, my daughter would find these episodes to watch on Thanksgiving or Christmas. This Valentine's Day, I'll watch one of these episodes:

• Friends “The One With the Candy Hearts” (Season 1, Episode 14)
• Grey's Anatomy "All You Need Is Love" (2012)
• Downton Abbey (Season 4, Episode 1)

Check out this Wikipedia page that lists all kinds of Valentine's Day television specials to find your favourite family, drama, horror, reality or sitcom episode.

Most importantly, on Valentine's Day, I love looking back at our photos and videos; reading old Valentine's cards; baking and cooking special treats and enjoying making new memories while enjoying the older ones.