Otters – Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs..

Valentine’s Day. A holiday I have really begun to embrace as a midwinter pick me up, more than a romantic holiday. A day that I can celebrate anyone that I love, from my spouse to my child to family to friends – or even myself honestly. And truth be told, Billy and I rarely celebrate this with big gifts for each other or big nights out (even pre-pandemic!) I do like to pick up little trinkets and cards here and there for people though, as I think we all need a little lift in February. And making people happy makes me happy too!

Sending cards snail mail is on my mind this year. I signed Wyatt up for a Valentine Card exchange with other homeschool families and we are going to start making his this weekend. And that got me thinking.. I think this year I will pick up a few for my friends, and drop them off ninja style on their porches with a bottle of wine. I started browsing Etsy, my go to for all things, and found more cards than I have friends! And of course I looked for cards for Billy while I was at it. I did find so many other cards but shipping was a concern – some places wanted four or five dollars to ship a four or five dollar card and that is not within the amount I wanted to spend. However, I did find cards with shipping costs I could get down with.

(Contains Etsy Affiliate Links)

Fierce Creature Card from Firebrand Press || Woodland Fox Card from Firebrand Press || Toadally Awesome Card from Callam Creations

But since today is a snow day and I have plenty of time to just play around on the interwebs, I did. And so many things caught my eye! Pretty things, useful things, cute things, pink things, even some strange things, for Valentine’s Day. Things for me, for Billy, for the kiddos, for my friends…I guess I am feeling the love this year.

Ghost Friends Bag: This cracked me up. I don’t wear much make up so I don’t need a makeup bag personally, but I love bags like this for travelling and also for keeping all of my pens and stuff in. I feel like one can never go wrong with a bag, and this one is hilarious.

Star Coasters: Just because they are so pretty! (my husband calls me a magpie, which is why my previous blog was called Quixotic Magpie)

I am, I am, I am pin: I know Valentine’s Day and Syliva Plath don’t exactly go hand in hand. But let’s all listen to the brag of our hearts and remember how alive we are.

Mosaic Heart Earrings: I love the colors and how the pieces all come together in a crazy little pattern and hold there – like friendships.

Good Things Are Coming: Sometimes we all need a reminder.

Handmade Basket: My stepmom has been giving me handmade artisan baskets every Christmas and now I am addicted. This one is so pretty! I can imagine filling it with small jars of berry jams and gifting it to a friend – with a loaf of homemade bread for a little extra love.

Valentine Mice: These are just too darn cute! And you have your choice of getting one mouse or two!

Personalized Hot Chocolate Mug: I think I saw on Jinjer’s blog the idea of having a special hot chocolate mug, and thought it was so fun!

Somehow, some way, otters have come to represent our family and also our marriage. Lol. So of course I looked at otter stuff.

Otter t-shirt: This is one tough looking otter.

Otter keychain: Um, just adorable!

Otter bracelet: I can’t help but love this.

And phew this was a lot! But it was just so much cuteness and cheerfulness, I had to share, especially on such a cold and snowy day – at least here it is cold and snowy! I hope where you are you are safe and happy!

Valentine’s Day began with pancakes. Heart shaped pancakes with whipped cream and M&Ms, to be exact. It was a cold cold morning, and these pancakes warmed up Wyatt’s little belly while Billy and I drank tons of coffee, which was needed to keep up with our sugared up kiddo. Billy and I decided to be a little silly this year and do a theme for gifts. We don’t even usually do gifts, but this year we are celebrating everything we can. I am going to share what we got each other at the end of this post, but let me tell you our theme…

Our theme? Otters. A little unusual, but perfect for our nature loving family. And otters, while actually sort of vicious little creatures, also do something so sweet and cute – hold hands while they sleep so they don’t drift apart. And I love that so much. So, because we were all about the otters this Valentine’s Day, we had to go to the zoo and see them!

It was very cold – like 20 degrees- but sunny with blue skies, and we bundled up in many layers before hitting the road. I was still a little nervous but I wanted to go. Our plan was that if it was too cold, then we would just head home. We have a membership, since we go so often, and I love it. We feel so much more freedom with a membership, and feel we can enjoy the zoo without feeling pressured to get it all done in one day. We can just take our time and wander around, see what we want to see.

Anyway, the day was gorgeous and once we were in the sunshine, it didn’t feel that cold. I won’t share too many photos of our zoo trip, as most did not turn out, but the day was amazing. We were only there about an hour but it was perfect. We pretty much had the zoo to ourselves, most of the animals were out sunning themselves, and we had so much fun. Our first stop was the otters – who was laying in the sun enjoying himself. (or herself, I don’t really know) We ended up seeing the red pandas, the tigers, the camels, and the arctic foxes before packing it in for the morning, but it was just enough time. We had wanted to see the wolves but they are all the way in the back and we decided we would come back and see them soon.

We stopped for chicken nuggets and fries on the way home since we are fancy, and ate them in the car on the way to my mom’s. I had a few things for her, including Wyatt’s homemade Valentine.

After chatting with my mom a bit we headed home and just chilled out. Later we ordered pizza for dinner and Billy and I got a chance to use our Valentine’s gifts to each other – matching otter glasses – a whiskey glass for him (although he had cider in his that night), a wine glass for me. They are adorable! We had read Wyatt his book before we went, but we read it again – Together by Emma Dodd. Also adorable.