4 Things I Love for Valentine's Day ❤️

I know Valentine's Day gets a bad rap, sometimes. But, personally, I have always loved Valentine's Day.

Single, in a relationship, I don't care - I love the cards and free candy and rom-coms and love in the air. I love it!

As a kid, my mom didn't let me buy store-bought Valentine's Day cards, and I remember coloring individualized cards for each of my classmates. I also remember spending a little extra time on my crush's cards and my bff's cards, and then rushing through the people I didn't like as much. I loved how unique my cards were compared to the typical Spongebob or Hannah Montana themed cards my classmates brought.

Anyways, I love Valentine's Day. The way I see it, you can't have too many reasons to tell the people you love that you love them. It can be romantic, or it can just be the amazing friends and family you have in your life. I encourage all you Valentine's Day haters to spend the day focusing on the ones you love, and maybe your perspective will start to change just a little bit.

What better way to celebrate than to share four things I love right now with all of you people?

1. Team Body Project Workouts

I honestly hate most workout videos on YouTube. I always get bored or lose interest halfway through, and I never end up finishing them if I'm alone and don't have someone else to motivate me. I'd much rather go to the gym or go for a walk or bike ride or hike outside than watch a screen and listen to some buff guy or gal scream at me.

But with the weather and the pandemic, outside and gym are pretty much out of the question for now. So, I discovered Team Body Project workouts on YouTube, and I'm obsessed. There's probably some psychological reason these videos work for me, but I don't know, I just really enjoy them! They have hundreds of videos on their YouTube channel, and all of their workouts are done entirely standing up and they have low-impact versions of every single exercise. I always start off thinking it's easy, and end up pouring sweat by the end. I have finished every single video I've watched, which is truly a feat for me. You have to give one of these a try if you're looking for a new way to work out safely at home.

2. This Recipe for Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Look, I'm not some crazed freak who's going to try to convert all your foods into cauliflower. Let's call it like it is, cauliflower rice is gross and weirdly textured. Cauliflower mashed potatoes?? What is that?? But cauliflower pizza, that's a trend I can get behind.

I can't take any credit for this recipe, my friend Emma gave me the basis for this recipe, but it was the perfect Super Bowl dinner recipe. I snagged some frozen cauliflower pizza crust from the store and crisped those up nicely in the oven first. I read online that it's more delicious if you make sure the crust gets crispy before adding toppings, and I would absolutely agree. I added tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperonis before popping the pizza back into the oven.

Once the cheese was fully melted, I took the pizza out of the oven and added arugula, goat cheese and hot honey (honey + crushed red pepper). *Chef's Kiss* This recipe was delicious and filling, I'll be making it again!

3. The Storygraph

I mentioned this briefly in a recent Instagram post, but I wanted to share a little more on the blog. The Storygraph is an alternative to Goodreads that I have become obsessed with ever since switching at the beginning of this year.

It has all the capabilities of Goodreads, and then some. You can easily track you reading progress, set goals and read reviews on books. It also has an awesome book recommendation tool that takes your reading preferences and provides constant recommendations for new things to read. As you read and review more books, it provides new recommendations based on what you've liked in the past. It's a great site, easy to use, and the best part is you can easily move all of your Goodreads data over with just a few clicks. Plus, it is an independently owned company created by Nadia Odunayo, so you're supporting a small business owner instead of a huge corporation like Amazon.

And, if I didn't emphasize it enough already, their book recommendations are seriously intuitive and incredible.

4. Playlists by Kasey Gelsomino

I stumbled across this girl on TikTok a few months ago, and I have to say she makes the most perfect playlists for my specific music taste. I've been in a music rut this past year, where I haven't really listened to anything new or discovered any new artists. Her playlists have really broken me out of that rut. They're full of songs I've loved forever and songs by artists I've never heard of before and everything in between.

She makes playlists for every mood, experience and vibe you can imagine. My favorites include "oat milk lattes in the mountains", "red wine on the seine" and "classic teen angst". I love a well put together playlist, and these are some of my favorites.

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Those are four things I've recently discovered that I'm loving right now. What's something you've discovered recently that you love? Leave a comment and let me know!

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Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day!