Valentine’s Day – A Gift FOR the Heart

I do not love Valentine’s Day – let’s just get that out of the way right off the bat.  But, I will spare you all my little Valentine’s Day rant (you don’t know how lucky you all are!)

However, I do love a few other things (no, not just salt, caramel and chocolate).  I love Cinnamon Hearts.  Like… love them.  I can eat them until I burn a hole in my tongue.  They are a once a year treat and in my previous life (no, not reincarnation… just my old job), I used to be able to get my hands on a great big bag of the things every year.

I love red and white – the colour combination.  I like adding pink too and sometimes purple.  But mostly red and white.  It’s the Canadian in me or something I guess.  I went off of it for a while in high school and university when I had a job that required I wear a red and white uniform every day.  EVERY DAY. Well, ok, not every day – but 20 hours a week.  It felt like every day.

So, with my love of all that is red and white, and cinnamon hearts by the 900g bag, the birth of Cinnamon Heart Art began.  That’s right… art made out of cinnamon hearts – every Valentine’s Day.  Except this one.  I no longer have that job and no longer had access to the giant bag of hearts.  All I had this year was a little teeny tiny box of them, which I ate in one sitting while I read my book yesterday.

I also love my Dad. A lot.  And I am very glad that he is down the hall messing about on his computer right this minute.  And for that reason, I’d like to remind you all that February is Heart Awareness Month.  There’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little dark chocolate or a nice glass of red wine today, (anti-oxidants, my friends, anti-oxidants. hehe).

But maybe you could also do something nice for your heart and the hearts of the people you love today – to make sure they’re here next Valentine’s Day.

And perhaps, if it’s a cause as near and dear to you as it is me, you could find time some spare quarters to donate to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation or the American Heart Association or the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit or regular ICU of your local hospital.

And now, because I can’t stay sappy for more than 30 seconds at any given moment, here is my most popular piece of Cinnamon Heart Art.  In fact, it’s my most popular photo on flickr with well over 10,000 views and the one I get more requests to use than any other (and it’s not even a good photo! it’s horribly out of focus!). That’s right… lol… broken hearts crushed to pieces.  (I mentioned somewhere that my sense of humor is a bit warped, right?)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, whatever you think of it!