I’m in the Mood for Love

Photo by Instagram user @daleni01

It’s Valentine’s Day again.

For many single people, that’s a source of much grumbling. But not for me.

I may not have somebody to love, but that doesn’t mean I’m not showing love today. (Or, you know, canceling the day entirely.)

In fact, I’ll be showing love to my favorite things all day long. That’s how I prefer to spend my Valentine’s Day: Eating the foods I love, spending time with people I love, doing things I love, going places I love, and so on. (Really, it’s just another way of loving the one I’m with.)

Every year, I compile a list of the people, places, and things I love. What’s on that list this year? Here’s your answer:

• Working again

• Date nights with my niece

• Jennifer Lawrence in that scene in American Hustle when she’s maniacally singing along to “Live and Let Die” while cleaning the house

• The homemade potato chips at Johnny’s Luncheonette

• Boston, even in the winter. It’s my home.

• That live recordings (both legal and not so much), photos, YouTube videos, and blog posts make me feel like I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen in concert so much more recently than 18 months ago

• Cookie Dough Pancakes at In a Pickle

• Listening to my nephews talk

• Jenny Dell, though I don’t love that I’ll be seeing less of her this baseball season

• That Jamie Cullum is touring the U.S. again this year, and I have tickets to see him when he comes to Boston

• The thought of seeing a bunch of my friends in Los Angeles this summer

• Senator Cory Booker, for fighting on behalf of all those who are still looking for work, and for being an active tweeter (who replies to me)

• Delicious, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies at work every day (two for $1.25)

• That somehow, I went down a pant size over the past year

• John Mayer’s two most recent albums

• People who have a positive attitude

• My new upstairs neighbor, who is much more normal than my previous one was

• Jebediah Atkinson’s review of Christmas specials

• Great photographers on Instagram, the kind who don’t clog up my stream with candids and reposts (@daleni01, for example. She took the photo that accompanies this post.)

• Inside Llewyn Davis

• Snow days

• The message of the song “A Life That’s Good”

• Friday morning commutes (relative to other days, that is)

• This playlist

Suffice it to say, I have a lot of love to give. Today, I’m giving it to these people, places, things … and more.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Who and what are YOU showing love to today? Please share your thoughts in the comments field below.