I happen to be spending Valentine’s Day sick in bed, which is fine, as I tend to dislike holidays. That said, I do like love letters, and chocolate, and a bit of bubbly, and jewels, and so maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t all that bad.

Here is a brief list of things I love all year round.

To Eat:
I had a party on Sunday night for the Riverhead rerelease of Other People We Married, and my homegirls at Ovenly made all the cookies and snacks. People were stuffing their pockets on their way out the door. My favorites are the chocolate truffle cookies and the insanely delicious blondies.  My mother took the above photo of my father and me at the party. Snacks not pictured but recently consumed.

To Read:
I haven’t started it yet, but P.D. James’ new book, Death Comes to Pemberly, sounds like the greatest thing ever, good enough even to make me forget the embarrassing and distasteful Pride + Prejudice + Zombies. Perish the thought.

Another must-read (especially on days when the world outside is a bit dim and dull) is Lux Lotus, my friend Lauren Cerand’s blog. I hate to use the word blog to describe it, because that makes it sounds both ugly and internet-y, when it is in fact the opposite. Lauren makes luxury seem like her due, and as a faithful reader, like it’s mine as well. I could never leave the house again and be perfectly content with her descriptions of the outside universe.

To Wear:
When I dress up, I usually start with my head. I don’t know how to do anything fancy with my hair, which is why discovering Ban.do was such a godsend. I now have three hatboxes full. Wearing their fun, froufy things always puts me in a good mood.

To Watch:
At 7am this morning, I was wide awake and in need of some beauty. As luck would have it, Netflix has The September Issue on instant watch, and so watch I did. In my next life, I would like to be Grace Coddington.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Go buy yourself some gorgeous flowers and a fancy chocolate bar.

love
Emma