Oooh, or I could make her a necklace with some of the tumbled stones I've collected.

What a lovely idea!

And I'm all UP in the ire about diamonds and flowers. My Valentine's Day rant...as a former florist...peels paint off the walls.

The short form is, Friday will be NAG. National Acrimony and Guilt day...for all the folks who didn't express their 'love' 'correctly'. Makes my blood boil.

Relationships strained and even ruined by corporate borne expectations and institutionalized disappointment. It's all so sad.

Not to mention the wallet rape that is long stem red roses. Pretty, yes. Precious, no. Gassed within an inch of their lives to force growing so they end up dying 3 times faster AND costing 3 times more for 'premium' rates.

This, and wedding/funeral practices are pretty much at the top of the list for why I'm not still in that business.

t /crazed former florist

Maybe an online Mastermind group! I'd be totally up for coordinating that.

cool - though "Mastermind" has me picturing Dr. Evil... probably not what you were going for.

granted, d can have my $3.

Annoying people are annoying, no matter what they eat.

hah. This is so very true!

Relationships strained and even ruined by corporate borne expectations and institutionalized disappointment. It's all so sad.

Also making people not in relationships feel like lepers who will never find love.

I will be in Florida with Tom and my grandmother on Valentine's Day. I will maybe get her a card, if I can get to a card-selling place. Tom and I don't do Valentine's Day. President's Day though... *there's* a holiday!

Leaving for Florida today OMG I am so very excited, because it is so, so very cold and wintry mix is moving in tonight. Some ~ma that we are out of the area by the time that starts would be most appreciated!

Relationships strained and even ruined by corporate borne expectations and institutionalized disappointment. It's all so sad

Okay, I'm perennially single and my opinion maybe shouldn't mean much but I have to say if your relationship is ruined by Valentine's Day that maybe it wasn't meant to be in the first place.

cool - though "Mastermind" has me picturing Dr. Evil... probably not what you were going for.

We could all wear white nehru jackets!

Okay, no, that was not what I was going for, but I like the image.

The fact is, with hivemind questions and ~ma requests, Buffistas are a mastermind group of sorts.

An MM group can be more focused on specific individual's needs though. Here is a but ganked from a website:

There is synergy of energy, commitment, and excitement that participants bring to a Mastermind Group. The beauty of Mastermind Groups is that participants raise the bar by challenging each other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion. Mastermind participants act as catalysts for growth, devil’s advocates and supportive colleagues.

The concept of the Mastermind Group was formally introduced by Napoleon Hill in the early 1900's. In his timeless classic, "Think And Grow Rich" he wrote about the Mastermind principle as:

"The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony."

"No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind."

Oh. I was thinking of the board game with the little colored pegs.

Considering wholesale prices for longstemmed roses can go as low as TWENTY-FIVE CENTS PER ROSE (usually grown in Columbia) and the florists charge $75-$100 for a dozen delivered, there is something seriously wrong with the marketing of roses for VD.

Not that I don't think roses are beautiful--I love them, I just hate that they've gotten such a huge mark up for the holiday.

Okay, I'm perennially single and my opinion maybe shouldn't mean much but I have to say if your relationship is ruined by Valentine's Day that maybe it wasn't meant to be in the first place.

As a couple's therapist, I couldn't agree MORE...but the pressure and social expectations are immense. I'm forEVER trying to get people to see beyond the commercialism and to either not get caught up in it, or to create loving traditions of their own. But the temptation to fall in behind everyone else is so great that, if I told every couple who struggle with this kind of thing that they maybe shouldn't be in a relationship...I'd have NO clients and/or many, many otherwise okay relationships would desolve.

People just go along to get along too much of the time.

Ever met a perfectly sane woman who turns into Bridezilla and wrecks friendships? We've told stories here about that many times. Cultural expectations and entitlements are HUGE. Like borg sort of irrestistable to many, many people.

Oooh, or I could make her a necklace with some of the tumbled stones I've collected.

I think this. It's a lovely idea, and she would think of you every time she wore it.