Happy Valentine's Day! Celebrate without TACK!

Oh Valentine's Day... here you are again. People love you, people hate you, and yet you keep coming back. Obviously, there are some strong opinions about Valentine's Day out there. Plenty of Anti-V'Day parties both for singles and couples, but then again... I think I'll just wear a pink sweater and eat some conversation hearts for good measure.

Like any other holiday that involves the suggestion of gift giving, V'Day is often marked by some tacky behavior. I could write pages on how a fifteen dollar hot pink bear from CVS is a tacky gift, but instead I want to focus on something that came up twice in conversation about gift yesterday among my friends:

It is tacky for women to expect gifts of jewelry that their significant others can not afford.

In turn, it is very classy to accept small tokens now and build on that in the future of your relationship.

My conversations on this topic yesterday included a story of a girl telling their boyfriend to "get another credit card" to finance an engagement ring. Tacky. Then again, there is the couple who have a very modest engagement ring even though the girl's family have given her very expensive jewlery her whole life. Pretty classy.

So ladies, even if you have champagne taste, maybe remember what Valentine's Day is supposed to be about (candy and Hallmark Cards... I mean Love!!) and avoid the tack.

In honor of V'Day

I love love. In honor Valentine's Day (which will almost certainly provide much fodder for discussion here at OtoO), I thought I'd take a moment to write about one of the many possibilities for tacky when it comes to romantic moments.

I'm an absolute romantic who falls for cheesy lines every time. I think there is nothing more fun than walking around holding hands or having any of those other perfect moments of being in love. I think it's cute when you see old couples out on dates, and it always makes me smile to see the world happy and in love. (Okay, so maybe not right after a break up - but usually, I'm pretty romantic...).

HOWEVER - excessive PDA is TACKY TACKY TACKY. See above for descriptions of exhibiting your feelings of affection when in public. Holding hands, the occasional kiss (even the really serious kind), flirting - all okay.

But it crosses the line when I start to get a sense of how your sex life is. No one wants to see you GROPE your partner. No one wants to see tongue while you're kissing at a restaurant. I certainly do not want to hear you moan on public transportation.

Spread the love. NOT the tack.