It’s a good thing they don’t ever have this song at karaoke bars. As in a good thing for humanity.

Is there a love song that perfectly resonates with your personality?

(video c/o YouTube)

There isn’t any concrete evidence of the archaic custom (save a line in the 17th century play The Maydes Metamorphosis), but according to various sources, Leap Day was seen (by the English) as a solution to “fix” a “problem” in the calendar and was deemed appropriate to also use to “fix” the unjust custom of the proposal as the man’s prerogative.

In 1288, the Queen of the Scots supposedly passed a law (she was five) requiring men who rejected a proposal to pay fines ranging from a kiss to a silk dress. On the proposer’s side of things, women with plans to snap up a mate were required to a red petticoat as “a fair warning,” according to the WSJ. Hilarious, right?

Well, if that didn’t make you chuckle, I hope you get a kick out of these postcards from the early 1900s:

That last one is my personal favorite.

Got any special Leap Day plans of your own? If that’s you, all of my admiration and good luck to you!

(images c/o Wikimedia Commons)

In one of my writing classes during undergrad, my professor read to us an excerpt from one of his essays on traveling, this one particularly about traveling alone. And one of the echoing themes he used was the distinction between his coined phrases “one alone” and “only lonely” — and there is a difference, isn’t there?

I remembered that reading because yesterday I came cross an NYT article weighing the pros and cons on the rapidly increasing number of Americans living alone as opposed to the previous norm of cohabitation.

The appeal of living alone, as pointed out in the article, is the liberation that comes with the territory. Like Kate Bolick says to NYT about her “white flax bloomers”:

“That would be the height of intimacy if someone saw [me in] those.”

It struck me that while I’ve experienced an unprecedented level of comfort with my current boyfriend (i.e. I fart and still feel the flaming burn of embarrassment afterward – kill me now), I’m positive there are things (“Secret Single Behavior”) I would do without him around.

Example: I would eat cereal for every meal of the day standing at the kitchen counter while watching television.

That’s what a lot of this website is all about, right? That moment when you realize, “I wouldn’t be okay doing this around anyone else.” Living alone is comfortable, but moving beyond comfort and learning to be your “single self” around another person might be worth the effort.

It’s my nature (and most people’s) to crave solitude at times so that I can do things like eat cake for breakfast, and yet, if I really thought about not having my partner available to me, I think I’d feel pretty lonely. Only lonely.

(image c/o Flickr via Creative Commons)

I readily admit, singing couples have the same effect on my musical-loving, dweeb self that this has on most of the population.

Here’s hoping for TayZac, ZacLor, LorZac? (You know, like Lorax.) They all kind of sound like a prescription pill. Maybe it’s just not meant to be.

(video c/o TheEllenShow via YouTube)

P.S. I promise this will not turn into a tweeny bopper fan site.

Trust me, it’s worth it. See you on Monday!

(image c/o John Fugelsang via NPR)

Head over to KUOW 94.9′s website to listen to Rob Elder talk about “It Was Love When” and sister site “It Was Over When”!

I honestly don’t ever expect spectacular things on Valentine’s Day (maybe one too many romcoms?), but it does feel special to me, even if it’s just a tingle in my toes.

I hope this gives you a little tingle, too:

Click on the card for a little surprise from me to you!

Also, this is a GREAT last-minute reminder that even if you weren’t planning on getting anything for the great people in your life, you can still send them an adorable digital card (I know, they exist?!) via email with Paperless Post.

It’s a currency-based invite/card service, but you get 100-something coins just for registering, which you have to do anyways.

Any Valentine’s plans? Tell me about it! And have an unforgettable Valentine’s Day!

There are so many Whitney Houston songs I never even realized I knew by heart because it was such a large part of my early childhood when she was in her heyday, and one Whitney moment I clearly remember is watching The Preacher’s Wife multiple times every year during the holiday season. I remember how warm and comfortable everything felt when I buried myself in a blanket to watch her on ABC Family. And I can never, ever forget her singing this song:

That voice! If you want more on the life of Whitney Houston, check out Biography‘s special on her life playing on Hulu.

Whitney, we miss you.

(video c/o YouTube)

I’ve been slowly (and I mean like two years slowly) making my way through Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, which is understandable since it’s basically a dictionary on the language/actions/history (or as Barthes would argue, a lack of one) of love. And many scholars would argue it’s the only one we’ll ever need. Interestingly enough, I never read anything by Barthes in undergrad and he was barely referenced, but now, I’m slowly becoming more and more of a Barthes fan-girl, or at the very least, I want to know more. His thoughts are definitely worth more than a pretty penny, and I now have Camera Lucida and The Pleasure of the Text lined up on my (extensive and not shrinking) reading list.

This excerpt, like many others I bookmarked, was great because I knew exactly what he was talking about and could name about fifty people off the top of my head that could empathize as well.

“I am the one who waits.”

The book! If you weren’t aware, the book-baby of this awesome site was recently released, and while we’re on the subject of Valentine’s gifts, perfect timing, right? (Yes, a little shameless self-promotion never hurt anyone.) Seriously though. If you’re looking for something sentimental and economical, it completely fits the bill.

Get it for yourself, your honey or your friends right here.