Happy Valentine’s Day to you ALL! I think we all (myself included) tend to miss the real meaning of this overly festive and happy hearted holiday. love may be super cheese-ified today, but through my years (all seventeen and a half of them) I have learned a few things about the four letter word, and that most of the time it isn’t as out in the open-here-is-a-handwritten-card-professing-my-love-for-you kinda way. love is secret a lot of the time.

love is saying good morning to your friends in the hallways at school when it’s pretty certain both of you are still asleep.

love is not dropping TOO many death glares on your sister when she steals the shirt you bought for the thousandth time. or maybe love is her stealing the shirt, mimicking IS a form of flattery.

love is car rides home from school with your buds and realizing how lucky you are to have the friends you do.

love is the car in front of you paying for your Starbucks (i have a certain crazy knack of good luck with this one I am not complaining about one bit)

love is your mom waking up before you and having breakfast and coffee ready for you before school…even when you gave up coffee for Lent…she proceeded to make me tea which is also pretty loving.

love is simply smiling in the hallways. love life and it will love you right back. that quote has driven so much of my personality and mentality these past few years, and my grandma wrote me a letter for my senior retreat and ironically said the same exact quote had always reminded her of me. not only was the conscience insanely amazing, but i think it really proves how great the phrase is. you get what you give, so give the world a WHOLE lot of love.

it is SO easy to get caught up in the day to day routine, especially with work and school, that we forget to sit back and truly just love life and the things and people in it. don’t forget to TELL the people you love that you love them, trust me they won’t discourage it. life is crazy cool and we are insanely blessed to be living it. so how do you LOVE LIFE exactly? seize opportunity. if you want to do something, do it. live in the moment, don’t plan too far into the future when you can be living in the now with the people around you. love yourself. don’t forget how insanely special you are and how much other people appreciate you. it makes loving others a whole lot easier.

so take the little love notes i’ve preached today and show them to the world.

let’s all learn to love love.

xoxo, Ally