I’m not really into the traditional U.S. concepts of what Valentine’s Day is. Moreover, I’m not really into the concepts of what expected gifts should be. Things like Hallmark cards, a box of chocolates – to me – don’t describe an act of affection, but an act of, well, prepackaged holiday tradition (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Traditional just really isn’t my style. I like to make things, do something that describes an earnest feeling, and might recount history shared between two people.

However, there was a bit of dilemma in that this year: my girlfriend is not from the United States. She is here to learn about the United States. And to completely deviate from tradition too greatly probably wasn’t going to be the best option. Furthermore, I completely ran out of enough time and resources to do what I wanted to do (make a 15-20 minute animated short).

So, Plan B (which I realise the hazard in posting this, as she could see it and realise it was, in fact, Plan B that she received). What was Plan B? Plan B was a hand-crafted (or at best, a more thoughtful version of prepackaged traditions) version of V-Day. I hand made four cards that would have anecdotes or personal stories that might only make sense to the two of us, purchased artisan chocolates that had special meaning between the two of us, and cooked her dinner.

Upon request, here is a bit of the process:

Yes, I still use pen and paper to draft out everything...even processes.

(more…)