We celebrated Valentine’s Day as a family on Wednesday since that’s when everyone was around for family dinner. The three younger kids got Squishmallows and a little toy (lip gloss for the 13-year-old) and the bigger boys got candy and (for the 15-year-old) a cherry blossom Lego set. We’re hoping to get to Japan during cherry blossom season one of these years…

The kids are off Friday and Monday for President’s Day. There will be a Disney on Ice trip this weekend and my husband and I will go out for dinner one night. My husband will also be taking the 17-year-old to go visit a few colleges. The kids have various things including a sleepover and a lifesaving class. My choir is doing a world premiere of a Kim André Arnesen piece. I’m gearing myself up to start doing edits on the manuscript of Big Time (my next book). I pasted all the individual chapters into one document so now I am staring that down. It’s a little daunting. But it will eventually be done and out in the world, as I was reminded yesterday when I was in the Penn bookstore waiting for my 17-year-old (who was at an activity). There were two previous books of mine on the shelf. I’ve done this before. I will do it again!

In the meantime, some shorter content. Over at Vanderhacks I’m celebrating Valentine’s Day with a post on “How to make anyone more lovable.” I suggested people “Plan for work overflow.” If you know when you’ll log some extra hours when necessary, a busy season can feel less overwhelming.

Before Breakfast covered the topic of why we should “Memorize important information.” It’s probably good to know at least a few people’s phone numbers by heart! For the Wednesday (longer) episode, I interviewed the wonderful Dana K. White about organization for the rest of us. Please check that out.

Listeners share (anonymous!) tips on how they make time in their lives for romance and intimacy. Since Sarah and I are not anonymous we don’t get too personal here, but we do talk about whether we actually celebrate Valentine’s Day or not (this year I decided to purchase fun gifts for my kids…I mean hey — we all need a little midwinter levity).

In the Q&A we address a listener question: Is there a male equivalent of BOBW? We’d love suggestions of podcasts with a similar vibe!

Please give the episode a listen. As always we welcome ratings and reviews, and please consider joining us in our Patreon community. Our monthly meet-up will be next week, where we discuss our “Adventure Project.”

But “less available” doesn’t mean “completely unavailable.” I’ve been emphasizing the idea of continuing to plan one big adventure and one little adventure into every week. Another way to make time more memorable? Add an element of whimsy — which might be doable, whatever else is.

Whimsy is defined as “playfully quaint or fanciful behavior or humor.” I think the playful part is key.

So on Valentine’s Day, we had pink, heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Continuing with this theme, we got tickets for the Franklin Institute in the afternoon and walked through the giant heart. During normal times, the route through this two-story model is claustrophobic, but with strict museum attendance limits and a traffic-light system, it was a far more enjoyable experience. And now we remember, “oh yes, on Valentine’s Day, we walked through a giant heart…”

I’ve been pondering future ideas for adding whimsy to the calendar. Funny breakfasts are always good — as is having breakfast for dinner if that’s not something you do frequently. We ate at a buffet once where bananas had been shaped into dolphins with blueberry eyes. Online, I saw the suggestion of painting your nails a fun color. I’d start with toenails, but with so many people working from home, maybe fingernails could go green for Saint Patrick’s Day or some such. Coffee might be more fun in a purposefully silly mug. I like the idea of Zoom scavenger hunts where people go and find “something that makes you smile” or “something older than you are.” A walk in the woods can become a scavenger hunt too (find something yellow…pretty hard in winter!). Put a garden gnome outside the window you see while working from home. Then move it around or assign others to move it. Matching family pajamas or matching silly slippers (easier to wear all day) can qualify as whimsical. A MadLib or two gets at the same silliness. Sometimes acrostic poems can too (bonus: really easy to write). Blow bubbles in winter. One study investigating the effects of whimsy had participants eat popcorn with chopsticks. Turns out they enjoyed it more!

In any case, the point is to think up something a little different than the norm, or something a little silly. Whimsy doesn’t change much, but it doesn’t need to. Anything out of the ordinary stands out.

What elements of whimsy have you added to your life?