I’m ALIVE!  Not only did I get through the presentation without a hitch, (well, except for having two of my charts completely backwards, but no one noticed), my boss’s boss said “nice job” and asked me to repeat the presentation at the company-wide meeting next month! Which is a good thing, even if I’d rather be hung by my freshly-painted Red-Hot-to-Trot toenails over a flaming pit of angry bears. At least now I can shift my focus back to my love-life and Valentine’s Day preparations. Work-shmirk.

Of course, the best way to truly prepare for Valentine’s Day is to have your best friend Tots over to review every single piece of clothing you own, so that’s just what I did.

“You’ve got to wear red,” she said, “that’s a given.”

“Of course,” I said, indicating my newly arrived, most decidedly and devilishly red Colette bralet and boythong set.

Tots approved, but said that I had to wear red over my underpinnings as well. I thought that might be a little too cliché, but she insisted. “The whole holiday is one big cliché! That’s the fun of it! The candy, the flowers, the candlelight dinner. You want to look like the personification of Valentine’s Day itself!”

“I do?” I asked?

“You do.” She confirmed. And suddenly, I agreed. After all, Tots has been married for two whole years, so she obviously knew something about finding and keeping Mr. Right. Plus, I couldn’t help but think Sophia would look all washed out in red. While I, on the other hand, would look like, well, just like Tots said—the personification of Valentine’s Day itself!