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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, February 12, 2015 | 36 Early bird suite sale! Chartwell's limited time promotion on new leases signed before February 28th for move in by March 31st! Call today to learn more. CHARTWELL.COM O Valentine's Day is getting too big for its britches nly a few more shopping days until Valentine's Day. Have you sweated bullets, chewed your ngernails to the quick, lost sleep, and burned a billion brain cells over the perfect gift for your sweetheart? Have you remortgaged the house -- or, at very least, taken out a big bank loan? Someone has to say it: Valentine's Day is getting too big for its britches. It's gone from humble to haughty -- `hey, look at me, I'm Valentine's Day' -- from simple and straight-forward to complex and convoluted. Seriously. Google "Valentine's Day" and the word you'll nd most associated with the day is not love, or romance (as the naive might have expected), but, rather... pressure. Yikes. Expectations have gone through the roof, not to mention the scope of the day. I just read an Ottawa newspaper report about all the activities the city's offering over Valentine's Week. When exactly did Valentine's Day morph into Valentine's Week? You know, once upon a time, lovers were happy receiving a card and a rm handshake for Valentine's Day. OK, maybe make that a card and a kiss, but you get the picture. Then a box of chocolates somehow snuck into the picture. Then owers. Then perfume. Eventually, fancy French underpants slinked onto the scene, followed closely by overpriced jewelry. The next thing you know, people are expecting sky-written declarations of love, plane tickets to Paris, invitations to Jet Ski to Fiji and swim with the dolphins, or ride white steeds across a pristine beach. No, wait, how about swimming with the dolphins whilst atop a white steed, or how about getting those darn dolphins up onto that pristine beach? Yeah, let's just keep on upping the ante. Honestly, how did something so sweet and simple become so sour and complicated? Of course, level-headed people know it doesn't have to be that way. That's Life Andy Juniper Guest Contributor 50 off for 5 months* LIMITED TIME OFFER % Make us part of your story. 180 Oak Park Boulevard Oakville · 289-644-2960 Common-sensical sorts are impervious to the day's guilt-focused, marketing-driven hype. Rational romantics are not sucked in. Of course, even level-headed, common-sensical, rational romantics still get their `better halves', their `soulmates' something for Valentine's Day. I mean, just because you're smart and sensible doesn't mean you should have to sleep on the couch. This year, long in advance of `The Big Day', I got my wife a series of small, but remarkably romantic and incredibly thoughtful gifts. Alas, for some reason the love gods are working against me. Amongst an assortment of other cool things perfectly tailored to her tastes, I bought her a DVD of a series she's dying to see. Then, she texted me a photograph of the cover of that very same DVD, announcing that she'd just bought herself a copy at Costco. Hmmm. I reserved a window seat at her favorite restaurant. Then she announced that she actually has to work that night. Doing her public-relations thing. For a client. For a televised cricket match. Hmmm. I can't compete with cricket. No man can. So, Mr. Level-headed, Captain Commonsensical, Mr. Rational Romantic is back at the drawing board. Sweating bullets. Chewing ngernails. Losing sleep. Burning brain cells. -- Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook, or followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. Introducing the New Save.ca Mobile Cash-Back Feature. With exclusive offers for the brands you love & $5 cash-out minimums through PayPal, you'll never go shopping without your smart phone again! 1. Browse & Shop 2. Upload Receipt 3. Get Cash Back! Browse the mobile app for your favourite brand's offers, and purchase them at any store Take a photo of your receipt and submit it through the app Once you reach just $5, the money you save will be transferred into your PayPal wallet *Conditions apply. Select residences only.