I may like to read romance novels, but when it comes to real life, I'm much more practical -- some might even say boring.  I've had my fill of wild romance and adventurous relationships, and now that I've settled down, I've found that the smallest, quietest things sometimes make me the happiest.

Case in point: this Valentine's Day.

My husband and I know that on Valentine's Day, restaurants are usually packed, so we don't usually even bother with that.  This year was much like previous years: We had a nice dinner at home (homemade pizza -- his specialty), watched a movie we rented from a streaming service, and shared an intimate evening together in private.  I've been taken out for Valentine's Day before, and I have to say, I prefer this sort of evening to the more commercial version.  It feels more personal and more significant.

This may seem rather incongruent with the fact that I read romance, but I think it makes sense.  After all, most people read to escape real life, right?  And as Sarah Wendell discusses in Everything I Know about Love I Learned from Romance Novels, what we fall for in fiction doesn't necessarily represent what we want in real life.  The examples in the book have more to do with what characteristics we want to see in fictional heroes versus the real-life men we fall in love with, but I think it applies to how we like to be wooed, too.

How did you spend Valentine's Day?