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Whether you're spending Valentine's Day in a swanky restaurant, at home with your sweetie, pub crawling with your girls, or anything in between, we know you want to look your best. Check out four of our fave dresses perfect for any V-Day (or anytime!) date.

Fancy Feast


Heading out for a fancy dinner? Nothing conveys style and class like an Audrey Hepburn-inspired little black dress, such as this sharply tailored LBD from TrashyDiva ($124). Throw it on, pull back your hair, add some sparkly jewelry, and a pair of killer heels and you're good to go. (And you can repurpose it for work too!)

Casual Encounter

Hanging out with your friends this V-Day? Head out looking hot in a sassy, casual dress like this sailor-inspired style from ModCloth ($115) and you may not be single for long.

Happy Homebodies

Make your at-home Valentine's Day dinner just as special as an evening out by tossing on a comfy and casual-but still totally cute-dress like this jersey style sensation ($148 from Nordstrom

[One more day! Vote for Friday's post at chiknpastry in the right column!]red velvet ... boyfriend's gramma's red velvet cake. I truly do. Why is it that almost every gramma is notorious for producing only the absolute best cake that you ever put into your mouth? My own gramma (not the s'mores one, the other one) used to make those pound cakes that put all the other pound cakes to shame. She barely measured the ingredients, as she'd made that same cake practically every Sunday for at least the first 20 years of my life. And even though she now can't remember what she ate for breakfast, if she ate breakfast, or even who I am on most occasions, I swear to you - if she were strong enough to stand and mix it - she could probably whip up one of them right now, at 94.5 years of age, and the taste of it would have you all begging for mercy. She can even play piano by ear, never having taken a single class, and any tune you played to her she'd gracefully glide her thin, frail fingers across those dusty

Finding the perfect restaurant in which to woo a fledgling sweetheart isn't easy - and choosing one on Valentine's Day can throw even the most romantically savvy off their game. It's a fine line between upscale and stuffy, inventive and intimidating, casual and just plain cheap. Just in time for V-Day, here are seven ways to tell you might just be in the wrong restaurant for your date - and some suggestions for choosing the right one.

For stress-free dining the comforts of your own home, try BHG.com's Romantic Food & Wine Pairings. End the night on a sweet note with our decadent Valentine's Day Desserts. (Got a really great original dessert for two? Enter our latest MixingBowl.com contest!)

1. The Hostess Wears Prada (Your Date Wears Crocs).
If you're dating someone who inevitably pulls on a pair of cargo shorts for a night on the town, you might want to bypass formal, jacket-required establishments. But don't retreat to your local cafe! With the recent trend toward 'upscale comfort

by Mamamia for ParentsConnect

I'm a girl. I'm supposed to want flowers and chocolate and fancy dinners and silky lingerie on Valentine's Day, right? I should be frantically calling babysitters right now, trying to book someone to watch the kids so that we can go out and be all romantic. I should be making dinner reservations and looking for the perfect little red dress. I should be … but I'm not.

I may be a girl but I'm also a homebody. Apart from a short (and ill-advised) bar-hopping stint in college, I've always preferred to stay in. If given the choice between an evening out on the town or a night at home reading a great novel, I'll choose the novel, hands-down.

My husband wants to take me out on Valentine's Day. Just last night, he was looking up restaurant reviews online and asking me where we should go. He's excited about the prospect of a night out. A night away from the kids. A night of romance and adult conversation. He thinks I'm excited, too.

I don't know how to tell him

Whether your son is too old for the Valentine's Day hearts, x's and o's or you're just not into it, consider these equally festive gifts, red gifts your little guy is sure to love.

aries (Mar. 21st-Apr. 20th)
If relationships are like Hallmark greeting cards, then your latest fling is a tricked-out, ten-dollar, love-ditty playing, oversized monstrosity of a thing. And inside it's completely blank.

taurus (Apr. 21st-May 20th)
Your week will get progressively better when it comes to love and romance. Duh, because Valentine's Day is coming. Don't do nothing. If there is someone who interests you, send them a homemade Valentine's card.

gemini (May 21st-June 21st)
Expect nothing and you'll be infinitely happy. For example, don't expect a romantic, candlelight dinner at a fancy, five-star restaurant followed by a dessert of fresh strawberries in a penthouse suite jacuzzi followed by sex the authors of the Kama Sutra would be proud of. Because you ain't gonna get it.

cancer (June 22nd-July 22nd)
Don't shoot your wad on the 14th: your relationship may not be all that it appears.

leo (July 23rd-Aug. 22nd)
Remember how this

Chocolate: It's the elixir of love and the drink of the gods, making it perfect for Valentine's Day. Its allure and power over mere mortals shouldn't be taken lightly. After all, the ancient Aztecs and Mayans prized the cocoa bean for its caffeine-like effects, and traded the beans as a commodity. These days, the buzz from cocoa isn't so much from chocolate's natural stimulants but rather the health benefits of eating it. And don't forget its amorous associations: Chocolat, anyone? When it comes to cooking with chocolate, consider your darling's taste buds-whether they prefer chocolate that's more milky, nutty, fruity, or bitter. Use the best quality chocolate that you can find to ensure that the Chocolate Cream Pie and Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars-or any of the other 12 recipes-turn out the best way possible, and you just might have your sweetheart begging for more.

Raspberry Chocolate French Macaroons

Gourmet | December 2006

Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies