Photography: Ashley Slater Photography

It’s Satur-YAY and I’m in love… with love. As you know by now, I’m particularly in love with the holiday of love, Valentine’s Day. I’ve loved it since I was little and continue to love it now that I get to celebrate this special day with the love of my life and the most incredible person on the planet, my amazing hubs Chris (we won’t exactly be celebrating on VDay this year since that’s one of the biggest nights of the year for a restaurant, but we’ll be going all out another night)! So, I wanted to do a couple of fun things here on le blog this week that I think you’ll like.

The first is an awesome, Valentine’s Day-inspired roundup of ten of the links from around the web that are giving me all of the Valentine’s Day feels this week. Posts from a handful of my favorite fellow bloggers are on this list and I’m absolutely amazed at the VDay inspiration they’re spreading right now. Included are crafts, cocktails, style inspiration and so much more!

The second is… wait for it… A GIVEAWAY! I’m a huge advocate for gift-giving on Valentine’s Day, whether it’s gifting your favorite gal pal with a sweet VDay gift that says “I’m thinking of you” or gifting a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ to your significant other that says “I adore you,” I’m all about it. So in light of that fact, we’re giving away a sweet little Valentine’s Day gift pack to say “we LOVE you” to our amazing readers, and all of that info is below.

Valentine’s Day Links We Love

1. The House That Lars Built is one of my favorite blogs, and I want to try every single craft in their 18 BEAUTIFUL VALENTINES DAY CRAFT PROJECTS post. 

2. These BEET DYED LINEN NAPKINS courtesy of the gorgeous mama Monika Hibbs would be such a fun craft to try for a Galentine’s Day get-together.

3. Jo Jo Tastic‘s BLACKBERRY FRENCH 75 RECIPE for Valentine’s Day looks like one heck of a perfectly pretty cocktail for whatever VDay festivities you have in store! 

4. I’ve long loved Designlovefest‘s DRESS YOUR TECH posts and this week’s flower-filled post of free desktop wallpapers (I love to use them as backgrounds on my phone, too) is definitely getting me in the Valentine’s Day, flower power mood!

5. If you’re thinking of giving flowers to someone this Valentine’s Day, Oh Joy‘s adorable HOW TO MAKE MINI BOUQUETS tutorial offers the perfect inspiration for delivering something handmade and straight from the heart to that special someone in your life! 

6. If you’re looking for some serious date night style inspiration for your VDay plans, look no further than Hello Fashion Blog‘s sweet 7 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT US post featuring one gorgeous gown, her handsome tux-clad hubs and some super cute factoids about Christine and her husband that will make your heart flutter. 

7. Whenever I need a no-fail recipe that’s guaranteed to please, I head over to What’s Gaby Cooking to find something insanely delish. So when I saw Gaby’s VALENTINE’S DAY MENU (DINNER FOR TWO) recipe roundup that includes some crazy good, VDay-ready recipes I knew I’d hit the jackpot. 

8. Julia from Gal Meets Glam pretty much always gets it right with her ever-perfect, punchy and girly-chic style, so it’s no surprise that I loved the sweet and simple look in her VALENTINE’S DAY DATE NIGHT post. That braid and bow are just so good!

9. Jess Ann Kirby’s blog is always a source of so much inspiration with her gorgeous hometown of Newport, RI as the backdrop for most of her style posts, and I’m super excited to try this tasty-looking drink from her VALENTINE’S DAY COCKTAIL: THE DOROTHY PARKER post. I also love all of the cute kitchen accessories she listed in her “Get The Look” section of the post. 

10. The adorable couple (and fellow Phoenicians) behind New Darlings rounded up some awesome gift ideas for him and her in their VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT GUIDE, all of which would be a hit with me and Chris!

Valentine’s Day Giveaway

**Update: Congratulations to Jessie M. who is the lucky winner of our Valentine’s Day giveaway!**

And since we’re all about spreading the love today, I’m giving away some of the Valentine’s Day treats I love to say “thank you” to our amazing readers and everyone who stops by the blog on a daily basis to share in this beautiful life and love with us. Included in this lovely prize pack is this adorable Pink Mimira Mug from Anthropologie and Suite One Studio and this awesome Valentine’s Day Candy Bento Box from Nordstrom and Sugarfina. To enter this giveaway, you must:

1. Live in the United States.

2. Follow “MarLoveandSpecs” on Instagram.

3. Sign up for the Love + Specs Newsletter below.

4. Complete both entry requirements by 11pm PST on Tuesday, February 14th 2017. 

 And that’s it! We’ll pick one random winner who fulfills both requirements by Valentine’s Day 2017 and notify the lucky winner via email and right back here in this post on Wednesday, February 15th in order to get your mailing info and send you your prize pack! Good luck and happy Valentine’s Daying!