Show love to thy sweetheart and thy neighbor by buying local gifts this Valentine’s Day!

Sweets for the Sweet: Why buy a plain old grocery store sampler when you could look to Sweet Earth Chocolates for organic and fair trade treats this year?  Not only will your purchase support a San Luis Obispo small business, but it will also help contribute to Partners In Health, Haiti relief efforts, and make it possible for West African cocoa farmers to sustain a living wage with socially just business practices.  Nothing says affection like principled confections!

Light a Fire: Bambu Batu is proud to carry Big Dipper Beeswax candles to add a tender glow to your night.  Available in scented and unscented pillars, pots, votives and tapers.  Sourced from beekeepers throughout the Pacific Northwest, the wax is smokeless, dripless, free of animal or petroleum products, and produces negative ions that help relax and clarify your mind and body.  Big Dipper is a Green America Approved Business, and donates 10% of their net profits from candle sales are donated to promote sustainable beekeeping, support local schools, community health and research organizations, animal shelters, and sports teams.

Nightdress to Impress: Both comfortable and romantic, Bambu Batu offers the BambooDreams Women’s Flirty Lace Nighty.  Not just for a romantic encounter, this bamboo and spandex nightgown is an excellent way to show kindness to yourself and whoever you are snuggled up against.  Guys will fall for our incredibly soft Bamboo Boxers. Gentle on the earth and kind to your skin, nothing says love like bamboo.

Romantic Records: Need a soundtrack to set the mood?  Head on over to Boo Boo Records for the perfect album to express your feelings.  Their knowledgeable employees will guide you through their wide variety of music to select some sweet sounds.  The store also sells shirts, posters, bags, and other gifts to provide some happy harmony to your Valentine’s Day.

It’s a many-splendored thing, it’s a rose, it’s a battlefield. Love is many things, and today, February 14th, is the day we celebrate it. So we’ve collected eight timeless quotations about love that express all its glory and mystery and hope they resonate as well with you as they did with us!

“So if we love someone, we should train in being able to listen. By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

“Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.” – Jack Kornfield

“In love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we are to the spiritual experience.” – Paulo Coehlo

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Theresa

“If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue.” – Dalai Lama

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it’s only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think its two hours. That’s relativity.” – Albert Einstein

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” – Buddha

“Where there is no exaggeration there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding.” – Oscar Wilde

Time again to wish your special sweetheart a Happy Valentine’s Day. Potentially a great day for the world to come together and lavish one another with hugs and kisses and glittering displays of affection. Yet, all too often, this hearty holiday becomes a high-pressure situation in which doe-eyed darlings feel obliged to shop recklessly for over-packaged sweets, under-valued trinkets, short-lived bouquets, and pretty much anything in the shape of a heart.

Okay, I’m not a hum bugger. I don’t have problems with people expressing their love through material means and boosting the economy for a day. I would however, like to see it done with a little bit more regard for the planet. Yes, you can speak from the heart without sacrificing your soul. And yes, your love for that special someone can be extended to show your compassion for all humankind.

It’s 2011 already, and we know we have options. We know there’s a difference between fair trade chocolate and the kind harvested by kids in west Africa. We know there’s difference between blood diamonds, and the socially responsible jewelry that isn’t funding military juntas in the third world. We know we have choices, and we know we can make a difference.

So here are eight ways you can spoil your cutie, and avoid spoiling the planet:

1) This one may be fairly obvious, but if you have to buy a card, buy one made on recycled paper. Or better yet, send an E-Card. No paper involved.

2) If you’re going to give the gift of chocolate, please make sure it’s fair trade and organically grown.

3) Jewelry? You want jewelry, but you don’t want to spend a fortune? We’ve got that. Jewelry made from recycled parts of nuclear weapons.

4) Instead of buying a gift for someone, wrapped in packaging, that they might ultimately just throw out, considering planting a tree in their name. It will last a lot longer than roses, and give off more oxygen, too!

5) If you go out to dinner, make it a place that specializes in locally grown and organic food.

6) Lighting candles? Go for the o. As an alternative to traditional petroleum-derived paraffin wax, organic soy-based candles are now widely available at places like Bambu Batu.

7) Buy locally, organically grown flowers. Ask your local florist – the more requests they get, the sooner they will make the switch. And if you’re sending flowers faraway, don’t rely on some national delivery service. Use your resources to find a florist in that area by yourself. Chances are you’ll get better service and better prices when you order direct.

Instead of buying conventional, commercial perfume — often a cocktail of toluene, aldehydes and benzene derivatives — why not do a little more leg work to track down some scents worth savoring.
There are some incredible, all-natural essential oils out there these days. Kinder to the nose and gentler to the skin.

Well, there you are. Green and red can go together after all. See you soon for your last minute expressions of all-encompassing love!