Love is in the Air!

Hello love bugs,

Let me introduce myself, my name is Miranda, and I am a Manchester girl with a passion for music. I was very much a child of the 90’s – I grew up listening to influential musicians from my hometown such as Morrissey and Oasis and a love of music blossomed from there.

My appreciation of all things retro started at the grand age of 6, when I got my first album. It was a Ramones album, a band that had formed 15 years before I was even born. I even insisted for a time that my family called me ‘Riff’ in honour of Riff Randall from the 1979 film ‘Rock 'n' Roll High School’ featuring the Ramones. I was a little quirky, perhaps.

I still regularly watch ‘Rock 'n' Roll High School’, and I’d consider myself a huge film fan, although my husband is constantly infuriated by my refusal to watch anything new.

“How about we watch a film? The King’s Speech maybe? It’s supposed to be brilliant.”

“Erm, how about we watch Wayne’s World again?”

“We watched it just last week. Can we watch something else?”

“Erm, ok. Clueless?”

This persistent loyalty to everything retro has led me to Truffle Shuffle numerous times, and as a writer I was delighted when I was asked to do a Valentine’s themed blog post. By definition, my name actually means ‘To be admired’ so it’s quite fitting that I am here to wave the pink, glittery flag for Valentine’s Day.

Now, despite what my name may imply, my admirers have not always flourished in the gift department. In fact, I do believe I was once subject to the world’s worst example of gifting – committed in the name of love.

Let me set the scene for you, it was Valentine’s Day 2006, I was a starry-eyed teen waiting for my date outside the local cinema and as it was our first date, my expectations were fairly high. He arrived, holding his hands behind his back with a coy smile. Oh what could my sweetheart possibly have for me?

It is at this point that I would like to state that my expectations were categorically not met!

My date presented me with what he called ‘personalised flowers’ – to me and you they are floral tributes. That’s right my friends, the flowers you find at funerals. He gave me a giant ‘M’ made from roses, the roses being the only vaguely romantic thing about the gift. He actually marvelled at what a clever idea these ‘personalised flowers’ were.

Well yeah, what a brilliant idea – what better way to romance a girl than to help her visualise her funeral? And what’s worse, is that I couldn’t even immediately run away screaming – I had to actually carry this giant ‘M’ into the cinema with me, with a fake smile on my face. I spent the entire film with it at my feet, picturing my untimely demise.

There was no second date.

So, drawing on that experience, I’d like to make a stand against bad gifts. Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to show some love to the special person in your life, and the guys at Truffle Shuffle have got us well and truly hooked up with some fabulous little gifts for lovers everywhere. Here are my favourites...

Set the mood for a romantic night in with this Love Heart Tea Lights Set.

For the lady in your life, this Pink iPhone Case will make her smile whenever she reaches for her phone. You will be guaranteed to receive a lot of super –sweet texts!

Treat her like royalty with this ‘Princess’ necklace from Disney Couture.

Is there a special man who has managed to sweep you off your feet? Let him know with this cool Superman t- shirt, and matching socks!

This retro cassette iPhone case is a perfect gift for the man in your life. Celebrate the classic valentine’s gift – the mixtape.

And talking of mix tapes – why not make a romantic playlist for your man, and get him these cool Marvel headphones to listen with?

Still stuck for ideas? Check out these amazing collections and find the perfect gift...

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody, make it a good one!

Miranda