Valentine’s day evokes many memories and feelings, though mine are somewhat different from the norm. Being a single gal, Valentine’s isn’t just about romance at my house. Instead, it’s taken on a new form, and is essentially a great reason to bake/decorate/eat beautiful sweets.

At the top of the list are cupcakes, which are a subject close to my heart. My newest love in the cupcake realm is silicone bakeware: I cannot praise it enough. My favorite part is obviously the non-stick capabilities, and growing assortment of shapes. I also love the fact that it’s lightweight, easy to wash, and won’t break like glass bakeware. Here’s an extra cute *PINK* silicone mini muffin pan from Tar-jay.

For those of you with multiple batches to bake, take a look at this *RED* 24 cup silicone muffin pan with sled (available at Target, too).
Or if you’d really rather bake a whole cake, here’s a large heart shaped silicone pan (also available from Target).

I also found these heart shaped pancake molds from Lillian Vernon, and heart shaped waffle iron from Hearth Song. Why is it that food instantly seems more appealing when it’s heart shaped? I’ll never know. I like the idea of serving your loved ones “I <3 U" pancakes, for breakfast in bed. But these are great for anytime or year, and all ages. After all, in this world or drive-thrus and take-out, people always enjoy lovingly prepared home-made goodies.

Presentation is everything, so after you’ve made your yummy cupcakes, you’ve gotta serve em’ up right! Treat all your Valentines to hand painted sugar-sweet place settings to go with their dessert. Each set is comprised of a heart shaped plate and mug, with an over all “candy heart” theme. They even have matching embroidered placemats.

So if you’re fretting over what your Valentine’s Day plans will be, try something different! Stock up on supplies and plan a sweets-sampling get together for all the loved ones in your life.

COUPON: At Lillian Vernon, get 10% off orders $75+ (enter Media/Promotional Code 066850100 in your shopping cart) or 15% off orders $100+ (use code 076850100).

The retro styling of kitchen appliances in our modern homes can bring back nostalgic memories for some or simply inspire others to create. When kitchen appliances look so attractive, you’ll undoubtedly want to keep them out on the counter and they’ll get used more often. There is a company named Elmira Stove Works that hand crafts the larger kitchen appliances like stoves, refrigerators, and dishwashers, to look like they came from the 50’s without loosing our 21st century technology. I’m impressed by their color choices, especially pink!

Because we all can’t afford an entirely new kitchen I’m going to focus more on the smaller appliances and kitchen accessories that compliment your retro furniture and larger appliances. DeLonghi makes some good looking retro toasters in 2 slice and 4 slice sizes. Both are available through Kitchen Etc. They also sell a cute retro teakettle in bubble gum pink.

Target has a good selection of retro items including a square dinnerware collection available in white, blue, green, and coffee. As far as blenders go, HomeVisions has a nice retro style blender that has some nice features like a soft-start feature that prevents splattering. Now just because we like pink so much here at Mable’s I have to mention the retro styled bread bin in “shocking pink” from KitchenEtc.

RELATED: Retro Furniture, Retro Phone, Vintage Bathroom.

Whether you use a backpack for school, work, or short trips having iPod controls built into the shoulder straps will save you some hassle. Some backpacks have MP3 player pockets with headphone exit points to manage your wires better, but what about when you want to skip a certain song, or turn the volume down temporarily. You’d have to either take the headphones out of your ear, or try and reach around and unzip the pocket, take out your iPod and turn down the volume, or skip to next song.

That is just one problem solved by these iPod controlling backpacks, which seem to be loosely referred to as iPacks. This particular iPod controlling backpack from Hammacher Schlemmer also has a padded laptop pocket and pockets for your PDA, cellphone, keys, pens, and other accessories to help you stay organized as well as entertained. Here are some details straight from the product description “Your iPod simply plugs into a jack located inside, and a universal jack located on the left back strap accommodates your headphones, allowing complete control of your music player through the five-button control panel on the left strap. The panel controls volume, pause, menu selection, and stop functions.” This backpack also features a very durable construction and self-mending zippers for an extra long life. Of course there are other places to buy an iPod enhanced backpack, but you’ll want to take note of Hammacher’s lifetime guarantee. The guarantee basically means if there is anything wrong with the product for it’s standard lifetime you can just return it to them and they will replace it or give you a refund.

If you don’t like the style or colors of the iPod backpack mentioned above, then check out Think Geek for their iPod Mono-Strap Backpack. This backpack features the trendy mono-strap style (see in action) the same controls as the backpack mentioned above and with just as many pockets. The main difference between the two is the strap style and it seems the backpack available at Hammacher utilizes a more durable nylon. So depending on your everyday use and sense of style make sure you get the backpack that best suites your needs.

You can find other colors, styles, and sizes by searching other sites like Target, or eBags, both of which are recommended stores to purchase from.

COUPON: Get $10 OFF $45 Backpack Orders at eBags.com Expires Dec. 1, 2006