romance is a form of creativity. it is the ability to see the potential for beauty in the everyday. freezing flowers in ice so they release floral notes as they melt; learning to draw; taking the scenic way--these acts ask us to leave behind the pragmatic and pay attention to the fanciful, the sensory. in a world devoted to efficiency and productivity, living with romance is a way of reclaiming ones own life. it is a way of saying: being alive is worthwhile for its own sake because i make it so.