If you appreciate the versatility of jeans, cargo pants are a workable alternative. They come in an array of colors and never seem to go out of style. Try the Victoria’s Secret Siren Cargo Legging ($59.50) with a cute pair of wedges or ankle boots!

-Jaida McKie of Memoirs of the Chic

Jaida is a recent college graduate working on her making her break into magazine journalism. She created Memoirs of the Chic in 2010 to share all her interests including fashion, music, and more. She loves reading blogs and utilizing social media sites such as YouTube and Twitter to meet new people and learn new things. Her love for girlie things and writing inspired the name and focus of her blog. She may be fresh out of college, but she feels she has a lot to offer as an aspiring journalist.

-Cait Rohan

Are you nuts about someone? Show ‘em how you feel by baking up MyRecipes.com’s Crispy Chocolate Hearts—a chocolaty twist on typical Rice Krispie treats. These heart-shaped sweets call for peanut butter, rice cereal, chocolate, peanuts, mini marshmallows, chocolate bark and white nonpareils.

As one particular Valentine’s Day neared, my Mr. Wrong started doubting things…again. He wasn’t sure he was ready for a relationship, or that this was working out, or some other BS excuse that guys give girls. While this had happened numerous times before, it was the first time that I actually started to think the same thing—why would I want to be with someone who was never sure if they wanted to be with me?

So, while we didn’t actually break up, I decided that it couldn’t hurt to keep my options open. And I did find an option: a scruffy, artistic actor, who usually wore a slouchy hat and fingerless gloves.

He was so different than my house-music, Ed-Hardy-loving boyfriend that I couldn’t help but be interested in him. We had a class together, so it wasn’t very hard to talk to him, and during one of our convos, he told me to look out for an article he had written in our school’s newspaper.

As soon as that paper came out, I scanned every page until I found a short story, written by my crush, about a Valentine’s Day he’d experienced as a child. He had bought a girl in his class a bunch of really awesome Jelly Belly jelly beans—I’m talking a huge bag with a ton of different flavors—only to realize that she had given him a bag of just regular, gross jelly beans in return. He was heartbroken.

For some reason, I got it in my head that if I were to give this kid a bag of those jelly beans he never received, he would totally fall in love with me. So, as ridiculous as it sounds, I went out and bought him some. I even made him a card to go with it!

But I never gave them to him. Right before “The Big Day,” while hanging out with my new crush, he leaned in to kiss me—and I turned away. I confused myself at first…wasn’t this what I wanted? Yes and No. While I did want this guy to like me, I also had to remember I still technically had a boyfriend. No matter how much of jerk he was to me, I couldn’t be that girl and cheat on him. So, I completely cut New Guy off.

While I’d love to tell you that I ended things with my Mr. Wrong “boyfriend” right after this almost-cheating incident, I can’t. We stayed together for a while after that, even though I knew we weren’t meant to be. By the next Valentine’s Day, however, I was single. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than being in a bad relationship or kinda cheating just to forget about it—and a lot better than trashing that bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans that I was too ashamed to eat.

-Samantha Sutton

GIRL TALK TIME: What do you think of her story? What’s your worst V-Day story ever? Have you ever been with the wrong guy for Cupid’s Day?

-Tricia Carr

Keep The Body Shop’s Chocomania Body Scrub ($18 for regular 7.75-oz.) away from the kitchen because you seriously might eat this stuff during a candy craving. Authentic cocoa butter and organic cane sugar give this tub of goodness true just-out-of-the-oven brownie smell.

For a while you’ve been becoming more and more aware of using privacy settings, so that employers don’t penalize you for your extracurricular activities! Or, while you might be worried about the 70% of U.S. recruiters reported to reject candidates because of info found online, maybe you’re more concerned about the 70% of guys who might reject you from the dating pool because of what they spied about you. You rush to untag the photo—but how can you be sure of the amount of damage done? You gave up that party-girl act years ago! How can you make sure your past doesn’t come back to haunt you?

We’ve entered an age of snap-happy paparazzi, and celebs aren’t the only ones who should think about it. These days, every girl needs to manage her digital reputation! While three years ago we might have thought a makeout session at the club was innocent, now we are wiser. We realize that basically someone is snapping a scandalous picture with their smart phone at all times.

In his book, Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, Cyberscholar Viktor Mayer-Schonberger reminds us of the importance of “social forgetting.” Basically, Viktor believes that our society accepts that humans are built to evolve over time. We have the capacity to learn from past experiences—and thereby behave a bit better, thanks to lessons learned.

Viktor defines “social forgetting” as the ability to forgive and forget past misbehaviors of others—knowing that hey, we’re all human, and thereby susceptible to having one too many dirty martinis on occasion. Unfortunately, the internet makes “social forgetting” hard to do. Enjoying innocent fun in the here-and-now is harder, because we’re aware of potential consequences in our Facebook future.

I’ve sat with guys as they’ve perused photos of girls on Facebook, shopping for prospective dates. Wow. So many judgments! For example, one of my guy friends said:  “Well, she’s with a bunch of cute girls, so I know she has friends—and she looks fun, but not too fun—but here she looks sloppy drunk. One or two more photos like that might be kinda okay—but any more, and I start to worry she’s a party girl—and I’ll have trouble taking her seriously.”

Eeeek! So how do we protect ourselves? Well, the morning after a night out, we can instantly check Facebook—untagging any and all embarrassing photos. However, pretty soon that’s going to be harder to accomplish. In fact, there’s now a Facebook app called Photo Finder, by Face.com, which uses facial recognition and social-connections software to allow anyone to locate any photo of you on Facebook, regardless of whether the photo was “tagged.” Soon enough, this technology will expand beyond Facebook. Meaning a picture of you on a bad hair day taken by a stranger on the street can be found by anyone. Or worse yet—a photo of you making out at a nightclub with a guy whose name you can’t remember, can be immortalized online.

We must accept that in today’s world our lives can be easily recorded. So how can we be the best editors of our online life stories? The answer isn’t by becoming experts at using Facebook privacy settings. The answer is in making better choices in our Life privacy settings. We must be the type of person we want others to see us as being. In a way, Facebook and social networks are helping us to become our highest potential selves—because they’re forcing us to be more aware of (and accountable for) our behavior.

We might not be able to erase/untag the past. But we can, from this day forward, try to behave in such a way that any photos taken of us will be life-anthology-worthy.

-Lindsay Kriger of ifonlyiknew.tv

Lindsay Kriger is a New York University grad with a B.A. in Psychology and the founder of IfonlyIknew.tv—the go-to relationship resource for young women. She has trained with the PAX Mastership and Leadership Program, taught by internationally recognized Relationship Expert Alison Armstrong, and at 23 is the program’s youngest trainee to date. Lindsay has attended numerous seminars on male-female relationships and partnership-building, establishing herself as a relationshipologist and dating guru for young women. She lives in New York City with her dog, Harvey.

GIRL TALK TIME: What do you think? Have you ever judged a guy based on his Facebook profile? Why? Do you think a guy has ever judged you? What did he say?

For starts, Angelo says: The key to creating sexy, voluminous hair is building texture starting from the roots. You want to use a product that gives fullness to the hair without creating stiffness or stickiness.

Angelo David’s new Premier Volume Spray ($18.50) gives major volume while locking in moisture and shine, plus a dollar for each spray sold is donated to the Lupus Foundation of America in honor of Angelo’s late sister-in-law who suffered from the disease. What’s the secret to the spray’s staying power? Silk and wheat proteins and panthenol, as well as avocado for extreme hydration.

All-over curls

Nothing screams sexy like big, bold curls. To avoid looking too little-girl with your coils, follow these easy steps.

1. Prep towel-dried tresses with the Angelo David Premier Volume Spray ($18.50).

2. Start sectioning off hair for blow-drying.

3. Using the Angelo David Large Round Brush ($55), begin blow-drying hair.

4. With a 1-to-1.5-inch barrel curling iron, start creating loose curls by section, from the top, down.

5. Once you’re completely curled, run fingers through your hair to break the sections up.

6. Finish the look with a great hairspray, such as Redken’s Shine Flash 02 ($17 on ULTA.com), to create a hold without the stiffness.

Tips by: Angelo David of Angelo David Salon, New York City, NY.

Angelo David Salon provides Couture Hair solutions that address any hair challenge. Completely customized Couture Hair Extensions & Additions are 100-percent human hair and are designed on-site to match each client’s hair texture, type and color, as well as lifestyle. During an initial consultation, clients and their specialist explore every option together. When designing is complete, the Couture Hair is custom-fitted and seamlessly applied, using the ideal attachment method for the individual. Then, the hair is cut and styled for flawless blending. Like haute couture designs, everything about Couture Hair is original and personalized. As a result of years of research and development, Angelo David Couture Hair and Extensions can solve any hair challenge.

Dryer: A restricted airflow can create dangerous heat build-up in the dryer. Clearing the lint trap after each use sometimes just isn’t enough. You should actually examine the external vent cap located outside of your house regularly. Look at the vent while your dryer is tumbling about and make sure the slats are moving freely. Remove buildup with a damp, lint-free cloth or a hand-held vacuum duster. Not too glamorous, but it’s gotta get done!

Back inside, examine the dryer’s vent pipe, which is located at the bottom of your dryer’s back side and attached to the exhaust pipe. Remove all lint buildup (eek) from inside of the vent pipe with a vent cleaning brush (available at appliance parts depots).

-Steve Ash of partselect.com

Steve Ash is Senior Repairman at PartSelect.com, the complete online resource for the do-it-yourself repair market and official home of the Instant Repairman. Steve works to equip Do-It-Yourselfers with the knowledge and confidence to complete home appliance repairs. With PartSelect.com, Steve has created hundreds of instructional videos to guide DIYers through basic and complicated appliance repairs and maintenance.

Photo credit (woman doing laundry): allyou.com

-Maureen Meekins

ATTACHED: If you’re one of the lucky ladies in love (or, you’ve snagged a V-Day date), you’ll need a dress that’s a cross between comfy and sexy. In Victoria’s Secret’s versatile red Curve-Loving Sweaterdress (SALE: $39.50), you’ll be sure to wow your date anywhere you end up. This fuss-free frock with a V-neck and body-hugging ribbed fabric is easy to just throw on and GO! Spend your “getting ready” time on hair and makeup and leave accessories minimal just in case you get some jewels as gifts (wink!).

-Cait Rohan

Didn’t get a ring on it? Get yourself your own damn “diamond” for V-Day—except this one has a much more useful purpose than just being purrrrty to look at. Fred Flare’s Pop Rock Diamond Ring Bottle Opener ($12) promises to be faithful by always opening up your beers (hey, that’s the kinda commitment I could deal with!).

-Tricia Carr

If you don’t have the cash (or the boyfriend with the cash) to get real gold on V-day, the big heart on Modcloth.com’s State of the Heart Top ($49.99) will do the trick!