By LEANNE ITALIE
This undated image released by Perigee Trade shows “Everyone Wants to Be Me or Do Me,” by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez. The fabulously funny but sometimes snarky blogging team known as TLo is also a real-life couple of 17 years. They’ve been blogging celebrity style and fashion for over a decade and have more than 237,000 followers on Twitter. Now, the guys at TomandLorenzo.com have their first book, “Everyone Wants to Be Me or Do Me,” out Feb. 4 from Perigee Trade, an imprint of Penguin. (AP Photo/Perigee Trade)
Fashion-Valentine’s Day
This undated image released by Perigee Trade shows Lorenzo Marquez, left, and Tom Fitzgerald, authors of the book, “Everyone Wants to Be Me or Do Me.” The fabulously funny but sometimes snarky blogging team known as TLo is also a real-life couple of 17 years. They’ve been blogging celebrity style and fashion for over a decade and have more than 237,000 followers on Twitter. Now, the guys at TomandLorenzo.com have their first book, “Everyone Wants to Be Me or Do Me,” out Feb. 4 from Perigee Trade, an imprint of Penguin. (AP Photo/Perigee Trade)
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NEW YORK (AP) — The way Tom & Lorenzo see it, you’ve got lots of choices come Valentine’s Day.
How about having some fun playing rich and famous, or you could stay true to yourself, whether that means handing over carnations instead of Cartier.
The fabulously funny but sometimes snarky blogging team known as TLo is also a real-life couple of 17 years. They’ve been blogging celebrity style and fashion for over a decade and have more than 237,000 followers on Twitter. Now, the guys at TomandLorenzo.com have their first book, “Everyone Wants to Be Me or Do Me,” out Feb. 4 from Penguin.
For Valentine’s Day, Tom — as in Fitzgerald — urges regular folk to “avoid putting too much importance on the day. It’s just a day.” For the lovelorn, he adds: “Walk through the day with your head held high, regardless of whether you’re spending it with someone or not.”
Lorenzo — Marquez — says the two may head to their favorite restaurant, or Tom may cook.
“I like to cook, so I’ll make him something he really likes or I’ll bake him a cake. I know people think we’re dashing around doing all of these fabulous things but when it comes to stuff like this, it’s very, very homey,” Tom explains.
“I like just plain vanilla or yellow cake with chocolate icing, so he makes that for me,” Lorenzo chimes in.
“From scratch! Not from a box. None of this box crap. No,” declares Tom.
More from Tom and Lorenzo for Valentine’s Day:
AP: Are flowers and chocolate too easy?
Lorenzo: I think so. I think you can be more creative than that. Surprise the person with something that they’re not expecting. But I wouldn’t say no to those things. I’m a flower boy, totally. But pizza and a $30 bottle of wine and you’ve got yourself a special night.
AP: How would somebody looking to woo a new love cultivate sex appeal?
Tom: If you look to celebrities, there’s a sort of insane self-confidence combined with a sense of mysteriousness. You need to walk into a room like you own it, with a chin up and ticked-off kind of attitude. People are naturally drawn to confidence. The stars have learned how to fake it so you should, too.
AP: Do you think too much is made of Valentine’s Day? Too much pressure?
Tom: I think it can be a really fun self-affirming day, both for couples and for single people. To take a page from RuPaul, you have to learn how to love yourself before you can learn to love anybody else. If you are by yourself, then you should be treating yourself. Go out and get a massage. Get yourself a facial. Buy yourself a box of chocolates! Bake yourself a cake. I don’t think anybody should feel bad on Valentine’s Day. It’s not a competition. Nobody should look at it like that.
AP: What can we learn from celebrities about romance?
Tom: They don’t have relationships and they don’t have romances. They canoodle, and that is a very public form of a courtship dance that allows them to do this stuff in front of paparazzi while still maintaining a deniability. Do a whole themed celebrity scandal night. Leave a restaurant and pull a coat over your head and see what happens. Ask for a dark table at a restaurant and hide behind your menus. Just pretend that everyone’s interested in your love life. It makes it much, much, much more fun. Go have sex on a hotel balcony.
Lorenzo: Take a picture of yourself in the car with somebody and tweet it out but let them wonder who it is. Facebook mysteriously that you’re going to have a wonderful night, you can’t wait, and keep them guessing.
AP: What do you consider bad Valentine’s Day etiquette?
Tom: Throwing it in anyone’s face what your own plans are, or trying to treat it like a competition. I also think there’s the forgetting your partner part of it. Male or female, no one should undervalue their own partner on this day. Bad etiquette would be doing something half-assed or at the last minute, or that doesn’t take into account who that person is.
AP: And what’s good Valentine’s Day etiquette?
Lorenzo: It’s respect your partner. Respect their expectations, and just enjoy making someone else happy, for at least one day.
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