12th and 13th Day of Valentines: Poetry and Games!

For day twelve I used my "wordsmithing skills" and penned a twelve-line poem for my love. I will not divluge the details of that poem as it is between me and my Valentine (and really, it might make you cringe with its 4th-grade rhymes!).

For today I am playing off the idea of Friday the 13th being an unlucky day and I left my sweetie a note that read, "Some say that Friday the 13th is a day of bad luck...let's test that theory tonight with a stay-at-home date night of fun and games. And you never know...you might even get lucky... ;-)"

Well, we've pretty much reached the end! For tomorrow I will just present my hubby with his "big" Valentines gift- a well-deserved gift card to his favorite sporting goods store. Oh, and I'm planning on making him a special breakfast of french toast (the french are very romantic, you know) using this decadent recipe. 

I hope you have all enjoyed these 14 days! I have been so pleased to read your kind comments about the nice things you've been doing for your sweethearts, and I hope we can all keep it up- not just during the 14 Days, but whenever our romances need a little boost. Remember,

 "Love has no desire but to fulfill itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving." -- Kahlil Gibran

For more love quotations, check out The Quote Garden. Oh, and in the past I have used quotations as one of my days of Valentines. Just so you know. ;-)

11th Day of Valentines: 11 Songs That Remind Me of You

For the 11th day, I "borrowed" my husband's iPod Touch and put a playlist on it that I entitled "11th Day." The playlist included 11 songs that remind me of him from our iTunes music library. They were songs we already had on there, I just put them into one playlist. Then I left his iPod where he could find it with a note that read:

1. Go to Music

2. Click on Playlists

3. Find the playlist called "11th Day." These are all songs that remind me of you when I hear them. I love you!

In the past I have done this by making a mix tape or cd, or even just writing down the titles of songs and quoting a few of their lyrics on a sheet of paper. Music is the language of love...

Days 9 & 10: Kisses & Rubbin'!

Sorry I checked out yesterday, but for the 9th Day of Valentines I gave my husband nine kisses. In years past I have donned bright red lipstick and smooched a few onto a piece of paper that I left for him, but this year I did it the old fashioned way. Just nine strategically-placed kisses. ;-) He was pleasantly surprised.

And for the 10th Day of Valentines today he will be getting a 10-minute massage. He has started a new workout program and has been very dilligent with it, so he deserves it!

Only four more days left...

The Eighth Day of Valentines: Easy as Pie

Image from SimplyRecipes at www.elise.com

My husband's favorite dessert is pumpkin pie, so each year on the eighth day of Valentines I make him a pumpkin pie that I divide up into eight slices. They say that the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? And don't you just love it when someone gives you a lot of something you really love and tells you it's yours- ALL yours? But knowing my hubby, I'm pretty sure he'll share... ;-)

The Seventh Day of Valentines: 7 Reasons Why

Image from Cardiophile.com

I'll keep this one short and simple- today I let him know 7 reasons why I love him. There are lots of ways to do this- notes, whispers in the ear...be creative. ;-)

Only one week until Valentines Day...how will you celebrate?

The Sixth Day of Valentines: 6 Photos

It's the sixth day of Valentines, and I decided to make this little book for my husband with 6 photos of me and the kids. The note on the front reads, "Because you are so loved! (Even if it's only by little green people)" The reason it says that is because for some reason my printer was printing the black-and-white photos with a strange green tint- so we all look like aliens! I think he'll get a laugh out of it, though.

To make this little book, I just cut two strips of patterned paper from a 12x12 sheet and glued them together so that both sides were patterned. Then I folded it accordion-style and glued on the photos, which I just printed out in black-and-white (and green!) on white cardstock straight from my computer. I could have done color, but I like the nostalgic effect of the black and white. I tied a ribbon around it to keep it folded up. All in all, it took me less than 20 minutes to complete!

Just so you know, there is one more photo of me and my husband that's on the "back" of the book (on the other side of that last photo of my son). So that makes six photos in all. Another cool thing about this little book is that it can act as a stand-alone photo gallery for a desk or table top. It would be a great little mailable (is that a word?) Valentines gift for grandparents or other loved ones who are far away. You can also dress it up even more with additional captions, quotations, and other embellishments. But hey- I have fourteen days to do here- who has time for embellishements? ;-)

Have you started your Fourteen Days of Valentines yet? What ideas have you come up with? Leave a comment and let me know- I could always use more ideas for next year!

The Fifth Day of Valentines: Five Dollars

This one didn't require a lot of imagination- I just left a five-dollar bill for my husband so that he could grab something to eat while he's at work today. He is on the road a lot of the time, travelling to and from people's homes, and he doesn't like to spend money on fast food. He also rarely packs a lunch for himself (and I've tried to pack his lunch but he changes what he wants to eat every other day so I've given up!) so he often doesn't eat until he comes home for dinner. So $5 for food on the road is a nice treat for him.

I was going to be creative and fold the bill into a heart, but I ran out of time. Instead I just included another little love note. If you want to try the heart fold, I found a cool tutorial on how to do it on YouTube. Maybe next year...

The Fourth Day of Valentines: Our Love is Like...

With fourteen days, you knew it had to get cheesy at some point, right? This is one of my goofier traditions- "Our Love is Like" notes. Today I left him four notes like this one throughout the house. This one, plus one for our strange plant that keeps getting taller and taller (our love grows bigger and bigger each day), his screwdriver for work that he always leaves on the table with his wallet and keys (our love can fix anything that's broken), and one for the telephone (it keeps us connected). 

Absolutely cheesy, but it's always fun for me to think up goofy similes between our love and random household objects, and Chad thinks some of them are pretty funny. What is romance without a little silliness? 

I also wanted to include a link to Chocolate On My Cranium's printable Valentine's cards- these would be another cute idea for your sweetie for the Fourteen Days of Valentines....

The Third Day of Valentines: 3 Roses

Thought I'd include this on the Lazy Organizer's Talk About Tuesday- check it out to see what others are talking about today...

Today I left him 3 roses (they're a little droopy b/c I got them as a manager's special at Kroger for $0.99 apiece, but I did some pruning and they turned out okay!) with a note that said, "3 blossoming roses for each of the 3 beautiful lives we have created together."

For the other two days of Valentines I've done so far, click here.

The Second Day of Valentines: Reeses Treat

One of my hubby's favorite treats is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, so today I left him some tucked into the pocket of his work shirt with a note that said, "...because the second day of Valentines is twice as nice!" 

The First Day of Valentines- A Handmade Love Note

Since today is February first, I am celebrating the first of fourteen days of Valentines by giving my husband this little homemade card. On the inside I wrote a note about how I wanted to spell it out for him in black and white- I love you! 

More to come tomorrow...