Tip Tuesday – It’s Raining Romance

Happy getting ready for Valentine’s Day! You are, aren’t you? Getting ready?

I can see all of you now, individually wrapping each of your beloved’s toothpicks and socks in heart-print paper, spraying perfume on be-jeweled handkerchiefs so he can carry your sent with him always, melting down hundreds of Dove bars to make a perfect chocolate likeness of your most treasured loved one. Yeah, me too.

But this year, I want to go beyond the basics. What are some great ways to surprise that special someone for Valentine’s Day?

I’m talking good surprises, surprises that bring tears of joy and belovedness, surprises that cost very little money and can be prepared in…um….14 days or less, surprises that please and delight, surprises that can be talked about on a G-rated weblog where I don’t really care about the most private details of your intimate relationship and will delete you if you decide you MUST share?

I will give you a couple of examples.

1. Last year for Valentine’s Day I made Dan a “Book of Love”. It contained all of the pictures we’ve had taken of the two of us (wedding not included) and cards listing the things I love most about him. It cost a total of about $20 and maybe 10 hours of work (I told you I’m not a great scrap-booker) but he LOVED it and now it’s a family treasure we will keep adding to. I was actually surprised how few pictures we have of just the two of us. It seems we’re mostly taking pictures of each other or the kids.

2. Dan THINKS about me. When he finds ways to let me know he’s thinking about me, it drives me wild. These include things like shining my shoes without being asked because he knew they were scuffed, making the bed while I’m in the shower, taking me out on surprise dates, buying me a fairly expensive but awesome book on HTML programming just because he knows I want to learn, giving me his Palm today because mine has died and my life would spiral out of control into an endless abyss of disorganization without it. Good surprises, all.

I can’t do the “Book of Love” again this year. It just wouldn’t have the same je ne sais quoi. I need ideas, stat. What are you gonna do for the shmoop? What have you done in the past that’s been a smashing success?

As an added bonus, if you would like the shmoop to do something specific for you, send me your requests and I will provide a service this year where I send anonymous cupid-email to him/her, strongly “hinting” at what you would like done.




Important Bulletin – Please visit Beth’s site today. She has a new game and I believe she mentioned something about free advertising as an incentive for the winner.