{14 days of love}

I've never really been one to get caught up in Valentine's Day. I think it has to do with a few different things. My heart has always been a little lonely...and I think being reminded of that on a very commercialized holiday centered around romance and love was always a little painful. However, I have also always been more supportive of love shown EVERY DAY....and have never placed a lot of weight on "only being remembered on a holiday." I would much rather have a love note stuck to my mirror, a daisy or a cinnamon roll on my pillow :-), or a text message saying "I'm just thinking of you..and wanted you to know," on June 3rd...or March 12th....or November 9th (in other words, on ANY random day). Gifts and love shown on holidays carry very little weight for me (and I am not truly a "gifts" person anyway, as far as MY "needs")....if it isn't expressed and felt the rest of the year.

This year, things are different for me. I still feel the same about "holiday-only-love"....but this year, my excitement about Valentine's Day changed a little bit (and not only because it also happens to be our 6-month anniversary). Somehow, having someone with whom you DO celebrate love with EVERY SINGLE DAY, makes this holiday more fun. I think it's because you DO celebrate your love EVERY DAY..and NOT just on Valentine's Day...that the little *extra" surprises are so much fun. I say that as if I have done this many times before. Truthfully...this is a first. I am in love with a man whose love and life is a miracle EVERY DAY that I live. I am fairly certain that not a DAY (and often MANY TIMES a DAY) goes by that I don't fall to my knees and thank God for him. It's not "necessary" for us to set aside February 14th for us to express our love for each other. We do that every day. However, because of the strength of our relationship and the love that we share, it's FUN to do little things here and there....just because. It's because they are "EXTRA," that they mean so much.

On February 1st, my sweet friend Jolene posted an idea on her Facebook wall to do the "14 Days of Love."  I decided that I wanted to participate and do a similar idea for MY sweetheart. I was so grateful that she had posted it so early in the morning on the first day of the month so that I had time to join in on the fun. I decided that instead of more "light-hearted" and "cute" things, that I would choose a more sentimental route......TIED in with cute little things here and there. I immediately designed a tag that I would for all 14 days...just substituting different text for each day. As you can see, I chose the familiar Shakespeare quote, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.." as the "theme" for my "14 Days of Love." Each day, I wrote one thing that I love so much about Jeff and paired that with a cute other little something for each day. I've been asked by friends almost every day the past few weeks to please post all of the little gifts that I gave Jeff during the course of my "14 Days of Love." I decided that it would just be easier to wait and post them all TOGETHER after the 14 days were over. And so, as requested, here are pictures of all of the little prizes, along with all of the tags and the sayings I came up with (some are kind of a STRETCH...don't laugh. LOL!), that I gave to my sweetheart in the days leading up to Valentine's Day. (I am also posting the actual GRAPHIC images of the tags...in case they are hard to read in the pictures.)













For Day 14, I had reserved a special gift for Jeff. He has been wanting a cork board for his kitchen area. I had seen a nice, beautifully FRAMED cork board at Hobby Lobby a few months back, but every time he went to purchase it, they were all out of them. I had a bit of fortune a few weeks ago and found ONE left....and at an amazing deal. I was SO EXCITED..and decided to hang on to it until DAY 14. My sweet angel Seneca came with me to Jeff's apartment to deliver my "DAY 14 of LOVE" while Jeff was on a business trip (in Vegas for the day, for a trade show). She was so anxious to help...and was excited about her job to scatter rose petals from the front door, all the way to Jeff's bed...where his gift would be waiting.

Because my HEART has truly never felt the way it does since Jeff came into my life, I made HEARTS the theme of DAY 14. I had also previously designed a special Valentine just for Jeff...which I also pinned to the corkboard next to the large 8.5 x 11 "DAY 14" note.







It's BECAUSE little things like this AREN'T "necessary" for Jeff to know how much I love him, that DOING THIS was so much fun. I was so excited for each and every one of the 14 days....whether I left his little gift on the front seat of his car, slipped it into his jacket when he wasn't looking or delivered it to his apartment while he was at work. Jeff was always so grateful and appreciative each and every day, and it made my heart skip when I went to deliver DAY 14 while he was at work, and found the previous 13 days' gifts all spread out and in a row on his countertop. (Even the empty SYMPHONY and REESES PIECES packages were laid out. :-) That is such a "ME" thing to do. LOL! This might seem like such a "small thing," but it isn't. Not to me. No "small thing" that this man does for me  [and there are SO very many]EVER goes unnoticed....*sigh* Oh my heart...I love him.):-)

Such small little things...but it made my heart so happy to do these little "extras" for the man who holds my heart EVERY SINGLE DAY. What a blessing to be an adult...and be YOUNG and IN LOVE -- the kind of love that penetrates all the way through to your soul. The kind of love that I had lost faith in....and now know, with a surety, truly exists. Our love is strong, sophisticated, transparent, sentimental, secure, passionate and unconditional. However, we are also crazy, fun, young, spontaneous and romantic....and fun little things like this REMIND us of that. What an true honor it is to love Jeff...not only on Valentine's Day or the 14 days leading up to it...but EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!

Comments

[Lisa]

I am beyond thrilled that you are back to blogging on a regular basis. I always check your blog on my Google reader first to see if you've posted. You always have such positive and uplifting things posted and I love the way you write. Thanks for sharing your 14 days of love idea. SO CUTE!