Leave a single long stemmed red rose taped to the front door of your house so your significant other will find it, and a trail of rose petals from the front door to the kitchen where a romantic candlelight dinner is waiting.

Spice up a gift of roses. Individually wrap each rose, and within each wrap, add a little piece of paper with one reason why you love them so much. So they get a dozen roses and a dozen ways you adore them!

Who says that flowers are only for girls? Guys love them too. I bought a beautiful rose for my boyfriend and plucked almost all of the petals off of it. Attached to each petal, I wrote one sentence on a small piece of paper (rolled up) telling him how much he means to me. I placed the petals face up so he couldn’t see the messages. When he opened the box, he saw the left over plucked rose, a small note explaining what’s behind each petal, and the petals underneath. I can honestly say that the reciever will cherish that gift forever. :o) My boyfriend did, and right after he confessed his love for me. To this day, he still takes out the dried rose petals to read each note that explains how much I admire and love him.

A while back, I created and hosted “Husband Appreciation” night at our home. After inviting several couples, I asked the wives to keep the night’s theme a secret from the husbands. I then informed each wife that she would have to “tell” her husband why he was appreciated and then “show” him by presenting him with something special and unique to express her love and appreciation. When our husbands discovered that the night was in their honor, they were so touched! It was a very romantic evening. The husbands, and wives, too, are still talking about it. This is what I did for my wonderful husband:
after telling him why I so greatly appreciated him, I presented him with a beautiful vased bouquet of home depot gift cards, (complete with baby’s breath, greenery, and a bow)! I bought a large arrangement of artificial roses; I removed the flowers from the stems. In the place of the flowers, I hot glued the gift cards. He loved it!!! Not all men enjoy receiving flowers. My husband is one of them, but those flowers he’ll always remember and never forget!

Okay, so it was our second or third Valentine’s together. I told him that after all this time I still had no idea what to do for guys on Valentine’s Day. I asked him if he even liked getting flowers and things like that or if he thought that it was too corny and girly. He replied that while the thought was great and he did appreciate it he jokingly said that he would rather have a wrench than a rose. So I took the idea and went with it. I went to the dollar store and found a whole set of wrenches. From big to small. Then I went around gathering his favorite “manly” things. Like toy cars, candy bars, Oreo cookies. He also had a thing about monkeys. He loves monkeys. I managed to find a pair of kissing monkeys at Wal-Mart for around 10 dollars. I bought a basket and some tissue paper. I put the monkeys in the middle of the basket and then put everything but the wrenches around it to decorate it. It looked great. Then I took the wrenches and wrapped them in the tissue paper like a bouquet of roses. I even got some baby’s breath to put around it. When he came to my door on valentine’s I had the bouquet behind my back and a big grin on my face (the basket was in the kitchen). When he went to hand me my bouquet of actual roses I pulled out his bouquet of wrenches. He was totally shocked! He didn’t know what to say. He loved it so much. Now every year I have a challenge of trying to come up with a new way to give him a “manly bouquet.” A man can only have so many wrenches so every year I pick a new cheap tool and find a different way to give it to him that is original yet traditional. One year, I took allen wrenches and actually made them look like earrings.

For our first Valentine’s Day together, my husband went all out to surprise me. He arranged for my mother-in-law to keep our daughter and when I got home that evening after work, we were alone. He wouldn’t let me go into our bedroom until he had been in there a few minutes. Then he called for me and I went in. He had two vases of my favorite flowers on both sides of our bed, balloons hanging from the ceiling everywhere, two stuffed cats on a heart-shaped pillow kissing, a heart candle, a box of chocolates that played my favorite Elvis song when you open it, and my favorite gift - HIM lying in the middle of our bed looking all cute and seductive. He also bought me a butterfly bush for our yard. He knows I love butterflies and flowers. Even after we moved, I dug it up and took it with us because it reminds me of our love and all of the trouble he went through to make that Valentine’s Day the most wonderful day of the year.

Last Valentine’s Day I was out of town working and would not be returning home until the night before the big day. I purchased a dozen roses on my way home and had them individually wrapped. Upon arriving home at about 2:00 AM the morning of the 14th I jumped on the computer and searched for 12 Valentine’s Day poems. I neatly bordered each poem and printed them off placing a poem with each red rose. Before my wife woke up to start her day I dropped off a rose and a poem at the day care, our boy’s school and video store. When she woke up I gave her a rose and a poem. Then each one of my boys gave her a rose and a poem making it 3. I had to run out, so she arranged to drop of the youngest at the day care across the street on her way to work. She found a 4th rose on the seat of her car, received a 5th one from the teacher at the day care and a 6th one from my older son’s teacher. On her way to work she dropped off a video and received a 7th rose and poem. I was two steps ahead of her and dropped another rose and poem off at the cleaner’s which she collected later, the 9th one was on her desk at work. She received a 10th one at lunch. The 11th was given to hear by a friend at a evening meeting with the message your husband asked me to give this to you. The final rose was waiting for her on our bed when she arrived home after a long day…

For our 25th wedding anniversary, I started 25 days before our anniversary, with one rose and a note stating that it was 25 days to our 25th. A few days later I sent 2 roses and a note stating the number of days to 25. I repeated this procedure for 3 roses, 4 roses, and 5 roses and on our 25 anniversary a note stating my love and the final 10 roses. (1+2+3+4+5+10=25). I did the same thing for our 30th anniversary, only ending with 15 to make 30. I am in the process of doing so for our 35th coming in June this year (2004) only this time it works out to be able to send one note every 5 days up to 10 days before (with 10 roses) and the final 10 on our 35th. I am using the suggestion of one of your submitters for the final 10 to spread candy kisses in a trail to the shower, with the final note of “I have kissed the ground you walked on and showered you with flowers, how about …” and my request for 35 more years. She loves every time the roses arrive.

My sister’s boyfriend had been planning a surprise for her birthday and wouldn’t let anyone in on it. He had been working on this surprise for four months and worked on it nightly. It was driving my sister crazy. Well, anytime my sister’s boyfriend came to visit he would talk to my mom about quilts, and who made them in our family. So, when it came time to celebrate my sister’s birthday, he brought two big boxes wrapped up for her. When she opened the first box she found little gifts that he had been picking up from each place they went to, or if he saw something she liked he would buy it and put it in the box. Then the second box was what threw every one for a loop. My sister is in love with cows and the color green. So what her boyfriend had done is hand-sew a king size quilt! One side had cows and the other side was made of different green rectangular patches. At the top of the blanket it said her name and the underneath it said “101 reasons I love you because…” On each different green patch it had a different reason as to why he loved her. Reasons like (you make me smile, you think your shy, I want to grow old with you, only you can scare me, you blush when I compliment you) and in the center of the quilt in the brightest red fabric it said I love you! AND, he did it all himself! He made this entire quilt himself! He also made four matching pillowcases to go along with the quilt. How sweet is that? Needless to say there was a bit of elbowing going on and girls saying how come you never do that for me? It was funny. Now I see how much he truly loves my sister.

It was my birthday but by the end of the night it seemed like it was his. I planned this for awhile to surprise him even though it was my birthday and not his. It was an evening at home and I did the usual champagne, candles and snacks, etc. What I also did was write out about 30 love notes and coupons to my future husband, then roll them up and insert them into a balloon and blow them up. The notes were all different. Some told him to kiss me or rub my back. Some were coupons for him he could redeem at a later date, and some were just me telling him how much I love him. I placed them all over the place. In the tub, on the bed, in the sink, under tables, etc. I also dressed in a very sexy nightie and silk robe. When he walked in he was in shock. I handed him a pin and explained in order for him to know what to do he needed to pop a balloon. This went on for about 2 hours. He was having a ball looking for a balloon and popping it to find out his next mission. He was actually disappointed when they were all gone. It’s months later and he still has all the notes. After that game he gave me a candlelight bubble bath and fed me champagne. I had hidden under the bathroom sink another even sexier nightgown that I changed into after the bath which made his eyes pop out. I also wrote on the bathroom mirror in lipstick that I loved him and he was the best present I could ever ask for. By the end of the night it turned into ‘our’ birthday. It was the most romantic, sensual night of my life and I’m already planning the next ‘our’ birthday when his comes up in October. It was just crazy fun. You can do anything with the notes. I even stuffed a few Hershey’s kisses in some balloons (you stretch the balloon over the candy) and however many kisses were in it was how many times he had to kiss me. Plus the fact that the love this man and I have for each other made it even more special. I’ll never forget it.

My boyfriend turned 21 on the 26th of October last year, and I was really stuck for gift ideas. After a few days of trying to think of a great idea, a really good one came to me. I checked the Internet for the song hits that fell on his birthday for the past 21 years, and compiled him a CD of the number 1 hits of his birthday for every year that he had been alive. He really liked it, and even though he didn’t especially like every single song on the CD - each of them meant something special to him.

Choose a theme that shows that you understand her, have listened to her, observed her…

That means you select something based on her interests, hobbies, passions, ambitions - things you’ve heard your girl talk about or even respond to on TV or in store windows…

Exceed her expectations - knock her off her feet with your understanding of what she likes and the quality of your purchase.

For example:

She loves pink -
pink flowers, pink jewelry (check out the style of jewelry she wears for clues)

Take it up a notch - she loves pink and poetry - a pink poetry book, pink journal for her to write in, pink feathered pens, pink stationery, sprinkled with pink hearts

She likes travel, she loves skiing -
there are levels of gifts abounding here all the way from a trip to St. Moritz to ski gloves or beautiful books on travel - show her that you understand her dreams even if you can’t buy them for her … today

She loves to be pampered
Spa Wish Gift Certificates…simply the BEST way to give a spa day!
Gift guaranteed to please - a gift basket loaded with spa treats with a spa gift certificate tucked into it…

If she’s just an old-fashioned romantic girl at heart … she’d love a romantic gift basket

Somewhere before I’ve heard the saying, “The best gift parents can ever give to their children is to love each other.” I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the truth of this statement for over 40 years. From as far back as I can remember my Mom and Dad were a team. A great partnership. They were more than just a partnership. It was as if they were one person. They could drive us kids crazy sometimes, because they were always together “against us.” (Okay, so it just seemed like that).

They were really just together in their love “for us”, making sure their brood understood the difference between right and wrong and the foundational principles of honesty, trustworthiness, and respect.) Sure, they argued (although, not that much), but there was never any doubt in our minds that any disagreements would be worked through and resolved. Most of my friends, unfortunately, didn’t feel that same sense of security when their folks argued.

Mom and Dad began their married life poor, but they worked hard and, over the years, built a very successful business. They each had their strengths and weaknesses, but the way they worked together, you never saw the weaknesses, just the strengths. Dad was the outgoing, more public person with whom people met and right away fell in love. Everyone knew Dad! Then, when they got to meet Mom, they felt the exact same way about her as well. Mom, although not at all shy, was more comfortable being the person behind the scenes. More detail oriented, she ran the books and, according to Dad, was the one who “really made the business work.”

I remember one night at dinner asking Dad how much money he made. (Doesn’t every teenager want to know!) Dad simply replied, “I don’t know, Mama handles all that.” I looked at Mom and asked, “Is that true? Dad really doesn’t know how much money he makes?” She replied, “Yes, he never has known, and he never asks.” All three of us kids looked at Dad for an explanation. His approach was a simple one. “If we want to buy something and Mama says we can afford it, we can afford it.”

For my mom and dad, marriage was never a 50/50 arrangement. It was 100/100 - each totally devoted to the happiness of the other. And, because of that, they each received even more joy than they gave. Dad once told me that “true love is when you actually care more about the other person - you love that person more - than you do yourself.”

One of my greatest lessons from Mom was the time I told her, as a boy in my mid-teens, that even after I got married one day, she’d always be my favorite girl. Immediately - in a kind but definitely serious manner - she said, “No I won’t be. When you get married your wife will be the most important person in your life, and that includes Daddy and me.” The biggest lesson about love and marriage that my mom and dad taught us kids was on how to talk “about” your spouse. Have you ever heard husbands and wives, when speaking to others, make unkind remarks about their spouses? It’s one of those things people just seem to do. Sure, they’re “only kidding,” or maybe they are not. But words matter. And words teach, whether positively
and negatively.

You would never hear such a thing from my mom and dad. Dad always speaks of Mom in the most complimentary, glowing terms. As does she of him. This lesson made such an impression on me, I still remember when I was age twelve and we were getting carpet installed in our home. The crew boss was one of those stereotypical beer guzzling, hard-living guys, who would have probably belonged to Ralph Kramden’s Raccoon Lodge from the old Honeymooner’s TV show. For lunch, my folks bought pizza for the crew. Dad went to talk with the boss about the job. I was around the corner listening.

The boss said, “This is an expensive job. Women will really spend your money, won’t they?” Dad responded, “Well, I’ll tell you, when they were right there with you before you had any money, it’s a pleasure to do anything for them you possibly can.” This wasn’t the answer the carpet installer expected to hear. He was looking for negative banter about wives which, to him, was natural. He tried again: “But, gee, they’ll really play off that and spend all they can, won’t they?” Dad replied, as I knew he would, “Hey, when they’re the reason you’re successful, you want them to do the things they enjoy. There’s no greater pleasure.” Strike two. The crew boss tried one more time, “And they’ll take that as far as they can, huh?” Dad responded, “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I’d do anything to make her happy.”

I was trying not to laugh. I knew he wanted Dad to give in just a little bit and say, “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” But it wouldn’t happen… not in a million years! Finally, the installer gave up and went back to work, probably shaking his head in bewilderment.

Witnessing my dad in that moment taught me more about loving and respecting your wife than anything he could ever have told me about the subject. Mom and Dad are now retired and enjoying their life together, just hanging out, reading, and visiting their children and grandchildren. They recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. They still hold hands, and they are more in love than ever. Throughout the years, whenever Mom would remind me that I should be looking to get married, I’d say, “Ma, I have plenty of time.” She’d jokingly reply that I don’t have “that” much time. My Dad would then look at me in that wisdom-filled, city streets bred way of his and say, “Hey, you take all the time you need. If you marry someone just half the woman your mother is, you’ll have a great life.”

I should only be so lucky.

Love…
Sweet sounds from the music of the heart
Composed of flowers and flattery
Played by instruments–each has its own part
Sung with passion and delicacy

Love…
Faded pages with meaning beyond comprehension
Written with strength and fervency
Read by many with constant devotion
Stored on shelves of diversity

Love…
Strokes of vivid colors and happiness
Drawn by the instinct of desire
Painted with tenacious tenderness
Displayed in galleries of grandeur

————————————————-
Without Love — dayz are
“Sadday,
moanday,
tearsday,
wasteday,
thirstday,
frightday,
shatterday… so be in Luv everyday…
Wish u a Happy Valentine’s Day

————————————————-
I luv my eyes when u look into them;
I luv my name when u say it;
I luv my heart when u luv it;
I luv my life when you are in it.

————————————————-
You must be a good runner
because you are always running in my mind,
you must be a good thief
because you have stolen my heart,
and i am always a bad shooter
because I Miss You Always…

————————————————-
1st time i saw u
i was scared 2 touch u.
1st time i touched u
i was scared 2 kiss u.
1st time i kiss u
i was scared to luv u.
but now dat i luv u
im scared 2 lose u!

————————————————-
I,Me, Myself, Yes me,I
Really
Truly
Unmistakably
Unstoppably
Unavoidably
Crazily, Think about you!

————————————————-
Y do we close our eyes
wen we sleep?
wen we dream?
wen we kiss?
dis is becoz the most precious
thing in the world is unseen.

Wen i close my eyes i c u!

————————————————-
If 10 people care 4 u,
one of them is me,
if 1 person cares 4 u
that would be me again,
if no 1 cares 4 u
that means i m not in this world.

————————————————-
————————————————-
Life without ur sms is
tea w/o sugar,
coffee w/o milk,
bread w/o butter,
Salard w/o onion,
Candy w/o cream,
Chicken w/o spice,
Icecream w/o ice

ME w/o U!

————————————————-
Great minds contain ideas,
solutions and reasons.

Scientific minds contain formulas,
theories and figures…

My mind contains only you

————————————————-
()__()
( . ) _, ),
=(,,)=()=:,
,(s) t_!_J -;)
this rose is Heavy
coz Itz Filled with all My Luv
for a SWEET HEART…..
like U.

————————————————-
What is love?
Those who don’t like it call it responsibility.
Those who play with it call it a game.
Those who don’t have it call it a dream.
Those who understand it call it destiny.

And me, I call it you.

————————————————-
I love three things,i.e
the SUN,
the MOON,
and YOU,

THE SUN 4 A DAY,
THE MOON 4 NIGHT,
AND U 4 EVER.

B/C I LOVE U 4 EVER…

————————————————-
I may run out of message to text you.
I may run out of jokes too.
I may also run out of battery.
But my heart won’t run out of space for you!

————————————————-
I’m afraid to close my eyes coz I might think of you.
I’m afraid to open them coz I might see you.
I’m afraid to move my lips coz I might speak of you.
I’m afraid to listen coz I might hear my heart fall for you.

————————————————-

————————————————-
i heard someone whisper ur name’
but when i turned around to c who it was,
i notice i was alone,
then i realize it was my heart
telling me that i miss u.

————————————————-
Look,
The Moon Is Calling U….!
See,
The Stars R Shining 4 U….!
Listen,
The Birds Are Singing 2 U….!
Hear,
My Heart Says
I MISS U….!

————————————————-
If u r asking if i need U…
The answer is 4EVER……….
If u r asking if i’ll leave U…
The ans is NEVER……
If u r asking wat i value…..
The ans is U…

Only U……………….

————————————————-
A B C D E F G H I J
K L M N O P Q R S
T V W X Y Z
oops! i miss “U”

————————————————-
Message: * Some text missing*
Sender:* Name Missing *
Number: * Number Missing *
Sent: * Date missing *
Missing U a lot thats y
everything is missing….

————————————————-
Love can be expressed in many ways.
One way I know is to send it
across the distance
to the person who is reading this.

————————————————-
U mUz bE tiReD cOz
u haF bEEn runNinG thrU mY miNd,
u gOttA bE a thiEf coZ
u haF stOleN My hEaRt
n i muZ haF BeEn a bAd shOotEr
CoZ i kEep miSSing u…

————————————————-

————————————————-
i heard someone whisper ur name’
but when i turned around to c who it was,
i notice i was alone,
then i realize it was my heart
telling me that i miss u.

————————————————-
Look,
The Moon Is Calling U….!
See,
The Stars R Shining 4 U….!
Listen,
The Birds Are Singing 2 U….!
Hear,
My Heart Says
I MISS U….!

————————————————-
If u r asking if i need U…
The answer is 4EVER……….
If u r asking if i’ll leave U…
The ans is NEVER……
If u r asking wat i value…..
The ans is U…

Only U……………….

————————————————-
A B C D E F G H I J
K L M N O P Q R S
T V W X Y Z
oops! i miss “U”

————————————————-
Message: * Some text missing*
Sender:* Name Missing *
Number: * Number Missing *
Sent: * Date missing *
Missing U a lot thats y
everything is missing….

————————————————-
Love can be expressed in many ways.
One way I know is to send it
across the distance
to the person who is reading this.

————————————————-
U mUz bE tiReD cOz
u haF bEEn runNinG thrU mY miNd,
u gOttA bE a thiEf coZ
u haF stOleN My hEaRt
n i muZ haF BeEn a bAd shOotEr
CoZ i kEep miSSing u…

————————————————-

————————————————-
When I miss U,
I just…
CLOSE () $ ()
MY ( -.- )
EYES (”) (”)

&      () $ ()
U R (’.')’.  ‘)
(”)(”)(”)
JUST ON MY RIGHT

————————————————-
__ You’ve
!’–.____.–’! got
!_______i MAIL.
Open it, please…

§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§
§     I MISS YOU     §
§                              §
§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§¤§

————————————————-
_l”l________
–/ l__l Delivery
|        | ________
L(o)__l___(o)__|
This van is loaded with
LOVE n CARE,
LOVE YA LOTS!

————————————————-
No,
no Wait!
B’coz………
I wana say something thats only 4 you

( )” ” “( ) ( )”"*( )
(”( ‘o’ ) ( ‘o’ )”)

” I MISS YOU”
Every time I say how are you

————————————————-
|””V””| r
| |v| | | (”" (”"
|….| |…| | …) …) U
always
In whatever u do….
Remember that someone over here
is thinking of U…

————————————————-
( )
(_o_)
/(_)
U love me

( )
(_o_)
/(_)
U love me not

( )
(_o
/(_)
U love me

(_o
/
U love me not

o
/
U LOVE ME!

/
I don’t blame You, I am loveable!

————————————————-
,,,,
( . .) Do u
( ._.) love me?
(,,(”)(”)
,,,,
( . .)
( _ ) U dont?
(,,(”)(”)
,,,,
( . .) ,I,
( _ )// den
gud bye!!

————————————————-