Love, Gifts, & Valentine's Day

 Love your partner, love yourself, and love the land with eco-friendly, long lasting, memorable gifts. Celebrate love or friendship, like those in Mexico call it "Día del Amor y la Amistad" (Day of Love and Friendship). Or celebrate it as "The Day of Affection" as those in Guatemala. Show an act of appreciation to a loved one or friend. Allow the joy of love to penetrate through you and endure the happiness.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

~ William Shakespeare

(Sonnet said in the movie Did You Hear About the Morgans?)

 Love! Love! Love!

• How better to express your love, than through your partner's love language. Take the Love Languages Quiz to find you and your partner's love language.
• Here are our scores:
• Lucinda's scores:
  7     Words of Affirmation
  8     Quality Time
  4     Receiving Gifts
  2     Acts of Service
  9     Physical Touch
• Alfred's scores:
  3     Words of Affirmation
  8     Quality Time
  1     Receiving Gifts
  8     Acts of Service
  10 Physical Touch
•  If you notice we paired up on Physical Touch being our highest score, and we also matched on Quality Time. However, we are opposite when it comes to Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service. That is something we have to work on since the other two are natural for us in our relationship. 

Give Genuine & Gracious Gifts w/Gratitude

• Think: 
• Inexpensive
• Creative
• Memorable
• Eco-friendly
• Useful
• Quality
• Thoughtful
• Heartfelt
• Harmonious
• Fun
• Meaningful
• And...Realistic
• Ideas:
• Quality time with the ones you love
• Draw a bath and end the night in a massage
• Handwritten love letter sealed with a kiss, perfume, movie tickets, etc (How to Write the Perfect Love Letter)
• Cook together and share a wonderful meal with wine and candlelight
• Set a simple treasure hunt in your home to find you 
• Most Importantly:
• Focus on their love language. And if you are like us, where the top 2 love languages are already met, go to the next one. Something small will go a long way and your partner will greatly appreciate it.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!