Spread the Love: Valentine’s Gift Ideas (that won’t break the bank)

We have officially entered the month of LOVE and we are very quickly approaching LOVE day (aka Valentine’s Day!!).  Have you started thinking of gift ideas for the special people in your life?? For those of you that may have a tendency to procrastinate, here are a few of my favorite Valentine’s Gift Ideas to get you started!

 Parents. A surprise family photo shoot.  Whose mom wouldn’t LOVE this?? And Dad will be happy because mom is happy.  You can choose a local photographer (I suggest scheduling this asap) or have a friend help you if you don’t have the cash for a professional.  If you’re in the Dallas area, I recommend calling one of these two talented photographers, Picturing Art, Team Howard.  
 

Sister.  Mary Kay Satin Lips set plus some Rockin Red Lipgloss to wear on her “hot Vday date.” Trust me she will thank you!! Call your consultant for delivery details.  Or if you don’t have a consultant, you can order on my website! I provide free shipping and gift wrapping.  Use Promo Code MKLOVE for 15% off all Vday gift orders!!

 

Grandparents.  Treat greeting card. My grandmother absolutely loves cards.  She reads them aloud before opening the accompanying gift at every celebration.  The longer the poem on the inside, the happier she is.  I have discovered the perfect complement to her gift this year, a personalized card from Treat. I seriously can’t get over how cute these are and your first card is FREE! This might win me the “Granddaughter of the Year” award.

 

BFF. Personalized Scripture Cards. I ran across these on a friend’s Instagram and immediately started googling to figure out where I could buy them.  This etsy shop is just one of many people that will create them.  They are bible verses with the person’s name inserted into the scripture.  Wow, talk about impactful!

 

Hubby. Sexy lingerie (ok, this is kinda for you too!) and a massage.  Check out these fantastic massage tips from the Dating Divas. If you really want to spice it up and thank him for sitting through all those episodes of the bachelor, create your own fantasy suite, described here. I imagine all this will lead to the gift he really wants (wink, wink)!!

 

Self (You didn’t think I would leave myself off the gift list did you??). Personalized Sharpie Mug. When it comes to love, self-love is extremely important, so don’t forget you! I’ve been looking for a reason to make one of these awesome sharpie mugs.  I’m thinking, now is the time! Of course mine will something clever about coffee, maybe "All I need is a little bit of coffee and lot of Jesus".  You can find step by step directions here.

 

 

So what do you think of these ideas? Did I leave anyone off the list??

Holy Matrimony: Tips for a Happy Marriage!

I’m excited to share post 2 in the Holy Matrimony series.  Just in case you missed it, the first post of the series was It’s all Roses. Today, I will share what I believe to be critical components to truly enjoying your marriage daily.  We have been married for a lovely (and brief) 2.5 years, so I do still consider myself a novice in the marriage department but I pray these tips are useful to you!

Marriage Tips from a Novice:

1.      Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Seriously friends, if it’s really that important that the toilet paper goes on the roll in a particular direction then just do it yourself. My husband has a lovely habit of leaving his shoes all over the house.  Although, it really frustrated me in the beginning, I try now to focus on all the great things he does do around the house and when I just can’t look at his shoes in the middle of the floor for one more second, then I pick them up and put them away myself.

2.      Seeing is believing. I think it’s important to constantly think of ways to show your love to your spouse in their love language. (If you don’t know your spouse’s love language buy5 Love Languages asap!) For example, my primary love language is quality time, as is Josh’s, so this one is super easy for us.  I also enjoy gifts, thoughtful gifts.  It makes me so happy to walk into the house and see a fresh bouquet of stargazer lilies, my favorite! He usually buys them and arranges them himself which means much more to me than him buying them from a florist for $50! Such a small simple gesture but it lets me know he thought about me.

3.      Laugh. The bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Prov. 17:22). Don't be afraid to be silly together, often.  I have a tendency to get extremely hyper and random times. During said times I may jump on the bed dance around in circles or do anything else that pops into my head.  We both end up laughing hysterically at the end of these episodes. Other times, when I’m being extra fussy, Josh will do something extremely silly (and usually inappropriate) to make me laugh.  It’s impossible to be mean and grumpy while you’re laughing. Try it!

4.      Humble Yourself. Dr. Phil always says, “Do you want to be right or happy?” There comes a point when winning the argument isn’t a victory at all.  At our couples conference last year my biggest take away was this… We are a team, we either win together or lose together. In other words, if I “win” an argument and he “loses” it, neither of us won. L Worry less about being right and more about reaching a solution that is a win for the team!

5.      Have fun together. Find something you can enjoy together.  Perhaps it’s a ridiculous reality tv show you watch weekly or a leisure learning class at your local city center. We will be taking a Spanish class together starting this month.  We are both looking forward to it so much! Another great idea is taking dance classes together.  It really doesn’t matter if you are any good.  You will learn to work as a unit and laugh at yourselves when you mess up.  Whatever you choose, make sure it’s something fun that you both want to do.

Can you identify with any of these? What tips do you have from your own experiences?

Linking up with Lulu Style, Faith Filled Fridays, Essential Fridays, Funday Monday.

Holy Matrimony: It’s all Roses

This post is part of the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE!  The Happy Wives Club has inspired me to start my first ever Blog Series, Holy Matrimony!  

Have you ever noticed all the negativity that surrounds marriages in our culture? When we got engaged, we were “warned” about marriage on every turn.  “Oh, you’re in love now, but wait until you get married.” “Yup, you’re in the honeymoon phase, wait til that ends! You’ll see.”  Even to this day people constantly tell me about the horrors of marriage after kids, or after this or that.  It’s enough to crush every little girl’s fairytale dreams of someday meeting prince charming and living happily ever after. Well, I’m here to proclaim, the dream is alive and well!! Fairytales do exist. Of course, you must remember that Prince Charming was a human, which means he wasn’t perfect.
 

I must say that I’m so blessed to have never experienced the negativity associated with marriage until I was an adult! I was raised by two happily married, loving parents.  Growing up in a loving home with them made me desire marriage VERY much!  I never thought they were perfect but I did think they were great and I knew they loved each other.  They were clearly best friends and I wanted that when I grew up beyond a shadow of a doubt. As far as I knew, marriage was a wonderful thing that everyone desired.  However, when I got to college, I started meeting girls that said things like, “Eh, I don’t plan on getting married.  Who needs that?” At first it was shocking but eventually it began to sink in that perhaps everyone didn’t have what my parents had and that made me sad. 

I never lost sight of what a lovely thing marriage is and was beyond excited when Josh proposed!! We had both heard enough marriage horror stories that we didn’t waste any time getting into premarital counseling.  As a matter of fact we went through premarital counseling at two different churches (his and mine) with 3 different people (can you tell I really believe in preparing). We were confident that we would “live happily ever after” but we never expected marriage to be all roses.

 

Now that we are 2 ½ years in and I reflect back, I’ve decided that… marriage is all roses! Roses make me so happy (as does marriage).  They are beautiful, fragrant, and the perfect addition to any centerpiece but they do have thorns! And boy do thorns hurt.  Everyone knows that but we don’t run and burn all the rose gardens in town because the roses have thorns.  NO! Of course not.  We learn how to deal with the thorns (hopefully by removal) so that we can enjoy the beauty of the roses.  That is how I see marriage.  It is absolutely wonderful but there will be some thorns.  All we have to do is learn how to deal with the thorns.

Fawn Weaver, the founder of the Happy Wives Club wrote a book about the best marriage secrets the world has to offer. They say the book is like “Eat, Pray, Love meets The 5 Love Languages.” I say the book is inspiring. You can grab a copy HERE.

 

Linking up with Doing You Well Wednesdays, All Things Thursday.

Burning Passion

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!  I absolutely LOVE Valentine's day.  OK, confession... I pretty much love every Holiday but Valentine's is special.  Love is supreme and often difficult to define, describe, or explain.  Nevertheless, love is certainly worthy of celebration.  So, today, celebrate!  What better way to celebrate Love than with the most beautiful love poem I could find straight from the greatest book ever written.   Before you read this, think of the person that ignites a burning passion within you.

"Hang my locket around your neck,

wear my ring on your finger.

Love is invicible facing danger and death.

Passion laughs at the terros of hell.

The fire of love stops at nothing---

it sweeps everything before it.

Flood waters can't drown love,

torrents of rain can't put it out.

Love can't be bought, love can't be sold---

it's not to be found in the marketplace."

Song of Solomn 8:6-8

The Message Translation

 

The man that ignites a burning passion within me is this guy! I love you Joshua Currie.

Photography By: Team Howard Photography

 

 

Joseph: Faithfully Loved

God’s Faithful Love.  What comes to mind when you meditate on God’s Faithful Love? I immediately think of His patience, eternal salvation, provision, grace and mercy.  I think of the many abundant blessings in my life that I do not deserve.  God’s Faithful Love makes me think of sunshine and happiness and many wonderful things.  I think that is the reason Genesis 39:21 jumped off the page at me so blatantly.

“But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.” (39:21, NLT)

 
Hmmm, wait a second… At this point in the text Joseph had just been falsely accused of rape by his boss’s wife and was thrown in jail.  Then, I read that as Joseph sits in jail (unjustly sentenced), God showed “His Faithful Love.”  Based on this profound verse, I need to reconsider the images I conjure up when meditating on God’s Faithful Love. Joseph was facing what must have been one of his darkest moments and yet the Lord was there showing “His Faithful Love.”  At first, this was surprising to me, but upon closer consideration it is beyond comforting to know that the Lord is ALWAYS ready and willing to show “His Faithful Love” regardless of my circumstances.  I just need to learn from Joseph and be ready to represent my savior under every condition and in every environment.  In spite of the seemingly negative circumstance, Joseph held steadfastly to his dedication to the Lord and in turn God made Joseph successful at everything he touched even in prison.

What area of your life is not going exactly as planned?  I challenge you fully commit this area to the Lord and allow him to show his Faithful Love to you in your darkest moments.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for the inspiring example of unwavering love for you that we have in Joseph. I pray that as the dark moments come, we will stay firmly planted and fully recognize your faithful love.  Help us not to grumble about the difficult times but to press into you more deeply.

 In Jesus name,

Amen