Valentine's Week

My husband and I were each other's first long-term boyfriend/girlfriend. For "many" years I felt left out of the whole Valentine's Day/love fest and would plan a special night out with other singles on Valentine's Day. Looking back, I really didn't spend too many Valentine's alone, considering I started dating my man at 21. But when you're a teenager it feels like forever.

As you can imagine our first Valentine's was a big deal for me. I finally got to buy a romantic card and all the fun pink & red things you find in the stores. I was overwhelmed with too many options and the freedom to finally buy for someone special. So I came up with "Valentine's Week". Every day, for the week before Valentine's, I was going to give my man a little Valentine's treat. I made heart shaped sugar cookies and wrote handmade love notes. I even left him suprises at work. I thought he would think it was cheesey, but he seemed to enjoy it, so it became a tradition.

Then came the tradegy. Last year I decided not to do it. I'm not sure why, I guess I thought he was probably over it after 8 years together. I was very mistaken. He had bragged about it to a couple of the guys at his new office and was really disappointed when I didn't leave him treats throughout the week. I felt soooo bad! Why hadn't I at least asked him if he still wanted it? So now I need to make up for it and Valentine's Week will be back in action this year!

It can be tough to think of little things to give guys. Girls are so much easier to buy little things like lip gloss and note cards.

Here are some of the things I've used over the years:

• Homemade heart shaped sugar cookies
• Candy/chocolate
• Gum
• Trail mix/nuts
• Hostess cupcakes
• Hot sauce/salsa
• Speciality bottled water/soda
• A red rose
• Paperback book/comic book
• CD
• DVD from the $5 section at Target
• $5 gift cards

The Dollar Section at Target usually has some great finds for inexpensive gift bags, boxes & pails. I even found a red tin mail box this year!

Easter Candy!

You don't have to be a kid to get an Easter basket full of your favorite candy! Why not make up a basket for your spouse, best friend, sibling or favorite co-worker? No matter what their age I'm sure they'll appreciate it. I know my husband looks forward to his each year. (He is my substitute child until we have our own. At which point I'll have to keep up these holiday traditions for him as well otherwise he'll be very disappointed!)

Today I ran to Target during my lunch break and bought a basket from the dollar section and filled it with some of his (and mine!) favorite Easter sweets. We leave the basket out as the centerpiece of our dining room table so we can indulge anytime.

Don't forget some of these treats only come around once a year! Like Cadbury eggs and Hershey marshmellow eggs. And my very favorite...Lindt's Bugs and Bees! (Milk chocolate filled with creamy chocolate hazelnut cream and crispy rice.)

Poetic Wrappings

I like to try and do something originally romantic for my husband on Valentine's Day. One year there was Valentine's Week where I gave him something small with a love note each day for a week. One year I made a hand-quilled card (finding quilling paper turned out to be much more difficult than I expected!) This year I might try this Poetic Wrapping paper as it looks simple and inexpensive. However I think I will trying running red paper through a printer, rather than using an old typewriter or stamps! It's easy to find romantic poetry online, just Google "classic love poems" and you'll find many online resources.

• http://www.theromantic.com/
• http://www.lovepoetry.com/
• http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/
  

A Bit of Halloween

I thought it would be fun to share some photos of the decorations and treats from the little Halloween Party we had at our house on Friday. Above is our mantle, covered with every glass vase I could find and filled with candy corn.

The warm glow. I was wishing for rain but it ended up being a bit warm out - oh well!

The mantle centerpiece was my "spooky" tree...I bought branches from Michael's and spray painted them black. The crows were cut out from black cardstock scrapbook paper using pictures of crows I found on Google Images as templates.

The dessert table. Candy is displayed in glass jars and dishes. Cinnamon popcorn balls are piled high on the right.

These skull cookies are a modification from a Martha Stewart idea. They didn't turn out quite as pretty as the magazine! I used Keebler Grasshopper cookies instead of making my own madelines and coating them in chocolate - seriously, who has time for that! They tasted really good, like a minty smore.

The graveyard. I'd been eying these tin black haunted houses this season, $60 at Pottery Barn (pass!), $30 at Target (still a bit much), $10 on sale at Von's 3 days before Halloween (sold!). The brownie coffins are also a modification of a Martha Stewart idea. I ran out of time to try the rolled out marzipan topping (the fleur de lys frosting decoration was never going to happen) and settled for a simple cross piped on with royal icing.

The pumpkin I carved during the contest at work earlier that day. My team won - yay!

The fruit that didn't make it into those cute chocolate covered pumpkins and ghosts from my post on 10/23.

Ghosts and Jack-O-Lanterns

Here's a festive alternative to sugary Halloween treats. Try making these scary fruits from Martha Stewart Living. I might give it a whirl if I can find Seckel pears and Lady apples...would be a charming party favor if you wrapped them in cellophane don't you think?

How To:

1. Melt 20 ounces white chocolate in a double boiler. Leave half untinted. To remainder, add 3 drops orange and 1 drop yellow gel-paste food coloring.
2. Holding stems, dip 10 Seckel pears in untinted chocolate and 10 Lady apples in orange chocolate. Refrigerate on a parchment-lined baking sheet until set, 20 minutes.
3. Microwave 4 ounces semisweet chocolate at 50 percent power, stirring, until melted but not hot. Transfer to a plastic bag, and snip off corner. Draw faces onto white-chocolate-dipped fruit; refrigerate until set, 10 minutes.

The treats are best eaten the day they're made.

Fall Decorating: Glittered Pumpkins

These glitter pumpkins from Martha Stewart Crafts are a sparkling decoration for fall. I made them myself a few years back with mini pumpkins and little gourds to fill a bowl as a centerpiece for my dining table. I believe I just used a fine clear glitter as I could not find the colored glitter in stores that Martha mentions. It makes quite a sitcky glittery mess so be sure to cover your work space. Note: The squash will rot a bit quicker than usual since they are coated in glue. Mine lasted about 3 weeks.