LOVE....A VALENTINE'S HISTORY

With the date of love right around the corner,

Happy day of LOVE my friends! I hope you celebrate it every day! I thought it would be fun to share a little Valentine stories History.

 

Sharing my beautiful mom because let’s face it she was my first Valentine! An unconditional Mother's love is the purest of any! 

When I was a little bitty girl, her and Dad went on a date for Valentine’s Day and she wore this red halter dress, fast forward 47 years and I got a similar halter dress so I had to do a side-by-side.

RED DRESS HERE // HEART NECKLACE HERE// HEART HAIR CLIP HERE

And of course my daddy too, which I will tell you about one of the most creative gifts he ever gave me on Valentine’s Day when I was in high school here in a minute. And apologizing for all the grainy spotted photos of old photos in this post!

mmmmm wonder where I get my 

"dressing for the seasons" from? LOL

AND "matching!"

 

But anyway, my dear mama always made Valentine’s Day so sweet! Everything from decorating my valentines boxes for school in white and red velvet wallpaper that she had in their bedroom to her often requested red velvet mini cupcakes and always sweet little tokens of love.

 

Now my first “boy” love note came in second grade on Valentine’s Day when Lamar sent me some candy hearts and asked to circle whether or not I would be his Valentine. Too funny, I answered no, I don’t think he was really my type. LOL. Couldn't find my class photo to show ya.

He went on to be a state police officer so very happy he’s had a good life, lol!

 

Fast-forward to high school and while I was boy crazy, I always dreaded Valentine’s Day because we would pass out roses to various classmates from admirer’s. It wasn’t until my senior year that I received one and actually I ended up with three from three different guys so I guess it made up for lack of them in the earlier years. I always felt so sorry for all of those who did not receive one so I really don’t think it’s a good practice, lol! I mean it’s not the bachelor, everybody should get a rose, right?

 

Two of the roses came from two of my favorites, one was my boyfriend one was not, lol!

Sad note:This guy below passed away in 2017 from cancer.

Roses for safe keeping in my locker. I forget what the carnation was for, I think because I was on Student Council and helped pass them out. And what up Tinsel? Why was that in there?

Then, my hair got blonder and I got even more roses, lol

Now, my parents are both very good at giving creative gifts which I was lucky to inherit. I’ll never forget a Valentine’s Day when I believe I was 16 or 17! I would pass by my parents every morning as they drink coffee at a little split table while I walked through to go to the bathroom that had a shower. On a Valentine morning, in that bathroom was a quarter and a bell. My daddy knew that I had been wanting one of those popular at the time panda coin rings and so when I opened the third box there it was: get it; a coin and a bell that rings, thus COIN RING.

CUTIES!!!

 More Matching, LOVE it!!

Another sad note, this beautiful friend of mine passed away in a car accident while I was in college. This was a Friends Valentine Sunday before there was such a thing as "Galentine's Day."

I would go on to kiss a few frogs before I got to my dear Mr. Nine. When the boys were younger Grandma would come over and watch them while we went out to eat. Then the tables turned and they were taking their dates out while we stayed home, lol. 

A Fav from our younger days.

But growing up with the boys, it was always fun to love on them with valentines and you know I was room mom extraordinaire with all the love treats! I wish I had more pics from in the classrooms, too busy room moming I guess. One year, one of the boys made me homemade chocolate truffles in homemade class for Valentine’s Day. I’ve actually saved them in a baggie in a drawer in the refrigerator all of these years here is a photo: 

Sometimes we would all go on long weekend getaway for Valentine's since Presidents Day was close and they often had a 3-4 day weekend. Here they are indulging mama in her photo shenanigans at the hotel, lol

Mr. Nine and I don’t do big gestures of love because we believe in love each and every day of the year but we do get each other a little something, I get the boys a little something and my mama. Dad gets a card in the mail and on occasion I send cards or packages to friends. Often I will make a heart shaped things like a meatloaf and pink mashed potatoes for dinner.

Here I made them mini Turkey Meatloaf Hearts. Get the recipe HERE

AND MAJOR LOVE TO THESE Strawberry Cheesecake Heart Muffins

I thought I would share this Photo of my beautiful mama and I sporting our favorite red and matching necklaces, my mom got me this beautiful heart necklace with pink gemstones in it from the sweet Tiffany Houghton and her Online Store. You might want to follow Tiffany and her mom, Jennifer from Turtle Creek Lane on Instagram. Happy love to you all!

And check out more of my Valentines goodness in posts like Red Velvet Peanut Butter Hugs, Valentine Goodie Gram, Valentine's Day & the Tiered Trays

WHO WAS YOUR FIRST VALENTINE??

 AND TODAY on my InstagramMeet our 

Newest Valentine!!

LINKING-UP with Metamorphosis Monday// Love your Creativity // Hello Monday  // Inspire Me Tuesday 

xoxo

LOVE & LINK-UP

I was going to post my fashion today for our Style Six link up but my heart just can’t do it, so the only three words I’m going to say are 
LOVE EACH OTHER!

However, I know we still must live, so I am going to share my beautiful birthday friend below and the link-up will go on if you choose to do so this week! Love you all!

MY FAVORITE FROM LAST WEEK:
Kellyann from This Blonde's Shopping Bag
This is indeed a beautiful day because, while we usually don’t pick each other for our Style Six favorites of the week, I’m totally going to break those rules for my dear Kellyann! It is her birthday today and I wish I could be down in Florida celebrating with her! Make sure you head over to her Blog, check out her beautiful stylings, her sweet heart and wish her a very Happy Birthday! 

Make sure you hop to the blogs of my other five hostesses of Style Six so you can see who they chose as their favorite, sometimes we choose the same and sometimes we are completely different in our choices but what fun! It just may be you! 

WELCOME TO OUR WEEKLY 

STYLE SIX FASHION LINK-UP

Our Party Rules Are Simple

~Please Only Link Posts related to Fashion, Beauty or Shopping

~Please Link No More than 3 Posts

~ Please visit other Linkers and Show them your love

~We’d LOVE it if you followed all our Blogs and Socials

Listed Clockwise from our GRAPHIC

Chrissy from Granola & Grace

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

Lisa from Coast to Coast

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

Andrea from Living in Cloud Nine

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

Shelly from The Queen In Between

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

Laura from The Horton Family

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

Kellyann from This Blonde’s Shopping Bag

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

LOVE, HATE, TAG

I was blessed to have beautiful Amanda from Anchored to Sunshine invite me to do this fun challenge.

The rules to Love, Hate, Tag are simple: the person “tagged” must share 10 things they love, 10 things they hate, and then nominate up to 10 other bloggers to do the same! It’s a great way to get to know others (and yourself actually).

At first, much like Amanda, I was shocked at how hard it was to get started… then I was even more shocked with how my list grew and grew and I started to think I could list a hundred things but you'd get bored with that. Ha!

Finally I narrowed it down to 10 loves and 10 hates :) and tagged a few bloggers I’m intrigued to find out more about!

LOVE

1. Flowers - Especially roses and the ones I put in the dirt myself. As you saw from a post I did HERE that I love picking posies! There’s nothing like a deck and porch full of flowers in the summer.

2. Getting packages in the mail - Literally my heart skips a beat when I see a package on the front porch or in the mailbox!

3. Laying in the sun - and drinking a frozen concoction.

4. Music, all kinds - and My top five singers: Pitbull, Barry Manilow, Iggy Azalea, Bon Jovi and Cole Swindell (Love that we got front row tix to his concert in July)

5. Interior Decorating - Especially watching the transformations on HGTV.

6. WATER - of any kind; drinking it, lakes, pools, creeks, oceans, streams, puddles. I love water!

7. Fresh berries - Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries. Good antioxidants and yummy so I eat a cup of berries every day!

8. Notre Dame Football! Go IRISH!!

9. Exercising - Especially walking and ab work. (and I love sweets thus part of reason why I exercise.)

10 Hugs - Giving and receiving them. Especially from my husband, kids, mom and friends.

HATE

  
1. When people do not smile back - or say hello back when you smile at them.

2. Sickness - especially Cancers and terminal illnesses.

3. Bugs - stuck on the grille of my car.

4. Tornadoes - Deathly afraid of them. We live in Tornado Alley and I panic every time the sirens go off.

5. When people think they are entitled to things in life - Hey, work hard for things and be appreciative like the rest of us!!

6. Waiting in line - Especially when there are several, like at the grocery store, airport or bank. It never fails, I get in the wrong line, by that I mean the slowest line.....every.single.time!

7. When people talk behind others backs. If it is done out of love, fine, but to be derogatory, judgmental and catty, is just rude

8. Wind - I have this silly saying "Wind is NOT My Friend!" Nothing good comes from wind. Messes up your hair, makes my eyes water, knocks stuff over outside, blows table cloths and paper plates off picnic tables, spreads pollen and cotton wood around. A nice breeze; sure, but anything over 20 mph, forget about it!

9. Humidity - This eCard says it all. Imagine when its high winds and high humidity together? This girl is a mess. Ha! 

10. Automatic Car washes - I have mentioned my fear of these on the Blog before and while I love to have a clean car and just read in the paper today that car washes are better than washing your car at home, for our environment ya know, I still get worked up on my way there. Breath, Andrea, just breathe!! :)

TAG

Now it’s your turn! I nominate the following eight people to partake in Love, Hate, Tag!
Kim The Thirty Something Life
Jonelle Tyranny of Pink
Susie Sequins and Strawberries
Biana B Loved Boston
Rachel Garay Treasures
Shireen Reflection of Sanity
Caroline Windy City Chic 
Nadine Life By Nadine Lynn 
Shelby Recent Somethings
Claire Fashion and Feathers

Thank you again to Amanda, this ended up being so much fun. I know I get so excited to find out about others, especially bloggers that have become my friends. Enjoy!

TIPS TO KEEP YOUR MARRIAGE THRIVING

It's no secret nor do I hide the fact that years ago my husband and I were both married to others and divorced. We vowed early on that the yucky "D" word would never be in our vocabulary again. Despite past mistakes, hurts, guilt, etc..., we were blessed with a second chance at a loving, healthy marriage. You think either one of us would take that for granted? 

NO WAY!!
Cute story, well not so cute at the time, occurred on the first day of out honeymoon. That evening looking back, we knew that since we made it through that day, we could make it through anything. We had been married in a little log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The next day we decided to do some hiking, which we both love. 
The trails all have signs like this one:

We had found Deep Creek Trail, one of the narrow more off beaten path hikes and we really wanted to go on that one because hubbs wanted to fish and there was a stream at the end. So going down the narrow path was a breeze. Little did we know that at the bottom the site was closed due to bear activity and we would have to return up the 3,400 feet elevation. So, after 5.1 miles down, we must go up. We were in shape, but let me tell ya, going up at that elevation and steep incline so, so tough! We worked as a team, took breaks every few hundred yards and rationed out our water. We kept thinking we would make headlines, "Newlyweds, Eaten By Bears", but after 10 1/2 hours in the woods, motivating the heck out of each other to "Make it", with red and blistered feet, we finally did make it out into the glorious open and raced to a McDonald's drive thru before crashing at our cabin. The next day, we couldn't move, but knew we could conquer the marital journey!!

 Obviously, pics taken before the climb back "UP!"

Here are "NINE" tips for what keeps our marriage thriving.

1. Compliment, Compliment, Compliment

When my husband says "You're Beautiful" or even "What a Wonderful Meal", it means the world to me and validates his love of who I am. Many couples compliment one another early on. While they are dating, they offer frequent affirmations and compliments galore. But then, after a few years, those can start to dissipate. Not for us. Not a day goes by that we don't compliment each other on something. When I tell him "You look Great", his eyes sparkle. Everyone wants to feel special especially by their life partner.

2. Accolades For Tasks Big and Small

Besides the compliments, express Gratitude for the things your spouse does. Expressing gratitude feels good to YOU because you are looking for the positive things to celebrate and acknowledge every day. It feels good to your HUSBAND because he in turn, feels celebrated and acknowledged. If you are not in the habit of expressing gratitude, there is always something to show appreciation for. I love it when my husband fixes stuff. Just saying "Man, you know how to swing a hammer" or "great job hanging those garage shelves" makes him feel so appreciated.

3.  No Kids, No Rules

Whoo Hoo. Kids are gone for the weekend, what to do?  Whatever you want, that's what! The point is during child raising years these moments are few and far between. Go crazy if you want. Be spontaneous. Eat whatever you want wherever you want. Watch "R" Rated movies. Sleep in with no alarm clock. Sometimes it's just refreshing to break from routine.

4. Kiss. Every day. 

 It’s not “kiss when you go on date” or “kiss when the kids aren’t around,” it’s “Kiss. Every day.”  I'm not suggesting you stage a make-out session at the dinner table, what married couple does that? However, it’s perfectly fine for your offspring to witness the frequent kiss, hug or playful smack on the bum. Such gestures don’t just help keep the romance alive, they also show your kids that an affectionate marriage  is a GOOD thing. Flirt. Kiss. Hug. Remember that you create your relationship with every text, every wink, every “good morning” and every “can’t wait to see you tonight after work.” Never stop creating and you will never stop loving.

5. Let It Go
Why go ballistic when he buys the wrong bread? He had the courtesy in the first place to even stop and get bread. Another argument for zipping your lip: If you’re always hovering nearby ready to ream your husband for every little blunder, he may stop making an effort altogether, Ask yourself “Will this matter in five minutes/weeks/years?” If the answer is “not really,” take a deep breath and let it go. Anger is a choice. We can choose to see its powerful potential for destruction and take steps to reduce it. 

6. Say No To Negativity. 

No criticizing, complaining or eye rolling. Ever. Make requests not complaints. Remember at the end of a request you may get what you asked for. At the end of a complaint all you get is an argument and possibly, resentment. Build you spouse up in front of others. 

7. Binge Watch A TV Series

This may sound silly but there's nothing like sharing a connection and common love for Walter White in Breaking Bad or Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. The last couple winters here in the Midwest have been brutal so my husband and I often pick a series to curl up and binge watch. We look forward to the next episode and then the next and it becomes "our show". So we fit six seasons into 3 weeks, kinda cool!

8. Go In Another Room

We've all heard of spending a few hours apart, him with the guys, you shopping, but what about this? So, for as many TV programs as my husband and I share a love of, there are also programs we do not share the same affection for. He loves The Discovery Channel and Alaska Shows. I DVR a soap opera and prime time dramas. As we all know time apart is a good thing. Well, it can even be in another room of the house. A little "me" time til we regroup for dinner!

9. Day Dates and Lots of Laughter

Lots of people plan a date night but what about a date day??? These are our favorites....Vineyards, Breweries, Roof Top Restaurants, Car Shows, The Beach and Lighthouses, Matinees, Football games,  Early Bird Dinners (Ha). The neat thing is we have no agendas, no time to be anywhere and we always seem to get off the beaten path and find new things, all while the day is full of laughter. New adventures bring a closeness and laughter tends to seal the deal.

Here's to keeping your marriage Strong and Happy!!!!!!

xoxo
"Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
~Henry Ford 

ONLY.....SO LONELY

"Her name is Heather and she is my new baby sister", I announced to my first grade classmates.

But the truth was I didn't have a baby sister, a lie that was humiliatingly revealed when my mom showed up for parent teacher conferences the next evening.

Mrs. Sullivan, noticing my mother's flat stomach, threw mom for a loop when she said, "I'm surprised you're out and about already." "Huh", my mom replied. "But didn't you just have a baby? Andrea announced to the class she has a new baby sister!"
 

First Grade Photo

If only....

My mother was shocked despite Mrs. Sullivan assuring her that kids make up stuff like that all the time.

The truth was, even at the young age of seven, I desperately wanted sister, or even a brother for that matter.

I was an only child. While very much loved and cherished, still I was alone. To this day, I wished baby Heather had been real.

My parents have known, since my desperate attempt at an expanded family, that I wanted a sibling. It simply wasn't in the cards for my parents. Yet, I still tried. To my mom I would ask; "Are you sure you didn't give up a baby for adoption?" To my dad; "Are you sure no one is going to show up on our doorstep and call you Dad?"

My sweet mom when asked why she only had one child will say, "Well, when you get it perfect the first time, why try again?" Plus she makes it known when the stereotypical "only children are spoiled" topic comes up, that I was definitely NOT a spoiled brat. Yes, they only had one to buy for and devote time to, but it was done so with lessons of giving and compassion.  Genuine "Thank You's" were taught to me very early and to this day, I'd rather be the giver. For the things I do receive, I am grateful and have never once felt entitled .

While growing up, no one can deny the advantages of being an only child. My own room decorated the way I want, my parents undivided attention and a doggie I didn't have to share. Yet, I couldn't help but ache a little when witnessing my friends and their sibling camaraderie or their shared family memories.

The only child life didn't bother me as much in high school and college. Friends, dating and activities kept me busy. I'd become attached to a best friend like a sister. It was when that chapter of my life started to fade that the yearning for a sibling grew stronger.

Who's to say as an adult, I would even share a close bond with a sibling? However I do see friends bond deeper with their siblings over life experiences and I think about the future. I fell guilt because I worry about my parents own loneliness.

While I may not have a sibling bond, what I do have is an amazingly close relationship with my mother. She is my closest confidant, my partner in crime, my dearest friend and her concentrated love lifts me up. People even ask us if we are sisters. If only we were, I think, because then the inevitable might not be so bad if I knew I had fifty more years with her.

As I age into mid-life, the idea of facing my parents mortality alone is frightening. I think the cruelest is that when your parents die, you have no one left to share your childhood memories with, no one to say "Remember the last Christmas you believed in Santa?" Or "Remember making snow ice cream?" There's no one left to remember.....only you.............

My first Christmas 1971, Aren't my parents gorgeous!!

I am an only child but this factor does not define me. I'm blessed with a healthy mother and father whom I am close to, blessed with a husband and children who we create memories with. My parents taught me to be thoughtful, considerate, organized, and loyal. My sense and duty and responsibility to my parents runs deep.

While I'll always wish baby Heather was real, and at times feel like a lonely-only, I'll focus on what I do have and be ever so grateful for that!!

xoxo

"When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone."

~TENNESSEE WILLIAMS