Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Valentine's Day Giveaway & 100th Post!

Egads. It's been seriously that long since my last post? I have to tell you, it's been really busy for me. I've been traveling for work on a weekly basis and when I haven't had a whole lot of blog writing or reading time. Duane is away on business today, so I have some alone time with my blogs. (Yeah, just when *I* got back, he flew out! Ugh.)

So, my blog friend Stethoscopes and Stilettos had a great Valentines giveaway and well, I decided to have one of my own. Yes, I'm totally copying her idea! Besides, I need to do a little thank you for all my loyal readers. Even when I haven't been so good, myself!

So, here's the deal. Leave a comment here on my blog, and tell me your favorite Valentine's Day memory/moment. Keep it PG-13, ok?? I'll do a random drawing to pick the winner. Simple enough, right?? :-)

Oh and the prize is... $25 movie tix via Fandango Bucks!
(Last day to enter will be Wednesday, February 18th!)

So, I'll start first!

My favorite V-day memory is with my husband, who was my bf at the time. (This is when Duane and I were doing long distance thing. I was in NYC and he was living in the Bay Area.) Two Valentines ago, we decided to meet half way in Chicago. During one of the worst snow storms ever. Flights were getting canceled left and right. If you've ever flown in and out of JFK in the winter, you know how awful their flight schedules are. They are never on time in bad weather. Amazingly, while 90% of flights were getting canceled, mine made it out, only an hour late. D's flight from SFO came in on time, too!! I was so afraid of being late. I knew he had made dinner reservations somewhere... So, we both got into Chicago and checked into our hotel. (Have you been to The James? Awesome hotel!) Then he whisks me off to the surprise restaurant: Charlie Trotters in Chicago!!! Which is one of the most amazing restaurants EVER. It was probably the most expensive meal we ever eaten together, too!! Then, at the end of the meal, he gives me a box of a Cracker Jack box and asks me to open it. I knew, there was something in it. I just didn't know what. I open up my little prize. Which is a little square envelope.. and in it, was a ring! A diamond eternity band. Which was my promise ring. *sigh* I'm getting all teary eyed thinking about it. He had meticulous planted the ring in the prize bag (did I mention it's small and thin?) and put it inside the Cracker Jack box and resealed it. Oh and the best part was the we got a tour of the kitchen after our meal! (Ok, the ring was probably the best part, but still! A private tour at Charlie Trotters' kitchen!)

Btw, I think two years ago, V-day was on a weekday, so we met up only for one night. We both had to go back to work the next day!

Ok, yours don't have to be that long! ;-)

Ps. Yes, I'm still running a lot. I did hit 57 miles last week and this week, I'll be running 50+ miles again!

Pps. Yes, this is my 100th post here! :-)

46 comments:

  1. That is an amazingly sweet story! AWWW!

    Mine is: A few Valentine's ago, my husband the Grinch (seriously) and I had made a deal to only get something "small" for each other. I got him a Sodoku puzzle book and a card. He, on the other hand, got me a locket (he said it's small in size, buggar). This was really special to me because when we first started dating, I told him how I'd always wanted a locket from a guy I was dating but that it was one of those things where if you ask for it and then get it, it's not so special. Like, I just wanted a guy to KNOW to give me the locket. So then I'd ruined it for him, I figured. No, this was THREE YEARS after I told him that! Long enough for me to forget about it!

    I wear the locket 75% of the time. It goes with every outfit!

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  2. OMG! That is seriously the CUTEST story. I about got all teary eyed reading it LOL! I just wanna go AWWWHHHHHHH :) Ok i did :)

    My vday story is from a few years ago when my boyfriend and i started dating. He was supposed to meet me at the high school for a dance. BUT he was totally late. I was NOT impressed. For some reason i ended up going ouside. And there he stood with a dozen roses and he had written my name in the parking lot with chalk asking me to be his sweetie on valentines day. It was totally cute! Makes me smile every time :) :) :)

    Great job with the running too!!!

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  3. What a sweet Valentine's day story! And good job on the running... wow :D

    So... I don't have a good Valentine's day story... at all. *sniff, sniff* I can't even remember a fun one spent with friends or family! AGGHHHH!

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  4. It was 1989. I was a single mom and not seeing anyone. I was in a bad mood driving to work. I stepped on the gas a little too hard and I went spinning across the icy road into a ditch. I had to get a ride to town from a stranger and call a tow truck. I was late too work and having a really miserable day. When I got home that night, there was a mystery bouquet on my door step. I'm not talking grocery store flowers, but FTD! The card said it was from a friend. I drove everyone I knew crazy for weeks trying to find out who sent them. Eventually the sender revealed himself and asked me for a date. One year later he became the world famous "Mr Diva".

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  5. That's such a sweet story!

    Sorry to hear that things have been so crazy, but great job keeping up the mileage.

    My hubby and I have been together for ten Valentine's Days. This will be the first we are apart. And he was supposed to be coming home that day before his trip was extended! :( I'm not the biggest fan of the holiday this year. ;)

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  6. great story....I have a horrible memory about stuff like this, but last year was very cool...my wife surprised me by turning our basement into a restaurant and made a phenomenal dinner...she partitioned off part of the room and we had candles lit etc ...the kids ate with us even, but it was very cool and we had a lot of fun.

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  7. Oooh, Julianne. That is such a sweet story. I usually think I won't be affected by "sappy stuff", but that is TOTALLY adorable.Ahhhh, I'm going to tell Harrison to get on the ball!

    My V-day memory? Um...I've never really gotten to celebrate it with Harrison since high school since we were apart for four years, so instead, I always drove an hour with my friend to get heart-shaped donuts from Krispy Kreme. Delicious!

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  8. What a sweet story! You mileage is crazy. Nice job. I don't know how you are doing it with all the traveling.

    I am not a big V-day girl. But, every year Matt does simple little things that make me smile. Last year he and Morgan made a picture with a very nice and special note. It was all I needed.

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  9. Congrats on your 100th post! My favorite V-day to date so far has probably been one spent with all my roommates in college. Before anyone went out and did things with various significant others, we all dressed up and made a delicious dinner and had girls night V-day. I'm pretty sure we lit candles and everything. This year's has the potential to top it if the BF comes up with something good lol!

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  10. So sweet!! Hang on to him!

    My best V day memory...Key West 5 years ago. Andy and I went to breakfast and then for a walk on the beach. He proposed.

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  11. My best memory of 2/14 is marrying my wonderful wife 7 years ago. It's been a fantastic 7 years and looking forward to 70 x 7 more.

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  12. Great story, and so many miles, especially while travelling, that's amazing!

    My valentines day story is 4 years ago, it was the fiancé and my 2nd valentines day, dating long distance at the time. He came to visit, and for his present I had taken a small leather bound book and illustrated all of out previous time together. I still cry every time I look at it, and it's not worth trying to get another present for him, since nothing compares to that one. It was the way that I was able to show him how much I cared about him, and return the favor for him driving across the state several times a month to see me.

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  13. my favorite vday. Is prob when I came home from school one day (college) and the house was spotless, and he was making this gourmet meal with great wine and desert. He even decorated the table. It was very cute!

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  14. 50+ mpw!!! wow! my fave valentine's day was last year: elliot surprised me by MAKING me a card (and he is NOT artistic) but it had a picture of me from high school (ew!) and we played in a basketball game that night. haha. SO not romantic at all, but it was just the way were were.

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  15. Great story and awesome mileage btw.

    Wife and I had many great valentines over the past 16 years. Of course the early ones were probably the best. I remember driving in some of the deepest snow to get to her on v-day once, because she was so worried we wouldn't get to see each other.

    We seen each other every day for the first 3 years we were together. That's probably why spending a few days apart now is so much easier. LoL.

    E

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  16. Awwwhhhhh that's so sweet ;D

    Man I don't think I have a fav V-Day story ROFLMAO! Seriously I'm NOT the romantic type AT ALL so yeah no good stories there :-/

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  17. Happy 100 and ADORABLE story. Nice work Duane!

    Mine was probably the first V-Day the husband and I spent together. We were in college and decided to make dinner together in the kitch of his fraternity house and sip Arbor Mist wine that someone bought for us since we weren't 21. The food was pretty gross, but it's kicked off a wonderful tradition of cooking together and drinking cheap wine every V-Day since.

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  18. Awww, what a sweet story. My favorite V day memory was the first one that my now-husband and I were dating. We were totally broke college students so we stayed in, and he cooked my favorite Mexican food, quesadillas and bean dip. Then we watched hours and hours of Sex and the City DVD's and drank cosmopolitans. Good times:)

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  19. Nice job on getting all those miles in!

    I think the best story I have is one in which I didn't even spend it with my wife. My gift to her was to take the kids to my parents and she had the house to herself. I picked them up from daycare that Friday and took them to my parents for the weekend. I left a box of chocolates and bubble bath soap on the table at home for her to use while we were gone.

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  20. What a sweet story! You guys are adorable. Congrats on your 100th post and on the awesome running lately!

    We have always kept Valentine's day pretty low-key, making dinner at home and I always make Zach a valentine. :) One that I really remember was the first Valentine's day after we got married, it was just a quiet night at home but we were so excited and over-the-top romantic .. it was just cute. :)

    Happy Valentine's day! <3

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  21. We are also low-key, and the only V-Day that I really remember was our first together - and it was a disaster! He'd make reservations for 8 PM at our favorite Italian restaurant - they finally sat us at 9:30. In the bar (at least they were supplying us with free drinks that whole time). I'd bought a bottle of champagne & strawberries to have at home after, but we were so exhausted by the time we got home (after 11) that we just went straight to sleep.

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  22. LOVE your story :) i love this idea too!!!! i am going to do a v-day post on this... but my fav v-day was my first one with chris. we spent the weekend in sausalito and everything was just so romantic and perfect, like out of a movie :)

    ummmm FIFTY SEVEN miles!!! WOW you are hardcore, that is a lot of miles!!! great job girlie :)

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  23. what a cute story! i live for stories like that. now if only my hubby would take a hint...

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  24. you are a running machine lady!!! 57 miles!!! Rockstar status!

    I can't say that anyone V-day memory really sticks out for me since I am not the romantic kinda gal, but I always make sure to let me family and friends know that I love them and appreciate them! :)

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  25. I always show the love, baby. Every day is V-day in the beachy crib. Umm, not! I just dont have a story that stands out and I am old. LOL. We always used to go out to dinner at a nice, romantic place, but now with the kids we just do little things.
    BTW, nice running spanky. :)

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  26. Awwww...I love that story...how cute!

    So here is mine...it's not really a story but rather a story about our V-day tradition.

    My hubby and I decided back when we were dating that going out to eat on Valentine's was not for us. Our first Valentine's he made me dinner and we decided that would be our tradition. Every year we'd make dinner, we trade off every other year. BUT the one thing that we always keep the same is dessert! Every year we have trifle on Valentine's Day. So far we've had 5 different kinds of trifle:
    Year 1 - Raspberry
    Year 2 - Lemon
    Year 3- English Trifle (with all kinds of alcohol-soaked cake)
    Year 4- Pumpkin
    Year 5- Banana, Straberry, Blueberry
    Year 6 (this year)...I don't think he'll read this so I can share with you, we're having Cappuccino Mousse!

    Anyway, our tradition is really fun. I feel like it's a great way to do something special for the other person without having to spend a TON of money (depends on what you make for dinner but it's usually less than a restaurant).

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  27. My favorite valentine day was back when I was in school and everyone gave each other valentines. My then boyfriend gave me a box of chick-fil-a nuggets from the cafeteria at lunch time because they were my favorite. ha ha ha ha ha. that is depressing. AND you go getting so many miles!!! :)

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  28. oh lala aren't you getting fancy!! Let's see my favorite is the first year that my hubs and I wear dating he decided he would make me a meal of my favorite foods...which apparently unbeknowst to me where:
    Stove Top Stuffing
    Baked Chicken
    Mashed Potatoes

    Now the kicker was that he had to cook each item separately so it took like 4 hours! but it was adorable

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  29. That is SUCH a sweet story. Long-distance love always seems so dreamy and romantic in retrospect, but I bet at the time it was TOUGH to be apart from each other like that. (Also, your mileage is crazy. No wonder you don't have much time to blog!)

    I've always been somewhat unromantic and I always told my then-boyfriend, now-husband not to do anything for me, and he always got me flowers and a chocolate-cake-for-two nonetheless. This is our first V-day together as husband and wife, so I'll get a chance to see if that was just about wooing me. ;)

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  30. Congrats on the 100! AND on the insane mileage!

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  31. that is SO romantic..AND you got to eat at Charlie Trotters!!!!! ha, you can tell my heart and stomach are connected. 57 miles?? how are you doing all this? that is simply awesome. i need to read things like that to help motivate me. i want to be that awesome too! :)

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  32. 57 miles! And that's an awesome story. My sister lives in Chicago and she's always lusting over Charlie Trotters.

    Hmm..My fave has to be Valentine's Day 1994. I was in the 8th grade. My MAJOR crush of 4 years surprised me with a single red rose (my first ever). We dated for 2.5 years (this is like the equivalent of being married when you're that young!) and are still really great friends. Ahh...The days of innocent love :)

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  33. Alright first of all, you and Duane and your cutesy stuff....uggghhhh....if I wasn't your friend I couldn't take it! It's too cute and sweet and perfect and I hate you both. (But you know I love you both.)

    My favorite Valentine's day memory is going to take place this coming Saturday, when James McAvoy leaves his wife to profess his undying love for me and whisks me away to his castle.

    :-)

    Great job on the 50+ mile weeks girl!

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  34. Wow, you and D sound like me and my husband, crossing paths at the airport. Unfortunately, it happens much more often than I'd like. I don't know how you're able to run so much while on travel!

    But that V-day story is really sweet. I think my most memorable V-day was when my boyfriend at the time (now husband) flew me out to DC to be with him. We'd just gotten together over the holidays and then he told me he was moving to DC for 6 months temporarily to complete his PhD. I was very sad and thought it might be the end of us. But that one trip actually cinched things for us and we made it work until he returned. He moved in shortly thereafter :-)

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  35. WOW! Re: the comment on my blog, I'm SO impressed that you applied to be a 777 Challenge runner. That is HARDCORE. You really DO have an adventurous and brave spirit in addition to being a great runner! I'm grinning ear to ear in excitement for you.

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  36. Congrats on your 100th post!

    I'm soooo using the story from my giveaway! V-day, 2005, Den surprised me with a trip to Vegas! It was my first time to Vegas, so it was sooo exciting! The whole trip was planned out and very romantic ;)

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  37. Congratulations! My favorite memory is of a picnic, indoors, with photos of us strewn across the floor. Lovely. Just lovely.

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  38. My favorite V-Day was last year. One of my friends came down from LA and dragged me to the 80s club. We danced for several hours hitting on random guys until we were delirious and decided to call it a night.

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  39. This is probably silly, but yesterday, in front of all of his baseball friends, my 11 year old son gave me a box of See's candy.

    "Here", he says.

    I don't know. It touched me in a Mom kind of way. I have other memories, but they seem to be mysteriously hidden in my psyche right now (probably a good thing...)

    I've been missing your blog! Way to come back! Yeah, I can't have a job and keep up with my blogs!!!

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  40. Ahh, what a sweet story and 57 miles - you are so good!!

    Hmm, I have loved all the v-days my husband and I have spend together. This year we just celebrated our 10th v-day together. It was our second date 10 years ago and we went bowling (we were in high school). Anyway, to celebrate 10 yrs we went bowling again this year. 10 years ago I beat him both games, sadly, this year her beat me both games (I don't think I have bowled in 10 years). Anyway, it was fun to remember our 2nd date 10 years ago and all that we have shared together.

    Hope you and the hubby had a great v-day yesterday!

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  41. Congrats on another great week of mileage! You are really rockin girl!!

    I would have to say that this years Vday was the best so far since my boyfriend made me dinner and gave me a beautiful bouquet of pink roses!!

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  42. I'm so behind! But at least by reading it today that means I got to hear everyone else's fantastic stories as well!

    Charlie Trotters - my sister and her husband are chefs and are OBSESSED with that place. That's fun that you got to go there!

    I've only had a boyfriend once on VD. When I was in highschool. And, truth be told, he was starting to grate on me but I didn't want to break up with him because I had already gotten him a gift (the Cranberrie's CD that he wanted). So we exchanged gifts and he just kept talking and talking and talking - and finally I just blurted it out that I coudn't do it anymore and broke up with him. oops. I like to say I have bad relationship karma from that moment forward. I need absolution? Any ideas??

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  43. Where have you been lady?? Busy working or something good lord! :-D

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  44. Wow that is alot of miles! I"m glad you haven't posted much, I am trying to catch up and it is nice not to see a million posts. Yay!! My favorite v-day memory has to be this year with the lil guy! I've always thought vday was kind of a hallmark holiday and I can't even think of what we did in other years (kind of sad, don't tell my husband that!)
    So my favorite one is with our new fam of 3 :)

    Your story is really cute, aww!

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  45. Love your story! DH and I are really low key and just spend time together on V'Day. That and there is the fact that I have never ever liked V-Day.....just not my thing.

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