Posts Tagged: "love"

“Love You Forever” | The Perfect Book for Mothers

Princess Diana - April 21, 2015 - $20 or Less, Baby Shower, Mother's Day

I read a book in which the author recommended the book called Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.

The book “Love You Forever” makes a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.

When I read it for the first time, it made my cry three times. Each time I started to cry I put down the book to catch my breath only to continue crying once I started reading again. Let me mention, the book ONLY has 14 short pages of text!!

This timeless story of a mother’s constant and enduring love for her child puts into words the emotions that mothers feel.

I say it’s the perfect book for mothers because if I had read “Love You Forever” before I became a mother, I know I would not have reacted to it the same way.

List of Things I Love About You | Anniversary Gift

Queen Darlene - February 27, 2015 - $20 or Less, Anniversary, Valentine's Day

My dearest friend, Janiece, celebrated her 43rd wedding anniversary by coming up with a list of 43 things she loved about her husband, Bryan. He’s a sentimental guy so this was a perfect anniversary gift.

He even wrote about it on Facebook and said, “Cards sometimes don’t convey what you want to say but Janiece sent this to me this morning. Means much more than any card she could have gotten.”

Here is what Janiece wrote to Bryan.

43 things about our life together that make me happy that I’ve been married to you for 43 years:

Bryan & Janiece

1. How you asked me on our first date to double date with your mom
2. When you asked me to prom
3. How awesome you were when you found out you were going to be a daddy
4. How hard you worked to make a living for the three of us
5. That you loved my parents
6. The homes you’ve built for us….strong and steady just like you
7. The home you built for my parents….they loved that house so much
8. That you never complain about my cookin’
9. The commitment to family vacations to hold us together
10. Supporting my business career. If not for you I would not have even tried.
11. I love your hair… don’t ever go bald again
12. Your strong shoulders and gentle hands and your good kisses
13. I even love that you do your own laundry
14. And you let me have my own bathroom Continue Reading

A Romantic Bed & Breakfast Getaway

Queen Darlene - February 13, 2015 - Anniversary, Experiences, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is all about love and romance. Looking for something that will say that in a big way? Well, I have a lovely and romantic gift idea. Instead of buying flowers and chocolates spend that money on a Bed & Breakfast getaway.

Step away from the fast pace of the every day world and spend time focused on one another. Renew, rekindle and have a romantic fall-in-love-again-experience with the one you adore.

You can explore everything from luxury Bed & Breakfasts to sprawling inns. B&Bs offer different amenities such as themed suites, king or queen size beds, balcony/deck, in-room fireplace, in-room Jacuzzi for two, flat screen TVs, fitness facilities, hot tub, couple massages and spa.

Some have hiking trails and horseback riding while others are nearby art museums and shopping. There are a few that have their own entertainment.

You can choose a Bed & Breakfast that offers group dining or that delivers a gourmet breakfast right to your door.

Personalized M&M’s |Valentine’s Day

Queen Darlene - January 29, 2015 - $20 or Less, Anniversary, Birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day

Chocolates are a girl’s best friend. Some would say diamonds but oh… how chocolate satisfies that indescribable craving!

Randy surprised me last year for Valentine’s Day by giving me my favorite candy – M&M’s! And they were personalized. I had no idea he even knew you could purchase them that way. I’ve seen personalized M&M’s at baby showers and birthdays and thought they were waaay cute!

My M&M’s had messages of Love Randy, Happy Valentine’s Day and the American Sign Language sign for I Love You (that one was my favorite!). The ASL “I love you” sign is a tradition used in my family by my grandparents, parents, brothers, sons and us. Continue Reading

A Letter to Your Child | Christmas Tradition

Princess Diana - December 17, 2014 - Birthday, Christmas

I started a new Christmas tradition in my family by writing a letter to my child.

Life moves at lightning speed, and each year I want to take the time to stop, reflect and remember all of my child’s happy moments full of fun, love and laughter by writing about them in a letter.

write-letter-to-child-christmas-tradition

This Christmas gift idea will be cherished far more than any wrapped present under the tree.

I must admit, the whole process intimidated me at first.

How am I supposed to cram a whole year’s worth of stuff into a single letter? I don’t have time to write pages and pages! What should I focus on if I can’t write about everything?

I stopped freaking out when I thought – KISS. Keep It Super Simple.

Focus on the cake and worry about the frosting and sprinkles later. If all I end up with is cake, it will still be awesome and better than nothing. (That just popped into my head. I’ve never thought of comparing a letter to a cake before… It must be because I haven’t eaten dinner yet… even though it’s almost 8:30 p.m.!)

So I came up with the basic ingredients for a letter to a child:

Hands of Love | Photo Gift Idea

Queen Darlene - October 9, 2014 - $20 or Less, Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Gifts for Him

httpvh://youtu.be/wukqoBeDhag

Hands are a beautiful thing because of all of the different ways they express love.

The hands of your parents and grandparents are the ones that held you for hours as a baby, wiped your tears when you cried, placed the Band-Aid on your skinned knees, threw the ball to teach you “catch,” held your bike up as you learned to ride it, showed you how to measure ingredients when baking cookies, and reached in their wallets to give you a few extra dollars to go out with your friends.

Their hands also taught you how to write your name, work math problems and start a lawn-mower. I’m sure you can think of a zillion more things their loving hands have helped you with throughout your life.

My son and I thought it would be a meaningful gift to capture pictures of both of his grandparents’ hands and give them to family member for Christmas. Dustin came up with the idea to take pictures of the things they enjoy doing now.

Love Connection | Personalized Etched Glass Wedding Gift

Queen Darlene - May 29, 2014 - Anniversary, Wedding

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS2jzJlPpNE

Our dear friends’ daughter is getting married. We met Stuart and Karen when we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We became family and when Kelsey was born we were thrilled. It was fun to buy girly things as she was the only girl among our four boys.

Personalized-Etched-Glass-Wedding-Gift-Idea-Sunburst-Gifts

Click to enlarge

She is all grown up now and Cinderella has found her Prince Charming. I received the wedding announcement and cannot believe our baby girl is getting married. Since we moved back to Oklahoma, time flew by especially when we did not get to see her on a regular basis.

Even though I enjoy art, I was rarely exposed to it in Oklahoma unless I went to museums or the art festival once a year. “Art” is everywhere in New Mexico. There are mini-art festivals all year long. “Old Town” in Albuquerque and “The Governors Square” in Santa Fe explodes with art all around you with beautiful paintings, unique jewelry, and colorful pottery that can be used as a decorative piece or for everyday ware. Truly amazing artists.

So true to her culture, I wanted to create something that would be considered art. Since I cannot draw, paint, make jewelry or mold clay, I had to think outside the artist’s pallete. I’m always looking for a “thoughtful twist” and came up with the idea of etched glass.

All Day Flower Deliveries

Queen Darlene - April 22, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day

My mother-in-law Betty was turning 80. Seriously, what do you get someone who has everything?

Betty loves roses so I decided to get her a LOT of them.

We found a flower shop willing to make deliveries to her home every two hours on her birthday. Each bouquet of roses was delivered with an “original” poem from a family member.

Don’t let the poem part stress you out. They were simple. Like this one.
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Happy Birthday
and We Love You Too!

The first two deliveries were a dozen roses. The next four deliveries were 14 roses each to equal 80. One was from my father-in-law, three from each of her children and their spouses, and the last two were from her grandchildren.

Her living room looked like a flower shop there were so many different colored roses everywhere!

25 Ways to Pay It Forward| Random Acts of Kindness

Princess Diana - April 1, 2014 - Birthday, Experiences

The idea behind “pay it forward” is that everyone can make a difference in the life of someone else. When you pay it forward, you make an effort to positively impact a person’s life through a random act of kindness and love.

Leave a container of laundry detergent at a laundromat with a note saying, “Feel free to use!”

Last week, I wrote about my friend Erin who wanted to inspire 34 pay it forward random acts of kindness in celebration of her 34th birthday. In case you were inspired to do the same thing, I thought I’d share with you some ideas of what you could do.

Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you in line
Send a card to someone in the military overseas
Put something you no longer need on Craigslist.org for free
Tape a bag of microwaveable popcorn to a Redbox machine with a note saying “Enjoy some popcorn with your movie!”
Drop off a toy or game at a children’s hospital
Buy a lottery ticket and give it to a stranger
Continue Reading

Random Acts of Kindness for Your Own or Someone Else’s Birthday

Princess Diana - March 25, 2014 - Birthday, Experiences, Gifts for Me

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUw92wHDbSk&feature=youtu.be

When my friend Erin turned 34 years old, she posted the following message on Facebook:

pay it forward popcorn taped to Redbox machine

Pay It Forward Idea – Tape a package of microwaveable popcorn to a Redbox machine along with a note!

Friends and family – I am on a quest to complete 34 random acts of kindness today in honor of my birthday… will you help? Pretty please!?

It can be as simple as buying the order of the person in the drive through behind you, helping someone load their groceries in the car or taping quarters to the candy machines at the mall. It can be done at anytime and anywhere!

And if you wouldn’t mind sharing with me (send me a text, give me a call, post it on my Facebook wall), I would love nothing else on my birthday than to hear about all the nice things being done for others! I am starting today with volunteering at the Oklahoma City Regional Food Bank until noon if anyone would like to come and join!