Valentines day is lame--but anyone give/get cool stuff?

[lovedogs]

Ok, so I strongly dislike valentines day because I think it's a silly idea to only celebrate people you love once a year. BUT, I've been planning a surprise for my husband since the beginning of December, and it's FINALLY on its way! We are pretty obsessed with our fur babies (understatement of the century), and when we only had 1 dog--before we got the younger one--I had a "petrait" made of the maltese by someone in SoCal. I was always planning to have her make one for the younger doggy too, but recently realized she no longer does pet portraits

I found a woman via instagram who does incredible pencil/graphite drawings of pets (and people), so I asked her about doing ones of our girls in order to surprise my husband. I was hoping it might be an xmas present, but she was booked up with jobs. After the new year she was able to start, and helped me take a million pics of the girls in order to make sure we got a perfect shot. They are finally done, and she sent them today. I caved and told him about them last night, and he is SO HAPPY. I'm very proud of myself because I'm terrible at keeping surprises from my DH, and I can't wait to get her incredible drawings!

The artist sent me pics on different sizes of mats, and also of the pics all ready to send. I've never been more excited about a gift.





Anyone else get or give cool Valentine's day stuff? I thought this might be a fun break from the more depressing political threads

 

[Calliecake]

These are BEAUTIFUL Loves Dogs!!! What a wonderful gift for your husband. Can you share who this artist is? I would love to have one of our Maltipoo and can't imagine a more heartfelt gift. I would be in tears if my husband surprised me with one of these.

I received 2 cards from my husband and 3 cards from my Furbaby. They also got me Mrs Fields brownies. It was a good day!

 

[katharath]

Lovesdogs-

Oh my gosh. Those are AMAZING!! What a cool gift, your DH will never forget that!!

We don't usually make a big deal of V day at this point, partly bc DH has a bday this same week; I make a bigger deal about that. But he did get me an edible bouquet, I freaking love those, lol. I found a giant Reese's heart for him; he loves Reese's, so I often buy him the big giant holiday special ones, lol.

Oh and my card from him was so cute, it was a Star Wars card and I loved it!

Sorry mine wasn't more exciting - I really just wanted to post to congratulate YOU on your super cool idea!!

 

[katharath]

These are BEAUTIFUL Loves Dogs!!! What a wonderful gift for your husband. Can you share who this artist is? I would love to have one of our Maltipoo and can't imagine a more heartfelt gift. I would be in tears if my husband surprised me with one of these.

I received 2 cards from my husband and 3 cards from my Furbaby. They also got me Mrs Fields brownies. It was a good day!

Mmmmmmmm I love mrs fields SO MUCH!! Nice score

 

[lovedogs]

These are BEAUTIFUL Loves Dogs!!! What a wonderful gift for your husband. Can you share who this artist is? I would love to have one of our Maltipoo and can't imagine a more heartfelt gift. I would be in tears if my husband surprised me with one of these.

Of course! Her name is Jennifer Stallone Riddell. Here's her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_jen.stallone.riddell/

She's super nice, and very talented.

PS: here are the pics that she based the drawings on (she must have looked at almost 50 pics, and gave me advice about angles/light/etc to make sure I got the best pics for drawing). She's basically an angel haha.




FFS these refuse to be anything other than sideways. Sorry!

 

[Calliecake]

I have come back to this thread three times to look at these pictures. What a wonderful distraction from the political threads!

Thank you Katharath. Doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy. I'll share my brownies if you share your edible bouquet. I love those and they are so much healthier than brownies!

Loves Dogs, THANK YOU! Our little white dogs have very similar faces. Both your babies are beautiful. So glad we aren't the only ones obsessed with our furbabies!

 

[kenny]

I also hate forced holidays and forced gift giving.
My SO likes all that crap so I go along with it.

We went to a wonderful Lebanese restaurant.
I had fantastic Lamb Shank!

 

[Resonance.Of.Life]

Holy Moly, I love those "petraits" Lovedogs! This is right up my alley. Thank you for sharing-- we've been meaning to get one done of our late senior rescue dogs and this fits the bill!

 

[PintoBean]

A bracelet, cannoli and HEART SHAPED PIZZA! Ermagherd I swear pizza tastes even better heart shaped!

 

[kenny]

... HEART SHAPED PIZZA! Ermagherd I swear pizza tastes even better heart shaped!

But rounds have the best ... bite performance.

 

[momhappy]

I received handmade chocolates, a large bouquet of flowers (with one of my favorite flowers - orchids), a bottle of champagne, and a designer pair of shoes I'm a happy camper
lovedogs - I adore those pet portraits! What a talented artist. Nice job

 

[chrono]

What a wonderful gift and it is so beautiful! We don't celebrate V-Day by mutual agreement. We don't celebrate much of anything at all and I like it that way too.

 

[Cluless]

Love dogs your furbabies are Beautiful! Love the petrait.

 

[partgypsy]

Those are really good portraits, especially of the all white dog. I approve!

 

[partgypsy]

I posted on my facebook that this was going to be a rough week for me (can read my posts), but a friend gave me a handmade card, I got boxes of chocolates for my kids, my oldest had made me a homemade candle, and the neighbors gave me a beautiful bouquet. So actually a nicer Valentines day than usual!

 

[katharath]

I posted on my facebook that this was going to be a rough week for me (can read my posts), but a friend gave me a handmade card, I got boxes of chocolates for my kids, my oldest had made me a homemade candle, and the neighbors gave me a beautiful bouquet. So actually a nicer Valentines day than usual!

That sounds really sweet, I'm glad it was better than you expected!!

 

[katharath]

Love dogs your furbabies are Beautiful! Love the petrait.

LOL!!

I have to admit, I was kind of surprised DH made as much effort as he did; that pic is more representative of what I actually expected. We've been married 17 yrs now plus always been pretty low key about any holiday - those things combined = low expectations from me.

 

[monarch64]

I love V-Day! This year I got a giant homemade Valentine from my daughter (and roses and a pink heart-shaped cupcake that was just a little bit smushed, ha!) and my parents sent us both Valentines in the mail. My dad has never missed sending me a Valentine, even when he was sick or recovering from numerous bouts with cancer. He is a total sappy romantic.

I like having a day to celebrate Love, in general. I've never really looked at the day as being exclusive to couples.

 

[Arcadian]

Lovedogs, I got goosebumps looking at the drawings. They are literally ALIVE. beautiful!!

We don't generally do valentines day because I feel its a moneygrab. He for once wanted to do something...lol My schedule is messed up this week so I told him we'd go somewhere fun this weekend

 

[tyty333]

Omg...your dogs look like they could almost jump right out of those drawings...so realistic!
Justr beautiful.

Hubby has been really busy lately and his family was in town this week/weekend so didnt have much time to plan or buy anything...
we dont usually do gifts anyway. We'll go to dinner this weekend and thats about it!

 

[ame]

WOW! Those are fantastic drawings!

The meme about exchanging cards in the aisle made me lol

 

[luv2sparkle]

I wasn't a fan of Valentine's Day/mother's day or my birthday for years but the last few years my DH has really put some sweet effort in it and it has become fun. It is not about the gift but the thoughtfulness behind it for me. DH brought me some awesome balloons and three 3day tickets to Disneyland. The funny thing is I am not a fan of Disneyland, but I have an almost 1 year old grandson and DH knows I have been really looking forward to taking him. I was planning on when he was a little older but now is great too. My daughter LOVES disneyland so she will be with us. She lives in AZ now and comes home every six weeks to do her clients hair here. So I am thinking this is pretty much the perfect gift.

 

[PierreBear]

Wonderful pet portraits!

Not a fan of Vday either but the day after discounts on chocolates is pretty great!

 

[momhappy]

I love V-Day! This year I got a giant homemade Valentine from my daughter (and roses and a pink heart-shaped cupcake that was just a little bit smushed, ha!) and my parents sent us both Valentines in the mail. My dad has never missed sending me a Valentine, even when he was sick or recovering from numerous bouts with cancer. He is a total sappy romantic.

I like having a day to celebrate Love, in general. I've never really looked at the day as being exclusive to couples.

I've never seen it as a day exclusive to couples either If it was, why would it be celebrated in elementary schools?

 

[LLJsmom]

I wasn't a fan of Valentine's Day/mother's day or my birthday for years but the last few years my DH has really put some sweet effort in it and it has become fun. It is not about the gift but the thoughtfulness behind it for me. DH brought me some awesome balloons and three 3day tickets to Disneyland. The funny thing is I am not a fan of Disneyland, but I have an almost 1 year old grandson and DH knows I have been really looking forward to taking him. I was planning on when he was a little older but now is great too. My daughter LOVES disneyland so she will be with us. She lives in AZ now and comes home every six weeks to do her clients hair here. So I am thinking this is pretty much the perfect gift.

That is fabulous!! A family gift! 3 3-day passes to Disneyland is NOT cheap! And then spending all day in the park and all the expenses? You're looking at $2K all in. Food, snacks, souveniers, etc... You and your family are going to make some wonderful memories. Have a great time. I love Disneyland with my kids.

 

[LLJsmom]

The artist sent me pics on different sizes of mats, and also of the pics all ready to send. I've never been more excited about a gift.




e of the maltese by someone in SoCal. I was always planning to have her make one for the younger doggy too, but recently realized she no longer does pet portraits
Anyone else get or give cool Valentine's day stuff? I thought this might be a fun break from the more depressing political threads

These drawings are absolutely wonderful. Congratulations. What a perfect meaningful gift.

 

[LLJsmom]

DH got me a purse I've been wanting for a couple of years now. I love it. It's actually a nice break from bling. Been a very long time since I have bought myself a daily use bag, many years.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Re: Valentines day is lame--but anyone give/get

Lovedogs your portraits are beautiful! I have one for one of our fur babies. One of my boys painted it.

LLJsmom, I love that bag! Thank you for your kind words. Disneyland is local for us so the passes were just 149.@ for 3 days that are not consecutive. We will drive home. So not quite that pricey. We are going to the Blue Bayou one of the nights though.

 

[VRBeauty]

LOVEDOGS: Those portraits are incredible! What a wonderful gift!

As for me - gifts were exchanged. The best were a wonderful 4-course dinner, and a Lush "massage bar."

 

[PierreBear]

DH got me a purse I've been wanting for a couple of years now. I love it. It's actually a nice break from bling. Been a very long time since I have bought myself a daily use bag, many years.

Classy choice! I love the style of the bag. You've got great bling and purse taste. Way to go DH!