What Makes Your Heart Melt?

It's been fun working on all the Valentine's Day orders this week. I love assembling them and literally wait with anticipation for clients to receive them. I have just completed a few orders with the love letter and it's one of my favorite images - top ten for sure.  So elegant and simple.

As I have been working on all the orders, I think about what makes one's heart melt. Yes, I admit, a blue box will do the trick but for the most part, it's usually something more pure and simple. An unexpected "I love you" or a genuine compliment.  A tight hug on your leg from one of your children. When Thomas was about two and a half, he looked at my husband and I and said "You know, I really like you guys". It was so honest and heartfelt.  I love that the first time Thomas saw my wedding photo he said "Mama, you are prettier than all the other princesses combined"!  I love when I hear my wedding song on the radio, Stephen Bishop, "It Might Be You" or after being married for a few months, the song my husband would have chosen, "She Drives Me Crazy" by The Fine Young Cannibals.  A home cooked meal, just because. Finding out my husband had an account at my favorite florist, Mayflowers.

Sometimes its the triumph of a great movie line in conversation. I think my husband knew he made a good choice when he quoted  "Well put it in the college fund" when my son had some change in his hand and I casually responded with the movie title, Caddy Shack. He was amazed I knew that line given its in the very beginning of the movie. 

Sometimes its a witty response to a question "What's it like to be married to someone so brilliant?" my husband inquired one late night while we were driving on the New Jersey Turnpike on our way to NY (we were betting on the name of the last rest stop before we exit the pike - forgive us, it was probably well after midnight and we were trying to pass the time on the long trip to Eastern Long Island). "I don't know, you tell me." I responded.

I don't want to get too sappy so early in the morning so a quick acknowledgement for "my girls" reading this blog (AOH, MET, CAM & NCH & GEL) at the top of the list should be "You look so skinny"!

 

So, what makes your heart melt? 

Mrs. Kennedy and Me

After my post on The Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult I received some inquiries about what else I have been reading.  So for those of you interested, my virtual book club is reading Mrs. Kennedy and Me written by Clint Hill. Clint was Mrs. Kennedy's body guard during JFK's presidency. Very interesting and the photos are amazing!

Paradise Found

Circa 2000  I had the privileged of joining an elite group of my co-workers for a mid year "club trip" to St. John. I was an Account Executive in software sales and my company had  incentive trips they offered yearly to those sales reps who met and exceed their quota.  The end of year trips were totally over the top. We traveled internationally to places like Rome, Paris, Vancouver & Ixtapa.

A few years they offered a more exclusive "mid year club trip" in January. Qualification was based on percentage of plan to goal and we were stack ranked and the "best of the best" qualified for the trip.  Picture yourself and your best friends on a first class all expense paid trip to what can only be considered heaven on earth. My husband and I were lucky enough to qualify two years in a row for the trip and we stayed at The Westin in St. John 

We always vowed we would return. We scaled back on Christmas to make it happen this year.

I am counting down the days and keep playing my theme song,  Knee Deep in the Water by the  Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffet on my Sonos sound system. I totally cant wait, until my  "Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair"(obviously because if it did, my book would get wet!)

Gonna put the the world away for a minute
Pretend I don't live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away

Had sweet love but I lost it
She got too close so I fought her
Now I'm lost in the world trying to find me a better way

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Wrote a note said be back in a minute
Bought a boat and I sailed off in it
Don't think anybody gonna miss me anyway

Mind on a permanent vacation
The ocean is my only medication
Wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away

Cause now im knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair

Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

This champagne shore washing over me
It's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea
One day you could be as lost as me
Change you're geography
Maybe you might be

Knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Come on in the water it's nice
Find yourself a little slice
Grab a backpack of lies
You never know until you try
When you lose yourself
You find the key to paradise

Be Mine...

Our adorable Valentine's Day cards perfect for classroom exchange are now available online at our web site. www.hamptonpaperdesigns.com

Mix and match any combination of up to 15 for $20.00 from Option 1 or Options  2& 3. 

We can personalize with your child's name too. White envelopes are included. 

Option 1: Order here

  Option 2 & 3: Order here.

Here We Go Again

I swore this year I was going to keep Jackson's birthday party small and simple. "Invite 4 friends over to the house for pizza" I said. The idea lasted about five minutes- how can I limit it to four friends? This was a short lived problem as  I quickly came up with a sports themed party at the club. Here we go again! HPD Invitations avail here.

 

Super Bowl XLVII

Well, its safe today not a word was spoken about the Notre Dame vs Alabama game in our house. Most likely there wont be a mention about ND again until there are conversations about the new players for next years team. So, on to the next big game which I just found out was on Feb 3, 2013 via a Superbowl Party Invitation. You may recall we gave these as a hostess gift for the party we attend last year. I put them in a large jar with a ribbon. It was a huge hit! Small Round Stickers starting at $12.00 for 108. This includes personalization.

The Road Not Taken

We spent this past weekend up in NY and had the opportunity to enjoy the Hamptons during the "off season". I must admit as fun as it is in the summer, there is something so peaceful and tranquil during this time of year. I took a nice long run to the beach and only saw 2-3 cars on a usually crowded Dune Road.

As I was running, I  thought of the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken and thought it was a good reminder to take the road less traveled as I begin 2013. Sounds like a good plan, right?

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost