avanta7 | All-purpose, all-in-one Valentine's Day update (Reply)

When I got up this morning, I discovered the Valentine Fairy had come in the middle of the night, for what did I find on my desk?

A present! Complete with balloon, flower, box-o-chocs and a mushy card that made me teary:

For My Wife
I Love Sharing Life With You

What a lovely thing to do --
Spend my lifetime loving you!
Planning days that bring us pleasure,
Building memories two can treasure,
Reaching milestones, one by one,
Sharing problems, having fun,
Being close -- the best friends ever,
Making dreams come true together.

I can't imagine
anything more wonderful
than sharing life with you!

Happy Valentine's Day
With all my love

Okay, corny, mushy, sappy, sentimental. But still...
*sniff*

Behold the bounty

So you can see the flower arrangement a little better. The eucalyptus smells fabulous.

And when I arrived home after a tiring, if uneventful, day at work, a package was waiting. Return address? From

ottawabill! Another surprise!

Naturally, there's a story that goes along with this. As most of you know, spouse and I moved from Arkansas to California last July. Bill was overlooked somehow when I informed people. Oops.

Ever the patient and forgiving man, he e-mailed me several weeks ago wanting my mailing address because a package had been returned as undeliverable. Curious and apologetic, naturally I provided our current direction. And then promptly forgot all about it.

And then today, this marvelous surprise landed in the mailbox, too late for Christmas but just in time for Valentine's Day!

Thank you, Ottawabill. I love the Blue Dog, and will cherish this book for many seasons to come. I'll even use the ornament on my Christmas tree next year. You are a kind and thoughtful human being, and I'm happy to be one of your friends.

And now for the meme-age that's been going around. I'll pass on the Johari window, thank you very much, but the rest of them? Yeah, I can do that.

Avanta7 as an old woman: Now, I know some of you are going for the humor in showing us the old woman you will become, and the pics you've come up with are hilarious. But me? I want to be this woman: vibrant, secure, and wearing fabulous red lipstick.

And my guilty pleasures are:

Guilt	What is yours?	Explain yourself
Culinary:	Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese	The perfect comfort food. And it tastes great with fresh ground pepper.
Literary:	Trashy historical romances	blush Um. Shirtless hot hunks in leather britches. Yowza.
Audiovisual:	"What Not To Wear"	Shut. Up. Like you wouldn't chuck your wardrobe for a free trip to New York and $5K to spend.
Musical:	80s Brit Pop and hair bands	I am part of the original MTV generation. "Video killed the radio star..."
Celebrity:	Brad Pitt	drool Besides, he can act, too.