We are celebrating year 9 in two weeks, pottery & willow? Eeeeee, no ideas. 

Last year I tied love notes to balloons for each year we've been married. It was awesome. Hubs said it was the BEST gift he's ever gotten. How do I top that?!!!

Anyone have ideas for pottery & willow?

Love when you do these type of posts Tori!    I am celebrating my 6th anniversary in October and I love this idea...my husband and I have been saying we want to get new bands and Im a huge vintage lover as well.

Hmmmmm iron is a tough one...but he is in law enforcement so it shouldnt be hard to find something for him.

Thanks so much for sharing and remember the next time your in New Jersey, stop by my shop Lucky 7 Design. 

xoxoxo

MJ

Lucky 7 Design

For Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line....How about aother love note that says "Willow You Marry Me all over again?"  : )!!!

Ive been married 12 years, my hubbys birthday is next week so I have a great suprise for him, I am taking him to see Evil Deal the musical, a live play on the movie! It looks really cool beacuse you get splattered with fake blood in the audience (if you choose the splatter zone which I did!) My husband loves zombies so I know he will just love this! And it will be our first date in years, we just had our baby 3 weeks ago so this will be a nice outing for us!

Tori thank you for this piece<3 Tomorrow is my 10-year wedding anniversary, although we have been together for 15 years!it......pretty big deal, no big plans......it goes by quick.

I forgot to ask Tori, so what is an idea for low-budget 10-year gift?

For our 15th anniversary, my husband planned and surprised me with a vow renewal service. He was even able to invite my family from out of town and have them there without me finding out. 

"True love waits"  

"The greatest gift is to love and be loved in return." Love yours too!

Perduto è tutto il tempo
Che in amar non si spende.

It might sound tacky but I once read this quote in a cookbook (by Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander - Tuscan Cookbook, great cookbook and after all, a man's love goes through his stomach) and it went straight into my heart. Not only because I used to live in  Florence (Italy) and have a big soft spot in my heart for everything Italian, but also because the words are written in 1573 by Torquato Tasso in the play 'Aminta' but are ever so accurate in these tweet- and textingfilled modern times, 500 years later!!!!

In translation (from Italian to Dutch to English, so please forgive an unintentional mistake): Lost is all the time, that in love you do not spend.

How sweet!  My hubby travels all the time and is a true romantic at heart too!

Men always want to be a woman's first love. Women have a more subtle instinct: What they like is to be a man's last romance.
--Oscar Wilde

Warmest regards,

Joy

http://www.PardonMyPoppet.com

"To the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world."  that's my fav.  Oh, Tori, you're so INNNNNNN LOOOVE ;-) For everything you guys have succeeded in, failed in and for everything to come, you still have that love and passion.  Very inspirig.  <3

It comes from Le Petit Prince by Antoine de St-Exupery and it translates to "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

The first quote my husband sent to me was EE Cummings. 

I Carry Your Heart with Me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it inmy heart)i am never without it(anywherei go you go,my dear;and whatever is doneby only me is your doing,my darling)                                                      i fearno fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i wantno world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meantand whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows(here is the root of the root and the bud of the budand the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which growshigher than soul can hope or mind can hide)and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

My husband and I have been together 16 years. We have had a lot of ups and downs and somethings we thought we'd never overcome. The twist is we have loved each other from the beginning and love each other still. Our children bring us closer. Any outside influences are simply that OUTSIDE! They dont know what's between the two of us and they can't. We have learned to keep things new. I mean go on dates, spend time together, learn who that person is today and don't just focus on who they were all those years before when we first fell in love. It took us some time to learn that but I guess that comes with the age of a relationship. You gain wisdom in life, parenting and loving.

Oh my, what a sweet pictorial. Just the type of thing to get me crying. My maternal grandparents just celebrated 60 years, my paternal grandparents reached 50 before cancer took my Grandpa, and my parents have been married nearly 40 years. I admire couples who make it. We will be married 8 years this November. I do not think there is a secret honestly. I just think it takes love and HARD work. We have literally been through almost everything a couple can go through in our years together, and most people would have split up at some point, according to statistcs. Perhaps it is just that I love to beat the odds! Seriosuly, though, we just committed to stayingthe course. You know that good times and bad times will come, so hang on through the bad times and savor the good times, and build a life together.

So beautiful....LOVE is such a wonderful feeling!

My Husband and I have been married for 36 Years and I love him more today than the day I married him. And he loves me too!! We have always respected each other. We really don't fight, but if and when we do we never bring up past things and throw them in the other's face. We kiss each other goodnight every night. We say I love you everyday to one another. We are really each other's best friend. Love is amazing!

My advise and comment will be a little different. My boyfriend and myself have been together for 4 years on June 2nd of this year. On October 5th our lives changed forever. He woke up with severe chest pains so we rushed him to the hospital. After 2 days of getting more sick and after his kidneys had shut down it was revealed he had an aortic disection. His aorta had completely torn and at this point was completely sedated and wasn't aware of what was going on. The doctors told us he needed to be flown to Cleveland Clinic for emergency heart surgery because the doctor who was caring for him wasn't as experienced as the Cleveland surgeons... but we were told to prepare ourselves because he wasn't going to make it thru the flight. We were told 90% of peole with a discetion as bas as his died instantly and the other 10 didn't make it through the surgery. During his flight to Cleveland he had multiple strokes on both sides of his brain and the right side herniated. There was so much swelling the surgeons weren't going to do the surgery becasue he didn't have a chance to survive. BUT after an hour of debating they did the surgery..... AND he lived through it. After this however, we were told with all the brain damage he would be a vegetable the rest of his life and would have no chance of coming back..... Almost 6 months later he is walking with his walker, talking just fine, laughing, and smiling and has the same personality I fell in love with those 4 years ago. The point of my story is to tell that  you never know how much things can change in the blink of an eye. I am more in love with that boy now than I ever was. He keeps me going. I think the success to having a successful relationship like every one is honestly and respect but I also think that it's more simple and believe that enjoying every single day and being thankful for it is the most important. Sometimes we take things for granted in life that is just a common thing and now that in my life we can't do those things, we are realizing how important the "little things" truly are. Love your significant other more each and every day, love them even when you're angry with them and realize the little things are the best! :)

I have been married 9 years. I am so very blessed. I have the sweetest husband, great Father, and my Best Friend. I still get excited when I see his truck pulling up to the house after work. When I find out recent gossip he is the first one I want to call and tell. I think we are very lucky because we grew up together and have the same values and morals.  I know we will be married forever and I am greatful every day for him. I can't even be away from him for more than a night because I will miss him so much I will cry. Im so very greatful every day for the life we share together and my beautiful daughter.

My Husband and I will be married 25 years on April 25th. He was my High School Sweetheart!! We got married when he was 22 and I was 10 (lol 21) and we have been together ever since we worked at the same job in High School, and my sister met her husband, and my husbands good childhood friend and neighbor at the same job!!  I am the luckiest girl in the world!! He has taken care of me from the first day I met him!! He does laundry, dishes, vacuumes, and windows, yes windows!! He is a keeper!! Plus he gave me 2 beautiful sons, and my beautiful girl who is 21, and I can't believe it, but she is my best friend, and there is nothing that we don't talk about, Tori , you and Stella, and Hattie have such wonderful years ahead of you, and my youngest is 16 and he is the sweetest boy I could have ever asked for.  My 18 yr old 1st boy, worries about me all the time when I am sick, i really lucked out in the family dept!!

My husband and I have been married for 11 years and have 3 kids. With a family there's not much alone time, so to keep things going I put little love notes in his lunch everyday.  

We had a full size bed for the 1st 10 or 11 years of our marriage before we upgraded to a king size. During that time  we had 3 boys,ages 15, 12 and 9 now, but I don't think the bed was the reason for babies or the sex...I think it was just timing. The only time our boys slept with us was when they were still nursing. Even then they went to bed in their crib, around 3 months old, and then during the nighttime nursing they would just stay with us. Once they were weaned, they were in their own bed. Even when they have nightmares, we take them back to their bed and comfort them, sometimes until they fall asleep, but we never let them stay in our bed. One exception was when my husband would travel for business, I would let the boys take turns on sleeping in my bed. Sometimes it would be more than one, depending on their ages, but over the years they have all aged out of that tradition- my cut-off is 8 for just about everything, e.g. sleeping with me, any nudity, etc. We still have tv/movie time with the boys and sometimes that is in our bed, but that's more watching a movie on a rainy Saturday type of thing. My oldest likes to study or read in my bed because it is "better" than his bed, but we aren't in it with him. Personally I don't like being intimate with our children in the room, no matter the age, so keeping them in our bed or room would have meant no sex at all. Also I like keeping the marriage special and having clear boundaries for it. I know one day my boys will leave home and I want my marriage to still be healthy and intimate. 

I love to have my litel boy in the bed whid us <3 He is 20 month. He has his one bedroom , but thats just a play rom at the time. He has his one bed in our bedroom ;) My "hubby"omg.! thinks it nice and loves having he in the bed, but he whonts more hanky panky! HAHA!Love you Tori! Have a nice day, hug from a mom in Norway!:)

We have three kids and have had ours in and out of our bed.  Honestly, I think that it depends on each family and there isn't a blanket way for everyone.  My oldest is now 14 and wouldn't DARE sleep in our bed EVER! And I cherish the memories of all the snuggles we have had with her.  I also couldn't refuse my children wanting to have the comfort of their parents.  I could understand not wanting to sleep alone in their room (how come mommy and daddy get to snuggle..) And there is interesting literature out there that support many benefits to this (despite all the negative things people tell you).  Yes, I've had to tiptoe around my room at times, but for that short time in my life it was great! Normally, our kids fell asleep in our bed, then we transferred them to their bed.  Early in the morning, they would sometimes end up in our bed.  This way, we still had our bedroom to ourselves ; )  And, honestly, I think the bigger bed is better because in our house, they would have ended up in our bed and we would have been squished! I know this because of the times we've travelled and had to sleep in a queen... So good luck in figuring out what works for your family!

We have 2 children, a 5 yr old boy that has special needs and a 4 yr old little girl. As you could imagine our attention is constantly needed, so our rule is no children sleep with us. They may come in when they wake up in the morning or when they are ill. I treasure my alone time with my husband and I need that private time to talk "without interruption", flirt and keep our bedroom time steamy. 

with love and congrats on Baby #4!

When my daughter was an infant she slept with us.  When we had my son I swore up and down that he wouldn't sleep with us.  And he didn't.  Now he lays down with my hubby and I lay him down in his bed when he has been asleep for about 20 minutes.  It works for us.  We did the same with my daughter.  Can't wait for the day that he goes to bed on his own and goes to sleep.  

I agree with you, Tori - the more the merrier. I like your approach of moving the children to their own beds - that's what I did for a long time. Now my children are growing up and are sort out outgrown the family bed. There are times they want to be in the bed during a scary thunderstorm or a bad dream, but for the most part they are in their own beds. I do not agree with anyone who says that once you let them in the bed they will never leave, or worse, will lack the confidence to be able to sleep on their own. I believe the opposite is true - follow their lead, allow them to be as attached as they need, and when the time comes, the unconditional love and support will have provided them with the foundation for independence. Others may disagree, but I have three thriving, independent children who are living examples of how it worked for us. "Worked for us", I also believe is key. There are many opinions out there, lots of experts, or just parents like you or I. Find your comfort and peace in what works for you and I guarantee that will be the right thing to do. ~jet

I love this foto especially with your little ones in it!!!

I feel that sometimes our needs to mother get in the way of our husbands needs to feel like more than just Daddy. If my beautiful husband were to say something that makes it obvious that he wants something more from me, then I find the time to address it and to make it a top priority. Unfortunately this is not either of our first marriage and some of the problems with both our relationships ealier in life were being unable to seperate the parenting relationship from the intimate one with our spouses. The answer isn't always obvious, but there is always a compromise somewhere within each side. Big Love <3

How beautiful Tori! But I especially love your sentiments to your husband. It touched my heart. I  may have to "steal" those word to give to my husband. (((hugs))))

"love story of a lifetime" - I adore that. happy valentine's day to you & your beautiful family! today happens to be a favorite of mine. i'm in a relationship, but i also celebrate my girlfriends/women in my life by sending out valentines each year. :) www.littleladyinthebigapple.blogspot.com 

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours! May love fill your lifes every day, not just today! Treasure each moment and hold them close!

Today....My husband got me nothing for Valentines Day as per my request... He does get me all other 364 days of a year all I could ever ask for, so I thought I will give him a break! Nothing but Love from the Sunshine State! XOX Michaela

Happy Valentines to you and your family.. I just love you two together!

I am a single mom of three.  Mine are all around your children's ages, and in the same gender order.  Keonte who is 4 and will be 5 in June, is my little man of the house, he is my protector, and the girls' too.  Kaya, who is two and a half is my little diva, she is my best girlfriend who doesn't care how it hurts my feelings, she will always tell me the truth! I love that she is getting to the age where we are having conversations.  And little Cecilia, she is 10 months old. Like your Hattie, she is my biggest fan.  I feel like she is the last little missing piece of my soul, and I will do anything just to hear her laugh her mischievous little laugh.  It is soo tough being a single mom, and being the sole/"soul" provider in our house but we make it work, and I would never change a thing!!!

Love and light to you and yours!!! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have been talking so much about wanting a CoCo for myself.....that my wonderful husband bought me one for Valentines Day!  It's two days old and is adorable!

Hey Tori! Happy Valentines back at ya! I am an aunt supporting my 18 y/o special needs nephew. I absolutely love your story with Dean. Been watching since the beginning. I yelled at you through the tv during the doubtful times and cried with you at each of your births. You are so connected to your fans and seem so down to earth and real. I hope you and the family enjoy the new house, grow and be crazy! Hoping for a new season soon!!!!

I love today's topic on hand-written letters! I still have saved all my old love notes, or notes I recieved from my brother when he was at war! We are also losing the value of printed photographs; these days its mobile uploads but I want to cherish these memories forever not post them momentarily.

Thank you so much for these great ideas! Hand written letters are a wonderful way to express love and affection that can't be expressed in any other way.

I love hand written letters or notes. The art of dropping someone a note or a letter is a thing of the past, so sad! I always save anything anyone hand writes me, it is more personal and from the heart.

i read on twitter a year ago...Handwriting is the new black.  When Hattie was born i went to Inventori and wrote a card. xx

LOL!!! I am all about calling my bestest girl friends and doing an impromtu poem or song. Trust me, they make no sense, I sing off key, but I always get the response I am looking for, they tell me how crazy I am and they love getting those messages. One of my friends saves the voice mail for when she has a bad day.

I so agree! Handwritten notes are still the best way to espress your feelings. It's all about the personal touch. This will never go out of style or get old. I'll have a post on notes later this month. Hope you like! Happy Mother's Day, TORI!  Angela xo

I have a friend that I met when I lived in France nearly twenty years ago. Even though we email and Facebook now, we still write to each other at least once a month. I am thinking of doing a collage of some of the pretty envelopes that she's sent me and framing them.

What a great idea to make a collage from the envelopes! I would love to see it! Maybe you can post here or "like" me on FB and share! http://www.coutureandcannolicafe.com. Hope you become a fan!

For the man in my life my daughter (she's 6 y/o) and I are getting her dad a digital photo frame that has the ability to play music as well as rotate photos.  The photos will be of her mainly, a few pictures spanning her birth up to her current age.  With a few special songs added that have special meaning to us.  I think he'll get a kick of out of it.  Now if I can just be able to download the pictures &  music files correctly in time for Christmas!  :)

I forwarded this blog post to all of the women in my life. Thanks for making gift giving easy! Love all of the items!

I love the pocket watch idea! xx

I love the pocket watch too!! It is such a wonderful idea!! Dean will just love it!! With the pictures inside! All ideas are nice, but that tops the cake for me!! I happen to wear a heart locket that my dad gave my mom about 40yrs ago! It's gold, My mom gave it to me 2yrs ago on Christmas too! My Dad's pic is inside! He has passed away since... I cherish it & tend to wear it very often!!....Just made me think of that seeing the pocket watch & all the photo's! Have fun making it, Tori & everyone else that does it!! Happy Holidays!! xoxo 

Really cool ideas!!!

http://sushiandicecream1.blogspot.com/

You guys are so perfect together & not perfect the fairy tale way, but the real life everyday, warts & all way. You make me want to be a better wife, thanks T!

Beautiful................

perfect.

Aaw...how sweet!

Tori, that's so amazingly sweet and turely beautiful. I'd love to hear what dean's thoughts were to your letter. I love the line that he gave you the most "precious gift of motherhood". It turely is the most amazing thing we get to do as women.

Classic, timeless, pure, beautiful, inspiring.  May the two of you enjoy many years to come.

Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Love, respect for each other, the time we are apart and the reunion, like if the other one have been on a trip, that we give the other one some space to do what he or her like, time to enjoy each other, eat out sometimes. But LOVE and RESPECT is important I think.

A true lovestory, I hope my husband and I will end like this in our late eighties. My keywords: big sense of humor, surprise from time to time, knowing when to have a chat, but also knowing when to remain silent and just be there for each other, cherishing the moments together. Good food, an occasional glass of wine and loads of fun and games will definitely help too.

This story reminds me of a YouTubevideo. I tried to upload it, but due to my digital illiteracy I keep getting notifications that the URL's (what are they anyway, UberRidiculousLongstockings?) are invalid. But anyway, just enter the words 'Frank & Rita - Did you hear a click?' on YouTube for the first video and 'Rita and Frank 80th BDay EDIT' for the second one. I think a lot of people thought it was funny (and to be honest it is), but I can only wish I will be that beautiful at that age with that sense of humor. He seems very sweet and when he sang to her (in the 2nd vid), I welled up, gave me goosebumps, ...sigh! MUST SEE for everyone who believes in love!

I have been reading this blog for a while, but had to join to comment on this entry  and tell you all about my parents.

My parents have married for almost 60 years; my mother has been in ill health for a couple of years now and earlier this year my father had an op to remove cancer tumour; my mother stayed at the hospital throughout his op and waited for 3 hours while he was in recovery as there was a problem with him waking up; when taken to his room my mother sat waiting and she cried, (I have never seen my mother cry, she is such a strong, powerful woman, raising 5 children while my father worked away all week, arriving home saturday morning and leaving again Sunday evening; she also had 2 jobs and a home to keep, each evening there was a meal for us all and we would have toast cooked on the fire for supper; money was tight, but we were lucky, they worked hard to help us all into college and supported us in any career we wished and every chance my folk had they held hands.) Anyway, I sat and watched as my mother silently cried, then she stood up, leaned over my father, held his hand, asked the nurse if he was okay and if he could hear her, then she said.......'You lazy bugger what have you been doing in there, come on, wake up'......Followed by 'I cant believe you left me sitting out here for hours, I swear if you had died I was going to kill you, you didn't put the dustbins out yesterday!'....my mother is awesome!

My father is all well now and continues to put out the dustbins each week!

I saw this story with my husband last week and we both went awwww! my parents celebrated 40 years this year!  they are now both 70.  The biggest thing that helps relationships work?  Communication and honesty.  I reccommend all couples do an engagement encounter weekend prior to the wedding because while usually put on by the catholic church, you don't have to be catholic, religious, etc.  They help you open the communications on your feelings of kids, finances, etc. that you probably don't really talk about.  In some cases people realize that they aren't meant to be together while going through this weekend.

It frustrates the daylights out of my all the celebrities who get married, divorced, married, divorced, etc. and it makes me feel like that more than 2 gay people getting married affects my marriage.  It seems these days people would rather get divorced than figure out what the issue is and work together on it.  Relationships take work from BOTH people.  the base of all relationships is love and I think a lot of people forget that!

There have been couples together for decades that can't get married or recognized as a couple in the eyes of the law. Yet str8 people can marry and divorce all they want! Even Rosie is proving to the str8 that don't understand that you can up and divorce 2 times and marry 3 etc.

When I got married it was for better or worse, in sickness and health til death do us part.  We met on the internet and have been together 14 years just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary.  Marriage takes work from both parties.  It's give and take. We've struggled like you and Dean but we worked on it and are still going strong.  I love how y'all have handled your differences so people can see no marriage is perfect.

Peace and love,

Jeanne

Never Give Up...

This story is so sweet ,  it makes me so happy that i have found my soul mate, My husband and I are high school sweethearts and we are going on 15 years this march.. I couldnt picture my life without him and I havent ever been so happy to know that after all these years we still both want to be together and our family is the most important thing we both have..  It shows that TRUE LOVE  can and will conquer anything in life.. 

Tori, Ive been married for 28 years. And we have been through everything that could rip a marriage apart. You name it, weve been through it.

But we just kept sticking it out. I know that leaving and starting over is just starting over with a new man, new problems and sometmes it s worse than the first time around. People are people and we all make mistakes, all have bad days bad weeks, do dumb things, say things we shouldnt. There is no perfect couple out there. I figured just stick this one out. and you now what? Now that we are almost at 50, and our kids are grown, Im so thankful we stuck it out. we are with our kids when grandbabies are being born,,,and we are experiencing it together. My husband walked our daughter down the isle and then he sat by me...not someone else. Its been a rough ride, but we truly love each other more everyday. So thankful we are still together. cant imagine it any other way.

communication and understanding and love

I'm gonna go with #3.  Who does that? Get dressed up for Dave & Busters? Buys jewelry on the first date? SAYS I LOVE YOU after a not-so-great date??? That one is definitely for the record books :)

I agree, I'll go with #3! ..... I wish I posted my "Mortified, Worst Date Ever" I saw the tweet but was rushing out for an appt. at the time & forgot about it! It may have been way too embarassing anyway to say! Ha!!

#2, the 'not-so-sexy-surprise'! I love that kind of humor, and I think it's hilarious to lead to a date-disaster like this. You'll still enjoy that story when you'll be 88 and you warn of your ready-to-date grandchildren with it (I can't help but keep having an Estelle Getty/Sophia Golden Girl picture in  my mind "Picture this, pussycats, when granny used to be young ...")

are you kidding? we want to hear about Hattie and Tori!!!!!!! come on...pictures please ! ;)

My worst date ever was with my boyfriend. We had been dating for around 3 months at the time but had never had an official "real" date. He called me up on Wednesday and was like lets do dinner and a movie this Friday. I was like awesome I would love to go. I found a babysitter for my 3 year old daughter, got my hair and makeup done at a salon, bought a new dress,etc. You girls know the deal. I then waited, and waited, oh yeah, then I waited some more. I called to see where he was, no answer on the phone. I decided to drive over to his house to see what was up. He met me at the door in his bathrobe saying he forgot and could we make it another night. UMMM NO!! So my worst date turned out to be a no date night!! Needless to say I never talked to him again.

Hello,T!

I had a lot of bad dates,but the worst,was supposed to be a romantic evening.We started with a hot bath,it was so hot,that we had to open the window,to get more air.Then,i began to light some candles,and all the wax flowed on the carpet.And then,we went to sleep,tired after that bath,but who could sleep?I caught a cold,after that "romantic" night...

                                                                                             BIANCA

me and my husband have been together 18 wonderful years, and now we get to watch our son get married either this year or next they are saving money for their wedding, they got engaged on christmas eve.

me and my husband have been together 18 wonderful years, and now we get to watch our son get married either this year or next they are saving money for their wedding, they got engaged on christmas eve.