Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year... If You're Hallmark

Tip Of The Day: Cheap thrills to give your sweetie this V-Day. If you have a sweetie, that is. I don’t, so my night will involve massive quantities of chocolate and screenings of as many Viggo movies as I can find.

Tip For Tomorrow: In the words of Britney, Why don’ cha do somethin’? Different charitable orgs I love that you can donate to or support with your time and energy. Plus, a quickie beauty review, PLUS new blog features.


Further Elucidation Of My Cheap Deal: Some of you might have caught my performance on Fox 9 News on Tuesday, and some of you might have seen me at 6:30 (IN THE MORNING. UGH.) on Kare-11 Sunrise, talking about my uber-fab and cheap ideas for Valentine’s Day.

Oh, the irony. I have all these great ideas, and no one to do them for me. Or to me. Someday, when I’ve met Gerard Butler and he has declared his undying love for me, I’ll get a little of the action listed below. And then some.

Here is a complete list of everything I came up with for V-Day. Some of the ideas were on Fox, some on Kare, and some are only seeing the light of day here.

Show your love for less:
1. Charitable Giving
- Donate in his/her name to her favorite charity.
- Run a food drive in his/her name.
- Do a walk/run event in his/her name. Example: I have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and I would love it if someone did the JRA March in my name!
- If you live with your sweetie, donate the stuff he/she hates to the Goodwill. Your stuffed animal collection or his Barca-lounger, for example.
2. Online Love
- Post an “I love you” video for FREE on YouTube.
- Post an “I love you” message (with pictures!) on Craig’s List. Once again, for FREE!
- Sell your single-hood off on eBay – you won’t need it anymore!
3. Chores
- Wash and vacuum their car. Mr. Hotshine in Columbia Heights is only $2 for a complete wash and air dry!
- Do the tech stuff: program the VCR, Tivo or DVR for their favorite shows, download music for their IPod, clear the unnecessary junk from their computer’s desktop, and/or hook up any new electronic item that needs hooking up!
- Come home from work early and surprise your spouse by loading the dishwasher, doing the laundry, vacuuming the high traffic areas and taking out the garbage. WITHOUT BEING ASKED.
4. Heritage
- Learn to say ‘I Love You’ in all the languages that make up his/her heritage.
- Learn a romantic custom from his/her culture. Just make sure the custom doesn’t involve anything illegal in our country.

Stuff to do for less:
1. Donate blood. I’m completely stealing this idea from 90210, I know.
2. Go to a $2 movie at the Hopkins Theater or The Plaza Maplewood Theater. Splurge on snacks.
3. Volunteer to walk the dogs at your local Humane Society.
4. Go sledding or skating at your local park. Warm up afterward with hot drinks at home.
5. Go back to your high school and cheer on a sport. Feast on soda and snacks there, or stop off at your old hang-out on the way home. Ours (Richfield) was the McDonald’s on 66th!
6. Go bowling. Nothing says ‘I love you’ like rented shoes!
7. Go to a local indoor water-park. Pretend you’re in the tropics, brave the cold and grill outside when you get home; finish the night off with frozen drinks.


Themed dinners at home, once again, for less:
- Lady and The Tramp spaghetti dinner
- Toga party! Dress in sheets, lounge on couches and feed each other grapes.
- Recreate your Prom night. Decorate the dining room with streamers and balloons, play the hits from your senior year, and munch on your favorite treats from high school, like pizza, chips and Mountain Dew. “Sneak” alcohol into your punch. Make out in your car.
- Tropical retreat – works best if you have a heated garage. Crank up the heat, put your kiddie pool out and fill it with warmer water, mix up some frozen drinks, and “grill” burgers in your oven.
- Retro night. Serve fondue (cheese or oil, and chocolate), dress in leisure suits and play cheesy 70’s tunes by England Dan and John Ford Coley.

IMPORTANT THANK YOU: I have to say a HUGE thank you to Rena Sarigianopoulos at Kare-11. She is doing the Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis March this March, and has offered to donate money to the cause in my name. Which makes me tear up when I write it.
Rena and I both have types of JRA (mine is juvenile onset, her onset is adult), but luckily, we are in remission.
I’ll be at the March, and so will she. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s post for more info about the event. And thank you again, Rena.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"NIGHTS ARE FOREVER WITHOUT YOUUUUUU!" Hee.

Also an excellent use of the kiddie pool once your kiddies are no longer using it: a big liquor/beer cooler. It works quite nicely.

I'm planning pushing a meatball across the table this evening over to El Jefe. Nothing says romance like spaghetti sauce on my nose.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to just remind everyone that while Feb 14 is for her... March 14 is for him.

Don't forget Steak and BJ Day!

El Jefe