Who's gonna have a hot date soon!?

....Andrew and Rachel Ashmore are!!

Rachel is the winner of this "90 Words Per Minute" Dress from Shabby Apple!

Congratulations...I hope you're planning a super special date night where you both can go have some fun dressed up! Rachel, please email your mailing address and dress size to me at loveactuallyblog @ hotmail.com

Don't forget that you can get 10% any Shabby Apple purchase until March 3rd by using this coupon code at checkout: Loveactually10off (make sure the L is capital).

Thanks again to ShabbyApple for sponsoring this amazing giveaway! I think you know how much ALL of us are in LOVE with your dresses.

Shamrock Saloon/Irish Barmaid Date Night

How'd you like to step into the role of an Irish Barmaid? Not so much?...well, humor me. Wait, scratch that. This is for your husband---so do it for him! :)

Here's the outline to make the Shamrock Saloon a fun part of your St. Patrick's Day!

1. Atmosphere - You'll need to round up a few items to transform a part of your house into an Irish Pub. Check the dollar stores, craft stores, walmart/target, and party stores for green stuff.

I changed my office/den into a pub using my craft table as the bar (pulled away from the wall) and my barstools from the kitchen.

White lights on the floor help set the mood by keeping your pub dimly lit.

You'll need to have some sort of green ball hung above the door where your pub will be...you'll find out why below.

Inventory from my pictures: Green Shamrock Glasses, Dollar Tree; Green Shamrock Shot Glasses, Michael's; Shamrock Garland, Michael's; Kissing Ball, Dollar Tree; Shamrock Saloon Beer Barrel, Michael's; Green Lantern, Michael's; Green Shorts, Christmas Tree Shops; Green Striped Hats, Dollar Tree; Green plastic tablecloth (folded as table runner), party store.

Tip: I also saw a bunch of green items (including green head bands, green & white striped hats, "Kiss me, I'm Irish" Tshirts, etc.) at Target. Quite a few items in the $1.00 section.

2. Music - Irish pub songs are a must! Play them loudly (or as loud as possible for those with sleeping kiddos). I had my laptop set up in the room and listened to classic Irish pub singers, The Clancy Brothers free from Rhapsody. Just click "Play all" and you should be set for the duration of your date.

3. Food/Drinks - I definately don't encourage drinking, although this date may seem to allude that I do. In fact, the only thing we got drunk from on this date was Root Beer! The Beer Barrel in my photos is just for show (and has actually been taken back to the store...hey, I'm on a budget!). I served some cheesy garlic sticks that I made quickly prior to the date. Any type of appetizers would go well with this date, I think. If you wanted to go all out, you could serve Corned Beef and Cabbage, or just something with meat and potatoes. Ours was after dinner, so Root Beer and Appetizers were perfect.

4. Pub Attire - It'd be great to find some sort of Irish Bartender costume, however..we are all on a budget...and they are pricey! I was lucky to find these cute little shorts from The Christmas Tree shops for $3.99 a piece and the hats for $1.00 at The Dollar Tree. Whether you can find these items or not, try to find something green and perhaps relatively sexy to wear as a Barmaid. (Think basic: green bra and underwear with an apron over top would probably suit any guy just fine.)

5. Introduction of Date - I thought it would be weird to just have him walk into my little pub without some sort of theme or story leading up to it. So, I started him at our front door with this:

I made him wait outside as I lit the lantern and placed his "pub attire" and note by the door. Then I took my place "in the pub" and called him to come in.

Here is what the note said:


You can download the PDF version HERE.

6. Getting Into Character - This is what will make this date GREAT. You'll want to be boisterously flirtatious while attending to your pub's one and only visitor. Let him know that everything's "on the house" tonight. Whatever he needs, just give a hollar your way. Feeding him appetizers while sitting on his lap might just be one of the great bartending services you offer. ;) Once your date at the pub is winding to a close (you've drank and eaten enough), announce that the "Pub is closed, boys!....except for you...(pointing at him) Our after party is just beginning!" You can take that where you'd like to. Oh, and if you're able to pull off an Irish accent, more power to ya... I didn't even attempt it.

7. Other Activities to Complement the Date

Irish Drinking Song Improv Clips - My hubby is a big fan of YouTube videos. So, after the Shamrock Saloon turned off the lights for the night, we cuddled up on the couch and watched a bunch of clips from "Whose Line is It Anyway". (LOVED that show!) These were improv Irish Drinking Songs on day-to-day topics. We found them entertaining. Click HERE to find these videos.

St. Patrick's Day Movies - After your date at the pub, settle in for a St. Patrick's Day Movie. (some of these are older...but fun family favorites!)
Finian's Rainbow
Luck of the Irish
The Last Leprechaun
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns
The Secret of Roan Inish
Leapin Leprechauns
Darby O'Gill and the Little People

You could make up some plain white popcorn and drizzle green chocolate melts over it for a post-pub snack while watching your video clips or movie. yumm!

Of course, you should always put your own creative spin on the date--you know what your hubby likes best, after all. So, take what I've given you, adapt it, and have FUN with it!

More St. Pat's Ideas...coming your way! Although, I think will be most husbands' top pick.

Today is the last day to get entered for the Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway---scroll down two posts on the homepage to enter!

Rainbow of Love

St. Patrick's Day is next on the holiday list and although to some considered just another "Hallmark Holiday" I say, who cares? Any excuse to celebrate and have a little fun with my spouse is something I welcome into my life anytime. no. questions. asked.

Life is NO fun without a little bit of cheesiness and juvenile lovey-doveyness. You wouldn't be reading this blog if you didn't agree. You'll be happy to know that today's post is about as cheesy as it gets. So, read on, friends.

A really cute romantic guesture for St. Patty's Day this year would be to create a "Rainbow of Love" for your spouse.

Here's how to create yours:

1. Cut out hearts from various colors of paper to create your rainbow. (If you aren't good at free-handing a heart, use the heart shape tool on Microsoft Word, print it out, and use it as a stencil.)

2. For an easy & cheap "pot of gold", just purchase a terracotta pot and paint it black with acrylic paint.

3. Fill your pot with Rolos--if you don't have enough to fill it to the top, stuff a bag or tissue paper in the bottom of the pot and then put in your rolos. You want the gold to be "overflowing".

4. Slide your "Lucky" love note in between the rolos and leave in an obvious place for your spouse to find on St. Patricks' Day.

There are more St. Patrick's Day ideas coming your way...stay tuned!

Dressing Up: Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway

So, you know how it's fun to dress up for a date out with your spouse? (You better be nodding your head in agreement.) You know how it'd be even funner...(yes, funner IS a word in my dictionary)...to have a brande new, flirty dress to surprise him with?

I'm a believer in buying yourself something new now and then to make yourself look and feel "hot"! For some, it's an unnecessary expense, and when budgets are really tight...that's understandable. I get that.

But, when there's a little wiggle room, or maybe you can save your pennies for a while, try to find a good sale and buy yourself a new dress!

There are lots of great places online to find cute women's dresses that won't break the bank. One of my new favorites is Shabby Apple. They have the best line of cute and classy dresses!

These are a few of my favorites..

Cute, right?!

And if I told you that Shabby Apple has generously offered to give a dress away to one of my followers, how excited would you be?!

One of Shabby Apple's most popular dresses is the "90 Words per Minute" dress (pictured below)...It's a dress that can flatter lots of different body types and can be worn casually, on a date, or even to the office. And..it's a beautiful, bright color! If you need accessories to dress it up or down, they've got those, too.

I know you don't need any further convincing, so here you go...

How to enter the giveaway:
1. Be a follower of Love Actually
2. Go to Shabby Apple's website, pick your favorite dress or accessory, and come back here to tell me in a comment!

Bonus entries:
(Leave an additional comment for each entry)
1. Vote for Love Actually on Top Mommy Blogs by clicking HERE. (you can submit a rank and comment, too)
2. Follow Love Actually on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Giveaway Ends: February 24th!

*If you just can't wait to find out if you're the winner and you want a dress NOW, you can also get 10% off any order from Shabby Apple using this coupon code at checkout: Loveactually10off (make sure the L is capital). Valid until March 3rd!

Thanks to ShabbyApple for sponsoring this amazing giveaway!

Shower Love Notes

Am I really guest blogging on the fabulous Love Actually?! I am so tickled I could scream. This is one of my favorite blogs of all time (for obvious reasons). I fell in love with Love Actually the second I laid eyes on it! How can you not? Everything on here is just so thoughtful, cute, romantic, and creative.Yes, it was love at first sight. Thanks Cher, for having me!

So I am Shelley, A busy mom of 3 (under the age 2 - whew), and one of the three gals behind HowDoesShe.com. At HowDoesShe, we are in awe of all the amazing women around us. We always seem to be asking, “How Does She do this, or How Does She do that”? While none of us is perfect, we all seem to be striving to become better. Better mothers, better wives, better women. We are on the journey to figure it out! ;) Hop on over and say hello! We love new friends and hope you love HowDoesShe.

On to the good stuff. In my marriage, shower notes help to keep things ''steamy'' :)

I may or MAY not have had to erase some of our 'shower love notes' before taking these pictures. ;)

Shower Love Notes make me Smile! This is the funnest way to keep a romance alive. Someone gave me a box of shower crayons for my bridal shower almost 7 years ago {yikes}! -Now, the first thing I do when I hop in the shower is look for a new love note 'to me: from him'. Sometimes they are just a simple 'I love you', sometimes its a note of encouragement, sometimes its a 'thank you', and sometimes it just may be suggestive. ;) You get the idea!

I used to find them at Walmart, but they've been missing lately. I've noticed crayola markers there, but they just don't work the same (they bleed). I've heard you can find them at Target? You can also snag a crayon set at crayolastore.com

I always keep several of these on hand to give out as bridal shower gifts (usually paired with towels, bubble bath, loufas, etc).

Here's to getting a 'little dirty' while getting clean! ;)

Some of our other recent posts include...

Simple ways to show love with food

Cookie Sucker Tutorial

Floating Frame Tutorial

and My Favorite Things Tutorial

and more! Come stop by!

Thanks again Cher, for letting HowDoesShe share some 'LOVE' :)

Recipes for a Blissful Bath (Guest Blogger: Mariel "Or so she says...")

Happy Valentines Day! I'm back and SO happy to be here! Again, I'm Mariel. I previously did a post on Rekindling the Romance in you marriage, here on this blog. Along with my lovely cousin, Jessica, we author the blog "Or so she says..." found at http://www.oneshetwoshe.com/. That's me, up there on the right, Jess on the left. If you haven't been by our blog, you must. It's our favorite blog ever (big grin), easily followed by Love Actually (bigger grin). It's updated every single day with a new idea for women: parenting, marriage, recipes, fitness, crafts, you name it! We have guest bloggers regularly share THEIR fabulous ideas too...so, you never know...it might soon be you! Actually, if you come by today, you will find Cher posting on our blog!

To the point...One of my favorite things to do with my Beard Man is to get the rascals to bed, slip into a hot tub, and grill him with endless deep questions, like these, these, and these. It's a fun time to get to know him better. I can't say he loves answering my endless questions, but I sure don't love being fondled by his foot in the tub, either. So, it's all fair.

Anyway, I recently posted some fun recipes to turn your boring bath into a yummy experience! Here you go...

It's very rare that I slip into a bath...by the time I get the kids in bed, all I want to do is crash. But, I should do it more, I love baths. Baths in the dark, yum. Relaxing. I actually feel relaxed just thinking about it! Since you love when I divulge personal information, I'll have you know that I can't put anything extra in my baths...unless, I want a serious bladder infection. Oh, but how I want to! I would love to soak up some luscious oils and smell of rose petals, but no. I would be squealing in horrible discomfort and doing the pee-pee dance for hours afterward...until I got my antibiotics. Not worth it. I guess I'll just smell like water instead. But, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't smell like heaven and feel softer than a bunny....so, here are some easy recipes that you can make yourself! Better yet, bottle them for yourself AND for gifts!

Relaxing Pink

(Pink has proven to be a relaxing color...so, it makes perfect sense to add it to your bath!)

1 cup witch hazel

3-5 hibiscus tea bags

2 cups kosher salt

Blend witch hazel with 1 cup hot water. Place the tea bags in the solution and brew for at least 20 minutes...creating pink water. Add a few spoonfuls of the colored liquid to the sald and blend until the color is evenly distributed. Pour the pink salt under the streaming water of your bath.

Mint Bath Bombs

(refreshes the skin and senses)

1 cup baking soda

1 cup citric acid (find at health food stores)

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup light oil (canola, sunflower, or almond)

2 - 4 TBS chopped mint (can get from mint tea bags)

2 muffin tins or ice cube trays

Stir all ingredients until they form a crumbly dough. Pack the mixture into the tins. Let the bath bombs set overnight. Tap the bottom of the tray to remove bombs; let air dry. Use anytime by plopping one or two into a tub of warm water; store the rest in a resealable plastic bag; they'll keep indefinitely.

For another Bath Bomb Recipe and picture tutorial, click here.

Oatmeal Cookie Bath

1 cup rolled oats (exfoliates)

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 TBS. vanilla extract

Blend ingredients in a blender until smooth, similar to flour. Pour under water and relax!

Bath Salts
(Can be made into any scent you choose!)

Heaping 1/4 cup Epsom salt
Heaping 1/8 cup sea salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. liquid glycerin
Essential Oil (your choice of scent), about 4 drops (more or less...your choice, again :))
Food Coloring to desired color (1-2 drops?)

Mix all together and bottle. Easy!

Hand & Foot Scrub

Heaping 1/3 cup fine white sugar
Heaping 1/8 cup sea salt
1/8 cup mineral oil
Essential oil drops to desired smell (about 4)
Food coloring to desired color (1-2)

Mix all together, bottle. To use, put a bit of scrub on hands and feet and add a little water. Rub, rinse, dry, and lotion.

I've made the last couple recipes several times and bottled them for gifts. Once you have the ingredients, it literally takes just minutes to whip up! You can find corked bottles and jars of all different sizes and shapes for under a dollar, I got mine at Sunburst Bottles.

You can jazz up your bottles and containers with ribbons, labels, and other embellishments. Autumn Leah Designs makes tons and tons of darling labels!

You can also download and make your own labels with Martha Stewarts help...see here.

- Need the perfect, romantic book to read in the tub?? Click here.
- Relax in the tub with some of Jessica's favorite love songs, here.
- Some favorite robes and slippers for when you get out, here.
- Can't bring yourself to share the bathroom with your man, no less the tub?? See here.

Have so much fun!

Stud Muffin

I thought this was a really cute idea...especially if your guy is a "country boy" who appreciates some fresh muffins in the mornin' that he can share at work.

This idea was found at Let Me Count the Ways. The box was made out of 2x4's by these handy wives!

The poem that goes with this is perfect!

Any which way you cut it
Measure it however you can
You have certainly nailed it
As my lovin' STUD MUFFIN man!

This would be a great "just because" guesture for your man!

Love Note Messenger (AKA: your pet)

If you have a pet, why not include them in your Valentine's plans this year? Or, if you've got your Valentine's festivities all planned out already, save this for a just a fun and quick midweek romance tip!

Attach a little love note to your pet's collar right before your spouse will be returning from being away from home. Imagine their surprise to be greeted not only by your pet, but by a special love note! Who can resist that?

I have a crazy kitten/cat who doesn't wear a collar so this was a new experience for her... She seemed more than happy to oblige with the rediculous amount of treats I was giving her to cooperate. :)

Jannypie Crafts sent me the link to their oh-so-cute DIY Valentine Pet Collar. You can download a free PDF instruction sheet from that link above.

I'm "paws"itive your spouse will think this is pretty much "purr"fect.
(Okay, okay...I know that was cheesy..... I couldn't resist. Even so, those would be cute little lines in your love note! [Life with you is purrfect or I'm pawsitive you're the one for me forever!])

BOLD Valentine's Day

Today I am featuring a post from a follower of Love, Actually, Katie Wallace at My Life as a Wallace. This is something her husband did for her last year...and it's such a great idea!

Her husband gave her a card with instructions to read it out loud and stop when she got to a bolded word. Each time she stopped, she got a present.

Here was what he wrote:
Katie, I just wanted you to know that I love with all my heart. I'm sorry sometimes when you don't know enough. Unfortunately for you we will be SHACKed [The book; "I knew you needed something to read and I've heard this is really good." He said. I've heard that too.] up together forever so you have to deal with me. Hopefully I can prove not to be like a COUPON [coupons for him to wash the dishes...this could possibly be my favorite gift] and you will get exactly what you paid for with me. I want our love to be so amazing that people have to buy TICKETS [To see the theatrical version of The Crucible on Thursday, which will help me mark another thing off my 101 list!] just to get to see it. I promise to be a good husband and not WINE [a bottle of wine! I am in shock that my husband bought a bottle of wine...craziness] when I am unhappy but to put you first and love you with all my heart.
Your hubby,
Cody

Such a cute idea, right? The world needs more guys like him...way to snag a good one, Katie! Thanks for letting me share!

---
I'm taking orders for the Love Checks for 2 more days--after that, I'm spending the Valentine's Day weekend AWAY from my computer and with my hubby! So, be sure to email me right away if you want to order! As an added bonus: anyone who contacts me today will receive 20% off their order! (sorry, this does not apply to orders previously placed!)

Sweet & Simple Gifts with Conversation Hearts

If you know that you just won't have time to plan a fabulous Valentine's Day surprise for your spouse, don't just do nothing....(cuz that would be totally lame!)

Here are three really simple ideas that require little effort and can be whipped together in no time...like, on February 13th...or the morning of of the 14th if you're really a slacker. :)

1.

Just empty out those nasty candies and replace them with your own sweet love coupons...sure to leave a better taste in your Valentine's mouth!
(Ideas for Love Coupons)

2.

How about a handwritten love letter using conversation hearts...however silly it may be!

3.
Okay, Okay....so you don't even have time to go buy a little box of converation hearts? Really? If you say so...

You can create your own personalized conversation hearts HERE.

See, here's mine:

You can write whatever you want (with a certain # of characters) as many times as you like and it allows you to save each as a JPEG. So, you could type a letter on your word processor and insert your custom images into your letter, or just print each custom heart image and glue onto your handwritten letter. Easy-peasy.

Free Valentine Printables

Before I get to today's post...

The winner of the Big Red Barn giveaway was:

Brooke & Ryan Ross!!

Congrats!! Thank you everyone for entering...don' worry, more giveaways are on their way!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case you are running out of time and no ideas have struck your fancy yet...

Here are some fun and free printable downloads from all over the web that can help make your Valentine's Day a little more fun!

Oopsey Daisy - printable Lovey-Dovey Conversation Magnets

Creature Comforts - 3 styles of printable Tea Bags and tea tags

Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat - Freebie includes 4 patterned cookie circles plus 10 fortune labels

Schlosser Designs - Valentine's Pillowbox (designed template & tags)

Rubber Punkin - 6 cute mini cards

Kodak Project Center - Customizable Candy Bar Wrappers

Schlosser Designs - Freebie includes Chocolate Nugget Labels and Tin Case cover

Cottage Industrialist - Teeny Envelope template with teeny love notes!

The Project Girl - 4 Mini Cards

Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat - Freebie includes designs and templates for box and chocolate nugget labels!

Controlling My Chaos - Magnetized Bookmarks with *tutorial*