Jennifer Hawkins asked:
A Valentine massage is one of the nicest presents to give to your partner. What better way is there to celebrate your relationship than with a massage which can bring you even closer together. Touch is a basic need enjoyed by all : relaxing, soothing, calming, it can also be sensual, intimate and a great emotional release.
Preparation as in most things is important.
Set the scene by firstly making sure the room is warm, somewhere where there will be no interruptions; close the curtains, light some candles, spread some warm blankets or a duvet on the floor and put some soft music on.
Before beginning your Valentine massage make sure your hands are warm. It’s not a good start if your Valentine jumps to the ceiling when your freezing cold hands touch their body. Rub the palms of your hands together to bring a little heat to the surface and then just before you touch your partner tell them that you are about to touch them, as a way of gaining their permission and also so that you don’t startle them.
Starting with a back massage, follow the contours of the back from the base of the spine to the shoulders in an r shape. Ask your Valentine if the pressure you are using is acceptable : “Would you like more/less pressure or is it just right?” Listen to your partner’s body with your fingers - it will let you know if there is any tension or tightness which could benefit from extra massage. Change your massage to small circular pressures and finish with simple strokes. Don’t worry if you have never massaged before as long as you both enjoy the experience.
In Indonesia it is the custom when a young couple marry to spread ylang ylang flowers over their bed on their wedding night. This is believed to lessen inhibitions. Essential oil of ylang ylang is a wonderful mix. Perceived as warming, intoxicating and aphrodisiacal, with the ability to relax and uplift, leaving you with a sense of wellbeing.
The following are blends for massage oil :
For her:
Midnight Valentine Massage
2 drops ylang ylang essential oil 10ml grapeseed oil 1 drop of rose essential oil 2 drops grapefruit essential oil
Pour the grapeseed oil into a dark bottle adding the essential oils drop by drop. Putting the lid on the bottle roll the bottle between the palms of your hand to gently mix the oils together.
For him:
Sultry Valentine Massage
2 drops ylang ylang essential oil 15ml sweet almond oil 1 drop coriander essential oil 2 drops sandalwood essential oil 2 drops lemon essential oil
Pour the sweet almond oil into a dark bottle adding the essential oils drop by drop. Putting the lid on the bottle roll the bottle between the palms of your hand to gently mix the oils together.
Marcus Hochstadt asked:
Smack in the middle of Europe and bordering nine countries, Germany is the ideal hub for entrance into other nations. Its landscape is varied, from castles sitting in the crevices of capped mountains to medieval villages bursting with life.
Famous places in Germany revolve around many major cities, like Munich where the annual Oktoberfest celebration is held. Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg also make up some famous places in Germany, each with its own distinction as unique and telling a story.
One “can’t miss” city in Germany is the capital of Berlin, which is well known for its past wall separating the socialists from the democrats. In 1990, the wall was torn down and a re-emergence occurred with the capital rebuilding itself as modern with more than 100 streets reconnecting to join a less modern city from the East and a towering, 21st century city to the West.
Besides this, Berlin is a cultural hub for international tourists and residents alike with many museums, theatres, and galleries like the Berlin Philharmonie concert hall to the Picture Gallery with an impressive collection of 18th century art. Its nightlife is also incredible along with parties taking place all year, including jazz concerts in November and dance parties in July.
Another famous place in Germany is the second largest city of Hamburg. This one is considered as the German version of Venice, Italy with its major ports and canal networks along with bridges and two lakes that make up close to 10 percent of the entire city.
Given its water, Hamburg is a city lush with parks and gardens along with 21st century buildings nestled in between classic Renaissance architecture. The harbor and seaside areas make up the cities largest tourist attractions.
For added camaraderie, there is a Red Light District called the Reeperbahn as well where revelers can engage in “quick fun.”
One final famous place in Germany is the southern wonder of Munich, arguably the most popular tourist destination with close to 6 million people taking part in the two-week long Oktoberfest festivities year after year. The city is well known for its breweries and beer halls along with an impressive selection of art galleries, museums, and both Gothic and Baroque architecture.
For a taste of winter sports, tourists would be pleased to know that Munich lies in close proximity to the Bavarian Alps which is a skiers paradise.
All in all, any of these top attractions are capable of fulfilling your travel wishes.
All the best,
Marcus Hochstadt
Founder of MyGermanCity.com
Andrew Cho asked:
I always have a hard time buying my significant other something for Valentine’s Day. I **** to be the guy who always gets my Valentine’s either flowers or chocolates year after year without putting any thought into the gift. If you’re like me, here are some great gift ideas to show her how much you care!
1) Personalized Gifts
Personalized gifts are great ways to show how much thought you put into a gift. Be aware, however, as you usually need to order these items in advance to be sure to have the gift in hand when Valentine’s Day rolls around. Whether it be jewelry, clothing, accessories, or accessories, personalized gifts offer a great gift idea!
2) Dance Lessons
Why not get a gift you can both enjoy? Dance lessons are not only fun and thoughtful, but you can also get exercise in while you’re at it! If you haven’t danced together before, it’s a fun activity you can both enjoy doing together.
3) iTunes Gift Cards
Everybody needs a little more music in their lives. That’s why a gift card to the Apple iTunes store goes a long way to give your Valentines something they can use! This gift might work best as a supplement to a Valentine’s Day gift staple like flowers and/or chocolates.
4) Framed Picture
Nobody said spending money makes the gift better. Framing a treasured picture of both of you will go a long way and definitely earn points! Make sure your Valentine looks good in the picture!
S. Roberts asked:
There are a few stories as to the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some experts think that it originated from St. Valentine - A Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”. Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him.
Even today seemingly unfair punishments are connected to Valentine’s day. Valentine’s day is a very tricky day for most men. It can turn out to be all sweetness and romance and getting your feet (and maybe other parts) massaged, but one wrong move and it can all go horribly wrong and your stuck in the dog house - do not pass go or collect £200!!!
We have all heard how Valentine’s day is too commercial, and it’s a bit lame if you only tell your lover, girlfriend, boyfriend, wife or husband that you love them on this one-day of the year. But when your partner says this to you, do you believe her? When she says “Lets not bother giving gifts this Valentines day”, does she really mean that you are going to do just that?
Some men have been known to be mislead by these seemingly straight forward messages. This is the fastest route to the doghouse.
Denouncing Valentine’s Day is said in the same way as “Do as you like” when you want to spontaneously spend large amounts of money on a new car, Motorbike or Nintendo Wii.
When she says “Lets not bother giving gifts this Valentine’s day”, what she really means is, “Here is your chance to be really romantic and surprise me with something fantastic this Valentines day”. She disguises what she’s saying because she knows that being romantic isn’t one of your strong points so she’s giving you a head start from the off set.
Want to make a romantic gesture this Valentine’s?
Put love notes in their pockets when they aren’t looking.
Handcuff yourself to her for the day.
Write an ‘I love you’ note or poem backwards, so that they have to look in a mirror to read it.
Tie a ribbon around your privates.
Run a candle lit bath for the two of you.
Cover the bed in rose petals, but remember to save a rose to stroke her body with.
Take a long romantic walk in the woods.
Dedicate a song to her on the radio.
Make her a Valentines card instead of buying her one.
Kate Slinger asked:
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, so it is a great way for children to show their affection in a sweet and innocent way and have lots of fun doing so too. Plan a Valentine’s Day party for your kids and it will go down as one of the best in the neighborhood.
The most important thing to remember is the theme of the Valentine’s Day party. Have lots of Valentine themed cut outs to decorate the party area. Get your kids involved by asking them to help in the cutting out of paper hearts using colorful and bright paper. This is a good way to show that it is their party and they must take active part in the preparation.
One of the best aspects of a Valentine’s Day party is for children to actually invite their valentine as well to the party. You can request on the invitation that parents bring along valentines for the other children who are coming to the party. This way children will come with valentines for each other. But this requires ample time to make up the guest lists and for RSVPs to come back.
Another option is to have valentines ready for all the children to decorate. This can be a great part of the party because the children know who is there and how many they have to make. The downside is it might be too tedious for the children to finish all the valentines. So assign one child to make one valentine. You don’t even have to put names on them. Put all the valentines made by the children into a hat or box. Children can draw numbers and get valentines made by someone else. Or assign partners to children and have them do valentines for each other.
Another option would be to prepare some ready-made valentines so that children can write names on the envelopes and give them out.
Treats are important in any party. You can make heart shaped treats, healthy and non-healthy ones as well. Children can help to frost cookies or make attractive treats.
Making friendship bracelets for each other is another fun option at a Valentine’s Day party. This is important as it emphasizes that Valentine’s Day is all about love and caring for one another. Making the friendship bracelet together is a great art project because there are so many types of bracelets to be made. Encourage the children to exchange them with their friends as a token of their friendship. In addition, dressing up teddy bears or dolls might be fun for some girls. Learning some dance moves add much to the festivity. At the end of the day, it’s the caring and sharing, which will bring out the importance of Valentine’s Day.
Andrew Cho asked:
It always seem women have a hard time shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts for men. It’s true that you can’t just get them flowers and chocolate, but it’s really not that hard to please a man on Valentine’s Day. Here’s a great list of gifts that will make your man happy with February 14th.
1) Gourmet Chocolate Gift Baskets
Everybody loves chocolate and so does your man. Buying some quality chocolates from chocolatiers like Godiva or Ghiradelli will make him happy and he can even share the quality treats with you after you give them to him!
2) Wine
Wine is always good to have on Valentine’s Day. To help to situation out, why not go ahead and buy a nice bottle of wine to make planning the day easier. Make sure to note what kind of wine he likes. If you don’t know much about wine, any wine specialty store will be more than happy to help you find the perfect bottle.
3) Tickets
Getting tickets to your Valentine’s favorite sports team or band will definitely get him excited. He can even take you and you guys can plan a great date together. Make sure to plan ahead and get good seats to a good game. The better the game + seats, the happier your guy will be.
4) GPS
Let’s face it, guys **** to ask for directions. To solve the problem, why not buy him a GPS system so he doesn’t have to. Now you don’t have to fight anymore during road trips.
Ian Pennington asked:
Everyone loves greeting cards. They are fun to give and a lot of fun to receive. What makes them even more interesting and fun is when they are joking type greeting cards, filled with humorous commentary or silly poems. Valentines with silly poems are fun to receive and make you laugh.
You can quite easily make your own greeting cards, or write your own greetings into a blank card and make a gift for any occasion. Do you write down silly events or silly poems? Valentines which are filled with heartfelt sentiments or silly little comments seem to make the biggest impression. Those same cards also seem to get the biggest number of senders who want to pass them along to another person, selling much better than the sentimental variety even on Valentine’s Day.
Likewise a greeting card for any special occasion will seem to be more interesting if it makes you laugh. The birthday card that calls you a loving caring individual is wonderful to get but does it make you chuckle or give you as much enjoyment as the one with the jokes or the denigrating comment or the silly poems? Valentines, birthday cards and even holiday greetings all seem to be more fun to get when they make you laugh.
The same might hold true of a card that is designed to cheer you. Sending a card to someone who’s day hasn’t gone well, or who has lost a Those are much more fun if you can chuckle when it’s over and when the day hasn’t gone well and someone cares enough to want to make you smile, what could work better than a funny story or a silly poem? Valentines are fun, romantic and pleasant but they are far nicer when they make you smile.
When its time to send a greeting card to someone you know, make sure that you think about what they really like. If that something is sentiment, then by all means, send the sentimental, mushy card, but if you know someone who loves to laugh, and enjoys hearing jokes and humorous stories chances are that you will want to send them something aside from that type card. They are the kind of person who will enjoy getting a joke card, a funny music card or some silly poems. Valentines, birthday, Christmas or Easter, silly joke cards make a big impression.
Catherine Preth asked:
It’s that the time of the year again - February 14th - Valentine’s Day! But before I tell you how you can use a love letter to make your Valentine’s Day a day to remember, I’d like to tell you about another Valentine’s Day - February 21st 2008.
February 21st 2008 is another Valentine’s Day, a Chinese version, which is the fifteen day of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese follow a lunar calendar which basically falls on different days every year. I am telling you this so that you can celebrate both. Wouldn’t it be nice that when you celebrate the February 14th and then invite the other person for another celebration - February 21st. Not many people will know this but now you do. I will tell you a little more about Chinese Valentine’s Day.
Most of us know about Valentine’s Day but the Chinese Valentine’s Day is a rather unique story. In the old days, men and women did not meet so freely. Valentine’s Day was the only day that the women, especially those who were single, were allowed to dress up and go out to have fun. Their version of fun was to go a place especially near a sea-side. They would be at their best dressed. Of course, the men would be there too and they would be on the look-out for the prettiest girls. ‘Eye contact’ would fly all over the place between the men and women. The men would try to find out where the girls of their choice stayed and later would make a proposition to the girl’s family for her hand in marriage, if he still liked her. Now, during the old days, men and women seldom talked to each other. During these special outings, the girls would also throw oranges into the sea and make a prayer that they would find a suitable husband.
In the modern times, there are significant differences. Nowadays, men and women interact comfortably. However, in some places especially predominantly Chinese areas, throwing of oranges is still being practiced but with a little twist. Women will write their name and phone number on the oranges now and the men will take a boat to collect them. I guess nowadays, this practice is just for fun. You could take this knowledge and device your very own special Valentine’s Day on February 21st, 2008 and make it different and special.
To make that special day even more unique, you can plan a series of events to happen before that special day and love letters plays a major role. Imagine a few days before Valentine’s Day, you can write a series of love letters leading up to that day. This will create an exciting and highly anticipated atmosphere.
The love letter will not just enhance the special day but will express intangible thoughts and feelings. In fact, with the love letter, the special day is enhanced. The love letter has an inherent quality namely ‘effort’ and that ‘effort’ will transcend to the special day. The recipient will feel the amount of effort you have put into preparing for Valentine’s Day.
The love letter for this situation must be something personal. It is better if you can recollect an event which only the both of you shared and then say how much it meant to you. The love letter can be about friendship, spousal love, ‘missing you’ love and even ’sorry type’ letters.
Often, when one masters the art of writing a love letter, and shares wonderful moments in life with close ones, it often bring lots of joy.
So think of love letters as a means of capturing life’s moments onto paper. Try it and be amazed by its effects.
Kim Jamieson asked:
Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough time in the morning to make a good food choice? Do you continually make bad choices? Did you have that muffin with a Grande latte, extra cream and a splash of flavored syrup? Well today I would like to share with you a quick grab and grow breakfast loaded with protein. This food choice will keep you on track to achieve a great balance of womens fitness and diet.
This works great! An easy and mess free way to cook your omelets.
Take a quart-size Ziplock freezer bag and then:
Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.
Put your ingredients such as: low fat cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, etc. in and mix up well.
Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.
Place the bag into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.
Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared to be amazed! Prepare them ahead of time and store them in the fridge so that you can grab one out and boil it, for a healthy and quick meal.
Kimberly Jamieson (www.healthypainfreeliving.com)has achieved success in Living and maintaining a healthy active lifestyle and has helped thousands achieve this success by using her own fitness training tips.
