Valentine’s Day is approaching and along with the many romantic picks for dining out, melt in your mouth chocolates and fragrant flowers vying for your attention, you can combine all these favorites with the element of surprise and delight your date.

If your special someone is a long-time sweetheart or a first date, most people love a surprise.

Recently, a 23-year-old college grad was anxious to plan an unforgettable evening with his girlfriend and take their four year dating relationship to the next level. Popping the question would surely be the most romantic yet exhilarating night of their life so a series of surprises filled the young man’s agenda. His girlfriend had no knowledge of his secret until the evening, which would turn out to be a celebration that a soon-to-be fiancée, would never forget.

The setting was a favorite steakhouse located in a metropolitan city. A dozen red variegated long stemmed roses from a florist were a carefully selected choice and were delivered to the waiter at the restaurant earlier that day. Next, a stuffed animal was placed on a tray covering the ring box and after dinner two waiters paraded to the table with the gifts. The bride-to-be was stunned as she became the center of attention for the night. She opened the ring box and her beau dropped to one knee and proposed, accompanied by a room full of onlookers erupting in applause.

You may not be proposing marriage but you can slip in a surprise just the same. Here are some ideas to make your day or evening on February 14 just a bit more intriguing.

• Compliment an intimate dinner at home with background music from the country where the food originates. They can be found at area bookstores. So if Italian food is your favorite, set the mood with music that brings amore’ to the table.
• Are you both lovers of the fine arts? Tickets to a symphony or live theatre will be sure to please. Tuck the tickets (like a bookmark) inside a book of poetry or a favorite read and present it at dinner prior to the show.
• Arrange an overnight at a Bed and Breakfast. If there are children that need a caregiver, initiative a surprise and hire the sitter and make the arrangements. If the price is out of reach, makeover your bedroom with a B&B feel and include guest soaps & towels, candles and a pleasing menu in the morning.
• Find a favorite childhood photo and have a local artist paint or draw your sweetheart’s likeness for a present that will be remembered for years to come.

Sweeten up Valentine’s Day with a surprise that fits your personality and you’ll be sure to have an enjoyable and fun holiday.

Contributed by
Elizabeth C. Searcy

Come see the great gift basket collection for Valentine's Day! Make his or her day extra special this year.

Brought to you by Susan's Basket Store

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and that means that hundreds of thousands of people (okay, mostly men) will be frantically trying to come up with Valentine’s Day gifts that make their partners happy.

Remember how simple Valentine’s Day was when you were a kid? You’d hand your mother a homemade card and set off to school with a bag of cartoon- themed grocery store valentines (one for every person in your class, because that was the rule). In class, you’d exchange cards with your classmates while you ate the heart-shaped cookies that the room mother baked. If you were really lucky, some of the cards would be attached to candy.

For teens, Valentine’s Day was a little trickier.

Read more!

We’ve all heard about the impact that the internet has had on holiday shopping, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. With help from the Internet, suitors have the potential to shine (or fizzle) on Valentine’s Day like never before.

A smart shopper will use the Internet to his advantage by choosing a gift that makes his sweetheart feel special. With so many choices at hand, the perfect gift may be just a few mouse clicks away. The important thing is to carefully tailor the gift to the tastes of the recipient.

For an unmotivated person, the Internet offers the opportunity to take the easy way out for Valentine’s Day. But beware of this temptation – no woman has ever been swept off of her feet by a last-minute e-greeting. Similarly, not many women would consider it romantic to be the feature of an Internet video or blog.

When you do your Valentine’s Day shopping online, gift ideas are limitless. You can order anything from the timeless (candy and flowers), to items you’ve selected to fit her special interests, like candles, spa products, or coffee. If her favorite thing is spending time with you, why not find a gift you can enjoy together, like champagne, gourmet foods or the ingredients for a romantic bubble bath?

Would your Valentine appreciate a traditional token of love, like chocolates? Instead of giving her a single foil-wrapped box of grocery store sweets, use the Internet to find attractively packaged, high-quality chocolates. Consider a gift basket that includes several chocolate delicacies in a beautifully wrapped, re-usable container.

You can deliver the gift in person, but you’ll earn extra points if you have it delivered to her place of work and make her co-workers jealous. Just remember to include a romantic, personal note.

The Internet can also help if your loved one is far away. A gift bought online can be sent across town or around the globe, proclaiming your love even if you can’t be there to do it in person.

Don’t think you’re going to dodge the bullet just because your Valentine lives in another country - Valentine’s Day is a global holiday. It is celebrated not only in the places you’d expect, like Europe and Australia, but also in most of Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

This year, instead of limiting your gift search to the local mall, use the power of the Internet to comb the globe for a present that will show your Valentine just how much she means to you.

Contributed By Laura Weaver

It seems around this time a year, pretty much every year; people begin to get the cupid fever. Everyone either wants someone to spend this year’s Valentines Day with or to make sure that they are with the one they love. Although this is not the only effect that Valentine’s Day has. People start to become very much aware of their sweet tooth. That’s right, whether it be chocolate candies or cupcakes with those little heart sprinkles, people want treats that will put anyone in the mood for love. However this isn’t just a recent discovery. Food has played a vital part in Valentine’s Day throughout history. People have become dependant on aphrodisiacs to follow through with this holiday of love. Scientific tests have proven that some aromas can cause an even greater effect on the body than actually eating the food. An aphrodisiac is any agent that has an effect on the mind and causes the arousal of sexual desire. You can see how this would play an important role in our beloved Valentine’s Day. The word aphrodisiac comes from the Greek goddess of sensuality, Aphrodite.
Chocolate is one of the most common aphrodisiacs. It contains both a sedative which lowers inhibitions and a stimulant which increases the want for physical contact. The reason chocolate has been deemed to “melt in your mouth” which makes it so desirable, is because of the fact that its melting point is just below the human body temperature. Research shows that eating chocolate has been linked with the release of serotonin in the brain, which is believed to produce feelings of pleasure. Research has also shown that heroin addicts tend to have an increased liking for chocolate, which is thought to have connection with the triggering of dopamine released in the brain, when eating chocolate, which is similar to the effect of opium. So it’s pretty obvious how chocolate has become to be known as one the greatest feel good foods worldwide.
Truffles are another commonly known aphrodisiac. It is thought that the rarity and musky aroma is the reason that they have long been considered to arouse the body. It has also been said that in order to sustain his masculinity, an ancient lover gorged himself to death on Alba truffles during his wedding feast. Truffles are a type of edible mushroom and are found anywhere from two to sixteen inches below the ground. Although the aphrodisiacal characteristics of truffles have not been established, it is still known as traditional French, northern Italian and Istrian cooking, and in international haute cuisine. Because of their pungent taste however they are used sparingly in cooking, and today in America chocolate truffles have become popular. These are simply chocolates made ot look like truffles. This is thought to have been created because of the combination of aphrodisiacs.
However these are just a couple of the many aphrodisiacs that have been used throughout history. So for this Valentine’s Day look a few of these foods of love up and give them a try. You be the judge of the effect they have on your love life.

I have always loved wine but consider myself a novice when it comes to the ability to recognize and distinguish a wine’s characteristics. In fact, only recently I realized that when people spoke of wine tasting they were speaking of something much more complicated than just sipping the wine to determine if they liked it or not. I decided that it was time that I uncover some of the mystic of wine tasting.

I began by purchasing a wine tasting book for beginners. The book began by guiding me through the many types of wines, describing the grapes and how they are grown. At first the book was a little bit overwhelming and I was eager to get to the tasting section, but then I found that while reading the section on how wine is made, I began to have a little more understanding of why certain flavors are found in wines. I have heard wine connoisseurs describing wines as tasting like flowers or wood or nature and until reading this book I never understood where those flavors came from. It seemed like such a simple discovery. Some wines actually sit in oak barrels for a long period of time, and then of course, naturally the wine begins to take on the flavor of the wood. You don’t actually have to be a wine expert to recognize the flavor of wood. I do believe that you have to learn to “taste” the wine. It’s like the difference between hearing and listening. I found that when following the advice of the beginners wine book by closing my eyes, smelling the wine, and then taking a generous amount of wine into my mouth and allowing it to sit on my tongue and move around my mouth before I swallowed it I began to truly “taste” or actually listen to the flavors of the wine.

The first experience of truly tasting my wine was actually quite stimulating! I tasted a white merlot and I could almost feel the sensation of my taste buds tingling. The wine had a slight tartness accompanied by a fresh fruity flavor with a full moist taste. I had experienced this same wine on many prior occasions but suddenly it was as if I had discovered a whole new flavor. After that first experience I was eager to taste the many other wines that I had in my wine refrigerator. It was a refreshing discovery to find that there was truly a difference between drinking and truly tasting wine.

While I am still a beginner and realize that I have a truly immature palette for tasting wine, I have learned that the best way to improve one’s wine tasting ability is to taste as much as possible on a regular basis. While I am not planning on becoming a professional wine taster, I have learned enough that I can truly appreciate the wine that I drink and take the time to enjoy the sensory experience of tasting the wine instead of just casually drinking it with my dinner. I would highly recommend anyone who enjoys a glass of wine to at the very least read a book on wine tasting so that they too may enjoy this invigorating experience. And if you want to take it a step further, there are a growing number of wine schools that can be found, offering wine tasting classes to the public. For the time being, I am satisfied that I have learned how to fully appreciate the delicious wines I used to take for granted.