A Few Random February Thoughts on L-O-V-E

Today is the last day of Love Month...happy Leap Day to you!  I was challenged by a friend of mine to join her "Leap Day Giveaway Blog Hop", and since LOVE is one fun subject I was wanting to explore in February, I thought I should squeeze it in.  I ran out of time to plan it and polish it, so here come my thoughts on Love in random order...and at the end of this post you'll find out what I'm giving away (it's my first giveaway!  Are you excited?).

* I have a great last name.  LOVELL!  I'll never forget the day my then-boyfriend of just a few weeks (okay, well it was actually just a couple of weeks) and I called up his parents to announce that we thought it would be a good idea to go look at wedding rings together.  Since our plan at that moment was really just to go ring shopping, and not plan the rest of our lives together per se, I was a little caught off guard when his dad said to me "So you think you're ready to become a Lovell?"  Jazz and I had been dating such a short time that I hadn't even taken the time yet to imagine my future name, "Jennifer Lovell", but I couldn't believe how amazing that sounded.  Could anyone in the world be luckier than me, to be getting "Love" in her last name?  I was super excited by that thought.  I LOVE my name!

 I have often pondered how many different types of love there are, especially in my own life.  I want to list some of them here for you:

* Family love.  I was blessed to be raised by wonderful parents that loved me to the max.  I love my kids the same way. What else can I say about this?  Oh, I love my brothers and sister too, and their spouses, and my extended family too.  I'm so lucky to have a loving family tree, and I love teaching my kids how special and wonderful families can be. 

* Romantic love.  Some people have room in their hearts for a lot of this, some need only a small portion of this.  Me, I am what they call a hopeless romantic.  Sometimes I get so caught up in romantic movies that I think life would be perfect if I could live in a movie...forever.  I like drippy, sappy, creative, ooey gooey cheesey romantic gestures.  I can always use more of them in my world (hopefully Jazz is reading this, ha ha : )!). 


* Eternal companion love.  Words are hard to describe the real true love between a husband and wife.  If everything in this world was taken away from me and I could have only one thing back, I think it would be my relationship with my husband.  It is my most treasured blessing.  I love the thought of growing old with Jazz.  We've had 14 happy years together, and I can't wait to enjoy the rest of eternity with him.



*  Friendship love.  I have had some really fun friends throughout my life.  That's been one blessing of moving around the country--I have met and grown to love beautiful people that I never would have known otherwise.  Friends fill a place in my heart that no one and nothing else could ever fill the same way!  Anne of Green Gables called the most special friends "bosom friends", and I love thinking that I have had many of these very special relationships in my life.  Some of these friends are pen pals (Rima, Elizabeth, Lori), some of them have been exercise buddies (Kelly, Debbie, Shawn), some of them have been childhood or high school friends that have stayed in touch, some of them are choir friends (too many to name!), stamping friends, church friends, friends I've shared hard times with... Some of them we know for years and years, and some of them we know only for a short time before they're in our hearts permanently.  They're needed, and they're rare.  I feel so blessed to have the friends that I have.

* Things love.  There are lots of things that I love that make me happy!  I can do without most things, but I couldn't do without the HAPPINESS that things bring me.  Just a few of the things that I love that bring me this happiness are racquetball, fun TV shows and movies, beautiful things in nature (pink clouds, sunsets, flowers...), jokes, books, blogs, letters from loved-ones, journals, chocolate, whipped cream, cookies, smiley faces, babies in their cute little pajamas...I could go on for hours.  I love my happy things!


Now for my give-away... If you reply to my post and list 10 things that you love most (including people, places, and things), then you will be entered in my drawing to win 5 of my hand-made cards. According to the rules of the Blog Hop, I can collect entries until the end of Leap Day (until midnight).  If you'd like to see some of the cards I've made, visit my other blog: http://happilyeverstamping.blogspot.com/.  If you leave a comment on both of my blogs, you get two entries!

I don't know if I'm doing all of the link things right...but I recommend that the next blog you visit for another great giveaway is: Such a Sew and Sew: Leap Day Giveaway

Click here to BLOG HOP!