News Flash - Valentine's Day is our favorite holiday!
Trying to figure out the perfect gift this year?
So are we.
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This year, as we try to do every few years, we decided to educate ourself on marriage. Taking a course, workshop or some other marital class should be on every married couple's to-do list at some point. These things take work, amirite?

We couldn't possible list them all for you, but here are a few for our northern California peeps here below. A simple internet search or asking at your church might produce great results for everyone else!

Challenge Day for Couples
February 18-19, 2017
Concord, CA

Gottman's Couples Workshop
Multiple Weekends
Mill Valley, CA

John Grey's Healing Couples Retreat
Multiple Dates
Sonoma County, CA

Getting the Love You Want workshop
Multiple dates
San Ramon, CA

Note: We cannot vouch for any of these except Challenge Day, which we recommend wholeheartedly.

Have suggestions for others? Feel free to share them here or on our FB page!

About 53% of the United States (at this writing) did not vote for the Presidential candidate who won this week so we're guessing there are plenty of upset voters out there and you may be married to one of them! If your Partner is depressed about the results of this election, then we have some tips for you to cheer her or him up. 

​In our book, we designated November as Togetherness Month, and what could be better than spending time to cheer up your Partner at a time like this? Here's some ideas for you:

• Respect their sadness and give her or him the time and space to adjust to the new reality. Some need more time than others so you may need to back off for a bit.
• Take over a few extra things like making dinner this week. Every little bit helps.
• Schedule something relaxing like a massage or haircut for your Spouse - simply making the appointment on their behalf is a help when one is depressed or sad.
• Wine. Enough said.
• Chocolate. Or Ice Cream. Either may work - comfort food is not a bad thing as long as its not daily for weeks on end.
• Hand over the remote control. Watching the news may be comforting or horrible right now - let your depressed spouse choose what he or she can handle this week.
• Find something that makes them happy - maybe its the dog, the cat or the kids - and focus on that for an hour. Take your spouse and dog to the dog park if they enjoy seeing their dog happy; or take the kids and your spouse someplace fun together.

In the end, whatever you do, as long as it comes from a place of care and concern rather than judgment and/or a desire to speed up the recovery time (not good), you are on the right track. Good Luck and God Bless America!

To celebrate our upcoming favorite holiday, be on the lookout for our upcoming Amazon Countdown deal to download your copy of Be A Better Partner for Kindle for just 99 cents! The next deal begins the Monday before Valentine's Day in February - stay tuned to our Facebook page for updates! 

Connect with other happy couples and get regular POSITIVE stories of love and inspiration for your relationship by liking us on Facebook!

Welcome to July - or as we like to call it, "Work Less Month!"  

Of course, summer vacations are a great opportunity to get away from the proverbial Rat Race - but we invite our happy couples to take this a step further.

How often do you find yourself thinking about work when you are home with your Partner?
Are you checking your email while your kids are at the playground?
Do you sneak in a work call here & there?

Doing these things takes your focus away from your Partner - and they NOTICE! They may say its not a big deal, but trust us from married folk who have been there - it IS a big deal.  Of course, no one is perfect and things do happen but this month, put your focus on your Partner instead! Check yourself and make sure you are truly present when together. Change your way of thinking for one month and you won't regret it. This is a daily chore for some - so, keep the focus. A few tips to help you:

• Sticky Notes! Greatest invention ever - even better than those strings around the finger! Leave yourself notes around the house to remind yourself of what you SHOULD be thinking about when home.
• Enlist your Partner's help. Ask them to tell you - or ring a bell - when they see you wandering off inside your mind somewhere and away from him/her!
• Change your schedule - whatever works, but switch things up somehow to free yourself from old routines.
  

Whatever you do, we know it will be great and your Partner will love you for it even more - like that's possible, right??!!!

Only 10 days left until our favorite holiday and we know just how difficult it is to find that perfect gift or bargain! Well, we have gobs of ideas in our book (of course) - but here are a few more to get you started:

Nothing says 'love' like FITNESS - want your partner to 'stick around' for along time? Keep him or her healthy with a pedometer like FitBit! Here's a little secret about FitBit that not everyone knows - if you lose your FitBit, they will replace it one time for FREE! What a great idea. Plus, the $99 models track your sleep, a nice feature.

Not much of a health nut? Papa Murphy's sells heart-shaped pizza's over Valentine's!

Loved one forget all those Important dates? Make a t-shirt or coffee mug with all the anniversaries, etc!

Flowers & Chocolates Again? Of course, but mix it up this time - maybe some flowers you can PLANT this year or some chocolates from a Chocalatier instead of the local grocery store!!

Whatever you do - it will be grand - just put some HEART into it!! xoxo

Its another new year and we are excited to be gearing up for our favorite holiday yet again: Valentine's Day! If you are like us, happily married for many years, you realize one day that there are a LOT of holidays to celebrate with each other. At some point, we all run out of ideas after all the anniversaries, valentines days, birthdays, christmases, special occasions, etc. Fear not, we are here to help!

We've included hundreds of ideas in our book - now available exclusively on Amazon for our digital version and on both Amazon and Lulu for our printed book. But, our website offers additional ideas also because we believe in sharing and kindness.

February is the month we designated as "Surprise Me" month for obvious reasons. But, no matter how big or small the surprise is, its amazing how great it makes one  feel to know someone else was thinking about him/her with loving thoughts. It can be a sticky note, a card, a flower, a lipstick heart on the mirror, an extra errand ran, or a big fat stuffed animal - whatever it is, its worth the effort once in a while to SURPRISE your partner more often. After all, who ever says they get TOO many surprises from their Spouse?! So, get going - what are you waiting for? Click here for Surprise Me Month ideas!