Contest entries have been amazing…..   Read and be inspired to be more loving to those who surround you. 

Love will motivate me to lose weight because I am obese and I don’t want to lose the love of my spouse and children through my health. I want to keep them with me, close to my heart. – Adina 

What will love motivate me to do this year? Wow, what a loaded question…I am already a loving, giving, unselfish person BUT I think I could do more by becoming a regular visitor at our local nursing home…I belong to the auxiliary there and when I go to the monthly  meeting, so, so many people are just sitting in the hallway looking ever so lonely. So my objective as a more loving person is to visit the home monthly, take some home baked goodies and sit down and talk (and listen) to their stories. I am sure it will make their day and I am sure to learn a lot from their life stories. Thanks for the contest for giving me this inspiration! – Sharon, Pennsylvania

Love will motivate me to become a more patient better sister to my sweet little brother. My little brother is 46, and is mentally & physically handicapped with a documented 2-4 year old mentality. Jimmie lives in a home now – he does not understand danger & after starting quite a few fires, endangering himself and us.. we had to make the hard decision to place him in a small home where he was supervised 24/7. He is precious and calls and says “HOME” every Friday. He wants to spend the night home with me every Friday night. Last year, I tried this – every Friday night. When he is home, he must be watched constantly and given 100% of my attention. He is obsessed with Annie the musical and Karate Kid. As soon as he hits the door it’s EAT, MORE (drink), BOOK (he is also obsessed with car trader mags, searching their pages for pictures of handicapped transport vans, & ANNIE – waiting for me to start the VCR. He goes to bed watching his videos and wakes when they stop. My nights are full of getting up & down to rewind his videos and start them over. He has kidney problems so he either has to go “POTTY” many times during the night or wets his bed. I  lay in the floor beside of him or on the couch beside of him – to make sure he is safe. I have not been physically or mentally able to have him over night every week this year – but I have had him home for 4/5 hour visits every weekend. When he comes home he always makes the hand signal for sleep..and asks ME? When he is not going to spend the night – it breaks my heart to tell him no. For love..this year..and every year to come..I must reach up to heaven and receive more strength so that I will NEVER have to say “Not this week precious” again. For love I MUST be the sister that this precious young man needs, one that can always say “Yes baby, you are gonna stay with Sissy tonight.! And now I am going to call him and tell him he is coming home to spend the night with me .. after all….. – Debra, North Carolina

This year Love will motivate me to put my stubbornness aside and put all my faith in my husband. I have a tendency to want to control things for fear of them falling apart. We just moved to another state with no jobs, and no place to live. He’s going for his dream job (his test for the job actually takes place on Valentine’s Day) this week, and we are just praying he gets it. I love my husband. We have been married for 5 months and it’s been a tough road. The economy is no place for a young struggling couple. He has a college degree and still we started off our marriage living in our car and scared of what was coming next. I put my  faith in him then and he got me through, and I can do it now. -Melanie, Tennessee

Dedicated to My Darling Husband, Rudy…  Darling, It is only you I have loved ever since our romance first blossomed… and I resolve to do it over & over again. Like the most exquisite thorn-ridged rose, every fine romance deserves to blossom into something more beautiful & ravishing… beyond our wildest imaginations, our wildest dreams, and our wildest fantasies… beginning with the spice of life as the main ingredient.Rudy, my darling, it is only you who is worthy of the highest praise because you love me for who I am, and let me be who I am meant to be.  I dedicate this poem to you:

A Fairytale Dream Come True

I’ve loved you ever since… our fairytale romance first blossomed…..

Once upon a time in a fairytale so magical                                                                  

there was a beautiful young princess

who lived in a castle nestled in the heart

of the most enchanted forest filled with emerald

green trees and autumn leaves of ruby,

amber brown, and yellow-orange with hues so golden.
 

This is not a story about a man with a golden

touch, or wizards and good witches with a magical

wand, or about a girl with a dog and ruby

red slippers. It’s a tale about a fairy princess

dreaming of a prince to capture her heart.
 

A whimsical fairy willing to share her heart,

she wears long braided curls in her golden

locks and has eyes of green like a pure emerald

stone. Her personality makes her a princess

so passionate and fair, her senses are so magical

and her lips of seduction are as red as a ruby.
 

Here comes her prince, he’s as rare as a ruby,

she yearns for him with every beat of her heart.

Her prince is the envy of every other princess.

Now is her moment, it is her golden

opportunity to share a wonderful and magical

life so precious, more precious than a stone of an emerald.
 

The prince’s chariot is adorned in gems of green emerald,

midnight blue sapphires, and the reddest stones of ruby.

He asks the princess to marry him with his own magical

words, to take his hand and his heart,

to be his bride and to live in a golden

palace where she will reside as his princess.
 

As she accepts his offer to be his princess,

he slides a ring on her finger aglow with an emerald,

with the band polished in 14 karat gold, so golden,

outlined with multiple stones in red ruby.

It’s a ring he designed for her right from his heart,

it’s a symbol of a lasting love so magical.
 

For this golden princess with eyes of emerald, lips of ruby and a magical heart,

dreams can come true as it did in this final chapter.

The prince and princess lived happily ever after…
 

And remember, darling… it is only you I have loved…

ever since our fairytale romance first blossomed…

and I resolve to do it over & over again.   -Lisa, New York

When asked “What will love motivate you to do?”  quite a few people have paused, composed and sent me their love resolution for 2012. 

 I thought I’d share a few of them with you today. May YOU be inspired…..     

My love resolution for 2012 is to finish my book about my son.  My son is Autistic and has a heart wrenching and heartwarming story to be told.  It is out of love that I am writing this memoir and my goal is to have the book ready for professional proofreading by April 2012 and ready for printing and on the market by September 2012. – Win

My love resolution would have to be …… being more patient and tolerant with others. I have a great deal of patience when it comes to children, but not so much when it comes to adults. I guess I figure they should know better! I know love is kind and tolerant, so I will be definitely working on this. It makes my heart soar when someone is patient with my faults, and I really want to improve on my patience. – Terry

 Love will motivate me to believe more in myself. – Dana, New Jersey

Love for my oldest daughter will motivate me to work harder to find ways to come up with the money to send her to college and fulfill her dreams in life!!  Lorrie, Florida

The love that motivates me is my husband. This year I promised my husband I will lose all the baby weight from our 2 children and get in the best shape I have ever been in my life. Three weeks into the New Year and I am going really strong with 25lbs down! My husband has been doing the same thing I have been doing. We are all so much happier and healthier with all the love to go around! My love has motivated me to sign up for a 5k race in June. I have never ever been a type to work out, be fit and run races. I will do it and I will do great!!!! All for love!! – Shauna, Illinois

This year, love will motivate me to cook more often with my husband–it brings us closer together! – Meredith, Virginia

Love will motivate me to try harder to make my business a success. I have been unemployed & underemployed for 3 years & my wife has suffered the brunt of it in
my not being able to get her much for special occasions. She is a teacher & is the only reason we still have our house.  I love her very much & would love to be able to buy her some jewelry instead of entering contests in hopes of winning something I should be able to buy. – Michael

My fiancée and I met when I was very ill. She was working at the doctor’s office where I had to go every week for treatment. She was always there to greet me with a smile. I never wanted to go to the doctors, but I began to look forward to going there because of her. Her kindness, love, and humor got me through a very tough time in my life. Two years later on Valentine’s Day I asked her to marry me. We are getting married on October 6, 2012.  She is my soul mate. It is because of her that I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Without her, I don’t know where I would be today. Love will motivate me to give my heart to the woman who has given me hers and more! – Jonathan

For more information on the 2012 Love Resolution – “What will love motivate you to do?” contest go to my e-boutique contest page.

While Charles Dickens is credited with saying “Tis love that makes the world go round…” I believe it is the actions of people motivated by Love that make this world go ’round and make it a kinder gentler place for us to live.  Small acts of love make a huge difference in someone’s day. The 2012 Love Resolution Contest is not about shining the spotlight on grand gestures that a suitor makes toward the object of their desire; rather, it’s about illuminating the thoughtful, small and often unnoticed acts inspired by Love that are taking place each day in our wonderful world.  

As the designer of fine jewelry created to help people express their love to others, I hope that the contest will inspire individuals to make their own love resolution this year. While acts of love can spontaneously erupt on any given day, with Valentine’s Day, a day about love, just around the corner, the contest may encourage people to pause to ask themselves, “What will love motivate me to do this year?” In doing so they may compose their own love resolution – an act of loving intentionally and with resolve, motivated by Love.  

It is a sweet contest and the rules are simple. Contest details may be found by going to the 2012 Loving Heart Love Resolution Contest on my e-boutique LovingHeartCollection.com. Entries must be submitted by February 12, 2012.  

I look forward to reading all the entries.  I plan on filling the air in my studio with the soft trumpet melodies of Chris Botti and candlelight, sipping a smooth Cabernet and being inspired or moved to tears as I read each entrant’s love resolution. It’s going to be my Valentine’s gift to me!  The winners will be selected entirely on the joy and inspiration I feel as I read each entry. Mushy but true. Fine jewelry from The Loving Heart Collection will be awarded for the three love resolutions deemed: Most Inspiring, Most Thoughtful and Made Me Cry (Happy Tears).  

Winners will be given their choice of Loving Heart jewelry – choosing either a Loving Heart Pin, Pocket Heart, Classic Heart Necklace or Loving Heart Earrings, each in sterling silver. The three winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day. Their winning Love Resolution will be be given the opportunity to inspire others by being posted on the LovingHeartCollection.com e-boutique, the Loving Heart Facebook page and my blog ExpressYourLove.com.  

So hurry! Tell me! What will love motivate you to do this year?

It’s about journeying through life with the one you love.

I have the priviledge of helping people express their love to others.

It all started as a gift for my husband. Valentine’s Day 1994 was rapidly approaching. As Chief Pilot for American Eagle Airlines, Neil was away from home a lot. This particular year, I was trying to think of a Valentines gift that would be meaningful. On many occasions, I had given him shirts, ties, books, tennis equipment, even silk boxers. This time I wanted to give him something that he could carry with him as a private reminder of our love.

I was sure that Neil would be reluctant to wear a visible item of sentiment other than his wedding band. So, I decided to give him a simple heart pin to be worn inside his airline jacket over his heart. I thought that inside his jacket, this little heart would be a very private reminder of my love for him. Unable to locate a simple yet elegant heart pin, I fashioned one myself and gave it to him  with a little verse that I wrote:  “Whether you are near or far, we will always be heart to heart.”

The impact of this simple heart was immediate. Neil said that it provided him with a source of strength and reminder of our love whether he was running errands around town or flying the line. His comments made me realize the power of love in that tiny heart.

My nursing colleagues loved the idea. Totally agreeing that the choices for a sentimental gift for a man are few, my nursing colleagues raved about the idea and that they would love to give a heart pin to their husbands too. I encouraged them to ask their husbands about the idea of a little heart hidden on the inside of their jackets. The men really liked the idea. That was all there was to it, The Loving Heart Collection by Jean Schnaak® was on its way to becoming a reality.

It’s been seventeen years since the giving of that first heart pin. Now I have over thirty jewelry designs and the line is growing.  The most popular items are the unique gifts I created for men, the Loving Heart Pin and the Pocket Heart.   Valentine’s Day is one of my busiest times of the year. I like playing Cupid! 

In case you were wondering, these days my husband flies a desk instead of a Boeing 757, but he still wears a symbol of my heart over his. I wear one too.

Think back to days of…
     tiny pastel Be Mine and Kiss Me candy hearts,
         cut out red paper hearts declaring Be My Valentine! in black crayon, and
             messenger delivered notes with the near heart-stopping question “I like you.
                 Do you like me? Check Yes or No.”  These simple expressions of love were
                    effective then, so why not now?

For a grown up version of passing a love note to your Valentine,  let me offer a few fresh ideas:

• If your Valentine routinely checks his or her phone messages upon arrival at the office, deliver your love note via voice mail. For anyone who is “holidate” challenged, and you know who you are, Valentine’s Day – February 14th is on Monday this year.
   
• Formality can be fun!  Ask your Valentine out for a date!  Your written invitation can be styled as a love note.  To really WOW your Valentine, special delivery of your invitation, with fitting flowers, will create quite the impression at the workplace.  I know. I sent flowers to my boyfriend at his workplace twenty-eight years ago. The message was clear, “Neil, I’m crazy about you!“  To his co-workers, it was “Hands off ladies. He’s mine!” Neil still relishes the memory and remains my Valentine to this day.
   
•  Another much simpler approach to deliver your invitation would be to place it strategically where your Valentine will easily find it, yet be surprised. Perhaps under the windshield wiper while the car is parked at work;  inside a bagged lunch; or in a favorite coffee mug. As for the invitation itself, give a little taste of what the evening will hold, but maintain a sense of  mystery!   Then deliver - a night to remember.       

• What about a love note in the form of a poem? There are no rigid requirements.  If it sounds good to you, it is sure to earn an A+ from the one you desire to impress. Of course, you can get a little help from the famous poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, by starting with the first line of her poem:  How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways. Then create your own.  If you’re not up to penning your own poem, I’m sure a poet would not mind that you borrowed from their poetry on Love’s big day!  Though the poet gets credit for writing the poem, you’ll be the one who scores this Valentine’s Day.  You may be thinking, how do I introduce the poem? Keep the delivery simple.  Perhaps start by saying,  ”I’d like to share with you a little poem by (the poet’s name).  It expresses so well what I’d like to say to you.”      

• If you want an effortless way to express your love to your Valentine, not just on February 14th, but every day,  present the one you adore with a classic symbol of your love and affection – a heart. Along with a verse, it will express what is in your heart.   Here are some fresh ideas in heart gift giving.  The Pocket Heart is private, it’s fun and it will remind him of you.  In fact, everytime he puts his hand in his pocket he will think of you!  Then there is the Loving Heart Pin  worn inside a jacket over his heart and is for his eyes only.  For a woman, giving her a symbol of your heart to wear over hers is like passing her a little love note each time she wears it. Consider a heart necklace.  In full disclosure, I designed these unique fine jewelry gifts and sell them exclusively through my e-boutique:  LovingHeartCollection.com

So, if you ARE considering sending a love note,  I hope these ideas remove some of the daunting from the task ahead.  In fact, I hope I’ve ignited your imagination and inspired you into action.

Then again, those tiny pastel Be Mine or Kiss Me candy hearts worked for me in the first grade. If I get too busy, I may try them again. – virtually this time.

A very proud and dignified woman is losing her mind. She was diagnosed with an Alzheimer’s like dementia several years ago. She is my husband’s mother.

No longer able to live independently, in January, Mary came to live with my husband and me. Each day she struggles to reclaim herself. She pauses to recall where she is, who we are and how to go about doing basic things. Today it was going down the stairs. She seemed to have forgotten how to step down with one leg and then the other. Bewilderment shown on her face. I witnessed my husband, teaching his mother how to go down the stairs. He is tender and patient. She shows us her gratitude through her eyes.

This is just one of the many little love stories that unfold each day in our home. While I can’t bear to see Mary disappear little by little each day, I don’t want to miss the beauty in those special moments.

For more information about Alzheimer’s Disease checkout the Alzheimer’s Association.

I remember Daddy, helping me pick out a pink and red cellophane wrapped box of twenty-five perforated Valentines Cards. Once home, I carefully separated the little themed cards and chose who was to get which card and what I’d dare say.  Of course the card face said it all – “Be My Valentine”, “Let’s Be Friends”, etc.  I can’t remember if I selected the box of cards with Loony Tune Characters like Tweedy-Bird and the Tasmanian Devil or Disney’s Cinderella, Snow White and Prince Charming.  The years blend together, and I’ve sent lots of Valentine’ s Day cards since then. Either way, I simply had to sign “Love, Jean”. But even that required a boldness, that on any other day of the year I may not have been able to muster.  When Valentine’s Day finally did arrived, exuberantly I stuffed my classmates’ red cut-out hearts and white lacy doilies decorated shoe boxes with my little declarations of love, love for friends and especially my male version of Charlie Brown’s  “little redheaded girl”.

Of course, I had high hopes that I’d receive lots of “Will You Be My Valentine?” cards and especially, one from “him”.  I did!  In fact, during the Valentine’s Day class party when the teacher and room mothers were not looking, he and I managed to “accidentally” meet  in the coat room. I presented him with a candy heart with Kiss Me printed on it. In that very moment, I received my very first real kiss. Mark was either inspired or liked following instructions, either way he and I have joked about this event some forty years later.

Once my classmates and I were more adept at sentence composition, love notes of another form began to be passed. You know what I’m talking about, the carefully folded love note. Typically made out of Blue Horse ruled notebook paper, this love note was handed off by a trusted messenger on behalf of a best friend. Either by biological drive or example, one twitterpated classmate after another sent forth on paper, the near heart-stopping question: “I like you.  Do you like me? Check: Yes or No.” 

It is easy to think that I am well beyond these childlike maneuvers, especially after twenty-seven blissful years of marriage. However, these simple expressions of love were effective then, so why not now? Let me offer this thought, whether it is a new love or a tried and true love, who wouldn’t like to hear that they are adored and, like songster Nat King Cole sings, that they are unforgettable?

Perhaps this Valentine’s Day, I will return to what I know works and compose a love note to my Valentine.

If the same thought has crossed your mind, yet you are asking yourself, “What can I possibly say or do?” Check back later this week. for Love Notes – Part Two. 

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy the video of Nat King Cole (posthumously) singing Unforgettable with his daughter Natalie Cole.

From the Heart,

Jean

Jean Cotten Schnaak
Founder and Designer
Loving Heart, LLC

Express your love everyday with a gift from The Loving Heart Collection by Jean Schnaak®
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