Quotes About Love And Marriage

In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite quotes about love and marriage. I know several of them are actually song lyrics, but there's just something about a good love song that stays with you. Music is one of the few things that can inspire and depress you at the same time.

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.-Aristotle

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. Antoine de Saint Exupery, author

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.-A. A. Milne, author

When you are in love, you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams.-Dr. Seuss, author. Who said he could only do kids' books? :)

Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins. -Lao Tzu

Marriage, like a lot of other things in life, is what you make of it.-my parents

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.-Bruce Lee, actor

When I look into your eyes, I can see forever.-Survivor, 'The Search Is Over' . I can never hear this song without crying.

Being married is like having somebody permanently in your corner. It feels limitless, not limited.-Gloria Steinem

The relationship between husband and wife should be one of closest friends. -B. R. Ambedkar, Indian philosopher and activist

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.-Judy Garland, actress

I know this isn't very Valentine's-y, but breakups are a part of love that we have (or will) to face. Breaking up can actually be positive because we often learn something about ourselves and what we want in life as time goes on. That, and getting rid of the wrong person frees up space in your heart for the right person.

If you go into a marriage thinking you're going to get divorced, you might as well not even bother.-my dad

Watch how a man treats his mother, because that's how he'll end up treating you. -A lot of people. Trust me, it's true. 

Maybe get rid of you and then I'll get back to me.-TLC

Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken than to try to hurt yourself putting them back together.-Unknown

Every Time I scratch my nails down someone else's back, I hope you feel it. - Alanis Morrisette, singer/songwriter

I'd rather get a hundred thousand paper cuts on my face than spend one more minute with you.-'Weird Al' Yankovic

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a teardrop.-unknown

Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.-Mark Twain, author

Celebrating Valentine's Day Without A Man

Who needs a man anyway? :) I'm not just saying this because it's Valentine's Day and I'm single; I'm actually happily married. I enjoy some Valentine's candy, and any holiday where I get chocolates is fine with me! There are, however, times when we just don't care about the ruffly hearts or want to look at the silly balloons. The stores around here are filled with them and, to be honest, sometimes it looks like a Strawberry Shortcake doll threw up everywhere. Either that, or the Kool-Aid man exploded. If you're having the Valentine's version of 'bah, humbug', going through a breakup or just don't care for red and pink, here are some ways you can celebrate (or muddle through) this over-commercialized randomness holiday.
Womensforum.com has a few fun suggestions:
http://www.womensforum.com/anti-valentines-day-party.html
I especially like the part about using pictures of exes as dart boards and burning love letters. The music selection sounds good too. In addition to that, you could-

• Go out dancing with your girl friends. Even if you don't usually go clubbing, sometimes it's fun to just hang out with the girls. If you want to involve men, you could always have a contest to see which one of your group can get the most phone numbers. :)
  
• If you really want roses, buy them for yourself. Some people I know will send themselves roses to the office so that everyone will think they're 'in demand', but not all of us can pull that off. For some people, it just looks sad. There's no reason at all why you can't just go to the floral section of the grocery store and buy your own roses and candy. Also, there's nothing saying that you and your girl friends can't give them to each other as a 'thanks for being my friend' gift, or to someone else who has been there for you through love's hard times. I'd suggest sending your ex black roses, but they're really expensive and he's probably not worth the time and money anyway. :)
  
• You could do what my parents did when we were growing up; gave us all candy for Valentine's Day. Sometimes it wasn't too festive-like a bag of Hershey's Miniatures-but, hey, chocolate is chocolate! It was also a nice way to remind us that we're loved, even if it's not in a romantic way.
  
• Get your girls together for a 'movie night', but make it more about movies that show hot actors (Johnny Depp, Gerard Butler, etc) than 'anti-love'. Few things make you forget about a breakup more than watching Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in 3:10 To Yuma or Heath Ledger in A Knight's Tale! Even if you're happily married or happily single, 'eye candy' is always fun!
  

• To quote my friend Vickie, “Get a bunch of ice cream, watch First Wives' Club and bitch about men!”
  

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to have fun on Valentine's Day that don't involve having a man in your life. While you probably already knew that you were a strong, independent woman who could stand on her own two feet, it doesn't hurt to celebrate it once in a while! Plus, it's a good excuse to have a 'girls' night out'!

Creative and Inexpensive Valentine's Day Gifts

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Do you want to get a Valentine's Day gift for that special someone, but don't have money to burn? Are you tired of those 'conversation hearts' that taste like chalk, or those 'soft-center surprise' chocolates? Do you just want to get the person or people you love something that's different from the norm and that they might get more use out of? I've been there. Money isn't exactly my friend right now, and I have a husband with unusual tastes. Times like this call for a Valentine's Day gift that is still fun, but doesn't cost a lot of money and that isn't 'same-old, same-old'. Here are a few ideas I've picked up over the years.

“Love Coupon” book. They sell these in a lot of stores, but you can easily make them with a simple printer. Each 'coupon' could be good for whatever you want- “redeemable for one free back rub”, “You get to pick the restaurant”, “free pass to go out with the guys”, etc. I think my favorite is the “get out of the doghouse free” card! The only limit is your imagination.

'Game Day' gift basket. For the sports fan, you can make a gift basket of his favorite snack foods and drinks in a 'game day' theme. It doesn't have to be very expensive-beer, popcorn, chips and pizza coupons would do. Depending on the sport, you can also probably find chocolates in the shape of the ball used. I haven't seen any chocolate hockey pucks for my hockey-fan husband, so I could make brownies or cookies in the same shape with his favorite team's logo on it. If he's not into sports, you could do the same thing in a 'movie night' or 'TV night' theme. It doesn't really matter what the theme is; he'll appreciate that you went to the trouble to put together a gift basket just for him!

Classic love note. In these days when everything is typed, it's easy to forget how much of a thrill it can be to get a handwritten love note. My parents used to leave little love notes around the house for each other-on the pad by the phone, in my dad's lunch box, a Post-It placed inside of a book, etc. It doesn't have to be drawn-out or anything, just 'I love you' or some other sweet nothing will suffice.

'Mix Tape' 2.0. iTunes and Rhapsody make it pretty easy to create a CD with songs that make you think of him. Being able to buy jewel cases and make your own CD jackets makes it even easier to personalize a CD just for him. If there are songs associated with things in your relationship-the first dance at your wedding, what was playing on the radio when you first kissed, etc-, list them along with a note about the memory. You could also do what my friend did-create different CDs or playlists to reflect different moods. Even if you don't have a 'theme' other than songs you know he likes, he'll appreciate the effort.

As you can see, you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money to be romantic on Valentine's Day. Sometimes the best gifts are the ones that don't cost anything, but you know they come from the heart.