Beyondtheroundabout: Chad's Artistic Valentine's

Cupid, the child-like winged deity often associated with our modern Valentine's Day, is according to some, the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. According to Greek mythology, Cupid is known as Aphrodite's son, Eros.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion Valentine cards are sent each year, making February 14^th the second largest card-sending holiday of the year only to Christmas where 2.6 billion cards are sent.

Historic facts remind us that written Valentine's began to appear after 1400, and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum; however the first commercial Valentine card produced in the US was created by Esther A. Howland in 1840. Her creation back then resembles today's scrapbooking art flare as she produced her card with lace, ribbons and colourful pictures known back then as scrap. (This is what I created for Chad this year)

Today, traditions change, and many like to make this special day between their loved ones very special and a day to remember for a very long time. As was Valentine's Day in our house.

Chad leaves the house very early in the morning as he has a long day of meeting and greeting customers, and picking up packages, clearing customs, unloading his cube truck, and picking up his northbounds, to finally head back home as the sun slowly sets. On this day, Chad awoke very very early, and began planning a scavenger hunt around the house for me when I was to finally wake up.

When I did awake, Chad was sitting in front of the computer working on a transportation website that he created and maintains. As I stumbled into the bathroom, I did not turn the ceiling light on, and guided myself with just the 'Greenlite' nightlight. Then something extremely pink caught my eye, and I turned around and snapped on the light. The three-door mirror over the sink was filled with heart-shaped post-it notes, and one huge heart was created with all the small sticky notes in the center of the middle door. Along the bottom, were three other sticky note hearts of a different color – filled with sweet words and messages, along with clues to a scavenger hunt in our house that took place at 3 a.m.

I followed the clues, and at each location was yet another heart-shaped sticky note with a heart-shaped chocolate and more clues to move onto another room of the house… our cat Pacha, was wondering what was happening at such an early time of day. As the clues came to an end, I found the gift that was hidden and awaiting for me… an Avril Lavigne CD. Chad knows just how much I enjoy her rocker sounds and purchased the CD for me as my Valentine's Day surprise.

The mirror decorations itself were great – and I did not take them down until just this week – however I've saved the pink hearts. Call it imagination, call it cute, call it what you want, I call it love.

Check out Chad's work of art!!!