Valentine's Day Everyday

It's been a few days after the day and I recount the experience
leading up to the hype that is Valentine's Day. I'm glad it's over
because it was a little expensive for me. I understand why some people
say we should celebrate V-day everyday but it gets stressful and
depletes your finances if not careful. It's very easy to get carried
away in the emotion of it all and personally, I'm glad it's a
once-a-year event.

Here is my simplistic approach/formula for making it a successful day,
i.e. Wife + Happy = Happy Life. I list 4 items I did to make this
happen:

1) The present - A Gift card
Talk it over with her a few weeks before and see if she would like to
be surprised or if she would rather go out and buy it herself. Gift
cards are easy as long as you get the correct store name for the gift
card from her. This is important because you cannot refund gift cards.
I didn't know about that, did you? I got one from the perfume store
Sephora http://www.sephora.com.

2) Thoughtful note - Valentines card vs a simple note
Go ahead and get sentimental in your note. It doesn't have to be a
fancy Valentine's Card because I think the fabricated message on those
don't come from the heart. Write it yourself.

3) Dining out - Early Reservations
If you don't cook, give her a break and take her out to a nice
restaurant. We went to New York New York Greek Restaurant at Sullivan
Heights | 6361 152 Street in Surrey | (604) 572-4222. Do this early
and don't procrastinate.

4) Movie at home
I love this last bit because this is where you get to cuddle up and
spend some intimate time together. We watched our favorite TV program
previously recorded in our PVR, i.e. The Mentalist. The main character
Jane always cracks me up.

I'll use the same formula next year, and will improvise a little bit
on some of the 4 items I listed above. It won't deviate much because
if you a good strategy going then why change it, right?

Comments

Success Story Renewing my Okta Maintenance Certification thru Examity

The Okta Certified Professional certification had to be renewed every 2 years and my maintenance exam was due on July 30, 2023. I was confident about passing the exam because I had just completed an HRIS mastering project and Okta. However, the exam format was unnatural using DOMC (discreet option multiple choice), so I had to study and review a fair bit of material to prepare. After studying a decent amount, I scheduled my exam for Tuesday, June 27, 2023. After hitting the next page, there was an error so I hit the back button and tried again. I was able to get it scheduled but didn't know that the exam date was actually scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 2023, for some reason. There was a confirmation email stating that but of course, I did not read it because I was focused on the Tuesday, June 27th date. I continued cramming until Tuesday but realized in horror that I was a no-show when I logged in 30 minutes before the exam at 10:30pm. If you have ever done offsite exams, yo...

How to Fix your Car A/C on a Budget?

I didn’t want to fix my car’s air condition system since it stopped blowing cold air close to 2 years ago now. I was delaying it because the initial quote I received was for $1200 after having spent about $200 for a failed compressor recharge at Vancouver Transmission Ltd. The pressure was not stable, so they said there was a leak and after running a diagnostic, they concluded it was compressor itself. They quoted about $1200 for the repair and that’s where I left it at because I couldn’t justify spending that much on a 2006 Accord with over 400K mileage. I realized how important air condition system was these past summer seasons when we were stuck in traffic headed to Seattle/Portland in 30 C heat. My family suffered through that trip and wife almost had a heat stroke. I decided to call my mobile mechanic to quote on the compressor replacement and recharge. It was much better at $550 and $175 to get it recharged at VAP Auto. Total would have been cheaper than taking it back to Vancouv...

How to vacation correctly in Hawaii (for the cost-conscious traveler)

I just returned last week from a one week vacation from Honolulu, Hawaii. It was a great time for me and my family but it could have been cheaper, less tiring, and less stressful. Keep reading and you may find some of the advice here helpful for your situation if you are looking to go on vacation to this island paradise. I booked all my flights and hotel from Expedia because I like how the user interface allows you to move your travel time a day before or a day after to try and find a better schedule or cheaper cost. I also booked my car rentals through Expedia and they offer some generous discounts for booking flights+hotel package. I found the Hilton Hawaiian Village is always cheaper than most of the hotels on Waikiki and is a great location because it’s at the start of the strip and close enough to Ala Moana mall too. The flight was cheap if you leave from Seatac airport. I booked using parksleepfly.com hotel for a one-night stay at Surestay Best Western, and parked on their lot fo...

Chromilo Amin

Search This Blog