On her good side

Doing a Life / Relationships tag today because I have done way too much development and documentation review to want to do anything else technical. I think if you were to ask my wife or any of her friends, they would say I am one of the better husbands in the world - of course I think if you asked any of my friends I think the term they would use is 'whipped'. Be that as it may, once in a while I will post a couple of things I have done in the past that got good reception in case there are some readers out there that want some ideas to earn some extra brownie points from their significant other. Life should be about more than just coding and work so make sure you put some effort into your relationships too, it makes work that much more enjoyable having that balance in place.

So here are a few good ideas for you. Feel free to steal them entirely and take all the credit - I promise not to tell.

Compliment Stones

I actually got this idea from RedEnvelope a few years ago. I think it is a great idea but some of the sayings are a little cheesy or at least a little impersonal since they really aren't your words. What I did was take some nice polished stones; we actually already had some from a vase in one of our rooms but feel free to get some from a craft store. You can then get some clear Avery labels and print out your own sayings. If I recall I had some mushy ones, some funny ones and some risqué ones but be creative and make sure to put a some sayings on couple that would only make sense to the two of you to make it even more personal. You can then place them in a small gift box or container with all the messages face down or place them in a nice velvet pouch with a drawstring. Then write up a little note with some instructions such as "each morning or when you need a little pick me up, pick up a stone, read it and then put it back".

Fortune Cookies

Another spin on the idea that I did last year was Fortune Cookie messages. My wife loves fortune cookies, I don't even think she likes the taste of them but loves the surprise of the messages. I found this metal fortune cookie set standing in line at Borders where they have all the compulsive shopping items. It also came with a bunch of tear-away pre-written message but I just printed out my own messages on clear labels and stuck them to the strips and whited out the other side. I couldn't find the actual kit online anywhere but I found the container which is all you need here. I gave her a message every day for a month and then it just turned into a once in a while thing. You can also use them for apologizing if needed.

Scavenger Hunt

Working for a consulting company, I am lucky to not have to travel as much as I used to but there are certainly times when I have had to head out for an extended time. When I had to go to London for 2 weeks for VW Credit back in 2007, I bought a few trinkets and gifts for my wife and the kids and I hid them around the house. I then hid clues to those hiding spots throughout the house. Then each day when I would call them to say goodnight I would give them a clue to where they would find a clue to one of their gifts. This took a lot of planning and you end up running out of hiding spots if you are gone for too many nights but I think it was worth it because after the greeting hugs at the airport one of the first things my son said to me was "Hey, Dad when do you have to go out of town again so we can have another scavenger hunt".