A troubadour, a long-distance love, and a man who knows his place is at the kitchen sink won kudos from their sweethearts. And the sweethearts won some pretty cool gifts for sharing their affections with Pique Newsmagazine as part of our three-week online Be Our Valentine contest.
We asked readers to write in about how your love puts a smile on your face and received 244 entries in response. Two Pique staffers, publisher’s assistant Aimee Larivee, a confirmed romantic, and salesperson Magda Kwaterska, admitted romantic cynic, chose the six winners. Because of the difficulty in choosing from the quantity and variety of offerings, the two judges also chose eight honourable mentions.
And the winners are:
1. Eliza Hume, 21, who lives in Whistler Blackcomb staff housing, for her alternative to counting sheep.
"My boyfriend plays guitar and I have trouble sleeping in my bunk bed without him so he sings me to sleep every night."
(We are assuming this is over the telephone and not from the lower bunk.)
Hume wins a snowmobile wilderness dining tour for two from Cougar Mountain Adventures, a three pound Empress chocolate collection from Rogers Chocolates, $50 gift certificates from Monk’s Grill and Love Nest.
2. Alpine Meadows resident Laurenne Barnsley, 27, on the joys of long-distance love.
"He puts a smile on my face when he spends all day trying to send me an email from a place where it takes nine months just to have a phone line installed and when I read those three little words at the end of the email, my smile shines like a beacon to him on the other side of the world."
Barnsley may have to wait until her sweetie gets back in the country to enjoy the one night stay with breakfast at the Residence Inn at the Marriott. Ditto for the $50 gift certificate from the Great Glass Elevator shop, milk bath from Avello and two large pizzas, salad and dessert from Nick-N-Willy’s.
3. Anna-maria Jamieson, married 11 years, seven months, wins for her pragmatic husband "because instead of asking when I’ll be making dinner, he asks when he’ll be doing the dishes."
The couple will enjoy a $100 gift certificate from Open Country, $50 gift certificates from the Herbal Emporium and Elements, and a Ziptrek Ecotour.
4. Squamish resident Andy Hazelton for finding love again after a failed first marriage.
"I met Karen who is warm, open and honest. She showed me that soul mates do exist…When I’m near her I find myself more than happy — I’m giddy. She is everything poets say love can be!
Hazelton wins one night at the Edgewater Lodge, $100 Cinnamon Bear gift certificate for the Hilton Resort and Spa, $161 highlights and haircut certificate from Revolution Salon and Spa and a $50 Ruby Tuesday gift certificate.
5. "He can have me laughing until tears roll down my face. He sings me favorite songs with great emotional expression. He points out the little things that only he knows I will love. He holds me in his arms and rubs away my worry face. He is absolutely, positively
the only one for me."
For that confidence, Lindsay McNamara, 24, wins $100 gift certificates from Object Design and Nesters Market, a $150 La Rua gift certificate, and a facial for that worry face from Whistler Body Wrap.
6. For her romantic rhyme about her main man since 1973, Terri Betts, 49, wins a $150 Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory gift certificate, two $50 Wild Wood Bistro gift certificates, a $100 Keir Fine Jewellery gift certificate and a facial from Solarice Wellness Centre.
Honorable Mentions include Karen McLeod ("Scrabble — even though he doesn’t enjoy it and never wins, he plays"), Centenie Scoon, Nathalie Peloquin ("defiantly wearing his Hawaiian shirt), Beth Dunlop ("re-enacts March of the Penguins with me"), Karna Grenzer, Jake Freese, Cole Manson ("her humour is the vermouth in my martini — nice and dry"), and the cynic’s choice, Eileen O’Neill ("he doesn’t, that’s why I need to win.")
