Portland:
A Giveaway

This February we’ll be visiting Vitaliy’s grandmother and eating all of her incredible Ukrainian dishes. The last time we went I gained 3 lbs in 3 days. I’m not even kidding. All she did was feed us and demand we take naps. I couldn’t argue with that!

This time around we decided we wanted to get out a bit, see Portland, and meet some locals. But to be honest, we don’t just want to meet you, we want to photograph you. We’re giving away a free portrait session to one lucky couple!

Details

Giveaway starts 5:00 AM PST 01/30/12 and ends 11:59 PM PST 02/07/12. The winner will be announced later that week with plenty of time to surprise their loved one for Valentine’s Day.

Must be available for the session Feb 16 – 19, 2012. Also, nominations are not accepted, you must enter the giveaway yourself.

How to Enter

There are two ways to enter, you may do both to be entered twice.

  1. “Like” Pictilio on Facebook.
  2. Follow Pictilio on Twitter.

Lastly, to confirm your entry, leave a comment; give us your name, the name of your significant other, and one sentence as to why you’re so excited to celebrate your love with a photo date.

Example: My name is Candace Prokopets and my hubby’s name is Vitaliy Prokopets. I want to win this photo date so bad so that I can kiss my hot Ukrainian on camera and share the picture on Facebook so everyone knows how much I love foreigners.

So here’s the thing, we really want to give this to one sweet couple, but we need your help. I don’t think V’s grandma will be able to help us find a couple. But I bet you know someone in Portland, and if you don’t, someone you know does. Guaranteed! It’s a small world and with Facebook and Twitter, it’s even smaller. So can you please help?

Share this on Facebook and/or on Twitter:

Portland couples, celebrate Valentine’s Day with a photo date from Pictilio! Enter here: https://pictilio.com/portland-giveaway

To get the party started, we took a few photos to show how excited we are to meet our new friends in Portland! By the way, we used Oh Happy Day’s DIY for these Zig Zag Streamers. They were so easy to make and they’re so much fun!

Brian + Shayla: Engaged

Told that there’d be cute guys at church, Shayla came to see if the rumors were true. Not one to get lost in the crowd, Brian noticed her right away. His mind immediately began churning ways that he could approach her.

As luck would have it, one day they found themselves having sat side by side each other. While Brian chatted with friends on one side, he was well aware of Shayla’s presence. He quickly finished his conversation and mustered up the courage to introduce himself. Just as he turned around to say hello, Shayla turned in the opposite direction to chat with friends. Strike one! He gave it another shot on a different day only to find his words stumble out of his mouth. With nowhere for the conversation to go, they simply fell to the ground. Strike two!

The old saying still rings true, third times a charm. Running into each other at another church event, Brian’s determination gave him just the confidence he needed to give it one last shot at talking with Shayla. Who knows if it really would have been his last try, but it doesn’t really matter. Shayla was equally as interested in Brian. They made up for all the conversations they missed out on and from that day forward they were inseparable.

He finally got her and wasn’t ever going to let her go.

trains, rust, portrait, engagement, couple, Portrait of a girl smiling looking at her fiance Couple embracing each other in front of a large industrial rusted wheel Engaged couple walking and laughing togetherCouple looking at each other with & ampersand in the background Couple standing in front of larger wooden doors to the train depot Portrait of a couple in front of the abandoned train cars Couple embracing by the abandoned railroad cars Couple embracing by the abandoned railroad cars

Date Idea: Valentine’s Day Advent Calendar

December came rushing into my life so quickly that I never got around to creating an advent calendar. I was so disappointed until I realized I could redeem the idea for Valentine’s Day. There is something special about building up the anticipation for an event.

When Vitaliy and I were dating, we never really liked the idea of Valentine’s Day. We always felt that love should be celebrated in small doses on a consistent basis. That’s not to say that doing something big for your loved one is a bad thing. But if you only do something once a year because you’re obligated to, they’ll likely notice.

This Valentine’s countdown will give you a little bit of both. It will allow for small celebrations as it leads you up to the big day when you can go all out. We created it together and it made me even more excited for February to arrive.

Here are a few pictures to get you inspired and you can even take a peek at some of the ways we’ll be celebrating next month. Remember, you can click on the images to view them larger.

Like this date idea? You might also like this sunrise date.

Pink and red envelopes from Paper Source with Valentine's Day countdown calendarvalentine's day, diy project, date ideas, romancePink and Red envelopes with handwritten notecards for Valentines's Day
Writing numbers on the envelopes with a marker valentine's day, diy project, date ideas, romance