Chocolates, flowers, jewelry or spa? No matter which acts of love your Valentine’s Day brought you yesterday, there’s one that’s always non-negotiable: COMMUNICATION.

Yesterday marked the last day of Healthy Relationship Expert, Andrea Syrtash’s LOVE Challenge: Commit to 15 minutes of daily date talk with your partner. Studies have shown that the average couple with kids communicates uninterrupted for 15 minutes a day or LESS, and that’s no way to keep emotionally healthy. It’s essential to have date talk, not about household chores, bills, kids or in-laws, but to keep the spark alive.

So, how did YOU fare?

There’s nothing we love hearing more than that one of you was able to really make something out of a challenge; that we helped change your perspective and create a happier, healthier life. Dawn-Maia Simmons is a perfect example of this, as she shared her and her husband’s progress throughout the Challenge. I was so inspired and think you will be too! Dawn, we’re sending you that $50 Spa & Wellness Gift Card, along with love and wishes for many happy decades to come.

Dawn-Maia Simmons’ LOVE Challenge Recap:

Feb 2 - My husband and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day and this is actually something we have been working on. We are IN!!

Feb 4 – So, today hubby and I talked about his golf lesson with a new instructor and how much he enjoyed the new knowledge. We talked about how the movies “Friends with Benefits” and “Just Friends” were soooo weirdly fairy tale but they tell the story of how we ended up together… it’s kind of funny actually. We shared a giggle about my Facebook status updates leading up to our anniversary, because I have been posting funnies that have to do with being married. He and I also talked about some movies we would like to see together soon.

Feb 5 - I have still been posting a quote or something funny to do a countdown on my status message every day, and also changing my profile pic to a new pic of us each day. So we talked about some of the memories in the pics and about how the quotes or the little sayings apply to us as a couple. We both thought that the quote:

“One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again.” –Judith Viorst

Judith Viorst has been especially relevant for our relationship. It was good to see that we both still have the same vision for our marriage.

Feb 8 – Our talks the past couple of days have been about the prospect of being surrogate parents for a family member that cant conceive. We agree that it will be nice to help another couple realize the dream of parenthood. Our love for each other runs deeply enough that we can both give this gift to someone.

Feb 14 – This last week we have talked a lot about platonic relationships between genders and how often they create issues within a relationship. We have cried, laughed, and cuddled, all bringing us closer to celebrate today, our 12th anniversary together. Today we will get in some QT, starting with a breakfast sans kiddos! Thanks for this challenge, its been really great for us!

You are so welcome, Dawn – thank you for sharing this all with us and Happy 12th Anniversary!