Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell, woh, woh, woh...

We have a love affair with secrets. There is something intriguing, romantic and tantalizing when you hold a secret close to your heart. Gift wrapped, it is kept in your special hiding place, not to be opened by anyone else. Unless, like yours truly, you couldn’t keep a secret to save your life.

You can skip the rest of the post, go directly to GO and collect your $200 dollars IF you can keep a secret. But for all the rest of us, here are a few choice tips to help you keep it under wraps.

1.     Share your secret with a person who you know doesn’t care. For me, that is usually my husband Tony. He cares deeply about me, but in all honesty, I have to admit that he doesn’t give a hoot that a co-worker of mine is pregnant and doesn’t want anyone at the office to know.  And, there is no way he will ever tell. Not even if he is tortured. Trust me. I have tried to get secrets out of him and nothing works!!

2.     DO NOT revert to childhood banter and say in a sing-song taunt, “I have a secret and you don’t!” People won’t understand and will falsely accuse you of acting like a child. Counter by calling them a meanie!

3.     Do not play 20 questions – GUILTY! This I do all the time. But seriously, I feel if I am only answering yes or no, then it’s not like I am actually telling the secret. Right? Please answer only yes or no.

4.     Tell someone who hears secrets all day long. You think I’m joking? No way. Folks like your hairdresser and manicurist have to listen to clients eight hours a day. Think about it, how the heck can they possibly keep all their clients stories straight? 

5.     Last resort, bite your tongue and say to yourself – my lips are sealed, mum’s the word, I will not let the cat out of the bag and I can keep this under my hat. Will any of these tips work – probably not, but they are fun idioms.  (BTW isn’t idiom a great word?)

A few weeks ago I entered a secret swap at the Scrapbook.com. We were each partnered with another gal and were sworn to secrecy NOT to reveal our secret sister.  The project was a Journal made from a composition notebook and today I mailed off mine to my secret sister. Can’t tell you her name, but I can tell you that, I have a secret and you don’t!

My Secret Sister loves flowers. My mind went from floral to romance to Paris in a heartbeat. The paper I used for the front and back cover is Lady Couture by DCWV and the inside covers are lined in black velvet. I added an inside pocket which contains two postcards from Paris. I don't know if she has ever been to Paris or even wants to travel to the city of love, but I hope that as she fills these pages with her thoughts, she will be inspired to dream.

“The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future, the arms of love gather you together.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry