Wild Valentine's Days

The most over-the-top Valentine's Day options: How the rich get sexy

Flowers, dinner and a bottle of wine . . . we thought we had it all figured out when it comes to celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Until a trio of over-the-top deals below came along and put those plans to shame. If you’ve got the disposable income, there are some crazy Valentine's Day possibilities. From an overnight stay at a posh three-story penthouse suite to a Fifty Shades of Grey worthy night of thrills that would satisfy even the book/film’s mercurial main character Christian Grey, here are three extravagant ways to spend Feb. 14.

The penthouse suite at Hotel Icon

Love is in the air from high atop the heart of downtown at this luxurious boutique hotel. Treat your sweetie to a night in the elegant, three-level penthouse suite with sweeping views of the city (a mere $2,214 per night). Your stay includes a bottle of bubbly upon arrival, dinner on your private rooftop terrace and breakfast at the hotel’s Line and Lariat restaurant.

Soak it all in with a dip in a butler-drawn bath in a claw foot tub.

The Fifty Shades experience at Perry's Steakhouse and Grille

Sweep your date off his/her feet and into a helicopter this Valentine's Day. For just $1,499 per couple, you can enjoy a Fifty Shades of Grey lavish evening of pleasure. A limousine will pick you up and take you to a helipad where you'll be flown over The Woodlands for an aerial tour at sunset.

After the helicopter ride, your driver will take you to Perry's Steakhouse and Grille for a decadent dinner followed by a viewing of the film Fifty Shades of Grey at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Vintage Park, where a bottle of champagne will be waiting at your reserved seats.

Romance on the ranch at The Inn at Dos Brisas

Romance your one and only with a weekend at The Inn at Dos Brisas resort. Enjoy two nights (packages start at $3,468 per person) at the legendary luxe Spanish-style hacienda in the Texas Hill Country.

The fun here includes the likes of a 60-minute couples massage, a horse-drawn carriage ride for two, daily breakfast and lunch, and dinner both evenings (one night at the Inn’s five-star restaurant including wine pairings and the other in your room with bottle of wine).

Love is in the air this Valentine's Day at the luxurious Hotel Icon.

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moms deserve better

New report ranks Texas as 9th worst state for working moms

Working mother, best and worst states for working moms in 2026

Photo by Filipp Romanovski on Unsplash

Texas is far from the best state for working mothers, the study determined.

A new national study comparing the best and worst states for working mothers has painted a bleak picture for Texas. The Lone Star State earned a disappointing rank as the ninth worst state for working moms in America.

WalletHub's 2026 report compared the work-life balance, childcare, and professional opportunities for working mothers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine the rankings. Metrics analyzed include the quality of daycares, childcare costs, school system quality, gender pay gaps, the share of families in poverty, female unemployment rates, a parental leave policy score, the average length of a woman's work week (in hours), and much more.

The top five best states for working mothers in America are all located in the Northeast, according to the study. Connecticut claimed the top spot nationally, and Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Vermont respectfully rounded out the top five.

Texas ranked as the 43rd "best" state overall. The bottom three worst states for working moms are Louisiana (No. 51), Alabama (No. 50), and New Mexico (No. 49).

Texas' best ranking was in the national comparison of states with the best median salaries for women, adjusted for the local cost of living. The state ranked No. 22 overall, but it earned middling and poor ranks across numerous additional categories.

The average length of a woman's work week in Texas is the fifth-worst in the country, and the state's female unemployment rate is the 11th worst nationally. The ratio of female executives to male executives in Texas is also the sixth-worst in the U.S.

Here's how WalletHub ranked life as a working mom in Texas in other categories, where a No. 1 rank is considered the best and No. 25 is considered average:

No. 26 – Childcare costs (adjusted for the median women’s salary)
No. 26 – Pediatricians per capita
No. 27 – Parental leave policy score
No. 33 – Daycare quality
No. 35 – Gender pay gap (women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s)
No. 38 – Percentage of single-mother families living in poverty

Unfortunately, Texas' poor livability for working mothers may not surprise some. Earlier this year, Texas was dubbed the No. 4 worst state for women in a separate study by WalletHub. It shouldn't be a stretch to expect better for women — who make up nearly half of the workforce — yet still get paid 82 percent of what men make per hour.

"The U.S. still has a lot of work to do when it comes to improving conditions for working moms, given the wage gap and the lack of representation women have in certain leadership positions," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said.

He said the best states for working mothers offer equitable pay, strong career advancement, strong parental leave policies, top notch school systems, and high quality childcare and healthcare.

wallethub texas reports women's equality