This week’s date was all kinds of fun.  Nathan and I adore live music, so when we heard that Andrew Allen was coming to town to play at a great local restaurant, we jumped at the chance and got dolled up. (I need a haircut!)

Andrew is friends with a good friend of mine, so he had played at her wedding, even though it was an hour drive to the absolute middle of nowhere on a logging road paved of giant rocks.  What a nice guy!

His music’s awesome.  You should check out the latest music video, and request this song repeatedly on the radio!  I’m glad we’d purchased his CD at that wedding last year, so we were totally able to rock out ;-)

What a fun date!  Two great things put together – food and music.

To see others’ dates, head on over to the Project 52 section of Simply Modern Mom.

When a date lasts for 4 days, it’s ok to count it as multiple dates, right?  I’m counting our trip to Seattle as 2 dates, since it was probably worth more than that.  4 days of quality one-on-one time in a fun city away from home.  Works for me!

Our trip in picture form, after the jump!  (keep in mind that my picture-taking skills are pretty poor, plus we had limited time and bad lighting!

When you’re done, check out others’ dates. Head on over to the Project 52 section of Simply Modern Mom.

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Hi there,

This week’s date is an exceptional one.  We decided somewhat on a whim to celebrate our one year anniversary by going to Seattle for a few days.  What a fun city!  The last time we were here, we had pretty much no money.  We stayed in a scary, dirty hostel (ok, it wasn’t that bad), wandered around town eating on the cheap.  We wanted to have a second go at it and enjoy more of the city.. namely the amazing cuisine.

My view from my ferry seat – a very sleepy and computery Nathan

We headed out Monday morning without a pretty important item.. Nathan’s passport.  I’m pretty sure we’ve never managed to go anywhere without some kind of stress caused by that boy.  Good thing I left us plenty of time and thought of checking that he had his passport before we got to the ferry.

Finally on board the Victoria Clipper, we zoomed across the ocean.  This boat is seriously handy to have, cutting out many hours of travel if we had driven.  Now if only they had free Wi Fi!

I made my first leap of faith and booked our hotel through Hotwire to get a deal.  We ended up with a pretty nice room at the Sheraton.  I’m definitely a Hotwire convert now, and it’s kind of fun having the heart attack excitement of not knowing where you’re booking before you pay.

Night 1: Up the Space Needle to our backup plan for dinner.  We chose a yummy sounding Italian restaurant, which turned out amazing.  Such good food, wine, and a great waiter.  He got us both free desserts.. Now if only my tummy didn’t feel explodey.

The rest of our stay here is pretty booked up. We still need to get up the space needle, go on a gourmet food tour, and a Boeing tour – you should have seen how giddy Nathan got when I mentioned this as a possibility! To compensate, he’s going to enjoy some quality time with me wandering the Pike Place Market ;-)  We must love each other.

To see others’ dates, head on over to the Project 52 section of Simply Modern Mom.

Hi there!

Today’s Nathan’s and my one year wedding anniversary.  What does this mean?  Paper, apparently.  So maybe a hand-made card fits the bill ;-)  Or maybe a paper box filled with punched out hearts?  I’m not so sure he’ll go for that unless there’s candy mixed in.

To celebrate, we decided to use a gift certificate Nathan had for a nearby restaurant.  Only problem is that I got him to make the reservation for the wrong restaurant.  Oops. I guess this means a future delicious dinner!

All in all, a great evening with good food, good wine, and good company ;-)  And now I’m off with my family on the Sunshine Coast for the week.  Another super special anniversary date extravaganza coming next week!

To see others’ dates, head on over to the Project 52 section of Simply Modern Mom.

Hiya,

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity!  Some call it camping.. I like to refer to it fondly as “the place where you get all dirty and smell like smoke within the first 5 minutes!” Doesn’t that sound like fun to you?

Nathan and I headed out on Friday morning to camp the weekend away with a group of friends.  We ate great food (s’mores, anyone?), chatted a whole lot, and swam in the coldest water I’ve ever been in.

That’s right, it was freeeeeezing. The kind of cold that you don’t “get used to.”  Instead, it just hurts your bones more and more.  But hey, I did jump in 3 times!  Can I please have a river that is NOT glacier-fed next time? Thanks.

All in all, good fun.  And Nathan – the non camper – actually wants to go camping again!

Now head on over to Simply Modern Mom to see her and others’ dates this week to get some ideas.

Hiya,

Nathan and I DID do a date last week, and it was the kind of which I’m oh-so-very fond.  Something athletic/physical.  This date was quite a feat for me.

Now there’s something you should know about me.  I have not ridden a bike in at least 12 years.  That’s a long time in the land of biking!  You know the saying “it’s just like riding a bike” ?  Well, getting back on and having it go smoothly is not so easily done after TWELVE YEARS!  We had to take baby steps.

We started on the quiet streets near our condo.  I practiced balancing, changing gears, and signalling.  At first, I couldn’t even take a hand off the handle bars. 

Next, I graduated to the amazing bike path that goes across the city.  We really only went about 5km, but this was a big step for me.  I conquered a hill, passing other cyclists and pedestrians, all the while keeping my balance!

It was definitely a fun date.  Nathan was very encouraging and gave me some tips.  I felt pretty accomplished!  I still don’t think I’m ready for riding on the streets and dealing with traffic.. how do you build up to that?

Oooh, and that wonky, old, and overly big helmet is no more.  I got myself a very brightly coloured new one!

To check out others’ dates, head on over to Project:52 at Simply Modern Mom.

Another week, another date!

This week, a bunch of Nathan’s family is in town, so we trekked over to his parents’ place (oh so far.. like a 20min drive :p ) for a delicious family meal out on the patio. 

 
Here I am enjoying my wine, with Nathan “being cute.”  Check out the headband I made that morning from some scraps!

Nathan’s aunts and uncles got together to make a giant plate of gooey cheesy scallopped potatoes – easily the best I’ve ever had, an amazing ham, and some pan-fried cabbage.  We washed this down with wine and finished off the meal with my MIL’s famous peanut butter ice cream cake.  I’m getting hungry thinking about it!

All in all, a great meal.  It was nice to reconnect with family who we hadn’t seen since our wedding last summer.

Head on over to Simply Modern Mom to see what others did on their dates for Project 52: Date Night.

Hi there,

So I missed last week.. We’ll just have to do some extra dates ;)  It’s not that Nathan and I don’t see each other.  He works from home. He’s 20 feet away from me for most of the day!  We even do a whole lot of activities together – something at least every second day.. I just can’t always call them “dates.”

This weekend we had a double date, and it was so much fun, and so relaxing!

I spent Saturday with my bestie, Sara, shopping our little bottoms off.  Our last stop was groceries to make us and our boys a fabulous dinner.  We rushed back to her place, and the cooking began.  The boys even helped!  They chopped, they stirred, they grilled.

On the Menu:

• Garlic Bread (multigrain and delicious)
• Sara’s potato salad
• Shauna’s garden salad with pear, grapes, walnuts, craisins and a honey citrus vinaigrette
• char grilled chicken with an herb glaze and another with a honey bbq sauce
• caramelized onions and mushrooms
• strawberry rhubarb pie (we had to buy this one pre-made)
• sangria
• rosé

Yum!

Our fabulous dinner was followed by a fun wordy game called Buzzword.

This was definitely a date I’d do again and again.

To check out others’ fun dates, head on over to Simply Modern Mom and click on the Project 52 category.

Hey there,

Well, I’ve been home sick since last Thursday.  I was feeling better over the weekend, and maybe pushed that a bit too far, since I’m much worse now.  You’d think that being at home all day would give me lots of time to do all sorts of crafty things and post them all, but I’ve mostly been sleeping and watching TV.

This week’s date definitely wasn’t glamorous.  We needed some quiet time at home together, so we did our old standby of watching an episode of House, curled up on the couch together.  It was nice :-)

In other news, I’m thinking pretty hard about becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator.  I think it’d suit me.  I’m sort of excited, although it wouldn’t be until sometime in July. Eeeeeee :D

Alrighty then.  To check out others’ fun dates, head on over to Simply Modern Mom and click on the Project 52 category.

Cheers,

Heyya!

So once again, this week’s date was definitely a group date.  A large group date!  I can’t help it, it’s been a busy week.  See a pattern here?  Well, this week I got old celebrated my birthday!

To be honest, we sort of had 2 dates this week.  The first one was on my actual birthday-day (Wednesday).  I had a blissful day where I only had to work half a shift teaching a super lovely class.  I allowed myself many little yummy treats (like Starbucks), and I did what I could to make the day stress-free.  We played our usual Wednesday night Ultimate Frisbee game, then rushed home to shower.  From there, it was out to dinner with the boy and my dear friend, Sara.  Delicious. Such a good birthday! 

And the gifts.. wow!  Nathan got me the matching wedding band to my engagement ring (I’d bought a much cheaper one, thinking that it didn’t matter to me that they matched).  Darling Sara gave me a precious Version 2.0 of a date book that I’d made for her.  Hers was even more fun and creative than mine.  I’m so very much looking forward to our future girly dates together!

Date 2 – the group date – was loads of fun too.  I’d planned a Super Fun BBQ Birthday Party for myself.  We had so much amazing food and I made sure to have a bazillion hamburger toppings.  Some star toppings: caramelized onions, bacon, pineapple rings, jalapeno havarti.. wow.. I want another right now!

I also made a giant jug of sangria, and 2 types of cupcakes.  Oreo cupcakes (try them, you’ll swoon) from Annie’s Eats

Picture taken by miss Annie

The others were mini strawberry shortcake cakes.  I can’t take credit for the oh-so-clever name.. that’s all care of The Pioneer Woman.  Her recipe is to make it into a layer cake, but hey, who doesn’t like things better when they’re individually sized?

 
Step one: assembly

These.. wow.. I’d gain several pounds per week if I ate these things as much as I ever wanted.  A lovely helping of Heaven.

Step two: devour ice and place on a pretty platter for guests to enjoy.

I can definitely say that this was a great birthday week.  Nathan grilled our food to perfection and was a fabulous co-host.  We’re a good team :-)

Head on over to Simply Modern Mom for Tiffany’s and others’ dates this week!

Hey there,

This week’s date was fun! (OK, they’re all fun, but I love when they involve food).  We had 2 friends whom I hadn’t seen in years over for dinner.  It involved food prep. Lots.  I made some delicious guacamole, fabulous salsa, a yummy salad with grapes, goat cheese, pecans, and the best shish kabobs with a warm crusty bread!

(not my picture)

Nathan grilled the shish kabobs to a juicy, tender perfection.  Trust me, I was happy to see that we had enough for leftovers the next day!  The secret?  All I did was chop up my veggies (peppers, zucchini, and onions), chop cubes of chicken breast, and peel prawns.  In 3 separate bowls I marinated them in some low fat Greek salad dressing for an hour or so.  Stick ‘em on skewers and grill.  If you’re using wooden skewers, soak in water for several hours first.

We chatted with these friends a whole lot over the yummy food.  These people are great athletes who now do bike racing for fun.  (Crazy? I think so!)  It’s pretty intimidating, but I’m trying to be motivated by them.  I have yet to ride my bike in the last millennia 8 years.

Check out Simply Modern Mom for Tiffany’s date, and check out others’ date nights by clicking on the links under Project 52: Date Night.

Follow the links at the top for the recipes for the guacamole and salsa.  And get the salad recipe after the jump!

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Hi there, and welcome to this week’s date.  This one was all Nathan.  His plan was for us to use our condo building’s hot tub while watching a movie on my laptop.

Here we are, all ready to go

Well, we ran into a bit of an obstacle.  The hot tub, which we have never used, is currently closed pending health inspection.  Oh the joys of a new condo building. Anyways, we improvised!  I filled up a bubble bath where we had our own personal hot tub and watched our movie as planned. 

On the movie menu?  It’s Complicated.  A mediocre and fairly LONG romantic comedy.  Still, no complaints here.  I got to spend some fun time with the mister.

Check out others’ dates this week over at Simply Modern Mom, and hey, participate too.  I highly recommend it!

Hi there,

This week’s date was a full afternoon/evening affair full of so much love coming from all directions.  Two of our close friends got married after having been engaged for a good long while.  We are so happy we could share this day with them, and a fabulous day it was!

The lovely bride, Jana, put so much work into all the details.  A really cool fingerprint tree guestbook, favours that she made, a garland backdrop.. she even made the groom and groomsmens’ ties!  woah!

Check out the decorations for the ceremony (which was at the prettiest little farm)

We have this amazing group of friends, many of whom have been friends since high school, so you can imagine the night together – especially considering the reception was “friends only.” SO MUCH FUN!  We danced (as seen above), we ate, drank, and we even surprise serenaded them with a song we’d practiced together!

See the singing?

All in all, a great date.  I definitely recommend weddings! 

To read others’ date nights or to participate yourself, check out Tiffany’s blog over at Simply Modern Mom.

Hiya, and happy Tuesday!

This past week was another tough one, as far as dates go for us.  Nathan had this lovely cold (and by lovely, I mean terrible.. he was nice enough to sleep in the other room so his coughing out a lung wouldn’t keep me up all night).  Any kind of date together was definitely a struggle.  We did have some friends over for one Canucks game.. then I headed to a Birthday party sans mon date.

So my solution?  A delicious dinner for us to enjoy while watching another Canucks playoff game.  Seeing a pattern here?

So the good stuff first!  I made these little gems for our dessert.  They’re delicious (and surprisingly light!) chocolate banana soufflés, courtesy of Gina’s WW Recipes.  Only 112 calories, ladies!

The main course was my very favourite.. Pan seared salmon with a grape salsa (best salsa EVER! Get the recipe after the jump), rice, and green beans.  Nathan, who apparently doesn’t like fish much, thinks this may be his favourite meal that I make!  Nice.  There’s so much that I love that he hates.. but hey, I’m the cook here, so he can live with it ;-)

Check out others’ dates for Project 52: Date Night over at Simply Modern mom!

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Heyya, so this week has been supercrazybusy! (new word).  I had a hockey tournament from Thursday to Sunday, with some work thrown in the mix.  5 hockey games later and I’m tuckered out!

So you can imagine how it was difficult to work a date in there.  Well, we did watch House together one night.. that’s sort of our thing.. but what I’d call more of a date is when I made a new recipe and we got to eat it together at the table.

The menu: cioppino – minus mussels because I couldn’t find any fresh ones at the grocery store.  So that and some delicious crusty multi-grain baguette.  YUM.

I like dinner dates because it allows us to unwind and talk about whatever strikes us.  Only problem with this one was that I was pretty tired, thus brain-dead.  I had a hard time keeping up any sort of conversation. The next date will be better, I promise!

Look at this delicious bread!

Check out Simply Modern Mom where Tiffany and others have posted their dates this week in Project 52: Date Night.

Heyya, this has been a very busy week, especially in terms of dates and things.

I have no need to ever complain that I don’t get out enough.  My mom, in fact bugs me that we go out too much.. hmm.  ‘Tis true.  Without the commitment of little ones around us (or in any of our close friends’ lives yet), we really do have a lot of time to see one another.

So you could probably say that we had a week of many dates, but I didn’t remember to bring along a camera until last night.  Wednesday was a coffee date with Nathan (decaf!), where we played a game of Crib.  Thursday we watched a hockey playoff game with a bunch of friends in a pub where we had delicious dinners to go with our beer.

Friday I left Nathan be and ventured out on my own with some old university friends. Saturday brought another hockey game, so we had a group of friends over to watch it at our place – complete with beer and some bacon wrapped dates that I’d made.

Finally, the source or the picture above.  Sunday we went out for dinner with a great big group of friends.. something like 14 of us!  We went to a very classy family diner style restaurant that has the best burgers.  Yum. That picture is of my good friends Nathan (not the husband one), and Jana.  She has a fun crafty blog.  Check it out!

All in all, a fun-filled week with many events that could be called dates.  I’m a lucky girl!

Check out others’ date nights over at Simply Modern Mom.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

My handsome-face turned ‘very old’ on this week’s date night, so we got to go out and celebrate and call it a date!  He chose a delicious Thai restaurant that had be recommended to us (and which I highly recommend to you!).  It’s called Sookjai Thai.  Seriously, go there. It’s delicious.

See these spring rolls? I’ve had a lot of bad ones over the years, but these were suuuuper tasty! And not overly greasy (well, as good as you’re gonna get for something deep-fried).

We shared some delicious food and had good chats about our week, random thoughts, all that good stuff.  It was a fun date!  Then we went home where I’d got him some flowers (hey, I benefit from those too), and a delicious dessert called a “kleinberg bar.” If you find one, try it.  It’s basically a peanut-butter-rice-krispy layer topped with a layer of rich and creamy icing topped off with a layer of hard chocolate.  YUM.  I can’t find a recipe anywhere, so if you know it by a different name, let me know!

Aren’t these the prettiest?  I love me some daisies :-)

Check out Simply Modern Mom where Project 52: Date Night started.  You can read about Tiffany’s date as well as the dates of other participants.  So many good ideas!

Date night rolled around again on Thursday.  Nathan’s turn!  He tossed around the idea of going to see Alice, but he ended up deciding that we would watch the Canucks’ worst game ever (how could we have known?) while eating s’mores!

Mmmmmm, the aptly named s’mores… the crunch, the squishy oozy marshmallow layer and the just-starting-to-melt chocolate layer.. They’re pretty much the best thing ever!  Although we didn’t have a campfire in our living room, we made due using the toaster oven.  After a few experiments with over-melted chocolate, we decided that the best method was to broil a marshmallow on top of one graham cracker until beautifully golden.  Top with chocolate followed by the second graham cracker.  Devour.

And of course, with hockey goes beer.  But I wasn’t in much of a beer mood, so I indulged in some apple and berry cider from a local farm – Merridale Estate Cidery.  Pretty, isn’t it?  It’s absolutely delicious, but maybe a tad too sweet when paired with 3 or 4 s’mores! ugh.  I’m always over-indulging.  One day I’ll learn that a little bit can go a long way!

Check out others’ date nights over at Simply Modern Mom.  Tiffany is the creative woman who we have to thank for getting this fabulous date night project started.

Hi friends, it’s date night again!  This was my week, so I planned a date that I was really excited to do and hoped that Nathan would enjoy as well.  So dum da da daaaa… we made cupcakes!

I found a recipe for what is apparently the best chocolate cake ever from The Pioneer Woman (we just made the cake, not the topping, because an icing was to come).  Well, it wasn’t the best ever, but it was pretty good.

Nathan helped me out with measuring and stirring and all that good stuff.. And while the delicious chocolate treats were cooling, we set out to make ourselves some icing because hey, we had a recipe for the “best frosting ever”

aaaaand frosting fail! It turned out ok, but it just didn’t taste good!  It was bland and boring.  If I’m going to stick a pound of butter and sugar into my body, it had better taste delectably sweet and delicious.  Not like toned down whipping cream.

The cupcakes looked cute though!

And how was the date, you ask?  Ummmm wellllll…. I was cranky and feeling under the weather.. and Nathan hates to cook.. so apparently for him, it was pretty much the worst date ever.  *le sigh*  Oh well, I can do cooking dates with friends who like to cook.

Check out where Project 52: Date Night began, over at Simply Modern mom, and take a look at her date as well as what other participants got up to this week!

This was Nathan’s date, and for a simple one, it sure was delicious.. I mean fun!

He took me out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.  It was like we were back in high school or something.  In fact, there was an adorably cute young couple snuggled in a corner booth nearby. Oh to be 15 and “in love.”

I should have gotten another picture of our delicious Blizzards for perspective, but mine’s a small, and his is a medium.  That’s a lot of ice cream, yo!  What flavour, you ask?  We both opted for Reese’s Pieces.

Interested in other date night ideas, or taking part in this fun project?  Head on over to Simply Modern Mom’s blog and her Project:52 section.

I’ve had all these date ideas that I’m excited to do, but many of them would work a whole lot better in sunny warm weather.  So instead, I decided that we’d have a slumber party.  I wasn’t feeling too awake, having just gotten back from playing a game of ice hockey (I scored!), but it was still a fun evening with Nathan.

I set up the living room with a cozy blanket, a bunch of candles, mixed drink, and snacks.  Just like back in middle school and high school.  Well, I’m sure I would have had a bag of candy back then.. hmmm, maybe that’s an idea for next time ;-)

We snuggled up together and watched the end of the hockey game (Go Canucks, go! This bit was a bit impromptu, as I’d forgotten about the game.  Next, I pulled out some old episodes of Freaks and Geeks.  It was definitely enjoyable! 

Upon Nathan’s suggestion, we pulled out our bottle of almond tequila that we’d bought in Mexico.  Whew.  I’m not a tequila fan, that’s for sure.  Nevertheless, I did my shot of this stuff with no chaser.  It wasn’t too bad!  I’ll even admit that it had a great aftertaste of almondy sweetness.  Almost yum.

Check out others’ date nights over at Simply Modern Mom’s site.  There are so many great ideas!

This was Nathan’s week to plan our date, so can you guess what we did?  Yep, it involved a game!  We played a great game of Catan with two of our friends – Brian and Diana.

My lovely husband is the one making the crazy face on the left.

Nathan and I had been feeling a bit out of touch with our friends lately.  After being in Vancouver for 2 years, we felt a bit like everyone had their own routines, and we were too slow to create some good ones of our own upon moving back here, with the wedding planning and everything.  Anyways, we both really want to make an effort to connect with friends, and I think this was a pretty good night for that!

Neither Brian nor Diana had played Catan before, but they picked it up pretty quickly.  Maybe they’ll win next time ;-)  For today, it was me!

I love this game because it doesn’t have to be too competitive.  I often struggle with games against Nathan because the logical Engineer side of him has to always be thinking about strategy and the “best” way to do things.  However, with Catan, you can plod along in your own little world and still end up doing OK, or at least feeling like you’re doing well!  Just never ever play the 2-player version (there’s an extension for that).  I think I cried when Nathan and I decided to give it a shot.  Wow, him against me in a battle for the win wasn’t as fun as regular Catan.

Hopefully we can have these two over for game times again.  It made for a fun and relaxing night.

Now, take a look at Simply Modern Mom’s site and her Project 52: Date Night project that she started.  You can browse all the dates that others have done as well.

It seems like we’ve been a bit repetitive with the typical “going out to dinner” date.  However, I had a good reason for dining out this week!  It’s the annual Dine Around and Stay in Town event here in Victoria.  Restaurants have delicious 3-course meals at various price points.  It’s a great way to try out new restaurants, and living in Victoria, there are a lot!  It was the last week of this event, so I wanted to get us out to at least one place.

I found a menu that looked rather appetizing and called up the restaurant, which also had a neat name.  The one I chose was Sips Artisan Bistro.   It was a cute little wine bar type place that could be fun to go to with girlfriends.  For some reason Nathan’s not really into wine bars or tapa bars or other such places, but this one turned out to be pretty good.  My meal was delicious.  Nathan found his main course a little less to his liking.  I don’t think he’s a fan of celeriac and other such “odd” vegetables.  He said “it was very bland with dashes of bitter.” Oh well, we know what to stay away from if we ever go back! However, their chocolate espresso mousse is amaaaazing.

We had some leftovers to add to our lunches the next day.  I LOVE leftovers.  One more thing that I don’t have to cook? Yes please!

And the best part of this date?  I secretly brought along some paper and pens.  Before any food came, we spent out time writing ideas of what we would have in our dream home.  For me, a craft room with lots of table space and natural lighting.  For him, pretty much the same criteria for his office, and the whole house wired to the nines. 

This was a fun project to see what our goals are, and to see that we can actually realize some of these dreams.  How exciting!

Check out others’ date nights at the blog of the amazing woman who started all of this – Tiffany, over at Simply Modern Mom

I’m not sure I can fully communicate my chagrin when Nathan informed me that we would be “doing a quest” for our date together.  The quest is for a role playing board game called Hero Quest, and is definitely not my cup of tea.  I was feeling all kinds of grumpy little gremlins in my tummy when I thought of how this date experience might turn out.  He sensed my unease and asked me if we should change our date, but I did my best to put on a happy face, as this is Nathan’s favourite game ever.  Notice the wine glass?  That helped me get through it!

OK, so let me explain a bit.  I am generally not a fan of any board games.  There are a few that I surprisingly really enjoy, but aside from Settlers of Catan and the like, I would rather be cleaning toilets than playing games.. and this especially applies to anything that resembles a role playing type game. *shudder*  So I think I did pretty good during our date in not running out in a stomping fit or something (and the toilets still need to be cleaned, so yes, I did play the game!)

I got to be 3 of the 4 characters.  Nathan was the 4th and also controlled the map and everything.. so needless to say, he caused some problems along the way.  There were goblins and mummies and chaos warriors and I’m sure there were other terrible creatures that I had to destroy (well, I being the wizard, the barbarian and the elf).  We made it to the end without too much loss.. and hey, I survived the ordeal too!  I can’t say I’ll ever be looking forward to this game in the future, but it wasn’t too terrible of an experience as our date, and it made Nathan super happy. 

Check out my other dates and take a look at the original project 52 at Simply Modern Mom’s site.  She’s got a listing of her dates as well as links to others’ who are involved in the project like me!

That title sounds very much different from what it means.  No, we didn’t do any house planning, or anything to do with babies.  For our date night last week, we did 2 things that Nathan likes very much!

We watched an episode of House – one of the few shows that Nathan’s really in to that I can also enjoy. This we pared with a fun game of crib.  Nathan loves games of all kinds, so I thought that’d be a good date for him.  It was a bit tough to concentrate on the show and the cards at the same time, but we mostly managed. And the important part?  I won! Lots of luck, but hey, that doesn’t matter, does it?

Thanks to Tiffany at Simply Modern Mom for starting the whole Project 52 Date night idea.  Check out her blog to see what she and many others did last week.

Week 1:

Nathan wanted to be in charge of this date, since we’d been wanting to go to this restaurant since we moved back here. Pagliacci’s.  It’s a cute little eclectic/Italian place where the tables are packed in as tight as they’ll go.  It’s frequented by locals and tourists alike, and often has a long line out the door.

We must have seemed pretty funny because we both knew what we wanted before arriving, and ordered the same thing. My memories of the food are fonder than what we got, but it was still pretty darn good.  Then there’s the bread. Go there if for nothing else but the bread.

It was a fairly routine dinner-out type date for us.  Some talking, some eating, followed by a short walk before I started to freeze.  I think in the future I want to try something a bit different and more creative from our usual dates.

Some of my ideas:

• Hitting the museum (we’ve got a great one here), followed by a glass of wine
• An afternoon of Frisbee in the park and a picnic lunch of dinner
• Rock climbing
• ping pong and beer
  (starting to see a trend here? I get a nice satisfied feeling doing active dates)
• A board game evening

I’ve also gotten a new cookbook – Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals by Jamie Oliver.  My idea was to have Nathan help me make the occasional dinner.  He really doesn’t like to cook, so am I pushing my luck?  I was hoping I could help things a bit by making it a bit of a collaborative effort.

To learn a bit more about how we started this whole date night thing, etc, read what I wrote here.

Now check out other ideas from the wonderfully creative Tiffany who started all this, over at Simply Modern Mom

Although Nathan and I are newlyweds, we’ve been together for a long time (7 years!), so we’re working on ways to connect rather than letting time slip by.  This is especially important since he works from home.  We see a lot of one another, but that can make us forget to plan quality time, or go on “dates.”

A friend of ours had a date night once a week, which I had always thought was a good idea.  I like having structure to make things seem more real (or something?  It’s a psychological thing)… Imagine how excited I was when I saw this date night pledge.  Commitment to it each week. Shared responsibility.  Creativity.  What could be better?!  It’s called Project 52 (52 weeks in the year), started by Tiffany at Simply Modern Mom.

Basically, the goal is to have one date per week on a set day (and time), although we all know that life requires some flexibility.  You can’t do the same thing twice in one month, you rotate who plans each date, you try to be creative, you have to create a nice date atmosphere, and you get to have fun!

So here I am, about to embark on this journey, full of anticipation.. I should probably tell him first, and not forge his signature, eh? 

One change I’m making is that we rotate who plans the date every other week rather than every other month.  I’ll plan the first one, and I’ll even give him Valentine’s Day as his first – I think he’s got a plan for a dinner out.

I’ll try to take pictures! For now, here’s a fun wedding shot.