Jason & Mindy - January Date

The day that we decided to kick the dating project off it was 65 degrees. Mindy came up with a great plan for us to go out and enjoy the weather by playing Frisbee golf. One of our very first dates in Ames was spent Frisbee golfing, and it was an activity that we've both always talked about doing again sometime when we get the chance.

Unfortunately, it got to be 5:00p.m., daycare was running late, and the sunlight faded a little too soon for us to make it to a Frisbee golf course anywhere close-by. Our babysitter arrived and we had to scramble for a quick Plan B!!

I came in the house to change out of my work clothes, and had an idea. I searched a couple websites and came across an events calendar for the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. There in front of me was our Plan B...ice skating at the Mid-America Center. Bingo!!

When we arrived at the Mid-America Center we picked up our skates and strapped them on. We headed out onto the ice and began instantly pulling off triple axels, back flips, and an assortment of other skilled ice skating moves. It was just like being in the Olympics, only it was the Mid America Center and Council Bluffs. Ok, so we didn't really have any sweet moves, but neither of us fell the entire time and we had a lot of fun skating together.

After we were done ice skating we went on to Michael's in the Old Market for dinner. The service was lousy and the food was not much better, but once again just spending an evening together made it alright. We shared an order of fajitas and enjoyed each others company.

As a tradition, no date is ever complete without dessert. We stopped at the new Freddy's restaurant in Council Bluffs for ice cream. That definitely made up for our Michael's experience. We were extremely stuffed and ready to call it a night.

January was a great date and we look forward to 11 more months of fun!

Daniel & Katie January Date Night

I have dreaded posting January's date night because it was pretty lame. We had dinner on January 30th at Longhorn Steakhouse, did have nice conversation & used the questions that were posted to try to learn a little about each other. Had fun with the questions and really good food! Afterward we took our date to Target for diapers and pull-ups. Shopped around and goofed off for awhile, neither of us could remember the last time we went shopping together without our kids. We had a good time but both agreed that we need to be a little more adventurous with our dates, going to try to amp up the romance factor this month. Katie

Kenzie & Dan - January Date Night

To be honest, I was kind of dissappointed in our first Date Night, but we did what we could, as best as we could, all while both of us were sick. One of our most favorite things to do together is to try out new recipes at home. Since we had both been sick for about a week, we were TOTALLY chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese'd out and really wanted something GOOD. I had a recipe (found on Pinterest, of course) that I had wanted to try, so we made our trip to the store together, browsed up and down the isles, and found all ingredients to make our very own, homemade GYRO's. :) We came home, cooked those bad boys up, and talked about things we could do for our next date. After eating (recipe was sort-of a dud), we stepped outside to let out our doggies, and heard our neighbor yell at us to "Come on over!" Oh boy, did we really have to? I mean, after all, we were on a Date Night at home, not dressed very well (I don't think I had but a little bit of mascara on my face), and we were ready to snuggle in and watch a movie. Dan said "Ahh, what the heck? Come on, let's go over there for a minute and just say Hi." We haven't had much of a chance to ever get to know our neighbor, as we are fairly new to the community. We did know that he used to be the old Art teacher at the High School here, and he ended up re-modeling his garage and turned it into his very own "Art Showcase." He showed us around his "gallery", and showed us a few steps on how he makes his pottery. Very cool, very impressive I must say! I wish I would have had my phone at the time so I could take a few pictures of him in action, but I left it on the kitchen counter at home. After about a half hour, we left and came back home. Not exactly how we wanted to spend the rest of our Date Night, but by the time we got home and laughed about it for a little bit (he's a little different), we were ready for bed!
I know, not too exciting, but like I said, we had both been fighting bad head colds for a week or so. Can't wait to plan our February date...

Krystal and Justin - January Date!

We are super creative people, so we decided that we would go and see a movie for our date night. Our younger son had a sleepover to attend, so we asked my mom and dad to watch our older son while we went out. After dropping him off, we headed to the Marcus Theater at Midtown Crossing. We have always wanted to try the dine-in theater option. We chose Girl with a Dragon Tattoo because I've read the books and really wanted to see the movie. The food was really tasty! It is somewhat awkward to eat during the movie because you are trying not to chomp and make noise during the quiet parts. After the movie, we didn't want to be out too late because it was Saturday night and we didn't want our sons to miss Sunday school the next morning. I know, a pretty straightforward date night, but we have some more interesting stories coming up (how we met, first date, etc.). We are looking forward to a date each month and coming up with some more creative places to go!

p.s. This is not a photo of us on our date, but the most recent photo of us together. We forgot to take a picture on our date night. . .

The Bathtub Incident-January Date

We actually completed our January date a few weeks ago, however, I am ever the procrastinator. You will most likely notice that pattern the rest of the year. We were lucky enough to have an overnight babysitter (my amazing mother in law). We were so giddy about having an evening....overnight evening....without kiddos! We had no idea where to go for dinner so I suggested we should try someplace new. We hopped in the car, with no idea where we were going, only to find that the main route out of our neighborhood was being blocked by a HUGE barn, being towed by a semi...with another semi behind it carrying a HUGE silo. There were police cars everywhere and it made for interesting conversation.

We found a different route out of the neighborhood and headed toward 168th and Center to look for a new place to dine. We decided on Shucks as we had never been and I LOVE raw oysters, Josh will eat them too but I wouldn't say he loves them.....and you know what they say about raw oysters. :) So, we walked into the restaurant and immediately decided that the atmosphere was not date night atmosphere at all. We left. We ended up at Vincenzo's. We had to wait a good 45 minutes to eat and we were not impressed. The food was ok, the atmosphere was ok, the service was good, but it was nothing special. We really enjoyed the house wine. We decided to stop at Hy-Vee, grab more wine, and go home and try to create a romantic evening. We drew a hot bubble bath, lit candles, played some fun music really loud over the surround sound and I climbed in with my glass of wine. Next, here comes Josh, only as he is climbing in, he knocks his glass of wine off of the edge of the tub into the water and it shatters! So I am sitting in the tub afraid to move. Thanks to the wine, this was quite funny to both of us. He grabbed the large pieces out and I very carefully stood up and got out, hoping not to get cut. We cleaned up the remaining glass and started to draw another bath, only we were totally out of hot water. So, we nixed that fun idea. Years ago, I attended one of those "slumber parties" and had purchased a romantic couples game, complete with game board and all. We had never even opened it and decided to try it out. It had potential.....but we ended up falling asleep before it really got fun. We are both looking forward to our February date....hoping it is a little more romantic!

January 2012

January has come to an end.  Hopefully you were able to squeeze in a little time with your main squeeze to help avoid any feelings similar to the image above. 

Don't forget to have your date summary posted on or before February 7th for your January date.  You are also welcome to post the extra entries at any time during this year.

Stop back Feb 1st for a fun "Famous Couples" challenge. 

Amber & Matt January Date Summary

As most of you know, my husband has has recently made a major career change.  His old schedule as an elementary teacher was basically from 7-3 M-F.  With this new change, his new hours are 11 PM- 7 AM.  He also works any day of the week, not just M-F.  Lots of people ask us how he likes it, how do I like it etc.  One of my responses is that we are adjusting to this new life of ours.  It really is an adjustment for all of us.  He is home sleeping during the day when our son and I are gone, and often sleeping on the weekends when we were used to having the opportunity for lots of family time.  All of us are doing pretty good with the adjustment.  By sleeping during the day, he is able to be awake in the evenings when we are home, going to activities, dinner time etc. 

We didn't make date nights a priority before but would occasionally do something together or with friends on the weekends.  The new schedule has created some issues with this.  One of these issues is date night.  I work M-F and am usually so tired during the week.  This month he has Tues- Wed. off so our only option was a Tuesday night date.  We planned it the week before and were both looking forward to spending some time together.  I sent him a text the night before our date while he was at work letting him know that I was really looking forward to our date the next night.

Both of us are famous for having several "irons in the fire" at one time.  Even with his new job, Matt has not been able to put down his passion for coaching wrestling.  I told him he could still go to practice that night and we would go when he got home.  This would give me time to get home from work and get our son Brock dinner and packed for the babysitter. 

I really didn't have any idea what we would do for our date.  For a Tuesday night, I really couldn't find much going on.  Of course there was always the dinner and a movie option- but that is such an old stand-by.  I love the bookstore date idea I posted about, but just wasn't into it for a Tuesday night date.  Especially now that we don't have a book store close to us. 

I had had a stressful day at work and was making Brock some dinner when Matt walked in earlier that expected.  He looked at me and said, "Are we going?"   I'm pretty much gonna tell you that what he meant was...."you look tired and like crap so I don't think you are still planning on us going out".  I said yes we are going....I was making him dinner and then going to go fix my hair and makeup.  I really was tired for pete's sake- it was a Tuesday!!! But, I was able to quickly do a little magic and we were out the door a few minutes later. 

We dropped off Brock and my grandmas and were excited to get going.  We were both very hungry so that was first up on our list.  We checked the movie times before we left and thought about going to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" later that night.  We headed towards Omaha and tossed a few dinner ideas out and decided to go to the Old Market and pick some place we have both never been.  We ended up at the Rock Bottom Brewery. 

As we were waiting at the hostess stand I heard someone say Matt's name.  It was another officer on Matt's team (team members all have the same days off each month) and his wife out on date night as well.  See this is the normal life to have dates on Tuesday's I thought to myself!  You have to do what you can to make it work!

We enjoyed a little spin dip, a couple beers, and a great dinner.  We laughed (talked about how crazy some people are), cried (talked about how much we are going to miss Matt's grandpa at the State Wrestling Tournament this year- he passed away this past May) and everything in between. 

As we were walking back to the car, we both decided we were way too tired for movie.  We decided to make a stop at Target on the way home and check out the Kindle Fire we had been looking at.  We talked to the electronics guy who gave us an "I just wear red and khaki, not specialize in electronics" run down on how it works and decided to go for the purchase with our Christmas money. 

Here is the part where things seemed to go south.  I don't think that Target shopping or grocery shopping should be allowed on date night.  Long story short, Matt rushed me and I got crabby.  He just doesn't understand the love I have for Target and how I adore walking up and down the aisles, gazing at things in peace and quiet and at a slow, slow pace so I can take it all in.  It's like a magnet.  It sucks me in. 

So, I am going to say that going to Target on date night is like going out with your husband and your boyfriend.  It just doesn't work.

Penelope and Morty January Date Summary

Mort and I just returned from Hawaii. We have been to the big island before but this year we saw the entire island by a 4 wheel Jeep- this is the only way to travel.
Morty and I went on a mile hike to see some petroglyphs, we went off roading to the green sand beach and drove up to the top of the highest mountain.
I love me some Morty!!

TeamPatzer's Date Night ~ January

Sooo excited, our date from last weekend was moved to tonight and it was fabulous! First things first, our boys were able to hang with a friend for an overnight so we did not have to hire a sitter. That is the icing on the cake prior to date night even occuring! Free sitter! In addition, we had a gift card to our dinner destination, a gift from Christmas.

We started our date at the Thrift Shop. Some may find that repulsive, we find it extraordinary. We are in the process of a remodel so we were able to find a bargain on a loveseat. The current state, not so fantastic, the projected state, awesome. We are upcycling a pretty greusome print for a wonderful olive green pressed velvet. Vision people!

I presented Craig with a date night invite that included a little challenge, taken from the Book Store Date Night with a few tweaks. We love to shop, so naturally we were to include a shopping excursion! We headed to one of our favorite haunts, Post N Nickel. While we were there, we were to each pick out an outfit for one another, something we find fun, that they may not. The deal, we had to try it on and get a photo. Craig's outfit, that I chose, actually did not stray too far from one of his closet outfits that he currently owns, with th exception of the price tag, the crazy print shirt was shy of $300, really?The outfit that Craig chose for me, was definately a favorite of his, but not so much for me. I felt somewhat like a 2 bit hooker in it. Not that I would entirely know. I just don't normally wear skin tight dresses with visual cleavage and super duper high heels. The sweet little sales associate thought it looked fabulous, even sharing that it came in black, so rather than looking like a low class hooker, I could potentially look like a high class more slender street walker, since black is slimming???? Ha! Craig wanted to purchase the outfit, but I had to put the kabosh on that one, letting him know full well it would do nothing more than hang in the closet.

Our next destination was Von Maur to continue the date challenge. We were to find some fabulous shoes that we could each try on as well as some accessories. Craig was easy. He likes shoes and he likes Von Maurs selection of men's shoes. I found some fabulous suede Nubuks which actually went great with his oufit. He gave me the puppy dog eyes and begged like a little school girl for mama to buy them. Since mams is also chief financial officer, the firm no took place. Funny, he was able to muster enough money out of his own pocket to wrap them up for a take home. The shoes he picked for me were fine; quite cute in fact; however, the practical girl in me said "I love them Honey, but I will never wear them." As much as he wanted to buy them, I talked him out of it. Little does he know I would rather him save his money to contribute to a pair of Old Gringos that I have my eye on.Accessories were a bit more difficult for my guy, as much as Von Maur does have, they do lack in the men's add on department. A couple of hats that were more suited for my dad. We did find a large faced watch in orange, he dug it.

 Finding accessories for me, not tough at all. I love me a good hat and they had many to choose from. The quandry was to find one that was bit different from something other than similar to my closet types. Found it! Loved it! Craig grabbed a leopard print clutch to photograph as well. He may need to change careers from Sales to Stylist!

Ok, so the shopping really helped us work up our appetites. We headed to PF Chang's. The pitfall, Saturday night date night is popular for others as well, leaving a 60 minute wait, ouch! We inched our way to the bar and found a couple of spots to slide into and eat right there! Bye 60 minutes, hello meal time. We just had a ball chit chatting about our vision for the future of my business, expansion ideas and such. We do very well throwing out some fun ideas and expanding on them. We also do well with eating. The kung pao shrimp never disappoints. Soooo very fun and a true delight. Looking forward to the next one!PS ~ One thing I do notice in the photos ~ I should have bought the Botox groupon that came out this week! 

Our January Date-Tara and Dan

We went on our January date this past weekend and it was actually a weekend long date.

For the past 8 years we have been going to a place in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, a property owned by a very nice family that rents out their 4 cabins on 75 acres. The cabins are not rustic (other than being in the middle of nowhere). They have water, electricity, heat, cute decor, and hot tubs. Our anniversary is the end of December so for the past few years we have been going to one of the cabins (we've tried all 4 now) in January to celebrate our anniversary. But it's equally wonderful to go there in the spring, summer, or fall, which we have also done. This year we were there celebrating our 11th anniversary.

This was on a telephone pole out front of the cabin.

So we left the kids with a wonderful family friend, packed up our two labs and spent two nights in solitude! We ate dinner, drank wine, read (I finished The Hunger Games and started The Help), put (most of) a puzzle together, spent time in the hot tub, went for a walk and even watched our crazy dogs take a swim in the icy creek (it was very cold out and the creek banks were filled with icicles--the dogs didn't care).

Gretchen's mad dash.

Two old barns behind the cabin.

It was not a weekend of "reconnecting" so much as relaxing together, which is just what we needed due to our very busy schedule lately. In years past, there have been some great weekends of really reconnecting, but this year was not one of the years we needed it as much. Hope that makes sense. But we did try some of the questions from Amber's list. Dan wasn't a huge fan of it and got kind of silly with his answers. Typical. ;) But we did have a fun time picking and choosing some of them.

We did agree on the answer to one question. The question was about what we'd like to go back to from when we were dating and we agreed nothing. We love that we get to spend every day together now and don't wish to not do that, as was the case when we were dating. :)

Amber & Matt January Date Summary

Test post! Does anyone have their January dates planned yet?