August Date Night

We are super duper lucky to have a set of boy friends for our little guys that are of similar ages, so overnights usually include the 2 of the them ~ Thanks to Melissa for having the Patzer's hang, leaving us room for a date night.  We went really crazy and started our night at Midwest Lanes here in Glenwood.  They were celebrating their 15 year anniversary and I love supporting local business so we stopped there for a quick beer.  The funny part, they had a free hog roast going on, so bottoms up to a cash free supper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  In addition, the gal that was having my boys spend the night was there with Hank, Sawyer, Ethan, and Elliott, so we watched them bowl a few frames while we ate and tipped a couple back.  After that, we debated, local or Omaha.  We opted for Omaha because shopping is waaaaaayyyyy better there.  We headed to the Old Market and found rock star parking which happens once in a lifetime, check that one off!!!  We hit a few of our favorite shops, Overland Outfitters, Nebraska Clothing, Souq, and Nouvelle Eve.  Our shopping trips never end pretty, I mean cheap.  Craig had been eyeballing a coat at the Outfitters and Don was just the salesman to convince him to make the purchase.  Don actually was in love with Craig, and I felt a little 3rd wheel.  Craig says, "you have to do what you can to ensure the discount!", what ev???  The coat was not even there for the picking, it has to be shipped in.  I did not make any fabulous purchases there, but ended up with a lovely rastafarian hat from Souq.  I love my hats almost as much as cowboy boots. 

After our shopping spree, we headed over to Nosh to have a glass of wine and some appetizers.  What a fun little joint.  We enjoyed some chit chat and watched the diving and track events from the Olympics.  We won't be able to do that again for 4 more years.  We walked around the corner after we were done toward the Capitol bar.  By the view, I think we were overage, versus underage to get in, so we chose to go home.  We really had a lovely time and look forward to September's date ~ Go BIG Red!  

July Date Night (Weekend)

For July, we did a little weekend get away.  We have a favorite singer that we stalk, I mean follow: Eric Church.  This was our 8th time seeing him and only our 1st time this year.  Our love for him is mutual, I have a huge girl crush, but I do believe Craig has a man crush on him as well.  Actually, he has a music crush, he loves the tunes, as do I, but he ain't bad to look at either.  We headed out Friday night to Lake Anita for a little tent camping. We grilled out steaks and went into Anita for a cocktail and watched the Olympic opening ceremony.  We had beautiful weather and a couple of brews so sleeping was easy.  We woke up and had the huge camping style eggs and bacon breakfast, the highlight was that Craig was able to use his new perkolator (not sure how to spell that one).  It only took about an hour to get that thing going!!!!  We head to River Rukus about 2 and had the opportunity to listen to 3 great opening acts before our boy came on.  He never disappoints!  The weekend was great and we will look forward to seeing him again, if not this year, next for sure.

Steph & Craig - June Date

We were lucky enough to steal away for a long weekend in the heart of Scottsdale.  We chose the Phonecian which is very old school resort.  We had the best of times.  We did NOTHING, when I say that, what I mean is that we sat by the pool for 3 days and ate nachos and drank margaritas.  We thought it very cool that you can order that goods and just sign your name by a little x and they bring it on to you.  Imagine our surprise when the bill came about later.

Steph and Craig May Date

We did not get an April date in so we made up for it with our May date in a big way. We are currently enjoying a fabulous date weekend here in Scottsdale! We landed at 9 this morning. We chose Scottsdale in June because we have both been here before and did not want to do much more than hang out and do nothing! We did just that today! We chose the gorgeous Phoenician Resort, old school and a class act. I have not been called Mrs. Patzer this much since I was a teacher. We hung at the pool for over 4 hours, eating, drinking, swimming and sleeping (Craig). I read half a book. Who does that when they are a mom? I rocked it with the SPF 50, no sunburn ~ so I will enjoy my massage tomorrow. My milky white skin cannot take much! We had some great talking points, met some lovely Kanooks and balked at the cost of drinks ~ $20 per drink. We came back, put out the do not disturb sign and played reindeer games, aka Shades of Grey. We showered up and headed to Fashion Squarebtondo what we do best ~ shop! We actually did not buy anything but found a great deal. Next time. We ate some sushi and had some really good chit chat. We shopped some more and headed back, the time change is killer. We are gearing up for our June date tomorrow, a big old hike up Camelback. We need to do this 1x a year.

Steph & Craig February Date

Happy Valentine's Day Month. Craigger was responsible for planning this month's date. It must have weighed on his mind because he tried to cancel saying he could not come up with something. I tried to explain that the idea is not to go crazy with the idea, just to have a date, big, small, short, long, it really does not matter. Anyway, he decided to go with a theme, "Things We Have Not Done Together."

Roller Skating was our first stop.

Both of us have skated, just not together. Quite frankly, I don't believe I have been on skates since the early 80's at school skate parties. . We had to giggle at the skate hander outer behind the counter, all 59 pounds of him. He was throwing Craig some grief as Craig did not get the appropriate hand stamp to rent skates. I think he felt like we were trying to pull a fast one on him. Really????? We had to put him in his 16 year old place (I still think he had to have used a fake 16 year old I need a job to buy m&m's ID), he did not look older than 12. He finally accepted the fact that the stamp may have rubbed off and gave us our skates. I chose the 2x2's, Craig went with the inlines. Skating is not like bike riding, it does not "all come back to ya." Grace was not present with me that night. These little fool kids would speed all around me as I tried to just stay upright. Craig was a natural. His hockey days seemed to translate with the inline thing. He was a master skater. If he ever quits his day job he should consider buying up a whistle and becoming a skate guard for sure.

After the fun of the skating game had worn off, and the shin splints had start to set in, we decided to call it quits. We turned our wheels in and headed to the PacMan game for one quick round. A much quicker round for me than Craig. Quite obviously, someone must practice when no one is looking!

We had really worked up an appetite with all of that skating and game playing, so we headed right downtown to Baby Blue for the some sushi. Again, both of us have had sushi, just not as a couple. You have to allow for patience at Old Market eateries during the Valentine season, post Creighton game crowds, and the fact that it was a Saturday night. The wait was going to be an hour or more. Left us only one solution, Sake Bar. Some lovely patrons finished up, we took their spot and forget that hour wait. Plus, being at the bar, you get great insight as to which Martini's have the most booze. This is only to help my Craig's window of opportunity if you catch this tired mom's drift.We ordered up quite a few sushi rolls, the "Itchy Sea Bass" turned out to the favorite. Usually one would stay away from items that include the word itchy but the fact that sea bass followed that adjective teased our palate. Yum Yum!
After 3 martinis, much sushi, and fried ice cream, we called it good and headed back over the state line. We stopped for a quick drink at the Keg Creek, and ended the night with some friends celebrating a 40th birthday. What a fun filled night. I believe I will be planning the March date and I am challenging myself to have a fun at home date. Thanks to Amber and Matt for including us in the fun.

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! 

Wedding Photo ~ Steph & Craig ~ 13 Years & Counting

How We Met: The Story of Steph & Craig's Beginning.

I had been off the man wagon for a bit so the fact that a girlfriend wanted to set me up on another blind date was not a priority for me. I let her know ahead of time that I would definitely go out but that #1. I was only going out to be social #2. I liked the idea of a free drink or eats #3. I was in no way shape or form interested in any sort of long term situation.

The setting: I tagged along to her husband's softball game. Craig happened to be an outfielder on the team. She pointed him out and of course the shallow Hal in me sized him up in the looks department. I liked the package, the bow (hair) on top was a little bit of a quandary. It was reminiscent of Lyle Lovett. Hair can be fixed and I had a fabulous stylist that would be just the gal for the challenge, ha! We stayed for the game and hit a local pub post game. Brief introductions were made prior to us heading out.

At the pub we chit chatted and did the small talk thing. The conversation was easy and fun. We giggled a lot about some of the stories from my work. He explained why he had moved from North Dakota to the Omaha area (grad. school). Really through the initial talk, I found myself interested in finding out more. He was a great listener and engaged in conversing from his side. Prior to the end of the evening, we exchanged numbers and the rest is history. We started dating after that.

Obviously, it is not a crazy and outlandish tale; however, it does give some value to the idea of a "blind date." You just never know if that date my be your potential mate!