Project Date Night '16: April (Star Wars!)

For Project Date Night this month, M and I did a dinner and a movie date with a Star Wars theme. Yep, I confess...I'm a Star Wars junkie. I've been eagerly awaiting Episode 7 on DVD so I could do a date night - it was fun!

Setting the Mood

To get us in the Star Wars mood early in the day, I took a picture of my screen (high-tech, I know) with the R2D2 love note up on my screen and texted it to M... saved on printer ink! :)

I also sent him a link to the John Williams is the Man youtube video. I think I've watched this video about 47 different times, but it still makes me smile. I walked around singing the song for the rest of the day!!

Menu

I think it's fun to do plays-on-words with food and theme events... obviously...

• Han-burgers (hamburgers) - We just ate them with a knife/fork on a plate.
• Leia-ed salad (layered salad) - Got the idea here, but decided not to do the mexican thing. We did sort of a chopped salad with chopped mixed greens, sliced black olives, diced grape tomatoes, diced cucumber, chopped green onion, sauteed diced red bell pepper and topped with crumbled bacon and homemade italian vinaigrette....YUM.
• BB-8's (baby carrots)
• Poe-tato chips (Boulder Canyon coconut oil kettle chips) - Wicked yummy, simple - and can you believe it, HEALTHY - chips.
• Wookie Cookies (chocolate macaroons) - I'm so glad I found this recipe! It's hard to find egg-free macaroons, but these are great. I did the stevia sweetened (sugar free) version. When the cookies were done I drizzled them with some almond butter for a Chewbacca-like two tone look.
• Lightsabers (fruit kabobs) - Green grapes for the 'blade' part, blueberries for the 'handle' threaded onto a bamboo skewer.

Movie Review

As most of you know, I have a sort of obsession with Star Wars and Harrison Ford. I loved the original 3 movies (Episodes 4-6) and tolerated Episodes 1-3... So, it was 50/50 for me whether I would like the latest installment, The Force Awakens. 

*** Spoiler Alert ***

Let's talk talent... 

• Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) gets top billing and yet he's only in 1 scene. What's with that?
• Carrie Fisher's (Princess Leia) performance seemed a little forced, but being that she's playing a character who by now is a little road-weary and has survived quite a lot of loss, it's workable. 
• Harrison Ford is the man. Ok, so I'm a little biased. I enjoyed his performance. He's his typical Han Solo cranky, sarcastic, charming, rakish self. And underneath that crusty exterior, he's loyal and has a good heart. 
• Daisy Ridley (Rey)... whoop, whoop! The girl power this series needs to take the franchise forward. Loved her character and spunk! And I mean, lightsaber duel? Yes, please.
• John Boyega (Finn) did a fantastic job. I enjoyed his portrayal of a stormtrooper-turned-hero and he plays well with Daisy's Rey.
• Oscar Isaac... apparently, "they" decided the younger cast needed a cocky pilot, so they chose Oscar to play Poe Dameron, a rebel pilot. While Poe has his good points (loyal to the cause, cares about others), I just wasn't swooning. Sorry, the role of hunky, charming, sarcastic pilot has already been filled.
• Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) also didn't impress me too much. He did a good job with the part, I just wasn't impressed with the character. Kylo Ren seems a little unstable and not nearly conflicted enough about the dark side/light side dichotomy and overall I felt the character was a little flat. 
• Throw in some random droids (BB-8 is cute) and aliens and of course, the 'bad guys' to round out the cast.  

Let's talk plot...

• Ok, so here's the rundown...scavenger/pilot desert bedouin teams up with a cocky pilot and an evil organization escapee to join the rebellion and destroy a machine capable of obliterating entire planets. 
• The evil villain was 'seduced' by the dark side of the force, is being trained by a super-evil (and really old/decrepit) genius and is prone to fits of temper, but might possibly be convinced to return to the light side of the force. 
• After much epic-ness, leaps to hyperspace, the Millennium Falcon breaking down, 'feel the force' mumbo-jumbo, lightsaber duels, and heartbreaking loss, the heroes emerge scarred, but victorious and we feel some sense of closure and an anticipation of the next installment.  

Sound familiar? Yep, I thought so. What's weird is that even though the overall plot is pretty much the same as the original trilogy, I truly enjoyed the movie and I do look forward to the next installment. To me it feels as if history is repeating itself in this franchise, but really, that's pretty true to life. 

Let's talk recommendation...

I give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It's a movie I will enjoy watching again in the future. Although I may not pull it out to re-watch frequently, and it's not quite on par with the original trilogy, I would still recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed any of the previous movies. 

Check out the trailer and more information here. 

And if you're interested, look through the parent guide here for information on language/violence/etc.

Additional Date Night/Family Fun Activities

We didn't add anything else to our date and opted for a plain jane dinner-and-a-movie date because that's what we felt up to. However, if you're looking for some additional "fun" activities...

• Pop on over to the Dating Divas and check out their Jedi Training game and Jedi medal craft
• Or, try this quick prep movie game from Dating Divas!
• Stretch your strategic brain with the Star Wars edition of the board game Risk
• Get goofy with Star Wars Mad Libs
• Include the whole family with this Sorry! board game (Star Wars version)
• Or, this Star Wars card game (similar to the classic card game War) recommended for ages 7+ 

Total Cost: Free

Food came out of the grocery budget, so nothing extra on that. I got a great deal on the movie through TopCashback - Free after the cashback during a special offer! I was planning to rent the movie from Redbox, but now I get to keep it!

Project Date Night '16: March

Did you know that March 14th is National Pi Day? And notice I said 'pi' as in math... as in 3.14....... get it?

Not sure who was the brainchild behind that awesome excuse for pie eating, but whoever you are, I thank you.

Any excuse to eat pie is a win in my book. Now, pie gets a little complicated when you've got food allergies. I typically cheat and eat crisps or crumbles or sloops or betties or whatever you want to call it. This month, we REALLY cheated 'pie' and just ate the filling.

Details
In honor of Pi Day, M and I played a round of Trivial Pursuit. Why, you ask? Well, if you've ever played the game, you'd know that the game pieces look like pie. In my face. In a pan.

This, friends, is the classic, original version. We find that we prefer the old version because it has questions about literature (books, people, BOOKS) instead of pop culture like the current version does.

Here's our board. I won this round!

And I can get the original version at thrift stores and/or yard sales for ridiculously cheap. So I did. Goodwill thanks me for my patronage.

Menu

• Triple Berry Pie Filling (M)
• Apple Pie Filling (me)
• Protein Packed Vanilla Soft-Serve (M)
  There's not actually a recipe for this, it's just a serving of Tera's Whey protein powder mixed with coconut milk, then blended with a frozen banana until it's soft serve consistency. Easy Peasy.
• Herbal tea

Total Cost: $2 [for the Trivial Pursuit game]

So, that's it folks! Simple. Pie filling. Pie game. Pi Day. What wacky holidays do you 'celebrate'???

Project Date Night: December

Since December is such a busy month, we decided to go simple with our date night this month.

M was able to get some discounted movie ticket vouchers from his employer to use at any movie. Hmmm.... choices, choices. We decided to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, and we loved it!

Funny side note, if you're not into crowds, try going to a movie on a Sunday afternoon. There were about 15 people in the entire theater and we were the youngest ones there.

This was one of our more expensive dates, since we had to get a babysitter.  We joke that we do dinner and a movie - dinner for the babysitter and the movie for us. We don't have a whole lot of teenager approved food at our house, so we get some form of takeout for her when she's here as part of her babysitting deal.

Mockingjay Part 2 received average reviews from the critics, but I loved it.  You can't have a series without wrapping up all the loose ends, and that's what Part 2 is about.  (Not) shockingly enough, my favorite part of the whole movie is that last few minutes, where Katniss finally gets her happy ending. I've been waiting 4 movies for closure and finally... bittersweet, yes. But closure all the same

You can read the synopsis and watch the trailer here.

We've come through an entire year of Project Date Night and I feel it's been a success. I hope our dates this year have in some small way been an inspiration to you and your relationships.

Project Date Night: November

It's no secret to those who know me well... I love stand up comedy. Not trashy, raunchy "comedy" (totally not necessary), but just people making funny observations about life in a witty way.  M and I have a short list of our favorite comedians... and we often quote them in our day to day life... the material doesn't get old.

This month, our Project Date Night theme was "Comedy Club". I'm not a clubbing kind of girl, so we did our own stand up comedy experience at home. And no, I did not improv or make M do one-liners off the top of his head. This was about us laughing together while watching someone else deliver the humor. :)

I made a ticket to our special event and left it in his lunchbox. Pretty easy to do with clip art and MS Word. Here's a blank printable copy for you to use if you feel so inclined.

We put the munchkin to bed a little early (it was one of THOSE days) and we were ready for a break. So, we got comfy, snuggled on the couch with our snack, and watched some videos on YouTube.

The Menu
We always get a laugh out of Anjelah Johnson's "Bon Qui Qui" character, so I named our red, bubbly punch "The Bon Qui Qui" in her honor. (Pomegranate juice, grapefruit juice, cinnamon simple syrup and sparkling water... it was pretty good!)

I made M a mini lemon cheesecake with a gingersnap crust. Apparently, I've got a few kinks to work out of that a recipe. He said the flavor was good, but the crust was soggy... bummer. 

I made Chocolate Covered Katie's Healthy Chocolate Fudge Zucchini Brownies. Got to say, (sorry, Katie!) I felt a little "Meh" about the finished product. They were indeed chocolaty, and fudgy. But they were just really dense and heavy, so I'll keep searching for the perfect brownie elsewhere.

Results? Standing ovation and encore! We had such a good time with this one, we'll plan to do it again sometime. If you looked at my YouTube playlist, you'll notice there's several hours of comedy, so there's plenty more for another round of Comedy Club in the future.

Project Date Night: October

Did you know that October has more rainy days on average than any other month of the year? At least that's what M tells me. It feels true, regardless. Rainy, chilly weather makes me want to stay in and stay warm, so this month's Project Date Night was perfect!

The original plan was to learn to ballroom dance in our living room, inspired by watching the movie, "Shall We Dance" last year. But, as I started compiling a YouTube playlist of instructional videos, I came across quite a few line dancing videos and I thought, "Hmmm, that seems like fun," so the Shall We [Line] Dance date night was born.

Menu
I went all country and did...

• BBQ pork ribs (with homemade BBQ sauce, recipe below!)
• Corn muffins (box mix - I splurged, although I do have a GF cornbread muffin recipe in the works)
• Baked (sweet) potatoes (pretty plain jane)
• Sweet tea (actually a mix of black tea and leftover mildly sweet hibiscus sun tea I had made the day before)
• I was planning to do southern style greens, but just didn't feel like it by the time date night rolled around, so we skipped it.
• Gingersnap cookies (gluten free and actually just as good as the wheat based gingersnaps I grew up baking. SO good. Recipe coming soon. ish.)

Details
We watched the instructional videos while eating our country style dinner, then proceeded to [try to] cut a rug.

Honestly, we aren't very good at dancing. At all. Like, take a normal person's rhythm and split that between the two of us and that's about right. But, we got our heart rates up and had a few laughs and "learned" how to do the Two Step, the Cowboy Boogie, and the Canadian Stomp. We attempted them anyway, but finally gave up. See, this is why we don't dance in public. Because we're really bad at it. But at least we're bad at it together!

You can check out our YouTube Shall We [Line] Dance playlist here.

We're not going to be winning any dance competitions any time soon, and you can forget about us 'showing off' for friends - not gonna happen - but we will continue to be silly together and try new things. 'Cuz that's how we cowboy boogie, kids.

Note on the BBQ - I like it thick, sweet and tangy with just barely any heat. M tends to add hot sauce to his dish since he likes it spicy. If you can relate to him, just up the hot sauce, tasting as you go until you find the right level of heat for your tastebuds. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy BBQ Sauce

by Raye

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: none

Keywords: no-cook condiment dairy-free egg-free gluten-free grain-free nut-free refined sugar free soy-free vegetarian

Ingredients (about 2 cups)

• 1/2 c. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1-2 Tbsp honey (preferably raw)
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (preferably raw, I like Bragg's brand)
• 1 Tbsp prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp fish sauce, optional (I like Red Boat brand)
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper hot sauce (I like Frank's Red Hot)

Instructions

It can't get much easier than this...

• Measure tomato paste, water, granulated garlic, granulated onion, molasses, 1 Tbsp of the honey, the apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, fish sauce (if using), sea salt and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
• Taste and add another Tbsp honey and more hot sauce if desired. Transfer to a storage jar.
• Or, measure all ingredients into a 2 cup (1 pint) wide mouth canning jar and use an immersion blender to mix it together.
• Cap tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Note about fish sauce: Fish sauce is a lactofermented Asian condiment and is used to bump up the umami (meaty flavor) in the BBQ sauce. It's good either with or without it, so up to you.
• Note about storage: The sauce gets thicker as it sits in the fridge. Stir before serving and add a tablespoon or so of water if needed to thin out to your preferred consistency.

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Project Date Night: August (and a recipe!)

Can you believe we're into month 8 of Project Date Night? I'm loving it - it really gives me something to look forward to each month and I've been enjoying sharing our date night adventures with you as well.

I came across this water balloon basketball date night idea and thought it was just too cute to pass up. Bummer though, I don't have a basketball hoop. Aha moment: water balloon toss instead.

Anyone else remember that game from fairs or carnivals where you stand on a line and try to toss a ball (or in this case a water balloon) into numbered buckets for points or prizes? I loved that game as a kid!

Project Date Night: June

What's Project Date Night all about? Read all about it here.

Happy Anniversary to us! Hard to believe it's been 5 years already.  Time flies when you're having fun, right? Or is it, 'time flies when you're chronically sleep deprived parents'? I don't remember, as I'm falling asleep on my keyboard as I type this ZZZZzzzzzzzz .  Sorry.

We need to have some better pictures taken at some point....

Anyway, typically 5 years would call for a bit of a celebration, a big to-do and all that. Unfortunately, that just wasn't possible for us this year.  [And side note, I wanted to go on a romantic sunset cruise around a lake on an old steam powered paddle boat, but come to find out, they don't run cruises in June anymore. Apparently it's too cold and rainy. Bummer. And there wasn't a whole lot else to do in our area that was "special".]

Check out my sparkles!

Instead, we opted for something simple at home. When we were dating, I got us a gift certificate to a fondue restaurant (I found out after purchasing that it was actually for a restaurant in a different city than where we lived). You know, the kind where you cook your food on sticks at your table? We never ended up using the gift certificate and then we moved out of state. But, if I ever get to Miami, we could have dinner for free. I digress.

My point is that fondue is fun and since we've never done a "fondue restaurant" date, we decided that our fifth anniversary was a great reason to pull out the mini crock pot and get fondue-ing.

Here's the menu:

• Beef Roast, cubed
• Grilled Shrimp
• Smoky BBQ Sauce
• Horseradish Cocktail Sauce
• Steamed Broccoli and Carrots
• Chocolate Fondue
• Apple Slices
• Strawberries

Did you know that "fondue" refers to the process, not the substance you're dipping into? So instead of cheese fondue (most common for savory fondue) I went with a hot oil fondue for the beef (bonus! Dairy-free!).

Cooking chunks of beef in hot oil can take quite a while, so to speed up the process, I seared the beef ahead of time and we just warmed it through in the hot oil. Also, we grilled the shrimp and served that separately with the steamed veggies. It was yummy!

For the chocolate fondue, I opted for a room temp chocolate fondue, since I already had hot oil going in my mini crock pot and my actual fondue pot has a tendency to overheat and burn my chocolate. See the end of this post for the recipe.

Chocolate Fondue Dip

by Raye

Keywords: stove top dessert condiment egg-free dairy-free gluten-free gaps grain-free paleo refined sugar free soy-free vegetarian almond

Ingredients (about 2 cups)

• 1 c. unsweetened almond butter
• 5-6 Tbsp honey
• 3/4 c. coconut oil
• 3/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• In a small mixing bowl, combine almond butter, honey, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
• Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the coconut oil is melted, turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder a tablespoon at a time. Then, combine the coconut oil/cocoa mixture with the almond butter mixture. Stir well.
• Serve immediately (warm) or at room temperature (cool) with your favorite dippers, such as fruit, graham crackers, cookies or pretzels. Store any leftovers in a jar at room temperature for up to a week.

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Project Date Night: May

I'll keep this short and sweet.  We've been having some beautiful weather here. The kind that just begs you to come outside and play. So play we did.

Our Project Date Night for the month of May actually took place in the afternoon.  Guess what? We actually got a sitter and went out for a few hours while Ry Guy was napping.  (Hurray!!!!)

Oh yeah, and we played a round of mini golf too. It was such a nice afternoon, the family fun park was pretty busy, but we didn't mind waiting at each mini golf hole.

I found out I'm as bad at mini golf as I remember.  Yikes. Good thing it was all in fun. Final score was totally embarrassing, so I'll spare you the details. Let's just say M won.

All's fair in love and mini golf, right?  Read more about Project Date Night here.

Project Date Night: April [The Princess Bride]

So sorry for the delay in posting this! It's been a whirlwind couple of months!

In keeping with my Project Date Night commitment, M and I had plans for a date out in April.  Nothing too fancy, but OUT. Just us.

Sarcastic comment: Do we need a selfie stick?

Then life happened, as it is want to do. Sickness, sitter schedule conflicts, traveling out of town... it boils down to me sitting here on my couch the last week of April and suddenly realizing we hadn't had a date night yet.

Inconceivable!

Enter my handy, dandy back up date plan. Yep, I have a back up plan. Life can get pretty unpredictable, so I had this little date night ready to go just in case something came up and we had to stay home instead of going out. Glad I did!  We love the Princess Bride movie and book, so we had a Princess Bride themed date night in. It was pretty low key, but fun.

Not sure what the hype is all about? Watch the movie trailer on IMDB.

Here's the nitty gritty:

• The idea was inspired by the Dating Divas.  
• I texted M during the work day to "invite" him to our theme date, "Join me tonight in the search for the six-fingered man!" He responded with, "Dun dun DUNH!!!!" [that's dramatic music in case you weren't sure].
• We had our usually dinner with Ry Guy, then put him to bed and munched on some homemade "Magic Pills" while watching the movie. In case you're wondering, in the movie, the Magic Pill is a chocolate covered remedy that revives "mostly dead" the hero of the story, Westley. Our Magic Pills were chunks of almond butter fudge dunked in chocolate. Bite sized yum!
• We also took this printable Princess Bride Quiz. How well do YOU know the movie?
• We laughed and imitated our favorite characters. Classic Fezzik, "Anybody want a peanut?" If you've never seen the movie or read the book, you'll be completely lost at this point. :-)

"magic pills"

I leave you now with the words of the Impressive Clergyman, "Mawage. Mawage is what brwings us togevah today. And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

Project Date Night: March

Here's a look at our Project Date Night for the month of March.  If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, check out my original Project Date Night post here.

Any other Hunger Games fans out there?  If you know me, you know that I am a huge Suzanne Collins fan. I "blame" my buddy C.E. for getting me hooked - she first loaned me the books 2 years ago and I've been a fan of both the Hunger Games books and movies ever since.

Since we're cheap thrifty and already went to see the Hobbit in theaters, we decided to wait until Mockingjay Part 1 was released on DVD and do a theme date at home... Netflix is our friend, guys. Oh yeah... that's how we roll. :). Watch the trailer here!

There are SO many ideas for Hunger Games parties, gifts, crafts, etc. online.  Most of them are for the Hunger Games (the first book/movie) and Catching Fire (the sequel). Not as much for Mockingjay (the 3rd installment).

Project Date Night: February

As promised, here's a look at our February date night.  You can read all about my Project Date Night commitment here.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day! Yes, I just made up a holiday for all you folks out there like me who are a little behind.  We're in the middle of moving to a new apartment right now (In fact, we picked up the keys on Valentine's Day and moved our first load of stuff over to the new place.  How romantic.  Am I right?) so we didn't want to do a big date night out.  We're too old tired for that!  And I'm just now getting around to posting about the date night. It's all good, I keep telling myself.

Love this guy!

I found a great idea on the Dating Divas site for a "Cuddle Kit".  Relaxing on the couch after a busy day sounded good, so that's what we did.

I printed out this card from Dating Divas' Loveseat Lounge date idea and "reserved" our seats on the couch. Then, I left the Cuddle Kit on the coffee table so M could get comfy while I got dinner out.  I decided to do a tapas inspired menu, just a collection of small plates we could share.

This is some of the food and what's left of the Cuddle Kit.

Here's the menu!

• Mediterranean Stuffed Tomatoes (didn't have a recipe for this as all the ones I saw used eggs, cheese or breadcrumbs... all no-no's for me. I stuffed some small camparisi tomatoes with canned wild salmon, Dijon, herbs and a little olive oil. Then I broiled them for a few minutes. They were pretty good, although the filling was pretty soft.  Next time I may add a little gf flour as a binder)
• Pinchitos Morunos (marinated pork on a stick)
• Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
• Mixed Greens Salad with a zesty Citrus Vinaigrette (I used a bagged salad mix for convenience, but prepped this dressing recipe ahead of time)
• Coconut Honey Candy
• Cherry Berry Fizz (Valentine's Day just begs for something pink! This was just cherry juice and blended frozen strawberries mixed with sparkling water... think agua fresca.)

On to the entertainment! While enjoying our tapas, we played a game called the "First Word Game" and then watched a bunch of funny YouTube clips. (Click here for the playlist) Disclaimer:  not everyone finds the same things humorous, but we laughed our heads off. Keep in mind, I would consider this playlist rated PG as there are a few instances of language in a few of the videos.

Overall, a fun and low key date night in.  Hard to believe this was our 5th Valentine's Day together!

Project Date Night: January

As promised, a grim look at my good intentions and date disaster. Ok, so it's really not THAT dramatic. Although, my camera's still busted, so no pics on this post. M got a replacement part though so I hope to have pics against soon!

My plan for January's date was to continue the Hobbit theme we started with our Christmas Eve T-Shirt Tradition.  M is a big Tolkien fan and his birthday is in January, so I thought we'd do a Hobbit themed 2-part date to celebrate his birthday.

Here's what I was supposed to do:


photo credit: the dating divas

On New Year's Eve, we were supposed to stay up late and do Dating Diva's Hobbit Date, with the following menu:
Hobbit Stew (beef stew)
York "Shire" pudding
Elvenking Cobbler (berry cobbler)
Bag End Brew (iced tea)
Treasure (Peanut Butter truffles and Lemon truffles wrapped in gold foil wrappers)
Dragon Jerky (beef jerky)
Ring Cookies (coconut flour cut out cookies)

Then, we were supposed to take the "treasure" (snacks) with us to M's parents' house (where we were headed for the weekend) for the second half of our Hobbit extravaganza  - tickets to see Battle of the 5 Armies in the theatre.
 
Here's what I actually did:

• I made Paleo lemon truffles.  They were really good. So good, I had a hard time staying out of the fridge.  I kept wanting to snack on them.
• I burnt the ring cookies because my brain was totally on hold and I forgot they were in the oven.
• I didn't get to make the Peanut Butter truffles because I took too long with everything else. 
• I was planning to make homemade jerky, but forgot a few weeks ago and ate the beef, so no beef = no jerky and also no Hobbit stew. 
• M requested a cheesecake for his birthday dessert at his parents' house, so I made one here before we left. My thought was, I'll skip the cobbler since we're having cheesecake tomorrow. But, the cheesecake was terrible.  I mean, really terrible. 
• At that point I ended up saying, "FORGET IT!" and skipped the rest of the menu altogether, ate the remaining lemon truffles and went to bed early.

Fast forward 2 days. We went to M's parents' house and I bought more ingredients for cheesecake and actually nailed it. I can't have dairy or eggs, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I also made chocolate bark for me and that came out wicked yum.  We decided to go to the movie on Friday night for the 7:20 showing, which worked out ok, except we were still full from dinner, so we didn't actually snack on the nut mix I brought.  That's probably ok. We had a snack back at the house.

The movie was good. "Very epic", M said. I agree. Really didn't feel like 2-1/2 hours - the action kept it moving. And it was nice to get out without the baby.

So, we had a fun movie date, although it wasn't quite as extensive as I'd hoped.  Oh well. M didn't seem to mind.  Isn't he a keeper?

Project Date Night

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I decided not to do "resolutions" per se this year. Instead, I'm going to do a monthly post on a date night in order to keep me accountable.  Spoiler alert: January's date was a fail... not to epic proportions, but let's just say it didn't go as I'd planned. Stay tuned for that post, if you're interested.

I've said a lot on this blog about the importance of dating your spouse. I still believe that! It does, however, get exponentially harder to do when you have a small child at home (especially if you're nursing), and we've been very lax about dates this past year and a half.  Some families in this situation choose to forego couples only dates and do family outings instead, but I feel that we already do enough family outings and want to make sure M and I get some alone time once a month to connect as adults and spouses, not just parents.

So, Project Date Night, here we come.  Each month, I will post about what we did for a date that month.  Some will be an activity or date "out", some will be a simpler activity or date night "in". Some will be expensive, some will be frugal. Some will be successful, some will flop miserably, I'm sure.

So bear with me!  While I'm doing this more for us than anyone, I do hope that my readers will gain some fresh date ideas to use in strengthening their own relationships.

Here's to building better marriages, one date at a time!

Western Theme Date Night

The lovebirds at the rodeo!

Last week, it was M's turn to plan date night.  He did a hum-dinger of a job, too!

We began our evening with dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.  Nothing like a good steak to get me in a Fan-tas-tic mood. :)

Side note: did you know that Logan's has a "health nut" section of their menu?  Each of the menu choices in that section are guaranteed to be 550 calories or less.  I did the math on my calorie counter at home and found out my meal only cost me 520.

I had a 6 oz sirloin steak (grilled to perfection, I might add), a baked sweet potato (plain, not butter or toppings) and steamed broccoli.  A...maze...ing...

I did splurge a little and have a roll and some peanuts.  And 3 glasses of water.  With my lemon. And M's lemon.  And half of M's water while waiting for my refill...

What can I say? I was just a little thirsty. (I hadn't had nearly enough water that day!)

(Clockwise from left) 1. Invocation / 2. Calf Roping / 3. Clown! / 4. Team Roping

Anyway!  After that, we drove out to the Equestrian Center for the FFA rodeo.  I'm not a huge fan of bull riding, but they had several other events as well.  I personally like the barrel racing the best.

It was also fun to see all the Western wear.  Not to be out done by the 'good ole boy' uniform (scruffy jeans, work boots, a t-shirt and camouflage baseball cap).  We definitely felt like we were in the real south.

Get it here!

To finish our date, we snuggled on the couch and watched a Western flick on Netflix instant play.  It was a John Wayne movie I'd never actually seen before (that's pretty amazing. I thought for sure I'd seen them all by now) - "In Old California".  It was quite a switch to see the Duke playing a polished Boston chemist instead of his usual rough and ready gunslinger (although there's plenty of those in this movie as well). I really enjoyed it!

Western Themed Date Night:
Dinner: $11.00 (we had a gift card that covered the rest of the bill)
Rodeo: $20.00
Movie: Free
Total cost: $31.00

Try this one at home - if you're not into rodeo, you could always go horseback riding, or line dancing.  Or, if you leave near a ranch, check with them to see if they host live entertainment.  There's an "Opry" near us that would have been fun to visit.

And instead of eating out, try grilling out on your patio or back porch... I definitely recommend beef though. For some reason, it just sets the mood.

Would love to hear about your version of a Western themed date night, if you decide to do one - we will have to do this one again, it was a lot of fun!

Date Night: Fire + Ice Theme

I came across a cute ice themed date night idea here.  I was inspired to tweak the idea and make it a "Fire and Ice" theme for us.  It turned out well and we had a good time!

I printed off some clues (word puzzles) onto 4x6 cards - I gave M a card before each part of our date and he had to solve the puzzle before we went on.  The puzzles were really simple, just some clip art that stood for each word, so he solved them really quickly.  Except for the last puzzle... he had a hard time figuring out what "ice cubes + old lady in glasses + movie reel" meant.  So finally, I just let him open up the Netflix envelope and see what movie it was (Ice Age).

Part 1:  Dinner
The most important part! :-)  We started our date off at Firehouse Subs.  Yum!

I had a grilled veggie sub and an Honest Tea.  M had the Smokehouse Beef and Cheddar Brisket and Salt+Vinegar chips.  Hit the spot, I'm telling you.

V-Day

Jalapeno Popper Eggrolls

This year, I wanted to do something special and creative for Valentine's Day, but didn't want to spend a bundle of cash.  I did some checking around online and came up with some fun ideas...

I made a twist on M's favorite appetizer, Jalapeno Poppers...  I did a jalapeno and cheese filling stuffed into eggroll wrappers, then baked them like I did with the Buffalo Chicken Eggrolls a few weeks ago.  They turned out really good!!! M said he would have like it to be a bit spicier, so next time, I'll leave some of the jalapeno seeds and ribs in. Check out the recipe on my recipage, here.

Adventure Date: Caverns Tour

M and I went on a great day trip recently to Florida Caverns State Park.  We spent the day walking nature trails and were able to take a guided tour of the caverns approximately 65 feet underground. 

Hubby and I kind of have a thing for caves... we toured another cave in Colorado last year and loved it.

I also loved the fact that the cave is a balmy 60 ish degrees all year round. Slightly damp, but nice and cool.  Especially in Florida when it's like 80 degrees in October.

Date Night: Mystery Box[ers] Date

I came across a "Sock Date" idea on the Dating Divas website and thought the idea behind it was pretty clever.  In that situation, the husband used funky socks for his wife... since I'm the one planning the date for the Hubby, I used something that's become our sort of inside joke over the last two years - boxers!

The night before our date, I gave him 4 pairs of boxers and

USS Alabama Walking Tour

M and I are history geeks... especially military history... Not too long ago, we headed over to Mobile, Alabama and spent the day wandering around an old ship and submarine exhibit.

Ahem, that's a battleship, or to get even more technical, a South Dakota Class Battleship christened the USS ALABAMA.  If you're a history buff, you can read all about it here.

By the way, in case you're wondering, Mobile is pronounced Mo-BEEL, not MO-bill... Just sayin'.

Of course, I had to take a look at the kitchen, the mess halls (at least 3 of them!) and the bakery.  I don't remember how many thousands of loaves of bread they baked a day, but it was astronomical.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday... It was a pretty good day.  Had to work, but that's life, right?  

1. M sent me flowers at work.  My faves - pink gerber daisies! Awww... isn't he sweet to me?
2. Feeding the ducks at the park.
3. Chilling with my favorite guy after dinner.
4. Birthday dessert - Cheesecake!

For our birthday date, the Hubby and I picked up mexican to go (at Moe's - yum!) and took it to a park downtown.  This may not sound all that fab to you, but it's something we used to do a lot when we were dating, so this particular park is special to us.  They've recently re-landscaped the park, so we had benches to sit on this time.

Apparently, there was a 5K going on that night around the park... so we sat on the bench and watched people run by while eating our burritos.  The irony of it all just gets me.

After dinner, we took a walk around the pond and fed the ducks.  M commented that the ducks quacking sounded like evil laughter... you'd have to be there. But it sort of did.

Cheesecake!  I will be doing a separate post on this in the near future.  It was AMAZING. And yes, I made it myself.  Every year when I mention to anyone that I make my own birthday dessert, I get these sympathetic comments. But really, I enjoy this part of my birthday the most... choosing a different dessert and making it.  YUM.

Another year to thank God for and a fresh year ahead to accomplish great things.  Hope you'll come along for the ride!