Six dates with my husband, anniversary edition

Four years ago, May 27 was a very hot day. Perfectly sunny. Couldn't ask for better weather for a garden wedding.

I felt so pretty.



And really really happy.



I'm a lucky girl. My husband is kind, responsible, funny, intelligent, hard-working. He vacuums, does the dishes, takes care of our lawn, folds the laundry, picks up. He's an amazing father who takes time to play with Luke, read to him, tell him things. He listens to me when I am crazy. He supports me. He makes me feel pretty. He loves me.

To celebrate our four year anniversary, we both had the day off of work. He bought me flowers in our wedding colors (pink and orange). Gorg.

He gave me chocolate and a skirt and bracelet from a store I like. They were almost just right.... But I did return them. I'm bad, I know. He tried!

After I bought my new skirt, we went to dinner. We tried to get a family photo first. That didn't work out very well.

Trying to coax him up to sit with us. He wasn't having it.

So it was just us two.

That knitted shrug was the one I wore at my wedding! Made by my dear friend and maid of honor, Kelly, who also snapped that family photo for us!



After the picture taking was done, we went to dinner at the Forest Grill, the restaurant of the year. It was wonderful. Especially my entree. It was a vegetarian dish with gnocchi and something green and something drizzly and I don't know WHAT I was putting in my mouth but it was freaking delicious. Dessert was also to die -- a bread pudding with bits of chocolate just mingling around and melting into a gooey, sugary, bread-y, creamy wonderfulness. The only hitch with dinner was that the two glasses of wine I ordered did not cost $9 each as I thought but $17 each. Um, whoops!

After dinner we found a bar with a guy playing live music and we sat and listened and talked before coming home. It was a great anniversary date! I cannot believe four years have gone by. We have our ups and downs, bad times and good times. But I love my husband and our family and our life. I'm very very lucky. I suppose the word is blessed.

Catching up

Ha! I make a post saying I'm back and then take off another few days.

Forgive me. This month is just nutso insane. Lots going on. I'll stop now and get on with it.

Since I have a lot of catching up to do, I'm going to do a little run through the list. Shall we?

Bake sourdough bread: Nope, sorry. I am saving this for the fall. Won't it be nice when the first chill hits the air to take to the kitchen and bake up a loaf of sourdough? To serve with a big pot of soup? Mmmm. Yes, I will save this for sure.


Call my brothers once a month: Talked to Scott today! We had lots to talk about. He put an offer in on a condo. And he got himself a puppy! Ozzie... do you not love him?

Do a random act of kindness: Um, wow. Just realized my day is tomorrow! I'll be uber busy with the March for Babies. We'll see what I can come up with.


Do something service related: See above! I think raising money for the March of Dimes counts! Right?

Drink more water: Oh my goodness. How amazingly I'm failing at this one! I just am not drinking water at all. Barely a sip. What happened? I don't know! Well, most likely, I simply got lazy. The result is I've been more tired and grumpy feeling all month. Can I really blame that on lack of water? I think so! It's a subtle difference, but drinking a good amount of water just makes everything work better. My mind, my body, my sleep, everything.

Eat right (more whole grains, less meat, more fruits and veggies): Doing OK. Not great. Social events make eating right tough. Being tired and grumpy makes the desire to cook wane. The result: too much eating out and not taking my lunch to work with me. But I'm please to report I did try: at the Frozen Four, I walked around the concourse until I found a vendor that sold veggie burgers. The funny part is that I am pretty sure they still served me a cheeseburger. But I did try! I also ordered veggie creole at my husband's birthday dinner, bypassing many many tempting dishes with andoielle sausage. Mmmmm sausage. This morning, at breakfast out with friends, I ordered a vegan tostada. So there! I'm trying! The one area I could really stand to work on is fruit. Surprising because I love fruit. So why am I barely eating any?


Establish a 6 a.m. workout routine: Boooo! Since Jazzercise, this hasn't happened. Time to get back on the train. I am buying a four-month membership to Jazzercise. That'll do the trick.

Fast once per quarter: Maybe I should set a date.

Go on six dates with the hubby man: Check mark! We had a great time last weekend at his surprise 30th birthday party. Most of it was a solo date. First, I took him to the gun range. I know it's weird, but he's been having a mimi mid-life crisis lately about his lack of "life experiences," among them, shooting a gun. So we bought a round of bullets and rented him a 9mm. I have never felt more out of place anywhere in my life (well, except maybe all of middle school). After that, we had dinner with family and friends at his favorite restaurant, then a drink with a couple more friends before heading out to see Jerry Seinfeld at the Fox Theatre. Best part of the show: a lengthy bit about Pop-tarts. Worst part: when the guy behind us commented to his friend how the theatre might be a terrorist target because of "all the Jews there."

Go to breakfast with friends once a month: It's possible I did two this month! Once with my friend Jen, followed by a refreshing 30 minute walk. And this morning with one of my 13 pregnant friends, followed by a fabric shopping trip. I love Saturday mornings.

OK, we'll do the next 10 tomorrow!

Valentine's Day date

Our first date was last weekend. It was really two dates in one.

Part one: We got dressed up and went to a fund-raiser. Like rich people do! But we're not rich. Still, somehow we walked out of the silent auction several hundred dollars poorer because I went a little nut-so and decided it was time for a trip to Drummond Island. What's that? You don't know where Drummond Island is? What's that? It's not on your list of destination vacation hot-spots? Well, what do you know, OK? Drummond Island is a rugged little scenic spot in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That's the part of Michigan that doesn't look like a mitten, FYI for non-Michiganders. You have to get there on a boat. And get there we will -- for four nights* next September, we'll get there, thanks to part one of our date.

I blame the wine. Also the exhilaration of being out of the house for the night with no baby to come home to at all. He stayed with grandma and grandpa. So we were free! Free! I love my son, but there is something so wonderful now about having no responsibility to another person, if even for a few hours. And I think the glee of that went right to my writing hand, which was just twitching to bid on something, anything.

One thing glee can't overcome: the total exhaustion I feel constantly these days. We ended the night stopping at a bar for the "30-something crowd." That's how we roll these days! Neither of us ordered a drink. It was past 11. I could barely keep my eyes open. By midnight, I was in bed, asleep.

Part two of the date began on Valentine's Day morning. I slept in until 9 a.m. Bliss. Then I came downstairs to find red and white roses and a card. I expected the card, but not the flowers. It was so satisfying to know that he'd managed to get them the previous day and hide them in the house somewhere. A few years ago, he most certainly would not have thought that far ahead. Then I opened the card to find a hand-written nicely typed letter. I'd asked for one thing for Valentine's Day: a love letter. I never said hand-written so oh well. Anyway, it was very sweet, recounting a bunch of moments we've shared, things big, things small. Made me choke up a little bit.

At 11, we went to breakfast at a place in Detroit called La Dolce Vita. Here's what our breakfast had: valet parking a stones-throw away from the nearest strip club; a former NBA player taking his wife and daughter out; at least two cute gay couples out on dates; a guy with dreads to his butt playing live music; the waiters in pajamas; beautiful upside-down U-shaped windows streaming sunlight into the room; and three entrees to split. (One for each of us, and one for the fat part of our brains that wanted us to get just one more).

We finished the date with a stop at John King books and a challenge: we had to each find the other person a book in 10 minutes. It was a lot of fun. I'm actually hoping this part of the date becomes a Valentine's Day tradition. It was tough! Ten minutes is not much time to browse for the perfect book for your sweetheart in a  used book store. In the end, we each sort of picked two and let the other pick. I got him a book called "This is Your Brain on Music," which explains why we love music and how composers manipulate us, and for me, he picked out a book about toddler's brain development. We're a couple of crazy, brainy kids aren't we?

Some photos from our first date of 2010:

     At the fancy schmancy fund-raiser...

He's so natural in front of the camera! Also, we were pleased that they didn't totally gorge us on the OJ. 

Only $2.

My breakfast. English muffin, poached egg, smoked salmom and artichokes, with roasted potatoes. Yummy.

* Four nights indeed. When I won the trip, I totally counted it as five nights. So yeah, the "deal" I got is not quite as good as I thought.

A few random bits

I updated my header. What do you think? Does the photo look distorted? I wanted to get the words in a better place than Blogger was allowing me to put them, so I enlisted the help of Photoshop. But I really don't know what I'm doing on there, so please, give me your feedback.

I'm kicking butt drinking water today. Why? Because I'm working from home and the faucet and the bathroom are both mere steps away. No doubt about it, that's me biggest problem at work, getting up over and over to walk to the water and the bathroom. Lately, I haven't been doing so at all.

Started reading the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society this week. Very good so far. And it's great for my little thing about writing a handwritten letter! It's showing me just how poor I am with my letter-writing. I just straight-up don't know what to say. Isn't that kind of sad?

I went to the library last night and checked out three books on crafting. I'm soooooo geeked. I want to make 10,000 things. I'm planning a trip to Arts and Scraps in the morning. And maybe Michael's later tonight, if I think Luke can handle it. Or if I can handle it -- I'm not feeling well, despite all my water and a cup of hot tea.

Also want to recommend this blog I came across the other day. I like it. And I'm very interested to try the whole wheat bread recipe she created.  I wonder where I would find vital wheat gluten. Whole Foods?

Finally, who can tell me the difference between whole wheat flour and WHITE whole wheat flour. Is this a fake whole grain or a real one?

Tomorrow is date night!

Some ideas for dates

We've been going to a new church the last few months. It's great -- a little bit kooky, not afraid to be different, but different in ways that feel authentic and purposeful. Each Sunday, I don't know what to expect, but I leave feeling filled up with desire to know God more, to trust Him more, to love more, to serve more. It fills my cup.

One of the things they've been doing recently is the Great Date Experiment, where they ask couples to go on a date each month for six months. They give you a blueprint for each date -- a guide to follow that incorporates different facets of marriage from communication to romance. I just discovered this today, and the "experiment" might be nearing its end. But I'm going to try one of these blueprints soon. You can find them here -- just scroll down the page a bit.

We won't be able to try them on our next date though. On Saturday, we're going to a charity function (the Heart of a Child Fundraiser) that includes dinner and live music and a silent auction. I'm counting it as a date night, especially because Luke is staying at his grandparents, and I think in the morning, on Valentine's Day, we'll probably go out to breakfast. Which we all know is one of my favorite things (and one of my 20 little things). Since the night is already arranged, we'll save the experimenting for next time.

For this time, I'm just eagerly anticipating a night out without worry of coming home early to free the baby-sitter, a chance to get dressed up and go to a function organized by someone else, for something that supports my cause.

Reading elsewhere

Go on six dates with my husband

Here's a blogger who is shooting much higher than me. She's doing a date each week with her husband. They stay home and don't spend money, which is makes it interesting. They take turns figuring out what they'll do during their designated "date" time. She has a contract on her Web site if you want to participate. I feel like I could never do this! But it's a great idea.

Drink more water
Here's a five-step plan to help anyone who is trying to drink more water.

Establish a 6 a.m. workout plan that works.
Another mom who blogs is also playing with working out in the morning. Maybe she's on to something -- going to an actual class to ensure she's up and working out. It's really easy to tell myself I'm going to skip it (as I did all week) when I'm just going downstairs to workout to a DVD.

Make something crafty
I love these mosaic garden planters. So cute. Maybe this will be my craft project? We'll see. I'm going to collect a bunch of ideas before picking something.

Eat more whole grains
Oprah had Michael Pollen on her show this week. He's the writer who came up with the phrase, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." On the Big O's Web site, she has a little guide to cooking with whole grains. I think that can be the stumbling block for a lot of people who look at these bird seed looking stuff and think, 'What the heck am I supposed to do with that?'

Do a Random Acts of Kindness each month
I noticed this story. Kind of cool. Someone dropped a pair of rings into a Salvation Army bucket, and it's being chalked up as a random act of kindness.