Day 365: A Date

For my last act of love, I took you on a date while our kids were in AWANAS. We went to a Chinese restaurant in town called Red Pepper. Again, we had our youngest, but that was cake compared to having all three. We had excellent service from a very kind server and the food was great. I ordered the lemon chicken and I have no clue what you ordered, though I’m thinking it was something Chinese.

I’m glad I got to spend some quality time with you for my last act of 365 Acts of Love. May it be one in a lifetime of acts of love.

Day 358: Woodie’s Bar-B-Q

Our kids started attending AWANAS, which makes me happy. For one thing, they’re learning the Bible. For another thing, we get to drop them off every Thursday and have a date, with our youngest as a ride-along. Taking care of a single kid is soooooo easy compared to three!

For this AWANA date, I took you to Woodies BBQ in Goleta, a place we’ve been itching to go to. I ordered a burger, like I always do, and you ordered a chicken sandwich. We were so excited. However, we weren’t too impressed with the food. [Don’t judge the restaurant by us. We know lots of people who love it.] Even still, we had a blast!

Day 346: Family Movie Night

For this act of love, I planned a family movie night for us. I can’t remember what we saw, but I’m sure it was something with a pink or purple cover. We had popcorn, we turned off the lights (our oldest likes to do this because it reminds her of the drive in theater), and we snuggled together on the couch under a blanket.

Day 262: Anniversary Date #2

For our second anniversary date, I took you on a 1-hour sunset cruise near Stearn’s Wharf in Santa Barbara. This was the act that I intended for day 250, but had to put it off until now. I’m glad I got to use it for our anniversary.

We had an absolutely wonderful time and are anxious to do it again. The evening was calm and cool and the sunset over Santa Barbara was beautiful. Not only that, I really enjoyed you snuggling up to me as we took it all in. Here‘s a video and here are some pictures:

Day 255: A Date

Over the weekend, we went to Cambria for a family reunion. I took you on a date to Main Street Grill while we were there.

It was nice to revisit the town where we spent our first year of marriage and the burger place that we’ve eaten at more times than I’d like to know. Doing things like that helps us reconnect.

Day 193: Date-Night Jar

On Sunday, I came up with an idea for a date-night jar, something that we can put money into in order to save up for dates. I’m not the most artistic person, so I asked you to decorate a label for the jar. Here’s the finished product:

Originally, I had my eye on this jar, one you received from your grandma:

You said we couldn’t use it because you didn’t want it to break. But you really meant that you didn’t want me to break it. I’m insulted. What on earth would make you think that? 😉

Don’t you think our date-night jar will be fun and useful? For one, we can use it to make going out together a priority. Rather than going out occasionally when it crosses our minds and we happen to have the money, we can put our dates on the calendar and save for them using our jar. For another thing, saving up for our dates will really build the anticipation for them. We’ll be able to see our progress by checking the jar and realizing how close we’re getting to our goal. When the date finally comes, we’ll be excited and ready for it. Three, having a jar to save for dates can help us budget for dates. Rather than spending a bunch of money all at once, we’ll spread the cost of a date over a longer period of time.

PS: After taking a picture of your grandma’s jar, I dropped the lid and it broke. I’m in a heap of trouble.

Day 181: Casablanca

On March 21st, Casablanca was re-released in theaters in celebration of the 70th anniversary of its 1942 release. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see it. So on Tuesday, we ate popcorn and watched Casablanca on DVD for an in-home date. The movie was amazing, of course. You didn’t finish it though, but fell asleep while snuggling me on the couch.

Day 66: It Happened One Night

Tonight, I took you on a surprise date. We never left the house, though: our newborn’s still too young for us to go on a real date, so we takes what we can gets. To prepare for the date, I first snuck out to Trader Joe’s and bought you a pack of eight exotic chocolates:

Then, on Amazon Instant Video I bought It Happened One Night, one of the greatest romantic comedies in film history–and that without the benefit of Hanks and Ryan’s chemistry or McConaughey’s abs (not that you care about the latter!).

I chose this movie because we really bonded over it while dating, and I hoped that watching it again would take you back to those days. 

After we put the girls to bed I told you about our date and showed you the chocolates and the movie. You flipped–for the chocolates, that is. You didn’t even remember It Happened One Night, let alone that we watched it together! But it stands out in my memory as something that really brought us together. Oh well. 

On our date, we watched the film and tasted each one of the chocolates, attempting to note their distinctive flavors (we like to pretend that we’re connoisseurs). The chocolates and the film were most excellent. When we went to bed, you gave me the sweetest goodnight kiss. Though you couldn’t remember the film, at least you were reminded of my love for you.

Day 30: Date Night

Having a newborn around makes it nearly impossible to go out on a date. So, yesterday I took you on a date without us leaving the house. In preparation, I watched the kids while you got ready just like you would for a real date. Then, I picked flowers for you–yes, I resorted to picking flowers; see day 2. You laughed at them because they paled in comparison to the roses I brought you last week. I suppose you’re beginning to expect great things from me. After we put the girls to bed, we sat down for our date, which involved watching Jane Eyre (2011), eating dark chocolate and popcorn, and drinking sparkling pink lemonade. Oh, it also involved our newborn who wanted to coo more than watch the film (how uncultured!). At the end of the night, I got a kiss. Though our date wasn’t earth shattering, I think it made you feel special.