Date Ideas

During our premarital counseling session she mentioned date ideas for us to try as a way to communicate both of our love languages. Although the therapist didn't work out for us, I loved this idea. Chad and I both wrote down 5 date ideas and then put them in a jar, some of them take a little more planning then others. On an ideal month we will pick one out and do it for the month, whatever that may be. There were months were we got pretty relaxed and didn't do any of the date ideas but we are back in full swing. What do you and your love one do for date nights?

Also, for the wedding I had a station set up for people to write their marriage advice, and date ideas as well. We got some pretty interesting ones but love what others came up with. What are your most memorable dates?

Date your Spouse

As I mentioned yesterday, we have only been married for 8 months but I have learned a few things in this short amount of time. I have always been interested in the topic of love and marriage. Especially recently since our church is going through a new series called Love Song and our pastor has even written a book about marriage called; “From this day Forward” You can pick a copy up here.

Here are a few things I have learned about marriage

1.       Do things your spouse wants to do even if you don’t. I’m not a big “going to the movies” kind of person. In fact we have Netflix just so we don’t have to go watch it on the big screen. But my husband loves to go to the movies, so sometimes I have to suck up my pride and do it for him.

2.       Pick your battles. If you just fought about him coming home too late 5 minutes ago, it’s probably not a good time to bring up the “You never do the dishes” fight.

3.       Never say Never. Chad hates it when I say the word “Never” during a fight, sometimes it just comes out and then I realize too late. If you read the our pastor’s book he talks about fighting fair which also means do not do things just to start a fight, don’t say the word Never.

4.       Sometimes you just need to lay on the couch with your significant other. The to-do’s lists can wait. Spend time just watching tv or cuddling with your spouse.

5.       Be open about going to counseling. Chad and I went to our pre-marital counseling through a therapist and although the therapist wasn’t for us we did decide to go back for check-ups. We have gone for a 6 month checkup and we will go again for a year checkup. There isn’t any trouble in paradise for us but we believe that it’s good to discuss things before there is a major problem. Fail-proofing our marriage is what I like to call it.

6.       Forgive and Forget. This is probably my biggest struggle, I can forgive but I don’t forget very easily. When it comes to marriage it’s important to not bring up past arguments during current arguments just to make yourself look good and the other person bad. Now if you have argued about the dishes before and they still aren’t being done, I think it’s ok to bring it up again. Chad always disagrees with me on this one.  (Yes I have mentioned dishes twice now. Can you figure out what the biggest argument is?). And by the way, if the dishes are your biggest argument you’re doing alright.

7.       Praise each other in public. We will be at a friend’s house and I might be having a disagreement with one of our friends. I may be completely wrong but Chad will back me up 100%. He might tell me in the car that I was completely wrong but in front of people he always has my back

8.       Learn each other’s love language. I am a huge fan of the 5 love languages, just ask my husband. He gets sick of me talking about it or referencing it during arguments. I honestly think the man who wrote the book is a complete genius. My husband’s love language is Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation. Physical Touch is easy it’s the Words of Affirmation that I’m not too good with but I’m working on it.

Dating your Spouse

Like I mentioned yesterday I am currently traveling for work so my husband is holding the fort down at home while I am away. Now we have only been married for almost 8 months so I’m by no means the expert in relationships but here are a few things I like to do when I’m away from my honey bun!

I try and make him dinner and breakfast for the days I’ll be away. Rather that is freezer meals or a casserole, depending on how long I’ll be gone, it’s a great way to have them think of you while eating their dinner. Now we are talking about men here so make sure you leave heating instructions for themJ. My husband isn’t a big dessert man but another option is to make a dessert for your loved ones as well. Now some people might argue that this is how they become spoiled but I secretly like it.

One other special thing I do for my man when I’m away is write love notes and stick them in places he will find in the days ahead, like on his pillow and in his shoes. I mean what is more romantic than love notes?

Weekend Recap

Every month we try and set time out to have a date; just the two of us. Whenever we went to pre-marital counseling the therapist advised us to both write down date ideas and every month pick from the list and go on a date! I absolutely loved this idea and will share more about our dates and adventures later on but this month was probably my favorite yet. The date read to have afternoon drinks but we took it a little bit further than that. We decided to explore an area in our local town where we had never been before. Our adventure started at a bar and ended at a restaurant called “Hey Mambo”, little did we know it was an Italian place not a Mexican restaurant.  We had so much fun exploring our town and trying out new/different places to eat together. Here are a few pictures from our date.

 

 

We absolutely love Oklahoma and everything it has to offer. Sometimes it's hard to get stuck in the familiar so it's nice to get out and explore places we hadn't been before.

Parade of Homes

I absolutely love going into open houses or newly built houses, etc. Mainly just to get decorating ideas!! From where I live they have a Parade of Homes event every year where new builders showcase their homes for sale. I’ve gone to this event for the past 3 years and love it!! We normally go to one of the most expensive neighborhoods around and go into the big houses there, the way they stage them is amazing. Here are just some of the pictures I took at this year’s Parade of Homes. Great date idea too, since it’s free to attend J

Love this backsplash

 

 

It’s a bookcase with a storm shelter!! Brilliant, especially here in Oklahoma

Outdoor Kitchen which I love and have been begging hubs to build one. Oh and my mom who went with me since hubby doesn’t like to go to these things (Party pooper)

I’m so in love with these sliding barn doors, I wish I saw them when we were building our house

And this is just clever, a rack in the laundry room to hang your clothes

To look up an event in your area go to your areas Homes Builders Association website to check it out