Date Idea: Roller Skating

Kris’ Take:  If you’re not sure of what to do one night you can always take a trip back to when the two of you were younger.  For me, this brings me back to about 8th grade.  Roler skating is cheap, fun, and a great way to spend your night out.  It allows for the two of you to get into a very vulnerable and funny position.  The truth is, no matter how good at skating you once were, if you haven’t been on skates in years, you’re bound to look funny at least the first hour.  This happend to me when Laura and I had gone out.  I didn’t fall… but I came very, very close.

Of course this isn’t the romantic dinner and sunset followed by the long walk on a beach, but it’s a really fun and innocent way to spend your night out, have some laughs, and just enjoy each others company.  You can hold hands, talk, and just have a good time.  And nothing strips your dignity more than doing the chicken dance on roller blades.

Start a Date Planner

Laura: “What do you want to do?”

Kris: “I don’t know, what do you want to do?”

Laura: “Do you want get something to eat?”

Kris: “Sure, where do you want to go?”

Laura: “I don’t know, where do you want to go?”

Kris: “Doesn’t matter to me…”

Laura’s Take: I know you’ve heard this conversation before. This is me and Kris nearly everytime we go out! We’ll sometimes even take up to an hour just to figure out what we’ll do for the rest of the day. Kris and I are both pretty organized and well-prepared people. When we couldn’t even decide on what to do for an afternoon, we decided that we needed to make a change.

So here’s what we did. We began writing a list of all the activities that we can do in our town, and I mean every activity, even the ones we probably wouldn’t do. Then we made another list of all the restaurants in the area and grouped them into categories according to price and cuisine. So now when we ask each other about what to do or where to eat, we can easily browse through all of our possible choices.

Kris and I have actually even take this one step further. We’ve completely planned out specific days from start til end. Not everyone can handle this kind of planning, but for Kris and I, it’s just what we needed. With our busy schedules, it’s hard to think of ideas off the top of your head. Planning things ahead of time takes a lot of stress off us and leaves us to just enjoy our time together.

Kris’ Take: I can’t count the number of times that we’ve had that conversation, but we’ve got everything pretty well planned out now so that we don’t need to even worry about what to do. Just look at the schedule and enjoy your day! It’s tough when you’re making the schedule because it can be somewhat tedious, but once it’s done it really makes the rest of your days so much easier. I even know what we’re doing tonight! It’s nice to know what to wear and what I’ll need to do. I highly suggest trying out this idea, especially if you have conversations like the one above!

Date Idea: Mini Golf!

Laura’s Take: Seriously, How awesome is Mini golf?! It’s fun and makes me feel like a kid again! That has to be my favorite thing about miniature golf. Kris and I love going to play some mini golf because we don’t have to be serious at all, it’s just good, clean, childish fun! And childish can be a good thing. For instance, it’s your first date and you’re both having trouble opening up and being yourself. Mini golf lets you both lighten up and get to having some fun!

It’s fun, easy, and pretty cheap… I’ve never seen a mini golf course that charges more than $15.00 per person. A few things to remember about this date: make sure it is a nice course, not one that just looks like a few holes and a random clown, make sure that it’s one of those adventure themed courses. Congo River Golf is our personal favorite. It really makes the whole experience! Also, don’t forget to make plans for a nice lunch or dinner afterwards. I’m positive that this date will be a hole in one! Sorry for the cheesy phrase, I just had to!

Kris’ Take: I really enjoy playing mini golf. It’s like being at a random small piece of paradise. You have pirate ships, waterfalls, good tropical music. Of course, that all depends on which course you go to. No use in wasting your money, pay the bit extra and go to a nice one. This is a fun day out and it’s not too short or too long. You can still fit other things into your day also, like dinner. I think this makes not only a wonderful first date, but a wonderful date for just about anytime.

Hot Tamales rates this idea:

4 out of 5 Hearts

Date Map: Dinner, Shopping, Movie

Kris’ Take: Last night Laura and I had a little date night. We knew that we were going to go shopping, go to a movie, and go to dinner. We didn’t know where and in what order, but that’s what we knew. As we made our drive we originally were going to go to Olive Garden, but her and I are very much against doing the “same old, same old” so we decided to go to:

The Dinner

Smokey Bones Was great! Seating was courteous and immediate! They made a wonderful first impression when you walk in. The inside looks like a very classy log cabin with stone work and thick beams of natural wood everywhere. If you’re worried about kids, don’t worry. They have a little speaker box on the table that allows you to hear the sound from any of the many different televisions they have there. Once seated it did not take long for the waitress to greet us and present us with menus. She promptly asked for our drink order, two Cokes. After reading through the appetizers Laura and I decided on the cornbread with honey pecan butter.

For our entrees Laura and I decided upon their Top Sirloin steak. The waitress brought the entrees and everything looked wonderful, but this has happened to me before. Laura seemed to be enjoying her meal so I cut into my steak and I must say they did great! They cooked it perfectly, the taste was great, and not over or under seasoned. The check was only $41.00 which pales in comparison to many other steak houses I’ve patronized and left unhappy. The meal was very good, the service was great, and our glasses were never empty for too long, and that’s only if they got empty–Which I think happened once. All-in-all this is a restaurant I would visit again and recommend to friends.

The Shopping

We went to the local mall and went to a few stores. Nothing really all that interesting was going on here. Abercrombie was drenched in that horrible cologne as usual and phone salesmen were licking their chops at speaking with Laura and I, but we just kind of huddle up and keep talking and it doesn’t let them get a word in edgewise. Luckily dinner took up a majority of the time so we didn’t have to spend too much time shopping, or getting harassed by phone salesmen. The mall is very nice and has many stores but unless you’re looking for something this can get boring quickly.

The Movie

It breaks my heart to give Semi-Pro this rating, but the movie did not live up to its hype. Laura and I are huge, huge Will Ferrell fans, and this is one out of maybe two of his films that has disappointed us. The idea behind the film is: Jackie Moon is the owner, coach, and forward for a semi-pro basketball team called the Tropics. Soon he learns that the NBA will be absorbing some of the teams and dissolving the league. It is then left up to Jackie Moon to get the team into shape so they can be one of the four teams to be absorbed into the NBA. We went in with high hopes, but the movie fell flat in many areas, and like many other films–the funniest parts were highlighted in the movie’s trailer. We did see a promising preview of an upcoming Will Ferrell movie which we hope to be much better, but this movie had people walking out of the theater. I gave Will Ferrell the benefit of the doubt and finished the movie but it was weak throughout. It was filled with the standard Will Ferrell comedy style, which I warmly welcome, but it lacked any freshness and suffered from a very weak story line. Ultimately the night was okay, made best by the dinner and being with each other, but we were disappointed in the movie. Overall the highlight of my night was spending it with Laura, and I think that will always be my highlight.

Night out with my honey:

Beautiful Day Out

Kris’ Take: We have so many great technologies; so much so that we stay inside, and we never leave! But I see, especially as of recently, that there are so many beautiful days passing us by. I can assure you that spending a beautiful day out with the person you love will feel so much better than staying inside. I endorse parks so heavily because they are serene, typically quiet, and the more people that go to parks the stronger conservation efforts will be when the time comes to determine whether the park should remain or be mowed down for a parking lot. Being in a calming and beautiful environment promotes a better feeling physically and mentally. This leads to better conversations and I think it would even help with tense situations. Being couped up inside with all of the artificial light and the stuffy air can only perpetuate sad or angry emotions and certainly does not promote a happy or good mental/physical disposition.

I highly suggest going on a nice walk or bike ride through a park, and just enjoy your time together in a beautiful place.

Date Tip: Be Yourself

Laura’s Take: After much review, Kris and I have decided that the most important thing for someone to remember on a date is to be yourself! People tend to over prepare themselves for a date and then forget that they need to be themselves! It is smart to prepare, that’s something we always want people to do before a date. But if you’re focusing too much on little details and forget about being yourself, you can forget about ever getting a second date. We hear so often how people change after you get married and move in together. Not to scare you off, but being upfront with someone from the beginning will give them a little insight into what they could expect if all goes well.

Guys, We want to get to know the real you, not who you think we want you to be! Tell us what’s important to you, what you care about, what do you like to do, and things you like and don’t like. On a first date, yes, the little details are still important to keep in the back of your mind, but it’s more important to give a clear representation of who you really are. This’ll give your date the information she needs to know to decide if you’d be right for her.

Try to not Correct

Laura’s Take: This is some very, very valuable advice, men. Don’t ever provoke a woman to anger, because you won’t like us when we’re angry. And one thing that annoys me more than anything else, is when someone corrects me. It’s the easiest way to put me in a bad mood. I don’t care if I misspell a word, mispronounce a word, or pick a wrong word completely, I just don’t want to feel like my man is going to constantly point out my mistakes to me. I know I make silly mistakes here and there, everyone does, but it’s just down right cruel when you’re being corrected all the time for it.

Kris has learned about this pet peeve of mine. He tries very hard to not correct my errors, just because he knows how upset I get. When it’s something little, is it really necessary to correct the person, especially if you know that they may be sensitive to criticism? If a man could completely avoid an argument just by not correcting his wife, why wouldn’t he just opt to ignore the mispronunciation? I don’t know! Many women, like me, aren’t fans of criticism. We just don’t take it well. So I figure, leave me and my misspelling ways alone and we’ll both get along super!

I’m not trying to say that correcting someone else’s mistakes is always a bad thing, in fact sometimes it can be quite constructive and helpful. If someone honestly believes something that you know is wrong, and could potentially even hurt them in the future, you should let them know they are incorrect. In cases like these, we might be offended at first, but will eventually we’ll thank you for showing us the error of our ways. Otherwise, please try to ignore the little things, they’re just not worth it.

Kris’ Take: Yeah, this is definitely a pet peeve of Laura’s, but I’m getting better about it! Every once in a while I still do it though. I never do it to show her she’s wrong, but because it’s a pet peeve of her’s it’s hard to interpret it that way. This is a good example of figuring out each other so you understand what you can and can’t do. I love Laura a lot so I don’t want to do anything that hurt’s her, so conciously I try not to, but every once in a while it will come up on accident. The only thing I can say is: if this happens to be a pet peeve of yours, let your significant other know so they can try to work on it. And while they’re trying to work on it, you work on your reactions when it happens (This is assuming you have a fairly negative reaction when you’re corrected.). It’s all about communication, without communication the relationship could break down pretty quickly on small things even like this. You need to discuss what bothers the two of you, and find a compromise. Once the compromise is reached everyone needs to commit to it and make it an honest effort.

Top ways to show you love and care

Kris’ Take: This list is going to cover the top ways that I feel someone can demonstrate that they love and care for someone. This list will include simple and obvious things in theory, but sometimes these are the hardest things to remember to do.

1. Listen – This is one of those obvious but sometimes difficult things to do. Sometimes you just get lost in thought, but when the person you love is pouring their heart out it means a lot when you’re able to give them meaningful responses. It upsets me when I will be in conversation with Laura, and something happens around me that causes my attention to be diverted. It makes Laura feel less special. I like Laura to feel like she is the most special person in the world to me, and I can’t do that if I’m not listening properly.
2. Support – There’s a lot of crazy ideas out there, but if the one you love feels a need to do something (as long as it is morally correct) then you should give them your backing. It’s a terrible feeling when you have an idea that you believe in, but the person that you love makes you feel like you’re ridiculous or completely insane for thinking it. If it doesn’t pose some kind of disaster to the relationship or security of the family than give them the support they need to accomplish it. If there is a huge risk then it needs to be throughly discussed and weighed out. But whatever the idea, no matter how big or small, try to offer support because there are too many critics already.
3. Be Equal – Men want to be treated like men, true, we like to have the masculine roles in the relationship, but that doesn’t mean that anyone needs to be treated in an inferior manner. Just because the guy takes out the garbage and fixes the car doesn’t mean that there needs to be an inferior status it just means that he’s good at what he does and she’s good at what she does. A brain surgeon might be great at doing surgery but I don’t want him working on my car. A relationship includes having a mutual respect for the work that the other does.
4. Share – One thing that my parents did which I still don’t understand was they kept all money seperate, I guess this was an advantage once they got divorced. It’s okay to keep track of your finances but keeping them seperate creates a division in the relationship. By saying, “This is mine and that is yours” is kind of going against the idea of a marriage making two become one. And the only reason I can see people doing this is in preparation for divorce if that occurs. If you’re preparing for divorce, don’t get married. Some people might do it for accounting purposes, but it escapes me why the accounting can’t occur as a whole, it would make it easier that way anyways. It’s easier to look at one income and one outgoing rather than tracking two.
5. Team Work – Tackle tough tasks as a couple. While you’re at it, tackle the easy tasks as a team also. Laura and I wash the dishes together and she always thanks me and lets me know how much easier it makes it for her. And Laura will always help me with some of my extra work because she knows the work load that I’m currently handling is pretty big too. If we did this in everything then it might dramatically cut down on the stress one feels in a relationship. Support each other in the tasks that you might not be able to do together and use team work in the ones that you can help each other in. By doing the bare minimum in a relationship you’re ensuring that the one you supposedly love has to pick up the slack. By doing that little bit extra you can turn a mundane task into a nice conversation while taking ome of the work load. I like doing the dishes with Laura because we seem to always have nice conversations while we do it.

Writing Love Notes

Kris’ Take: I’m not going to give you a poem to write, but I will give some tips because Laura and I leave little notes for one another often. Depending on the reason, you may or may not want to write a long, enthralled note. A lot of the information depends on how your significant other feels about reading. I like when Laura writes me long detailed notes but other people might prefer less reading. What ever you do, make sure you express your emotion, and be creative. A note that says I love you is nice and it might be enough to put a smile on their face (It should be at least!). You might want to elaborate how much you love them:

Serious: I love you with all of my heart (I know, a little cliche, but I used it to get my idea across.)

Poetic: I love you from the depths of the ocean to the stars in the sky.

Funny / Creative / Awkward: I love you with the passion of a thousand suns.

No matter what you write, notes are great because they always say something else; that you were thinking about them. That’s probably the most meaningful part of the whole thing. It’s very warming when I find a note that Laura hid because I don’t expect it, and it tells me that she’s thinking of me. I know that Laura thinks of me, but having something like that happen just makes you feel good, and there’s no denying it.

Laura’s Take: I completely agree with you, notes are a great way to let the person you love, know how you feel about them. Some people have a hard time telling someone how they feel in person, and writing notes is a helpful alternative which still gets the point across.

I love hiding notes for Kris. The only problem is I’m very impatient and I want him to find the notes right away so I can hear his response. It’s so much fun finding a cute note from your significant other, especially when you’re not expecting it. When he finally finds it, it puts an instant smile on his face!

My favorite note Kris ever wrote me was from about a year ago. I guess he would put under the “Funny/Creative/Awkward” category. It’s kind of hard to describe, but I’ll do my best. He described things that really love other things, but the love he has for me is even greater than that. Ok, example: “I love you more than Pop-eye loves Spinach.” It was so cute and clever that I keep it in a little box of all the cute stuff he’s given me.

Gift Ideas for Men

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The Fishing Man Gift Ideas
The Grilling Man Gift Ideas

Kris’ Take:  Women always want to know what to get their man for holidays, I’ll do the best I can to provide some general ideas that may help you out.  You’ll have to gauge your guy to make sure these fit with his personality or career, but I think this will be a decent start:

• A nice watch (Laura got me a very nice one and I loved it!)
• A new briefcase (This is better for businessmen so get this if it’s needed, or if it’s better than the one he has.)
• A nice suit (Men like looking good for their women, so if you had him a suit that you say is hot, he’ll probably like it.)
• A better phone (These have become integral to businessmen)
• New shoes (I wear my shoes until the sole is gone, Laura doesn’t let this happen to me anymore.)
• A nice wallet (Nothing worse then a businessman busting out his gray nylon wallet with blue trim.)
• Cologne (This is kind of a last ditch effort unless the guy doesn’t shut up about it.  Laura had to skew the truth for a whole year about a cologne I liked.  She kept telling me she didn’t like it so I wouldn’t buy it so she could get it for me.  She actually loves the stuff.)
• Something from one of his hobbies or (I hate using this idea, but it’s safer if you’re unsure of what to get) a gift certificate to one of his favorite hobby stores.
• If he needs or uses tools a lot you can speak with a home improvements store employee about what tools are nice for his trade.  They can make recommendations on things that can make the job easier, or just upgrade what he already has. (Be sure to keep receipts just in case.)
• Things for his vehicle like satellite radio, GPS, or various decorations to enhance the look.  (Men typically like their vehicles a lot, and getting things to enhance the ride or make it look nicer are usually a pretty safe bet.)
• A sentimental gift like a picture frame with your names engraved (As long as your man doesn’t smash beer cans on his head.  Laura did this for me and it sits upon my desk, I really like it.)
• A vacation. (A little more pricey but fun for you both!)

Those are my ideas for now.  As I think of more I’ll be sure to add them, and if you have any ideas or ones that really worked out well leave them as a comment and I’ll add those too.