With the New Year comes resolutions and challenges that we create for yourselves to be better women. Today I’m going to get a bit personal, and share with you one of my resolutions for 2011 – Dating Mr. Junkie. {a.k.a. Jason}
How To Date ~ Spouse Challenge
To make this fun and to give me a deadline, I’ve created the “How to Date Your Spouse Challenge” over on the TJ Community and I hope you’ll join me! There we can share our dates, upload pictures, laugh, and really encourage each other to spend creative, fun, and quality time with our men. We could all use ideas and support, right?
Tip Junkie is all about Creating Memories that Endure, typically the events I feature focus around our families and our kids. So this is my small way of getting our men involved in the fun!
Years ago for Valentines Day, I bought Jason and I this book:
101 Nights of Grrreat Romance: Secret Sealed Seductions for Fun-Loving Couples
It was the coolest Valentine’s present I could have gotten him as it quickly became our “how to date” manual for busy and exhausted parents. Don’t worry, it’s rated PG-13 {nothing gross or inappropriate}}. The dates are right up our alley as they are creative, each one builds anticipation for the date with little prep, and can be as cheap or as involved as you’d like. Definitely a must-have book for creative wives.
About the Book
Every Sunday Jason and I would take turns tearing out a sealed page from the book which has:
- A story that you read together {to set the scene}
- A conversation piece
- Kiss of the Week
- Passion coupon
Date night would be that Saturday. It’s a no-brainer way to date your spouse as it tells you exactly what to do and how to make your date creative and fun.
My Most Memorable Date
I’ll never forget our first date using the book, when Jason asked me to go with him on a walk. We packed up the baby in the stroller and as we walked to the park, he handed me pre-written notes. They were simple and told me why he loved me. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I received 10 notes on that walk and I’ll never forget feeling so grateful for the time he took in writing those love notes to me.
As I met my man for a lunch date today, it got me thinking about that book and all those cheap, fun, and creative dates that we went on as early parents.
How to Date Your Spouse Challenge
I’m dying to have those dates again! So here on the TJ Community I thought it would be so much fun to teach each other, encourage each other, and laugh together with the “How To Date Your Spouse” weekly challenge.
Every Monday, I’ll give you a date idea {or you can buy your own book and do one on your own}, and then you have all week to accomplish the date. Once you’ve completed a date, hop on the TJ Community and tell us all about it. Upload your photos, tell us what creative spins you put into, etc. It’s where the crafty chick’s hang out!
My life is crazy busy and so I need some encouragement to keep my priorities straight and I thought this would be a fun way to do it. I hope you’ll do it with me.
What do you think?
Click Here for Week 1 – The First Date
Creating Memories that Endure,
Laurie
It’s a shame so many people just stop dating after they got their first child. It’s so so so important to make time for each other and keep asking each other questions. It’s these little moments together that keep the flame burning.
Alison
Date nights have been a priority since we got married nearly 21 years ago. Every Friday the kids know it’s date night. It is what has kept us sane and in love. One of our memorable dates was when we were newly married. We drove to a local waterpark parking lot, it was winter so no one was around, and parked the car and had a nice makeout session. The windows started steaming up and shortly thereafter we saw some headlights. We panicked and scrunched down as fast as we could. We saw a police car slowly drive by, I think to just freak us out (which it did). As soon as the police car got to the end of the parking lot we buckled up and got out of there, laughing our heads off. Since then, every once in a while we will find a remote area and enjoy a nice “legal” makeout session in a parked car. The sparks are still there 21 years and counting!
Thank you so much for this idea. I invited my husband to dessert last night (via email – I did what I could!) When he came down after putting the kids to bed – we had a candlelit dessert date. Thanks – so simple, so awesome.