Date Night.

In a perfect world of young married life, every couple would set aside one night out of the week to go out together and enjoy themselves.. pure bliss. They would call it date night. On date night, no one would worry about the bills, feel guilty about spending fifteen dollars to see a movie that will probably be out on DVD soon, and nobody would dream of not noticing how beautiful (or handsome) their wife (or husband) looked. Too bad, huh? Too bad that date nights do exist, but they're nowhere near perfection. Too bad that as a wife, or maybe as a female, I can't look at a movie ticket without thinking "Redbox is so much cheaper." And if you do what I do, do what I do next. Think back to how you spend your weekdays. Do you have one of the nasty J words? Yeah, I said it. J-O-B. If you do, stop feeling guilty! I'm not saying blow all your money, but stop feeling guilty about the movie you see once a month, the dinners you go out to because you hate cooking and don't want to are too tired from work to make a delicious meal, the purse you bought yourself because it's been a year since you had a new one (a year is a long time in the life of my purse). 


Just stop. You work, you make money. You deserve to have a little bit of happiness. That's what a movie and some potato soup from Colton's brings me anyway- happiness.

Back to date night. 

Whoever came up with the idea of a date night; brilliant. It's not their fault that when I hear date night, I think of a horse drawn carriage, little black dress, handsome date in a tux, candle lit dinner, gifts of diamonds, etc. Probably because in One Tree Hill, Nathan tried to pick Haley up in a horse drawn carriage, greatly increasing my expectations. (If you haven't gotten the hint yet, I love OTH and highly encourage you to veg out on the couch and watch it for dayzzz).

Reality of date night: it's a night to get away from the house, enjoy some time with your spouse (or boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever), not have to cook dinner and have some fun. Number one tip: try not to get into an argument on date night. Try not to get into arguments, period, but especially on date night. Why? Because it's date night. It's really hard to be romantic and lovey dovey when you're fighting over the radio and temperature in the vehicle. Hold hands on date night. It's really hard for Cory to be mad at me when we're holding hands. But sometimes we fight because he won't hold my hand. Like he needs two hands to push the buggy in Wal Mart. Go figure.

Also, if you go on date nights every night, it's no longer date night. It's not special. It's the norm. So, keep it special. Once a week, once every two weeks. Heck, if you're me and Cory, once every six months. We eat ice cream and watch Netflix on the reg, so life is pretty great. It would be hard to have a date night top watching One Tree Hill and eating Rocky Road, would it not? 

Date night doesn't mean drive to Vegas or go sky diving.. just do something that you and your S.O. enjoy, even if it's just bowling. Golfing (I hate golf, but hey, maybe some man is lucky enough to have a golf loving wife). Watching lame movies (Cory thinks every movie I pick is lame). Maybe going on a picnic. Looking at the stars. Whatever you're doing, you're doing it with someone that you love. 

Date nights don't have to involve spending a lot of money, because face it. Sometimes we're just flat broke. No money for movies. No money for steak dinners. No money for renting ugly shoes to throw a heavy ball down a lane. No money period. That's where picnics and stargazing come in. If Cory asked me to go lay in the truck bed and look at the stars, I'd probably think he was on drugs or think that he wanted something huge, like a new truck or something. Nonetheless, I'd do it. Free and cute. Just the way I like.

Date night.

Keep your expectations simple: have fun. Wherever, whatever- just enjoy yourselves. 

And then, do it again.

Date nights forever.