{Date Night Last Night}

A few nights ago, Bart and I discussed how we had been getting lazy in our date nights.  With Bart's crazy schedule, we would sometimes go a whole week before we realized that we never scheduled one.  And when we did remember, it wouldn't feel like a "date" afterwards, it was just another night.

I love spending time with him.  I love spending every day together and just plain doing life together, but I am a firm believer in date nights simply to focus on our relationship in the effort to fall more in love each week.

So we decided to change our habits.  Here are some things we decided to do:

1.  Pick a night.
     Since we can't have a specific night of the week designated to date night because Bart's schedule rotates, we decided to pick the night on the day that his schedule goes out.  That way, it is on the calendar, we won't forget, and it is something to look forward to.

2.  Rotate who plans the evening and get creative.
     Sometimes it can be stressful to pick what to do or where to go and sometimes it can get boring by just going out to eat.  Since we are trying to save money, we have to get a little more creative with our date nights.  This can make it more stressful, but if we switch off who plans it each week, it takes the stress off of each other and we get to have a little fun with it.  

3.  Be intentional with specific questions.
     I have heard of a lot of couples doing this.  They have specific questions they ask each other every week so that they can be in tune with where they are at relationally and individually.

We chose 3:

•  How is your love tank?  This comes from a book we read when we were dating by Gary Chapman.  It has really made a huge difference in our relationship and learning how to love each other better.
• What did I do this week to make you feel loved?  This can be a way to not only encourage each other in things they do well, but can let your spouse know what to keep doing.  Sometimes we really appreciate something our spouse did, but if we don't express to them how much it meant to us, they may not do it again since they never knew you liked it so much.
• What can I do this week to love you better?  Being intentional with loving each other is crucial.  It's not always natural to do things for each other so with specific requests, we can make sure that our spouses are well-loved and know it.

Last night was the first of many incredible date nights and boy did we start off well!  Bart volunteered to plan the first one.

Bart and I have always wanted a tandem bike.  We rode our first one in Chicago when we were dating and we honestly thought that nothing could be better.

When we found out that our friends owned a tandem bike a few weeks ago, we knew we just had to borrow it. Bart had the day off of work so he knew we would have a good chunk of time for date night this week.

We packed a picnic dinner, drove to our friends' house to grab the bike, and took a nice and luxurious ride to one of my favorite places, Avila Beach.
 

 

The ride was fabulous.

This bridge was my favorite part.

We also brought some wine that we got on our honeymoon to celebrate new date nights.  

We ate and enjoyed each other and the fantastic view. 

And that is how we roll.  Can you believe I get to live here?  We made it back just before it got too dark and after a little over 20 miles of riding, our butts were very sore.

Great job, babe!  I am so excited to plan next week's date night.  I love you!

{How do you make date night special?}