SNAPSHOTS: THE SYMPHONY

Last night, Jon and I took a little break from our busy work week to go on a double date with Jon's parents to Chastain Park. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra was playing a tribute concert to John Williams, and they were fantastic. We heard music from Jurassic Park, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars...what an incredible atmosphere and what beautiful music!

It started off a little hot outside at the amphitheater, but it cooled off, got a little overcast, and was so peaceful. All around us, couples brought little side tables, picnic dinners, wine, and candles to listen to the music. We kept it classy with a box of Krispy Kreme and some Mountain Dew. ;)

What a special night. :) I can't wait to go back.

BALANCE: NEVER STOP DATING + DIY

Let's talk about dating. :) One of the things I most treasure about my week is Wednesdays. Every week, Jon and I set aside a day, currently Wednesdays, that's dedicated to spending time and dating each other. We started this tradition early on in college and decided it was important enough to continue into our married lives together.

Having a date night once a week allows both Jon and I the comfort of knowing that no matter how busy and overwhelming a week can become, we always have date day to unwind, talk, and spend intentional time together. I can't tell you enough how important this has been for our relationship and marriage. This time has allowed us to participate in each others hobbies, find interests together, talk about issues that might be pressing from the previous week, and work on us. It's too easy to get stuck in a routine and forget about investing intentional time in the most important person in your life.

We've challenged ourselves to continue dating each other once a week, for the rest of our lives together. :) Because one day we will start a family. We will continue to be busy and pursue our dreams and we always want to be accountable to "us" time.

3 Tips on Dating Your Spouse//Significant Other
1. Set a Day. ---> Sit down with your schedules and figure out one day of each week that works the best for the both of you. This can be an evening after work, a morning time, or an entire day. Just find at least 4-6 hours each week you can dedicate to each other. Once you decide on your time, schedule it into your calendar, phone, agenda...whatever will remind you that every ________ is date night//morning//day.

2. Non-negotialble. ---> In order to be accountable to your date time, come to a "non-negotialable" agreement. This means that other events, parties, errands, to-do's will not come in the way of date time unless you decide as a couple it will be part of your date. Of course, some weeks will slip due to sickness, travel, and other life circumstances...but make it a priority for your week.

3. Get Excited! ---> Make your date time something you look forward to each week. Make a list of fun ideas, take turns surprising each other each week with a planned date time, budget for date time each month so you have a little extra to go out if you want to, make 3 weeks out of the month simple and FREE and then spend one night each month going out and making it a bigger date!

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One of my goals for 2012 was to make a date night calendar with Jon. We often find ourselves going out to eat and cozying up on the coach to watch our "latest" show, which is GREAT...but we wanted to get a little creative over these next couple months and grow our date nights into something even more exciting. AND of course have our dinner and a show nights sprinkled in here and there. :)

Date Time Calendar DIY
Over Christmas I was inspired by Naomi and Elsie on their "12 Dates of Christmas" posts. I thought this would be a great idea to apply to our date nights with a little twist!

STEP 1: Each of you get 6 index cards and 6 envelops. Secretly, so the other doesn't see, write out your six date nights. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. Jon and I split up some of the gift cards we received over Christmas to go in our envelops...you can also add cash limits, rules (have to hold hands, 2 minute make-out sessions every 30 minutes ;) ...etc.), topics of discussion and, of course, fun things to do! Get creative and have fun!

STEP 2: Once you write out your dates, slip each index card into a blank envelop. Put all 12 envelopes together and take turns shuffling to make sure you don't know the order.

STEP 3: After shuffling, mark your envelops 1-12 and hang up in your home. :)

This is a great way to add some excitement to your date time. Each week will be a surprise! Jon and I just finished our first date last week and we'll be opening envelope #2 on Tuesday night to know what we will be doing Wednesday evening. I can't wait!

Do you have a regular date time? How do you keep accountable to that time? Don't have a regular date time, but wish you did? I challenge you to commit to once a week in February! Never too late to start a new tradition. :) 

Happy dating!

The Fabulous Fox: Beauty & the Beast

Jonathon bought tickets for us to go see Beauty & the Beast at the Fox Theatre for Christmas! Today was the day of our showing and, thankfully, the ice on the roads had mostly melted so we were able to make it safe and sound. We loved the show and always appreciate when we get to go on special dates.

And now, we are going to watch an unhealthy amount of "Dexter". 

Date Night, Paint Night!

Since moving into our first place, it has been a slow decorating process-- especially when it comes to hanging art & decor on the walls. Our little green-eyed Kaito (Kai-Toe) has claimed our guest bathroom, so we decided to up-do it with some sweet little portraits of our kitten.

Mine is on the left & Jon's is on the right. We picked out specific paint colors before we started, so that even though our artistic styles are different, they would still hang nicely together through coordinating color schemes. I love how they turned out. So cute & chic!

Grand Day for a Date: Puppets & Fudge

Jon's sister and fiancé gave us an early Christmas present to go and visit the Center for Puppetry Arts and watch the classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

There were about 587 excited kids in the theatre giggling and laughing and we just loved it. The puppets were beautiful and we loved the fact that the puppeteers came out afterward and explained how the puppets worked. Definitely a creative date success! As a huge bonus, they had a mini puppet museum out in the lobby and we got to visit the Jim Henson exhibit, as well as see big bird in person! 

Not only did we receive tickets to the puppet show, but we got a gift card to Kilwin's. A delicious candy//ice cream parlor in Atlantic Station. I have to admit, we each got a cup of ice cream and bought 1.5 lbs of....fudge...gosh! Anyone wanna share?

Also, if you notice...my hair is A LOT darker than usual. Funny story, but to make it short: it was supposed to be "more blonde" which turned out to be "more peach" which turned into collecting our coats at 10:30pm and taking a trip to Kroger to pick up "soft black" (Jonathon's suggestion.) We did not end up making it to bed until 12:30am, but Jon was a super sweetie and helped me put it in my hair. Gotta love a husband that will put on the rubber gloves and play around with hair dye!

Something to be excited about! Tomorrow I will be showing off some new products in my Etsy shop and kicking off my Christmas shopping sale//coupon week!

Until then,

A PERFECT FALL DATE NIGHT

In college, Jonathon and I committed to a weekly date night. Even with the craziness of completing our majors, work, maintaining friendships, and the several thousand "to-do's" that magically popped up out of nowhere, we always had at least one night out of the week that we could have a special date. Quality time is very important to us and, I am happy to say, our date night habit carried over into our marriage. Every Wednesday is "Jon and Savannah Date Night" and believe me, we very much look forward to this day.

Most of the time, it consists of us cuddling up in our pj's, watching our newest fad show (which is currently Fringe, by the way.) Sometimes, if we don't feel like cooking, we will order pizza (that is, of course, if I have a coupon.) Sometimes, we get creative with our date nights and over the five and a half years of dating and five months of marriage, we have cherished and loved our special nights together.

Since we wanted this to be something we wholly committed to every week and did not easily compromise on, we set out to help ourselves by doing the following things:

1. Communicate: We made our family and friends aware of our date night so they would not try to plan anything with us on our Wednesday nights. This was very helpful because there was a general understanding among loved ones about our date night which also helped us keep accountable.

2. Budget: Along with our monthly budgeting, Jonathon and I set aside a small amount to go toward "date night" every month. This gives us the freedom to plan something special if we would like and also does not make us feel like we are cutting into other, set-aside budgets. Usually, we end up splurging a little more every other week by going out somewhere and on the alternate weeks, we will stay around our home.

3. Be Creative: It is really, really easy to get stuck in the same date over and over again. We try to make a list of great date night ideas that we can turn to when we are ready to go out and try something new.

Here are some of the date night hits Jonathon and I have had over the years:

* 4-11 Drive-In Theater

* Dessert at the Sundial in Atlanta

* Putt-Putt

* Scott Pilgrim at a historic theater

* Pumpkin carving at home

* Kite Flying

* Game Ranch

* Bodies Exhibit in Atlantic Station

* Fox Theater - "Annie"

* The Shakespeare Tavern - "Romeo and Juliet" (Valentine's Date)

Our most recent favorite was our trip to the Cagle's Family Farm in Canton, GA last week. We explored around a corn maze, ate dinner, went on a hayride, roasted marshmallows at a bonfire, and picked out our first pumpkins for our little home. Here is a peek at our night!

We had a wonderful time and loved being able to go at our own pace -- not to mention a great selection of pumpkins! Jon and I ended up getting three pumpkins: one for him (largest), one for me (medium) and one for our little green-eyed kitten, Kaito (tiny). And now, the grand task of carving!

Happy date night-ing!