I have instructed my husband that he must take me out on a date tomorrow night. It has been sooooo long since we’ve gone on a date and I’ve been feeling really in need of romance and pampering since the baby was born. Since I feel too guilty to demand a date for those reasons, I’ve had to make up a set of “real” reasons we should be going out.
First of all, we will be bidding farewell to my job/career of five years.
(I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the new job! It’s still a little crazy and overwhelming but here it is: I got a new job! I’m leaving the field of GIS and cartography. I’ve gotten a job with a new local company and I’ll be working with Wordpress, how cool is that? Whee!)
We’re excited about the new job and the changes it may bring, but we’re also excited that I get to escape from Job Security Hell in which I constantly worry if I’ll be laid off from week to week.
I am also making him take me out so that I can get really drunk and make him drive me home. I already declared at my in-laws’ last week that he is the designated driver for the next 18 months. Between pregnancy and nursing, that is how long it had been since I drank at all. So, it’s payback time. We’re going out, I’m drinking something colorful and fancy (it will only take one drink to get me drunk, I’m sure) and then he’s driving me home!
Finally? We’re celebrating my half-marathon on Saturday. Granted, I won’t have completed it yet, but we’re going to pretend like I have so that we have an even greater excuse to celebrate. Is that legal? We’re breaking rules here, people. We’re such rebels.
Now - it’s been a long time (years? decades? millenia?) since MrZ has taken me out on a date and he’s a little rusty. I don’t want to necessarily tell him what to do or how to do it (*cough* norestarauntswithdrivethrus *cough*) - so I thought I’d pose the hypothetical question to you. If you wanted your significant other to take you on a date, or if you were going to take them on a date, how would you make it special? (*cough* don’ttalkaboutfantasyfootball *cough*). And let’s keep it PG people, the kids are watching.
One word:
Chuck. E. Cheez.
(no drive through)
Dear god, I don’t even remember what a real date is like! Let’s see, to make it special? A bottle of wine for each of us? I think that would work ;).
congrats on the job and on getting a date night!! you both deserve it. I think you should go a fave restaraunt, maybe to one you went to when you first started dating, something like that. Have a frozen margarita, it will go down slower and you can enjoy that one drink.
I think just spending alone time together will be special enough. Maybe some flowers and a Krispy Kreme for dessert. 
Wait can you just eat dinner at Krispy Kreme??
Congrats on the new job! Can’t wait to (maybe) hear more about it!
You know how to make it romantic? Have him insist on ordering an appetizer and a dessert. If you share one of each it seems more special even if you’re still watching what you’re spending. Something extra like that always makes me feel special.
Congrats on the new Job!! How exciting!
As for the date? I made my husb take me out on a post-baby-having date for my B-day. It involved sushi, sake, some more sushi, a little more sake, some talk about music (I’m so outta the loop!) another tiny glass of sake, some talk about TV (so outta that loop too) maybe abit more sake, then some not-so-PG-related talk (probably due to all that sake I sucked down!) then I passed the hell out on him on the drive home - at 830PM. I am old.
But yeah - we went somewhere I hadn’t been able to really enjoy since before the baby, and we made a point to not talk about her (it was so much harder than I thought it would be!) to just reconnect as our old selves. Turns out - our old selves? VERY OLD!
Have fun! you deserve it!
CONGRATS on the new job! I was DYING of curiousity and kept going back to the comment section to see if you answered anybody’s question! Yeah!! Wish you could tell us more, but understand.
Have a GREAT DATE! I have a 4 month old, so dates are still months and months away. Especially since she doesnt take bottles. Oh well. Im already planning for a date sometime next summer…. Gotta have hope right?
Mr Z- do something unexpected during the evening. Stop off at a bakery for dessert, or a pretty park or maybe a bottle of champagne or a rose.
I had to de-lurk to comment on the ‘don’t talk about fantasy football’ bit… My boyfriend and I RARELY go out (him = student, me = mortgage that sucks the life out of me, we = poor) so it’s suuuuper exciting when we do. I don’t even care WHERE we go, or WHAT we do - but if he could shut his trap about fantasy football for like, 4 minutes straight? That would be the most special date ON EARTH.
At any rate, congrats on the new job, I hope you enjoy your date, and best of luck in your half-marathon!!
I second Jessie: Appetizer and dessert! And, congrats on the new job! How exciting!
Don’t celebrate the half-marathon today! A new job is reason enough for a date night… save up the half-marathon for another one sometime in the next month. Two date night are better than one.
And I also vote for appetizer and dessert. If you’re not hungry after all that food and drink, just get the dessert to go!
Dressing up. Fancy Restaurant with tablecloths and stemmed water glasses. Actually ordering alcohol (instead of just saying “Only water for me, please”). Both of us ordering dessert and him not giving me shit when I eat both of them.
Of course, the last time this happened was about…hmmm… 13 months ago. He owes me for not being able to take me out on our 10th anniversary, though, and the interest is building.
Congratulations on the new job. And just when I was going to see if you’d come out to California and work for us!!
Date night, now that sounds good. Actually, I think I would be okay by myself with a huge margarita. Make that 2.
Congrats on the new job!
Mr. Wonderful took me out for date night recently. It’s been a long long time… We dressed up and went to a nice dinner. I drank, he didn’t… He sacrificed it as the DD… During the dinner we talked about a vacation spot we would love to go to. IT was really interesting hearing how interested he was in going somewhere different than we usually go.
After dinner, all dressed up, we went to play putt putt golf and then to grab an ice cream cone. He being ultra romantic put together a cd of all our old favorite songs. We drove home singing and laughing. It felt SO good. Then home for adult chatter… (well we didn’t talk much)
Have fun on your date!
Since we still are childless (for the moment… breaking news may be broadcast at any time over the next few months!), my husband and I try to do a date night at least once every couple of weeks. Barring financial straits, that usually means a nice dinner somewhere, followed by a concert, play, movie, walk on the waterfront, etc. as appropriate. Since that is our GOAL but doesn’t always occur… we also came up with a fun plan. On an official date night, unless its for a special occasion, we are 1) not allowed to eat at a restaurant we’ve eaten at before (this was somewhat difficult in a small town, since moving to the “big city” we have no problems at all), 2) not allowed to go with grungy clothes, hair, or face (we’re renovating, grungy has become the regular state of affairs), 3) we can’t go to a place that has a big tv playing because inevitably I lose him to the fascinating world of RESTAURANT TV.
Dont know if this helps, but for specifics? Fondue restaurants are great fun, if you like a specific cuisine, try that restaurant you always drive past but haven’t eaten at, etc. Its fun!
Also. the NUMBER ONE rule of date night? DIETS DO NOT APPLY. Get an appetizer! Get dessert! Get as many drinks as you can hold! Our rule is, eat what you want and if you dont finish? Its just lunch for tomorrow.
Fondue restaurant, perhaps? Or some similar type of place that’s far from typical. And you definitely need to be able to have a very leisurely dinner during which you may have appetizer, dinner, dessert, and a delicious cocktail or five.
And congrats on the new job — it sounds like something you’ll love doing!
I’ve actually got a date night planned for Saturday. How we’re making it special: I’m hoping that he proposes.
It’s a really long shot, but he said before Christmas, and it’s getting pretty close, right? There are decorations up.
I’m a big fan of long hikes & picnics (with alcohol, natch)…but it’s cold & gray and misty here so I would opt for a fun restaurant (fondue sounds fun!) and drinks before w/appetizer & cordials afterwards w/dessert and champagne in between!
Okay - maybe mixing is a bad idea but it sounded good in my head!
Congrats on the new gig!!!
Dear me, I can’t remember my last date night (total lie, had one for our anniversary back in August). I’m so so jealous.
Okay, if I were going on date night I’d want to go out to eat someplace totally awesome but that would be hard to go to with kids and/or is too expensive for casual dining. I’d also want to go see a movie, preferrably one that is rated R or something. Oh yes.
Dudes, if you guys can do it on Saturday, we could make it a double date! It’s YMCA kids night. Not to be presumptuous or anything!
Please, please write some more about your running any pointers you could give to someone who is just starting in getting interested in running.
Great news about the new job. I’ve always wondered what you use to create your graphics, photoshop? flash?
You’ve got a lot to celebrate! (And? NEW JOB? You totally need to spill.)
So, I suggest my favorite restaurant EVER: The Melting Pot. It takes a while to eat, which provides the perfect opportunity to … you know … talk. And FLIRT. With each other, I mean.
(Are you near Birmingham? Because the only Melting Pot in AL is in Birmingham.)
I too left the field of GIS, and I say good riddance! I am doing the stay at home mom thing right now, but would like to get into something far more creative than GIS. Sounds like you have found that fit, congratulations! Drink up!
A hike or a walk either before or after dinner. Nothing opens up good conversation like a nice walk in a scenic surrounding!
Have fun!!
So I will be repititous and say that picnics and/or walks are fun! If it’s cold, bring some wine to warm up with. We also recently went to a cute little sushi place that has an area where you take off your shoes and sit in your own private little area on pillows on the floor. That was fun in a we are not at home sitting on the floor kinda way. Good Luck! And Congrats on the new job!
I guess I’m lucky, my husband and I go out at least 3 times a month. We go late enough where we won’t have to deal with toddlers (inappropriately brought to a nice restaurant) throwing dinner rolls and we get dessert to go and have it with coffee at home. We usually end the night with one of our favorite things to do, which is take a bath together. We have our best conversations in the bathtub.
Aw, I hope you guys are out having a fabulous date night!
The last one The Husband and I went out on a date night, we went bowling at one of those newfangled fancy bar-type bowling alleys. That was way sweet. And yes, the adult conversation was totally primo.
New job? Wordpress?
I’m so excited for you.
One of the biggest points of a married date is to reconnect as a couple - not as parents or co-mortgage holders or people who grocery shop together, but as romantic partners. Spend the evening focusing on your goals as a couple, separate from any other identites you hold. Maybe discuss a special trip you’ve always wanted to take and how you can accomplish that. Or what you love about your relationship right now and how you can keep that momentum going. You can do that sitting on a bench in the park and it would be the most romantic night of your life.
That’s awesome! Congrats on the new job!!!