One Year of Dates!

I am sure you have seen this idea floating all over Pinterest, but I decided to put my own spin on it and create something wonderful for our two-year wedding anniversary back in August.  First of all, I cannot believe its been over two years since we said I Do.  Secondly, since it has only been two years you would think I would have a million gift ideas, but man it is tough (especially since we have been together for a total of 8 years)!  Thankfully, Pinterest to the rescue again!

My One Year of Dates gift is 12 pre-planned dates outlined in sealed envelops.  Daniel gets to open an envelop at the beginning of each month and we pick when we are going to take our date that month.  Over the course of this year I will share our monthly outings.  Sorry, I can't reveal all of them at once or Daniel would miss out on all the fun!  The best thing about this gift is that it is totally customizable to the individual couple.  Do you like hiking?  Go on a hike!  Do you like baking?  Then make cupcakes!  The key to this is to plan ahead and try not to pick dates that require specific timelines, it is not impossible, but you do not want to stress out about trying to fit it in on a specific day.  I like to add variety to our dates as well.  Some are more elaborate away from home dates, some are around town, and others are simply in our home.  The most important thing is HAVE FUN!

We have already gone on our September and October dates so I have included all the details below!

SEPTEMBER

Date: Putt-Putt and Dinner

Cost: $7 per person for putt-putt and your choice for dinner

Supplies: Putt-putt tickets, dinner reservations

To kick off our One Year of Dates we headed out to our local putting green.  Before going to putt-putt we hit up a local restaurant called The Laughing Owl.  The Laughing Owl is a great restaurant that mixes American favorites with Asian cuisine from the owners previous restaurant.  I opted for my favorite Beef and Szechwan String Beans over Lo Mien.  The food is delicious and a nice, fresh change from traditional chain restaurants.  After dinner, we headed over to Larry Bill's Fun Time Golf for 18 holes of fun!  It was perfect, hardly anyone was around so it made for a romantic yet fun setting.  I must confess, much to Daniel's displeasure, that I came out the winner that night, but I'm not sure either of our scores were much to brag about.  We called it an early night and came home to watch Love Actually on Netflix. 

OCTOBER

Date: State Fair

Cost: $18 for fair entry and spending money for fair food and games!

Supplies: fair tickets, cash for food and games

Daniel and I have always loved going to the fair and since we have not been to our State Fair in about 6 years I decided to make that our agenda for October.  One of my suggestions in date planning was not to choose something that had to be done on a schedule.  However, the fair was in town for almost two weeks so that gave us plenty of time to pick our date.  Unfortunately, because of my busy schedule the only day we could go was the last day of the fair which meant it was very crowded.  We had a blast anyway!  We arrived around lunch time and were immediately thinking "what should we eat first?"  My tip for places with lots of food options is SHARE!  We split almost everything we got at the fair and it made it a lot easier to try all kinds of foods.  We always like to try the local booths so we hit up two places for country ham biscuits and fresh cut fries.  They were amazing.  After cruising through the midway, winning a stuffed minion (stay tune he will be very useful come Halloween), and almost losing our appetite in the livestock buildings it was time for round two!  I opted for the fried mac and cheese bites while Daniel got his favorite fried Snickers.  We spent the rest of the fair combing through the crafts and hobby section and the Village of Yesteryear and then finished the afternoon off with a blooming onion.  We had some friends at the fair too and one of them got a Krispy Kream burger.  That was by far the most unique creation of the fair this year, a cheeseburger with all the fixing between two Krispy Kream doughnuts instead of buns.  She said it was amazing and I can't wait to try it next year!

Question: How do you and your significant other make plans for dates?  Preplanned or spur of the moment?  Take turns choosing or always let one person decide? Weekly, Monthly, Bi-monthly?

A Month of Love

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I am sure love has been on the mind of 95% of women and 0% of men.  Don't worry ladies they will come around on February 13 or 14.  This whole concept of Valentine's Day got me thinking recently though.  I use to be a strong anti-valentine kind of girl.  You know the one who says, "Why do we need one day for you to tell me you love me, you should do that everyday."  Then I began to realize that for some couples its important to have that reminder, because everyone loves differently.  

With that in mind I thought, why not declare February the Month of Love.  People spend hundreds of dollars each February 14th, but it doesn't have to be like that.  A Month of Love just implies that you spend a little time each day emphasizing your love for your significant other.  A great way to do that is by speaking their love language.

If you are unfamiliar with love languages, you need to pick up The Five Love Languages.  Its a simple book that allows couples to find out not only what way they prefer to be loved, but more importantly how to love their spouse/significant other more effectively.  Find out what your spouse likes: acts of service, quality time, psychical touch, gifts, or words of affirmation   If you can figure out what your spouse prefers and speak to them in that language, the entire make up of your relationship can change.  No longer are you attempting to figure out what makes them happy, but you are truly making them happy.  When their "love tank" is full then they can better love you as well.  Love languages flow both ways and it is important for both people in the relationship to be intent on speaking that of the other, rather than their own.  

So with all that said I encourage you all to take up the challenge of making February the Month of Love.  Do something each day to make your spouse or love feel special.  I assure you that at the end of the month your will have so much more invested in your relationship and get so much more out of it.  I have listed a few ideas below on how to take up this challenge.

• Complete a household chore you know they hate
• Listen when they talk
• Say "thank you" for even the small things
• Let them watch something they want 
• Cook their favorite meal
• Pick them up a small gift to show you think about them when you are apart
• Read a book together (The Bible is a great start!)
• Turn off the TV! Spend time together
• Fill up their car with gas
• Avoid pushing their trigger when arguing 
• Offer them a foot rub or back massage
• Try out a new experience together
• Leave work stress at work
• Give them compliments, often
• Ask for hugs and kisses
• Share- food, feelings, and love
• Pray together
• Go on a treasure hunt
• Send letters or love notes
• Give them space when they are in a bad mood
• Make them laugh
• Go on a couples retreat
• Tell them WHY YOU LOVE THEM

I will be posting each Friday with real ways that Mr. P and I have been showing our love!

Join the Month of Love Challenge! 

Traveling Tuesday: Myrtle Beach

This weekend Daniel and I planned a little getaway.  We never got around to celebrating our anniversary (back in August), so we thought better late than never.  We headed down the Carolina coast to Myrtle Beach for three days of relaxation.  Surprisingly, we had way more things planned than we ever got around to doing.  It just turned out to be nicer to relax and take it easy.  A few of the highlights included a surprise dinner to a new favorite restaurant and a night full of Disney movies.

We stayed at the Bay View Resort.  I think Myrtle Beach is one of the hardest places to find a quality hotel by shopping online, because so many look wonderful on the outside, but the inside is a nightmare.  We took a risk with Bay View and were pleasantly surprised.  The rooms were by no means large, but the bed was comfortable (a king-size for the couple who typically sleeps on a full!), the bathroom was nicely renovated, and the view from the balcony was gorgeous!  Another perk was that there was a full service Starbucks located on the ground level along with a great indoor swimming facility.  We didn't use the pool, but we certainly enjoyed the Starbucks!

 Shopping is one of the primary draws of visiting Myrtle Beach.  They have two great outlet malls along with a traditional mall and countless other places to do all the shopping your heart desires.  We enjoyed the outlets, because they have many great stores like an ADIDAS, Nike, and of course JCREW!  I was able to make a few purchases off of my want list and sadly crossed off a few from my currently craving list.  The polka dot blouse I posted about recently ran astronomically large and the XXS was too large for me!  I got some other cuties though!

Bag (Lauren by Ralph Lauren via Marshalls), Chambray Dot Button Up: Old Navy, T-Shirt: J. Crew Factory, Gingham Button Up: J. Crew Factory 

I mentioned earlier that Daniel surprised me with a special dinner.  He took me to a place I had recently been talking about and it lived up to the hype.  Ruth's Chris Steakhouse is the place to go for an amazing steak.  I had the Mixed Grill and Daniel had the New York Strip.  We left there feeling delightfully stuffed.  The steak was so tender that it melted in my mouth and the chicken and crab cake on my plate were equally as good.  I loved the atmosphere and it was a nice, quiet place to dine and enjoy each others company.  I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the salad or dessert, but they were amazing as well.  The dessert was a Whiskey Bread Pudding and I dare say it was almost as good as the Bread Pudding at Raglan Road in Disney World.  Almost.  

We spent the rest of the weekend shopping and exploring.  We went to Broadway at the Beach, enjoyed a morning jog by the water, and ended the weekend with a trip to Barefoot Landing.  All in all it was the relaxing weekend that we both needed.  ABC Family was even running a Disney movie marathon Sunday night and we sat on our bed for hours enjoying the Lion King, Cinderella, and Hercules.  Who says you have to stay on the go the entire time your on vacation?  The only thing I stressed over this entire weekend was being able to watch Downton Abbey on Sunday night, but no worries we were able to find it! 

You guys know the drill.  If you want to participate in Traveling Tuesday, just blog about an amazing location you have been to and link up your post in the comments below.  Happy Tuesday and Happy Travels!

One Year

Happy Anniversary to Mr. Pennington

I love you Daniel!

Here's to many more years of bliss!

Wedding Showers

The return of the wedding series I started 8 months ago... our wedding showers!

One of the things I was so thankful for during the time leading up to our wedding, was how generous and loving our friends and family were to us.  It is incredible the amount of love that people pour out on you during such a special time.  We had two miscellaneous showers about a month before the wedding.  My family hosted the first one at the church I grew up in my whole life, the place where we were married.

It was such a fun day, not only because of all of the amazing gifts we got, but because we got to see so many wonderful people and spend time with them.  The color theme for the shower was light pink, gray, black, and white.  Originally, those were the colors for our wedding, but we had to change... look forward to the dramatic story later on :)!  My family was so helpful and we pulled it together really quickly.  I cannot say enough about how wonderful the food was as well!  There is nothing better than shower food!

Pottery Barn dinnerware... Thank you Stacy we LOVE it!

Our second shower was hosted by Daniel's family and it was just as wonderful as our first shower!  The color theme was tiffany blue... Mrs. Jan knows how much I love Tiffany's!

very, very, very funny story 

My sister-in-law and I 

YAY COOKWARE! 

I have heard so many horror stories from brides about dealing with the stores that they choose to register with.  Daniel and I looked around at our options and we decided to go with Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Pottery Barn.  We had great success with registering with these three stores and there was a no hassel return policy for all three.  I really I cannot recommend these three enough!