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?

How To Run A 5K

If you follow along with my blog at all, you would know that I have an on again, off again relationship with running.  One week I am posting I am running a half-marathon, the next I am saying who needs running or exercise.  But when it really comes down to it I really do enjoy running.  I think it is something you either like or do not.  For me (as a former college athlete) it is a form of competition that I now have a lack of in my life.  The other part for me is I LOVE to eat!  So if I can eat what I would like and go run it off, then I am a happy girl!

Daniel and I set out on the task of training for a 5K back in February.  I posted a long time ago about my first 5K experience.  I knew this time I was really going to train and push myself.  Yeah right!  I got about 3 weeks into the training and life happened.  I started staying late at work making sub plans and spending my afternoons getting things together for my trip to Europe over spring break.  To make a long story short, the training just stopped.

Now add two weeks in Europe to the equation.  No time or access to running coupled with exhaustion made it impossible for me to pick up my training schedule.  Needless to say I arrived back in the States booked for a 5K and no time to train.  The only advantages that I had going into the race were that I am athletic and Daniel did not train at all, so we could suffer through it together.    

The morning of the race arrived and we were pumped.  The goal was to finish the race.  We took it nice and slow, not pushing ourselves beyond what we were physically capable of handling.  In the end we both crossed the finish line in pretty decent times (33-34 minutes) and had a blast.  We are even trying to figure out what the next one will be... granted there will be training involved with that one!

I told you all that, because I want to stress two things.  First of all running a 5K is a reality for almost anyone.  There were people at that race from all ages and all types of physical capabilities.  With the right amount of training and the right program it is something that anyone can aspire to complete.  The second thing is that training is essential.  Unless you have been very physically active in your life leading up to this you will need to train to ensure your safety.  By gradually building up your distance it makes it seem like such a doable task and much more enjoyable.  

Below I have shared by training schedule that I followed (for a little while) during the training for this last 5K.  I made it a really long time ago, but I think I used Hal Higdeon's 5K Novice training plan.  His website is a great resource for all distances.  Another great tool is the Couch to 5K Program, which starts you off very slow with small intervals of running mixed in with walking.  Both programs offer applications to download on your smartphone as well and they walk you through your exercises.     

I hope this helps any of you considering walking or running a race of any distance in your future!  Check out the following resources for more information about races in your area:

Run The East 

Running In The USA

Road Race Runner

High Five For Friday

What a week?  I have spring fever.  My students have spring fever.  And only 28 instructional days stand between us and exams.  This semester is flying by.  However, this week did not.  But it is Friday and we made it!

1- Spending time with my man is the best part of any week.  Double the pleasure this week, because we took my mom out to dinner!

2- I completed my second 5K this past week and it was so fun!  Its fun to enjoy the challenge of competing with myself, but I realized I need to actually train before I take on the next one!

3- The search for lampshades is going on week 2 now!  These were the second ones that I have bought only to get them home and realize that they had a pattern on the inside that you could see when you turned on the lamp :(  Hopefully the third time will be the charm!

4- Disney knows how to get to me.  In the midst of a busy week they can lift my spirits and get my mind on vacation planning with a simple email.  What do you say Mr. Pennington?

5- Isn't Pinterest just full of amazing things.  Case in point this absolutely adorable t-shirt that my husband will have in his closet very soon!


Have a great weekend everyone and I will see you Monday for a continuation of my European adventure!

Icy Weekend

The forecast at the end of last week was calling for a bit of icy weather here in good ole NC.  We got some icy weather... but that was it... ice.  Needless to say it resulted in an early dismissal from school friday and what teacher is going to object to that?  We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying a Harry Potter movie-thon, church, lunch with family, and of course my ritual Sunday afternoon Target/Starbucks outing.  It has been a few weeks and I was having withdrawals!  Needless to say the weekend flew by and its Monday again.  I hope your Monday is amazing!

I discovered this little gem on Pinterest this weekend and I think I need it.

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