Top 10 favorite dates

As you know, Mark and I have date night every Tuesday, come rain or come shine. We never make other plans on that evening; our marriage is top priority.

What's fun about having our date night on Tuesdays is that it forces us to be creative about our dates; there's not as much obvious stuff going on on a Tuesday as there is a Thursday, Friday or Saturday! Luckily, I married a creative date planner, so I've had to try hard to match par with his ideas.

Here are my top 10 favorite dates so far (not in order):

1. Cooking class at Artisan Bistro
2. An evening at the Elephant Room, Ken's Donuts and Spider House Cafe (our first date, which we've recreated a couple times!)
3. Painting With a Twist
4. Paella cooking demonstration at Malaga
5. Ventana, restaurant for Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin, followed by Viva Chocolato, which is, sadly, no longer around
6. Dinner on a Lone Star River Boat cruise for two on Lake Austin (one of our dating anniversary dates)
7. Painting our own wine glasses one Valentine's Day at a ceramic place, followed by dinner at Gumbo's
8. Getting engaged during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (that's a date if it's just the two of us and we had the get together scheduled, right?)
9. One of our dates just before we went to Europe in 2010 when I made a French dinner, followed by Italian dessert, followed by watching "Wizard of Oz" since we would be seeing "Wicked, the musical" in London. A little foreshadowing of our soon-after trip to France, Italy and London!
10. Wine tasting classes with Wine for the People. We've taken classes from Rae at the Whip-In, House Wine and St. John Neumann Church. Always a fun time!

Think about how you can go beyond dinner and a movie to create a memorable dating experience!

The day we got engaged: Aug. 29, 2008. Out celebrating with friends!

5 fruitful things you can do for your marriage right now

1.  Pray.  Pray for you two as a married couple.  Pray that God would enter into your relationship in a new way and renew your love for one another.  Pray that your marriage will stand the test of time and be protected from all temptations of evil and sin.  Pray that every purpose God has for your marriage might be fulfilled and that He would make something beautiful out of your relationship.  If you don't have children yet, pray that in the fullness of time God would allow you to become stewards of some of His children, if it would be good and pleasing to Him.  Pray that you and your spouse might reflect that of the Holy Family -- as a wife, striving more to be like our Blessed Mother Mary, and as a husband, striving more to be like St. Joseph.  Pray that you two would be given what you need to be a good husband and a good wife and that you would have the desire and courage to use those gifts to be what you've been called to become.

2.  Do something unexpected for your spouse.  If you are apart, send him a text message or e-mail for no reason other than to remind him that you love him more than anything.  If you are together, go find him, give him a big hug and tell him that you love him more than anything.

3.  Plan a date night within the next week.  If you haven't already, do everything you can to establish a regular date night to keep your love alive.  This is the most important relationship you will ever have.  Ever.  Spend time on improving it.

4.  Ask forgiveness.  I guarantee you there is something for which you can apologize.  Being grumpy last night or not following through with something you said you would do.  How have you put yourself above the needs of your spouse lately?  Recognize it and make amends.

5.  Work on yourself as a spouse.  Take some time to really reflect on how you, personally, can be a better wife or husband.  What is an honest answer to the question of what's keeping you from being the best spouse you can possibly be?  Is it trust?  Patience?  Not making enough time for him?  Make a commitment to try to go the rest of today working on that one area.  "I'm going to work on being more ______ today."  Then wake up tomorrow and commit to working on that one area again that day.  Repeat daily until you feel like you're making progress.  If you focus on a specific area of improvement, you will feel more fruitful and have some measurables in feeling like you're truly doing something to improve your marriage and yourself as a spouse.

 

February 2009, Engagement Celebration dinner at the Merhars'

Wedding pictures put in album ... check!

Last night, I finished putting all of our engagement, bridal and wedding pictures in albums!  Wooooo!  Organization is a beautiful thing.  Truly.  We were so blessed to have a wonderful photographer (Leah Muse with Whitney Lee Photography), and it warms my heart like nothing else in this world to go back and look at the captured moments from the time of our preparation for marriage up to the wedding day itself.  My mother always said that the one thing you'd want to not skimp on when planning a wedding would be photography, and, boy, was she right.  I ordered copies of my favorite photos with friends from the wedding day, so chances are some pictures are coming to a mailbox near you in the very near future!