12 Months of Dates: January

Booboo's Christmas was a joyful one and he got all the things he asked for (a football and donuts) and even more than that...but when it comes to Brandon and I both felt kind of strange going in to Christmas to buy for each other.  We usually have a talk (I imagine as all married couples do) about how much we're spending on each other, blah blah blah...but this year we got to talking about all the things we've already spent on each other throughout the year...like our trip to Thailand in March, like our new house in July, like all the times we were shopping and said, 'um, I think I/we need this,' and we pick it up without batting an eyelash...because we are fortunate enough to be able to do that.  We don't have to wait and save until Christmas to get things throughout the year, and looking down at another Christmas where we'd have huge piles of presents from each other (&Santa) just felt really selfish and icky.

So, we decided that we'd each get each other a few things that we actually needed (and have been too lazy/busy/tired to get earlier).  So Brandon unwrapped new jeans (since his current pairs had paint all over them from his horrid wife forcing him to paint our whole house this year), and a new camo winter hat, and car wash stuff.  I unwrapped new Underarmor mom sweatpants because I have 2 pairs of holes in the inner thigh of the pair I continue to wear to death (tmi?), TUMS (best gift ever for a 32 week pregnant woman), and a gigantic Kit Kat bar (hahha, but seriously needed it, ok?)

The only thing that we decided that we hadn't done a very good job of this year was spending time together, ALONE.  Besides flirting our butts off with each other while in Thailand, we operated mostly under the hope to control chaos this year as we lived separately for a month while B took on his new job in another town, and temporarily lived in a chalet at Blue Knob before finding a house, and tearing down walls and putting up wainscotting in the new house, and protecting our home from bears...we've been a little distracted.  So, we decided that if we needed (or wanted) anything this year from each other - it'd be time together.  But we've gone through that song & dance before...blah blah blah, we'll do date night every month, and then 1400 things come up and we're both too tired and out the window our good intentions fly.

So we took a cue from the pinterest gods, and organized our own 12 Months of Dates gift.

Instead of it being a gift from just one of us - we decided that we'd split the year and each take 6 months so part of the year would be a total surprise for each one of us.  Brandon took the even months and I took the odd months and then because I am bossy and a control freak, I set up some rules about the 12 Months of Dates challenge:

1.  A Date means Me & Brandon.  no kids.  no friends.  no family.
2. We ARE allowed however to consult with friends/family for ideas
3. Dates can be something we've done before & enjoyed (dinner & a movie) or something we've never done before (bed & breakfast)
4. 4 dates need to be UNDER $50
5. 1 date needs to be FREE
6. 1 date can be over $50
7. Money/Giftcards/Certificates need to be included in the envelope (pre-paid)
8. Our 6 months of dates are due by:  Dec 24

Since we were including the money or supplies in the envelope, we're hoping that will hold us to completing the entire year regardless of how crazy or busy we get in 2012.  Of course, I also included a breakdown of what our year looks like to remind Brandon of the "appropriate-ness" of a month's date:

[Literally copied&pasted from an email I sent him of the "rules"]

things to consider: 

where will our kids be during the date?

does the date make sense for the hectic-ness of the month:

(hectic months include:  January (super pregnant), February (new baby), March (still new baby), June (your new store grand opening), July (beer olympics), October (vacation), November (turkey bowl))

(to which Brandon emailed me back, "why is our whole year hectic already and its not even January?"  and I emailed back, "like our lives being hectic is new?")

Inside of each date envelope we included an outline of the date:  

So after a lot of planning on both of our parts and some sneaking around - we had all of our dates packed up by Christmas eve.  Since it was Christmas and mostly because I could not wait until January, I told B that we should open our January date in early in honor of the holiday.  I got no complaints from his end, so he tore into our first of 12 and found:

The remaining seasons of Prisonbreak that we didn't already own with our outline stating that we'll watch the entire series through the month of January after Grey goes to bed.  Our outcome will be to relax and spend time together watching something we both like (and reminds us both of our history together - we watched Prisonbreak over the phone while he was in Washington, PA for college and I was teaching in Brooklyn, NY.  Like, literally sat on the phone watching in silence and then talking about it during commercials) while we wait for our new baby girl to arrive next month.  Besides the series, while searching for seasons 3 & 4 on amazon, I also found a mini-movie (Prison Break: The Final Break) that is supposed to clear up questions about the last 5 minutes of the finale...which I couldn't resist.  Brandon is very much looking forward to making it all the way to see this never-before seen footage.

Our January date is already turning out to be a good one.  We're only on day 4 of the month and we're already on episode 6 of season 1....granted there are 4 seasons and 1 mini-movie that we need to finish before the month is over...so we need to keep it up at this pace.

One of the reasons I love Prisonbreak and why I knew this date would be a winner is because Brandon NEVER falls asleep during it - usually when we decide to watch a movie or tv together after the baby falls asleep, B will be snoozing after just a few minutes...but he's up for the entire episode of Prisonbreak and wants to debrief afterwards.

I have absolutely zero idea of what B has planned for the even months, but I am thinking that 2012 is already turning out to be pretty good for my little romantic heart:)