Monday, April 10, 2006

Happy Marriage 101

One of the secrets to our happy marriage is Date Night. Frequency may depend on the available cash but you should always make time for Date Night. Date Night should be sacred.

Some Less Expensive Ideas:

Renting a movie and wait till the kids are in bed.

Go for a walk (your heart will thank you)

Go for a dessert or hot chocolate

Sit in a book store and look at books

If you have a gym membership, workout together.

Visit a show home (safe for us because we don't have a down payment)

Have a picnic.

Play some cards


Here are some restaurants in the Calgary area we have liked:

The Keg- I had been craving steak for six months. It was about time.

Basils- You need a reservation and its packed but good food



As you can see we don't eat out much or we don't like many restaurants. I think its a combination of both. What are some of the things you like to do or places you like to go to?

8 comments:

Philosophical Karen said...

Sushi!!!! (It's the secret to our happy marriage. Well, one of them, anyway.) If we can't get out to the restaurant on our own, we will get takeout and have date night at home.

Um, I guess sushi is not exactly a cheap date, but when you've been married 16 years, you have to spend a bit more money to keep the fires burning. (JOKE!)

Anonymous said...

Yummy sushi! :)

We have a great book called "Cheap Dates" and we love it. I got a jar and printed up all the different date ideas and a bunch of our own and stuck them in a jar so when we are stuck for a date idea we can whip out an idea and ready made! :) We call it romance in a jar.

Kris said...

Hey I was going to say sushi..."Shikiji" on Centre St. and about 16th ave is THE BEST and best value for money...ample tray for 2 is about $25 bucks. YUMMY!

K.

Devynn said...

well, I used up 75 of our airmiles and got some buy one get one free passes for the movies. And I got enough for us to go once a month before the baby gets here. It is a fun night out and it is pretty cheap with the tickets. We also do the blockbuster thing once in a while. Sometimes, for us, just sitting on the couch watching CSI together is enough, since we rarely see each other. We also love to play games, so we play have played a LOT of Phase 10 in this house!

Alyson said...

Sorry Guys, Sushi would bee the end of our marriage. I could take it or leave it but Tim doesn't like it.

Devynn- We too like to see movies and we also took advantage of our airmiles, but now that Tim works for cineplex every other saturday we can get 2 free passes with each pay period. One of the perks. Yay! Lately there hasn't been much that has intrigued us.

For our fifth anniversary we went to Canmore, Banff is too expensive even if your hotel is in the off season. That was nice.

This last weekend we went to Tim's work and watched the Hockey Game and played some pool. The flames lost but at least they clinched a play off spot.

Devynn said...

Alyson,
That is a sweet deal with the free movie passes! The last one we saw was Ice Age 2 -- SO HILARIOUS. Loved...actually, I was laughing so hard by the end I was having some pretty brutal contractions.

Allrie said...

I'm in the Sushi would be the end of our marriage column--my hubby doesn't "eat anything that swims". He's from San Diego, and used to put in his hours at the church tuna cannery!

What the date is is not at all important--it is the attitude. When we met, I had three young kids, so "dating" was not a real part of our courtship, unfortunately. I say that only because we rather rushed into marriage, but we were older, and both knew what we wanted, so we say we have an arranged marriage--we arranged it ourselves. Because of our unconventional begining, date night never made the top of our list of importance. We were too busy trying to cement a whole family. As the children have grown and one by one are leaving home, we have had to figure out how to relate to each other in an entirely new way. Now Date Night, tho. still not regular, is becoming more important. I envy those who start out with it and keep it going...so when you get to the other side of the children bridge, it will be that much easier. I know many couples who have to find a new way to relate to each other as they reach new parts of life.

Unlike Karen, however, I don't think money[:D] is the answer--but I do think more TIME is.

Suggestions: Explore your city, county, province, state, etc. Try different things, you may find new interests to share, no matter how many or few years of marriage has passed:)

Sariah said...

Date night? What's that? Whenever Ches or I have a free night for the both of us, we spend it crashed in front of the TV, then go to bed and go right to sleep.

Have I mentioned recently that Ches graduates in ONE month?? WOOT! Maybe Date Night will resurface once this huge stress has left.