A New Kind of Date Night

When you have busy kids, you have busy weeknight lives. And if you're lucky, you can take your spouse with you to the evening activity and spend it on the new kind of date night we've adopted! Date nights are hard to come by. We are lucky, because McKinley loves to spend at least one night a weekend with my parents, but not everyone has that opportunity. It can be weeks or months before you get a date night, so if possible, maybe you can adopt our new trick!

McKinley has a weekly drawing class that's an hour long, so that's an hour we can spend together. And what do most parents do with free evenings these day? Binge watch their favorite shows on any streaming network they have subscribed to. We may not be binge watching, but we are taking advantage of being able to watch one hour a week of our favorites shows we can't watch on the DVR. As of late, it's Almost Family on FOX. Have you watched? We love it!

So, in addition to watching one of our recorded shows on HULU, we're dining al fresco. Okay not really. We're dining in the comfort of our front seat of the car! But hey, this is the new kind of date night and we're making the most of it. And, we're saving money. That's the big thing. Imagine eating out every Thursday night? That's roughly $20 a week. And it would be fast food. And that's more weight gain. So, made at home dinners it is! 

I also have to be mindful of the meals for Thursday. Soup, spaghetti, or tacos wouldn't really work. I need something that's not going to drip all over the places. We've done French bread pizza, sausage and potatoes, and last night it was quiche. And I've been using the plastic containers we keep from lunch meat, but I wanted something a little "classier" for date night. So, I rummaged around in my mom's cabinets and "borrowed" her Tupperware she's had since the 70s (just look at the colors), and a couple of Pampered Chef measuring bowls with lids, which make for the cutest way to transport our dinner and making it feel like an upscale picnic! Oh, and the darling Tupperware cups I found at an estate sale this summer were the perfect way to store muffins! I also use them daily for McKinley's lunch. This is also my way of changing my carbon footprint by not using nearly as much plastic!

So here's what took place. I made the quiche earlier in the morning, so I had plenty of time to pack everything up. With his class starting at 6:15, he eats in the car, so I start packing dinner for the whole family around 5:15. (And his dinner consisted of a hotdog and sides. He doesn't eat quiche!) If I had waited to make the quiche at 4:00, I would have been strapped for time. I waited to the bake the muffins in the afternoon, and while they baked, I prepped the fruit bowls. Everything was coming together. I heated up the quiche a piece at a time, added it to the Tupperware bowls, packed up all the food, and we headed out the door! 

Check it out!

What I do need is a chic way to transport the food. My J.Crew bag, though super compact, took a beating when a fork poked through on the way home! 

Two cold parents chillin' in the car! We ate, chatted a little, watched our show (which always creates a conversation), and then picked up our kiddo in the classroom at 7:15!

Other ways we're dating these days is watching The Bachelor on a sleepover night while keeping the funds in check by staying home. We made the conscience decision to keep going out for dinner to a minimum this calendar year. Maybe once a month and trying a new local place to support our KC entrepreneurs! And, we are thinking ahead to summer and a couple of out of town family weekends. 

What are you doing for fun date nights? Are you staying in as well? Going out? Let's talk about all of the ways we can date in this new age and keeping that dating spark alive!

XO,

Andrea

Date Night at Powell Gardens

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Ours was incredibly busy, but so eventful. So much so that I woke up this morning with a low grade temp that is not going to slow me down! I've popped some Advil, been the grocery store, and I'm going to start working on McKinley's healthy snack for tomorrow's Holiday Party. It never stops!

On Friday night, McKinley had a sleepover with Meme and Granddaddy so Joel and I headed out on a fun little date night. He heard on the radio that morning about a fun Festival of Lights display at Powell Garden. It's a lighting exhibition, curated by the gardens Horticulture staff, and it included botanically-themed lighting displays. It began at the gardens entrance and stretched along a mile-long walking path through six of the seven themed gardens. It was so nice to be out on such a gorgeous winter night enjoying the lights of the holiday season.

While we walked, there was a fun filled tent of tables and chairs, crowds of people, and a bonfire ablaze. Turns out, it was a little concession stand of drinks! We both partook of hot chocolate spiked with peppermint schnapps and it was the perfect accessory to our continued walk through the gardens. It's funny how we spend our nights alone these days. We still go to dinner from time to time, or on a fun adventure like this one, but we always seem to find ourselves talking about McKinley. We will eventually change the subject to something less important, but then we find ourselves back on the topic of our kiddo. He is definitely the center of our lives!

Here are some pictures that Joel snapped during our winter stroll. And, I am checking that off our Holiday Bucket List!

We decided that if McKinley had been with us, we would have spent at least an hour just watching this train display!

 

I am obsessed with this wreath! I want one for my house!

 

If you have time, try to get out to the garden. The display goes through January 7th so there's plenty of time left. It's so pretty and such a fun night. The walk is the perfect way to work off all of those holiday treats. And it's lovely date night, if you can get away. 

What did you do over the weekend?

XO,

Andrea

Our Anniversary

Last Thursday was our fifteen year wedding anniversary. And because it fell on a Thursday, we spent the day doing our normal things. Joel went to work, I took McKinley to school and then to dance later that afternoon. We had dinner as a family that consisted of BBQ pulled pork courtesy of the slow cooker. Super romantic, right? 

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I blogged about romance? How the Hallmark movies give me all the dose I need because real life isn't all that romantic? Well, on our anniversary I raked the backyard for Joel as a sweeping romantic gesture and in lieu of the gifts we decided weren't necessary. I was able to rake up five bags of leaves and I even started getting the patio cleaned up when I found a dead mouse in my path. I packed up all of my gear and headed inside for the day. At least the yard was cleaned up. Unfortunately, by the time he got home, it was dark and the yard was covered with leaves. It was the thought that counted, right?

Fast forward to the weekend. Saturday night was date night, something my husband had planned for quite some time apparently. McKinley was scheduled for a sleepover at my parents and were going to dinner. Or so I thought. However, I hadn't a clue where we were dining or what time. I was perplexed. I needed to details. What should I wear? How dressy? How casual? How warm? Was there walking involved? All questions I needed answered. And my mother was no help. She was in on the surprise, but she didn't say a word. Or give any helpful advice.

With a couple of hours to go, I get a text from my husband telling me that I needed to pack an overnight bag. A what? I have two hours to get ready and now you're telling me I need an overnight bag? Dear lord! What is a girl to do? Panic! He informs me that jeans are acceptable and that we would be inside the whole time. And that included our evening dinner plans. Well, that helped narrow down the outfit. That's right, I still had no clue what I was wearing to dinner. I had it narrowed down to three dresses, two that would work with my amazing new shoes!

Thankful for the Getaway bag that was perfect for the one night getaway! And the design is Lovebirds! Perfect, right?

When Joel finally gets home from dropping McKinley off, I had narrowed it down to two looks. From there, after several back and forth discussions in my head, I went with my original dress. And I'm so happy I did. It was perfect for the night head. So what did the night hold? First up, we had dinner at JJ's, a local restaurant that we've wanted to try for years. And was it worth the wait! The food was amazing, the ambiance was gorgeous, and the desserts were decadent. We had the lemon mascarpone cake because it reminded us of our wedding cake. A beautiful three tiered cake made of white cake with lemon filling. 

While parking the car, we drove my the entrance of The Monarch Bar, a new establishment that just opened three months ago. After we were seated, we looked up the bars information and it turns out reservations are required. My husband called and chatted with the hostess who just happened to have two seats at the bar later that evening. Love that it totally fell into place and it was the perfect way to cap off the evening.

From there, the night wasn't over. We were headed to the DoubleTree hotel for a night away. And, it just so happens that we got married at the DoubleTree! Because we are an interfaith couple, we didn't get married in a church or temple. We got married in a very neutral location that allowed us to have a wedding that incorporated both of our religions, judgement free! It was gorgeous and everyone left with all the feels from a beautiful ceremony surrounded in love. And what I loved about our get away is that we got to snuggle up in a king size bed, watch The Holiday Baking Championship reruns without any interruption from a sweet six year old asking us to play, help wipe his bottom, or having to clean up the kitchen from dinner. It was heaven!

As we are settling in for the night, I am told that he has one more suprise for the morning. I should probably call the front desk and set up a walk up call because we are having breakfast with 20 of our closet friends! Say what? That's right! My parents, McKinley, close friends from childhood and adulthood would be meeting us for breakfast to help celebrate our 15 year anniversary. Based on our wedding vows, there was mention that it takes a village to help a marriage keep going and stay strong. But it's more than just a marriage. It's a life. It takes a village to keep your life going and our village is pretty amazing. More than amazing. They are family. It's more than just the family you are born into. It's also the family you create, and I have to say, we have created an incredible family. Our village is strong!

Joel, you out did yourself this weekend. Romance was very much alive in this real life couple. And as I stated on Saturday night, fifteen years looks good on us!

XO,

Andrea

KC Date Night - Town Topic and Up - Down

Do you remember what it was like to troll the mall as a teen in the 80s? Well I do and it was the best time of my life. I lived within walking distance of our local mall, and every Saturday, you would find me and my friends hanging out at Metcalf South Mall. And just what would we do there? Shop for cheap cosmetics at Osco Drug, browse the latest cassette tapes at Disc Jockey, spend babysitting money at Claire's, and when I got older, spent babysitting money on lay-way at Ups and Downs and the Closet. When after Dirty Dancing made it's way to the dollar movie, my friend Michelle and I would see it every Saturday afternoon. Every Saturday afternoon!!!!

Oh, and then there was the arcade. You know, the seedy little joint that was just down the hall from the Orange Julius? Ours was dimly lit, the only true lighting came from the neon glow of the game screens and some canned lights over head. You had all the classics; Pac-Mac, Ms. Pac-Man, Centipede (my personal favorite), Donkey Kong (a game I played in the waiting room of my orthodontist), Galaga, and pinball machines. Top 40 hits played overhead, and for any kid of the 80s, the arcade was so awesome. I loved it there.

And when you couldn't get to the arcade, you played games on your Atari. Now, I didn't own an Atari, my first gaming unit came years later in the form of a Nintendo 64, but my uncle and husband had one and you should hear them talk about their amazing triumphs on that one tiny joy stick. Atari in the 80s is the equivalent to XBox and Playstation for anyone reading this that was born well into the 90s! Head to this link to get a taste of gaming in the 80s!

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I found ourselves free on a Friday night. So when he asked me if I would be interested in heading to a new arcade/bar in town called Up-Down, I immediately said yes! Again, I loved the arcade. And this place is a through back to our gaming era. Old 80s games, 80s classic movies playing on screens throughout the space, and 80s jams blaring overhead make you feel like you've just hitched a ride on a DeLorean and headed back to 1985! (Watch Back to the Future if you have no idea what I'm referencing.) It was awesome!! We started with a cocktail, a Cider Block Wit for me, Jack and water for him. We got our tokens, $5 for 20 (games are 25 cents a play), and we were off for a night of nostalgia. 

We played Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Indian Jones Pinball, Centipede where I got control stick claw, Duck Hunt, Toobin', several rounds of Skee Ball, and then back for more fun on the true classics we grew up with. 

 

Then we hit the roof top deck to take in a gorgeous August evening. We found two stools on the edge of the deck and just relaxed. We talked, laughed, people watched, and viewed a very animated video of my uncle explaining to Joel how to play an old Atari game called Track and Field. Remember how I mentioned that they like to talk about their Atari triumphs? Well, Track and Field was one of those said games. Joel remembered it from his Atari and explained to me that when you played it in the arcade, some people balanced a pencil on two horizontal buttons as a toggle. It made the game easier to play because trying to constantly press the buttons simultaneously was difficult. I immediately thought of my Uncle Brent, a highly skilled gamer in his day. I quickly texted my Aunt Mandy, asking her to ask Brent if he recalled the game, and this video appeared several minutes later. Please feast your eyes below on the explanation we were unable to hear in the bar, but loved watching without sound.

This was video one of two....

  I would be remissed if I didn't talk about dinner beforehand. We knew we were headed downtown, but we weren't quite sure what we wanted to for dinner. We knew from the website that Up-Down offered a pizza bar, but we weren't really feeling pizza. As we got off the Southwest Boulevard exit, my husband mentioned that Town Topic was just down the street. Yes!! We've only been once, it was on my 40 Before 40 list several years ago, and a place I've wanted to dine at again. Perfect for a no frills date night! If you haven't been, go!! Immediately! We both had cheeseburgers, me with onion rings, him with fries. And we split a slice of lemon meringue pie for dessert. Honestly, the best little eatery! Head over to my Snapchat page, akrasnowkc, to check out a little video! 

Hands down, this has to be one of the best date nights we've had in a while and we've been going on some pretty steady dates this summer! I'm loving how we're exploring the city, after a date hiatus that consisted of some movie nights here and there. But let's chat. What are some things you love to do on date nights around the city? Throw out some suggestions! I would love to add new venues to our growing list.

Happy Monday!

XO, 

Andrea