{ Date Night }

Right now our church is going through a sermon series called "Real Marriage," based on the book of the same name that our pastor wrote {it was just published a couple weeks ago}. All of the "community group" {what churches usually call a Bible study} are also going through the material, with individual homework assignments {tailored specifically for husbands, wives, and singles}, group discussion questions, and weekly "experiences" to put into practice what we're discussing. This week's material was about how important it is to be friends with your spouse: not just roommates, or just lovers, or just people who happen to be married, but friends. So the experience assignment was to go on a date that's just for fun: No heavy conversations, no "let's make running errands a date this week"--something fun.

Mike and I are both prone to busy-ness and can be very list- and goal-oriented; we are good at being very shoulder-to-shoulder and working together towards the same goals. It's far too easy to let those traits become prominent in our relationship, so that we're sometimes more like two people {who happen to be fond of each other} working toward the same goal, and having fun together isn't always a priority. And let's be honest...even after just 2.5 years of marriage, it's easy to get into a "rut" and just go to the same handful of restaurants, get takeout, watch a movie, or veg in front of Hulu, rather than making the effort to do something that is intentionally fun. So I was getting excited for Friday night!

Many of our dates before marriage took place in Edmonds. We have a lot of good memories there, but don't go there often anymore. So I wasn't surprised when that's where we headed. For dinner we went to The Loft, a really cool little restaurant where we went for drinks a couple times when we were dating. The inside part is tiny {and I seriously want their wallpaper in my home}, but they have a large outdoor patio in the back that's partially enclosed...meaning that it's bounded on one side by the back wall {glass} of the restaurant, on two sides by the walls of other buildings, on the fourth side by a tall wooden fence, and there's a sort of high plexiglass roof. Two of the walls have tall stands of bamboo growing against them, so it feels very outdoorsy, and yet at the same time you can look inside through the glass wall. There is also a bar with granite countertops, and lots of heat lamps, and twinkle lights strung all along the roof, and at every table there's at least one blanket in case you get chilly. I was thoroughly enchanted: Yes, let's please eat outside in January surrounded by twinkle lights and bamboo and good music and heat lamps!

We talked and laughed and flirted and took pictures of each other, just like when we were dating. Mike ordered a burger, and I had a delicious pear and gorgonzola ravioli dish. And then Mike wrote on my hand, as he is wont to do, and so I wrote on his hand, which he always tries very hard to prevent. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself:

On the way to the car, I was sidetracked by a new frozen yogurt shop. It seems like cute little frozen yogurt shops are cropping up everywhere, and I've wanted to try one out for a while. It far exceeded my expectations!! There were probably 10 flavors to choose from, and at least 30 toppings: everything from smashed candy bars to fresh fruit {even pomegranate seeds and sliced kiwi!} to breakfast cereals to gummi bears and cookie dough. You choose your flavor{s} and toppings, and pay by weight. We decided to try pineapple, strawberry banana, and ginger lemonade, but bypassed the toppings--a good idea because it turns out that froyo ain't cheap. All the flavors were delicious, and if we lived closer I think I'd find excuses to go back regularly. Very, very regularly. Unfortunately there are no photos because we scarfed it down too fast, and because the place was swarming with high school students and we ended up eating in the car because there were no tables. {Funny side noted: as we were leaving, three teenage girls were about to go in, and one of them stopped outside the door and said, "Oh no! It's all sophomores in there!" We managed to get inside the car before we busted up laughing.}

Thank you for a wonderful, wonderful date, Honey. I love hanging out with you. I love having fun with you. I love it that we're friends.