A Year of Dates: April

Each month, my husband and I are going on one date together, without our little one.   I mean, we love her, but we need some husband/wife time, you know?  :)  I planned all these dates in advance and gave it to him as a Christmas present.  For the month of April, I planned for us to go hiking at Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades.   Will Rogers State Park is a beautiful placed tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles.  Since it's a state park, you have to pay to get in (I think it was $12), but it's worth it.  Besides the numerous and varied hiking trails, the historic site has a beautiful grass area to lounge and picnic on (which, of course, I forgot to take a picture!).  We packed a picnic, laced up our hiking shoes, and headed out in the morning for a fun day in nature!

Date Cost: $12 for parking + $15 for picnic food = $27
Time Spent: 3 hours
When to go: Daytime, weekdays are better because they'll be less crowded

The view from the top of the hike - looking down on Los Angeles.  It was a little hazy (smoggy?) today, but it was still a lovely view.

Looking back at our trail....If felt like 10 miles, but it was probably more like 3.  :)

See that little dirt trail?  Oh yeah, we were on that! 

I give this date two thumbs up!  I probably should have thought to put both my thumbs up for the picture.  Oh well!

Hubby had a nice time, too!

Sweaty but accomplished!

We both really enjoyed this date.  The hike was a nice way to enjoy nature, exercise and enjoy each other's company all at the same time.  After we made it back down, we relaxed on the grass as we shared a picnic lunch.

What are some of your favorite hiking areas where you live?

A Year of Dates: January, February & March

A few months ago, I posted about a gift I gave to my husband for Christmas:  A Year of Dates.  As you might be able to tell, I haven't been that great about posting my monthly date ideas.  Well, no more of that!  I'm going to start posting every month from here on out!  Since I'm a little behind, I'm going to put 3 months into this one post.  (Also, I didn't take any pictures of my first two dates, so I didn't think they would make such a great post.)  So without further adieu...

JANUARY:  Dinner at a Restaurant


I don't have any pictures of this because we were basically the only ones in the restaurant and it felt weird to be taking pictures of us and our food.  Anyways... To save some money, we bought a gift certificate from Restaurant.com, which allows you to buy a gift certificate for less than what it's worth.  For example, we spent $15 on a gift certificate that was worth $25 to spend at the restaurant.  It's a pretty cool idea.  Just make sure you read the fine print before you purchase.  Some restaurants only allow you to use the certificate on certain days or on certain items.

FEBRUARY: Bowling


We went to an bowling alley that has daily specials.  On Sunday, they have $2 shoe rental plus $2 per game.  Pretty good deal!  Plus, they had cheap drinks and food which made it a really fun and frugal night.

MARCH: Taylor Guitar Factory Tour


Finally, pictures!  We live about 2 hours away from San Diego, where the Taylor Guitar Factory is located.  My husband is a wonderful guitar player and I thought it would be fun to tour a guitar making factory.  Taylor Guitar Factory offers daily FREE tours, which is awesome.  We made a day out of it, eating at a yummy vegetarian restaurant prior to the tour.  On the way home, we took the top off our our Jeep and enjoyed the awesome California weather!  It was a great, cheap, and relaxing day.  If you have any factories in your area, guitar or otherwise, I definitely recommend checking them out.  Who knows, they might even let you tour it for free!

Date Cost: Free (well, we did have to spend gas money to get there)

Time Spent: 1.5 hours

When to go: M-F

Lots of guitars you can take off the wall and play - this was just a small selection, there were a ton more!

Play Away!

Oh yeah, you get to wear a cool pass when you're on the tour.

Guitar necks waiting to find a body.

Wood that's waiting to be turned into a guitar.

Carved out front panels of guitar body.

This was a fun and interesting tour.  Definitely a unique date idea.  We were able to take home some free coasters that were made from the hole in the guitars and my husband got a new baseball cap.  At the very least, my husband and I were able to spend a purely adult day together.  And as much as we love our daughter, we were actually able to find lots of other things to talk about.  Crazy, huh?  :)

I'll be posting our April date soon!  (I've been sick, so we've had to postpone.  Hopefully we can go next weekend!)

The Gift that Keeps on Giving - A Year of Dates!

Okay, just to start, I realize that this post doesn't really fit my blog as it doesn't have much to do with my daughter.  However, it has to do with me and her dad, and without us, well, she wouldn't be here!  I'm just really excited about this idea and wanted to share!

I came across this idea a few months ago on Pinterest, but since then I've seen tons of people doing it on all kinds of blogs.  So I can't really give credit to anyone!  I gave this gift to my husband for this past Christmas.  I think that it would also make a great birthday or anniversary gift.  You could even do it as a wedding gift to someone, which I think would be pretty awesome.  So what is it?

In the box are 12 sealed envelopes.  Inside each envelope is a note card that describes a date that I have planned for me and my husband.  In most cases, I put the amount of cash that we would need for the date or a gift card.  On the first of each month, my husband and I will open that month's envelope together and he will get to see the date I planned.  Then, we'll pick a day that month to go on the date and actually do it!  My mom has volunteered to babysit Olive in exchange for us washing her car once a month! :)

Obviously, since the dates are a surprise for my husband I can't post what I planned just yet.  But as we do each monthly date, I'll create a post about it.  Also, we aren't exactly growing any money trees in my backyard, so I had to do this as cheaply as possible.  The whole 12 months of dates came out to about $120 total.  That's an average of $10 per date!  I tried to come up with dates that were: 1) creative/unique, 2) something we haven't done before (or don't get to do often), and 3) something we can't typically do with our daughter.   I'm really happy with the dates I came up with and I can't wait for my husband to be surprised each month!

Stay tuned in the months to come for updates on each of our dates....I'll have links to the posts below! ;)

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December