March Date Night In Preparations

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. Last night Roy and I enjoyed martinis, caramel popcorn, and a great movie in our bed. I looked at him halfway and said, “Sometimes it’s just really FUN to be grown up.” Today the weather promises to be WARM and we are home as a family all day. We have plans to be outside as much as possible, go for a long run, follow James on his trike around the neighborhood, and a wonderful meal tonight after the boys are in bed.

(The warm weather coincides nicely with the start of my workplace’s Eat Well Live Well challenge. I get to wear a pedometer for the next 50 days and count my steps. Yesterday I got off to a really great start. This is partly because we went for a run and partly because I held nephew Roland for an hour and he insisted on bouncing and trotting around the house. My teammates thank you Roland.)

Tonight’s Date Night In hearkens back to the International Date Nights we loved a few years ago. We’ll be enjoying the cuisine of Belgium. Last night I completed the following preparations:

1.       Made salad dressing

2.       Made waffle batter (wouldn’t be Flemish without Belgian waffles)

3.       Made hot fudge (and it wouldn’t be a Belgian waffle without some high quality chocolate sauce slathered on top)

Today we’ll have lots of time to slow-cook a Flemish stew, prepare some frites, and bake waffles. I’m pretttttty excited. There’s just nothing better than when Roy gets back from Wegmans with the special ingredients and I survey the possibilities. Date Night In has been a great thing for us as a couple, but it’s also been a perfect excuse opportunity to try lots of new cooking techniques. So. Much. Fun.

Here’s a to-do list for this wonderful day:

1.       Get outside. Stay outside.

2.       Eat something delicious.

3.       Spend some time reflecting on how blessed I am.

4.       Find a way to bless somebody else’s world today.

Join me, will you?

Today's 1%: Happy birthday Daddy! We are sending you so much love and sometimes can't believe that we lucked out having you as our dad. Thanks for teaching us and LIVING what it means to be a man who serves the Lord with his whole heart. James hopes you get lots of tools for your birthday presents.