Date 1: Bucket list banner

The note: Remember that bucket list you haven't looked at in forever?  On this week's date, we're going to pick 12 of them to accomplish this year.  SHMILY!  Amy

The envelope: length of twine, mini clothespins, banner triangles ready to be written on.

Our first date was to pick 12 items off our bucket list(s) that we want to accomplish this year.  The only problem was we couldn't find our bucket lists, so we just came up with twelve new things we want to do this year.  What's on the list?

1. Learn how to knit/crochet; finish a cross-stitch pattern.
2. Buy a DSLR camera and learn how to use it.
3. Brew our own beer.
4. Visit a state we've never been to.
5. Complete the Cooper River Bridge Run.
6. Learn how to surf or water ski.
7. Can food grown in our own garden.
8. Take our daughter on a bike ride.
9. Grill a steak; make bagels from scratch.
10. Take our daughter camping.
11. Write a novel.
12. Read 12 books (each).

Spencer: We decided to look at a month's wort of dates at a time so we could plan things out better.  This was the first one we chose because some of the dates we will be going on may work towards this one as well.  I was very disappointed when I realized we couldn't find the old bucket lists we had made years ago.  I put a lot of work into it!  So we came up with a full bucket list to go through and started to eliminate things according to how difficult they would be to do this year.  I was hoping to be able to do one of the more interesting things on the list, but logic prevailed.  Alas! we will not be able to afford sky diving this year.


Some of you may be wondering if "learn how to knit/crochet; finish a cross-stitching pattern" was Amy's idea.  It actually was mine.  When I was young, my mother taught me how to cross-stitch, but I never had the patience to FINISH, or even get close to finishing.  And some of them can look very nice.  The Cooper River Bridge Run is Amy's goal, but I went with it because it would let me see Charleston, which is something I've wanted to do since I moved here.  Grill a steak is not as simple as that - I want a grill a good steak.  In the past, I've always had very bad luck in my steaks; there have been only 2 or 3 that I would call "good."  Writing a novel is cheating just a little.  I am half-way through a novel right now, but it does give me a good incentive to finish it in a timely manner.  Finally, we will be taking a class on brewing beer later this month, so it was a good one to add to the 12 items.

Amy: Apparently, a lot of people create bucket lists for each season.  That's where the idea for this date came from.  I just adapted the concept to be more realistic for our lives.  I think visiting a state we've never been to will be the hardest.  Since both of us have been to most of the neighboring states, it's going to require a little more planning.  And of course, we've both ridden a bike and been camping, but we haven't done those things with our daughter yet.  That will be fun for all of us.  Canning our own harvest is now a reality since my grandmother gave me one of her old pressure canners and a bunch of mason jars.  Now we just have to keep all our plants alive!


Look for future posts updating you on our progress.

The Gift

Sometimes, the longer you know someone, the harder it is to surprise them.  Birthday gifts have to be hidden with extreme secrecy, a surprise party has to be planned with the skill of an FBI sting, and Christmas is akin to breaking out of high-security prison.  By the time we're on our 25th anniversary, we're going to have to hire professionals.

This Christmas, however, my wife, Amy, was able to surprise me.  Since Halloween, she has been holed up under the guise of "work" in the office of our house.  I've been dragged into town blindfolded while she ran errands and forced to keep out of the office for two months.  There were times when she thought I might "figure it out," but I don't think I would have been right if I HAD seen what she was buying.

We've been trying to go on regular dates ever since we had our baby, but it has been, to say the least, difficult.  For Christmas, Amy prepared one date a week for the next year, some of them prepaid and all of them creative.  Once a month, I will spin an arrow on a board that will determine that week's date (between video games, not your ordinary movie, my idea, her idea, etc).  Other than that, though, I will be opening manilla envelopes each week to see what the date will be!

I got the idea for Spencer's gift from Shannon, who gave a year of dates to her husband in 2011.  However, instead of one date a month, I decided to attempt one date a week.  What was I thinking?!  I wanted to plan activities that we had never done together (for the most part) and that were prepaid, so that sometimes all we have to do is find a babysitter.  In the end, I wound up running out of time to finish driving around town buying gift cards and knick-knacks, so not everything is as polished as I had envisioned.

Regardless, Spencer still loves his gift, and we hope you will, too!  Each week, we'll post a short synopsis of the date, some photos, and a review.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions; our contact information is on the right sidebar.