The envelope: In the envelope was a gift certificate to a Japanese restaurant next to the paint your own pottery studio. In a perfect world, there would have also been a gift certificate to the pottery studio.
Spencer: To be honest, I misread the note and thought we would be both making AND painting pottery. While I would still love to make my own pottery, we definitely did not have the time to do both on this date. The night started with dropping our daughter off with a babysitter. Although we were rather worried about how she would behave, it turns out she had as good a time as we did! Next, we went to a little shop that had a whole bunch of primed pottery just waiting for paint. Choosing just one was a rather difficult decision, but eventually I settled on a ring holder; it looks much like a dish with a spire in the center. Not only was it unique, but we've needed one for some time. The store owner showed us some books to help get the ideas flowing, but in the end I settled on a design of my own. Around the spire of the holder I painted celtic trinity knots, and used all the colors of the knots to spiral up to to the tip. It was very fun, and I actually would like to go back again, though next time I will try to come with an idea already in mind (and I probably won't try to do celtic knots). It took longer than we thought, however, so we had to rush next door for our dinner before the restaurant closed. I have to say, this was a very good date idea.
Amy: We were almost afraid that this date wasn't going to happen, at least not on the night we had originally planned for. Although we had a babysitter all lined up, I was summoned for jury duty that week and was chosen to serve on a jury. The day of our date was deliberation day, so I though there was no way I would make it home in time for our date. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and our babysitter was still able to watch our daughter. Good thing, because this was a great date!
I chose to paint a frog that sits by the kitchen sink and holds a scrubby. The hard part for me was choosing the colors I wanted to use. I remember going to a paint your own pottery store when I was growing up and having a pretty narrow selection. The place we went to was very different. In addition to many different colors and even many shades of each color, they had special paints that were multicolored or would "crackle" when fired to create a texture. Who knew painting pottery was so advanced?!
I didn't know you were keeping a blog for this! Jordan and I frequently find ourselves at a loss for date ideas and might have to borrow some of yours. On our last date we went out to dinner and then to Party City to shop for Suzi's birthday party supplies. The things you made look beautiful. You know about the Clemson Arts Center, right? I took a pottery class there once, and we actually made the pottery on a wheel and then glazed it. That would be a lot more than one date, though! I had no idea pottery was so complicated. It takes forever. Anyway, they do all sorts of fun classes there that could be good for a date.
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