Life sometimes changes our plans.. and sometimes it's for the better...

Last Saturday J and I planned a date night. Neither of us is quite sure when the last date night was.. just that it was so long ago that we both forgot when it was.

Though I suppose that's not really where the story begins...

I mentioned that we weren't able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with my family, right?

My father's hometown in southeastern Iowa has many Irish people in it. His family took up residence there only a few generations ago. They came over from across the pond when the railroads were going up along the Mississippi. Yep, my gramps worked on the railroad.

Um.. where was I? Oh yeah. St. Patrick's Day.

There are several parties and events that take place on the weekend nearest St. Patrick's Day in and around my dad's hometown. Including a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner with music from McNamara's Band (a Big Band that my grandfather helped start, he was one of the original members back in his baritone playing days.. or was it tuba? I can't remember now.. my dad sings with them now and a few of my cousins play..). This year there was also a performance at the Grand Theater with traditional Irish music (my dad sang at this too), bagpipes, and my dad's cousin's Irish dance class dancing.

Anyway...

We were all looking forward to going but, unfortunately, my dad came down with the Man Plague a couple days before. Seeing that my father really needed to be able to acquire adequate rest and we were not so interested in bringing home any illnesses involving regurgitation and defecation.. we decided to stay home. Everyone was sad, but we decided to make it an awesome weekend anyway - after all J had taken Friday off! So a date was planned for Saturday night. Our first in... a long time.

We discussed ideas of what we might like to do.. things like dinner, a movie, bowling, and what not.. Well, we planned on taking the kids bowling over the weekend already, so we decided to skip that. Dinner and a movie? Sure, why not. We planned to see Coraline in 3D at 4:30 and then have dinner afterward before picking up the kids.

We dropped the kids off... at 4:30. Oops. We talked about different movies we could see, but unfortunately finding movie showings during dinner hours is rather challenging - are the theaters and restaurants in league with each other on this? I smell conspiracy..

We decided to just head over to Joe's Crab Shack - our chosen fueling station - and have a long leisurely dinner. Can't remember the last time we did that! (geez, you'd think we have memory problems... ginko biloba, anyone?) After that? We figured we'd wander around the mall, maybe get something pierced or inked.. you know, whatev.

Dinner was fun. Well worth missing a movie for.

I got myself a pomegranate margarita with pop rocks. (actually, J ordered it.. he always picks me drink for me.)

J's drink was easier to pick.. we saw they had a margarita that was not only made with Patron, but also with Patron Citron (J's favorite.. in case you want to send us some..) AND it came with a free shaker! 'Hey, we need a new shaker!' Yeah.. ours broke.. don't ask.



'Hey, babe? What's that thing stuck on your head??'

I swear, he'd only stop staring at my boobs when I'd take the camera out. I think he likes me.

Now, we also have a strange habit.. nay, obsession.. with making fools of ourselves acting silly when we're out in public. We do weird things like stick straws on our teeth to make ourselves look like walruses, tell our wait staff that we have 5 rugrats and don't see the light of day very often, take pictures of each other through the evening and put them on Twitter... yeah, you get the idea.






Our waiter was nice enough to not laugh at us. And even allowed us to take his picture.. while he tied on our bibs. I totally did not tell him I would put his picture on the internet.. so if you see him.. um.. just tell him 'Hi'.













Doesn't J look happy? See.. I told you he totally has a crush on me.

Anyway, we ate a TON of food. Then we headed over to the mall to walk off our dinner and look for a piercing pagoda. Never found one. BUT we did find Glow Golf.

When we first started dating.. well, even before that actually.. we used to play a goofy old 1997 mini golf computer game. I'm not real sure who had more wins.. he'd probably tell you it was him, but I'm pretty sure it was probably me. Because I'm awesome. But I teased him relentlessly about the fact that I'd totally kick his ass on a real flesh and blood course.. (did you know mini-golf courses are made with flesh and blood? yeah.. think about that the next time you swing a club..) Which I did. Repeatedly. While we were dating.. and beyond.


Naturally, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to swing some putters at glowing balls. So we stood by the trash can and chugged finished sipping and savouring our Starbucks beverages (hey.. we tend to be tired.. dates generally require an extra dose of caffeine..) and ran madly sauntered casually over to the golf course for a round of put-put.






He totally cheated, by the way. I mean, I still won.. but he was keeping score. I'm actually not sure who's score he cheated on more though, mine or his.. He's such a gentleman.

(But I would have won even if he hadn't cheated.. I think.)





After our rousing round of mini-golf, it was starting to get late. We decided to swing by the Cheesecake Factory and pick up dessert on our way out (our dates don't 'end' when we pick up the kids..) and head back to our sitter's house to pick up the kids. Once slice of pistachio cheesecake and one slice of vanilla bean cheesecake in hand and we were on our way. But not without first TwiPic'ing the 'Ass stance' sign by the pond..

'Need help? Get ASS STANCE!'

And what date night would be complete without asking a random stranger to take a picture of us and giggle at them wait patiently while they try to figure out how your camera works?



It was an awesome night. Even if our Saturday evening wasn't spent celebrating St. Patrick's Day with my kinsmen or watching a 3D animated movie or paying someone to put more holes in my body.. it was well worth all the extra exercise I will have to do to work off the cheesecake and bragging rights on 'I'm still the better putter'.. and some real quality time with my wonderful spouse, remembering all the reasons we love to hang out together.

The End.

Graphic Novel always sounded like some secret code for 'porno' to me..

Cause you know.. porn is pretty graphic after all..

So Saturday night was Date Night. When I use the term 'date night' that way I don't just mean we got a sitter and went out, but rather that our church provided free babysitting and we took advantage of it so that we could do.. well.. nothing. Because our church ROCKS, and after 9 years of marriage, we just don't know what to do with ourselves on the rare occasion that we get out without children in tow.

We fed the kids before kicking them out of the van as we drove past the front door of the church.. I mean, dropping them off with hugs and kisses all around.. and grabbed a slice or two of their pizza for ourselves so that we could skip dinner and have more time to.. you know.. do whatever.

"What do you want to do?"
"I dunno.." feet on the dashboard because there are no short people behind me watching and waiting for their opportunity to copy my misbehavior.. "What do YOU want to do?"

Wow.. our date nights always seem to start off like that scene from Jungle Book.. You know the one. No? Oh. Oh well. Anyway..

"Was Andrew working tonight?"
"Yep... You want to go to Starbucks?"
"Sure, why not."

So off we went to our favorite local Starbucks.. The one in West Des Moines, where my husband is commonly referred to as 'Hi-5 Guy'. And yes, I said West Des Moines. As in the part of Des Moines that is farther west than the Des Moines we live in.. the part where all the rich yuppie types live.. (totally kidding) It just made us snicker when we watched the Olympics and everytime they'd talk about Shawn Johnson they'd say 'from West Des Moines, Iowa..' Cause, you know.. too good for just plain old Des Moines... (again.. just kidding, they really are their own entity over there).

We walk in and everyone in the joint (always a big crowd on Saturday nights..) jump up and say 'Hey! It's Hi-5 Guy!!'... no wait.. It was just Andrew (on break) and Oana (his fiance.. lucky girl).. and a couple more of our favorite baristas behind the counter. So we sat around and chatted for a bit about gay guys in public restrooms, raunchy comedy filled with profanity and how it makes a GREAT birthday gift, and pot, and of course we complained about how the church should have totally done an overnighter cause that way we could have gone to the Showbread concert in Iowa City.. They kind of looked at us cross-eyed at the mention of Showbread and we gave up at that point and moved on (after all.. we went over who Showbread was on one of our previous date night visits to Starbucks to see Andrew and Oana.. if they don't get it by now..).



"So where you guys headed?"
"The comic book store."
"Comic book store??.. Where's that?"
"Around the corner."
"Really?"
"Yeah.. Really. You read comics?"
"Well.. not since I was like.. 9. You mean like Marvel and stuff?"
"Yeah. And DC.. and Image."
"Hunh."

Ok.. so off we take our geeky selves to Mayhem.. our local comic book store to purchase some graphic novels. Because the more sophisticated comic connoisseur (did I spell that right?? cause it totally looks wrong..) prefer to call them graphic novels not comic books. After all, comics are for.. like 9 year olds and stuff.. right?

J picks up the newest issue of Teen Titans (ok.. that one really was just a comic book.. after all it was an issue.. complete with bag and board..) and I get the next book in the Catwoman series that I've been reading. I love Catwoman. I like me some Batman too, but Catwoman? She's my home girl, yo. Sadly, the next issue of Suburban Glamour is still not out, so it was a one book night. Goods in hand, we were on our way.

To where? We had NO clue. And by this time we only had about an hour and a half left. Honestly, it wasn't too big of a deal.. Kind of reminisce of the days when we were dating/engaged. We'd hop in the car and just drive. No destination in mind, no where to go and nothing to do, we'd just point the car and go. We drove around a bit aimlessly, contemplating what things there are to do here. A lot of Iowans will tell you that there's little to nothing to do around here and assume that we must be SO bored here after living in California. Um. No. There's all the same stuff here, plus some other really cool stuff that we didn't have there. AND everything here is closer and cheaper, and thus more accessible. Plus, between the driving, the gas, the admission, the blah blah blah.. with all there was to do in California? we never really got to do much of it (and there wasn't that much to do either..).

Eventually, we decided to go to Gateway Market and Cafe and pick up some dessert to bring home. We meandered through the aisles (since I've been to the Cafe part twice, but never had a chance to look around), checked out the booze.. I mean beer and wine.. selection, and gave the nifty 'wine chiller' a test drive. Sweet. Wine? Not so good.. I smelled it before tasting and it kind of reminded me of Eliana's diaper in the morning.. eeeew..

more the engrish!

Once we'd racked up a decent bill of goodies, we wrapped up our evening of coffee, comics, and cake.. and headed back to church to pick up the hoodlums.

Lesson? We're going to keep a running list of Things to Do on Date Night.. so that we have some ideas at the ready in the future.. Still, we enjoy just being out without kids when given the chance and it's great 'getting to know you' time.. Seriously, after 9 years of being married with 5 kids under foot.. there's always plenty of 'getting to know you' to be done.

you melt my face off.. baybeee

And you make me feel like a teenager again..

Last night was date night for J and I. We abandoned our 5 hoodlums at the home of some friends (brave souls) and headed out to...
J: soo... what do you want to do?
M: Heck if I know! I don't really care much.. I'm easy.
J: Heh.. you said easy..
M: Shut up.. you know what I mean. And besides, at this point even urinating without an audience sounds like treat.
J: You wanna see Dark Knight? We could go to the mall, maybe grab some dinner and see a movie?
M: Sure. Sounds great!

So we stopped by the house to put some clothes on that didn't have little handprints, boogers, and dirt on them.. or smell like office.. and then headed out to one of the local malls. We got there only to have The Man rain on our parade.. only showing was at 8pm.. putting us back in the car at nearly 11. Not gonna work, kids were at friend's house, not home. I was ok with it though.. we got to walk around and talk to each other instead of sit in the dark and.. well.. not talk to each other.

So, we wandered aimlessly out into the mall.. not quite sure what to do with ourselves without 5 midgets in tow.. and headed toward Hot Topic. Wow. SO much easier to navigate without a stroller and group of small children. As we walked in, we noticed a poster:

Underoath
Preview Listening Party
August 22, 7pm

What luck!! So we did our usual browsing the store while listening to some new Underoath and hit up the CD rack to find the new Family Force 5. Score. (Yep. Christian music sold at Hot Topic) Then something on their listening panel caught J's eye.. The Austrian Death Machine.

J: Ooh! The Austrian Death Machine!
M: The who's a whatsy??
J: The Austrian Death Machine.. it's from one of the guys in As I Lay Dying.. we need to check it out!

So we shared the one pair of headphones like a couple teenagers sneaking around the mall when they should be doing homework and took a listen.. ROCKS. We bought it. Along with a bunch of other crap.

Then we wandered around Scheels for a while. The All Sports Store. Good gravy people.. they need to hand out maps at the door like they do at amusement parks for crying out loud! We perused the camping gear first..

J: Ooh! [yeah, he does that a lot when we're shopping.. we don't get out often, so it's like we only see this stuff online and in magazines normally.. then we go out in public and see that it actually exists..] a hiking stick! I need one of those for work..
M: Um... what??? Did they install some new mountain ranges in the office?? old ones not exciting enough as they did not require said sticks??
J: No. For killing people.
M: Oh. Of course. Silly me.
J: I could totally sneak up on people with it.. around corners, over cubicle walls.. and stab them in the back of the head.. and they'd be all 'Ungh!! Why am I dead??'

Ok.. that one had me giggling. Cause when I die.. I'll totally be saying 'Ungh.. why am I dead??' with my last breath. So, that was about all our ADD shopping capacity could handle so we were headed for the door and..

M: Hey, I want to check out the swim wear.. So I can actually see what the suits feel like and stuff before I buy one online. [dude.. it's SO cheaper.]
J: Ooh! [see.. told you.] Skate boards!!!

So we checked out the skateboards. They had some lovely overpriced stuff and some lame flimsy ramps and what not.. and..

J: Hey, try out the long board, babe.
M: Um.. right.. No.
J: Come on, it's easy. You can totally do it. Here I'll hold your purse..

I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone unless I humored him, so I put my foot on the board and rolled it back and forth.

M: Nice.
J: No. Come on, give it a push!
M: Um. No thanks. I rather prefer my rear end UNbruised thank you.
J: Here I'll hold onto you...

Lucky I didn't fall on my ass. Nothing like a little public humiliation, har har. At least he now has confirmation that the wife can not ride a skate board. I can't even ride a dang bike, how the heck am I supposed to balance a skate board?? Right.

So we started looking for the swimwear.. passing by their own fudge shop and meat shop and ads for cabin rentals..

M: Ooh, specialty meats.
J: I've got some specialty meat right..
M: Shut up.

Had to ask someone for directions to the swim suits.. big. store. But hey, it killed time, burned calories, whatever.. or something. The All Sports Store.. just shopping here is a work out!

J: You like any of these suits?
M: Yeah. They're ok.. but I don't see the ones I was thinking of buying. Lame.. Or is that one of them? ... Or is that one? .. oh, heck.. Oh, here's a couple reversible suits..
J: Reversible? Oh. Look, that one's brown on the inside. That's for when you're about to race and you crap yourself. You know.. camouflage or something.
M: Shut up or I'll order you a Speedo.

Yeah. I take him out in public.

Time for dessert!! Off to the Cheesecake Factory! We were expecting something more along the lines of the Fudge Factory where you just go in and select out of a glass case and take it home.. not realizing there's a whole restaurant and stuff. Wow. Need to get out more. So we sat down and, feeling a little hungry, had our waitress give us detailed reviews of all the appetizers and cocktails and cheesecakes to help us decide.. I'm not kidding. We really did. She actually had to leave our table a couple times to help other people in the middle of it. Awesome.

We had some Avocado Egg Rolls, Ahi Tuna Tempura Roll, a Mojito and a Georgia Peach (don't ask.. it was good), and ordered some cheesecake to go. Yum. Yum. And more Yum.

We hopped in the car and headed toward our gracious sitter's home and cranked up some Austrian Death Machine. We rolled down the windows and blasted it and giggled when people next to us at the stop lights rolled their windows up. It's an entire album mocking Arnold Schwarzenegger, every song based on lines from his movies. hi.lar.i.ous. It was like a timewarp, taking me back to my hardcore roots.. reminding me that I'm a watered down version of what I was when I was a teenager. Rewinding to my long haired, plaid flannel shirt, ripped jeans, docs, and Headbanger's Ball t-shirt days. I forgot how much I could like that music. It did help that we laughed our guts out all the way to collect our kids. I kind of missed that hard driving beat that makes your head feel like it's going to pop without making it hurt. It makes your innards run for cover for fear of implosion. It was awesome. And did I mention hilarious? Yeah.

Who Is Your Daddy? What Does He Do? (Kindergarten Cop)



Then, shortly before we arrived, it ended. So we popped in Family Force 5 and did our best to Dance or Die without.. well.. um.. dying.

Love Addict (Since Dance or Die doesn't have a video yet.. but my kids totally dig this song and Booger sings it all the time..)