101 Things Update - May 1: Date Night Jar

It's May!  Who else is as excited as I am for warmer weather?  Right now, though, there's a federal mandate that I keep wearing long pants when I'm in public, because my legs are so blindingly pale that it's dangerous. Good thing I now have a backyard!  I can't get over how much I love having our own house and yard and deck and flowers!  We have irises, tulips, and violets that the previous owners had planted, and they're all coming up now!  Plus some flowering bushes full of buds just ready to burst open.

Okay, sorry, way too many exclamation points in the previous paragraph, but I love spring so much!  How can one not feel wonderful and alive when it's so gorgeous outside?

But onto what I've been doing for the 101 Things in 2013 project.  Yes, I have slowed down on my project finishing; it's been a while since I had more than 2 things in a week.  But according to my math, my number of projects left spread over the rest of the year, still averages less than 2 a week.  And I have a lot of projects ready to go.  Not to mention, we have friends coming to stay with us in a few weeks (how exciting that it's only a few weeks now?!) and company is always a great impetus for me to get crackin'.

Regardless, this week, I completed #47: Date Night Jar.  And because it's the only thing I did this week, you get all the sordid (not really) details in this one post!  How lucky for you!

Here's my inspiration:

Source: lifeinthegreenhouse.com via Leah on Pinterest

But you didn't really think I'd do something so close to monochromatic, did you?  Of course not.  Here's ours:

I first painted two coats of fancy (Crayola) watercolors on the popsicles, then wrote the date nights on them with an extra fine Sharpie once the paint had dried.  Then I went crazy with my craft supplies box.  I had so much fun decorating it.  And then when I got done, I realized that I mislabeled.  The blue is for stay-at-home dates, and the green is for going out for free (or under $5).  So, I'll have to change that.

And that brings me to another point.  If you read the original post, she also had 3 categories: stay-at-home, go out for cheap, and go out for more money.  Except we have really different definitions of cheap vs. expensive, probably because I'm Dutch, Caleb is cheap, and we're rather poor and have a mortgage.  Her 'cheap' date was dinner at the Melting Pot, and her expensive date was staying at a Bed and Breakfast.  I'm sure there are people who have that budget, but I wasn't making a date night jar for them.  So, I changed my categories.  My 'expensive' date is probably closer to her 'cheap' date.

Would you like to know our ideas?  Let me tell you, I did tons of research for this.  I was aiming for 8 sticks per category and was having trouble coming up with that many ideas!  So I found a whole ton of websites full of ideas and finally gleaned enough to have 14 sticks per category!  So, if you need some help coming up with ideas, here are ours:

Blue - Stay-At-Home Dates:
1. Dinner and a Movie (Caleb's choice)
2. Dinner and a Movie (Leah's choice)
3. Puzzle + Snacks
4. Pizza + Board Games
5. Sunset + Homemade Popsicles
6. Wii Games + Snacks (Caleb's choice)
7. Wii Games + Snacks (Leah's choice)
8. Make a Mix (Music Sharing)
9. 20 Questions
10. Indoor Fort + Picnic + Movie
11. Dance Night In
12. Make gifts for friends
13. PJs and Pancakes Movie Night
14. Fondue

Green - Go Out (Under $5):
1. Window shopping for house
2. Wander in bookstore/library
3. Picnic
4. Beach
5. Farmers' Market
6. Tromping through the woods
7. Antiquing or a flea market
8. Bike Ride
9. Sample Day at Sam's Club
10. Jazz at the Zoo (The Grand Rapids zoo has free Monday night jazz in the summer)
11. Nature Photo Walk
12. People-Watching
13. Happy Hour at Steak & Shake
14. Surprise a friend with goodies

Red - Go Out (more money):
1. Dinner and a Movie (Caleb's choice)
2. Dinner and a Movie (Leah's choice)
3. Dessert
4. Coffeeshop
5. Zoo
6. Drive-In
7. Winter: Day at Kroc Center pool/gym (Local place like the YMCA, but with day passes)
8. Mini Golf + Ice Cream
9. Progressive Dinner (Appetizers, Dinner, Dessert all at different places)
10. Garage Sales
11. Downtown: walk around + eat out (either of the towns close to us)
12. Shooting Range
13. Holland, MI
14. Thrifting: pick out something for the other (each item under $5)

So, the way it works is this: at the beginning of every week, Caleb and I sit down and discuss our schedule for the week (actually, we usually yell it because we're in different rooms doing other things).  This helps me make our meal plan for the week, but then we also pick what night is going to be our date night.  If there's anything we wanted to do, that can of course be our date, but if we can't think of anything soon, we'll decide which category we want and then pull a stick.  We've only used it for two weeks so far (the first one without the jar because I hadn't made it yet; I only had the ideas), but I think we're really going to like it.

If you make one, please share pictures and stories.  I'd love to know how it works for you!

Love and Paint,
Leah Joy