Couple's Bucket List Update!

47. Go to the Zoo

 So in case you did not read my blog post on my Couple's Bucket List you should definitely do that, but a little while back Chris and I went to the Sacramento Zoo! This date was actually part of his anniversary present (which I still need to do a blog post on...a few months late!) but to give you an idea I made up 12 envelopes that each had a date prepared and planned for each month for a year. June's date was to go to the zoo! We had a nice time looking at all of the animals and having a delicious snack of Soft Serve Ice Cream! I do love a nice trip to the Zoo, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go to another zoo with my job! Definitely not as fun as a date at the zoo.

So whether you have been dating your man (or lady) for days, weeks, months, or years, the zoo is a wonderfully simple date that is a great way to bring out the animal lover in everyone!

 The tiger was literally on the other side of the glass. 

 When he stood up!

 Taking a break on a bench, it was almost 100 degrees!

 Trying on a hat to beat the heat!

Looking awesome!

Monday Night Date Night: Build-a-Bear Edition

So be warned: This date happened a couple months ago, so my hair is long! I am sorry for waiting so long to post, but I hope you enjoy!

So this date is sweet and simple, but not necessarily something you see couples do all the time! I only see boys going into Build-a-Bear to buy their girlfriends presents and I wanted a Chris Bear and Samantha Bear! There are better times to go to Build-a-Bear, so I would suggest signing up for their email list! And definitely when you pay sign up for a "Fluff for Stuff" or "Stuff for Fluff" card, you get coupons sent to your email!

So here is us at work (and just so you know, Chris wore almost that exact same outfit the other day! I didn't realize how perfect it was!):

Chris with Samantha Bear!

Myself with my Chris Bear!

After the date!

This lady was walking through the mall carrying a CAT. It was awesome.

Now Chris Bear and Samantha Bear live on my bed, it is pretty cute!

Monday Night Date Night: The Great Gatsby Edition

I know I usually wait until Monday to post Date Ideas, but since I saw this movie before it was released I just couldn't wait until next Monday! Be sure to go see this film on your next date night!!

The joys of being an RA and living in the residence halls means that we get to go to early (free!) showings of new movies. This was the first time I have taken advantage of this and Chris and were able to go see The Great Gatsby before it hits theaters May 10! If you become a member of gofobo.com you will be able to see free showings of movies in your area!

In case you were not planning on going to see this movie you must change your mind! The music alone is worth the price of admission! Leo does a fantastic job, as always, and the move is spot on with the book for the most part.

I do not recommend seeing this movie instead of reading the book but if you want to read the book and see the movie I will say you will be prepared for any tests!

This particular date started off with sun and wonderful company with my Christopher love.

Then the downpour started...and we got a little wet.

 A picture of Chris and Myself while we were in line in the pouring rain (take note of how sunny it still seems...weirdest weather ever!)

It was pouring!

Monday Night Date Night: The Price is Right Edition

Okay here is a date night that was originally brought to Date Night Enthusiasts by The Dating Divas! This date was originally supposed to be a group date, but I just made it work for Chris and my weekly date night.

I started out by sending him a picture of the adorable free invitation all filled out (it would have been too much of a hassle driving the twenty miles out to him just to hand deliver it), and then when he got to my house on we had some dinner and filled out the Game Cards (Rounds 1 & 2) (Round 3 & Showcase).

We then headed out to the Target close by and completed all of the Rounds and Showcase and the winner was...

Drumroll...

Christopher!

And then me in Second Place!

We decided that the winner was going to get a prize chosen and paid for by the second place-er (loser sounds mean!)! So I ended up buying Chris Magic Cards and a Star Wars light-up yoyo! And because he is such a sweetheart, Chris bought me a Barbie light-up yoyo and a Disney Princess Pen complete with bubbles and Princess stamp.

After we got back to my place, Chris and I went on a walk in the dark with our new yoyo's! 

Basically, this is an awesome date from The Dating Divas and I highly recommend it!

My Couples Bucket List

Okay, so let's just be honest, this will probably be the most personal post yet. I started making this list the Summer after Chris and I started dating. And I just showed it to him the other day, because I wanted to give him the heads up that with his permission I would post it! Of course being the wonderful man he is, he gave me the go ahead and here goes nothing!

My Couples Bucket List

1. Build a fort in our living room
2. Build a treehouse in our backyard
3. Watch a meteor shower
4. Have a food fight
5. Walk everywhere for a day
6. Throw a black tie dinner for two
7. Take dance lessons
8. Get lost on purpose
9. Preform feng shui to our house
10. Write a note to our future grandchildren
11. Kidnap each other for a play date in the park
12. Book a trip and travel in the same day
13. Campout close to home
14. Do something touristy in our hometown
15. Burry a time capsule in our backyard
16. Set a world record in something
17. Spend the night in someplace haunted together
18. Cook something we grew
19. Go on a hot air balloon ride
20. Build a house of cards and then run through it
21. Build something that will outlast us both
22. Volunteer at a soup kitchen on a holiday
23. Go white water rafting
24. Test drive a car we will never be able to afford
25. Skip out of work and go bowling
26. Make our own pasta from scratch
27. Donate blood together
28. Carve our names into a tree
29. Watch 26 movies in 26 days, each starting with a letter from the alphabet
30. Send a message in a bottle
31. Watch the sunrise and set in the same day.
32. Pay for the next person’s toll on the highway
33. Go for a ride on a scary roller coaster
34. Ride cross country on the train
35. Take a cooking class together
36. Build a bird house
37. Plant an herb or vegetable garden
38. Volunteer at the ASPCA
39. Put together a giant jigsaw puzzle
40. Split a milkshake
41. Go to the aquarium
42. Kiss in the rain
43. Get matching outfits
44. Ride a Ferris Wheel
45. Go on a road trip
46. Stargaze
47. Go to the zoo
48. Watch fireworks
49. Read a book together
50. Look at Christmas lights

So of course we have done some of these things, but the majority of them we have not. And I printed out a copy and put it in a Willow Tree box that Chris's Grandma gave me for Christmas. It is the Embrace box:

I am not going to lie, it is probably one of the most beautiful and perfect gifts I have ever received. 

As we make our way through this list I plan on dating each completed activity or task, maybe even adding a memorable moment! I will definitely keep an update on here as we go. But for those of you out there that have maybe been working on a list similar but have not shared with your better half, do it. Sharing this list with Chris made me want to complete it and actually feel motivated to start doing some of those things. I can promise you that when I go and visit him this weekend we will for sure do at least one!

The Couple's Bucket List is a good idea in my opinion because you can put things on the list that are out of your usual routine of dates or activities. I am especially excited for the 26 movies in 26 days, but I know that will only be possible once we are able to see each other on the daily. And the Ferris Wheel will be an experience because I am terrified of heights. But watching the sunrise and set in the same day is definitely a possibility for the near future. I wanted to mainly focus on things we can work on this year, and leaving the big ones for our future together. But I love my man and I cannot wait to get this list started. 

So grab a pen and paper and get to work on your Couple's Bucket List!

Long Distance Lovin'

First off, Happy New Year! Now on to the good stuff...

I am a dork, and he loves me.

I am so glad that even though Chris and I are doing long distance for a bit we both know how important it is to keep up with a "Date Night." When I am at school we both keep Monday nights free, but being back home has caused for a few hiccups for Monday Date Night. But we still try make time for each other via webcam. It is not the same as being able to watch a movie and snuggle, but watching the same TV show together or playing a game together is pretty darn cool too. I do not think Christopher realizes how special our date night is, even over Skype. Sometimes it is the only thing pulling me through a slow Monday. When you love someone, you will go to the ends of the earth to spend a tiny bit of time together, and I would clear any schedule to spend time with my guy, even if it has to be a Skype Date!

Thanksgiving Date

So for those of us that do not live close to home (I'm only an hour and a half away, but sometimes it feels like years in the car!) that means that we do not have the luxury of being able to go to both our houses and our significant other's house for Thanksgiving. This is the second year in a row that this has happend to Chris and me. So for the second year in a row we made our own Thanksgiving! We keep it super simple, I do not have the skills (yet!) or time to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for two. So here are a few simple ideas on how to create a simple Thanksgiving date for two!

Dinner:

-Bread

-Canned Cranberries

-Sliced Turkey

-Instant Mashed Potatoes

I love this date and I almost forgot about it. Because I am on duty this weekend in my building I had to have Chris pick up all of the supplies. He was super sweet and the only reason he had not offered before was because he thought I was going to surprise him, so I am glad that I did ask. So once you prepare your sandwich the way that you like (Chris: just turkey, bread and mustard. Samantha: turkey, cranberries, and mashed potatoes) then you just sit down and be thankful to be in love with the person of your dreams (or just get to know each other!!) and enjoy the Thanksgiving spirit.

Thanksgiving Sandwich (the name of my masterpiece), our dinner, and the two of us in love!

A picture of me and Chris

Disclaimer: I am not baled! I wore a hair donut in my hair that did not show in the pictures!

Back To Basics...Date Night

So I know that this blog was originally about making myself plan out more creative dates with my Christopher. But between work and school our date nights have consisted of catching up on TV shows and preparing for my programs (I know...romantic). So I was so glad that last Friday we decided that we were going to go and hit up the Dixon Corn Maze! So in case you are not from the Sacramento Area the Dixon Corn maze is a 2007 Guinness Book of World Records award winning corn maze. It is the largest corn maze in the world. This was my third time completing the maze (first time with Chris) and it is really awesome because you get to go through the maze at night by flashlight!! Of course if that scares you there is a day-time option too! But I love this corn maze because it is a wonderful fall-themed activity that is relatively inexpensive ($10). It took Chris and I roughly two hours to make our way through. The way I like to put it is you can spend ten bucks and go to the movies any Friday night but this type of activity is exclusive to fall and it takes about as long as watching a movie would be! And it's great exercise! I was definitely wiped after we finished and on our way back to Sacramento we stopped and ate some dinner.

Here is a photo of us in front of the Cool Patch Pumpkin before we started the maze!

Date Night!

Double Netflix Date:

So last night Chris took me out to Olive Garden (my first time going!) and then we decided to go back to my house and pick a date out of the date jar! We picked a double-feature Netflix date! So each of us got to choose a movie and watch both! It was very fun because I got to pick first and Chris was going to just "torture me" (I'm thinking a Battlestar Galactica movie!) if I were to make him sit through a sappy romance movie (two in one week is a little much). So I decided to have us watch Big with tom Hanks and Chris chose Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams. Which part of that movie was shot in my Hometown!!! Small world! Well I hope you guys will enjoy this date idea! Happy dating!