The following post was brought to you by HowAboutWe, a dating site for married people. And also single people. But I am a married person so I took advantage of the married person portion of the website. (HowAboutWe hand selects/plans awesome dates/adventures/experiences for couples to pick and choose from. Genius.)
Ten years ago, this week, Hal and I made out for the first time. That is the G rated version of what went down. We had met earlier in the month but I had a boyfriend and frankly, I hated Hal's guts. No offense to him because he didn't like me either. Our disdain for each other upon first meeting is as close as I've ever come to love at first sight because the feelings we had? Were strong. What started as mutual hatred however, soon blossomed into friendship which then blossomed into a sexually tense friendship which them blossomed into a friends-with-benefits type of situation which then, well... I wrote a whole book about the unexpected pregnancy that resulted in... everything that now matters in my life.
Hal and I never really dated. When we met, Hal lived in his friends' kitchen pantry and was working odd jobs to afford his rent/car payment/ramen noodles/cigarettes. In fact, the only date he ever took me on was to the 99 Cent Store to buy us each a bottle of Captain Morgan malt liquor and a DVD called "Six Lucky Ninja Kids" about, well, six lucky ninja kids. The day set us back a grand total of three dollars and was the most fun I had ever had on a "date" in my life.
Screw the wine + dine. Here's a man who makes me roar with laughter. And then I was pregnant and it was like, well? At the very least, we will laugh a lot in this life.
And we have.
We may not connect all of our dots all of the time but we are funny together. We make each other LOL a L-O-T.
Anyway. I was looking forward to this HowAboutWe for Couples post/experience because dating is something we seldom do. We are notorious for planning dates and then canceling them last minute because we have too much work to do and/or we are tired and the thought of getting dressed up and going to a place and sitting in a place is, like, UGH, you know? Which is terrible because we are desperately in need of some alone time. Ahem.
So, from the menu of potential dates in the HowAboutWe for Couples DateBook I chose the one that seemed the most... romantic. The one we would have likely never done if it wasn't for this post. And so? Earlier this month, Hal and I hit up the American Contemporary Ballet to watch a presentation on Dance, Choreography and Storytelling through movement which was not only romantic but fascinating and completely amazing, which made me realize that we need to go out more and when we do, plan dates OUTSIDE of our usual dinner + drinks + movie + band + play. There is so much to do in this city and so many things I want to learn more about.
And while we know pretty much everything there is to know about family activities, we know zilch about adult activities. We certainly knew nothing of the American Contemporary Ballet until now. And it's located blocks from our house, I MEAN!?
(Other dates that look awesome include this Absinthe Cocktails at Writers Room situation, a True Crime City Tour and Yoga Paddleboard class which is the most LA thing I have ever heard of in my life. In a good way. I love this town like a sister.)
Anyway. I was looking forward to this HowAboutWe for Couples post/experience because dating is something we seldom do. We are notorious for planning dates and then canceling them last minute because we have too much work to do and/or we are tired and the thought of getting dressed up and going to a place and sitting in a place is, like, UGH, you know? Which is terrible because we are desperately in need of some alone time. Ahem.
So, from the menu of potential dates in the HowAboutWe for Couples DateBook I chose the one that seemed the most... romantic. The one we would have likely never done if it wasn't for this post. And so? Earlier this month, Hal and I hit up the American Contemporary Ballet to watch a presentation on Dance, Choreography and Storytelling through movement which was not only romantic but fascinating and completely amazing, which made me realize that we need to go out more and when we do, plan dates OUTSIDE of our usual dinner + drinks + movie + band + play. There is so much to do in this city and so many things I want to learn more about.
And while we know pretty much everything there is to know about family activities, we know zilch about adult activities. We certainly knew nothing of the American Contemporary Ballet until now. And it's located blocks from our house, I MEAN!?
(Other dates that look awesome include this Absinthe Cocktails at Writers Room situation, a True Crime City Tour and Yoga Paddleboard class which is the most LA thing I have ever heard of in my life. In a good way. I love this town like a sister.)
Anyway… About our date...
I wasn't able to get any photos of the dancers themselves (no photography allowed) but here's a nice Prom Pose of the happy couple before the show:
Photo by: Tamara who kindly snapped a few photos of us before the big dance
Photo by: Tamara who kindly snapped a few photos of us before the big dance
And here's Hal looking dapper, exploring a list of things "to do" and not "to do." Slurp is a curious choice but a welcome one, I suppose. Slurping's pretty cool.
And here are the original performances of the dances we watched and learned about during the performance/lecture. (I've always been a huge Astaire fan and recently purchased tap shoes because I am a closeted aspiring tap dancer.)
And here's the DVD we got to take home as a souvenir of the lecture + dance.
That was only part one of our date night extravaganza. Part two involves me not knowing anything there is to know about drink mixology and us in our pajamas experiencing an at-home Make Your Own Bitters date. I *thought* that we would make the bitters and then be able to drink them all in one night which was (ahem) NOT the case. SO. We did the first step, which was crushing, cooking and mixing the bitters and we have been doing the NEXT step for the past few weeks AKA shaking the mason jar once a day and placing it back in the cupboard.
We came up with our own concoction for our Halbecca mixture and it included vanilla, ground nutmeg and ground almonds...
And then I poured/measured/sealed...
And Hal shook, shook, shook.
In a few more weeks, we will be able to finish our bitters and then, soon after, taste them, which I realize now is all part of the magic of the thing. Patience is a virtue. Time is part of the recipe along with the mixing-it-up and the shakeshakeshake and the grind. I hear that metaphor. Roger that, How About We. Roger that.
Looking to get your date night on? HowAboutWe for Couples is in five cities so far: LA, NYC, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. It’s free to join and you can get $50 off your first date by clicking here. And if you’re not in any of those five cities, there’s a national version with at-home dates, too (including the bitters date above… though the Halbecca recipe is all ours).
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