So I'm looking....

...for date ideas. I said from the beginning of mine and Casey's courtship that our date life probably looked like no other couple's (of course, I realize too that this may be an overly optimistic statement...the Bible does say that there is nothing new under the sun, but what you hear about date nights rarely mirrored ours during the time before we got married.)

Just a quick opportunity to put a picture of me and the best thing that ever happened to me, outside of salvation:




Oh, we enjoyed what most would call typical dates--he took me to Longhorn's after our photo session for the church directory (this was before we even *technically* started dating, but we had had "the talk" ("Do you like me? "Um..no...well, maybe...why, do you like me?" "Yes, very much so." "Oh....well, yeah--I do too....as long as you're sure." "So now what?" "Um...let's pray about it." <--this went on for a month before we became "official.") :) We double dated with Holly and her boyfriend at the time...we went to the movies a few times. Those? Normal. We also took the kids to Wal-Mart. We came to my apartment and watched movies until one, two or all five of us (us + 3 kids) fell asleep, and then Casey or Casey and Corbin or Casey and all three kids would get up and go home. We traveled to Greensboro to pick up the kids, have ice cream, and take them back to their mom's house. We chaperoned youth outings and sat together. We went to my dad's house to help out or just hang out. We also went to the Farmer's Market looking for produce for his dad's store. We went looking at motorcycles, trucks, and hot rods. He came to see me at work for no particular reason. We went to Waffle House and had some of our most personal, informative talks until 2 am or whenever he had to leave for work. He stopped by my place to get soup and a sandwich on his way to work. These dates? atypical, I think...and I loved every one of 'em!

Now. We're married. for a whole month now. Now that we're back from the honeymoon and don't have to worry about curfew (other than knowing that I have to get up for work the next morning), I find that as long as one or both of us are working full-time jobs outside the home, dates will have to be a more concerted effort. It gets very easy to find that, by the time we get home from work, look at the mail, figure out our schedule, put gas in the car, run errands, feed the dog, and cook or warm up something for dinner, it's late. I look at the clock and want to spend uninterrupted quality time with my hubby, but the ticking of the clock reminds me that, in a very short amount of time, I need to be rested because (as Bro. Johnny says,) "6am comes awfully early!" I don't want to get in the rut of work-home-responsibilities-supper-cuddling-bed every day.

This is where you, my faithful reader (are there any of you out there?), come into play. I looked online some today (a very limited amount--our school firewalls consider anything with the word 'romance,' 'sexy,' or 'date' to be off limits....so that cuts out most of my googling for date ideas.) for some ideas. I need more. things like...

Romantic Dates
Fun Dates
Cheap/Free Dates
Quick Dates (aka with little/no preparation needed)
Long Dates (aka those that may take lots of prep time, but last a long time)
"Get to Know You" Dates (aka those focused on learning rather than just the aim of spending time together)

Thoughts?