A {Long Overdue} Coffee Date

Let's go for a coffee date shall we? It has been wayyyy too long. We'd meet a cute little coffee shop that's warm enough inside that we don't have to wear jackets (don't you hate that??) I would explain to you that Alex and I are in the middle of doing our first round of Whole30 and how what I miss the most is coffee with creamer. I sadly order a cup of tea and we settle into some big comfy arm chairs. 

It's been a long time since we've seen each other so we sort of chit chat about small things first just to ease into things but then get to the deep stuff. The important stuff. You knew that when I announced to the world that I was going back to graduate school to chase my dream of becoming a family nurse practitioner that things would be different. I knew it too. I used to have four days off from work to blog, meet with friends, and relax. Now those days would be filled with schoolwork. Having finished with my first quarter, I can say that school is going well and I am right where I'm supposed to be. I'm so thankful I chose to go back to school now and sometimes I just can't believe that I'm so close to achieving my dream! 

But besides school, there has been a lot of stuff going on. Big. Important. Life Decisions. You probably wondered what was going on when I posted this and this picture on Instagram. Well, friend we were in the middle of some pretty big decisions. 

I'll go onto explain that Alex had interviewed for several physician assistant (PA) schools in the summer and fall. I'll remind you that this was his second time applying and that we've been waiting for this moment for 2 years. I'll tell you how blessed we feel that he got offered an interview at every single school he applied to... after the rejection he felt when he applied 2 years ago and heard nothing from a single school, this was huge confirmation that Alex is following the will of the Lord in pursuing a career as a PA. 

We found out in August that he was accepted to a school in New Mexico. I cried. You know me, I'm not a big crier and I cried on the spot. Two years and we had made it. My tears were tears of joy. We found out about a month later that he was on the wait list for two Arizona schools that were our top two overall choices. We spent about 6 weeks waiting, with Alex calling every few weeks to see if his status had changed. 

And then. He was offered an interview at University of Colorado- the university 20 minutes from our current apartment and literally a short walk from the hospital where I work. He just so happened to have the day off of work for when the interview was scheduled. If he hadn't had the day off, I'm not sure he would have even interviewed. At this point, it was his fifth PA school interview and he felt pretty comfortable going into it. After it ended Alex told me that he thought it went alright and that they would let him know about admission in a few weeks. 

The very next day I was sitting on the couch doing homework when he walked in from work and said, "Guess what?" I asked if he had heard from one of the Arizona schools. He said "No, CU just called me and offered me a spot in their program." We both just sat stunned. A school neither of us thought he would even get into (they accept 40 students out of 1600 applications) had just called and offered him a seat less than 24 hours after he interviewed. We had a week to decide if he was going to accept the spot and pay a substantial deposit. 

Now you're way better than me at picking up on certain signals (that's a downside of being loud like me), and you'll notice that I tell this story with a little bit of a strained tone. That's because this was all a shock to both Alex and I's system. It was such a mix of emotions- I was so stinking proud and excited that he got into such a competitive school. But we were shocked and since we're being vulnerable, I'll admit to you that I also felt a little disappointed (don't ever think I'm the perfect wife). 

Before you think I'm crazy, let me explain. You see, we had sort of written off CU in our minds. We thought for sure we would be moving- and we were really excited about it! All we had talked about and dreamed about for the past two years, was applying for PA school and starting an adventure in a different state. The thought of staying here barely crossed our minds. I've never lived anywhere besides Colorado, so I was extra excited at the thought of moving somewhere new. In my head, I had moved on from my job, our church, our apartment, and our entire life in Colorado (probably a bad move on my part). 

So, all of a sudden we were faced with a big decision that looked nothing like the one we thought we were going to make. The CU program is 3 years long (most are only 2), so we sat down and crunched numbers to see the expense difference. We made pros and cons lists (the cons list was a lot longer), but most importantly we prayed about it. We talked about with our families, talked about it with each other, and prayed for a week about the decision. 

After a week, we had decided and my stomach sunk. You know what it's like when you know that something is the right decision but you don't really like that choice so you refuse to accept it for a little while? This is how this decision went for me. I knew that CU was the right choice way before I truly accepted it. We had prayed for months (since he began applying back in March) that the Lord would make our decision clear. And He did. 

We still hadn't heard from the two schools in Arizona that wait listed him, and his only other official offer was in New Mexico. Practically speaking, the New Mexico school was $30,000 more expensive and ranked 80th or so in the country. CU was $30,000 cheaper and ranks 5th in the nation. From those numbers alone, the choice should be obvious right? The finances played a huge part in our decision because we seek to honor God with our money, but after prayer and seeking wise counsel we knew CU was where Alex was supposed to be in PA school. 

At this point, you're probably not sure what to say. Do you say congratulations because you know how long of a journey its been, or do you stay quiet because you see the disappointment on my face? 

But then I jump in and tell you what I'm learning from all of this. First of all, I think that moving to another state was just my way of fixing my discontentment that I felt/feel at my job and in our current apartment. I pray for contentment on a daily basis, but boy it's sure harder when God doesn't listen to my idea of how I would be content! 

Second, I think there's so much to be learned in trusting in a plan that is completely opposite of what you had planned. It's so hard, even when it's a good plan! 

Third, it's been a tough lesson in surrender. How many times am I in church and sing "I surrender all"? This situation has forced that surrender. I had already chosen my new city, my new job, and practically my new apartment. But then God reeled me back in and reminded me that I need to surrender to His plan, which for now means staying in Denver. 

It's hard. You can see that written all over my face. We decided on CU in early November, it's January and it's still a daily struggle. I find myself wishing for a house and anxious about how we're going to afford the next few years all in the same minute. I've agonized over changing jobs or staying where I'm at. The walls of our 600 square foot apartment seem to close in some days, and I find my heart screaming for anything that has more than one window in the whole place. 

But. I'm getting there. God's working on me, on us. We've been plugging into a new church that we're excited about, and we realize that there are so many good things about staying in Denver. We don't have to move, I don't have to stress about making new friends while I'm in school, I'm hoping finding clinical placements for myself will go a little smoother because I know some people, and we've been able to really deepen the friendships that have been forming over the last couple of years in Denver. And before I forget, I just have to tell you how darn proud I am of my husband. He went to radiology school for two years just to increase his odds of getting into PA school. He worked hard in school for two years following college, he's working hard now to save up money for tuition, and through it all he serves God and serves me every.single.day. I am so proud of him, and so thankful that I get to be his wife. 

Acceptance into CU has been a sweet, enormous blessing from the Lord and we are so grateful. You know I mean that and you also know that sometimes it just takes my heart a little while to catch up to my head. 

When I look at the people I admire the most, I know that they were forced into circumstances that were the last thing they would have ever chosen for themselves. Beauty comes through struggle, and for me that is finding peace in a restless heart. It sounds cliche, but I know these lessons are what will make me into one of the people I admire. The lessons are hard and they require perseverance, a continual battle of the mind, and a constant search for grace and gratitude. 

We're so excited about the adventure of graduate school together and we've both vowed to not just let these next three years pass us by in a fog of textbooks, exams, and clinicals. We want to be intentional with our time, and make the most of our being here for the next three years. 

Whew, that was a lot. I'll thank you for patiently listening and I'll apologize for talking so much. You'll laugh and say it's okay because you know that I'm just like that. 

You'll jump in and start telling me about your significant other, your kids, and your job. You know that I'll spend as long as I need to listening to you, and I do.We'll laugh and wonder how all of a sudden we're grown-ups and how high school felt like yesterday. You'll probably offer some encouragement in my time of finding contentment, and your words will go with me way past our coffee hour. Hours later, our coffee is long gone, we look at the clock realizing that we should probably get home. We hug and promise to do it again soon. 

Dear Love,

Dear Love,

Happy two year anniversary! It feels like it's been the quickest and longest two years of our lives and I think you'll agree. That rainy morning on September 14, 2013 seems like decades ago, yet I'm still trying to get used to having bling on my left hand. 

Marrying you was and is the best decision of my life, not because it's been easy, but because you've helped shape me into a better person. Being united with you has really shown me what a sinner I am- how selfish, impatient, and unforgiving my heart really can be. Over the past two years my eyes have been opened to how much grace I really need every single day. 

You have seen me at my worst- crying over the kitchen sink over our most recent argument, and you have seen me at my best- relaxing on the beach during our cruise. And the amazing thing is, is that your love has stayed the same through it all. It has stayed steady, unwavering, and full of forgiveness and grace. 

Saying "I do" wearing that white dress meant that I was saying yes to it all. Yes to the struggles, yes to the fights, yes to the ugly. But it also meant that I was saying yes to the early morning cuddles, the thousand and one shared Sonic shakes, and the side cramp laughter late at night.  

You're my best friend and I can't imagine coming home to anyone else but you after a long 14 hour shift. I am so thankful that we got married at an age that is often frowned upon. Because we got married young, I am being forced to become a better person sooner in my life rather than later. I am learning to to be more selfless, more forgiving, and truly understand that my relationship with you is directly related to the strength of my spiritual walk with Jesus. 

It's been two years and I can't wait for the next fifty. I can't help but smile imagining our future homes, our future kids, and of course our future socially unacceptable dinner conversations. In the meantime, I'll enjoy our Youtube date nights, our hikes in beautiful Colorado, our bike rides that you still have to drag me on, and our unplanned trips to Costco just to walk around.

Thanks for being my supporter, my encourager, and my protector as I navigate this adult world and figure out how to be a better wife, daughter, sister, and friend. 

Love, 

Your wifey 

Project 12: February

Project 12 is a monthly recap post/project that my friend Amanda over at the Lady Okie Blog created. It is SUCH a fun way to recap your month, and helps me feel like I did something besides look at the calendar on the first of the month and last day of the month and wonder where 30 days just went. 

Part of the project is taking a photo of yourself/you+spouse on the first day of the month. Not only did we not take a picture on the first day of the month, we took no picture at all. Fail. Every time I thought about it, Alex was gone and then I never remembered while he was home. So I decided to make that picture collage and make you think that it was totally a selfie (almost fooled ya, didn't I?) Ironically we're both holding Chik-Fil-A items in our hands. And in case you're wondering, we already took our March picture so no worries there. Without further ado and speaking of Chik-fil-a... 

DATES

1. Chik-fil-a. Repeatedly. They had free coffee this month so we literally could not stay away. I was there almost daily during the month of February.

2. Tennis date for the win. Colorado is really weird you guys. I was in shorts then and now, two weeks later, I haven't seen the sun in three days.

3. Pueblo, Colorado. Pueblo probably shouldn't be on your list of top places to visit in Colorado, but it can be a fun place... if your brother happens to be playing lacrosse there on a Sunday. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to watch lacrosse, and we got to meet one of his good friends from college as well as his girlfriend. We topped it off with lunch at Olive Garden. Good people, good weather, good food = triple win.

4. Two double dates with our friends from North Carolina. We met some awesome friends on our cruise (just one of the many reasons you should hop aboard a cruise ship!), who were out in Colorado on business. {They actually both work for Chikfila- we can't stay away you guys.} First we went to lunch at this place called Jack N Grill. I had a green chile sopaipilla burger the size of my face and was transported to heaven. Right before they left, we met them at a fun diner for delicious pancakes and omelettes. 

5. We got locked in a room with the challenge to get out in an hour. We did it. Again. I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with any other four people. They're smart cookies. 

DISCOVERIES

1. The best fries I've ever had. They were Belgian fries covered in truffle oil served at this new beer and brats place in Denver called Wurstkuche (I totally had to google that to remember the name). They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and literally the best fries I've ever eaten in my entire life. For all you fellow fry lovers out there- come to Denver and I'll take you on a trip to fry heaven. 

2. I sadly discovered the city of Denver is extremely stingy with letting the public use school tracks. I spent one afternoon driving around all of Denver to find a track that was open to the public so that I could do my speedwork run. All were locked and I didn't feel like getting arrested. There was one middle school track that was unlocked, but to get through it I would have had to walk right through the middle of their playground and the current group of kids out on recess. Something tells me their teachers wouldn't have been down with that. So now I'm stuck doing speedwork on my regular road route. Watch out semi, I've gotta beat my time for this 400 sprint. 

3. You can get especially close to new friends by agreeing that PG-13 answers are okay when you play The Game of Things (a game like Apples to Apples except you get to make up your own answers). Imagine PG-13 answers to the prompt "things that are wild". You get my drift. New friends- you know who you are. 

BOOKS & MOVIES

1. Alex and I are both working on the books from January's list. Kind of lame I know, but I'm on the wait list for a couple of new books at the library- that counts right? 

2. The Giver. My bro in law and I watched it while the hubby mostly snoozed through it. I'm not a huge movie person, but I LOVED this movie. I thought it was really interesting and got me thinking about a lot of things. I highly recommend it, and although I haven't read the book, I've heard it's good too. 

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. Valentine's Day. I actually worked Valentine's Day and then we didn't really land up celebrating later. If I'm being honest- it was kind of lame. However, my mother in law gave me a cool light up heart necklace to wear to work- it was a hit with all the kids! 

I left this poster for Alex before I headed to work that morning. 

And I came home to a candlelit dinner. Now that I think about it, Valentine's Day wasn't that lame. 

2. This girl is my sister from another mister. We had lunch together and had a dream changing and dream inspiring talk. More details to come... eventually. Just know that it was important. 

3. We made some really big strides in our marriage, and I saw some incredibly tangible answers to prayers. More details on this eventually, but just know that God is faithful in the littlest of things! 

4. I got a killer pair of new running shoes. Holla holla chicken dolla! 

5. Lent began with a beautiful entrance. Ash Wednesday brought me to tears, and I am learning so much as I work my way through the Lenten devotional by Naptime Diaries.

BY THE NUMBERS

Miles Run: 63. The snow is threatening my good streak.

New recipes tried: 5 (Our favorite was this stellar creamy spinach and tomato pasta!)

(Looks pretty killer right? Go try it. Tonight.)

15 hour shifts worked: 1. And it was terrible. 

Money spent above our entertainment budget: way too much (Darn Chikfila).

# of kids in Colorado that have respiratory viruses: every single child in Colorado. For the love of God, everyone just needs to stay home for two weeks. 

How was your February? What was your favorite part? If you're in Denver- do you know of any public tracks??

Project 12: January

(No, we definitely did not take a selfie in a Costco aisle. That's weird.)

In 2014, I read and looked forward to Project 12 posts- a series created by Amanda over at The Lady Okie Blog. Project 12 is basically a way to recap each month of the year in a fun way. Without further explanation, go ahead and see for yourself what Project 12 is all about. 

DATES

1. We drove up to the mountains one weekend to go snow shoeing at this place called St. Mary's Glacier. We'd been snow shoeing for about 45 minutes when we saw a ridge that we decided we wanted to ascend. Can I just say, that ridge was the most elusive thing ever? I kept thinking that I was getting close, and each time I looked up it seemed the exact same distance away. What I thought would be a quick 15-20 minute ascent, landed up taking another 45 minutes in freezing wind and blowing snow.

St. Mary's Glacier. The ridge we climbed to was to the right of this main peak. 

The view from the top. We didn't stay very long because the wind and blowing snow were intense.

I may or may not have had snot running down my face, said a few choice words, and almost quit before ascending the ridge. If it weren't for the husband pushing me on, I wouldn't have made it to the top. As awful as the ascent was the last 30 minutes (I pretty much felt like I was climbing Mount Everest), it was a fun day and we had the best BBQ when we came back down the mountain. 

(I have a love affair with sweet potato fries).

2. One of the Christmas presents from our in-laws was a live escape game. If you've never heard of this, it's where you get locked in a room and have an hour to figure out how to get out. Need I say more?

(The whole family went as you try and escape as groups of 5 or 6).

3. Alex signed us up for a gym membership because they were having an awesome January deal (go figure), and I tried a wet sauna for the very first time. I know that all y'all who live in Florida experience the wet sauna feeling every time you walk out your front door, but it was a fun first experience for me. I was miserably dripping sweat for 20 minutes, but then felt relaxed when I left. Weird.

4. Lunch date to this awesome new Italian place. Thank you Groupon for expanding our food horizons.

DISCOVERIES

1. Our first frozen yogurt place in Denver! Other than them being out of cake batter (our favorite!), the place was delish. 

2. I am falling in love with yoga. I went to yoga classes at our new gym and they were so great. I'm neither flexible nor good at it, but it's a really good challenge and a nice change from running. The gym membership is probably ending after this month (too expensive without the January deal), so does anyone have any recommendations of good yoga videos to do at home??

3. Wet saunas. See point above.

BOOKS & MOVIES

Sarah: 

I'm currently reading my way through a lot of daily read type books-

-31 Days to Becoming a Happy Wife by Arlene Pellicane (this book is one of the best I've ever read on the subject of wife-hood/marriage).

-Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer (this is part of my winter goals)

-Streams in the Dessert by L.B. Cowman (I can't tell you how much I have been LOVING this daily devotional). 

-Run Less Run Faster by Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss (I'll be honest- this is sort of a dense book with a lot of information so I read the principles and scanned the time charts).

Alex:

-Getting Into Physician Assistant School (it's a light and chatty easy read. not.)

-The Uncommon Life by Tony Dungy (a daily devotional that he's enjoying!) 

Movies:

-American Sniper (We both loved it; so much respect for those that protect our freedom.)
-Annie (so cute!)

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. Enjoyed the Bronco game with friends. Gotta get those guns showing.

2. Wore my Colorado Avalanche shirt to work the Friday before the Broncos playoff game (instead of my Broncos gear). I'm pretty sure it's why they lost. 

3. I made some lyric art; a project I had been dreaming about for a long time!

4. Had friends over to play Quelf- we had wanted to play this game with them for months and finally made it happen. Anyone else ever played it??

5. Finally started on my wedding scrapbook. I busted it out one afternoon, got overwhelmed after a couple of hours and haven't pulled it out since. I need to work up my courage to bring it out again.

What fun things did you do in January? Any yoga video recommendations or fellow Quelfers out there? 

DIY Lyric Wall Art

After creating a mantle at Christmastime that I fell in love with, I decided to play with my design skills and create a picture that I could put on our mantle. I had seen some similar ideas on Pinterest, and had wanted to overlay the lyrics of one of my favorite songs over a picture for a long time. The song these lyrics are from is called "Love is Not a Fight" by Warren Barfield. If you've never heard it, you NEED to click that link and listen to it NOW- it's seriously one of my favorites and makes me cry every time! 

 I finally decided to make the project I had dreamed of using my favorite editing program called PicMonkey. Below, I'll show you how to make a similar project using this program. The skills needed to do this project are really basic, and you can tailor it to your tastes really easily. Choose a picture and some lyrics (or perhaps a favorite quote), and let's get started! 

1. First head over to PicMonkey.com, click on "Design" at the very top and hit "Custom". I wanted my picture to be the size of a regular sheet of paper so that I could print it at home. The dimensions you'll need to enter for a regular sheet of printer paper page is 800x1050. Click "Make it" and your blank project will open up. If you want to make different size of picture (say 5x7 or 4x6) but aren't sure how many pixels you need to make it, you can use this nifty little inch-to-pixel converter! 

2. Next, you'll want to click the "Tt" on the left and then "Add text" at the top. You can use the box on the left to play with the size and color of the words you're adding. 

3. This next step is the MOST CRUCIAL step in the whole process. You must open a new PicMonkey page in your browser, click "Edit" at the top and open the picture that you are going to overlay with your text. 

On the top left sidebar there's a small little square icon. Click on that. Then at the bottom of that menu, there will be a option that says "Resize". Once you click on that, you need to enter the exact same dimensions that your other project is (in my case I resized the picture to 800x1050). 

You must resize your photo to the exact dimensions of the other project or the picture will come out skewed when you add it behind your text. If you are planning on putting your text on a color picture, you can go ahead and click "Save" at the top and head to the next step. 

I wanted to overlay my text on a black and white picture so I went ahead and changed the photo to black and white before saving it. I did this by clicking the little wand icon on the left, clicking "Black and White" and adjusting from there. 

Once again, any major edits that you are doing to your picture must be done in this step. Once you are happy with your edited picture, go ahead and save it to your computer. 

4. Now here is where the fun part starts. Go back to your original project (the one with the text), click on the little butterfly icon on the left and then click on "Your own" at the top. From here, you should be able to go into your pictures and open the picture that you just edited. It will probably open up small like mine did below. 

Go ahead and use the cursor to make your picture as big as the white background (your picture will cover your text at this point). Once your picture is the same size as your white background, right click on your mouse and click the option that says "Send to back". 

Once you do that, you should land up with your text in front like this: 

5. From here, I decided that the black and white picture with black font was too boring so I decided to play with my picture a little bit. By using the color palette and "Fade" option, I was able to adjust my picture to have a more sepia look and make the text stand out more. 

At this point, you can adjust your picture and text accordingly. You may need to use the "Fade" tool on your picture to make your text stand out more. Play with it until you're happy with your finished product and then go ahead and save that baby! I just printed my finished project on regular printer paper at home and found a cheap black frame at a thrift store to finish my masterpiece. The whole decoration only cost $2 (the cost of the frame), and took about an hour to make. I love it because it's personalized to me- lyrics and words I love with one of my favorite wedding pictures. It's gracing my mantle now and I'm well on my way to creating another part of my house that I love!

Comment with any questions you have below! Have you ever done something like this? Do you think you might try?

{Linking up with one of my new favorites- Tuesday Talk!}

Monthly Date Challenge: Giraffes & High School Couples

If you've been around Sometimes Photojenik for any length of time you'll know that Alex and I are in the middle of a monthly date night challenge. We each plan a date for the month, forcing us to get out of the house, try new things, and spend time with each other not doing projects and chores. This will be my last post of this kind because next month I will be starting Project 12 as created by Amanda from the Lady Okie Blog. The date night challenge is not ending- Project 12 is just going to be a more fun and comprehensive monthly overview. I'll write about our date nights, the books we're reading, the places we've traveled, and other significant events. I think you'll enjoy it :) Read below to get some fun date night ideas!

Date #1- Sarah's Date 

There's something you should know about me. I'm a born and raised Coloradoan and I don't ski or snowboard. {Or smoke pot in case you were wondering} Crazy, I know. But I have made my Colorado winters more than enjoyable by fully taking advantage of all sledding and ice skating opportunities.

I've forever wanted to ice skate on an outdoor rink or pond like they do in the movies and books. So when I saw a Groupon for an outdoor ice skating rink close to our house, I jumped on that deal right away.

Before skating we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Olive Garden. Does anyone else like their unlimited salad as much as we do? Our minimum is three bowls, and we really hate when the food comes quickly! (Less chance to get more salad!) We enjoyed dinner and headed over to the skating rink where things got interesting.

This was certainly an ice rink but instead of a circle of ice it was a circle of slush. If you've ever skated on a slushy rink, you know just how terrifying it can be. The slush coupled with little children darting in front of us with a death wish (I was never ever one of those children), led me to wish that I would leave the rink sans-fall (I did!).

That Friday night also seemed to be a very popular date night for all the local high school couples, and I found myself thinking "get a room" more than once. You may have seen my Instagram post summarizing the night but basically skating on an outdoor rink was a dream come true... but my dream looked a lot different. I'm not sure we would go back to that rink but it was a fun night and something we can laugh about for years to come.

(notice the slush on the bottom left and the hoards of people bottom right)

Date #2- Alex's Date 

My California raised husband loves his seafood so he was thrilled when he got a gift card to a local seafood restaurant for his birthday. I'm not a seafood person but I like shrimp so we decided to hit the place up for our second date. Before we went, we found a coupon online for a free appetizer and used it to order the best spinach artichoke dip we've ever had.

Alex ordered a plate full of a variety of very fishy tasting things and my shrimp order was as big as my face (not kidding). As we were finishing up our meal and presenting our gift card and appetizer coupon there was some confusion with our final bill resulting in a manager to come over. I happened to mention to the very friendly manager that it was our first time eating there and that we had really enjoyed it. He replied, "Oh it's your first time here? I'll give you a dessert on the house that you can take to go" (he clearly saw the "I've-eaten-so-much-I'm-going-to-roll-out-the-door" look on our faces). Holla for some free dessert. I'm not sure if I've ever gotten free dessert just for mentioning that it's my first time at a restaurant, but I might have to try that tactic more often. Between our gift card, coupon, and a generous manager, we landed up getting what would have been a very pricey three course meal for almost nothing. Saweeeet! 

(He was really excited for his seafood)

After dinner, we headed out to the Denver Zoo. Each year Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs (where our first date was!) puts on a bunch of lights around Christmas time and you go tour the zoo at night. Going to see the Zoo Lights has become a tradition for us, and we were more than ready to try it when we found out that the Denver Zoo did the same thing. If you're close to a zoo and they do this, I totally recommend it- it's so so fun!

We enjoyed walking around seeing the stellar light show that Denver Zoo produced. My favorite part was an entire light exhibit of sea creatures like dolphins, walruses, and whales that can't be seen live at the zoo. It was a chilly night and after about an hour I was really jealous of the kids being pulled around in a wagon by their parents. And there was no way we were forking out $7 for a styrofoam cup of hot cocoa. $7!!

The funny thing about the Denver Zoo Lights was there were so many people (we went pretty close to Christmas), that we would have to wait in ginormous lines to see the actual live animals. The lights were so well done, though, that it mostly made up for only getting a few glimpses of the real animals.

(Giraffes are my all time favorite zoo animal)

All in all, it was a fun month of dates for December. Next month, I look forward to sharing more than just our dates in Project 12!

Have you ever been to a zoo lights exhibit? Or skated on an outdoor rink or pond?

Monthly Date Challenge: Dancing Gone Wrong

A few months ago, Alex and I initiated a monthly date challenge to motivate ourselves to get out of the house and go on different dates. The general idea is that we each plan a date for each month, that way we're having at least two monthly date nights (which is more than we used to!) 

November was Alex's birthday so I landed up not planning a separate date because I was so focused on all of the birthday festivities. Alex was on top of it and managed to plan a fun one for us. Read more below to find out about our dancing gone wrong and to see some pictures of my guy's birthday! 

Alex's Date 

There is nothing that I love more than walking through our front door and being greeted by my man saying, "Hey are you okay if we do something a little different tonight?" This little "something different" included me not having to cook dinner so of course I was game. 

We hopped in the car and drove to our favorite gourmet Italian place... Noodles & Co. It's actually not our favorite Italian place but Alex got a coupon for a free entree for his birthday month so that night it was our favorite. 

Then we made a pit stop at one of our favorite stores Goodwill. 

Now, lest you think my man is cheap and doesn't plan good dates, I'm pretty sure Goodwill was not part of the original date. But. It happened to be right across the street from Noodles & Co. and we hadn't stopped by since we'd moved so thought we'd wander around inside so that the country club we were going to later would have a chance to get wild (more on that later). 

We actually do love thrifting and have gotten some pretty cool stuff from it, but this Goodwill was slightly ridiculous. There was a strand of (used) Christmas lights that was $15... we plugged it in and it didn't even work. Need I say more? 

We headed to this new country club that we'd heard about from a friend. After going, leaving to find an ATM because they only took cash (really, who does that?), and then going back, we entered a very large and empty country club. 

Alex and I LOVE country dancing, it's one of our favorite things to do and we had both been excited to try this place. We were ready to dance the night away! 

(like our boots? yeah, me too)

We picked a perch on the side of the dance floor and immediately noticed that they were playing some really weird music. We had seen on the website that the night's theme was west coast swing and two step (not paying more attention to the "west coast swing" part was our first mistake). The music they were playing must have been considered "west coast swing" music. All we knew was that the five people that were dancing were definitely doing some step that we had no idea how to do. 

We decided to be patient and wait until after 9pm. After all, it was a random Thursday night and we figured the music would get better. It didn't. 

There was a continuous mix of weird oldies and hip hop. Did you know you could country dance to hip hop? Yeah, neither did I. But apparently you can, as was proven by the 60 year old couple that was somehow country dancing to Usher. 

Alex and I got out for a couple of dances to the two country songs they played, but for the most part this is how we felt about the night: 

 And this is the most fun I had that evening:

(One of my absolute favorite things to do is taking selfies of us while Alex isn't looking. I've thought about doing an entire blog post of these kinds of pictures. He's less than a fan).

We left the club after about an hour and decided that we need to go back on a normal night to try it again. It wasn't a date fail by any means because we had fun and spent time together, but it certainly was dancing gone wrong. 

Sarah's Date / Alex's Birthday Celebration 

I will admit I slacked on the date planning department in preparation for the big guy's birthday. We celebrated his birthday a weekend early because I was set to work the actual weekend of his birthday. 

The first weekend we celebrated an early birthday for both my husband and his mom whose birthday is three days before Alex's. We went out to eat at this Brazilian place (so.good.) and then opened presents at my in-laws house. 

For his birthday, I got Alex a bike rack for his car... something he's been wanting for forever. Despite it being winter and not being able to use it much right now, he was still pretty excited.

The weekend of his birthday I had Saturday off and was supposed to work Sunday (his actual birthday). Saturday we went to a little festival in the town we just moved from. They light a giant star in the middle of the town and there's always lots of free food and music. We enjoyed walking around our old town, enjoyed seeing the star lit, and then had pizza with friends after.

That Sunday night I had requested to be called off if they had an extra nurse at work. So after a terrible night's sleep (I was scared I would miss the call), they called me at 5:20 AM on my husband's birthday and made my dreams come true. I was so thankful I didn't have to go into work on his birthday!

That Sunday his family came up to Denver and we watched the new Hunger Games movie (intense for sure), then went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (which probably actually is our favorite Italian place... anyone else ever been to one??) All in all, it was a fun month filled with birthdays, yummy Thanksgiving dinners, and dates to laugh about.

How was your month?? Any fun dates? Anyone like country dancing besides us?