Date Night aka "Yes, We're Married."

Tonight, our church had a Children's Party and all 3 of our kids were being watched by SOMEBODY ELSE!!!  So, Rob and I took this opportunity to go on a date.  Now, let me set the stage for our dating experiences:

Rob and I met in Feb 2001, started dating in August and were engaged by Christmas Eve 2001.  Then, we had a whirlwind engagement, getting married March 1, 2002.  We didn't really have a whole lot of time to create fun, exciting date nights; we really just liked hanging out and watching movies, or going bowling and playing pool.  Nothing overly exciting.  We've now been married nearly 10 years and have 3 kids (which means date nights are few and far between, but are much appreciated when they come).  Our date nights usually consist of dinner and a movie.  If there isn't a movie out that we are willing to pay to go see, we opt instead to go walking around the mall after our dinner--which is what we did tonight.

I got a little dolled up tonight, I'll admit that.  More so than usual... I guess, since I got asked if I was Rob's girlfriend not only once, but 3 different times!  When we were at the restaurant, the waitress asked if our check was going to be separate!!!  I smiled, stifling a laugh, and said it would be all on one ticket.  Now, I have a blingy set of diamonds on my left ring finger, but I guess I should have cleaned them up before we went out.  While we were walking around the mall, I had 2 separate people in 2 different stores assume we were unmarried again--one was just another customer and the other was a store clerk.  We were not hanging all over each other, sucking face and being all PDA, so I don't know what the deal was.  It kind of made me wonder if I was a little overdressed/made-up.  I was wearing dress pants (because they were the only ones that didn't cause muffin top) and a chocolate brown knit faux-wrap shirt, topping off my look with some copper-colored jewelry from Premiere Design.  Nothing overly fancy; even my heels were a simple brown.  Rob was dressed well, too, wearing khaki pants, a light blue polo shirt and his black wool jacket.

Sitting here typing all this in my yoga pants and fluffy slippers while Rob plays his video game kinda makes me want to giggle, though.  It's amazing that, after all these years, we still look like a couple very much in the first stages of dating--doting on one another and paying attention to what the other says as though it's the most wonderful feeling in the world to just be together.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself they saw.  Wouldn't it be awful if instead they were actually witnessing us being awkward together.  What if they assumed we were on a first date?  Oh, I don't even want to go down that train of thought...

I'm going to live in fantasy land and think that we looked very nice together and people assumed we were in puppy love.  That's where I live; that's how I roll.  In La-La Land.

FOD: The Devil in New Orleans

FOD: Funny Of the Day

I am attempting to find an alternative 10 year anniversary getaway, since our Disney vacation just doesn't seem plausible. In talking with Rob about a New Orleans, LA getaway, I mentioned that my mother said to stay away from Bourbon Street. Aurora asked why we had to stay away from Bourbon St. I told her that's where people get really drunk and we just don't want to deal with that on our anniversary vacation.

While I was explaining this, Rob said over me "Because that's where the devil lives!" Aurora started laughing and said "The devil lives on Bourbon Street!?" Ryan, not to be outdone by all the hoopla, said "The devil takes drugs!" Aurora's reply, "No, the devil eats your souls!" took the cake, though.

Now, I'm thinking that we should look for a more demure location for our romantic anniversary getaway... Perhaps somewhere that isn't infested with local soul-eating, drunken, drugged-out devils.