go out on "date nights" with my spouse on a regular basis

Mark and I have been having a few more arguments than usual. He thinks I’m having a go at him all the time (even when I don’t feel I am), and I feel quite emotionally distant from him because we haven’t been very affectionate or intimate for a while.

I love him to pieces, but we need to get back on track and work things out. Maybe we need some time away together, or all our money problems solved to reduce our stress levels, or both!

This goal isn’t really happening how I planned. I can’t believe how quickly time goes by without us even realising if we’ve had a date night or not!

Tonight I took down my FLYlady calendar off the wall, turned the page to January, and stuck 2 date night stickers on 2 saturdays in the month. I wrote “Going out for dinner” next to one and “Cinema” next to the other.

I figure that nothing happens without being on the calendar, so I must apply the same rule to our dates. Lets see if it works!

We went to an Erasure concert last night at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was really good and we both enjoyed ourselves. Have just realised though that this is the first post on this topic since my birthday in April…oh dear. We really haven’t been out much together!

Last night Mark took me out for a birthday meal at Restaurant 22 which serves “Oriental fusion” food. Basically it’s chinese/thai. The meal was absolutely amazing and Mark and I chatted throughout. It was a wonderful night out and it’d be lovely to do it more regularly.

A brilliant evening. It was a surprise party so Mark and I ushered everyone inside the Priory (beautiful venue) and Grant got the shock of his life when Sara brought him into the room where all the guests were!

The evening was a complete success….everyone seemed to have a good time, and Mark and I got to spend the evening out together. I even got completely drunk and ended up dancing!

Mark and I went to this the other night and had a fabulous time! The theme was space (the room looked amazing) and mark wore a tucks whilst i wore a lovely long red dress.
It was a sit down meal, entertainment from 2 women who climbed about on two long bits of fabric hanging from the ceiling (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tw5sqcYByvc) and then a live band who were really great. Mark and I even danced together which was incredible!

It was a wonderful evening, and just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, we made love when we got home!

We stayed in on Saturday night. I dimmed the lights and lit candles, put the DVD of the fire on the telly and had a selection of chilled out romantic songs playing in the background.

We chatted and cuddled up which was lovely, but whilst reminiscing about when Meg was born, I made the mistake of telling him how upset I was when he didn’t visit me until the afternoon whilst I was in hospital recovering from the c-section, and how all the other new mums in the ward had their husbands/partners show up at 10am and be there all day with them. It kinda started off an argument coz I didn’t understand how hard he had it too.

Anyway, I went outside for a cigarette and when I came back in we calmed down and watched a film.

Can’t we go one evening without arguing???

Well last night Mark came home from work, we put Meg to bed and I cooked chicken pie, roast potatoes, veg and gravy – this is a HUGE achievement for me coz I can’t cook to save my life! So what that the pie was a frozen one you just have to put in the oven, the potatoes were Aunt Bessies, the veg are in packets you steam in the microwave and the gravy was Bisto!!! You work with what you’ve got! lol

Anyway, we ate watching telly – not my ideal coz I’d planned eating at the table…candles…soft music…..but it was ok. We were both so full we couldn’t move, and then we went to bed early and fell asleep! How romantic!

Well, next time it’s his turn to plan the evening.

is gonna be our first date night, although he doesn’t know it yet!! lol

I’m gonna aim to cook us a nice romantic meal for after Meg’s in bed, have candles lit around the room and some soft music playing in the background. I don’t quite know what else I can do. Any suggestions welcome!