Viewing category ‘dating’

Committed: The Ties that Bond

with Angella Dykstra

I'm a mom of three, a professional accountant, and an amateur photographer and writer. I am not a marriage expert. But my husband and I take "Til death do us part" seriously, and here I'll be sharing how we keep our marriage strong while we both do that insane work-life juggle.

Check out my Work It, Mom! profile and my blog, Dutch Blitz.

10 Creative Date Night Ideas

Categories: dating

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The lovely team over at Ladies Home Journal added me on Twitter last week. This was quite nice as you know I’m always looking for marriage articles to discuss for my Friday posts and I hadn’t thought to check out their site. Shortly thereafter they posted a link to one of their articles titled, “10 Creative Dates“. As someone who (ceaselessly) promotes making time for regular “Date Nights” and who is always trying to break out of same routine, the article caught my eye.

A few of my favorite ideas from the column:

A progressive dinner. Appetizers at one place, dinner at another place and dessert somewhere else. Different locations not only have different atmospheres, it would give your stomach a chance to digest before you assault it with more food.

Taking a class together. I’ve always thought that taking a cooking class would be fun - how much more so would it be if I had Honey for company?


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Don’t let baby bring date night to a halt

Categories: children, dating, marriage

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I read a post over at Parent Dish titled “Romance Advice for New Parents - Make Date Night a Priority“. It is no secret that I am a huge proponent of a regular date night, so of course this article caught my eye.

This article was aimed at parents of newborn babies. Anyone who has had one of those (amazingly miraculous yet ridiculously exhausting) creatures knows all too well how their entrance into your world throws said world off of its axis. Everything you thought you “knew” about how you would parent is thrown out the window. So do all of your ideals about keeping your “couple time” intact. At least, that’s how it was for my husband and I.


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Where was your first date?

Categories: dating, love, marriage

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My husband and I try (Try being the operative word) to have regular date nights. We end up getting out sans kids about twice a month which really isn’t too bad considering how hectic our lives are. We make the time to go because we need that time to connect…even though we spend the bulk of our time together talking about the three kids we’ve left at home.

Our kids are getting older and starting to understand the concept of dating. Kind of. They know that we are married to each other and that we go out on date nights. Somewhere along the way during a conversation about this, our oldest (he’s seven) asked us how we ended up being married to each other. I told him the story of our first date.


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Kissing is good for you

Categories: dating, love, marriage

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I don’t know about you, but after being married for nearly ten years, kissing is often a means to an end. I mean, we kiss hello and good-bye and will often smack a little bit longer to horrify our kids, but the bulk of our long make-out sessions happen before we, well, you know.

I saw this article over at Yahoo! Shine and thought I’d highlight the main points for you.

1.) Kissing boosts immunity. A recent study reported in the journal Medical Hypotheses says kissing may increase a woman’s immunity from a certain (very rare) ailment that can cause birth defects.


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Do you “sext”?

Categories: communication, dating, love, sex

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While perusing the Internet for relationship articles I came across one originally published in Cosmopolitan magazine titled, “8 Reasons Not To Make A Sex Tape“. The bullet points in the article are pretty funny - if you want a Friday chuckle then I suggest you click on over.(My personal favorite: “Women everywhere will steal your signature moves, including maybe your cubicle mate … or your mom.” Hee.)

There is no chance of me ever making a sex tape because, well, NO. It wouldn’t be prudent. Or pretty. Though I guess they’re not intended to be “pretty”.


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The best romantic movies of 2009

Categories: dating

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I thought that a great way to end one year/start another would be to find a post linking to the top romantic comedies of 2009. Do you think I could find one? No. No, I could not.

Maybe no such list exists or maybe my Google skills are lacking but after long search I threw up the white flag.

I cannot make up my own top ten list because I watch approximately ten movies per year. As my husband and I like anything from action to comedy to, well, romantic comedy I have not seen enough movies in the romantic/romantic comedy genre in order to give me the authority to make a top ten list.


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What’s your favorite love song?

Categories: dating, love, marriage

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I don’t know about you, but my husband and I are horribly romantic when it comes to love songs. Each year, on our anniversary, we present each other with a mixed CD full of our favorite ballads. Then we put in a CD and spend quality time on the bear skin rug in front of the fireplace.

(Insert hysterical laughter, here.)

This is not to say that I do not like love songs, nor do I dislike “quality time” (Ahem). Certain songs will speak to me, as it were, and I find myself having an affinity for them. One song that could have been written by me (If I could actually write songs) would be Push, by Sarah McLachlan. It’s a little older, but kind of apropos.

One of my favorite songs from 2009 is Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait. Mock me if you must, but it’s a Happy Song.

It’s that time of year where the “best of” lists are coming out. I’ll throw it back out to you - what’s your favorite love song?


Do you need to fix your (unbroken) marriage?

Categories: commitment, dating, love, marriage

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I read an article over at the NY Times parenting blog Motherhood which was titled, “Fixing an Unbroken Marriage.” This quote struck me: “Do you fear the snakes in your own marriage? Are you clearer about your job as a parent than your job as a spouse?”

My husband and I try to make a point of having a regular Date Night. “Try” is the operative word here. My twenty-year-old brother lives with us (It’s awesome. Really.) and part of the “room and board” deal includes him babysitting for us on a regular basis. Dude done got himself a girlfriend who went off to University, which means that he’s been traveling a lot to see her.

This means that Date Nights have been few and far between.

We’ve finally realized that a Plan B is in order and have rounded up a few great babysitters. I’m returning to an office job full-time in January and we’ve been invited to attend the Christmas party. Tonight. We’re going to get all gussied up, have a fancy night out, and have a half an hour each way in the vehicle to just talk.

We need the time as just the two of us in order to have a better marriage. Always and forever.

How about you? Do you need to fix your (unbroken) marriage?

Things you should never do without consulting your significant other

Categories: communication, dating, marriage

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I ran across this post over at The Frisky titled, “20 Things You Should Never Do Without Consulting Your Significant Other” and I had to laugh at some of the suggestions. They’re funny because they’re true. Here are a few of my favorites:

Seeing other people
Investing your joint savings in a combination fried chicken and sushi restaurant
Erasing everything off the DVR
Buying a house or new car, especially if it’s a Hummer
Adopting a puppy/kitten/ferret
Moving to a different city

Ha!

I thought I’d add a few of my own:

Get pregnant
Join the armed forces
Invite your parents to live in your basement suite

Do you have any that you’d like to add?

What is your age difference?

Categories: dating, love, marriage

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I don’t have a long dating history from before I met my husband. It’s not that I didn’t date, but I was one of those girls who went for relationships of the long-term variety. For the most part.

I spent over two years dating someone during my senior high years who was three years older than me. “Dating” seems like such a trivial word, considering that I had a promise ring. Do you remember those? Seventeen-year-old me wore it with pride. It now rattles around in the bottom of my jewelry box.

The next serious relationship I had was with a guy who was five years older than me. Five years older than me.  I come from a small town and, well, it seemed that the older guys were always the ones who my friends and I dated. They were so “mature.” I put that in quotes because in hindsight it is nothing but hilarious.


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