Spoiled with Date Nights

Josh and I were spoiled rotten in May with not 1, not 2, but 3 wonderful dates!

The first we got a sitter for and went to dinner and bowling. We hadn't been bowling in probably 4 years. [Josh gets a little sad to go bowling without his ball now...somehow in the move from DC it cracked in half. haha].

Josh got the chicken sandwhich with a ramen noodle bun -- it sounds super gross. but was actually really tummy. 

This guy has some awesome form! 

Please not I'm winning. And for those of you who don't understand -- Josh was on a bowling team in highschool - and bowled a 300 -- with the ring to prove it. So bowling is kinda his thing and to be honest my arm starts to hurt after one game, so me winning is huge! Don't worry - he won in the end. 

Look at my awesome score. Didn't win but still super pumped. 

Our second fabulous date was provided by our amazing small group. Every four weeks our small group rotates taking turns going out on dates, while the other couples watch our kids. We went to Breakneck Tavern in Mars - everything was amazing!!! We loved everything.

Our third date was so stinkin' amazing! My parents came down for Memorial Day weekend and watched the girls over night so we could go away as an early (7th) anniversary get away.

We left on Friday night - went to Sienna Mercato in the city. I had their ball of the month - Gyro ball. On my goodness! And a grapefruit beer.

We had high ambitions of eating our ways through all 3 floors of the restaurant, but we were too full. So, we walked to the water.

From the water we could see down to Heinz Field - and some how I came up with the wonderful idea to walk all the way to the casino. Which was really nice - but after we looked it up online it was 1.7 miles away. haha. Along the water, we stopped at Burgatory and got some shakes to give us the energy to continue the trek.

Once we got to the casino, we were honestly a little lost and confused - but come on - it's only our 2nd time in a casino - what's to be expected. After we walked around for a bit - we found the smoke free area - yippee. We settled into our penny slots!

Our biggest winnings - $3.00! 

We decided to take the metro home - for obvious reasons! My first time on the Pittsburgh metro. Kinda, almost, maybe, made me miss DC....

We got a little lost getting to our hotel, and on top of our 1.7 miles to the casino - we were happy to be settled in!

In the morning we slept until 9:15 - honestly no idea how long it's been since that's happened. We stopped to get an amazing coffee, then off to the strip. It was late, so we got a few simple doughnuts from Peace, Love, & Mini Donuts. I got the siagon cinnamon and the ginger sugar - they were both very good.

We had an amazing lunch at CoIangelos - it had Sicilian pizza. Oh my goodness - it was to die for!

Then we walked around the strip and just enjoyed the wonderful weather. So grateful for this time away together!

Macaron Making - Take One

Josh and I have decided to spend our winter date nights in the pursuit of perfect macarons. I've always heard, as everyone else has, that macarons are the hardest cookie to master and just general all around hoopla surrounding them. I few months back Josh and I talked about trying to find a local place with really great macarons - and well that didn't go far. We tried a local bakery, which we really do love on all other accounts, but their macarons were terrible. And....we tried no further.

In October we went to a wedding and for dessert they had fabulously delicious macarons made by the bride's cousin. [She is opening a new store in Poland, Ohio soon: Bake me Treats]. We were inspired.

3 days later I was at a book club meeting, and the host had macarons out as well.

I took this as the official sign we should learn to master the cookie as well.

We decided to convert our weekly date nights into cookie classes. I'll be blogging through our progress and recipes this winter.

The first time, we just used the tools we had on hand - parchment paper and our pipping bags and tip. The end result was fine, they tasted fabulous, but we definitely were missing the mark.

Here is the recipe we used to start. We chose this for 3 reasons.
1. The quantities seemed to be scaled back a bit - so we didn't have to put as many resources into the process.
2. It was pumpkin flavored - no brainer.
3. The measurements didn't require a scale.

I will say that although the recipe comes from a vegetarian site, there really is nothing different in the recipe from any other macaron one.

We don't have a kitchen aid mixer (Santa, PLEASE!!!!!) so our mixing times are crazy off and makes it hard to judge if the meringue is done. Which, if you have ever made macarons, you know is key.

Overall - this recipe was fine - and the taste was great, we just didn't hit the consistency right.

Anyways - here are a few photos.

And our wine for the night: 

1/2 Birthdays

Today is my half birthday - I know - that sentence sounds ridiculous coming from a 26.5 year old.

1/2 birthdays don't matter, but to me, they do. Growing up, my mother made a big deal out of my 1/2 birthday. Since my birthday is in August - I never got to have my classmates over to the house for a party, as we were all on vacation. So, my mother being the creative lady she is, decided I should celebrate my 1/2 birthday so that I could have a school party.

One thing that Josh and I have talked about various times throughout our relationship is the book  "The Five Love Languages", practically required reading at Grove City! 'Gifts' is a love language that doesn't really resonate with Josh, but it does with me. My mom is definitely a gift giver. Almost very time she comes to visit, the whole backseat of her car is filled with things she has been collecting for me, little things that made her think of me, or bargains she found. This is how I was shown love, and therefore dramtically shaped how I feel loved.

My wonderful husband, although he doesn't relate to this gift, has worked hard to incorporate it into our lives and demonstrate his love for me in this way. Today, he called from work to wish me a half birthday. I totally didn't even realize it was my half birthday - way to go Josh!

To celebrate, he is bringing home dinner. (And he even called early enough in the day so I wouldn't spend Ella's nap times preparing dinner - what a wonderful man I'm blessed with).

What is your love language? What have you done to learn your spouses language?