Dating Days

Okay, so Christopher and I have been dating for almost a year... this should be the happiest time in our relationship, however, since there is a limited amount of activities to do in this small town we live in I've been compiling a list of potential 'date night' adventures.  Some of them are stay-home activities, while others are for a night on the town.
 1. Make white-chocolate covered strawberries, together.  Make sure that you decorate them together and have fun with it. No need for them to look perfect. It's super romantic.
2. Bake cookies together. Neither of us really eat sweets, however, I have a sweet craving for macadamia nut cookies every now and again.  The important part is making them together, perhaps a fun flirty flour fight (lot of f's there ha ha!), don't be afraid to make a mess in the kitchen. 
3. Visit the Planetarium. Kind of nerdy, I know.  I am enrolled in grad school and I like the nerdy aspects of life and there is nothing wrong with being well rounded.  Besides, intelligence is attractive.
4. Go for a long drive.  When you're in the car you can talk, look at sights, sing (for us we sing horribly and loudly ha ha) it's a way to get goofy, and connect with your special someone.
5. Visit an Art gallery.  Interpret art that you really have no idea what its saying or what it means. Pretend you are fancy uptown art critics, who knows the art may really speak to you (not that we can afford any of it).
6. Attend a painting class. The art gallery may have inspired you to paint abstract or.... well that's the only real art term I know. (ha ha) Or stay in and paint on your own canvas with no direction, who knows maybe buy some body paint and paint each other. ;)


7. Attend a local live music band of the genre of your choice.  It's usually free, and a great way to find new bands!
8. Create a scrapbook, corny maybe, however it will give you hours of looking back on old memories and good laughs.  Christopher and I share the same birthday, so we started taking a picture on our birthday in the same place each year. Maybe we'll try to put together a fun birthday scrapbook.
9. Go strawberry picking (or blueberry, or oranges, apples etc.). It's something that if you are from the city, like me, the only fruit picking you've done is off the supermarket shelf.  It's something that you can certainly do together and if you pick big enough ones, you can go home and decorate them. Two dates in one night! ha ha
10. Visit garage sales. One person's trash is another person's treasure, cliche maybe, true definitely.  You never know what people are going to throw out and given the right price you can restore it together, kind of like a couples project.  If you live together it may make a great addition to your home.

I'm going to try these out, I'll keep you updated if the ideas hold any romance.  I know sometimes the same old dates get boring, if I get any more brilliant ideas I'll be sure to keep you posted. Good luck, and if you have any ideas we can try comment or Facebook me!


Here's to date nights and making memories,

                                                                       Whitney

Long Sunday

hey bloggers.  Just wanted to hop on here and wish you a good evening. I had a long day at work and my new boss is a wanker.  When I was driving home the old Blink 182 song came on... "late night/come home/work sucks/ I know.."  I thought what a perfect fitting song.  Ugh, I just recently graduated college and the job the 'work force' offered me paid me 4 cents more than minimum wage (WOWZA!) right.... So I work partly as a bartender and partly as a waitress to make ends meet until I get out of grad school.  The Sunday crowd is the worst.  These church-goers always have a coupon, run you to death, and as a tip they leave you two dollars (no matter how good the service). Oy, I cannot wait to get out of the Bible belt.  I think the worst part about it, is having to listen to them preach to you about being in church and I stand there thinking if we all went to church who would be there to cater to your every need on Sunday after church? Then you would complain about nothing being open.  Some people will complain about anything.  All in all I made good money, however, it has been a long day.  Thanks for hanging in there through my rambling.



Long work days and rambling complaints,
                                                    Whitney

Why Oh Why

      
      When I was 12 years old my mother married my stepfather and moved us to this po-dunk town.  Together they have seven children, I have four step-siblings, a brother, and a half-sister.  There are three siblings older than I am. Recently, my stepsister ( a self-proclaimed lesbian) had a mixed- half black/half white- son.  Now all throughout my college days my mother, father, and grandparents begged me not to bring a black man home, though I was interested in a few.  Respecting their wishes and afraid that he would be rejected at family outings, I never dated "outside my race" (by the way that is the stupidest quote ever). 

        My kid brother is blind and they are very accepting of his black girlfriend.  They claim that he doesn't see color.  My argument of I see people not color seems to be invalid.  Now, my cousin Courtney who just turned 18 brought a black man to her senior prom.  My granna called me on the phone to say " All these years I prayed you would never bring a black man home Whit, and you didn't.... but I never did pray for Courtney or any of the rest." Keep in mind that I am the oldest grandchild on that side of the family. 

    My question is, when did the rules change? How do you pick who the rules apply too? Though I am extremely happy with my 'white' boyfriend, I have been attracted to many black men and find this ridiculously unfair.   While trying to be the mature adult and question my mother about the 'why's' that I have in my head, I simply want to act like a jealous fourteen year old and stomp around ranting and raving about how life is unfair.  Do we ever get over that teenage angst? 

Huge Virtual Hugs, and Grownup Temper Tantrums, 

                                                        Whitney

Cincinnati Zoo & the Reds

Yesterday I had to come from a much needed visit to the "promise land", ha ha, in other words Ohio.  My mother moved me to a small (5,090 population) town in southeastern KY. Bummer, I know. My boyfriend (do people in their mid-twenties still call their men boyfriends?) had never been to see the reds, or the zoo, or in a big city with skyscrapers.  Being the traveler at heart that I am I took him.  I love baseball, on tv, in person, anytime-anywhere.  We watched as the reds swept the braves in a four game series and he ended his baseball adventures catching two foul balls and watching a walk-off grandslam.  He didn't realize that this is what dreams are made if you are a little kid going to the game.  I've been to games that ended 1-0 in 15 innings with no home runs.  He had a fantastic time at the zoo, he had never seen wild animals up close before.  Again something I had taken for granted as I had been there several times when I was younger.  Amazed by the buildings we walked around Cincy for hours, got a drink at the local third-street bar, and finally started our four-hour journey back home.  After a week in the big city a little peace and quiet sure does a body good, though my visit there is never long enough, it just makes it more enjoyable when I get to go back.



Baseball dreams and Giraffe faces,

                                                      Whitney