I ‘m a hard-working, college educated Generation X Father of two. I am lucky to have a full-time job but when you correct for inflation my pay is less than my parents in the 1970’s. Now younger people in Generation Y can’t find work that will pay them enough to survive. Multi-national corporations have prospered in the past 40 years. They have unfair advantage in our society, no allegiance to the United States, no social responsibility, and no limit to their greed. I fear for the future economic well being of my kids and my country. I am the 99 percent. occupywallst.org
Source: wearethe99percent
Date Night In: Creative Collaboration
In honor of National Arts and Humanities Month, this week our date is about getting in touch with our creative sides! Collaborating with your honey can be a lot of fun and teach you a lot about each other.
The boyfriend is quite the artist, so I’m going to try to convince him to draw portraits of me or our dogs so that I can paint them (I’m great with color, not shape and line). We’ll probably play Pictionary if he refuses. Need some ideas for your own date night project?
- Make an enormous, over-sized collage together
- Collaborate on a song in Garage band
- Jam together and cover some of your favorite bands
- Make a (very) short film spoofing Spy vs. Spy
- Play The Exquisite Corpse
- Make some wall art together to decorate your place(s)
- Write as many sonnets or limericks as you can in 30 minutes. Read them aloud to each other
- Play Pictionary
- Watch your favorite musical (or at least one you both know), mute it, and sing together
This week I love 10. My pedicure! It took forever but it was fun, and it looks awesome 9. Hanging out with my bestie 8. Essie “Aruba Waves” is the most beautiful blue nail polish I have ever used. I want my nails to always look like that! 7. The Starbucks Rant Songs. Every line is so true! This is going on my iPod so I can listen to it on my way home from work. 6. Baking three dozen chocolate cookies out of boredom 5. Sing! This movie was a huge part of my childhood. You cannot find it on DVD or VHS. I tried. I consider a gift from the Gods that I was able to download an .avi ripped from an old VHS. I’ve watched it three times this week. So good! 4. I’ve been listening to a lot of NPR for the last couple of weeks. Never realized how much I would love it 3. Having enough money to go see The Lion King this weekend! Now all I need is enough time 2. Jane Austen’s Emma. I’ve seen the movie and I love Clueless but, for whatever reason, have never read the book. Got it on Google Books on my phone and, so far, love it just as much as Pride and Prejudice. 1. Getting a new car battery and being able to drive my car again!
Date Night In: Coffee Tasting at Home
While a wine tasting is a more popular choice, coffee has a lot in common with the complexities of wine. Working in a coffee shop, I taste a lot of coffee, and I love it. Daniel and I spend a lot of nights at the shop on coffee tasting dates. We discovered something a little more fun (and cheap) than tasting high-end coffee: buy cheap coffees at the grocery store, “cup” and compare these.
It’s fun to describe the coffees in a low-brow way that I absolutely couldn’t at work. Plus you get loaded up on caffeine and talk late into the night or play other games. Tasting coffees together is definitely a great start to a night in together.
Hints:
1. The steps of a coffee tasting are similar to wine tasting: smell, taste, and describe.
2. Try to describe what you smell and taste in the most colorful way possible. It’s much more fun that way.
3. Ideally when tasting coffee, you should drink it black. Feel free to dump in loads of sugar and cream once you’ve given it a taste.
Things I’m Loving Thursday
Here is what I have loved this week:
10. The adorable/spooky invitations to my halloween party 9. The start of chili season 8. My new fall go-to outfit: summer dress + cardigan 7. Writing my first two functional bash scripts 6. Seche Vite 5. Amy Farrah Fowler 4. Improvising a pretty delicious tuna casserole 3. Buying real styling shears to trim my bangs 2. A wonderful boyfriend who took me to work at 5:30 in the morning when my car wouldn’t start 1. Finding a second job!
Lots of love!
Britt
Date Night In: Music Exchange
The boyfriend and I are saving monies right now to break our lease, so cash for dates is pretty tight. If I am forced to stay home, we’re sure as hell going to do something and make it fun! So we’re having a cheap “date night in,” and I’m sharing the idea because the best dates are free!
We’re both big music lovers; I’m a musician and he is a prog-rock aficionado. Sharing music is something we both love to do, but for the most part our tastes differ pretty drastically. He blasts the worst aural torture I can imagine when he’s washing the dishes and the Nicki Minaj custom ring for him on my phone makes him cringe. To his credit, though, he did introduce me to some of my now-favorite artists and bands.
So this weekend we had a relaxed dinner, picnic style, in the living room and listening to music. Here are few ideas to execute this date:
- Open Pandora and make a radio station with 3 of both of your favorite artists. See what plays and what new music you both enjoy!
- Listen to a couple of albums together. Daniel and I listen to albums like we watch movies. Give it your full attention, don’t talk or paint your nails. Just listen.
- Pick a style of music neither of you listens to, find a radio station (on the radio or internet) and give it a try for an hour.
- Listen to an album you both like, then talk or write about it like you’re music critics
- If your tastes are very different, make a game of each trying to pick one of your own albums that the other will like. Then each of you listens to the CD picked for you. Award points for every song you like. Whoever earns the most points wins!
Have fun!!
Britt
Things I’m Loving Thursday
It’s time once again to be grateful for all the awesome things that happen every week. Things have been a bit quiet since last Thursday but that doesn’t mean I can’t still muster up ten fabulous things to love:
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was pretty great. Also a bit sad. I’m one of those kids who grew up along with Harry, so it was like reliving the terrible realization that this huge part of my childhood was over. But I still enjoyed the movie. 9. Pho. Holymolywherehasthisbeenmywholelife!? I don’t know how I’ve never had Vietnamese food before but pho has changed my life! 8. Finding old holiday cards and pictures my grandparents had saved while cleaning the house 7. Figured out how to reconfigure my touch pad in Ubuntu to simulate a three-button mouse 6. Early preparations for Halloween Party 2011 5. Got an interview for a new job this morning!! 4. Making pizza for everybody up at the house 3. South Park. The boyfriend and I have been watching it every night. 2. Finally found out at Harry Potter that The Lion King opens this weekend! I am a die hard Disney lover 1. Successfully double-booting Windows Vista and Linux Mint on the desktop at the house
Lots of love!!
Britt
Back To School: Time Management and My Filofax
Back-to-school time has always been like Christmas in August for me. To celebrate my sister’s first year of college I’m sharing some tips for success for students and productivity geeks like me.
If you missed this post, I recommend you check out the time management and organization articles linked; there is some great info in there.
This week I want to share with you how I organize my time. Please meet my dear friend, Mr. Filofax:
Date Night In: Dinner and a Movie
The boyfriend and I are saving monies right now to break our lease, so cash for dates is pretty tight. I love going out but if I am forced to stay home we’re sure as hell going to do something and make it fun! So we’re having a cheap “date night in,” and I’m sharing the idea because the best dates are free! For best results, I say go all out and even dress up and “arrange to meet up” at a certain time in the living room or the front door or something silly like that.
Things I’m Loving Thursday
I’ve been pretty busy since last Thursday. All that relaxing last week gave me enough energy to be pretty productive and social. So far this month I am loving:
10. I bought Countessa Fluorescent and Nymph from Lime Crime Makeup, and both are everything I dreamed they would be! 9. Went out to dinner with the whole family: Mom, sister, sister’s boyfriend, and the boyfriend 8. Wild Blue Premium Blueberry Lager, a.k.a. the only beer I have ever like 7. Making a day of cleaning the house with the boyfriend 6. Going to see the last Harry Potter movie in IMAX tonight with some friends 5. Starbucks Anniversary Blend with Pumpkin Scone. I do not like either of these things on their own but together they are pretty delicious 4. My first homemade batch of peach butter was soooo good 3. The Producers musical remake! One of my favorite movies and just so darn catchy 2. Nice strangers willing to give my car a jump when I was stuck at the gas station 1. Animal Planet pet costumes! I want the Raptor and the Zebra!
Hope you had lots to love this week!
Britt
