Fun for Couples | year of fun

Nov 01 2012

Day 38: Bucket List

Its the first time I’m doing a suggested activity from a reader! I have received several very exciting and good ideas from people reading this blog, and I fully intend to do as many of them as I can over the year. The days that I have the hardest time coming up with something to do are the ones where I work until almost 8:00pm. Usually I don’t do the fun thing until I get home and, at that point, I am usually quite tired so going back out to do something is not a great option. My sister sent in a suggestion for something the hubs and I could do together that would also work for our no devices time: make a couple’s bucket list.

We sat at our dining table and started thinking of things we want to do together as a couple. The first thing we came up with was “buy a house.” We put it on the list, but I wanted us to get more creative, to dream a little bigger and maybe even challenge ourselves. I suggested everything from “go in a shark cage” to “climb down a volcano” just to get our minds brainstorming. We then came up with seven less terrifying things to add to our bucket list that is written in the last page of that new notebook.

This whole time, my new shot (Enbrel) was sitting on the table. If you take it out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you do it, it is less painful (something about it being cold or not). Instead of sitting and staring at it, waiting to do a shot, I was engaged in a creative and fun activity with my husband. Even while I was going through all of the steps of the injection–of course I was focused and made sure to do them properly–I was thinking of new ideas. It took my mind off of what can be an intimidating and anxiety producing activity and for that, I am very grateful.

Once I finished, we made it a goal to have 10 items on the list, so we came up with the final two, both excellent, but I am partial to “Go to the Super Bowl.” We can surely add to it if we think of more things we would like to do. I am thinking of it as a continuation of the Year of Fun. We probably won’t get to most of the things on the bucket list this year, if any, so they will keep us (me) going after this year is up. Thanks sis for the suggestion (you should do it too)!

Oct 31 2012

Day 37: It’s Halloween

So here are a few reasons why I don’t really “do” Halloween.

I don’t understand why women have to sexify potential costume choices. As they say in Mean Girls, “In Girl World, Halloween is the one time of year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”
I only like to wear a costume if a theme party is involved and everyone I’m with is highly committed to said theme.
I don’t have children.
We don’t get trick or treaters.
I get scared VERY easily.

That being said, I like candy and Fall things andIt’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, so my celebration of Halloween tonight included all three! The hubs and I ate the last of our cider donuts from Didier Farms and washed them down with apple cider (what else) while watching that 1966 Charlie Brown classic. (“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin.”)

Oct 30 2012

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Fun for Couples, Games

Day 36: Haiku

Since our no devices night was so successful, I have been thinking about some more things my husband and I could do together that would be fun, romantic, silly, funny and maybe kind of weird but that definitely do not involve phones, TV, iPads or computers. Tonight, I proposed we write haikus back and forth to each other. He was a little skeptical but then perked up when I suggested we just write one line and pass the paper back and forth, adding as we go.

I got out a fresh notebook (I have several empty journals just ready and waiting) and began the first page with “thank you for the tacos.” When I got home tonight, he had tacos waiting for me. What better way to say thank you than in haiku, which, if you need a reminder, is a short poem that simply follows a syllable rule: 5 – 7 – 5. Poem. He followed with “you’re very welcome my love.” Aww. I finished with “husband and wife team.” It might not be the best haiku ever written but we did it together and it is cute. And it will live forever in the front page of my new notebook. Along with the two others we wrote.

Oct 28 2012

Day 34: Football. Nap. Football.

My husband is a Bears fan. Makes sense. He grew up in, and I’m really don’t like to use this term because it sounds like an amusement park but it seems very popular, Chicagoland. I am a Giants fan (Yes, New York. I lived there for three years and have many reasons why my football fanaticism landed there but they mostly involve Superbowl XLII in 2008). We both love football. Living in Chicago, his game is ALWAYS on. My game, well that’s a different story. But today, both of our games were on back to back!

I had another great friend brunch and came home in time for his game to start and some guests to arrive. The Bears won. Wahoo.

Then, after our guests left, my game started. He took our dog to the park and I got cozy on the couch. I saw the Giants field goal about 3 minutes in and the promptly fell asleep until dog and husband returned about half an hour later. The score was 13-0 Giants at this point. Great. I fell asleep again and this time I did not wake up until the third quarter when the Cowboys took the lead 24-23. What?! Not only was I upset that the Cowboys took the lead, but also that I had missed most of the game and had no idea! I became incredibly awake, and the rest of the game, in true Giants fashion, was a total disaster, nail biter, heart attack.

But that is why people love sports right? I mean maybe I have a better attitude about it right now because the Giants ended up winning 29-24 (what what!) and if they had lost I would be in total agony and curse them for putting me through it all. However, I enjoy how dramatic it is when a game comes down to the final minutes or, even better, the final play. I root for my team, you root for yours and we feel like nothing else matters in the world than that play. I am 100% invested in this one thing at this one moment and it is totally acceptable for me to yell about it whether I’m in a stadium of 100,000 people or my very own living room. I actually believe, and there have been numerous articles, books, theses, etc. written on the topic that go in to way more detail than I care to attempt now, that watching sports gives people the same emotional satisfaction as theatre. And that theatre and sports are more closely related–in terms of emotion and ritual–than say sports and television or theatre and movies. I think that is why I love both so much.

And maybe also why I am so competitive.

The many faces of a Giants fan.

Oct 26 2012

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Food/Drink Fun, Fun for Couples

Day 32: No Devices Friday

When I pulled in to our parking spot in the alley tonight, my husband and dog were watching for me from the window in our kitchen. He waved. She barked and whined until I arrived upstairs. We planned on having some quality family time tonight so after I settled in (aka ate some food and put on leggings) we turned off the tv, set our phones aside, opened a bottle of wine and just talked. And laughed. And played footsie. And made financial plans for the future. And put a thundershirt on the dog to see how she would respond. And planned our election night party food. And sang songs from Sunday in the Park with George (ok that was just me). And complained and confided and laughed some more and shared and plotted. And just really enjoyed each other and our little family.

We spent two hours without all that technology and just focused on each other. It was so great. I can’t wait to finish writing this and get back to no devices Friday.