Date Night

Ed and I decided to kick off the weekend with an old fashioned date night - dinner and a movie (sans Grandma this week!). I always love date night. Even though it is only the two of us plus Lucy and every night should really feel like a date night the reality is that it doesn't. Between work and chores and home projects we get caught up in the routine of our so called life. So when we decide to get gussied up and go out for an evening of enjoying each others company, it gets me excited.

Tonight we are headed to Fairfax Corner for what I'm sure will be a delicious dinner at Ozzie's (the newest addition to the Great American Restaurant group) and then out to see Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code. A fun little evening to unwind after what has turned out to be a very long and busy week for both of us. Nights like this remind me of our first date which was almost 5 years ago. It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by since that fateful day when Ed worked his magic on me.

I was living in Forest Hills, NY and Ed was out on Long Island in Wantagh. He took the train and met me in Queens where I was waiting for him on the platform with a hot Starbucks tea in hand. It was a chilly day and a hurricane was coming up the coast so I did my best to put together a cute, cold weather-friendly outfit. I was nervous, but as soon as he arrived and we started chatting, I relaxed immediately. We clicked right from the get go which made the day all the better. We took a quick subway ride into Manhattan and visited the Guggenheim Museum to see the new Zaha Hadid exhibit...but to be honest, I was more excited about the Jackson Pollock's. Ed brought his camera with him and actually saved the pictures...apparently it wasn't just me thinking we clicked. :)


Unfortunately there are no photos of us together on that day...we didn't want to go too overboard! It was a great first date that turned into many dates after that. And to this day, we have reminders all over the house of our trip the Guggenheim. There is the ticket stub from that day that hangs in our Wall of Frames...


...the awesome coffee table book of museum art given to us by my Aunt Linda...


...and the beautiful hand drawing done by our good friend Allison Hunt. She gave us this amazing piece of art on our wedding day and it now hangs on the wall between the kitchen and the living room so we see it all the time. If you look close, she even drew in 2 tiny people.


Tonight's date may not be at a New York landmark, but it will be just as fun and flirty as that first date almost 5 years ago. Time to get ready!!

Holy Frame Wall Batman

I had to put Batman in the title in order to get Ed fully on board with the little house project I'm ready to share with you guys. What, you ask, is Ed not 100% in love with in our humble abode? That would be the Wall of Frames that I put together in the basement...inspired by my new favorite blog Young House Love. He is slowly warming up to it ~ especially since it is filled with special photos and trinkets of our life.


The wall is in the basement across from my office on the way to the rest room so I pass by it no less than 10 times a day (TMI...sorry) and it makes me smile every time. One of my favorite items is the shadow box with Joey's and Lucy's the first collar.


I also love how the plot of our property looks on the wall rather than in a folder buried in my desk. It's been a dream of ours to own our own place so why not showcase it on the wall!


This view shows a really cool picture of the boys (Joey and Little E) watching tv, the menu cover of our old local breakfast hot spot, Thomas' Ham and Eggery, and the Guggenheim Museum ticket stub from our first date.


I'd like to say the wall will continue to grow, but I promised Ed that I would not add any more frames. BUT luckily these photos and trinkets are interchangeable so as we develop new memories, we can put them up on the wall. And who knows...maybe Ed will change his mind about the wall one of these days...:)