What I Like About You

Over the past seven months, Matthew has planned some great dates. It started out great- our very first date back in October was to a Shakespeare on the Green performance and picnic at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs. Since then, we've had all sorts of adventures mixed in with nice low-key nights as well.

Here are some of the things we've been up to lately: Two weeks ago, I had the day off for Arbor Day. Yes, I know- you're jealous. It's one of the perks of working for the State of Nebraska- we get several state holidays throughout the year, including Arbor Day, which originated in Nebraska. Matthew took the day off, too, and it was pretty much the best day ever. I made us some chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and then we went out on our first quest to find a letterbox.

Here is how letterboxing works. There are websites (http://www.letterboxing.org/ and http://www.letterboxing.info/) where you can find clues. The treasure at the end of the clues is a book in a box and a stamp. So, the person finding the book stamps it with his or her own stamp and leaves a note in it, and then uses the stamp that's found in the box to stamp his or her own journal. For example...

On Friday, we set out for Standing Bear Lake. The clues were a bit tricky, but we eventually found the hidden spot:

The box we found had unfortunately been damaged by the elements, but we made it work anyway.

Here we are with our journal, stamped with the stamps we found in the tree:

And here is our stamp in the book we put back in the tree:

It was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to more treasure hunts around Omaha, Amana and Pella.

Oh, and after our walk at the lake, we headed to Lincoln to a Jars of Clay concert. Yep, best day ever.

Last week, Matthew planned a surprise date for me. He picked me up at my house and we went and rented a movie, picked up a pizza at Hy-Vee, and then the rest was a surprise. He had wanted to take me to a drive-in movie, but then realized there isn't one of those around here anywhere. So, he improvised. He borrowed his roommate Emmanuel's laptop and we went to the park behind the Whitneys' and set up our own movie theater in his car. We watched Marley and Me with the windows down, eating pizza and chocolate covered raisins (my favorite movie candy). I loved it.

I just love that nothing is off-limits for a date. This past Wednesday, he had to have his car repaired and in so doing stumbled upon a fun activity- we went to the Chevy dealer that night to watch them unveil the new Camaro. They had free hamburgers and hot dogs, and we watched them uncover the car under a dramatic haze of fog, dimmed lights, and rock music.

And then we went to Menards. Which leads me to the other kind of "dates" we've had lately- basement demolition. I can't accurately explain quite what happened, but about two weeks ago Matt got water in his basement which has necessitated a basement remodel (the basement is also the living room). He was going to redo this room eventually (note pink walls from previous owner)- he just wasn't expecting to have to do this so soon, especially with his kitchen also under construction. So, I've spent a few nights since then over at his place helping him clean up. Considering the circumstances, it actually has been fun being able to tear stuff up!

All the pink is gone now, the carpet is gone, and he's getting ready to start making it livable again. Hence Wednesday night's trip to Menards (and Saturday night's, too, for that matter).

Matthew is also making me into a gardener. A novice gardener, but a gardener all the same. We sowed some seeds back in March and they've slowly but surely been growing bigger and bigger. We planted some eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers. Most of them are still in the house in the makeshift greenhouse Matt made, but Wednesday night we planted some of the tomatoes outside in the planters (which Matt also made- he's a man of many talents). I haven't previously done too much gardening in my day, but I'm actually really enjoying getting my hands dirty and watching them all grow. Tabitha says gardening is like magic. I tend to agree.

In fact, I better get to bed so I can head to Bellevue tomorrow morning and do some more planting!