My little sister recently moved in with us, which I know would be a nightmare for many couples…but I'm totally excited. For one thing, it means Nate and I can sneak out for more date nights!
I'll admit that I haven't been prioritizing date night recently because our schedules have been a little nuts. I try to look at the calendar to plan something and my mind just boggles over all the moving parts of our lives. Then – by the grace of God – an event gets cancelled and a random night pops up where suddenly we collide at home, the kids are in bed and we're itching for a little grown-up conversation.
Having another adult in the house means we can take advantage and sneak out for date night at a moments' notice without any of that “planning ahead” nonsense!
I happened to see such an opportunity coming up one recent afternoon, and I decided to surprise Nate with dinner at our sponsor Red Lobster. Instead of leftovers on the table, he came home to find this little note with a Red Lobster gift card tucked inside.
Click here or on the image above for the 5×7″ printable to surprise your own loved one!
[clickToTweet tweet=”Got a loved one who loves lobster? This printable card is PERFECT.” quote=”Got a loved one who loves lobster? This printable card is PERFECT.”]
You might recognize the card's quote from a popular 90's TV show. If you're not as cool as us and didn't memorize every witty line that Joey and Monica blurted out over the years, I'll jog your memory: there's a whole episode of Friends dedicated to the idea that lobsters mate for life. Phoebe declares that Ross and Rachel are each other's lobsters, meant to be together forever.
Awwwwwww.
Truth be told, Phoebe got her facts twisted. Penguins mate for life. Lobsters, on the other hand, have “serial monogamy” relationships in which females spend about a week with a male before moving on to the next relationship.
Sounds similar to some human behaviors I've witnessed.
In any case, Nate and I are the “mating for life” sort and we like to keep things fresh with a date night now and then. Back when we were super-broke and living near Hollywood in college, we'd often go out to trendy restaurants and order just a couple appetizers to share before gorging ourselves on pizza back at the dorms.
Nowadays, we still split an app or two and down a bunch of Red Lobster cheesy biscuits before actually buying plated meals for ourselves.
Quite a concept.
When the kids aren't around, I treat myself to something luxuriously messy…like fish tacos…because I know that no toddler will crawl into my lap and ask me for a bite.
Have you ever tried to share a taco with a toddler? It kinda ruins the whole experience.
While we're there, we can nab a drink like sangria or a top-shelf margarita. That's not something we often encounter when dining out with the kiddos! After you've been with someone for ten years and created four human beings together, you start to seriously cherish those little details.