The idea behind this date is quite easy – simply pick a letter of the alphabet and choose only activities that begin with that letter. We picked the letter “H” and ended up touring around town on the Harbour Hopper, visiting Historic Properties, eating Hamburgers, and shopping at the Hydrostone Market in Halifax.

SHE SAID:

When Brad first suggested the alphabet date, I was a bit skeptical. It sounded kind of dinky and full of potential disaster, but I was open to it and gave it a try. I’m not going to say it was the most amazing date we’ve ever been on, but it wasn’t a disaster either.

We decided to pick the letter “H” (Himmery our cat insisted) and set to brainstorming ideas. This step in the process is key to success. If you don’t do a quick brainstorm you might end up staring vacantly at each other all night, which probably isn’t what you had in mind. In fact, you might want to brainstorm the night before you do it in case it takes a while to decide on a letter and think of activities. During our brainstorm session we stumbled upon The Romantic Vineyard blog which helped immensely in deciding on a letter. The couple that runs this blog took the alphabet date idea to the extreme and had a separate date for each letter of the alphabet. They obviously have a wealth of ideas and are a great place to start brainstorming.

Brad thinks we chose the letter “H” because of our cat, but I really wanted to go with it because of a little tourist attraction in our city called The Harbour Hopper. Some may laugh in its face, but I am still amused at how a vehicle can travel on both land and water. The tour guides are high energy and point out many interesting facts about the city, such as the burial ground of Alexander Keith and the dock where many of the victims of the Titanic were laid. The tour is a solid hour long and takes you first through the streets of Halifax, up on to Citadel Hill, then down by the Casino where you climb into the water and make your way first to the MacDonald bridge and then back towards Purdy’s Wharf. We sat in the back of the Hopper and didn’t get wet, but it looked like the people in the front were getting a good amount of spray. Though a bit on the pricey side ($25.99 per adult), it was a unique way to learn new things about the streets we frequent.

When it came to figuring out a restaurant that starts with “H” we hit a wall. Since the only place was Harvey’s, we opted to eat a food that starts with “H” instead and headed to The Chickenburger in Bedford for my favourite hamburger in town. We didn’t do this, but we should have found a song in the jukebox there that started with “H.”

Once our bellies were full we headed to The Hydrostone Market in Halifax’s North End. We have driven past this cute little historic market before but never took the time to browse the shops. The website doesn’t display all of the shops, so we were pleasantly surprised to find more than we bargained for when we arrived. Rusty Hinges and the Hen House are two unique home décor type shops that had me wishing I was made of money. Probably my favourite shop was the antique shop that was packed with a great variety of items from years gone by. They had everything from really old spectacles to vintage Hot Wheels cars. Since my new obsession is crocheting we had to visit LK Yarns, a shop devoted entirely to yarns of every variety and colour. We finished off our Hydrostone experience at Julien’s Bakery, home of my favourite bread in the world – the honey apricot and currant with hazelnuts bread. Yum!

Though I was skeptical of the alphabet date at first, I ended up thoroughly enjoying myself. It got us out doing things we probably never would have done otherwise and is very useful when trying to think of things to do.

HE SAID:

We’ve all been there before. One person says “what do you want to do tonight?” and the other says “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” This continues until someone either breaks down and makes a decision, or things fall apart and you spend the rest of the evening at home checking Facebook.

Next time you find yourself in that predicament, try going on an alphabet date. After some brainstorming and searching online, we decided on using the letter “H” for our date. Luckily, I was wearing the perfect shirt for the occasion, my Hawaii shirt.

For a successful alphabet date, I recommend coming up with at least three things to do that start with your letter of choice.

We started by taking a tour of Halifax on the Harbour Hopper, a local tourist attraction that neither of us had done before. While we waited for our tour to begin, we walked down to Historic Properties where we enjoyed the scenery and perused some little shops. Once we finally boarded the Hopper, I knew I was going to have fun. According to the tour guide, the Harbour Hopper is actually called a Lark V, which was built for use in the Vietnam War. This was only the beginning of interesting facts we learned along the way. Of course my favourite part of the tour was the transition from land to water. Overall, it was a fun tour and a great way to experience an overview of Halifax.

After stuffing our faces with our favourite hamburgers from The Chickenburger, we checked out the Hydrostone Market. It’s quite a beautiful spot from the outside. I really enjoyed the antique store and the bakery. The yarn store wasn’t my thing, but Susan enjoyed it, so I made the best of it.

The Harbour Hopper was easily my favourite part of the date. It wasn’t super cheap, but it’s one of those things you have to do once, and I’m glad I did. The alphabet date has a lot of promise for the future. It’s the perfect way to spark some fun ideas during those times when it seems impossible to think of something to do. I had a great time with our “H” date and can’t wait to try it again.

As you may have read in yesterday’s post, Brad bought me a smoothie recipe book for our Christmas in July celebrations. This afternoon’s high temperatures called for a refreshing drink, so we flew ourselves into the kitchen to whip up our very first successful smoothie. Emphasis on the successful. With just 4 simple ingredients it was pretty hard to fail and it ended up tasting great! If you have a blender at home, try the recipe below and let us know what you think!

Recipe:

1 cup strawberries, hulled

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup milk

* we also added about a tsp of honey to sweeten it up.

Blend for 1 minute and enjoy!

]]> http://thingstodofortwo.com/beat-the-heat-with-a-strawberry-blueberry-smoothie/feed/ 0 http://thingstodofortwo.com/christmas-in-july/ http://thingstodofortwo.com/christmas-in-july/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:28:59 +0000 Brad http://thingstodofortwo.com/?p=1214

As July 25 approaches so too does the 5-month mark before Christmas. Why not dream of cooler times during the summer heat and celebrate Christmas in July? Not to worry, most Christmas in July celebrations are way less stressful and costly than Christmas in December. It can be as elaborately or as simply as you please.

SHE SAID:

I’ve been trying to think of cooler things to do lately during these 30-degree days of high humidity. While sitting in our unfinished basement with my feet in a bucket of ice has been tempting, I needed something a little more stimulating and a lot less insane.

While Christmas can often be used synonymously with insanity, the idea of celebrating twice in one year may sound, well, insane to you. Not to worry, though, only the idea is insane. In practice it’s actually quite lovely and how the real Christmas ought to be – simple.

As with the normal Christmas, food is the major focal point of this celebration. We tried taking the traditional Christmas foods and putting a summer twist on them. For instance, instead of roasting a turkey, we made mini turkey sliders on the BBQ. In place of cranberries, we had sparkling cranberry and pomegranate drinks. Instead of corn as a side dish, we had corn on the cob. Okay, that last one was a little lie. We didn’t have corn on the cob because Brad hates feeling like a greasy ape after eating it, so we fried it with pepper, butter and Parmesan instead. Anyway, you get the point.

The cooling off part of this celebration comes mainly with the dessert and activities you choose. Since we don’t have very many ways to cool off in our house, save shoving our head in the freezer from time to time, our cooling off often comes in the form of food like ice cream, popsicles, or even just straight up ice (we’re desperate people!). In lieu of heating up the oven up to bake anything, we bought cookies n’ cream ice cream as a play on the milk and cookies left out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

As for activities, we couldn’t do much more than lie low and watch a Christmas movie. We opted for The Holiday, but never made it through since that movie is ridiculously long. If you have the luxury of owning a pool you can really indulge. If you’re on a slightly lower budget, you might even opt to buy a kiddie pool and create your own little patio pool party. Better, yet, you could head to the beach, lake or indoor pool at your local sportsplex.

I enjoyed celebrating Christmas in July with Brad, but I think it could be even better with friends and/or family to celebrate with, since that’s a big part of what complete Christmas for me. If you’re looking for something to do this weekend as July 25th draws near, why not plan your own celebration? Remember to tell us how it went and don’t hold back!

HE SAID:

When someone mentions Christmas, what pops into your head? I would imagine your mind goes to one of two extremes. Either you conjure up images of joy and happiness, or of pain and misery, you love it or you hate it. The beauty of Christmas in July is that you have the opportunity to do all the things you love and none of the things you hate.

If I had ever heard of Christmas in July before I married Susan, it didn’t make much of an impression. When she told me about it, I couldn’t really wrap my brain around the idea of voluntarily putting myself through the rigamarole of the holidays in the middle of the summer. But once we set out to actually try it, I discovered that there are many ways to make it quite enjoyable.

There are three main pillars to the holidays that I wanted to incorporate into our summer festivities:

Gifts

We aren’t the type to go spending-crazy at Christmas time. We always set a very reasonable budget and we’re usually quite good at sticking to it. Regardless, I almost always come out of the holidays feeling like we went overboard. We are by no means wealthy, but we have a good life so it sometimes seems silly to spend even the relatively small amount we spend on Christmas.

With that said, we tried to keep things as minimal as possible for Christmas in July. We kept it to one gift each, and it was great. I feel like one gift means way more than the mountain of junk that can pile up in December.

The trick is to keep it low budget and low pressure. Spend whatever you think is appropriate, but don’t obsess over giving gifts of exactly equal monetary value.

Food

I won’t go into too much detail since Susan told you about the food already, but I really enjoyed our little twist on the turkey dinner and the milk and cookies dessert. Though it was a much lighter meal than the big feast on Christmas Day, we still felt the turkey coma hit us pretty hard.

Decorations

Again, we opted to keep it simple in the decorating department. Putting up and decorating the Christmas tree is a daunting task once a year, let alone a second time in the heat of July. So we grabbed Susan’s mini Christmas tree from the basement as well as our wooden Santa. It was simple, easy, and fun. Of course, if you feel so inclined, you can spare no expense and fully decorate your house as if it were December.

I enjoyed Christmas in July quite a bit. Though it does feel odd doing Christmasy things in the summer, it’s still a fun time. If you enjoy the food, the gifts, and the fun, but hate the shopping, the crowds, and the busyness, give Christmas in July a try. You can make it as crazy or as simple as you like for a fun summer holiday.

SHE SAID:

Going into this movie I had pretty low expectations. The idea of invading people’s dreams and messing with their thoughts seemed a bit too far out there for my liking, but I knew Brad really wanted to see it so I gave it a chance, albeit a very small one.

The first half hour or so of the film lived up to my lowly expectations. As my confusion increased more and more with the plot, I sunk deeper and deeper into my seat, waiting for it to end. A couple factors played into my confusion – one, there is a ridiculous amount of time warping at the beginning and two, I hadn’t read up on the film enough before going. To avoid the latter pitfall, I highly recommend reading a brief synopsis before proceeding to the theatre.

Strangely enough, after the first half hour when Ellen Page walked onto the screen, the plot began to make a little bit of sense to me. Up until that point the acting was all that carried me through. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a convincing major role alongside the likes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins).

I would say that maybe this one’s a renter (so that you can rewind during the confusing parts) but the special effects should be seen on the big screen if at all possible. If you can trudge through the first half hour you won’t be disappointed and the ending will leave you satisfied.

HE SAID:

Have you ever been close to falling asleep only to be jolted awake as if you had been shocked by a defibrillator? Or how about waking up from a dream only to find out that it was a dream within a dream? These are only two of the many aspects of dreams that are explored in Christopher Nolan’s new film Inception.

Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and Halifax’s own Ellen Page in a mind bending heist movie about dreams. If it sounds weird and intriguing, that’s because it is. The basic premise is simple enough. Cobb (played by DiCaprio) has found a way to get inside people’s dreams and extract thoughts that are hidden deep in their subconscious. Things take a turn when he is presented with the challenge of placing a thought in someone’s mind rather than taking it out, i.e. inception.

I won’t bog you down with any more plot description than that. All I can say is I loved every minute of this movie. For all the hype that surrounded Avatar, this movie deserves that and more. The visuals were amazing, and, imagine this, the story was even better.

Unfortunately there was something that I didn’t enjoy about my night at the movies. Thankfully it had nothing to do with the movie itself. We sat towards the end of a row where there were two empty seats next to the aisle and then me. The lights went down, the previews started, then in walks a couple who decide to plunk down right next to me. Maybe I’m weird, but when I have to sit next to strangers in a theatre that isn’t packed full, I try to leave at least one empty seat between us for a personal space buffer zone. Anyway, I figured maybe there were no better seats available so I got over it. That is until the grocery bag FULL of food came out. Oh my sweet stars above…I’m getting anxious just thinking about it. Not only was it a grocery bag full of food, it was full of food in noisy wrappers. They literally ate for two hours straight. They rummaged through the plastic bag a thousand times, opened at least 15 of those mini chip bags, chewed with their mouthes open, and burped out loud, through almost the entire movie, including the quiet parts. I was fit to be tied. As a result, I missed a few chunks of the plot, which is not a good thing in a movie like this. The sad part of the whole thing is that I can’t remember the last time I went to the theatre and something like this didn’t happen. Anyway, that’s the end of my rant.

Despite my surroundings I really enjoyed Inception. It was very complex, but not impossible to follow. If you’re looking for a light hearted movie for a weekend date night, this may not be the best choice. But if you’re looking for something visually amazing that leaves you thinking, this is it.

If you’ve seen Inception, let us know what you thought of it. Also, if you can relate to my experience with noisy theatre neighbours, tell us about that too.

We’re back! It would seem that we disappeared for the month of June, and that is true. June ended up being a rather busy month in our day-to-day lives and to avoid mental (and marital) breakdown we took a break for a few weeks. We’re back now and ready to indulge in fun, summer dates that we can share with you, our faithful readers. Check back often for things to do, places to go and food to enjoy and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for even more updates. Happy Summer!

SHE SAID:

If you enjoy getting up close and personal with llamas, staring Siberian tigers in the face, and feeding reindeer handfuls of corn, the zoo is for you! Zoos and me don’t have much experience together seeing as there is only one official zoo in our province, but staring death in the face never gets old with me.

Within the first few days of summer vacation, Brad and I were already staring at each other on the couch, wondering what to do as the sun’s rays wasted away outside. The zoo seemed like a nice option since we had an afternoon to kill and a full tank of gas.

We decided to head to Aylesford, NS, home of the Oaklawn Farm Zoo, which is about an hour and twenty minutes from Halifax. This zoo is privately owned and boasts the largest display of big cats and primates in Eastern Canada. I remember going here as a kid and enjoying the monkeys who never failed to put on a good show. This visit was no different.

My least favourite animals to watch are the big cats because they rarely doing anything but hide away at the back of their cages and sleep in the sun. Sometimes I wonder if they’re even alive or real. Apparently they come to life around 7pm when the owners feed them chunks of raw meat.

I must admit I felt a little guilty going to a zoo and seeing animals all caged up for my entertainment. So I did a little research and saw both sides of the debate: one states that wild animals should be left in the wild, the other states that zoos are essential for conservation practices. I’m still working it all out in my mind, but for now a couple good sites to visit are the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Good Zoo Guide. Both provide information on zoos around the world and promote conservation and the highest standards of animal welfare. When in doubt, visit a particular zoo’s website and see if they’re associated with any conservation organizations and what their goals are.

Overall, my zoo visit was fun and leisurely and I would definitely go to another zoo in another town, but not without checking up on their standards first. Though I couldn’t find any organizations Oaklawn Farm Zoo is associated with, they do have a large number of endangered and threatened species. All of their animals seem well cared for and healthy and the grounds are kept very nice, although very sandy – don’t wear flip-flops like I did! Check for zoos in your area and get in touch with your wild side (sorry, couldn’t resist!).

HE SAID:

Although I have been to the Oaklawn Farm Zoo before, it has been a few years since my last visit. The only thing I could distinctly remember about it was what I like to call the “Whooping Monkeys” because, well, they make loud whooping sounds. Since the admission price is very affordable at $7.00 each for adults (or $4.00 for students and seniors), I figured that even if the only cool thing to see was the whooping monkeys, it was worth it.

After a beautiful drive through the country we arrived at the zoo to the familiar sounds of the monkeys. I was immediately transported to feeling like a kid again as my excitement grew. Either we aren’t good at spotting animals, or the first few exhibits were uninhabited. Thankfully that was not an indicator of how the rest of our time at the zoo would go. Honestly, as soon as we saw the Zonkey (a zebra and a donkey in one!) I knew everything would be A-Okay.

My favourite animals at the zoo were the big ones like the lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. It was actually a little nerve wracking to be in the woods and have nothing but a fence between me and a big black bear. I also enjoyed the camel, who was acting suspiciously like our cat Himmery as he rolled over on his back and frolicked in the dust. Of course, the monkeys are a must see. They are quite entertaining as they swing around and share pieces of fruit with each other.

The only minor disappointment was that we didn’t go through the reptile exhibit. After Susan’s experience with the snakes at the museum, we decided it was best to stay away from the snakes and lizards.

Overall I had a great time at the Oaklawn Farm Zoo. The weather was perfect, the crowds weren’t too big, and the animals were a lot of fun to see up close. For $20.00 plus a tank of gas to drive there and back, it was a fairly cheap way to spend a day. If you’re visiting Nova Scotia, you should check it out. If you live in Nova Scotia and have never ventured out to the zoo, this summer is the perfect time to make it happen. For those of you who live elsewhere, check out your local zoo this summer and let us know what you think.

(To see the rest of the pictures we took at the zoo check out our Flickr set)

For The Locals:

Interested in visiting a local zoo? Below are listed zoos and wildlife parks by province.

Nova Scotia

Acres of the Golden Pheasant Bird Park

Oaklawn Farm Zoo

Provincial Wildlife Park (Shubenacadie, NS)

Upper Clements Wildlife Park

New Brunswick

Aquarium and Marine Center

Cherry Brook Zoo

Ferme Aqua-Zoo

Lameque Zoo

Magnetic Hill Zoo

Reptile Ocean Inc.

Woolastook Wildlife Park

PEI

Stanley Bridge Marine Aquarium and Manor of Birds

Do Duck Inn Petting Farm

North Cape Interpretive Centre & Aquarium

SHE SAID:

Museums are hit and miss with me, but when we found out the Museum of Natural History was opening up again in Halifax we thought we would check it out. I had never been to a natural history museum before so thought it might be fun, or at least something new to try.

I’m not sure why it didn’t register in my brain when I saw the “Venom” exhibit sign, but I didn’t clue into the fact that there would be snakes, otherwise this date would not exist. I’m not sure words can fully describe the paralyzing anxiety that sweeps over my body at the sight of a snake. The worst part was not knowing what was real or fake until it moved. Perhaps the icing on the cake was the fact that the King Cobra was nowhere to be seen in his cage and perhaps had escaped and was lurking around the stuffed pelican exhibit.

Other than the snake run in, I enjoyed our leisurely stroll through the museum. My favourite part, as always, was looking at the really old artifacts uncovered from Acadian villages and beyond. I’m always amazed with how things survive and love imagining the story behind it all. What was the house like that the key opened the door to?What kinds of meals were prepared in that bowl? What could you buy with that money? What kind of dates did people go on then? Did they even go on dates?

Once we had exhausted all of the exhibits, we made our way to the gift shop where there were all kinds of neat books related to Nova Scotian heritage, eco-friendly living, and so on. Brad almost received a new iPad when I dared him to eat the dried worms for sale, but I wasn’t willing to live up to my end of the bargain.

I wouldn’t say a visit to your local museum is for everyone (unless you live in NYC and have the MET in your backyard), especially not a first date. Since, let’s face it, museums can be boring, I would recommend following it up with something more upbeat like mini golf, bowling or a trip to the fair. Though educational dates may seem boring upon first glance, they can actually help you get to know each others’ interests, and, if nothing else, how far your date’s patience can stretch.

HE SAID:

Until this date, my most recent experience at a museum was at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Although I could appreciate many of the things I saw, it was far from the highlight of that trip. I suppose it was partly due to the immense size of that museum and the amount of walking that was required. I had already done so much walking on that trip that my feet were screaming for mercy, so I could not fully enjoy what I was seeing. For that reason I went to our local Museum of Natural History with low expectations of having fun.

Once we paid the wonderfully low admission fee of $5.00 each and were greeted by the friendly staff, we saw the first exhibit. This seemed like the first sign of trouble. There were several glass enclosures with various spiders, insects, and lizards to see. The trouble was we couldn’t tell if some of them were fake or real. I’m pretty sure the spiders and a lizard or two were fake. I thought to myself, “Oh great, a museum full of plastic animals. How fun…” Then we entered the Venom exhibit where we came face to face with very real snakes of all shapes and sizes. This is where the museum quickly became a things to do for one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Susan run away from something so fast. I really enjoyed seeing the snakes, although I was disappointed that I couldn’t find anything in the dark enclosure labelled as King Cobra.

My least favourite part of the museum in New York was walking through room upon room of depictions of animals in their natural habitat, because the animals were all fake. Thankfully our local museum kept those kind of displays to a minimum and showed off much more interactive and educational exhibits.

I think my favourite part of the museum was similar to Susan’s. I loved seeing actual artifacts used by real people hundreds of years ago. The best part was that they told you where in Nova Scotia each piece was found. Growing up I often felt like these sort of things were only found in foreign places, so it was a lot of fun to see it coming from our own back yard. I also enjoyed the rock/fossils section. It brought back memories of how much I loved the Geology portion of my Science classes as a kid.

Is this a good date idea? I really think so. It’s small enough that we didn’t have to commit hours of our day to see every display, but diverse enough to keep our interest the whole way through. We went fairly early on a Saturday, which was perfect. The museum began to flood with children just as we were leaving, so if you want to avoid the crowds, go early. I’m happy to report that my expectations were exceeded and I had a good time. Museums aren’t just for kids, so check out your local museum for some educational fun for two.

SHE SAID:

What do you do on a Saturday morning to relax and unwind from the hectic week? Some enjoy a cup of coffee, some watch cartoons, some lay in their bathrobe all day with a good book. All of these are acceptable Saturday morning activities, but for me, going to the farmer’s market is not one of them.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the thought of supporting local farmers and artisans, but my mind cannot deal with the maze of produce stands and hoards of people lined up for Bavarian double smoked bacon at 7am (though it is very tasty).

I could get past that, though, if it weren’t for the disorganized maze of a layout that is our local farmer’s market. I can’t stand that all of the produce people aren’t together in one spot and the bakery people in another. It drives me nuts to pay 2 dollars for a tomato at one stand and then happen upon a tomato for 1 dollar further along the maze. Can I afford the extra dollar? Yes. Do I want to pay the extra dollar? Not really. I will gladly spend more money on a bunch of carrots at the market knowing there’s a cheaper version at the grocery store, but if there are three farmers at the market, heaven knows the farmer with the cheaper tomato is getting my business. End rant.

My saving grace was the German Bakery and its honey almond apricot croissant with icing sugar on top. It was by far one of my best uses of a Toonie in a while. I have no idea where it’s located amidst the chaos, but I do remember stairs nearby leading upward. I also found some really delicious honey apricot bread, but again, have no idea who makes it or where it exists. Once I had those two things in my possession I bolted and went home to continue my more familiar, less chaotic version of a pleasant Saturday morning.

HE SAID:

I, like Susan, have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the farmer’s market. It’s a wonderful and romantic idea (not in the Valentine’s Day sense) in theory, but it never fully lives up to my expectations.

You see, I am a morning person. I enjoy getting up early and getting out of the house while most people are still sleeping away the day. However, I am not a crowd person, and it seems like I can never get to the market early enough to beat the crowds.

So lets break down this love/hate relationship:

LOVE:

1.) I love the idea behind the market. The thought of a leisurely walk on an early Saturday morning perusing local goods is very appealing to me.

2.) Most of what is being sold looks very interesting, whether it’s food, clothing, or anything else.

3.) I love where our local market is located. Winding through the various nooks and crannies of the market is a lot of fun. It makes me feel like I’m in a Hobbit house or something, I love it. There are lots of interesting things to look at.

4.) Despite the busyness of the market, we were able to stop and check out one booth in particular that grabbed our attention. It was shared by Geordan Moore of Who Stole My Bike and Anna Stowe of Good Day Studio. They sell some locally made, unique looking t-shirts. There were plenty of interesting designs to choose from, and I was very tempted to buy one

5.) I love hearing random musicians playing their instruments throughout the market. I could sit and listen to some of them all morning. I especially enjoyed the people playing something other than acoustic guitar, like the guy playing his accordion, or the girl playing a ukelele. This is easily my favourite part of the whole experience.

HATE:

1.) I really, truly cannot deal with the crowds of people. I’m sure some people love it, but I don’t. I always felt like I couldn’t stop to check anything out because I might get trampled. I wish I could have found a nice open area to sit down, have a coffee, and people watch. I’d be all for the crowds if I could just watch them instead of being in them.

As you can see my loves outweigh my hates, but unfortunately it’s still just not for me. That said, if you’re a morning person who isn’t bothered by crowds, your local market would likely be right up your alley. I know the fresh food alone is worth it for a lot of people so don’t let our dislikes keep you from checking out the market. Every time I go I see people who are genuinely having a great time, and I like that. It’s also a great date idea if you’re looking for an excuse to hold that special someone’s hand and not let go. You know, so they don’t get lost in the crowd or anything…

Cost – Using items you probably already have in your kitchen, it’s free!

Have you ever had a craving for ice cream while spending an evening at home, only to find your empty freezer staring back at you? Well, if you have a few basic food items in your cupboards, and 10 minutes to spare, you can make homemade ice cream.

SHE SAID:

To me, ice cream is a major food group. I will indulge in its creamy goodness any time of the year, rain or shine, heat or cold. It can be a costly comfort food when you go for the good stuff, so I was really excited when I found out I could make it in a bag for a fraction of the cost.

The process was easy enough, with just 5 items needed from the kitchen. A special note to those of you who have never frozen ice before (I’m looking at you, love bug), it actually takes longer than half an hour. Perhaps our half frozen ice cubes played a factor in the crumbly consistency of our final product. That, or the fact that we used 1% milk instead of whole milk. Either way, the end result was hardly worth the 10 minutes of intense, frigid shaking. Winter gloves are highly recommended.

Though the final product would make Ben and Jerry shudder, I didn’t really care because we didn’t waste a bunch of time and money trying it out. We may even try it again with some whole milk and fully frozen ice cubes.

HE SAID:

There are two major issues that come up for us a lot when we decide to spend an evening at home.

1. The need to do something, but not knowing what to do.

2. The need for snack food…RIGHT NOW!

Making homemade ice cream solves both of those problems at the same time. It gives you something to do without requiring much preparation time, as well as it provides snack food in the end.

Making homemade ice cream should be easy, even for those (like myself) who are a little less savvy in the kitchen. You simply combine milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and any other items you want to add for special flavours (i.e. chocolate chips) into a sealable plastic bag. You then place that bag into a bigger bag filled with ice cubes and salt. Seal the second bag and shake it like a polaroid picture! Wait….is it still cool to use that expression? Seriously, you need to shake it for a good ten minutes. You’ll notice the ice cream starts to harden around the five minute mark.

I was amused but slightly disappointed in how our ice cream turned out. It ended up looking like frozen popcorn. The flavour was surprisingly good, but definitely not up to par with the more expensive stuff you can get at the grocery store. It sort of tasted like a more watered down version of normal vanilla ice cream.

Though I wasn’t totally satisfied with our icy creation, it was a blast. It was fast, easy to make, and very cheap. For those reasons, I can forgive it for not tasting rich and creamy. I’m still impressed though at just how simple it is to make something that closely resembles ice cream. Who knew shaking milk, sugar, and vanilla against some ice cubes would turn into this little treat? It’s SCIENCE!

If you’re at home tonight and are looking for something fun to try, this might be up your alley. Don’t expect the world’s best ice cream to emerge from that plastic bag, but be proud of your cold creation. If you’ve ever made homemade ice cream before, or if you decide to make it after reading this, we’d love to hear about it. Send us an email, or leave a comment and tell us what you think!

How To Make Homemade Ice Cream:

Place 2 trays of ice cubes & 6 tbsp of salt in a large plastic bag

In a smaller bag mix:

1/2 cup of milk

1 1/2 – 2 tbsp of sugar

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

Place the smaller bag inside the bigger bag, seal it tight and shake well for 10 minutes.

Cost – FREE!

Everyone likes to dream about their future, and we’re no different. We love to dream about the kind of house we’ll live in some day. So we decided to put on our grown-up hats and go to some open houses. Though we were anxious at first, we had nothing to lose since the whole afternoon didn’t cost a penny.

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SHE SAID:

When I was a little kid I loved looking at floor plans and attempting to design my dream home with Lego. I relished in the task of laying the foundations of the mansion that I believed would one day be my safe haven. I no longer want a mansion, but I still quite enjoy roaming through the homes of others if for nothing more than simple inspiration.

Before this outing I had been to a few open houses with people actually capable of buying a nice house and loved it. Since we were with other people it was easy to slip off and explore the house while they did the talking.

Heading out on your own is a whole other ball game, which is why I was a bit anxious going into it. What if they looked down their noses at us and hammered us with questions? What if they laughed in our faces? Thankfully none of these things happened.

It was a bit awkward at times, but I don’t think it had anything to do with us specifically. It’s just the nature of the situation. You arrive at someone’s house and there’s someone else there trying to sell you something that you know you’re not necessarily interested in buying but have to act like you are. I find that nerve wracking, so I usually dart from the main entrance and leave Brad to bold face lie to all of the realtors.

All awkwardness aside, it was a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. We managed to see 5 houses in the run of 2 hours. I quite enjoyed seeing what’s out there in various price ranges for different areas. It really gave us a feel for what type of space we want in the future to suit our needs and what style house we like. Some homes were in dire need of upgrading while others showed beautifully and even inspired décor and paint ideas – I think I see home reno projects in our future for March Break!

HE SAID:

This past Sunday was the perfect day to get out of the house as it was one of the first spring-like days here in Nova Scotia. As we headed out the door, Susan began to panic. She was frantically telling me that I had to do the talking, and obsessing over how we both look way too young to be home buyers. I assured her that everything would be fine.

We walked into the first house and the awkwardness began. We were the only ones looking through the house, so it was just us and the real estate agent. Oh boy… As we began walking through the house, I felt as though she could hear every word we were saying. It was like being in a library where no one is saying a word, just silently going about their business. That was us. After looking through the house, we bolted as quickly as possible to avoid any personal questions.

As it turned out, we were the only ones looking through almost every house we went to. However, we really got a good feel for how each real estate agent does things. One guy gave out cookies, while one lady was super friendly and fun to talk to. As we saw more houses we got more and more comfortable talking to the agents and answering their questions.

Despite the anxiety from having to bluff my way through a few conversations, I had a lot of fun going through open houses. We got a much better sense of what you get for certain price ranges, as well as a better feel for what we do and don’t want in a home. It’s a totally different experience than looking through pictures of houses on MLS, which we do all the time. At each open house we got a sheet with all the information about the house. So when we got home we had fun as we each ordered them from favourite to least favourite. We had quite similar reactions to the houses, which hopefully means it won’t be too hard to agree on what we want in a house when the time comes for us to buy a house.

Before we left the house, Susan looked up the addresses to several open houses online. I fully intended to randomly drive around the neighbourhood until I saw an open house sign. So depending on your spontaneity level, you can try either one of those methods.

I really enjoyed going to open houses. It was tough to work up the confidence at first, but after a few tries we started to get the hang of it. If you’re looking for something fun to do on a Sunday afternoon, give open houses a try. For some added fun, dress up nicely, go through some super expensive homes, and pretend you can actually afford it. You’ll have fun, dream a little, and best of all spend nothing.

For our final post about our winter escape, we wanted to share a video with you from the trip. We’ve put together some clips from the plane, SeaWorld, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom. We hope you’ve enjoyed following along on our winter escape. We had a lot of fun, but it’s good to be back home. We’ll be back with some fresh things to do for two in the beginning of next week. Enjoy!

Winter Escape from Things To Do For Two on Vimeo.