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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.

If you’re looking for a great way to test your knowledge on someone, try the five dollar shopping spree. The idea is simple, within a certain time limit you each have to find a gift for the other for five dollars or less. It forces some creative thinking and really does test how well you  know each other.

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SHE SAID:

I usually don’t do well buying presents under pressure. Normally, I end up breaking into a sweaty panic and buying something really strange like tube socks. This is why I start Christmas shopping in October. Since the budget was so low for this task, though, that didn’t happen. Since we were only spending $5, the expectation of a great gift was low and the focus was on something more fun and out of the ordinary.

Brad can’t stand the thoughts of Walmart on a Saturday (or any day) so we went to Winner’s Home Sense at our local mall. We figured Winners would be great since you can get nice things at discount prices. It worked out well for Brad, but no so much for me.

At the outset we decided to limit ourselves to 30 minutes. After roaming around Home Sense for 15 minutes and finding nothing more than a decorative twitter-like bird, I began to panic. Luckily we were at a mall, so I fled from Winners and began my mad trek for something Brad would enjoy that was under $5.

As I turned the corner from Winners, EB Games appeared like a ray of light. I saw the “Used Games” bin by the door and knew this was the place I would find a suitable gift for Brad. More panic seized me as I became overwhelmed by the huge selection of games to sort through in less than 10 minutes. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of games for $5 and I was able to narrow it down to 3: a table tennis game, a Superman game, and a game called Blacksite: Area 51. I knew all of the games were probably rejects and wondered if the cashier would laugh at my choice when I got to the counter, but figured the one with aliens and fighting would be the least pathetic. Thankfully there was no laughing, at least not in front of my face. The question was, would Brad laugh in my face?

I trotted back to our meeting spot and we revealed our presents once back in the car. I was really proud that I thought of going to a video game store and was beaming with pride. I handed over the bag that contained my present and Brad immediately began laughing. I had managed to buy a video game that he had never even heard of. Go figure.

I really enjoyed this game of sorts. I like how it forces you to get creative and really think about the other person’s interests. I also like how it proves that you don’t have to spend much money to have a good time. It’s the thought that counts.

HE SAID:

When we were setting the rules for our five dollar shopping spree, we had trouble agreeing on where we should shop. Susan thought we should limit it to one store, and I thought it would be good to have the option to roam the whole mall. We decided to stick to one store, but would allow for other options in case of emergency. In a surprising turn of events, I ended up being the one who stayed in one store, while Susan needed backup.

Before we stepped foot in a store, we laid down a few ground rules. Spending five dollars each was to be more of a guideline. If we spent six or seven it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The other thing we did was set a time limit and a meeting place. We were to meet at the bench outside of Winners in thirty minutes.

I was very surprised at how many fun things I found around the five dollar price point that I thought Susan would enjoy. I was expecting to struggle to find even one thing. In the end I had to decide between two options. One was a decorated clipboard with a note pad attached, the other was a compact notepad with a tiny pen included that she could keep in her purse. Susan loves making lists. In fact, I think she sometimes makes lists of the lists she has to make. So I knew that she would enjoy either one of these cheap finds. Since I could only choose one, I went for convenience and portability and bought the smaller (and closer to five dollars) notepad.

As we approached the reveal of our gifts, I was fairly confident Susan would like what I bought. The only thing left to do was to make sure I reacted appropriately to whatever she bought me.

I failed in this task.

I had a funny feeling she would at least look in EB Games for my gift. I did not think she would actually find a semi-current video game for five dollars. At first glance, I thought I had never heard of the game she bought me, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed familiar. Unfortunately, I got a bad case of the giggles when I saw what she purchased. It wasn’t so much that I thought the game was going to be terrible (while it’s not great, it’s actually surprisingly not terrible) it was the mental picture of her rummaging through stacks of heavily discounted games, frantically trying to think of the best choice. It struck me funny. In hindsight I probably should have kept the laughter to myself. Thankfully I redeemed my reaction to her gift by giving her a gift she really liked.

I think this is a fantastic thing to do. It’s a great way to get out of the house and have fun without spending a lot of money. Though you do have to split up to do the shopping, coming together to unveil the gifts makes up for it. I would totally recommend anyone try this out. Set your own rules as far as budget, time limit, and locations are concerned and have some fun.

HE SAID:

My first experience at a comic book store happened when we were in New York a few years ago. I had nightmares of large, bespectacled, balding men in black trench coats quietly flipping the pages of comic books as they judged me from afar for not belonging in their store. In fact, the only comic books I ever read growing up were of the Archie variety, so I didn’t have high hopes for that particular outing.

While my expectations were low, my actual experience was quite fun. Not only did they have the expected comic books, but their shelves were also lined with lots of different TV and movie related products. They had everything from miniature Lego-like figures of the cast of 24, to a “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” toy.

Also, there were no large, bespectacled, balding men in black trench coats judging me from afar. They were judging me from about a foot and a half away…. I kid, I kid!

So when Susan suggested we check out our local comic book store (yes, you read that right), I was actually pretty excited. We knew of two comic book stores in the Halifax area, Strange Adventures and Quantum Frontier, so we checked them both out.

First up was Strange Adventures. Though it feels somewhat cave-like, it is overflowing with geeky goodness. From action figures, to t-shirts, to graphic novels, you name it and they have it. I was especially excited by their board game selection. There were a few I had played before (like Carcassonne and Risk) but many that I had never heard of.

Next we went to Quantum Frontier. It has a completely different feel than Strange Adventures. It is much more open, and bright – a more typical business space. It felt like they had less product to browse than Strange Adventures, but that could have simply been a result of the layout of the room.

I really enjoyed looking through the display cases of action figures, the geeky t-shirts, and all the other products at both stores. It helped that Susan seemed genuinely interested in it all. I had fun telling her who the different super heroes were, what the symbols on the clothing stood for, etc.

Is going to a comic book store the best date idea ever? Maybe not. If you don’t know Star Wars from Star Trek, or Carcassonne from Settlers of Catan, it might not be up your alley. Then again, sometimes it’s fun to try something you wouldn’t normally do. We enjoyed ourselves, but it didn’t take long for us to go through both stores. So if you decide to check out your local comic book store you should probably include other plans in your day.

In conclusion, I have a quick piece of advice for the guys who are reading this blog post:

Do not, I repeat DO NOT surprise the special lady in your life with an afternoon at a comic book store. Make sure she is on board 100% before you step through that door. If you do not heed my advice your outing will surely go down in flames.

SHE SAID:

I’m not a die hard comic book collector and I probably couldn’t name more than 10 comic book series, but I do appreciate the art. I was only ever into Archie as a kid and would often beg my mother to buy me the Double Digests on display in the grocery line.

When I suggested going for a little outing to our local comic book stores, it was mostly because they do tend to have cool little figurines and unique gifts you can buy for your comic book loving friends. Since Brad’s birthday is coming up in April I thought I would go to get any possible birthday gift ideas.

Out of the two stores we went to in Halifax (Strange Adventures on Sackville Street and Quantum Frontier on Robie Street) Strange Adventures definitely had more selection, but I liked the layout of Quantum Frontier better because it seemed more organized and less cramped. Both places have good selections of t-shirts, figurines and, of course, comic books.

If you’re indifferent to comic books it might be worth it to plan to go somewhere afterwards that you enjoy to balance out the fun. On the other hand, if you’re both really into comics, you could create your own story using your own photos and one of the multiple comic creator software programs, such as Comic Life, and give it as a gift. Comic Life offers a 30 day free trial, can be used on a PC or a Mac and is super easy to use.

Finally, if you’re still leery of stepping foot inside a comic book store, if you wait until May 1st, you can take part in Free Comic Book Day. You check out all the fun products and maybe even get something for free.

What do you think, are we crazy for going to a comic book store as a thing to do for two? Or do you think it could be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon? Let us know in the comments.

SHE SAID:

Sundays tend to be a pretty laid back day in our household. Unlike Brad, I’m not the type of person that can be happy to stay inside all day, day after day. After 4 hours, I need out, even for just a simple drive.

Now, I know Sunday afternoon drives are an activity you’re not suppose to do until you’re at least 50, but they’re a great way to get out of the house for a bit and have a conversation, away from the distractions at home.

When Brad and I were dating we used to go for drives and he would always ask me where I wanted to go. I would secretly rage inside when he asked because I felt like I was being burdened with the pressure of deciding on a perfect destination. I know now that Brad really does mean what he says and didn’t care where we went and would’ve been happy to drive to the city dump. Alas, my inner rage was unwarranted. However, had I known about the coin toss drive then, I could’ve avoided the panicked rage altogether.

The coin toss drive is perfect for the indecisive couple especially. Literally every turn is decided for you. The only decision you have to make is when to end the game and go home. You can end up seeing streets and buildings you never knew existed, even though they’re close to home.

For our first try we decided to start flipping the coin right out of the driveway. It could be because of the luck of the flip or my less than stellar flipping technique, but we ended up on a long road to Eastern Passage with very few intersections. After coming to a dead end road, we decided to make our new starting point in the middle of the city. I thought this was a lot more fun because we were able to get into the game more.

The coin toss drive didn’t exactly rock my world, but it was a nice departure from our typical Sunday drive.

HE SAID:

When I was growing up, my family owned an RV. During the summers we would travel to various campgrounds around Canada and it was a lot of fun. One of my favourite memories of those days is when we used to set out for a day of driving with no specific destination in mind. Dad would drive until he got tired and then we would grab a map and try to find a campground near by to stay the night.

That idea of setting out on the road without a particular destination has stuck with me over the years, even when it comes to going for an afternoon drive around town. The problem with having no destination in mind is that you still need to decide to go somewhere, even if it’s turn by turn decision making. That’s why the coin toss drive seemed brilliant to me.

Before we hit the road we laid down a few ground rules, and I would suggest you do the same if you attempt this activity. First, we decided how often we would flip the coin. Would it be every time we came across a potential road to turn down, or only at major intersections? We decided that if we came to a stop sign, or a set of lights, and there was the option of going left or right, we would flip the coin. Heads we turned right, tails we turned left. In the cases where we hit an intersection that only allowed turns in one direction, we continued straight down the road. Another rule was that if a turn brought us into a parking lot or anything other than a normal road, we kept going.

There were two factors that we didn’t take into account before we left that would have been good to think through.

1. Water. We live near water, and lots of it. Any time you start driving alongside water it eliminates the option to turn in that direction. Stay away from water for maximum fun.
2. Susan cannot flip a coin to save her life. Seriously, it’s sad. Add the fact that we were in a moving vehicle and sometimes the coin flip had to be done quickly, and the result was a lot of dropped coins and panic.

I like the idea behind the coin toss drive, though in practice I was underwhelmed. I got frustrated by constantly hitting water and not being able to turn one way. The other problem was that sometimes you end up driving in circles. The key is in the starting point. If you start in a part of town far from water, with lots of intersections, it can be a lot of fun.

I think this would be a lot of fun to try in a city I’m less familiar with. Sure I’d be lost in no time, but that’s what maps and GPS are for. If you’re looking for a way to get out of the house but you don’t want to have a destination in mind, try the coin toss drive. It’s only as fun as you make it. We probably got more laughs out of Susan’s lack of coin tossing abilities than anything else, but everyone is different and will enjoy different things. Though it’s not on the top of my list of things I want to try again, I’m sure I’d give it a go if the conditions were right.

Let us know if you’ve ever tried the coin toss drive or if it seems like something you’d like to try.

SHE SAID:

When some friends from England came home for Christmas, they mentioned getting together to play an exciting new game called Carcassonne. I’m usually up for learning a new game, so I agreed without hesitation. I had no idea what I was in for. This is the game that keeps growing and growing until you realize you’ve unleashed a monster.

The game’s playing space is made up of tiles that you lay down with each turn. It starts with a happy little river and then explodes into a booming medieval metropolis. It’s not like you’re leisurely building your own cute little city, though. No, no. That would be too easy and stress free. No, there has to be fire-breathing dragons and forts and catapults that destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to build for the past 4 hours. Oh yeah, did I mention you need a solid 4 hours at your disposal to complete this torturous escapade?

I know it sounds like I hate the game and, in part, I do, but I don’t think I hate its core concept. I think I would quite enjoy the basic game of building castles and fields and roads with my meeples (wooden playing pieces). However, there are numerous different expansion packs you can buy, such as the dragon, that wipe out everything in their path and leave you feeling bitter and angry. I’m not a very competitive person, so these add-ons did nothing good for me.

Carcassonne is great at its core for couples to waste away a rainy afternoon with and can conjure up some healthy competition. If you really get into the game you can purchase your own wooden meeples online and custom paint them (meeplepeople.com). If you have a large table, a competitive spirit and some time to waste Carcassonne is the game you’ve been waiting for.

HE SAID:

Board games are sneaky little things. They can bring people together for a fun evening, or they can tear friendships apart and lead to tears and rage. I had a bad feeling about Carcassonne right from the first time I saw it. I thought there was no way that a game built on cartoonish tiles and little wooden pieces called meeples could possibly be good. Well, I can honestly say I was equally right and wrong.

We played Carcassonne twice over the holidays, with two different groups of people. It can be played by as few as two players, but in order to learn all the complexities of the game, we joined some friends. The first time we played I got completely overwhelmed by all the rules, but by the second time I started to get the hang of it.

I get frustrated when I feel like winning or losing a game is largely out of my hands, and that is exactly how Carcassonne made me feel. At it’s most basic form, Carcassonne is about placing tiles that make up the playing surface. These tiles can be either castle, farm, or road. When you place a tile you have the option of placing a meeple on that tile and only that tile. That part of the game is fun. I like trying to complete a castle or a road and get the points before someone else takes it over. Where things go bad is when certain expansion packs get added into the game. All of a sudden there is a huge element of luck involved, which I didn’t enjoy at all.

Though I wasn’t crazy about the game, I did find one great way to enjoy it. There is a version you can buy on XBox Live (800 points) which I love. It breaks the game down to the essentials which is especially great for newbies like me.

A mixture of being confused by the rules, and frustrated by the element of luck keeps me from loving this game. But people seem to love it or hate it, so I recommend at least trying it to see what you think. You can buy the game at places like Chapters, and if you want more you can buy expansion packs online, or if you live in Halifax check out Strange Adventures.

If you’ve ever played Carcassonne we would love to hear what you think of it.

The first time Brad and I celebrated Valentine’s together he basically did all of the work. We made reservations at a nice restaurant, he arrived with a dozen red roses and later gave me an iPod. While it was all very nice and memorable, I think we’ve had just as good, if not better, Valentine’s Days and spent less.

To me, it’s all about the small things that make the day complete. One of the sweetest things Brad ever did on Valentine’s was make me a homemade card while he was recovering from laser eye surgery. It was crafted out of construction paper, had a cute little rhyming poem and he had made illustrations of his bloodshot eyes.

Giving your lady (or man) a good Valentine’s Day requires much thought, but it doesn’t mean spending lots of money necessarily. I’m a big lover of all things handmade since they require thought and are quite endearing. Whenever I’m looking for inspiration I visit Martha Stewart’s website, which usually never fails me. This year was no different. I found a cute little card that required 3-D glasses to read the secret message on the front. Perfect for my geeky little love bug. There are also tons of great homemade gift ideas on there, such as the love note wrapped chocolate bar and the candy and tulip bouquet.

We decided to make supper together this year, which can be quite a fun stay at home option. You can skip the overcrowded, overpriced restaurants and kick back at home, dressed however you like. We made a heart shaped pizza from scratch using the Crusty Pizza Dough recipe that came with my Kitchenaid mixer. We also made these delicious homemade Hershey Kisses we found over at Bakerella’s website. They look so impressive and cute, but are so easy and cheap to make. Our whole supper cost less than $20!

If I could do it again, I’d probably just make supper or dessert together, not both. By the end of the night we were both pretty exhausted from being in the kitchen. If you’re a super busy couple, making supper together will probably only frustrate you. Luckily, Boston Pizza has heart shaped pizzas during Valentine’s Day and Cold Stone Creamery has heart shaped ice cream cakes, among other love inspired treats.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time and make your special someone feel loved. It only cost Brad a sheet of construction paper one year.

HE SAID:

Our first Valentine’s Day together was just short of a disaster. The expensive restaurant gave us panic attacks, the gift I gave her was a dud in the long term (though she was excited when she opened it), and my wallet was screaming for mercy. Lesson learned. Since then we’ve decided to do one of two things.

1. Celebrate Valentine’s Day the weekend before or after February 14th. The flowers are WAY cheaper, the restaurants aren’t insanely full, and we both enjoy ourselves much more.
2. Throw the typical things you’re supposed to do out the window and just make Valentine’s Day whatever we want it to be.

This year we went with the second option. It was very low key and inexpensive, which was great. We had just come back from vacation so we weren’t looking to spend a lot more money. The idea was this: take all the things people usually do on the big day, and do it DIY style.

Dinner at a fancy restaurant = make dinner together

Giving a box of chocolates = make our own chocolates

Spend $50 to go to the theatre = watch a movie at home

You get the idea.

Making dinner together was interesting. We have an incredibly small kitchen, so it isn’t conducive to more than one person at a time. We made it work though, and our heart shaped pizza turned out great. We also included Himmery (our cat) in the festivities by giving him some wet food, which he loves. For dessert we made homemade (giant) Hershey Kisses. They were really easy, which is obvious since I helped make them, and they tasted great. My only complaint about making dinner together was that I felt like I was in the way more than I was helping. Susan can make an awesome homemade pizza in her sleep, so throwing me into the mix didn’t make her life any easier. We made it work though.

One thing we do a little differently on Valentine’s Day is we make sure it’s not just about one of us. Yes, I make an effort to make Susan feel extra special on that day, but she doesn’t leave me out in the cold. She usually buys me a little gift, and we both have a hand in choosing what we do each year. I think it really helps keep it fun for both of us.

In the end it doesn’t matter what you do for Valentine’s Day, as long as you and the person you’re with have fun. If going all out and spending a ton of money is your thing, go for it. If not, there is no shame in enjoying an inexpensive evening at home.

Finally, if you haven’t entered our Valentine’s Day Giveaway, check it out and enter before the deadline.

Update – We have a winner!

Thank you for all the entries and wonderful comments for this giveaway. We’ve really enjoyed reading all your stories about your best & worst Valentine’s Day.

The randomly chosen winner is (drumroll please….) @Toaster4JC!

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to enter the giveaway and we hope you continue to enjoy Things To Do For Two.

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With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, we thought it would be fun to do another giveaway. We realize that a lot of people have strong opinions on Valentine’s Day. Some people hate it, some people love it, some people think it is just an excuse for Hallmark to suck money out of our wallets. Regardless, we think you’ll enjoy this giveaway. It’s a gift basket full of coffee related goodness from the good people at Perks Coffee. It includes a travel mug, a t-shirt, a few different types of coffee, some Gold and Specialty Club cards, some heart shaped chocolates, and more.

If you’re looking for a nice gift to give on Valentine’s Day for that coffee lover in your life, this fits the bill nicely. Or if you prefer, you can keep it all for yourself. We won’t judge you.

Here are the details of the giveaway

The Prize: 1 Gift Basket courtesy of Perks Coffee

How to Enter:

1) Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/thingstodofor2 and send out a tweet that says (without the quotes):

“Win a Valentine’s Day gift basket from @thingstodofor2 and Perks Coffee. Pls RT. Details here: http://bit.ly/chjWAX”

2) Leave a comment on this post telling us about your best or your worst Valentine’s Day experience.

You can enter the giveaway through Twitter or by leaving a comment, or you can do both and get two entries. If you do both, please include your Twitter name in your comment so we can keep track of everything.

Fine Print: Contest closes Thursday, February 11th at 2pm ADT and is open to Canadian and U.S. readers. If you are chosen as a winner we will message you to find out your shipping address. You then have 72 hours to respond to our message.

For our first anniversary, we tried to give each other gifts in keeping with the traditional gift giving guide. Since your first year anniversary gift is supposed to be related to paper somehow, Brad made me a photo book from Apple of our first year together. It had pictures of our wedding, of course, but also different places we went and all of our “firsts” like Christmas, Valentine’s, etc.

Since everything is digital now, we’re less apt to take pictures off of the computer, get them printed and then put them in a photo album (seriously, when did people have time for that?). The great thing about photo books is their simplicity. All you basically have to do is upload your photos and wait for it to arrive in the mail.

As you know, we just came home from our winter escape from Florida. Coming home from trips can sometimes be a downer, especially when you go from bikini weather to parka weather. A fun way to relive all of the fun memories while you were away is to spend an evening together documenting it all. We put on a pot of tea we purchased from Disney World and created a timeline of our trip together. It was a nice way to transition from vacation euphoria to reality.

Photo books are a great gift to give and receive. You can have a lot of fun creating story lines to go along with your pictures and they look a whole lot better on a coffee table or shelf than those massive binders with plastic inserts.

HE SAID:

One of my favourite things to do when I visit my grandparents is to look through old photo albums. I like the ones that have pictures of things I remember as a kid, but I especially enjoy the really old black and white ones that give me a glimpse of my family’s history. After I’ve gone through a heavy pile of photo albums, I realize that it is far from a perfect system for storing pictures. The plastic pages stick together, the pictures are sometimes falling out of the slots, and all of the newspaper clippings and other random things being kept in the book make it quite difficult to browse the photos.

The best solution to the problem that I’ve found (unless you want to spend a small fortune on an iPad to look through your photos) is photo books where the pictures are actually printed on to the pages in the book. I used Apple’s service when I created one for Susan, but there are plenty of options out there. For Mac users, it’s as simple as opening iPhoto, selecting the photos you want included in your book, click on the book button in the menu at the bottom of iPhoto, then you just pick a template and fill it with photos. It’s very easy.

The prices for the books range from $5.00 to $50.00 depending on if you choose hard or soft cover, and the size of the book. The one I made Susan for our first anniversary was a large hard cover book, so it only cost about $30.00. The quality ended up being great. The hard cover was nice, and the photos (which were taken with our aging point and shoot camera) looked quite nice printed on the glossy paper.

Even if you don’t have a paper anniversary coming up, a photo book would make a great Valentine’s Day gift. It takes thought and effort to pick out all the photos and arrange them nicely. It’s a great way to share or relive fun memories.

For those of you who won’t be using iPhoto to make your photo book, don’t despair. There are plenty of options online to choose from. Check out these links and see which one works best for you. Black’s, Better Homes and Gardens, Costco, Carsand Mosher

Winter Escape from Things To Do For Two on Vimeo.

The first time I went to Disney World I was 21 and it was awesome. Back then I thought it might be a little disappointing for a girl in her 20’s since Disney is so geared towards kids, but I was wrong. It was everything I had been promised – beautiful grounds and buildings, fun rides and great fireworks to cap off the day (I think I may have stopped breathing the first time I saw Tinkerbell float out over the castle during the fireworks).

For our second trip to Disney we decided to visit two parks in one day: Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We weren’t obsessed with seeing everything since we had already been there, so we got a map at the front gates and plotted out our top destinations. If it’s your first time to Disney and you want to see everything but don’t want to kill yourself doing it, you’ll need two days in each park, especially the Magic Kingdom. Here’s a run down of the highlights and lowlights of each park for me:

Animal Kingdom

Highlights

• Kilimanjaro Safari – Though corny at times with the tour guide’s attempts to make you believe you are hunting for poachers, nothing gets old for me about seeing massive animals twenty feet away with no barricade in between.
• Affection Section – This will probably go on Brad’s lowlights list, but I had so much fun here! You get to go in an area with sheep and goats and brush them to your heart’s content. There’s something about goats that make me giggle inside. They seem insane and ready to head butt you while at the same time so tolerant and gentle.

Lowlights

• Expedition Everest – Some may be surprised that this roller coaster is on my bad list, but it was terrifying. I went in thinking it might be a little more intense than Thunder Mountain, but I should have done my research and thus avoided a really sore neck and back for two days. It dropped and whizzed around corners in the dark too fast, leaving my head feeling like it was literally going to pop off. Roller coaster enthusiasts will probably love this, but it is a thumbs down for me.

Magic Kingdom

Highlights

• Thunder Mountain – This roller coaster is pretty tame and I love it. There are no huge drops, you don’t go upside down, and your aren’t sucked backwards.
• Astro Orbiter – Brad warned me that this ride might be boring, but I thought it was fun. You get to get in your own little space ship and you can control how high or low you go.
• Mad Tea Party – aka “the tea cup ride”. We both felt like weirdos standing in line for a ride with a bunch of little girls dressed up as princesses, but it was a lot of fun! There’s a wheel in the middle that you can use to control how much you spin, which Brad whipped into overdrive and sent my brain flopping. It’s like a tilt a whirl and scrambler ride in one.
• Fireworks Spectacular – No one does fireworks like Disney. It’s all synced to music and lasts for at least ten minutes. A great way to end the day.

Lowlights

• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – Going to a show can be a great way to burn some time while you’re waiting for your Fast Pass time to become active, but this one had me on edge. It’s very audience interactive and you never know when the camera is going to focus on you and a man is going to run up to you with a microphone.
• Haunted Mansion – I imagine this would scare the snot out of little kids (and it did for one kid in our group who exited early) but I found it boring. The beginning is the scariest, where they put you in a room and make you think something’s going to jump out at you, but it slowly goes downhill and fizzles out from there. It’s basically a ride through the dark looking at robotic fake corpses and ghosts.

Five years later, Disney is still pretty amazing, but some of the magic has worn off. It’s not like Disney has fallen on hard economic times or anything like that. The paint on the castle is not peeling off and the streets are still as pristine and clean as they ever were, but the second time around the mystery goes away.

If you’ve already been to Disney World and don’t want your second trip to leave you feeling empty, try some of the following suggestions:

• Disney scavenger hunt – see who can be the first to find trash on the street, get Cinderella’s signature, and ride a roller coaster the most. Make your own list of obscure items and have fun.
• Photo tour documenting a different angle on Disney
• Fancy Date – dress to the nines and have a Disney date. Stroll down Main Street in a tux and gown, go on a few select rides, dine at one of the more high end restaurants (or not) and finish off your date with the fireworks.

HE SAID:

While this was Susan’s second time at the Magic Kingdom, it was my fourth. I was lucky enough to be able to go two times when I was younger, and once before with Susan and my family. Though I didn’t go into it worried that the fun would wear off, we did do things a little differently than when I went with the whole family.

First, I’ll quickly give you my favourite and least favourite things in both the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom:

Animal Kingdom

Highlights:

• The Safari – They do an amazing job of making you feel like you’re being driven across the plains of Africa. Though some of the animals were in hiding this time due to the chilly weather, it was still great fun.

Lowlights:

A toss up between Expedition Everest & the Affection Section.

• Expedition Everest completely took me by surprise. It was incredibly intense. I’m not necessarily against intense roller coasters, but I found hurtling backwards around twists and turns in the dark to be very unenjoyable. I know it makes me sound old, but I had a sore back for days afterwards.
• As for the Affection Section, I knew it wouldn’t be up my alley right from the get go. You literally walk around the equivalent of a giant goat litter box and brush them. No thanks.

Magic Kingdom

Highlights:

• Thunder Mountain – A roller coaster that doesn’t try to murder you
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – I know this one is meant for kids, but I have so much fun every time I go on it. Words cannot explain how excited I get waiting in line for this one.

• My favourite thing at Magic Kingdom that wasn’t a ride, was a barbershop quartet that was singing on Main Street as we entered the theme park. They were fantastic, not only in their singing ability, but they played to the crowd really well.

Lowlights:

• My biggest disappointment was that some rides were temporarily shut down. This is common in January, since it’s not the most popular time to go. I was really looking forward to Splash Mountain, but it was out of commission.
• There were a few rides that I really only went on for tradition’s sake. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride is kind of lame, with it’s dated robotic pirates, but I can still remember being terrified as a kid when I thought I might actually get hit by the cannon balls being “shot” at our boat. I can’t go to the Magic Kingdom without going on this. The other one was the Jungle Cruise. The first time I saw the animatronic animals on the Jungle Cruise as a kid, I honestly thought they might be real. Now I prefer the real thing over at Animal Kingdom, but again, it’s one of those things I have to do when I’m at Disney. This time there was a little extra excitement when our Jungle Cruise boat got stuck inside the temple because the boat in front of us broke down. Good times.

Disney is definitely geared towards families, and specifically children. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun as a couple though. I enjoyed going to Disney as just the two of us because we could do everything at our own pace. We took lots of breaks and enjoyed the day instead of walking non-stop for 12 hours and covering our feet in blisters.

We found certain rides were especially great for couples. The Mad Tea Party was perfect for two because you can take turns turning the wheel that makes your tea cup spin. The Buzz Lightyear ride is fun for couples because they only put two people in each “cart” and you ride through these rooms and shoot things with your laser gun. There is a scoreboard on each gun so that it’s easy to see who hit more targets. Not only that, but there is a joystick in the centre of the cart that you can use you turn in any direction. This can be used to help yourself get points as well as to keep your partner from winning.

Overall we both had a great time at Disney. Though we don’t see it in the same magical light as a child, we found ways to make it fun. My biggest piece of advice is don’t feel pressured to see every single attraction. That applies to any theme park, but especially to Disney. Make the day about having fun, regardless of what you do.

FOR THE LOCALS:

Florida residents can now get a 4-Day Dream Pass for only $99! That’s a little more than the price for only one day! The catch? Offer ends May 25, 2010.