Ah, fall. The end of humidity and the return of sweaters. The changing of the seasons has brought with it a few changes to our household. Brad decided to go back to school to become the world’s greatest librarian and spends countless hours scouring our bookshelves for items he can use to practice cataloguing.

Though life has become a little more chaotic, we are still stealing moments here and there to spend together and pretend we don’t have a care in the world. Are these moments new and refreshing? Not so much, which is why we haven’t really posted a lot lately. We assumed you didn’t care to hear that our most exciting date night in a while has consisted of going to buy blizzards at Dairy Queen or watching the latest episode of Modern Family. Though these “dates” have been exactly what we needed at the moment, they are not so worthy of a proper blog post. Am I wrong?

Even though we aren’t doing anything worthy of a blog post, we thought we would share with you a list of things we have done around this time of year in the past and things we hope to try in the future. If you have tried one of these already or plan on doing so in the future, let us know how it went/goes. If there’s a great date idea we’ve missed, we’d love to try your idea as well!

Fall Date Ideas

• Fall Photo Tour/ Scenic Drive – Try this one out before all the leaves are gone. Hop in the car with one of Second Cup’s or Starbucks’ fall drinks and enjoy the beauty of the season. If you’re a shutterbug, you can try creating a photo tour of your town. We were invited on a photo tour last year and it was so much fun to go explore areas of our province we’ve never seen before and we ended up getting some really great pictures out of it as well. Even though we live in Nova Scotia, we are embarrassed to admit that we have never taken the opportunity to drive the famous Cabot Trail. Maybe next year (fingers crossed).

• Fall Weekend Retreat – Fall is a great time to take advantage of discount hotel packages. Many hotels offer lower rates during the fall and winter months. One of our favourite getaway places in Nova Scotia is the Quarterdeck Beachside Villas. If you book 2 nights, you get the third night free – a great idea for long weekends (offer is good between October 25 and May 31st.)

• Get Physical – Those leaves are already coming down. Take a break from that monotonous workout DVD and get outside to burn some calories by raking leaves! Okay, we’ll admit this one isn’t high on our favorites list, but if you love the great outdoors and a good old fashioned jump in the leaves, you’ll probably enjoy this one.

• Hiking – another active option for those of you who like to fill your lungs with the fresh fall air. At the mid-point of your hike you could stop to enjoy a picnic. If you’re from Nova Scotia, you may wish to visit Explore Nova Scotia’s website, which lists the hundreds of trails Nova Scotia has to offer.

• Harvest Date – In both of our families there’s a strong tradition of pickling and preserving! Growing up my friends always knew when my parents were making beets and pickles because I would go to school reeking of vinegar. If pickling intimidates you, why not try an easier pursuit of pie making? Or, if that even frightens you, just go out and eat some pie! The point is to enjoy all of the great tastes of the harvest season.

• Football – Though I tend to not really appreciate all of the hours of entertainment football has to offer, I would like to try going to a live game. Check out your favorite university or professional team’s schedule and let us know if it’s any fun!

• Craft Fairs – get ready for the winter season and start your Christmas shopping early by attending one of the many craft fairs around town. The Annual Dartmouth Handcrafter’s Guild Christmas Craft Fair will be kicking off the fun next weekend (October 29-31) Visit their website for more information. Other notable craft fairs in the area include Christmas at the Forum and the NSDCC Designer Craft Show.

Halloween

• Pumpkin carving – an annual household favorite. Check our post from last year that includes surefire tips for a successful carving experience.

• Scary movie night – my feelings towards the horror genre of movies have not changed since last year’s post, but I will stand by my claim to try one per year. A friend recently suggested watching Psycho – any warnings before I indulge?

• Haunted house – if you’re into self-imposed heart attacks, maybe this experience is for you. Many towns have haunted houses set up for Halloween. If you’re a local, check out this website for Halloween events happening around the province: http://www.novascotia.com/halloween/en/home/default.aspx

• Host a costume party or murder mystery dinner – dressing up is probably the best part of Halloween, but it might be weird to just sit on the sofa in costume, so why not have your friends over to enjoy a costume party or murder mystery dinner. We have hosted neither of these, but I would love to try out a murder mystery some day.

• Daylight Savings Date – take advantage of the extra hour when the clocks get turned back to enjoy an extra hour of each other’s company. This year, daylight saving’s falls on Sunday, November 7th at 2am, so set your clocks back on Saturday night.

• New Year’s Plans – no, we haven’t jumped ahead and forgotten Christmas altogether, but if you enjoy eating out on New Year’s Eve, you may want to start thinking about reservations. Some restaurants are booking up fast so don’t miss out!

Hopefully these ideas will tide you over until our next post. In the meantime we hope you’re all enjoying the fall season and that you’re taking advantage of every minute we have until the snow begins to fall.

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.

If you’ve noticed we’ve been absent lately, it’s because we got the home renovations bug and have been covered in drywall dust and paint for the past couple of weeks. We’re still in the process of painting more rooms, but we thought we would share with you our experience should you want to try it out yourselves. Be warned, this type of activity can make or break you. Tread carefully.

SHE SAID:

I got to the point this summer where I was tired of the poor college student décor in our bedroom. You know what I’m talking about – the mismatched, old 70’s dressers straight from the dumpster complete with sticking drawer and old varnish smell. While our dressers have served us well, they needed a little reviving so we decided to refinish them instead of spending more money on brand spanking new ones. Sometimes I wish we had just gone to The Brick.

As the first day turned into evening and I had only sanded down 2 drawers I knew I was doomed. My hands have never felt closer to those of an 80-year-old arthritic woman’s than they did that day. Sweet heavens, rent a power sander if for some reason you want to attempt this after reading our experience.

Since we also wanted to replace the old hardware, we had to fill the existing holes with wood filler. I had no part in this, so it was quite easy for me! Although, when I think back I see Brad raging on the patio as he tries to slough off the hardened filler with his inadequate square of sandpaper.

If you can get yourself through the sanding process, the rest is quite fun and satisfying. Instead of staining, we decided to paint both of our dressers an espresso colour. We used a little foam roller, which worked quite nicely to achieve an even finish. It was very exciting to watch our old, decrepit furniture transform before our eyes into slightly less decrepit furniture.

Once the paint dried we measured the drawers for their new hardware and, voila, we were done! Okay, it wasn’t that easy. Actually, we were so sick and irritated by the end of it that we called in Brad’s mom for reinforcement, i.e. to help put on the handles. Admittedly, not our shining moment. Who knew you have to screw both sides of the handle on at the same time? Not I!

You would think after this tiring experience we would shy aware from any further home improvements, but we are currently in the middle of repainting my office. Home renovations are a ton of work and they make me feel like lighting a match, but in the end they are (usually) worth it.

HE SAID:

I have to admit right away that before this summer I had basically no experience with any kind of home renovation, no matter how small. Sure I helped paint my bedroom as a kid, but beyond that I was useless. Well, I’m happy to say that I have learned a few things over the past few weeks and I am officially slightly less useless.

When we first considered sprucing up our dressers, I naively thought that it would be done in a day, maybe two at the most. Wow, was I ever wrong. That said, most of the hold ups were due to my lack of experience with this sort of thing.

The problems began when I tried to fill the holes on the front of the dresser drawers left behind by the old hardware. I was moving pretty fast trying to get through the process quickly, not thinking about the fact that I was slopping on WAY too much wood filler on each hole. I assumed it would easily sand off and I’d be on my merry way. Not so much. For what seemed like an eternity, I spent my time hunched over dresser drawers, sanding, and sanding, and sanding some more. By the end I was starting to feel like Tom Hanks in Survivor when he tries to start a fire and ends up just slowly gliding two pieces of wood together.

Once the sanding was finally complete we painted everything, which was the easiest and most fun part of the whole process. Then came problem number two. I had drilling anxiety. After all that work sanding wood filler from the previous holes, I was terrified of drilling new holes for the new hardware. I was convinced I would make them uneven. Once reinforcements arrived, I got the hang of it.

In the end I really like how they turned out. Was it worth the effort to save the money by not buying new dressers? I think it was. If you had asked me that question right after we finished I would have said no. But now I can look at them and know that I was part of making them look the way they do. Also, we did save a lot of money. Buying new dressers would not be cheap. This only cost us around $150. So it was worth it, but I wouldn’t do it again unless I had to.

We’re currently knee deep in redoing our home offices. Mine is basically finished with a fresh coat of paint and some new blinds, but Susan’s is still in chaos. I think by the end of the summer we will be very pleased with the progress we’ve made. Our house (specifically upstairs) will no longer be a sea of beige!

If you’re a couple who are well versed in each other’s ways, you should try some simple DIY home renovations. If you’re a new couple who have yet to experience each other at their worst, run far far away from a project like this. We definitely had a few tense moments with each other while making our dressers look nice, so just be aware of that.

To avoid several trips to Home Depot here’s a list of some things you’ll need:

• sandpaper and/or a power sander (we used medium to coarse)
• a handy friend or relative
• paint
• foam rollers
• paint tray
• drop cloth (or old bed sheet or newspapers)
• hardware
• wood filler (if adding new holes to replace old hardware)
• electric screwdriver

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:

Now that the spring weather is upon us and summer is just around the corner, the season of road trips has begun! Brad would try to convince you that any season is fair game for a road trip, but I do not share in his zeal for navigating unfamiliar, snow covered highways in the dead of night. So call me a bad wife.

There are many ways to go about a road trip:

On a Whim – This is not for the faint of heart! No organization is required. In fact, it’s discouraged. Once inspiration hits, just grab your purse and go! I have never mustered up the courage to try this type, but I know Brad is bursting at the seams to try it with me, as most of his “before Susan” road trips were of this variety.

Day Trip – As the name implies, this road trip takes you as far as you can go in the run of a day. These types are especially good if you don’t have the cash to spend on accommodations or the time to commit to a long haul.

Surprise – Surprise your special someone with a getaway! Disguise it as a trip to the grocery store, mall, or in-laws, but the point is that you keep driving to whatever treat you have in store. Keep in mind that this option only works well if you don’t have to cross any borders.

Destination – This is my favourite type of road trip as it involves planning! If you followed our Winter Escape, you know I love to make lists and check them twice and this type of road trip lends itself quite well to that obsession. Other than picking a particular place to visit, you could base your destination on a concert or festival you’d love to see. We did this a couple of years ago when we went to see John Mayer in Mansfield, MA. And now let me pause and just say if you ever have the opportunity to see John Mayer in concert, go! Say what you will about the man’s personal life, but he knows how to play his guitar and put on a good show. Other than getting engaged, this was by far the best birthday present Brad ever gave me. We didn’t have a ton of cash so we made it a weekend trip with friends and had a really great time.

Roads trips are lovely because they can be as simple or elaborate as you please. Other than our very first road trip (aka our honeymoon) all of our road trip experiences have been positive. Of course, there are moments in any road trip (usually on the way home) when the last 3 hours feel like 3 days and you never want to see the inside of another convenience store washroom ever again. Speaking of creepy gas station washrooms, beware of the one on Rte. 9 in Maine. I have no idea where we were (other than Maine), but I do remember being told to “follow the yellow line” to the washroom. It was literally a line painted on the floor that led from the store into the garage where it weaved around cars and tools until you eventually reached the little closet that contained Maine’s scariest washroom. I only wish I had taken a picture. Don’t let stories like that deter you, though. It’s all part of the fun to look back on.

I would recommend a road trip to anyone at any point in their relationship. They are great for spending quality time with the one you love and give you that sense of adventure we all crave from time to time.

HE SAID:

Some of my fondest memories of good times with good friends are built on road trips. There was the time me and a friend drove to Toronto. We left my parent’s driveway on Friday night, arrived late Saturday afternoon, and began the journey home around noon on Sunday. Then there was the time me and that same friend drove down to Washington, D.C. and back during a massive winter storm. (Side Note – The police do not like it when you pull your car to the side of the road and cook up dinner on a Coleman stove beside the car. Also, crossing the border in the middle of the night to go to Washington, D.C. “for fun” is not a good thing in the eyes of the authorities. Who knew?)

I thought all of that experience would come in handy when we decided to go to Ontario for our honeymoon. As usual, I was just as excited for the drive as I was for the destination. I was so confident that Susan would love the big city of Toronto, and the beautiful scenery of Niagara Falls. If only I knew then what I know now. I had one thing right, she did love Niagara Falls. The rest, not…so…much.

Let’s not dwell on the bad experiences though. Since then we’ve hit the road a few times and have had a lot of fun. We have travelled alone and with friends, both with great success.

I have learned a few tips over the years that might be helpful to you if you are planning a road trip in the near future:

• Before you start the car, decide who will be the navigator and who will be the driver. Since Susan isn’t a big fan of hitting a highway with more than three lanes, I’m usually the driver. Plus, she’s a much better navigator than I will ever be.
• This one is for the fellas. If your girlfriend/wife/friend wants to stop and stretch/eat/shop/whatever the heck else she might want to do, make it happen. On road trips in the past, my friend and I would drive for days, only stopping for fuel or food. Susan does not share the same zeal for non-stop driving. Lesson learned.

Road trips can be a lot of fun, and since we’ve learned a few lessons about each other, we look forward to hitting the road again soon. If you have any scary, funny, or otherwise entertaining stories about going on the road, let us know in the comments. If you can beat Susan’s “Yellow Lined Bathroom” story, feel free to share it with us.

If you have the itch to travel the world but your bank account won’t allow it, a destination date might be just what the doctor ordered. The idea is simple, everything you do on the date has to relate to a particular country you would like to visit. For our first destination date we chose Italy.

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SHE SAID:

Since creating our vacation box, I’ve been dreaming about ridiculously expensive trips to places like Italy, England, France, and Belarus. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the idea. Since my dreams cannot be realized just yet, I thought it might be fun to pretend a bit more and further delude reality by bringing those places home. Say what? Since we can’t go to any of those fancy destinations just yet, we thought we’d have a night devoted to the food and entertainment from one of our top dream destinations.

One of the hardest parts with this whole date was deciding on a destination that had both appealing food and entertainment, in our case, a movie set in Italy. Though we hope our next destination to be England, the food from Italy trumped the Queen’s and we rushed to the bookstore for more Italian food inspiration, which we thought would be an easy task. Not so, my friends, not so. It turns out Italian food is more than just pasta dishes and even those can be quite complicated when venturing beyond your standard spaghetti and meatballs. We eventually did end up finding one tortellini dish we thought we might enjoy and headed to the grocery store, where Brad almost lost the list of required ingredients. Gulp.

One thing this date does require is preparation, but don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try. You can shave off an enormous amount of time by simply ordering in Chinese or going out for sushi. If you can’t seem to find appealing forms of food and entertainment for one country, you could do an “around the world” approach that touches on several different destinations.

After we had stuffed ourselves with 5 varieties of cheese to the point of indigestion we switched to one of our favourite forms of entertainment, the movie. After reading about Only You over at Paula Jane’s ever entertaining and equally informative Best in Romantic Comedies blog, I knew that would be the perfect compliment to the evening and I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t think Brad felt like gouging his eyes out either.

HE SAID:

My favourite date ideas tend to be ones that put a twist on a typical date and are inexpensive. The destination date fits both of those requirements. I loved the idea right from the get go because there are so many possible things to do to have a fun time.

For our first destination date we chose Italy. This was largely because the night was going to revolve around a meal. Although making the meal wasn’t too difficult, choosing which dish to make proved to be a little more work than was expected. In our Indoor Picnic post, we warned against waiting until you are hungry before beginning food preparation on a date. Though we didn’t exactly wait until we were hungry, it took so long for us to decide what to make, get the groceries, and prepare the meal, that we were on the brink of disaster by the time it all came together. If you want to make your destination date easier, you could always order in from your favourite international restaurant, but we enjoy the challenge of making a new dish.

Because the meal took so long, we didn’t spend the time decorating the living room to conjure up thoughts of vacationing in Italy. However, I took a few minutes and made some mini Italian flags to put in our dinner. If you do a destination date though, feel free to decorate your house based on the country you choose.

We chose to do a destination date by having dinner and watching a movie. If that’s not up your alley, feel free to try other activities. You could play a sport that is popular in a certain country, an art form that derived from your destination of choice, or try to find new and interesting music from another part of the world. The point is to bring the culture of that country to your own home for much less money than it would take to travel.

I really enjoyed our destination date. We’ll definitely be doing it again with a different country because there are so many fun options for things to do. If you dream of travelling the world but don’t have the cash to do it, I would definitely recommend you try a destination date. If you try it, let us know how it goes. We’re always interested in hearing about your experiences.