Alphabetical Date Nights

5 / 29 / 15

My husband and I hadn’t been married for very long when I realized that having a date night plan would be a good way to keep things fun, interesting, and unique. I love spending time with my guy; however, we found that we were doing the same thing every week and there were many places we had not visited and many experiences we weren’t having because there was nothing pushing us to do anything different. So I started looking for outside-the-box date night ideas to mix in with our regular date nights and this was the result!

What’s the big idea? Simply make a date night theme centered around a letter of the alphabet. Take the letter “B”, for example. You could make food that starts with the letter B, recipes that start with the letter B, go to a restaurant that starts with the letter B, go see a movie that starts with the letter B, do an activity that starts with the letter B, and the list goes on.

This is a great date night theme idea with endless possibilities that can work for anyone. Whether you are husband and wife, daddy and daughter, sisters, or friends, alphabetical dates are super-fun, super-personal, super-personalizable connecting times between you and whoever you are wanting to spend time with. They make wonderful memories, and some of my favorite date nights with my hubby have been alphabetical date nights.

We’ve created a free Alphabetical Date Nights Printable for your use in planning your dates! Print it off and get busy thinking of fun and unique ideas for you and your special someone to do together. Remember that these evenings don’t have to be expensive, and they can even be free things to do at home. You can be specific with the names of restaurants and movies (KD’s and the Karate Kid) or super creative (Applewood Bacon Sandwiches & Athletic Video Games). Here are a list of some ideas for every letter of the alphabet to get you started, ranging from activities to food…

A~ Art (have an artsy date, make art, or go to an Art Gallery or Art Museum), Appetizer Date (go to a couple or several restaurants and just have appetizers), Aquarium, Arboretum, Auto Show, Amphitheater (outdoor theater), Antiquing, Air Show, Arcade, Australian Cuisine, Asian Cuisine, Apple Pie (bake it and/or eat it together)
B~ Basketball, Baseball, Bird Watching, Bowling, Biking, Boat Rides, Board Games, Books (read books, buy books, go to a library or bookstore), Breakfast, BBQ, Bacon, Brazilian Steakhouse
C~ Camping, Concert, Cinema, Circus, Carriage Ride, Comedy, Cooking (at home or a class), Cajun, Chinese, Coffee, Cheese, Cheesecake
D~ Dancing (lessons, if need be), Drive-In Movie, Driving Range, Dodgeball, Downtown Date, Dress Up Night (at home or out), Dog Show, Diving (sky or sea), Duck (hunting or eating), Dinner, Deviled Eggs, Donuts (make them or buy them)
E~ Ebay, Early Bird Date (watch the sunrise and have breakfast together), Escape Game (popular game in which you get locked in a room with an hour to figure out the clues), Elephant Rides, European Cuisine, Eggs, Eggplant, Egg Rolls, Espresso, Earl Gray Tea, English Breakfast (look it up if you don’t know what it is), Enchiladas
F~ Fun, Festival, Fitness, Football, Favorite Things (your favorite things to do together), Fireworks (go to a show or shoot them off somewhere yourself), Farmer’s Market, Food, Fish (eat them or catch them), Fondue, Fish & Chips, French Cuisine
G~ Golf, Games, Geocaching, Go Carts, Gift Shopping (go shopping for gifts for each other or people in your lives), Gardening, Grill (go to one or grill at home), German Cuisine, Greek Cuisine, Gumbo, Gingerbread, Gelatin
H~ Hockey, Hiking, Horse-back Riding, History (go to a museum, watch a documentary, read books, or go to the historical part of town and make a night of it), House Hunting (for fun, look at the expensive neighborhoods and dream together), Home Improvement, Helicopter Ride, Hawaiian Night, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Ham, Hummus
I~ Ice Skating, In-Line Skating, Improv (go watch improv- shows without a script), Impromptu (decide what to do as you go along), Interesting (pick something to do that looks interesting), Indulge (both of your bring in your favorite dishes!), Inspiration (watch movies or read a book that inspires), Intimacy, Italian Cuisine, Indian Cuisine, Irish Cuisine, Ice Cream
J~ Jigsaw Puzzle, Jammies, Jazz Lab, Jet Skiing, Jogging, Jenga, Jellyfish (at some places you can pet them), Japanese Cuisine, Jamaican Cuisine, Java, Jambalaya, Jams & Jellies (have fun and make some together)
K~ Karaoke, Kite Flying, Kayaking, Kick It Together (in other words, chill), Kangaroo (see them at the zoo or have some at select Australian restaurants), Kitchen Date (cook, bake, & eat together or decorate), Korean Cuisine, Kabobs/Kebabs (there are so many different kinds), King Crab, Kale, Keylime Pie, Kiwi
L~ Lake, Lounge, Lip-Sync Battle (who is better?), Lazy Date (do lazy things together), Live Music, Learn (go to a lecture, museum, or class together), Language (learn a new language together), Lunch, Lasagna, Lobster, Lamb, Lemonade
M~ Movies, Music, Massages, Mountains, Museum, Meat, Mexican Cuisine, Moroccan Cuisine, Macaroni & Cheese (make or find some gourmet mac n cheese), Mashed Potatoes, Mushrooms, Mini Desserts (make a sampler!)
N~ New Store, Night Walk (walk at night under the stars), Night Events (most downtowns have special evening events during the month), Nationality Themed Date (do & eat things your nationality is known for), Nature Walk, Novels (read together), Napping, New Cuisine (try a nation’s cuisine you haven’t had before), New Restaurant, Noodles, Nachos, Nuts
O~ Opera, Orchestra, Outdoor Date, Old-Fashioned Dinner (made from scratch), Outback Themed Date, Opening (of a show, movie, restaurant, store, etc.), Obstacle Course, Orchard (go to one), Organic Meal, Oatmeal, Omelette, Oyster
P~ Pinterest Date, Picnic, Pool (play the game or go to one), Playground (swinging side by side is very romantic), Park, Parasailing, Putt-Putt, Ping-Pong, Pampered Together Date, Pizza, Potatoes (make a meal out of baked potatoes with your favorite toppings), Pretzels
Q~ Questions (make a list of 20 fun questions to ask your spouse you don’t know the answers to), Quadruple Date (double the double date for double the fun!), Quilting, Quality Time (spend time doing something meaningful), Quantity Time Date (spend a whole day enjoying time together), Quick Date (meet for lunch during your lunch breaks), Query (mystery time- dinner, date, or movie!), Quaint (look for something unusual or old-fashioned for your home or to give away), Quotes (share your favorites), Quiche, Quesadillas, Quail
R~ Romantic Date, Reading, Rainy Day Activities, Rowing, Roller Skating, Roller Coasters, Road Trip, Race Track, Roof-Top Dinner, Russian Cuisine, Ribs, Roast
S~ Star Gazing, Skyline Dinner (most cities have restaurants with a lovely views of the skylines), Shooting Range, Sailing, Skiing, Swimming, Shopping, Scavenger Hunt, Sunset, Steak, Salad, Sandwiches (get fancy)
T~ Tennis, Tailgating, Train Ride, Treasure Hunt, Trampoline Park, Televison, Theater, Tent Date (make a little tent/fort in your living room and camp out for the night), Thai Food, Tex-Mex, Tacos, Tea
U~ University Play (student play), Unique Gifts (find or make a gift for your sweetie that shows them you know them), Ultimate Date Night (create your version of a no-holds-barred date night), Umbrella Themed Night (have a picnic under an umbrella, get little umbrellas for your drinks, etc.), Unplanned Date Night (put 10 ideas for dinner, 10 ideas for shopping, and 10 ideas for an activity in a hat and draw one for each as the night progresses), Ultra Fast Shopping (play your own version of grocery games), U & I Date Night (recreate your first date), Undercover Lovers (meet up somewhere, whether a restaurant, bookstore, etc., and act like you don’t know one another and “get to know” each other all over again), Ukrainian Cuisine, Upside Down Cake, Unagi (Japanese Eel), Ugli (try this fruit!)
V~ Volleyball, Vineyard, Ventriloquist Show, Visit a Local Tourist Attraction, Value Night (eat inexpensively, buy inexpensive surprises for one another, and write down 5 things you value about each other), Venture Out (to an unexplored area of your city, like Chinatown), View Search (find the prettiest view in your city), Vintage Date (recreate an old date), Variety Night (make dinner with appetizers, entrees, and desserts from different kinds of cuisines), Vietnamese Cuisine, Veal, Vanilla Ice Cream Sundaes
W~ Water Park, Wharf, Window Shopping, Walk, Wardrobe (each person gets one new item), Watercolors, Write (a story or poem together), Watch (a show, movie, or your Wedding video), Wine Tasting, Waterfront Restaurant, Waffles, Watermelon
X~ Exercising (go to a park you don’t usually go to or a lake in your area), Exotic Animal Zoo, Exhibits, Express Your Love (with a romantic evening out, complete with handwritten notes), Explore Your City (go to a popular restaurant or location you haven’t been to before), Expensive Taste (go to a fine restaurant), Expand Your Horizons (be audacious, try new things together, & talk about your dreams for the future), Extreme Date Night (go paragliding or zip-lining), Extra Special (show your boo how much you love them with the little things this date night), #Excited (go on a weekend trip to someplace special), Exceed Your Best (beat your fitness goals by walking farther than you have together before), Exclusive With You (spend a night alone together at home)
Y~ Yelp Date (find out the top rated things to do in your city and do them), Yard Sales, Yacht (have dinner on a yacht), Year Reflection (take some time to reflect on all the great things that have happened over your past year together), Yum! (look for new favorite sauces, drinks, or condiments), YouTube Date, Yours Truly (a sappy & romantic evening out), Yo-Yo Competition, Yellow Cake, Yogurt, Yams, Yucca Root
Z~ Zoo, Zip-lining, Zero Distractions (completely unplugged date night- no phones), Zapped (blow up an air mattress in the living room and have a movie marathon), Zero In (goal setting), Zany Date Night (get your geek on with brainy puzzle games), Zimbabwean Cuisine, Zesty Italian Dinner, Zucchini, Ziti, Zeppole (a pastry), Zwieback (bread/cracker)

One last quick tip- planning your date nights in advance will help get the most out of your time together. If you have a date every week, you will get through the alphabet twice in one year. However, you can always mix it up and do alphabetical date nights half the time, or even draw letters out of a jar to see what letter you are going to do that week. I plan our weekly date nights at the beginning of every month, and a typical month includes two “regular” dates and two alphabetical date nights. Have fun!

What are some of your Alphabetical Date Night ideas?

Luscious Locks Spritz

5 / 27 / 1510 / 29 / 15

Is your hair less than strong and vibrant? Maybe you just had a baby or your body is experiencing another kind of strain. Perhaps your hair just needs some lovin’? This little personal care recipe is for you.

I’ve used this consistently and I couldn’t be happier with my hair!

You may be able to get glass spray bottles at your local health food store, but if not this is perfect!

Looking for Cedarwood and Rosemary essential oils? Learn more on our Wellness page.

(Disclosure: Some links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links. As such, should you order through those links, we will receive a small commission off your purchase. Thank you for helping support this blog so that we are able to continue bringing you fresh content!)

Making Your Money Work For You

5 / 25 / 1510 / 29 / 15

How do you get your budget under control? Budgeting is a term that brings fear to the heart of many, but I actually really enjoy budgeting and it has been a mission of mine to make this task less tedious for those who don’t. Budgeting doesn’t have to be scary or uncomfortable, but it can feel that way when your money is in charge. Budgeting is all about making your money work for you.

Successful budgeting starts with a realistic budget. Here are three simple steps to a realistic budget:

Print out this free Monthly Budget printable and write down 10-12 categories of spending. I suggest categories such as Groceries, Household (supplies for the home, such as dryer sheets), Personal (such as toiletries), Gas (for the car), Home (decor), Misc (reoccuring charges, such as oil changes), Health, Fun Fund (such as eating out), Debt, Savings, Tithe (if you don’t directly take 10% off the top before allocating money, which I recommend), and Bills (all monthly bills). Additional categories that may be applicable to your situation include Business, Travel, and Date Night. Be exhaustive and include anything & everything you spend money on. Combine categories as is convenient for you. For example, Groceries is a category I use to cover food, household supplies, and toiletries since I buy them all together.
Next, add how much money you would realistically spend in every category for the month. Make sure you give a good amount- at least $100- to the Misc fund as this is the fund things come out of that might otherwise sneak up on you, such as your car tags, and you want to make sure you budget enough to cover those charges. Be sure to be very realistic when you do this. Add up the charges in your bank account or bank ledger, if need be, to give you a realistic idea of how much you spend per month in the different categories. Make sure to inflate each amount just a bit to give you some wiggle room. At this point, you should have your 10-12 categories lined out with the budgeted amounts next to them.
In the last column, with your total income written at the top, add up all the charges for that month and see how much you spent next to how much you budgeted to spend. You can find your End-of-Month total (income minus all spending) at the bottom. As the purpose of a budget is to allocate your money, you should not go over your amounts. If you do, you either haven’t budgeted enough for that category or you need to rethink your spending habits, but whichever you do is up to you. 😉

There are many great budgeting apps for your phone, as well, if you prefer to do this on your phone, tablet, or computer. All you need is your budget categories and the amounts allotted to each. The most important thing is for you to find a system that works for you to help you allocate your money.

Budgeting does not have to be hard. That being said, budgeting doesn’t happen by accident, and with a bit of work and time, your budget will become your friend and your money will start working for you.

If you are having a hard time getting your budget to match your income, or you just need some good, solid money advice in general, I recommend reading Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money.

Ready for the next level? Read about when to save, when to spend, & when to invest here.

The House That’s Always Clean

5 / 22 / 157 / 7 / 15

Two years ago I was a brand new mom. Sleep was scarce. I was still very much in postpartum recovery mode. Eating three meals a day was a pretty major accomplishment. I found myself in a place where I couldn’t remember the last time I had accomplished basic cleaning tasks (*gag!*) and my husband & I both stayed up incredibly late trying to restore some sort of order to our home. The thought of having a consistently clean home seemed almost unattainable. In desperation, I reached out to a few friends that I trusted and respected and asked for encouragement and help with many aspects of my new life as a mommy.

My friend Hope responded and gave a few suggestions that helped me greatly. One of the gems she shared was an idea to plan my cleaning schedule out over a full month. Honestly, at first that seemed a little odd, but when she explained that the goal – and result – was a house that was thoroughly cleaned every month, I was sold. (Make sure you check out her blog and her own suggestions for this method.)

Your steps to a house that’s always clean are surprisingly simple:

Print your schedule. Click to View Free Cleaning Schedule Printable
Make a list of the various tasks that you need to accomplish for you to feel like your house is clean. (Don’t get overwhelmed at this point… we’re about to make it easier!)
Go through your list and assign one of those to-dos to each day in the coming month. If there’s a day that you know tends to be busy (for example, Monday is my grocery shopping day) make it a catch up day or a rest day.

The result? You are guaranteed that your entire home will be cleaned during the month.

This has simplified life so much. No, my house isn’t flawless and no, I don’t accomplish every day’s cleaning job without fail, but it’s so much better than it used to be!

Leave a comment below and tell us one tip you’ve learned to help keep your home tidy.

We are pleased to announce the winner of our launch week giveaway! Emily H. will be receiving some adorable button earrings, curtesy of Yarn of Steele! Congratulations, Emily, and thank you all for your participation in celebrating the launch of Canvas & Table!

Meal Planning Made Simple

5 / 20 / 153 / 3 / 17

At the start of this year, I decided I needed a better meal planning system. As long as I planned over the weekend what was for dinner the next week, the mealtimes flowed smoothly. If that planning time got away from me, however, the next week became one night after another of eating too late simply because I didn’t have a solid plan in place. After all, how many of us have much time to devote to meal planning during the week if we missed our original planning time? Too often, missing that time ends up meaning the following week is filled with last minute meal choices, and last moment meal choices are rarely nutritious choices.

I got this idea by piecing together a few different methods I have seen and it has made life flow so much smoother when it comes to the meal planning department. Being successful in the the little things really does make one feel accomplished! So what’s this big idea? It’s actually quite easy…

Simply take a few moments at the beginning of the month and write down 10 meal ideas for breakfast, 10 meal ideas for lunch, and 20 meal ideas for dinner. (A great plus is that if you happen to be a bit late in doing this for the following month, you have last month’s list to fall back on and the system doesn’t break down.) Include on this list tried and true meals that aren’t difficult to fit into your schedule.

At the beginning of every week, take ideas from the breakfast, lunch, and dinner categories and fill them into the breakfast, lunch, and dinner spots of every day of the week. If you are like me, you’ll want to make note of the nights you know you will be eating out or celebrating special occasions, but that isn’t a must. Leftovers are a great lunch option the day after a home cooked dinner that yields a lot.

It’s that simple. If you follow this system, you will always have ideas for what to make for any given meal and you’ll always have a plan for the week.

To make this easier to make a part of your life, we have some free printables for you to use! (There is a note section on the side of the weekly plan for you to write down anything as fun as new meal ideas or as simple as needed items from the store.)

Monthly Meal Rotation Printable

Weekly Meal Plan Printable

What are some ways you stay on top of planning wholesome meals for your family?

An Introduction & A Giveaway

5 / 18 / 155 / 22 / 15

It’s here!

You know that feeling you get after waiting for a special event or vacation time to arrive or you see the realization of a dream? You anticipate. You plan carefully for months – maybe years. Then, after all the waiting, the day arrives. That’s where we are today!

A lot of excitement, preparation, and hard work are behind this project. Lots of fun, creativity, and honesty are ahead. All of this stems from a desire to love and serve. We want your life to be more simplified, be full of more joy, taste better, become more organized, and to have relationships that are growing stronger and deeper.

What can you expect here in the future?
You can look forward to all of the cool stuff like DIY projects and printables, tips for frugality, recipes (from crunchy to indulgent), organizational inspiration, and heart-to-hearts about family life, strengthening marriage, loving your children, and life in general as women.

Who’s behind this blog?
Two gals who have been friends for more than twenty years… We’re cousins. You can learn more about us on the About page.

How can I stay in the know?

Subscribe to the blog and get the latest and greatest in your inbox. (Look at the bottom of this page for the subscription box.)
“Like” us on Facebook.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
Pin your favorites on Pinterest.

How are we celebrating?
We’re celebrating by giving away some super cute button earrings from Yarn of Steele. Make sure you check out her Etsy shop and stay up with the latest and greatest on her Instagram feed (@yarnofsteele) Follow the instructions below for your chance to win. Winner will be announced on Friday.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Encouraging women to live life well.

Month: May 2015