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  • May 22, 2020|

Date Night Ideas for Parents to Enjoy After the Kids Are In Bed

After dinner is cleaned up, the kids are in bed and the dishes are done, what do you and your spouse do at night? Do you binge watch Netflix together or move to opposite sides of the house to do your own thing? Or do you look for ways to connect and have fun together? Have you ever considered planning a mid-week date? I wanted to provide you with some great date night ideas for parents, to get you started!
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  • May 20, 2020|

Tips for Making Date Night At Home More Intentional

"How do you make date night at home feel different than every other night at home?" This is a question that I get on a fairly regular basis. It's something that people are really curious about right now, as our only option for date night has been at home or nothing. So I wanted to share some tips to help you make your time at home together more intentional!
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  • May 18, 2020|

Tips for Adjusting Your Date Night Routine in New Stages of Life

When you set date night and your marriage aside, it might not seem like a big deal, but long-term there will be consequences. Putting your marriage on the back burner leads to a weakened connection. You'll drift apart and although you might still be great partners in some areas of life, you'll be more like roommates than husband and wife. Regular date night is just one of the things you can do to keep your marriage strong throughout every stage of life.
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  • May 15, 2020|

3 Gourmet Paper Bag Popcorns – Date Night in the Kitchen

We didn't need a movie theater or overpriced popcorn to have an enjoyable movie night. We simply needed a couch, a DVD player, and a little bit of forethought. And though we sometimes miss the giant bucket of buttery movie theater popcorn, we've found alternatives that we love even more that really jazz up the night. And what's better is, that they're fun to make together beforehand. If you've got a nearby Winco or local grocery store with a great dry goods section, have some fun shopping there together and come up with your own ideas for great add-ins!
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  • May 13, 2020|

Movies You’ll Both Enjoy Watching Together for Date Night

The first couple years of our marriage, our obstacle was always what we movies we should watch for date night. I prefer romantic comedies and Joe prefers action or the type of comedy that you find in Adam Sandler movies. Now, rather than suffering through each other's movie choice, we've found movies that we both can enjoy watching together. If you're one of those couples who sometimes struggles to find something that you'll both have fun watching, I hope you'll find something on this list that you both like!
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  • May 11, 2020|

Connect More on Your Next Movie Date Night

Because of the limited opportunity for deep connection, it makes sense to me to say that even after you're married, you should avoid making every date night a movie night. That being said, when you do choose to watch a movie together or pick that for your date night activity, I have a few ideas for how you can make those dates benefit your marriage relationship a little bit more.
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  • May 6, 2020|

5 Things to do if Your Date Night Plans Fall Through

My husband and I have been together for nine and a half years. During that time, we've planned and been out on some really fun dates. But we've also had a lot of date night plans we were really looking forward to fall through. I really dislike those times when our dates don't look like I wanted them to. But over the years, I've learned some things that have helped us move forward and still make date night a priority!
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  • May 4, 2020|

5 Ways to Get Your Spouse Excited About Date Night

Something that I hear a lot from spouses is that their spouse doesn't like date night. These people obviously value date night, and want their spouse to as well. Regardless of the reason your spouse might be avoiding date night. It can feel really personal to you, the spouse who wants nothing more than to go on a date. The solutions listed below won't solve every date night obstacle in your marriage. But I hope that they will get you started in the right direction. And I hope it will get you on the same page about the quality time you spend together.
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  • May 1, 2020|

Why You Need to Make Date Night a Priority in Your Marriage

From the day you met each other until the day you got married, date night and quality one-on-one time together was most likely a priority for both of you. Those date nights helped your relationship grow and develop and led up to the day that you started your life together as husband and wife! 
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  • April 27, 2020|

A Letter to Those Who Are Still Waiting for the Love of Their Life

To my single friends, It might seem silly to write you a letter here. This website is dedicated to helping married couples make their marriage a priority after all. But I know you're here too! Some of you have sent emails or messages on social media. You tell me that you're not married yet, and some of you are not even close. But when that day comes, you want to be ready to have the greatest marriage possible! And that's why you're here
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  • April 24, 2020|

Fruited Chicken and Rice Skillet

This was always one of my favorite meals growing up. It's a fruity twist on the classic Chicken Stir-Fry that everyone loves so much, has a lot of flavor and is really delicious. I'm not sure why, but I'd never made it for Joe, so I threw it on our meal plan last week and he really liked it! It's probably not a super low carb meal for me with the rice, orange juice and fruit, but I ate mostly chicken and green peppers with just a little bit of rice and fruit so I could still enjoy the meal.
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  • April 22, 2020|

How Having a Set Bedtime Could Benefit Your Marriage

First question, do you and your spouse go to bed at the same time? Second question, do you have a set bedtime? And last question, would you like to know how you can use bedtime to connect with your spouse and strengthen your marriage? Research has shown that 75% of couples are not going to bed at the same time. Maybe you're one of those couples, but why should you care? Having a shared bedtime routine can actually have a lot of benefits to your marriage.
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  • April 20, 2020|

Simple Ways to Make Your Marriage a Priority Every Day

When I start talking about making your marriage a priority, people's minds generally jump to the big things. Date nights, overnight getaways and big romantic gestures are all great. But making your marriage a priority is about the small things you do daily, more than those grand gestures. So what are those small things that make the biggest difference? This post includes lots of simple ways to make your spouse a priority! There are so many more things you can do, but I hoped these ideas would get you started.
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  • April 17, 2020|

15 Gifts Your Wife Wants for Mother’s Day

This year, to take a little bit of the pressure off my husband for mother’s day, I decided to put together a list of things that I would enjoy being given for Mother's Day. Husbands, if you're struggling with ideas for what to give your wife, show her this post and ask what her thoughts are. Wives, if your husband is like mine and thinks too big, stressing himself out, share this list with him and maybe even give him an order of preference. The items below are in no particular order for myself, but I'd enjoy receiving any of them, so my husband should be safe!
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  • April 15, 2020|

9 Creative and Meaningful Wedding Gift Ideas

Wedding season is coming up and that means bridal showers and bachelorette parties are coming up too! I don’t have quite as many of those to attend now that most of my friends are married, but I still have one or two that I go to each year. When I was in the thick of attending a lot each year, I was always searching for ways to make my gifts for the occasion more meaningful. I always purchase something from the gift registry, because I know how appreciated it is, but I also like to add my own touch.
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  • April 13, 2020|

Dear Newlyweds – Marriage Advice for Newlyweds

Congratulations on your recent marriage! I sincerely wish you all the best! As you begin your new life together, there are a few things that I thought you should know. I'm sure you received A LOT of marriage advice on your wedding day. And I'm sure by now you've realized that some of that advice is really helpful and some is not actually realistic. As I've been thinking about our marriage journey so far, I've come up with a few words of wisdom of my own.
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  • April 8, 2020|

Four Financial Discussions to Have with Your Partner Before You’re Married

I came up with a few money topics that I think made a big difference for us as we transitioned from being single and independent to getting married and becoming a team. There is obviously a lot more to be discussed before the big day. But these are a few of the things that I think cause the most stress or contention in your relationship if you aren't on the same page from day one of your marriage, and even earlier if possible! Talk about your money before your wedding day, you won't regret it.
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  • March 25, 2020|

The Secret to Success with The 5 Love Languages

Knowing how to speak your spouse's love language can help you make a conscious effort to show them that you care. However, there's one important thing about speaking your spouse's love language that I think people tend to forget. This one thing is the secret to success with The 5 Love Languages.
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  • March 13, 2020|

Dating Your Spouse When You Can’t Leave the House

If you are like us, trying to avoid COVID-19 and canceling any plans that would take you to public places, you might think that date night is out of the question. I'm prepared with a lot of fun at home date night ideas! This is what I've been training for, and I'm excited to have fun at home together while we can't go out!
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  • March 11, 2020|

Viewing Debt as ‘Ours’ vs. ‘Mine’ and ‘Yours’ in Marriage

I hear about so many couples combining their finances when they get married but keeping their debts separate. If you share the same goals for what you want to spend your money on and what you are saving up to do in the future, but you are divided on getting rid of the payments that are keeping you from reaching those goals faster, it will divide the two of you as a couple as well.
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  • March 2, 2020|

Why You Should Combine Your Finances with Your Spouse’s

After my husband and I got married, one of the first things on our to do list was to combine our bank accounts. This was something that we knew we would do, without even having to talk about it. I know a lot of couples combine finances in marriage. And others choose to keep them separate.
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  • February 27, 2020|

Why I Love the Lingerie Shopping Experience that Mentionables Provides

A few years ago, I heard about Mentionables and after perusing their website, I decided that I would make my first purchase as a 30th birthday gift to myself. I ordered that gift, and based on the number of Mentionables pieces in my closet now, I made an average of one purchase per month for the entire year following.
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  • February 24, 2020|

Why You Should Continue to Purchase Lingerie in Every Stage of Marriage

If you think that owning lingerie is pointless (it’s only on for a few seconds after all, right?) or not something that you should buy until you’ve reached a certain weight loss goal or stop having kids, think again. No matter what your excuse is, I will tell you that you should buy lingerie that fits you and that you love in your current stage of life.
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  • February 20, 2020|

Seven Things we Pack for Every Overnight Date

I tend to be an over packer, making sure that we have whatever we might need for every situation we might encounter. By sticking to the basics, I’ve been able to pack light and stick to our goal. Obviously, if we were to get away for more than a few days, we’d need to get more suitcases and pack more, but this list works well for us in our current stage of life and for the getaways that we take on a regular basis.
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  • February 19, 2020|

What We Look for in our Romantic Overnight Date Accommodations

We’ve gone on a lot of romantic overnight getaways over the years and we always return to Anniversary Inn. I tell everyone that it’s our favorite and that they should stay there at least once because I know that once they’ve stayed there for a night, they’ll love it as much as we do. There are other romantic getaway locations we like but none of them hit everything on our checklist the way that Anniversary Inn does. Their mission is to provide couples with the perfect place to make their relationship a priority and rekindle the romance and we think that they’ve achieved that and continue to raise the bar with everything they do.
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