ABCs Of Dating

Tim and I have been going on weekly date nights for a couple of years. Not a lot of thought goes into these outings. Occasionally we'll decide to try some place new for dinner or check out the latest movie release, but mostly, we're quite boring and predictable. After the "Where do you want to eat?" question is posed by one of us and the other says "I don't know" or "It doesn't matter", we end up at one of our usual favorite eateries: Chuy's, Stout's, Local Taco, or Carrabba's. Then we walk around Target, Barnes and Noble, or TJ Maxx for an hour before hitting up Jeni's for ice cream. These dates are fine, but several months ago, I started feeling like we needed a boost to our repertoire. I wanted more than just okay (Switchfoot reference). Like so many of us women do, I perused Pinterest for ideas. Then, I was reminded of a series of Instagram posts from a couple that we know through church. They had planned their dates around the alphabet. Starting with the letter A, they picked food or restaurants and activities that started with a specific letter. I looked at the calendar and saw that there were about 26 weeks left in 2018. I thought it would be a fun challenge to try and get through the whole alphabet before 2019. I sat down and starting with the letter A, I wrote down every restaurant and activity I could think of for each letter. Then, Google became my friend. Before long, I had lists of possibilities. A few letters like K, Q, X, and Y were going to be tricky, but I was confident that I could come up with something creative.

We started this quest on July 1st, 2018. I posted pictures of our dates along the way on social media, and people really got into it. Friends and coworkers would text me ideas for upcoming date nights. I did most of the planning, but sometimes Tim and I would have to work together and think outside of the box to find appropriate items for the more complicated letters. We completed the Z date night on December 31st 2018/January 1st 2019. Due to popular demand, I have compiled all 27 date nights here. This was super fun, but it was not cheap. If I were to do it over again, I'd tackle one letter every month to save money. There are certainly cheaper alternatives to some of the outings we chose, so this can be done on a budget. Since this post would be huge if I added all of my pictures and summaries of each date night, I've included a link to the relevant Instagram post with each letter. You can also search #abcsofdating on Instagram to find all of these posts, as well as posts from the Duers (our inspiration for this adventure) and a few people I don't know. So without further ado, here are The ABCs of Dating!

A
Acme Feed and Seed (dinner)
Arboretum (activity)
Apple Dumplin' (dessert)
Adele (driving tunes)
A Date Night

B
Beach
B-52's, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Barenaked Ladies (driving tunes) 
I didn't give much of a summary on Instagram this time. Tim and I went to Miramar Beach for a few days.
B Date Night

C
Coco's Italian Market (dinner)
Costco (activity?)
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (activity)
Chocolate chip cookies and "cow juice" (dessert)
C Date Night

D
Daddy's Dogs (dinner)
Drum Corp show (activity)
Dairy Queen (dessert)
Dave Matthews (driving tunes)
D Date Night

E
Etch (dinner)
Entertainment (Dave Barnes at the Ryman)
Empanadas, caramel apple (dessert)
Ed Sheeran (driving tunes)
E Date Night

F
Five Guys
Fair
Fried Oreos
Foo Fighters
F Date Night

G
Gray and Dudley (dinner)
Grand Ole Opry (activity)
Gelato (dessert)
Genesis, George Michael, Grace Potter, Gwen Stefani (driving tunes) 
G Date Night

H
House of Cards (dinner and activity)
Hot fudge sundaes (dessert)
Harry Connick, Jr. and Hootie and the Blowfish (driving tunes)
H Date Night

I
Inglewood restaurant (Fort Louise)
Inked (activity)
Ice cream
I Date Night

J
Jet's Pizza (dinner)
Jessica Biel (The Sinner on Netflix)
Jeni's Ice Cream (dessert)
J Date Night

K
"Kute Kritters" (otter encounter at North Georgia Zoo. Tim had to stretch to make this fit under K)
Krispy Kreme
K Date Night

L
Love (Wedding) 
Love song playlist
L Date Night

M
Martin's Bar-b-Que (dinner)
McKay's Used Books (activity)
Milkshakes (dessert)
Maroon 5 (driving tunes)
M Date Night

N
Nada (dinner)
Netflix (activity)
No Doubt (driving tunes)
N Date Night

O
Little Octopus (dinner)
0s (dessert: Fox's Donut Den)
October (donut and hot cocoa outside by the fire pit)
O Date Night

P
Peter's Sushi and Thai (dinner)
Pumpkin carving (activity)
Pumpkin dump cake (dessert)
Paramore (tunes)
P Date Night

Q
Qdoba (dinner)
Queen movie (activity: Bohemian Rhapsody)
Quinoa black rice dark chocolate (dessert? GROSS)
Queen (driving tunes)
Q Date Night

R
RH Café (dinner)
Restoration Hardware (activity)
Reese's (dessert)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (driving tunes)
R Date Night

S
Silo (Sunday brunch)
Stroll
State Museum (activity)
St. Paul and the Broken Bones (driving tunes)
S Date Night

T
Tuesday Trivia Night (dinner and activity)
T Date Night

U
Urban Grub (brunch)
Urbanites (activity: walked around East Nashville)
Urban Outfitters 
U2 (driving tunes)
U Date Night

V
Vittles (lunch)
Vacation planning (activity)
V Date Night

W
Wedding anniversary
Weekend getaway
Winter in Miami
Wynwood Walls
W Date Night

X
X-mas party (dinner, activity, dessert)
X Date Night

Y
Yat's (dinner)
Yazoo Brewery (activity)
Y Date Night

Z
Zaxby's (dinner)
Zinfandel and card games (activity)
Zero (countdown to 2019)
Z Date Night

The question I've been getting now is, what's next? We're already entering the 3rd month of 2019 and I have yet to come up with a plan. I am open to any suggestions. I do know that I'd like to keep things relatively low-cost. We have some big plans for 2019 (major home renovation, an extensive family vacation for Reagan's senior trip, and college...HAVE. MERCY.) that will all be pretty pricey, so I'd like to save where I can. I'm thinking maybe one dinner a month on the nicer side instead of every week as we have been doing. So, cheap dates...whatcha got?