Vintage Date Night

The year was 2006, we were newly married, our bank account was low. Our schedules were opposite, stress levels were high, and dates were far and few between. On a weekend trip to Costco Mr. R. placed Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother in our cart. It cost us $15.

That weekend we splurged and ordered Chinese food from a local place near Mr. R.'s undergraduate alma mater. We ate our take out on the floor, (we hadn't bought our couch yet), on mismatched plates, and watched three episodes of How I Met. I fell in love with Marshall and Lily, Barney made us laugh, and Ted reminded us of a good friend. 

Dinner and How I Met became a weekly tradition. Sometimes I would cook, other times we would splurge on a burger from Wendy's. How I Met Your Mother was the start of our date night tradition. We don't catch the show as often now, but it holds a very special place in our hearts.

To honor our first year of marriage we had vintage date night tonight. Mr. R. picked up dinner from Panda Express (to save $ we order one entree and split it, the portions are large), we ate our dinner on mismatched plates, and this time we could sit on the chaise (yay! for moving up in the world). We watched two of our favorite How I Met Episodes (The Duel and The Pineapple Incident) and we reminisced about the early years.

We also had a date crasher. Despite putting her to bed before dinner she woke-up screaming, (I think she is teething), she ate all my lo mein, demanded we read a story, and then took a second bottle and fell asleep. 

I don't think 24 year old me, living in that tiny apartment, could have even fathomed how awesome my life would become.