2 Make It A Date 06/12: June

Hello, lovely readers! I've finally completed our June Surprise Date recap for you all! Aren't you excited?! Since so much time has passed since June, I'm afraid I won't be able to give this Monthly Date recap the detail it deserves. But I will do my best!

"Your Birthday Month"

Happy Birthday to you! Remember when I surprised you with the Drive-in for your birthday when we were first dating? And we stopped on the way home to stargaze. That was romantic, wasn't it? Well, we should recreate that night sometime this month, in honor of your birthday. I actually have a bunch of ideas to celebrate this month... we don't have to do all in one day though... It's your birthday month! You deserve multiple surprise dates :)

Happy Birthday to the love of my life,
Your Keener ♥      .

Contents: Birthday month activity check-list, $15 cash for the drive-in theater, $25 cash for dinner, $10 gift card to Berry Bear for frozen yogurt, and a birthday card to be opened on his birthday. 

Birthday Month Checklist: Drive-In Theater, Candlelit Dinner, Date to Restaurant of Your Choice, Picnic + Tennis at the Park, Berry Bear Fro-Yo, A "Night In" with Games and Other "fun" ;), (plus the option for Josh to add any activities he wanted: "It's your month! What do you want to do? :)")

As you can see, this month's surprise date packet was pretty jam-packed with activity suggestions. When I planned it, I thought it would be FUN to have a bunch of day dates planned out.. but when it came down to it, we were much too busy to accomplish all of them. In fact, almost all the items we did accomplish weren't done until the beginning of July (which was partially why this post is so overdue). Note to those of you who are thinking of giving A Year of Dates as a gift: keep the dates simple. Don't have multiple-day dates if you can help it (unless they're consecutive, like an overnight trip or something). You never know when life will be extra busy, making even ONE day date difficult to plan for. 

So, which parts of this date were we able to complete? Check it out: 

Drive-In Theater: CHECK.

When we first started dating, Josh's birthday fell about 10 months into our relationship. I told him I wanted to surprise him with a special birthday date. I knew he'd never been to the Drive-In Theater, so I took him to see the double-feature Night at the Museum 2 and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. (We concluded that Cloudy was far superior to Museum, haha. We're kids at heart!) So when I was planning this Year of Dates gift, I wanted to start Summer 2012 off with a re-creation of that night. We packed a picnic dinner, watched The Amazing Spider-Man, and it was.. well, amazing. (sidenote: I love Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. I normally don't keep up with celebrity gossip, and I know it's none of my business, but I want them to get married and live happily ever after. I can't help it.) We didn't get to stop and stargaze on the way home like that first birthday together because it was overcast this year and we were both pretty tired. But it was certainly a lot of fun to relive a date from our first summer together! 

Candlelit Dinner: NO :(

Date to Restaurant of Josh's Choice: CHECK.

Josh decided to use our restaurant money to try a gyro place near our house. It was delicious. The owner was a sweet man who was very proud of his new greek sauce. He took great care of us, giving us extras of everything for free! Josh still talks about that gyro almost every time we drive past the place - it made quite an impression on him ;)

Picnic + Tennis at the Park: NO (though we did have a picnic at the drive-in theater, so maybe that could count for half...) 

Berry Bear Fro-Yo: CHECK.

Frozen Yogurt is always a good choice. (and oh, those eyes..)

Game Night at Home: CHECK. No pictures to share, though :)

Ultimately, we had a lot of fun going on these birthday month dates, but I still think I would've done things a little differently if I'd known how difficult planning multiple date days was going to be. However, Josh felt very special and loved - and that was the point! - so I'd say it was a success. ♥

This post is part of a series chronicling my 2011 Christmas present to Josh: A Year of Dates. See this page for more info and other date recaps!

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