life is meant for getaways

Jamey and I have been busy just about every weekend for the last two months. Date nights were placed on the back burner, and our weekends would just fly by. I mentioned to Jamey that I was craving some genuine quality time with him. I love my husband for a billion reasons, but one of the things I love most is how intentional he is. He listens to my needs, and he does his best to meet them. 

Last week, I told him that we had zero plans that weekend. He told me that he actually had a surprise planned for me that Saturday. I was so excited! I love surprises. He wouldn't give me anymore information, and I didn't even bother to ask, because I didn't want to ruin it! I had a couple guesses in my mind of where we were going, but I didn't bug him about it.

While I was getting ready Saturday morning, he went to his parents to pick up a memory foam mattress, because we were planning to sleep in our car that night. We hit the road around 9:30am. We got on the 5 North, so that eliminated San Diego (one of my guesses). I was on cloud nine. I had my favorite person beside me, good jams playing, the most perfect weather, and a day full of mystery & adventure in front of us… I couldn't be happier!

We had been driving for a couple hours, and since I happen to be horrible with directions/geography, I had no clue where we were. I eventually saw signs for Santa Barbara, and he started to pull off the freeway. He made it clear to me that this was just a stop. He drove around for a bit, and then eventually pulled into a brewery parking lot! We were going beer tasting! :) We've been wanting to do this more lately, so I was really excited! It was an awesome brewery/tasting room called Figuerora Mountain Brewing Co. It was perfect. We bought a flight of four different beers. It was so fun to relax and be in a new atmosphere. Plus, drinking good beer is always a perk!

We got back on the road, and I was still clueless as to where we were going. An hour later, I see a sign for Solvang, and it hit me; I knew where we were going! Solvang is such a cute, little danish town about an hour from Santa Barbara. We walked around and looked at all the precious shops. I love that when you're walking around Solvang, you feel like for a moment in time, you're not in America anymore. That was the best part! Another thing I noticed about Solvang was, you can't walk further than 5 feet without running into either a winery, coffee shop or bakery. Man, you're set! 

Solvang is the definition of cute

We decided we wanted to end our evening in Santa Barbara. We didn't have any set plans, but that's what made it so fun! I kept saying to Jamey, "we can do anything we want!". I believe there's a time for plans, and a time for spontaneity. This was a time for spontaneity. We looked up a drive-in theater, and found one right outside of SB. They were showing the Lego Movie, which Jamey's been wanting to see, so it was perfect. I mentioned earlier that we were planning to sleep in our. This wasn't because we couldn't stay in a hotel, but because we wanted to do something we'd never done before! We have a Kia Soul, so we laid our seats down flat and filled the trunk area with blankets and pillows to make it even with the seats. Then, we laid a memory foam on top of that and voilà! we had a make-shift bed :) After we watched the movie, we started driving around SB to find a spot to go to sleep. We ended up in a rather nice neighborhood, overlooking the ocean. I'd say our spot was better than most hotels we could have stayed in. We woke up to the sun rising over the Pacific and, my God, was that breathtaking.

The view of the Pacific from our backseat

I loved our little surprise getaway. It was so much fun, and it was really needed. I love taking the time to enjoy our lives and the spare time we have. It's so important to invest and be intentional with one another. Now, it's my turn to plan a little surprise getaway for Jamey, and I can tell you my brain is already filling up with fun ideas!

XO
Brenda

Solvang is also full of awesome photo ops

Babe alert.

dating your spouse

A wise person once told me "never stop pursuing the person you love". I remember thinking that was strange to hear at first. Isn't it that you pursue the person you want to be with, 

and then once you're with them, the pursuit is over?

 Since Jamey and I started dating, I discovered that my perspective on the word pursue 

and what it meant to me, changed. 

Pursuing the one you love can be so effortless and come so naturally. But, there are going to be seasons where if you don't plan a date night or actually remind yourself to tell your love how much you appreciate them, you might forget to. In the four months I've been married (trust me, I'm no expert), I've learned that you must be intentional with your pursuit. 

When I married Jamey, I told him that I never want to stop dating each other. 

Getting married doesn't mean that your season of dating is over, 

in fact, it's becomes even more crucial.

We do our best to have a date day/night once a week. We don't set aside any specific day necessarily, we just look at our calendar and see what works best. Sometimes dates look like going out to a movie, or dinner. Other times it means pulling our mattress into our living room and 

cuddling up while we watch The Office for 5 hours straight. 

The best part about dating your spouse is that you get to choose 

what defines a date for you as a couple. 

Jamey and I had been planning a "fall date day" for a couple weeks. We wanted to do a repeat of what we did last year, in hopes of creating a tradition. We went to a really amazing pumpkin patch in Irvine called Tanaka Farms. It was so fun to be on an actual farm where we could pick out a pumpkin! They also had a corn maze, and places where you could pick your own veggies! 

This place had it all. We spent time walking around enjoying the atmosphere, 

and of course searching for the perfect pumpkins! 

I'm crazy about him.

After the pumpkin patch, we headed home to carve them and watch a classic horror film. 

We ended up watching Halloween (the 6th one). Even though it's older, 

it still gave me the creeps and I had to close my eyes a lot! Eeek!

It was by far the best day of the fall for me. I love my husband, and I love dating him. Like I said earlier, pursuing someone means you have to be intentional. We are not perfect, so we have to make efforts in our relationships. I never want to look back at my marriage with Jamey and wish we went on more dates, or wish that I had told him how much I loved him. 

I'd love to hear how you pursue the one you love! Do you still date your significant other?

XO

Brenda