In USA we eat! Up to the letter U in our ABC date night challenge…

The concept of the “Great American Diner” is a novelty to Australia. I never knew it existed until Emma mentioned it, an all American diner in our very own backyard of Melbourne. Excited, I was dying to find out if the American Diner would cut the mustard amongst Melbournian pallets.

Misty’s diner has everything health fanatics tell you NOT eat – and it’s served up the way you’d expect in USA – LARGE! At 32 years of age I tried root beer for the first time – ever! It’s an odd taste and quite difficult to explain. Best described, it was like drinking deep heat, or goanna oil. You know the ointment used to reduce muscle inflammation. There was no burning sensation but rather this medicinal flavour undertones in-between a massive hits of sweetness. And I mean a TRUCK LOAD of cane sugar! YEEEEAAH – sugar high!!!

There’s so much to love about this place, it’s loud, and it’s very pink and stereotypically American with juke boxes, finned cars and Misty donning a Lady BOSS shirt. The diner is nestled within a Car Wash. The place is packed all the time and I’m told you can’t book a table. We were lucky enough to walk right in and get a table – usually you’ll wait in line.

The highlight was most definitely the shakes. Reeces Pieces Shake – OMG! It’s full of artery clogging goodness. For the Aussies that have never had Reeces Pieces – its peanut butter in a chocolate tart-like shell, which is added to… well, a shake! The shake alone is reason enough to make it out to Misty’s Diner.

Misty’s Diner has my tick of approval for a strictly one time only experience to try something different. Now that I’ve done it, I doubt I’ll make it back – it’s not the kind of place you’d go for a source of nutrition. I may make an exception for a craving of a reeces pieces shake once or twice a year.

Want to try out Misty’s Diner & Car Wash for yourself?
103 – 105 High Street, Prahran. Melbourne, Australia.

Enjoy!

Den.

The ABC Dating trend has been bandied around for awhile now. We’ve heard of couples that have done it themselves, it’s been written about in the media and now?

Denis and I are going to attempt it.

So on top of our usual date night parameters (Being a $30 Budget, taking it in turns to organise the date nights and making sure we date once a week) we are now Alphabet Dating.

It’s pretty straightforward – we start with a date that starts with A (i.e. Going to an Art Gallery) and work our way through B, C and the rest until we get to Z (Which will undoubtedly be a trip a Zoo of some sort).

It starts tonight… stay tuned for the update on where we’re going and the review. I’ll also be listing great date ideas by letter for the next 6 months as we go!

We’re looking forward to it. And hey – if you feel like your love life needs a metaphorical Berocca, why don’t you join us in our ABC Adventures?

We’ve waned from our usual Wednesday night date night, which means some weeks go by with us forgetting to schedule a date night… and while we’ve had lots of quality time spent together, that’s really not what it’s all about.

It’s served to really reinforce to us again that if you don’t have a schedule and structures in place, date night will never happen. It’s too easy for us to fall off the wagon and end up in front of the TV every night (the fact that Den gave me the entire Sex and the City Box Set for my birthday also hasn’t helped matters any!).

So.

We’re getting back on the date night horse. (It’s a fancy horse, too!) We’re recommitting to date night with each other again. And if you’ve forgotten all about your own date nights too, we recommend you do the same.

Remember the rules?

1. Pick a night every week.
That is your night together. Don’t schedule anything over the top of it. If you absolutely have to, then you can negotiate in advance with your partner to move it to another day for that week only.

Wednesday is our date night.

2. Take it in turns to organise.
It is no fun for one person to continually be the instigator of date night every time. If you’re stuck for ides, guess what? We’ve done the hard work for you. If you head to $30 Date Night and set up an account, you can even save a list of the date ideas you love the sound of so that you can refer to it when it’s your week to organise the date.

3. Mix it up.
Humans are creatures of habit. If you don’t consciously choose to do new, fun things with your partner every week then you will end up at the same favourite restaurants (think about how many times you go to the same place to eat out, or order takeaway from the same Thai food shop…) or doing the same, comfortable activities again and again.

You may love doing those things, but your relationship will not thank you for it. Remember, it’s been proven that doing new things together as a couple sparks the same hormones as when you first fell in love! Bring back the butterflies by doing something fresh and different every week!

And remember, it doesn’t matter if you have kids, or your budget is tight, there are ways around all those things and that is essentially what $30 Date Night is all about. Don’t make excuses. Don’t wiggle your way out of it. Just do it.

Who’s with us?

So, we finally stopped procrastinating and we did it!

Worst Date #4…. The Nudist Beach.

This was so-called the “Worst Date” because over on our date ideas website, it has one of the worst ratings in our user voting system. Fair enough too, the thought of it is pretty intimidating! After putting it off for a couple of months, we bit the bullet and decided it was about time to do it.

Getting naked wasn’t even the hardest part. Finding the damn beach was! The directions we found on the web were hazy at best, it was like a state-wide treasure hunt for genitals… quite literally!

After driving around for a good 45 minutes, looping back and forth and taking wrong turns, we finally found the right turnoff at Torquay

from the highway, then found what we thought was the right “gap in the fence” and made our way down the steep cliff face pathway and onto the beach.

The sand was teeming with people. Clothed people. Family people. With children and dogs and those little tents you put up to stop getting sunburned.

As instructed, we followed the bay about 500m around to the legal nude section. We expected a big sign – “Nude Bathers May Be Encountered Past This Point”, perhaps. Even “You are Welcome to Get Naked From This Point On” would’ve been good. But there was nothing.

Until we saw him.

One guy, amongst all the families, in the water…

“Is he… naked?”

Even when you’re looking for it, it’s kinda hard to tell. You don’t really want to stare. He was out in the waves, enjoying a leisurely swim.

Then there were more of them, lying naked up near the cliffs. Even then, the sight was so foreign to us that it was hard to tell…

Until suddenly, as we kept walking, we found ourselves amongst more flesh than clothing. The odd clothed person would walk past, but for the most part, the people here were certainly naked.

And, well… here’s a video we prepared for you so you can see our little adventure. A warning that you may see a little more of Den than you possibly need to!

So, yes we recommend it! It was actually a lot of fun. We still can’t quite believe we did it… but we do recommend it (though maybe not for a first date!)… if you’re daring enough!

And you know what? Doing something that is totally new and pushes all your comfort circles is invigorating! It inspires creativity and it is certainly what $30 Date Night is all about.

Have you done it? Would you do it? Tell us all your risque stories, we want to hear them!

The Age reports:

“Hugh Jackman has a happy marriage because he has date nights.

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine star – who has been married to Deborra-Lee Furness since 1996 – has revealed he and his wife always make time to just be with one another to keep the romance in their relationship alive.

He told America’s OK! magazine: “Make sure you have a date night just the two of you together, without the kids.”

The 41-year-old actor has two adopted children, Oscar, nine, and Ava, four, with his wife – who he met on the set of Australian TV show Correlli.”

Hell yeah, Hugh! That’s the way you do it!

Go on guys, you know if it’s good enough for Wolverine, it’s good enough for you! And – what a coinkydink! – we just happen to have this amazing website full of great date ideas to get you started.

Yay / or Nay?

Does the dating world need a Daters Lemon Law?

Some friends of mine use internet dating sites to find their match… relatively unsuccessful to begin with but have created a strategy to work in their favour. For me it’s a curious world… in my single years, a friend pushed me to join their singles speed dating meet ups but I just couldn’t find the courage to do it.

Dating for singles is big business and creates a lot of interest – makes sense… we all want to be loved and feel love.

So I’m told successful dating through the internet is a game of numbers… the more people you meet the better chance that you’ll find a match – same theory with speed dating. Cover as many first impressions as you can and then find the one that flicks your switch.

But what happens when the bells and whistles of the profile don’t come out on the first date – can you Lemon Law them? To understand the Dater’s Lemon Law – Barney explains it well.

So singles / daters… Does the dating world need a Lemon Law – Yay or Nay?

NB: Video after the jump!

The Obamas are undoubtedly the busiest couple in the entire world, with the weight of global responsibility squarely on their shoulders… we’re sure that their weekly schedules would be enough to put us mere mortals to shame. And yet…
And yet they still find time for regular date nights (and not just dinner and the movies!) and what’s more, Michelle credits their closeness directly to the fact that they do! What’s more, the Obamas aren’t afraid to show a little PDA and they are clearly head-over-heels in love with each other… Barack refers to her as ‘the love of my life’… awww… anyone else feel a date night coming on?