Need Friday Night Date Ideas? Try Working Out Together!

Live near the water? What could be better than a Friday evening jog on the beach?

I rarely workout on Fridays, which is ironic as it’s typically one of my “fatter” days of the week. Friday night is a fun time to relax with my husband and maybe some friends, so clearly I’m not too keen on welcoming the weekend by spending time at the gym by myself. One could argue that nothing is stopping me from getting up early and exercising before work, nothing that is besides my love of sleep and the desire not to be a cranky beast to everyone I come in contact with during the day. Thank me later people.

Living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA doesn’t really offer much along the lines of scenic, fun outdoor activity. In fact, I would guess that the majority of our Friday evenings are either too cold to be doing anything outside or involve some sort of dreadful precipitation falling from the sky. Yuck. Luckily this is not always the case.

A few weeks ago we were “kicked out” of our house for an hour on a Friday evening. My first thought was to go get drinks somewhere, but then my husband, knowing my love for healthy date ideas, came up with this fantastic idea — going to the park for a jog! It was a nice day out and were planning to stuff ourselves with takeout from our favorite Thai place for dinner, so why not negate some of those calories beforehand? Brilliant!

We had so much fun with that jog (and felt so utterly superior) afterwards that we decided to do it again the next week. To switch our route up, we drove to a neighboring town, and my husband mapped a little route for us to jog using Map My Run.

Of course it’s pretty impossible to commit to Friday evening jogs every weekend. When the weather acts up or if we’re planning to meet up with friends or go out to dinner or something, it’s not always possible to fit it into the plan, and that’s okay. It’s just nice to have a fun little workout to add to our list of Friday night date ideas, when we don’t have anything else going on.

How to Avoid the Relationship Fat Trap

As a lady, when you’re single, you typically don’t go out to eat very much. At least I didn’t when I was single. Sure, I hung out with my friends a lot, but we were usually doing womanly activities like shopping, seeing girly movies, and going out to the bars to man hunt. Sometimes these activities involved food, but even then we’d normally choose a restaurant that would be considered pretty healthy. Eating healthy was never not an option.

Then you start dating someone new and more than just your Facebook status changes — you immerse yourself in a love food coma.

Falling into the Fat Trap

One of the most popular (actually probably the most popular) couples outings is the dinner date. Whether you’re dining out at restaurant, eating takeout, or staying in to cook together, suddenly ladies you’re eating like a man. And it looks a whole lot better on him.

My husband is a studly 6’7 giant. He eats a lot (obviously). Even though he’s usually a pretty healthy eater, I would still look like Godzilla if I tried to match him bite-for-bite. It can be hard to resist temptation when he’s sitting on the couch eating his fifth snack of the evening, so most of the time I’ll have a bite or two when he offers. Then I remind myself that if I keep eating I’ll look like a big fat ape.

I’ll admit that sometimes I do let my inner fatty get the most of me, but we all know when we’ve gotten a little bit out of control, so it’s important to snap back out of it!

Avoiding the Love Gut

People find it odd that my husband and I don’t really share groceries, but we think it makes perfect sense. I want to have a salad and veggies for dinner every night, while he prefers man food. Some nights we eat together, cooking our respective dinner’s side-by-side in the kitchen, other times we don’t. I don’t have to get fat eating his man food and he doesn’t have to starve because his wife feeds him like a bird. This is our weeknight way of life and we totally love it!

We try not to really eat out too much for dinner on the weeknights, which helps to keep our wallets fat and our waistlines skinny, but we love going out to dinner on the weekends!

Salads are your friend.

I won’t lie, I do truly love eating healthy, so even when we’re out to dinner I typically order a salad or something off the “lite menu.” This combats the fact that we pretty much always order an appetizer, wine, and tend to find dessert at some point in the evening.

Moderation is the key to avoid falling into the relationship fat trap ladies! You’re not a man, so if you think about it rationally, it should be pretty easy not to mimic the eating habits of the stud in your life. Don’t give up all your favorite indulgences, simply keep the number of diet splurges you allow yourself in check during the course of a week. You’ll be left with the feeling of satisfaction that you’re even hotter than the day you met him!

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“When Are you Getting Married?” – Combat the Awkward Question that Nosy People Love to Ask

When you hit a certain age, whether you’re in a relationship or not, people become obsessed with marrying you off. You may have solved world peace, won a Grammy, or have recently been promoted to become the youngest VP in your company’s history, but to some people these accomplishments don’t matter, because the fact that you’re not married is the only thing that does matter.

This is what a person's hand looks like when they don't want to discuss when they're getting married.

One of the most awkward, and just plain maddening questions that nosy people love to ask is ‘when are you getting married?’ Or, the equally invasive — ‘do you think you’ll be getting engaged soon?’ Try as I might, I cannot even begin to understand what possess people to think it’s okay to ask these questions.  As if it’s not bad enough to endure the third degree from these people alone, it’s even more fun when your significant other is standing right beside you.

Unless the person brings it up themselves, it is never okay to ask someone this. You may the person’s parent, sister, friend, great aunt, or my favorite — a complete stranger that they just met, but if you pester them with these questions they will start avoiding you. Why you might ask? Because you’re being annoying, and making them feel awkward and uncomfortable.

If you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation with nosy people throwing the ‘when are you getting married?’ or ‘do you think you’ll be getting engaged soon?’ question at you, it’s okay to be rude to them. They deserve it. If you opt to go for a more tactful approach, here’s some ideas to shut them up:

• Tell them you’re already married and you didn’t invite them to the wedding.
• Bust out with a nice “we hate each other.”
• Claim to be gay, or trying to explore your sexuality.
• Answer the question with a question. For example a nice comeback would be, “When are you going to lose 20 lbs?”
• Explain that you’re waiting for your divorce to be finalized (only use this if the person knows that you’ve never been married).

Moral of the story: Do not ask someone when they’re getting engaged, unless you spot a man toting around an engagement ring. And unless you know that someone is already engaged, hence actually wearing an engagement ring on her finger, do not ask when she is getting married.

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Honesty is the Best Policy in Relationships

Some people tiptoe around their significant others. They pretend to like their friends, favorite restaurants, and must-watch television shows, simply because they’re afraid of the consequences of showing their true colors. If this sounds familiar, it’s time for you to make a change. Immediately.

You probably spend more time with your significant other than anyone else, especially if you live together. If you feel that you must pretend to be someone who you’re not around them, eventually it’s going to catch up with you. Repeat after me – honesty is the best policy.

This guy gets it - honesty is the best policy in relationships.

Sometimes people are taken aback by how blatantly honest I am with my boyfriend. If he does something, takes me somewhere, or makes me
hang out with people I don’t like, you better believe he’s going to hear from me about it. And vice versa, right back at me. Some people think this must be offensive; that one of us must constantly be licking our wounds from the other. In reality, the exact opposite is true.

Who wants to be with someone who agrees with everything you say? Relationships are about give and take, and honesty is always the best policy when it comes to getting there. If I don’t know when I’m obnoxiously torturing my boyfriend with my New Kids on the Block music videos, how am I going to know when it’s time to throw him a bone and sit through the latest insanely boring Leo DeCaprio man movie? If you don’t tell him that watching reruns of Seinfeld every night makes you want to throw up, he’s going to think you like it too, and eventually you’re going to grow a completely unjustified hatred of him for it.

So even though I believe in brutal honesty, it doesn’t mean that I refuse to do anything I don’t want to do. Since my boyfriend and I are candid
with one other, it makes it easier to keep the scorecard even. For example, on Sunday nights, if he’s willing to sit through an hour of Jerseyliscious, I’m more than happy to agree to watch an hour of True Blood, even though I think the show is dumb. This way, one of us isn’t driving the train and crushing the other’s soul in the process. Remember, honesty is the best policy. Being true to yourselves helps both of you to win.

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Obnoxious Love –Tips To Avoid Being The Couple That No One Likes

Yes, we get it, you have a wife. Tell us one more time so we don't forget.

You’re wondering why your friends, both single and attached, seem to be avoiding you. You wonder if they’re jealous of your amazing relationship? Or maybe everyone has just been really busy for a (long) while? It probably doesn’t occur to you that no one is jealous of you and no
one is extremely busy, you’ve just turned into a member of the obnoxious couples club. And no one wants to go near that.

 

Read on to see if you’re scaring people away with these annoying relationship behaviors:

• Pet Names. Sure, most couples have pet names for one another that they use when no one else is in ear shot. This is normal. What is not normal is using these pet names in front of other people, any other people. If you call each other “butter nuts” and “baby bear,” that’s none of my business, but you make it my business if I have to hear you calling each other by those moronic names.
• Title Flashers. You’ve got a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, whatever, and you want EVERYONE to know it. You don’t have a reason, such as warding off a predator, for repeating the words “my boyfriend” over and over again, you’re just not sure if everyone within earshot heard you say that you have one, so you’re going to keep saying it be sure. Your friends have met your wife 1,000 times, but when talking to them, you still feel the need to refer to her as simply “my wife.” Why is this?! Trust me, everyone is glad that you’re taken! No one wants you to be on the market.
• Abusing Social Media. When Mark Zuckerberg invited Facebook, I’d say it’s a safe guess that he never intended for status updates on his website to consist of things such as “cuddling on the couch with my baby bear,” or “I love my butter nuts.”First of all, pet names should never appear on any form of social media, that’s sick. Secondly, no one cares that you and your “baby bear” are laying on the couch together. That is not interesting. Why do you feel like the world needs to know this?  Are you insecure? Trying to make someone else jealous? Regardless of your motives, stop it, you look like a fool (and so does “baby bear”).
• Inside Jokes. The point of an inside joke between a couple is that no one else gets it. Therefore it’s not necessary to discuss this inside joke when you’re out with other people, because they won’t get it. No, they’re not going to be envious of the secret world of “butter nuts” and “baby bear,” they’re just going to think you’re weird. When you’re out with other people, you need to talk to them in a language they will understand.
• Fighting in Public. Everyone’s significant other gets on their nerves from time-to-time, this is utterly normal. What is not normal is heatedly discussing your issues with your mate in front of other people. For example, if you’re on a double date, do not fight with your other half at the dinner table, regardless of how much he’s irritating you. This is extremely uncomfortable for everyone, mainly the other couple sitting at the table with you. If you make a habit of this, pretty soon no one will want to hang out with you.

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You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide From Inappropriate Questions About Your Love Life

Your love life is full of awkward moments, and whether or not you actually have a love life at the moment is irrelevant. The most awkward
moments in your relationship (or lack thereof) are rarely caused by you or your significant other. Socially retarded people are everywhere, and they love to ask inappropriate questions. These morons are constantly on the prowl, waiting for the right moment to swoop in and pepper you with insanely inappropriate questions about your love life.

If you don't have anything normal to say, then shut the he*l up.

Inappropriate Questions When You’re Single:

Question: Why aren’t you dating anyone?

Often asked by:  Any annoying person you come in contact with.

If you’d like to know someone’s relationship status, ask them. If they say they’re single, the appropriate response is not, “why aren’t you dating anyone?” If the person voluntarily offers up this information to you, then fine. If not, they are refraining from sharing this information with you because it is none of your business.  What kind of response do you actually want from this person? Do you want them to say “I’m single because
I’m ugly, too needy, or I’m trying to work up the courage to come out of the closet?” Believe me, whether or not they are content with their relationship status, single people are aware that they are single. They don’t need you to remind them, and then try to make them think that something is wrong with them just because they aren’t currently dating anyone.

Inappropriate Questions When You’re Dating Someone:

Question: Are you two in love?

Often asked by:  children and obnoxious adults

If you want to create one of the most awkward moments you’ll ever experience, go ahead and ask a new couple if they’re in love. Hopefully you’ll enjoy yourself on this one, because they’ll probably do their best to avoid contact with you for the rest of eternity. Weirdo. Same goes for children
asking this question. Normal kids don’t care about things like this, and certainly have enough tact to know this is something you do not ask grown ups. If you hear your child ask this question, be proud of yourself, you’re raising a little weirdo.

Question: When are you going to get married?

Often asked by: family members, annoying co-workers, bored  housewives

Step one, is the woman wearing an engagement ring? If so, proceed with your question. If not, shut the he*l up. Why do people think it’s
okay to ask a couple who is not engaged when they’re getting married? What kind of answer are you expecting? Do you want to hear “he has commitment issues, she’s having an affair with her ex, etc?” Believe it or not, both of these people are aware that they are not engaged. Your stupid comment will not make him propose, but it probably will make both of them hate you. He might be working hard to save up for a ring, she
might actually hate him, or they might really want to be the next Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who knows? One things for sure, you don’t know, and you’re definitely making things more awkward, so again shut the he*l up.

Inappropriate Questions When You’re Engaged:

Question: Where’s my wedding invitation?

Often asked by:  Anyone you dislike.

Unless you have a close relationship with the bride and groom, and have specifically been told that you are invited to their wedding, keep this question to yourself. Yes, wedding invitation do get lost in the mail from time-to-time, but it really doesn’t happen that often. If you have to ask
for a wedding invitation, you probably are not invited. Save yourself, and the couple some embarrassment by doing the math on this one.

Inappropriate Questions When You’re Married:

Question: When are you going to have children?/ Why don’t you have children?

Often Asked By:  family, annoying co-workers, bored housewives, predatory strangers

This may come as a shocker to some of you soccer moms, but everyone does not like children. Or even for those who do like children, parenthood may not be the first priority in a couple’s life right now. There’s a thousand reasons as to why a married couple does not have children. When it comes down to it, the decision to have a child is made by two people, and you’re not one of them. Maybe she’s secretly been going through grueling fertility treatments, one of them can’t physically have children, or they don’t feel like they’re financially ready to procreate yet. This can be a really touchy subject, and your very stupid question could really upset them. These two people don’t have children, and unless they offer additional information up to you on the subject, they probably do not want to discuss it with you.

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