The Date

Years ago I read a blog post about a date night idea which I thought was hilarious.

But I knew my husband would probably never go for. I sent it to him with a note that said “we should do this sometime.”

That was, like, nine years ago.

This morning, Chris says, “Want to go on a date tonight?”

“Sure.” And I didn’t ask any questions. Figured we’d go to dinner and maybe a movie.

Stop #1: Goodwill.

We each got $10 to pick an outfit for the other person, which we will then wear for the rest of our date.

We did a mini fashion show at the Goodwill changing rooms. I went first.

The leopard print pants were actually pretty comfortable.z

This giant red monstrosity was in the men’s pajama section.

Chris about died when he found the balaclava. (Which was wool and SUPER itchy.) But I was all in on this date.

He set the bar high. Next was his turn.

The hot pink shirt and neon visor weirdly worked with the seersucker pants. But I wanted weirder.

Because of the $10 limit, I couldn’t get the pants I wanted because I didn’t want to give up the hat. But at least I got a photo.

Pleated corduroys and a shirt with body armor for the win.

We walked right from the changing rooms up to the cash register and the guy scanned the price tags while we were wearing the clothes.

He didn’t even bat an eye.

Stop #2: Dinner at Basil & Barley Pizzeria Napoletana

You guys, we’ve been wanting to try this restaurant since it opened. You know we have strong opinions about Italian food – okay … all things Italian – and we’d heard good things so we were anxious to check it out!

We pulled into the parking lot about 7 PM and could see through the windows … the place was SLAMMED.

As we were walking up to the restaurant I almost chickened out. The door is front and center and there was no way to make an inconspicuous entrance. We were bound to make a scene.

Thankfully, I was able to hide a bit in my balaclava. The first thing the hostess said to Chris was that she liked his shirt. [I snort laughed.]

Then she proceeded to lead us through the tightly packed tables to the only open table at the back of the room.

Before we sat down, I asked her to take our picture.

We had the price tags still on everything. As if we needed to make it any dorkier.

Then we had dinner.

Our waiter was very nice, and very professional, although he looked directly at me once and quickly looked away before he laughed. I said, “I’m impressed with your ability to keep a straight face” to which he replied, “Thanks.” And went on like we weren’t dressed like we were.

Stop #3: Home Depot

After dinner, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up something at Customer Service. It was 9 pm so there weren’t many people around. The guy in line in front of us did a double take and then turned politely around.

I kinda looked like I was about to rob the store.

As we were leaving the parking lot, we saw Walmart next door, and we couldn’t resist. We went in.

And I know this probably surprises no one, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you that NO ONE even glanced at us twice. It was like these outfits that made us stand out like weirdos everywhere else were pretty much par for the course at Wallyworld.

You guys, we have not laughed so hard on a date. Ever. The best part of the night was the actual picking out and trying on of the clothes.

So here’s to whoever wrote that post 9 years ago. Your brilliant date night idea lives on.

May this post inspire another couple to a night of belly laughs.