Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 1 - Best Date Ever

A few weeks ago, I got wind of this really fun Valentine's Day Blogging Challenge.  I love to talk about the things I love, so I thought "Why not join in?!?" Then I promptly forgot who it was that was hosting the challenge and spent the subsequent days and weeks scouring the net for the right Valentine's Day Linkup.  Do you know how many V-day link ups there are out there right now?? A lot!!  Yesterday, I stumbled across Brunch with Amber and gasped with delight! She's one of the hosts, along Neely and Casey!! Yay!! So, I decided to join in the fun. =)  I'm actually a day behind, but I'm hoping to catch up so that I can post a story for every prompt!

Day 1 - Best Date Ever

I have so many absolutely perfect and fun best dates because every single date (with the exception of my next story) really could be categorized as a best date ever.  Cue eye roll and sappy little sigh.  What can I say? I love him that much and we really do have fun whereever we go and whatever we do! 

But my story today takes us back before we ever had kids and before we were married.  In fact, I'm taking us back to before we were even thinking about marriage.  Wayyyy back to the ancient time of 2002.  "Say what??? 2002??" At that time, I lived in an incredibly trashy apartment complex. Seriously. I'm pretty sure there were drug deals done on a daily basis in this place.  And the Hubs still lived with his parents.  Don't hate! He was still in college and saving money for dates with me. ;) 

Don't we look like babies??

Usually our dates consisted of us hanging out at the pool, maybe seeing a movie.  We just didn't "go out" all that often.  But on this occasion, the Hubs arranged everything.  He'd heard about a fantastic restaurant in Mobile, and that it was so good it was most definitely worth the 45 minute drive.  This place was called Carrabba's.  What?? Are you laughing because we had never heard of a restaurant that is basically in like every city the world now?  At the time, we didn't have one in our city and had no idea what it was, except that it was an Italian restaurant.  We love and adore Italian food.

So, off to Mobile we went.  The drive over was fun and filled with laughter and happiness.  We had to wait a good hour or so for seats, but that didn't bring us down. We were head over heels in love and it was in the beginning of our relationship, so a little wait only meant more time to bask in each other's loveliness.  (Okay, in case you're wondering, I'm laughing at my own ridiculous sappyness right now.)  When we were finally seated and ordered our food, we were not the least bit disappointed.  The pollo rosa maria that the Hubs ordered and the chicken marsala that I ordered were absolutely heavenly. To this day, Carrabba's is hands-down our most favorite restaurant.  We even have one just a few minutes away from us and it's the restaurant the Hubs took me to on the night he proposed.  It's that good!

After dinner, we got into the car and proceeded home.  We were a little bit drowsy from all the food we had eaten and were enjoying a relatively quiet drive home.  The Hubs was listening to one thing or another on the radio and I drifted off to sleep on his shoulder.  Yep, we were that kind of couple with a bench seat that sat right next to each other whenever we went anywhere. =)  There I was happily dreaming of a future with this amazing guy, when I was abruptly awakened by the sound of sirens and flashing lights.  Yeah, the Hubs was driving just a tad too fast and ended up getting a ticket.

Did that ruin our night? No way!! We laughed about it and finished the drive home, only a little bit slower. =)

Why is that my "best date ever?", you might ask.  Well, this was one of those dates where I wasn't consulted at all.  It was 100% planned by the Hubs and I loved every minute of it.  Things didn't go perfectly, but we had fun with it. So, in my book, it was the best date ever.  =)


And now I want to hear your stories!  What was your best date ever?