Matt and I had a super fun date night earlier this week: a wine + painting night!
Matt surprised me for my Christmas gift with some planned out dates for us in January and February (my love language is definitely time together – and someone else planning said time together is a huge bonus as I’m usually the planner), and this was our first one!
Matt gets an A+ – this was SUCH a fun evening.
We went to Muse Paintbar in Arlington (it’s inside the Ballston Mall). We arrived a little early for snacks and drinks (next time I think we’d eat elsewhere first, as the food was only so-so), and then got into the painting!
I’d never done a wine and painting night before and had always wanted to try one. I enjoy painting but can’t even tell you the last time I did it – it had been a VERY long time! It was such a nice way to destress and unwind.
The way it works is Muse selects a painting for the evening, then an instructor leads everyone attending through the process step by step.
Matt was super into it, too, as you can see. 🙂
The painting for the evening was a really pretty winter snow scene. Two hours later, and we each had our own version of it!
I was pleased with how mine came out! We were excited to show them to Riese as she loves painting at school. 😉
Now I want to do another painting night… maybe in a few months! Are any of you painters? Maybe I should get some materials for home, just for fun!
I especially enjoyed the time to decompress on that date night as it has been a hectic few weeks since the holidays for us with a lot of big transitions and change.
The biggest one is that Wes started school this week – eek! I’m having a lot of conflicting emotions about it – excited and nervous and relieved and also sad.
It has been a lot emotionally, and a lot logistically (so much new stuff to buy, and more to pack and prep every morning when getting out the door), but I know once he settles in he’ll really love being around other kids as he’s definitely an extrovert like the rest of us.
Transitions are hard, though. My mama heart is having a hard time with it all, especially when he cries at drop off. Oof.
Thankfully, yoga and running have been helping me decompress. I’m still enjoying 6am hot power yoga classes two or three times a week, and when I leave the studio I’m usually treated to a gorgeous sunrise.
I’m still in a solid twice a week running routine, too. I’m really loving running right after school drop off with a couple moms from school – it feels like a big gift to run in the daylight vs. super early in the dark.
Plus, running with company is my preference vs. running alone!
Another thing helping me decompress lately? Lots of good books! (book links are Amazon affiliate links, FYI)
I just finished reading Black Cake, which I really enjoyed, and I’m in the middle of reading Every Summer After right now which I am absolutely LOVING. It’s so sweet and well written.
Highly recommend if you like coming of age romance books! It’s one of those books where I can’t put it down and stay up too late reading and then think about it when I’m not reading, too.
I’m also partway through Michelle Obama’s new book (The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times) and am really enjoying it as well. I absolutely loved her first book, Becoming, so knew I wanted to read this one, too.
And that’s all I have for you today! I hope you have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you back here next week.
Fellow parents – any tips for smoothing out big transitions, either for Wes or for me? 🙂
