A date night experiment

Friday night, Mark planned a little date night for us. I ended up working until around 7 p.m., so by the time I got home, played with Nolan and got ready, we were headed out around 8 p.m. and I was starving. Since we got Nolan, date nights are a bit more sparce, so I get extra excited for them.

Mark and I were fortunate to get quite a few gift cards for Christmas (most of our family knows us well and knew we are trying to save money right now), so we used one of our gift cards from Ashley and Austin to our favorite sushi spot, Densetsu. This place is amazing.

Anyway, back to the point of this post, the experiment. I left our apartment without a phone... intentionally. I sat my phone on our kitchen table and walked out, without mentioning this to Mark. See, Mark and I try to leave our phones on the table when we're on a date, but let's be honest, I always find some reason to sneak mine away.

As soon as we shut the door to our apartment, I immediately got the feeling that I needed to go back in and grab my phone. I mean, I'd just uploaded a photo to Instagram... how was I going to know who liked it? (How sad am I?) But I stayed strong and we drove to the restaurant.

I first noticed a difference in the car. Normally, I'll grab my phone at a stop light and scroll through Twitter or Instagram, but instead I asked Mark about his day at work. When we got to the restaurant, I read through the menu, instead of checking my phone while forcing Mark to decide. While we waited for our food, I interacted with my husband with zero distraction. Did I feel a little lost without my phone? Of course.

After dinner, Mark and I drove around Plano to check out a few potential neighborhoods (if we are able to move in May) then went to a place in Legacy for a beer before going home. When I got home, I did have a few worried texts from people who'd been trying to get a hold of me for the past four hours. However, it was the first night in awhile that my focus was 100% on my husband and 0% elsewhere.

I'm not saying I should be without a phone anytime we go on a date, but I do think I have a problem with distracting myself with my phone. In five years, I don't want to look back on the date nights I've had and remember being engrossed in my phone. I want to remember the fun times I am lucky enough to have with my incredible husband. I definitely think I need to start working much harder on getting my nose out of my phone moving forward! Life is a lot more fun that way. :)

Ps, since I didn't have my phone and therefore didn't take any photos of our date night, I have included this hilarious photo of me eating lunch yesterday. This is what my meal time has become.