365 Inspirations—285: Date Night

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”—Mark Twain

 
For the record, we don't have an official date night. In fact, everyday and night are date days/nights for my husband and me because we enjoy each others company and spend a lot of time together at our favorite spots—walking around Greenlake, going to movies, going out to eat, hanging out in the house drinking tea and talking.

Tonight we went out to dinner at Steelhead Diner in Pike Place Market and went to see the Seattle Symphony play Mozart and a few others (we got free tickets from Yoon's yoga student who is in the symphony).

It was a wonderful fall evening downtown and all the leaves had changed colors. After our dinner, we got a pumpkin spice latte in Starbucks and watched the sun set below the Pike Place Market sign. I absolutely loved the conductor tonight. He was from England and told stories about each piece of music we were about to hear. I've never heard a conductor do that, but it was perfect and gave the music so much more context.

Now we are housesitting down on Puget Sound. The moon is out, the smell of salt water from the Sound is in the air, the cats are curled up in an armchair, jazz is playing on my husband's iPad mini and I'm eating a chocolate macaroon.

Sunset down at Pike Place Market

Can't get much better then this!

Do you have a specific night for date night, or do you celebrate every day/night?

365 Inspirations—42: Collaging with my Husband

This is my husband Yoon's collage

"The creation of an art collage from the soul is an inner journey that allows your soul to speak to you. Your soul's voice can be heard through the images, feelings and insights that surface..."—Kathleen Carrillo

Okay, I know. Collaging is probably not the norm for a "date night" with your significant other, but that's how my husband and I spent Saturday night and we were in bliss and completely content.

I got out all the art supplies, made a couple cups of Market Spice Tea, sliced up a Minneola (Have you had one? It's a cross between a tangerine and an orange—delish!), put on the smooth jazz station and got down to business!

Thankfully, my husband was happy and excited to join me in a night of collaging. Both of us LOVE talking about our dreams together and we love the creative process. I feel lucky to have a husband I can share my ideas and thoughts with. 

Collaging uses the right side of the brain. It's a completely free-flow kind of activity and easy to do. All you need are a bunch of magazines, some glue, colored paper, stickers, colored pencils, and any other art supplies. I learned from my best friend Lena, who is an art therapist, that drawing a circle with a plate on the paper is a way to focus the collaging project, but you can also just collage freely on the entire paper.

Both my husband and I chose to draw a circle with a plate. Then we got busy and quiet cutting out words and pictures that sparked our interests. I found a bunch of puffy stickers I must have bought a while ago with all kinds of travel images on them and used them in my collage.

After we finished, we spent time looking at each others collages. I realized that my husband and I are more alike in our interests than I thought. We both put images of travel, yoga, retreats and money (having money is helpful for doing the other things ^_^) on our collages.

The collage I created on Saturday night!

I have been doing collages for years and have led collage activities at yoga retreats with my husband. They are always one of the most inspiring activities we do at retreats.

I'm always amazed to find that things I've collaged about years ago have actually come true in my life. Through collaging, I often feel like I've found a portal into the unconsciousness. I see things in my collages that are reflections of things that have happened and things that are yet to be. They are all like "vision boards" for me. Doing them is so freeing.

When we are children, we actively and freeing participate in the creative process through art and play. I think this is very important for adults too!

Do you like to do art? Have you ever done collaging before?