Spring is here!
Here’s one of the best parts of spring. The weather, even for most of you in colder climates, is finally getting bearable without seven layers of clothing. There’s no more running from you house to your car to wherever you’re going in as little time as possible to keep from freezing. Which means that outdoor activities abound! And I’m not just talking about the kind the squirrels and birds have been entertaining me with in the mornings as I walk my dog, although, hey – set yourself free.
Here’s the first thing you do. Most restaurants and grocery stores have a little free newspaper haven near their front doors. Leave the apartment finder and the auto finder where they are. Pick up the ones that have art on the front, or a political cartoon. Now, often these issues have a rather liberal leaning, but even if you’re a hard-core conservative, pick it up anyway. You don’t need to read the articles. Oh, and if you’re easily shocked, you’ll probably want to stay away from the personal ads in the back, too.
The reason you want this little guy is because it’s full of all the free stuff there is to do in your area for the coming week. You’ll find plenty of things to do that will only require a few bucks for a bottle of water. If this hasn’t been part of your world, you’ll likely be amazed to find out how much free stuff there is to do where you live. There are always street festivals, although sometimes they’re in parking lots, but the concept is still fantastic. You get to wander around, seeing new things, watching people and maybe even learning something new.
Last year, I went to a Hot Sauce Festival for the first time in my life. I don’t care for hot sauce, but on a day where the heat index was 110F, I grabbed my umbrella to keep at least some of the sun off and headed to a small town only ten minutes away to walk up and down their closed-off main street, checking out the wares of local people as well as the big dogs, like Chihuahua and Texas Pete. It turned out to have a lot more than hot sauce. There were meat rubs (settle down, Beavis) free beer, wine tastings and live music. The local library was selling its old and beat up books for literally pennies. The local greyhound rescue league had a tent set up to inform people about the care and love of their favorite dogs. It was a blast!
There are events like this all over the place, in small towns as well as big cities. You just have to look for them, because often they don’t have an advertising budget and have to rely on the free papers to get the word out. The local news stations also usually have a community calendar, so even if you don’t watch, record the news reports and fast forward to see what might be showing there.
If you have a Farmers Market nearby, that’s a fantastic date idea. Google a recipe for salsa or a veggie dip or something, and head to the market to wander around looking for the ingredients. They always have free samples, so it’s fun to taste things and try what other people have come up with. Then you can go home and work together in the kitchen to wash and chop what you found and create something tasty together. Some great conversations happen in the kitchen!
Got any rivers or lakes in your area? Rent a paddle boat or a canoe and toodle around! Bring a ball and kick it around a bit, and have a little picnic snack ready. Bring bread chunks and feed the ducks and geese. If you’re lucky, there will be babies this time of year, so you get the added bonus of sweet fuzzy ducklings and goslings being impossibly adorable to add to the whole adventure.
Go to museums, even if you’ve been there before. There’s no need to treat a museum adventure like you need to know all about what’s in it to impress a girl. Make it fun. Play hide and seek around the exhibits. Bring a camera and take pictures posing in the skeleton of the mammoth shark mouth. Wear costumes. Make out in the corner! Bring some music, share and earpod and dance her around.
My local art museum plays movies on an outdoor screen on Friday nights, and you can bring picnics and coolers. The admission is only $2. Think about how much fun that would be, sitting on the lawn with drinks, watching other people, creating an “us bubble” as you lounge around in the twilight to the tune of some campy 80′s movie or an impossibly self-indulgent art film.
I can hear the doubters out there saying, “But that’s not what I’m into,” or “That’s not my thing.” Come on, people. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got, right? So branch out. Expand. MAKE it into something you’re into!
I hear some of you others, too, saying, “Yeah, but what if I choose something that SHE’S not into! Where does THAT leave me?” Well, let me tell you. If you’re all worried about if she’ll like it or not, she’ll read that on you and start to worry because you’re worried. So fix your frame first. As long as you didn’t portray yourself as someone entirely different when you met, she’s there to find out more about YOU. So drop the excuses, pick up a free paper and let us know what you came up with!
