dinner at eight :: a pretty picnic {and a challenge}

{Dinner at Eight is a special project I am doing with my friend Andi this year - planning date nights at home for our husbands every other week, putting the kids to bed early and being intentional about our marriages! Read more dinner at eight posts HERE!}
Andi and I thought that this Summer needed a little picnic date night at home something simple and pretty and easy to set up in our own backyard. And let me tell you guys this was SO simple - the only thing I was worried about was the weather holding and just after Mr. Gough came in the door the sunshine poked it's sweet face out and it made our backyard so beautiful and romantic. Our boys have vacation bible school this week at church so I told Chris to go drop them off and then hurry home because I had a surprise picnic dinner all ready for him.
I brought out a big toy basket to set some candles and dessert out and used a big vintage quilt that my grandmother made years ago. We kicked off our shoes and enjoyed each others company for awhile.
Little miss Josie joined us on the grass and got to partake in a little bit of everything but she was most excited about the striped straws that I put in the ice tea...can you blame her those straws are seriously so cool :)!
The menu was easy I bought a roasted chicken and made my favorite black bean and corn quinoa salad with french bread. We had strawberries and vegan chocolate chip cookies along with peach ice tea for dessert. I lit some candles in jars as per usual and also picked a handful of daisies from the yard for a little decoration.  
I had planned on us lingering outside to do some star gazing after the kids went to bed but both Chris and I are still sick (getting old) so we opted for a shorter date than usual. It was special nonetheless to be with my sweetheart for a few hours hearing about whats on his heart with work at UGM - ps. any of you local friends would you ever be up for serving with me at the Union Gospel Mission? Let me know I think we could organize something pretty awesome!

These date nights at home are always so much fun even if it is a little bit more of an effort the rewards are truly worth it when I think about how blessed I am to have intentional time as a couple!
So what about you? You guys ready to get involved too - Andi and I are excited to take the Dinner at Eight feature to the next level and challenge all of you to a little intentional date night once a month with your sweethearts too. It's going to be super simple our heart in the project is to really just encourage all of you who might feel tired and weary or not have the means to go out for a date on a regular basis. Dating our husbands at home is possible with a little bit of creativity and a willingness to laugh if it doesn't go perfectly. Each month we are going to come up with the theme for you and set up a linky on THIS PAGE (you can link from the heart on my navigation bar above) so that any time during the month you are welcome to plan a date night at home and then post about it on your blog, add the Dinner at Eight button to the post and then come back and link up so that we can all see and be inspired and encouraged.

For the rest of July the them is "a pretty picnic" we want to see how you guys would stage it. Inside, outside, a surprise, lots of pillows and a fire? The skies the limit and the only rule is you must link back to the Dinner at Eight page. Andi and I will choose a few favorite dates to feature on our blogs too!

 We hope that you all feel really encouraged and uplifted by this project and adding a bit of accountabilty really helps us we thought it might help you too. May you be blessed this month and have fun planning a sweet date night at home!

Read all about the project and get involved HERE!
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29 comments:

  1. "Inspiration and encouragement"! That's what it's all about. Love this and thank you for sharing.

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  2. What a great idea! (And beautiful, beautiful photography :)).

    My husband and I are long-distance so all the time we spend is 'intentional'. But I do appreciate the use of that word: intentionality in a marriage really is key (I've blogged about it in my '10 Ways to Make your Marriage Work post: http://this-good-life.blogspot.com/2011/04/10-ways-to-make-your-marriage-work.html).

    For hubby and I (we don't have children yet - God willing, one day!), our 'intentional dinner date' is every Friday night for the Sabbath (when we're together, that is). I cook an elaborate meal, bake fresh challah (braided Sabbath bread), he sets the table with our finery and I light Shabbat candles in my silver candlesticks. Then it is just a lovely night without TV, internet, technology and what-have-you. Just the two of us with song and prayers. It really is very special :)

    Anyway, I probably should also try a 'weekday' date night so thanks for the great tip!

    Blessings,
    This Good Life

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  3. Stunning pictures. I love everything about this post.

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  4. Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE that your fingernail polish is chipped?

    We will be following along with your Dinner at Eight, but Husb is too shy/reserved for me to photograph it ... so I will refrain from linking up or posting, but know that you've got a participator who lives in India!

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  5. Love all your adorable pics! I want to have a little picnic like this :)

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  6. I'm so excited about this challenge! I put "have date nights" on my 30 Before Thirty list and with just three months to do before I hit the big 3-0, we haven't had one. Eeek! We did pack up and move during that time, which put a major crimp in all plans, but I'm ready and raring to go to get started. Thanks for the jolt!

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  7. Those vegan cookies look amazing!! I want the recipe. :) Josie's face is precious...I just want to kiss those cheeks.

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  8. Love, love, LOVE! I'm up for the challenge!

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  9. gorgeous photos and styling of your picnic, rebekah! love the picnic idea!

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  10. This is so lovely! Such thought you put into this...I am inspired! p.s we put our kids to bed early many of nights and have dates at home...so much easier that way :)

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  11. What a wonderful idea! I've been wanting to do an backyard picnic dinner date for awhile and this gives me the perfect excuse to plan it. The images of your picnic are lovely.

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  12. Oh, goodness! Your daisy dishes are the same set of dishes my parents got for their wedding. They're still using them 33 years later! :) Love the picnic date and your beautiful photos!

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  13. Oh I am totally in!! I love this feature and your picnic date was so so cute! My husband and I have two sons, one of which has special needs and while we have found a wonderful babysitter, sometimes work, family needs, finances or overall tiredness keep us from getting our date nights. I LOVE this idea!
    http://jodiink.com

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  14. Ooh, I love it! I don't know if I'll be able to pull something together in the next two weeks, but hopefully I can jump in in August! Lovely!

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  15. What a great challenge! Your blog is just that to me - encouraging AND inspirational ... pointing to the things that matter more in life. I'm gonna plan a picnic for this month right now!

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  16. Love this idea, David & i try to do a regular date night- although haven't for a while. So will try to join in. I might have to do an indoor pretty picnic, it's winter over here!

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  17. Great date night post, as always. I really, really, need to think about doing this...maybe not every week, but at least once a month.

    If there is a recipe for both the salad and the vegan cookies, I'd love it.

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  18. You know I'm in...just need to tire Wes out and skips his nap so we can have dinner outside before 10pm ;) Although a starlit sky could be romantic.

    I love this dinner at 8 idea so much and am glad you're finally challenging others to do it too!

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  19. Great date! I am going to give this a shot too! Even without kids, I KNOW I spend too much time at my computer and not enough quality time with my guy. Thanks for the inspiration Rebekah. :)

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  20. These pictures are amazing! I love the blue hues in the glass, especially in combination with the colors in the daisies! Beautiful!

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  21. p.s. would LOVE to serve with you at UGM, rebekah!

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  22. This is such a wonderful idea! I really hope I can put it into action. Thanks for sharing it and the pictures as always are gorgeous.

    Hope you don't mind I'm sharing your idea on my blog as well!

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  23. This is absolutely adorable!! I love this idea.

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  24. Yay! Seems like you are on the mend? Picnic/dinner looked delicious...we are quinoa fans over here as well! And what is this about getting old? If you are getting old then I must be ancient! ;)
    By the way, would love to serve with you at UGM!

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  25. Midori - your funny and to answer, nope still feeling pretty sick but the picnic was not stressful it was actually quite fun to throw together...and the part about old was that being sick is getting old. your are so NOT old lady!

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  26. I've been admiring this little tradition of yours for a long while...but without following your good example. A party might be just the push I need to do this sweet thing for my husband - that would be great. :)

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  27. This is so incredibly inspiring, and exactly what my husband and I need right now. Thanks for this amazing idea! I can't wait to do play along.

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