Date Night: May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

Stewart and I haven't gone out the two of us for dinner and a movie since I don't know when. It may have been before H was born so almost six years ago. We've gone out to dinner or we've gone out to a movie, but never both because of the time. Dinner and a movie = five hours. Five hours = $60 babysitting fee. Add that on to the cost of the dinner and the movie and it quickly becomes the cost groceries for a couple weeks. I haven't even considered going to see a movie in the theater lately because I've been so scarred by my last theater movie experience. Hangover II. It took months to recover from the visual of male appendages blown up to epic proportions. The things I do to support Korean actors!

But something has been brewing for the past couple of months. As I've been using Wikets to recommend my favorite things and places, I've noticed there is a book that people mention over and over again. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is the book that comes up repeatedly as a new user's favorite book for their first rec on the system. It is the series that people re'rec and wishlist and rave about, with fans exclaiming their excitement in scoring tickets to sold out opening night performances. With so many people rec'ing it, I had to see what all the hype was about, to see whether the community was genuinely rec'ing it or just hopping on the train with everyone else.

I think I read the first one in a matter of hours, late into the night morning hours. I couldn't put it down. I had to see if Katniss Everdeen won the Hunger Games. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that she does, since there would be no second and third book if she hadn't. But the way she won, was really ingenious and made me excited about the rest of the series. As soon as I finished the book, I told Stewart that we were going to see the movie. Actually I told him I was going to see the movie. I never thought we could both see it because of the aforementioned cost factor. But an angel family from our church pushed us to have a date night and agreed to take care of all three of our kids. Baby E has been exhibiting signs of stranger danger so a regular babysitter wouldn't even have been an option. But Baby E had been falling asleep in this angel woman's arms since the first month of her life so we were all set. Yippee!

When we got there I took some photos to commemorate our experience. The line, Stewart standing at the end of the very long line, and my ticket. I would have taken more except someone reported to security a woman wearing a purple jacket taking photos of the line and they came over to tell me to cut it out. I guess I must look like someone with criminal intentions. Back to the line. It was really amazing the diversity that made up the line. All ages and races; families, singles, teenagers--the entire row in front of us was made up of senior citizen couples. The woman who had organized the outing brought baggies of snacks, one for each couple.

Everything was exciting and fun, starting with the previews. There was one for the Avengers movie, the new Spiderman movie, then the next Twilight, all showing lots of fighting and killing. Then there was the preview for The Titanic. It was really interesting to see that showcased as "from the director of Avatar." It was ironic that nothing had been said during the the previews for the other films, but for this one, when the ship starts to sink, a little voice behind us said, "soooo scary." Then the movie started and two and half hours flew by. Even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, it was thrilling to see how the director had put what was on paper onto the screen. At first the Peeta character really disappointed me, I think I imagined him as a stockier, younger Paul Walker. But he definitely grew on me as the movie progressed and by the end I was rooting for him. Stewart said later that Jennifer Lawrence wasn't emaciated enough to portray Katniss and he does have a point there. It was all over too soon!

The date wasn't over, though, we still had dinner to come. I used the explore function in Wikets to find the closest restaurant that someone had rec'ed and it didn't disappoint. There was one that was in the same shopping center that I had actually put on my wishlist: Alexander's Steakhouse. Sous vide beet salad, ribeye the size of Stewart's head, truffled mac and cheese and truffled french fries. I've been eating salad ever since. So rich and so delicious, honestly the person who recommended it really knew his stuff. Oh, and complimentary cotton candy for dessert. A perfect end to a perfect date. Hopefully it'll be less than six years till the next one. May the Odds be Ever in Our Favor that it is! 

You can find Hunger Games and other great recs through the iOS app Wikets. If you sign up using my promo code "randommommy" you'll get an extra 200 bonus points and be that much closer to earning an Amazon GC. I work as a consultant to Wikets but all opinions in this post are my own.