Out of Control

So I'm reading a book that suggests couples go on a "No Control" date. What in the world is that, you ask? It's a trust building exercise where one person takes COMPLETE control of the date while the other COMPLETELY surrenders. Allow me to explain; the person in control plans the entire date--where you go, what time to go, what you do, etc. He/she also picks out the other person's clothes, orders his/her food at dinner, drives to and from destinations, etc. It's all about letting go of control and surrendering to your husband/wife/life partner/significant other/boyfriend/girlfriend/baby daddy--you get the point, and if I must say so myself, it's a lot harder than it sounds!

So I mention this to R and his first words are "Sure! That sounds like fun! You go first!" (Meaning I'll be the one in control and he surrenders). My thoughts are something along the lines of "Yay! I am loving this already!" : )

So Saturday morning rolls around, and I am beginning to plan our "No Control" day date. I want to go up to Raleigh to pick up my engagement ring that is getting fixed. We'll walk around the mall a bit, get massages from those Chinese folk in the mall (who by the way, are awesome!), then go eat and afterward, we'll end our night with a hearty laugh at the Ben Bailey comedy show.

So R doesn't know any of this, except that we're going to Raleigh. I pick out his "outfit" which he insisted on changing out of because his pants were too big. Okay. No biggie. I pick out a shirt for him to wear. He doesn't like it. I pick out another one. Again, it "doesn't look good with the jeans". So HE picked out a shirt and I "okayed" it. Lol Surrendering is hard! (I just figured that when the time comes for R to pick out my outfit, I'll have a little leeway. I'll keep you posted!) :)

Anyway, he looks good, I look good, the dogs are fed, so we leave. We arrive at the mall, do a little shopping, get our massages, and before you know it, it's dinner time. Now let me explain a little something about Big R. He LOVES good food, everything about it. The way it tastes, the way it smells, the way it looks, the environment of the restaurant, the waitstaff, the temperature, the presentation of the food, the silverware....I could go on and on. Needless to say, I wanted a happy man so I was sure to look up reviews on this particular restaurant that we had never been to before to make sure it would be appropriate for our date. The reviews were quite impressive. On top of that, you had to have reservations to get in, so it MUST be good, right?!

Wrong. We pull up and--quite frankly, were a little confused. The name of this so called "nice place" was The Old Bar. And that's exactly what it was, an extremely old bar. Cracks in the walls, cobwebs in the corner, lit up Heineken signs on the wall, the whole shebang. Not exactly our type of place, nor our idea of a "nice restaurant" but whatever. We had reservations and decided to give it a whirl. Risky, I know, but the food actually wasn't so bad (minus the hair that came in my chocolate cake, of course), but that's another story.....

Funny thing, as I'm looking over the menu deciding what to order for R, I say "Okay, I'm thinking either the Steak Fajitas or the Flat Iron Steak. His reply, "Both sound good, but what about the BBQ Ribs?!" Hahaha, okay, I can take a hint! He got the ribs and I got the chicken fajitas. Both were delish!

Now, in the past, R has not totally loved the idea of going to a comedy show. Mostly because the audience is usually drunk and the jokes are often political, religious, or racist, and coincidently--not funny. But this show was completely the opposite! We laughed our little heads off! Have you ever seen Cash Cab on discovery channel? Ben Bailey, the host of the show, was our comedian, and let me tell you what, that man is freaking hilarious!!! His jokes were clean and funny and we are still laughing at them! Seriously! It was so awesome!! What a great day it turned out to be!

Anyway, here are a few pictures we took while waiting for the show to start....






Turns out we still need a little help in the "surrendering" department, but as far as fun goes, we're your people! Next week will be interesting when I have to surrender to his desires. This will be entertaining, I'm sure!

Stay tuned...