by Leonie
Last week I read books 4 and 5 of the Selection series by Kiera Cass. And while I am not a fan of the protagonist – uuugh, just shut up, Eadlyn. Gah. You’re so annoying! – and I think the ending was absolutely uninspired and not at all well crafted, I do enjoy the overall premise of this royalized version of The Bachelorette.
Eadlyn, the princess of a future post-war USA (called Illeá in the books), invites 35 suitors into the royal palace in order to find a husband and prince consort. Throughout the story, she struggles to organize interesting and fun activities through which she can get to know these potential ‘significant others’ better. This made me dream up my own date ideas which I think might be perfect for getting to know someone and maybe see a different, more personal side of them (applicable to all genders btw).
The first idea I had was actually inspired by an interview I watched years ago in which a singer talked about reading poetry to his then girlfriend. They sat in a broken down car (its tires were gone so it was sitting on bricks) and hung crystals in the windows. In the evening, the sun would reflect off of these crystals and make beautiful kaleidoscope patterns on the dashboard. And I, for one, think that sounds like a most perfect evening: simply sitting on a comfortable, worn-out car seat next to my date in a shower of colorful light, listening to them read poetry to me until the sun is setting. I get the warm and fuzzies just thinking about it.
The next one is a little bit more adventurous, maybe. I don’t really like going on sports dates, so this is probably the closest I’d come to it: the playground. Now hear me out: We all remember being thirteen and sitting on the swing set next to someone we actually kinda sorta really liked and it was sweet and easy and lovely. If you’re still a child at heart and you’d love to spend an afternoon hanging upside-down from the monkey bars talking about life, then you’d have a swell time on that date. I love going to the playground (and no, that’s not a euphemism). Takes you back to simpler times, man.
For us creative folk, there’s really only one way of definitively getting to know someone: show them art. Not necessarily your own, but the way a person reacts to or feels about avant-garde sculptures, black and white Korean films, trumpet solo-concerts or any other type of art does speak volumes to their character. Personally, I enjoy going to the museum, especially if there’s an exhibit on impressionism, and talking with my date about the artists and the paintings and what they feel and think about it all. If my date is open to such an experience (and doesn’t just assume museums are lame because all they remember is the seemingly endless row of Habsburg portraits they had to look at on a school trip in 6th grade) then an interesting, thoughtful conversation is bound to happen. And easy as that I’ll get to know them a lot better. Plus we can always go have a drink afterwards and continue that conversation in a more lively environment, so win-win!
And now for the ultimate, most perfectest, incomparably magnificent of all date ideas:
the bookstore *angels singing Hallelujah up above*
Seriously, I would pass up a hundred dinner-dates for one day spent at a bookstore with my adorable, smart and charming significant other who totally only exists in my head. We’d browse for a little while, quickly making our way through cookbooks and bad crime dramas. We’d spend some time with autobiographies and pop-culture photo books. The graphic novels would keep us for an hour or so before we’d split up in the fantasy/sci-fi section. After a little bit, of course I’d go looking for my date and find them with an exceptionally concentrated expression in front of a shelf which carries my favorite author. And as they notice me approaching they ask “May I buy you a book?” as though we were in a smokey bar and they just offered to buy me a Dry Martini (or, since it’s me, a rum & iced tea seems more likely). We would sit on the carpet floor and read out the funniest passages we could find, cracking up to the point of tears. In the end we’d leave the store and go to the nearest coffee shop where we might spend the foreseeable future talking about our favorite fictional stories and relationships and plot-holes and characters. It would be grand.
If you have any other cool, sweet, fun or romantic date ideas you’d like to share, go ahead and leave a comment! We love reading your thoughts ❤
(Also, this is definitely the softest looking post I have ever created…)
Scapegrace Heroine 