Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Now, I know it's the holiday season and our "social" calendar is getting busy, but I have an odd question about you and SO...first, a bit of background (short, I promise!)

1-DH and I were in school for 2 years of our relationship and were dealing with DH's brother, who was sick and consequently passed, so we are not used to having free time
2-When school ended, we got married, making the time right before graduation busy, so we did not have to think about free time

So...onto the question...

Besides shopping (we are moving in the spring, so becoming more budget conscious, plus DH is not a big shopper), what do people do on the weekends??? We know movies...we know shopping...we know going out to eat, but unfortunately we are also knowing sitting home and watching TV...haha...thanks for your advice..we know when we move into the house, it's going to be taking care of it, but for now.......HELP!

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

SH and I have alot more fun inthe summer/warmer months. We go to the beach, go for walks, go hiking, go mountain biking, and having BBQs and parties at our place. We like to do anything outdoors and active. In the winter we usually do shopping, movies, and house work or renovations. We don't have as big get togethers in the winter, but usually small groups for a game night. Lately, I have been spending the entire day doing my schoolwork for my masters (and sneaking onto LIF while doing it) while DH watches or plays football.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Hey...trust me, we're not very exciting! friday nights is usually movie night. Usually, on Saturdays, I go to my grandfather's house till 1, 2 or 3 oclock. Sundays, we clean. We are incredibly boring, but somehow we have fun together! We'll take a bike ride, go throw the fishing line (DH looooves fishing), we'll take random rides to the water, visit his parents house, if his brother is in town, we'll head over there and see our niece, we hang out with our neighbors and watch a movie. We clean...oh, don't be jealous!

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

well, we're pretty busy, and only have a rare full-day off... but we force a few vacation days into our schedule over the year...

the spring day off = picking strawberries out east and going to the outlets

the summer day off = going peach picking followed by a visit to briermere for peaches and cream pie, and then a trip to greenport

our fall day off= going to the hamptons to visit our favorite shops (mine is loaves and fishes cookshop in bridgehampton) and have a cappuccino in e hampton

our winter day off= going to all the christmas markets (bryant park, grand central) followed by a walk to rockefellar center tree, an eggnog latte, and a trip to FAO schwartz to stare at life-sized stuffed animals


we also have periodic trips to MoMA the Met museum of art, SoHo, lincoln center.... and an annual vacation to europe

hope this gives you a few ideas....

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Well besides errands we visit family and friends. I dont feel like we ever do anything like go to the movies and do fun stuff but we are busy almost every weekend!

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Ice Skating
Paint a Pot
Museums
Movies
bowling
Laser Tag (get a group)

Sometimes we just get a bunch of movies from blockbuster and try out new recipes at home

This is really corny but we have a group of friends that love board games as much as we do, so we get together for snacks a night of games. We play Cranium, Taboo, Apples to Apples, Trivial Pursuit etc...

Like I said corny, but I love it.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Sometimes we get our friends together to do mundane tasks like food shopping together, or we used to go to the laundromat altogether when none of us had our own washer and dryer and we'd play pool (the laundromat in Smithtown has a pool table). Borders is always a great place when you don't want to spend money, but you don't want to hang out at home. We'll browse for a while then just sit down and read some magazines together.
Honestly, though, most weekends, we just chill out and stay in our pjs. We run around so much during the week that we don't really like to do much on the weekends. We just enjoy being together as a family and if we get bored, we just hop in the car and take a ride.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Funny everyone mentioned board games. We played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture at a ski house rental a few years ago and everyone had a ball. DH and I want to do that more often so we just bought the 80s edition and the Best Of edition. A lot of our weekends fly by. Some are very active, some are not at all.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Our weekends are normally usual stuff (laundry, vacuuming etc). Movies a lot...dinner.....taking the dog to the dog park. Sometimes grocery shopping or Target, etc. Occasionally we will have social plans (lol) but most of our weekends are standard and we both like it that way!

LONGER!!!

I hear ya. In addition to prior plans (parties, holidays, special occasions, etc), we mostly do a LOT of house projects that take up our time and exhaust us. That really is the bulk of our time with the way we have been doing improvements on our home.

We also go out to dinner and go shopping often and try new places whenever possible. A big favorite thing of ours to do is try restaurants on aol's best of LI list of favorite restaurants or based on Zagat's. We try to find our favorite pizza, steaks, burger, Italian, Chinese, Mexican food, etc. We find it fun b/c I come home and post my review online. It is a running joke of ours.

Sometimes go see a band or a concert, a park, a museum, go ouy with/visit family or friends. Another thing we really love to do is to take drives to towns we are not familiar with or really like. We also take drives down random roads to use our navigation system. We love taking drives with the feeling of such freedom, never having to worry about getting lost and just drive anywhere. We have visited almost every LI town at this point. We love looking at houses and planning what our future home (and dream homes) will look like, etc. We often take a ride to the water, go to Jones Beach in the evening to walk the boardwalk, etc.

We also try to do things in LI that Newsday recommends (based on seasons, such as festivals or fairs). Around the holidays, we love to drive to see Christmas decorations.

We just found a new favorite, Guitar Hero for PS2. We are hooked on that. Hmm, what else? And would you believe we are bored so often!!!

Message edited 12/3/2007 3:01:43 AM.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

DH & I use the weekends to do things around the house like mini projects, shopping & then just vegging out. Both of us are on a constant go Monday-Friday. We rarely spend anytime together those days with exception to dinner (on a good night). So on a day like yesterday, we headed out to the stores early & then by noon we were home vegging out on the couch watching movies & Football.

Friday nights we usually do dinner with my BIL & his family either at our house or ours. My DH & his brother are very close & I am with my SIL. So we enjoy that time together.

Saturday nights we do dinner with my IL's. Sunday night is our night to do whatever we please.

In the summer months, we enjoy going to the beach or being in my IL's pools. Once the temps get colder, we spend a lot more time in the house. Weekends though are also used to go to our house in PA or visit with my family...

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

we always have such a busy schedule that it gets frustrating at times. SOme days we just want to sit home and do nothing.

I have a big family so weekends are usually visiting our family members if not bday parties, anniv parties, etc

If we have free time we usually just watch a movie, take the dog out, stuff like that

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

We are pretty busy, especially after DS entered the scene.

Before DS we usually hung out in Manhattan a lot..went to museums...shopping...eating....now we do chores, gym, music class with DS, walks along the water,cleaning, visit family

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

We love having a free w/e day to just relax drink some wine and watch a movie at home, we usually have something going on either with family or friends.
We have this w/e free so we are going into the city to see the tree and walk around Bryant Park and we have reservations at Blue Water Grill. There are plenty of fun things to do out on LI and the city but sometimes you need to seek them out. There are a lot of holiday light shows going on right now. Oh and I love to walk through town (Sayville) and grab a hot chocolate!
Enjoy the free time you have now b/c once you are in your home there won't be any left!

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Ah to have your problem!

Granted, it's not like my weekends are full of fabulous fun, but I wish I had that kind of free time on the weekends where I was just looking for stuff do.

Right now, it's like you said, once you own a house, the projects are never ending. And nevermind once you have an active toddler...

But all that aside, let me fantasize for a second what I'd do if I had a good amount of downtime on the w/e... I'd pursue my hobby (photography) - just go out and shoot. Those are some of my best memories from my college days - spending a weekend in the city shooting and then spending hours in the darkroom (except now I'd spend hours on Photoshop )

I'd take salsa lessons...

I'd spend time studying for more certifications...

I'm not a huge fan of cooking but every now and then I get in the mood and I'll try an ambitous recipe.

I'd also entertain at home... card games/game nights or dinner parties.

Re: Pathetic question re:weekends (long)

Thanks, everyone! Looking at your lists, we DO those things...I guess sometimes it doesn't feel like we do, but we are definitely enjoying the free time before house and kids! As for games, we discovered guitar hero 2 and 3 and love them! I love playing games, but DH not so much, so we usually try to get social and have people come and play, too..thanks again!!