I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding like a serious alcoholic, but oh well. I know there's a least a couple folks on this board that will sympathize with my dilemma.
The majority of our "entertainment" involves drinking. We go to the bar regularly or have parties with friends who are also big drinkers. We've had a bit of a health scare that is most likely going to force the end of this lifestyle so to speak.
So, um, what do we do now? I know there's the obvious things like play board games, go to movies, etc. but surely there's things that I'm not thinking of. FWIW we don't live in a big city. It also rains a good 7/8/9 months out of the year. We can occupy the day time just fine, but it's the evenings where I'm drawing a blank.
And yes I know we can do all the same things as before and just not drink, but that's not the suggestion I'm looking for here.
When we're with friends, we typically go to someone's house. Sometimes we all go out to a casual restaurant together, but more often than not we just cook at home. We'll watch tv/movies, sometimes play Apples to Apples, but mostly we just sit around and bullshit.
Other activities you can do with friends ... cards or poker 9play for pennies or candy if you don't want to lose a lot of money), an outside game (cornhole, horseshoes), bowling.
If it's just me and MH at home, we'll play darts, Kinnect, cook something together, or we just sit around and read. If we're going out on a weekend, we like to find antiques stores and thrift shops we've never visited before. We like camping, too.
There's a curling league about half an hour from us. We keep saying that we ought to attend their open house when their season starts up.
Ride my horse, run my dogs, exercise at the gym, head to the beach, have sex..all fun things
Ooh, plus 1 for my "reasons why we should get a dog" argument!
Seriously! Since we gotten our puppy 5 months back, we have lost 45 lbs between my other dog, DH and myself..1 puppy = play time 100 X's a day or they eat your furniture.
Watch TV. Read. Play board games with friends. Tailgate. Watch baseball (live and TV). Concerts. Go for a walk. Swim. MarioKart tournaments with friends. Go out to eat. Volunteer at church. SLEEP!
We like to go out to eat, go to the movies, go to the park with our dog, shop, etc. When we are hanging out at home we play video games, watch TV/movies on netflix, and read. We are both bookworms.
Are you not able to drink at all anymore? Can you drink in moderation? Are both of you making this change or just one of you?
It's still unclear if moderation is ok, but temporarily it's none. We both need to drink less (and out of fairness to the other person), but only one of us has to.
I know a lot of people on this board frown upon this, but SO and I like playing video games together. And seperately. Nights when he's not around I'll play the Sims 3 for a bit, then I try to do something not electronic to balance it out.
I like taking long walks in a big fancy housing development near my house. The library in my town is just under an hour walk, the perfect distance to take up most of a morning. It combines reading and walking, my two favorite time wasters.
Usually, I do CrossFit. It is healthy but we have a lot of fun and hang out outside of classes. H golfs. We used to volunteer together at an animal shelter and that was really fun and also rewarding.
Together, we go out to eat, see movies, and have people over a lot. Usually when we host people, there's some alcohol involved, but our couple BFFs don't drink so it's not vital to the party.
The reason I ask is that I am the 'lighter" drinker out of the two of us and still enjoy going to bars, hanging out @ friend's houses and and hosting parties. They aren't the drunk fests we used to have but we are in our late 30s early 40s now so things just slowed down a bit. I just don't drink as much / order water or something else.
Do you bowl? Bowling leagues are a good weeknight outing. Weekends we do dinner/ listen to live music/ hang out at our house with friends or friend's houses.
We do not drink and have no problem having fun. I exercise, host pot luck dinners at home, volunteer, knit, read, do home renovations, see local theatre productions, movies, concerts, kayak, hike, walk, bike, ski,
i run a lot, and do lots of 5 and 10K's (DH will do more with me next year, he did one this year) we went to baseball games and we go fishing and hunting. for practice we do the video shoot for archery.
i hate the poconos for snowboarding so i refuse to go, but have no problem taking a flight to CO for a weeks worth of boarding, and we have friends out there who can get a cabin and it's always great to see them.
I spend a lot of the evening cooking and we just enjoy really nice meals together.
I know a lot of people on this board frown upon this, but SO and I like playing video games together. And seperately. Nights when he's not around I'll play the Sims 3 for a bit, then I try to do something not electronic to balance it out.
I like taking long walks in a big fancy housing development near my house. The library in my town is just under an hour walk, the perfect distance to take up most of a morning. It combines reading and walking, my two favorite time wasters.
Lol, I love the Sims! I've been playing it ever since the original sims came out back in the day. I just got the sims 3 for xbox and I love it... not so good for my procrastination habit though.
I know a lot of people on this board frown upon this, but SO and I like playing video games together. And seperately. Nights when he's not around I'll play the Sims 3 for a bit, then I try to do something not electronic to balance it out.
I like taking long walks in a big fancy housing development near my house. The library in my town is just under an hour walk, the perfect distance to take up most of a morning. It combines reading and walking, my two favorite time wasters.
Lol, I love the Sims! I've been playing it ever since the original sims came out back in the day. I just got the sims 3 for xbox and I love it... not so good for my procrastination habit though.
I played the first Sims too! I purposely held off getting the Sims 2 in college because I would never have gotten anything done. Now that I'm out I play the Sims 3 a lot. I still don't have Pets though!
We aren't big partiers at all, so usually when we are out with friends it's going out to eat dinner or dessert, then over to someones house. Depending on the house we'll watch TV, have a YouTube party of funny videos, or play things like Mario Cart or Rock Band. There is sometimes drinking (like for holidays or some other celebration) but only three of the six of us drink, so usually not.
We'll occassionally go out to do things like museum exhibits someone wants to see, fairs/festivals, Shakespeare in the park, and lately we've actually been going to quite a few concerts.
When it's just H and I, we're usually watching TV, or playing our own favorite computer games. Sometimes I'll read or work on a craft project, and H will nap. LOL! We're kind of boring. Sometimes we'll work on a puzzle together, or a house project. We tease the cats.
Post by ondaflipside on Aug 28, 2012 11:39:34 GMT -5
Hike. Start a dodgeball/softball team\league. I usually find things from our local Groupon/Amazondeals/Living Social/Goldstar/Bloomspot activity deals for things like food tasting events, boat cruise, college football, etc.
I have all the books I could need, and what more could I need than books? I shall only engage in commerce if books are the coin. -- Catherynne M. Valente
Post by ILikeSloths on Aug 28, 2012 12:48:08 GMT -5
I love outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, walking, even just sitting and talking at the park when the weather is nice.
Board games and drinks with friends, exercising at the gym, browsing the internet for recipes and other ideas, watching trashy tv, exploring nearby cities and local shops, visiting various Farmer's Markets.
ETA: I also love traveling. I spend a good portion of my time just doing research for future trips, even if nothing is set in stone.
Post by marchmom06 on Aug 28, 2012 12:52:06 GMT -5
Are you in Seattle? Just ask because of your rain comment. :-) We have small kids, so our free time is limited, but I run, do races, & we hike, do local day trips, read, and do things around the house. We also see friends, and before we had kids - we did a lot of sports leagues.
Are you in Seattle? Just ask because of your rain comment. :-) We have small kids, so our free time is limited, but I run, do races, & we hike, do local day trips, read, and do things around the house. We also see friends, and before we had kids - we did a lot of sports leagues.
We still go out but we will go out to try new restaurants as instead of going to a bar. Truthfully though I am having the hardest time with this. We have been watching a ton of Dexter and redoing our house. These are nearly as fun as going out and getting drinks.
In the summer we play softball, in the winter we are both on a bowling team. You don't have to be good to bowl, and you could find a league where it's couples, so you and DH and another couple. It's fun, no drinking necessary.
I workout 5-6 nights a week. I am training for a marathon which takes up a ton of my time.
Tonight I am making jewelry/playing board games with a friend. (Her brother is living with her right now and he can't drink, so there won't be any alcohol involved) Wednesday - I have an ice skating lesson. Thursday - Dinner with a friend.
When I don't have activities planned after work I go to the gym, make dinner, watch TV, walk the dog, and go to bed.
I like to read, watch tv/movies, do yoga (on my own and classes), bake. I need to pick up a creative hobby again. Maybe sketching - I did that at one point.
With friends we have dinner parties (well, we have people over and eat. It's not really as fancy as "dinner party" sounds). Play board games. Play Wii games. Mostly just sit around and talk, sometimes with wine but equally often with tea or coffee or pop. Once in a while, go out: zoo, movie, casino, walk by the river, restaurant, for ice cream, to a concert. We don't have a drinking crowd of friends.