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Awesome Activity You Can Do With Your Husband-Friends

Marriage Mondays: Awesome Activity You Can Do With Your Husband & Friends {& Link-Up}

Awesome Activity You Can Do With Your Husband-Friends

Keith and I had an absolute blast last night with some of our closest friends; all married couples.  So much fun I wouldn’t even dream of keeping it to myself.

While traveling the world last summer, and interviewing couples happily married 25-years or more, I came across this very cool activity.

A couple in Perth, Australia got together with their closest married friends -nine couples in all- every other month to travel the world…without ever leaving home.

Allow me to explain.

This group of friends created passports for each person, including customized country passport stamps, and every other month they’d visit a new country by way of food and decor.

A different couple hosts the event each time, finding the perfect restaurant (or turning their home into one), and then the group all travels to the chosen location together.

The hosts are charged with knowing all about the country they’ve chosen and throughout the evening they share different things about the culture, food, people, etcetera.  It’s a beautiful way to get to know the entire world (while spending time with your friends) at a fraction of the cost.

After I returned from my travels, Keith and I invited nine of our favorite couples to join us in creating our very own World on a Plate (WOAP).

The funny (yet oh-so-sad) thing is we were the first hosts and chose our favorite ethnic restaurant.  The problem was -and we didn’t realize this until it was time to create the country passport stamp- we chose a restaurant that served Pan-Asian food.  

Hmmmm…you mean there’s no country called Pan-Asia? How’d that happen?

We had a wonderful time but that definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to start off the American version of WOAP. This time around, my sister and her Dominican-born husband hosted us -eight couples in total- at a real country: the Dominican Republic.  It was some of the most fun we have ever had with our wonderful group of friends.

When we arrived, they had the Dominican Republic flag waving outside and when we entered their home, we were all greeted by a colorful sign that read, “Kings WOAP Dominican Republic Night” and leis in the colors of the Dominican flag.  Each of us put on our leis as we entered the home.

The decor was colorful and festive.  Dominican music filled the air as drinks and a 4-course dinner that began with albondigas (meatballs) and hit a high note with sudado de pollo (sweaty chicken) and carne de res guisada (braised beef with rice and beans) filled our stomachs.

We ate and ate until our tummies could not possibly take in one more thing.  Carlos, my sister’s husband, told stories of growing up in the Dominican Republic and gave us a look into his country (he doesn’t like desserts or candy because as a kid he’d climb up trees and hack off a piece of fruit if he wanted something sweet).

It was a fabulous night and a wonderful way to encourage happiness in marriage.  When you get together with a group of married friends, and the only thing you focus on is all that’s beautiful in life, nights like this carry on with us long after the evening has come to an end.

Give World on a Plate a try with your own group of married friends. I promise it’ll be well worth the effort.

QUESTION: Do you and your married friends have any special activities you enjoy doing together?

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

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5 Reasons You Should Have a Marriage Mentor

5 Reasons You Should Have a Marriage Mentor

5 Reasons You Should Have a Marriage Mentor

Mark Twain once said, “No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.” 

Although my love feels pretty doggone close to perfect, I have to agree with Twain.  

Once you’ve been married that long, you know how you will respond to nearly every challenge life throws your way.  You’ve been tested and come through the fire like pure gold.

This is why when I was recently asked by a newlywed for advice, I offered this: Only listen to marital advice from couples whose marriages you’d like to emulate.  

I told her, just as she would never consider taking financial advice from a person in the middle of their second bankruptcy, she should reject advice from those in the midst of a miserable marriage.

In one ear…out the other.

This is not to say there isn’t great wisdom gained through failure. But that should always be put in perspective and held in lesser regard than wisdom gained through proven success.

What I have discovered over the years is couples successful in marriage, are oftentimes those who’ve modeled their relationship after thriving ones.  They disregard the negative comments and choose to believe they can create their own happiness.  

Those who surround themselves with couples who never tear down their spouse, only build up their marriage, and challenge the notion that happily ever isn’t possible, end up with a relationship filled with genuine happiness.

A marriage mentor need not be one married for ages.  There is one couple Keith and I love to be around who are the same age as us.  The difference is they’ve been together since college; roughly twice as long as we have.  What is most important is their relationship is tried and true and thus we’ve gained a much higher marriage IQ from being around them.

So here are the 5 reasons we’ve surrounded ourselves with marriage mentors and why you should too:

1. They help keep you on track.  Just being in their presence will remind you how wonderful life can be when you have a loving partner by our side.

2. They will not allow you to sweat the small stuff.  Try complaining about your spouse to a long-standing couple who are genuinely happy.  They will put a mirror in your face so fast.  Speaking of which…

3. They will put a mirror in your face.  Rarely, is a spouse always at fault.  It takes two to tango, baby.

4. They provide a positive perspective in a world headed in the opposite direction.  Let’s face it, marriage has been getting a bad rap these days.  ”Happily married” has become an oxymoron.  Marriage mentors help you see your relationship through the prism of time and love.

5. They are living proof that real love can and should last a lifetime.  This constant reminder will help you ward off any negative thoughts and encourage you to keep fighting for the relationship you most desire.  It will help you to design your happily ever after.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

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THE NEW YORK TIMES® BEST-SELLING BOOK: It’s been described as, “Like Eat, Pray, Love but not down on marriage.” Make sure to check out the Happy Wives Club book.  I had the great honor of traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, interviewing couples happily married 25 years or more, with 1 mission only: to find out what makes marriages happy…and keeps them that way.  It’s a marriage book like none other.  Guaranteed.