Paul and I have been married for 8 years and with small children we just don’t get out much. I would say for us there are two major obstacles. The first is that childcare can be hard to find and expensive in San Francisco and the second is when we actually find ourselves with a free evening we end up going to the same few restaurants or seeing a movie. We both like going on dates, there is something special about a date where we talk and act differently. We just don’t make a lot of time to do it. So when HowAboutWe approached us about trying out their services for couples, I was very interested. If you haven’t heard of HowAboutWe, they started as an online dating site but have since expanded to include HowAboutWe for Couples – a membership service that gets couples out on tailored dates for 2, they plan the whole thing! It’s super fun to browse all the dates in our area and pick out the ones that sounded interesting. Paul and I love cooking together, so for our first date we thought it would be fun to try something new and take a pickling class (although, a tasting tour of the Ferry Building and trapeze lessons also caught our eye.) A HowAboutWe concierge helped to plan and schedule all the details of the date. The pickling class was really fun. It started at 8pm so we were able to grab dinner nearby beforehand. During the class we learned the basics of pickling and we each brought home two jars of our creations. I’m already looking forward to our next date (a yacht excursion!) If you’re interested in HowAboutWe for Couples, you can sign up for free to browse all of their dates. Plus if you’re a new member, you can get $50 off your first date by clicking here! (Expires 12/31/13.) Having someone take the planning element out of our date was huge and we loved getting out of our dating rut. Thanks HowAboutWe!

This post is sponsored by HowAboutWe for Couples: a service that gets people in relationships on wonderful dates, tailored for two.

Photos by Paul Ferney