Evening at the Planetarium

Did you know that Western has a planetarium on campus?  Well, I did. And part of me thinks Jason stole this date idea from me! Apparently I need to be more secretive about my potential date ideas... Sheesh.  It's okay though, none of the planetarium showings fell on my date week.

Anyways, it was fun.  Jason and I got off of work on a Wednesday evening and headed over to campus.  Jason already had tickets and we found street parking very quickly which left us some time to wander around campus.  It was a beautiful day and the fountain was going...Jason even put on his cheesiest smile for a selfie.

Once the show in the planetarium begins, you get a tour of our stars and planets.  This is my favorite part. In this case, it was one of Western's professors who showed us some of our favorite constellations, told us about some history and Greek mythology.  It is a fun view of the sky because they are able to rotate your view, zoom in, move around, and show you what things look like at different times of the year.  Looking at the stars and admiring the vastness of this universe invokes feelings of wonder, amazement, and humility.


The second half of the show is a film that follows one story line more closely.  In this case it was called Stars of the Pharaohs.  This show discussed ancient Egypt and how the people used the stars in multiple ways, from building pyramids to telling time.  

If you have never been to a planetarium, I highly recommend you take the time to check it.  The one on Western's campus is open to the public and is affordable.  Check out the Spanel Planetarium website here.


Cost:
Planetarium tickets - $10 each

Throwback Thursday - Photo Scavenger Hunt

Thursday night- I get home from work and immediately Jason tells me we have to get ready to go. I have no idea what we are doing. So, I end up asking Jason about attire for the night, and eventually the conversation ends up like this:

Me: so, I don't have to look cute?

Jason: you always look cute

...and gentlemen, that is your lesson for the week.

In all seriousness, last week was a little rough for me. I had been busy at work, was moody, cranky, tired and overall unpleasant...and of course, poor Jason has to put up with me. This was one of those weeks where I was feeling a little worn out and exhausted, and it ended up reflecting in my attitude. Really, I just wanted to crawl into a ball on the couch and spend the evening with my friend Netflix.

I am so lucky because Jason has an abundance of love for me. I knew doing this weekly dating thing would be challenging, I just didn't realize how quickly that would happen. I'm not sure how to explain it, but during this date I caught myself thinking about other things going on rather than being present in the moment with my husband. It was awful, because that is not what I want in my marriage.

Anyway, it took me a few minutes, but once we got dinner (taco truck for the win) and got to our destination, I started to feel a bit more enthused.  Then, Jason revealed the evening activity - photo scavenger hunt on Western's campus. And it was awesome. Don't worry, you will get to see our list in a minute, but first I must give you the highlights:

- running around campus taking photos was fun. It's that simple. 

- we reminisced about things from our university days. It's almost been 5 years since I have had any class at WWU, and that's weird. Where did the time go?

- we actually searched for books in the library, and had an amazing time exploring and discovering biblical literature. We found what we are looking for and got cozy on the library floor and pointed out passages and interesting books to one another. We did not get a photo of that time, but it was special, intimate, and very memorable. I needed this. 

I really adore my husband and loved spending time being goofy, wandering around campus enjoying each other's company.  I don't think I was terribly rude or anything, but once I allowed myself to set aside the other things on my mind, my attitude completely changed.  Sadly, that tends to be more difficult than it should be....and I know that it helped me to have more fun! 

Anyways, we had a list of 25 tasks, some of which included finding:
-a book about cats
-the largest classroom
-the smallest classroom
-a science lab
-graffiti
-the campus quad
-ride a shopping cart
-goofy writing on a white/chalk board
-man/bear sculpture
-art building
-garbage building (?)
-walk through a skybridge,etc.

Without boring you further, I will give you some of our scavenger photos:

Total Cost:
-Taco Truck - $12.00