Let’s be honest, after the first six or seven years of marriage, it’s hard to keep the relationship fresh and exciting. You have financial pressures, work stress, your kids demand a jumbo-portion of your time and energy…and those are the simple challenges! 
This year, my husband and I will be celebrating our thirteenth wedding anniversary. We’ve survived four job changes, family illness, a down-to-the-studs home remodel, sibling divorces and the births of our three children. As marital tests go, we’ve had it easy.
And yet, each year I’m more aware of the need to invest myself – my heart, my time, my physical and emotional presence – in my husband and our marriage. Because when the REAL shit goes down – and it will! – I want us to be on solid rock.
Between the two of us, I am the lazier partner when it comes to gearing up for date night. I have a hundred excuses to phone it in, punch the timecard, take the shortcut. Thinking creatively about how to make people happy, connect with them in a unique way or show them a good time is a skill I apply to my job constantly. Despite (or because of) that, when it comes to dating my husband – the father of my children, my best friend, the love of my life – my efforts to please him are spontaneous and impulsive, rather than thoughtfully planned out.
So, I’m stepping up my dating game! Starting with this gorgeous Self-Portrait dress.
This is the sort of thing I used to wear all the time when my husband and I were dating, for no other reason than to do everything in my power to make myself irresistible to him (and maybe as importantly, to feel irresistible.) The point is, I was TRYING. And while I thank God every day for my husband’s unconditional love for me – the blissful safety of being known and loved without trying – I think it’s the trying that keeps things fresh.
1. Eleina dress by Self-Portrait. (More sizes available at these websites: Blue & Cream, My Theresa or Intermix.) 2. Nudistsong patent leather sandals from Stuart Weitzman (available in several other colors). 3. White, croc-embossed clutch by Clare V.
Photos by the gorgeous and talented Amy Malloy.