spare change date: $96

Like everyone else, I'm sure, Ryan and I have a jar to collect our spare change.  Since we don't need change for parking, or quarters for laundry, we tend to amass quite a few coins.  We decided to dub this  the "date night jar."  

Recently the date night jar was quite full, so I decided it was about time to cash in.  Since Coinstar takes a percentage of your money, we opted for the old-fashioned hand rolling technique.  

I brewed a pot of coffee, got out the necessary materials, put on my latest guilty pleasure, Felicity, and got to work.  

This task initially seemed daunting, but I got into my groove.  Rolling coins, as it turned out, was quite relaxing, plus I got to pretend like I was a big-shot banker.

When it was all said and done, I ended up with $96.00 on the nose.  I hauled my coins down to the bank to cash in.  

Then came the truly challenging part: finding a date that worked for both of us.  This, sadly, took about two months.  How did we get so busy?

We decided to go to Tacolicious on Valencia.  You could either go crazy at Tacolicious and have an expensive evening, or easily reign it in and still enjoy some delicious food.  Ryan and I shared three appetizers: the fried plantain, kale salad, and butternut squash soup.  The plantain and kale were awesome, but we could have done without the soup.  It was a bit spicy, not super delicious, and just unnecessary.  We also each ordered one taco.  It would have been the perfect amount of food without the soup.  Since we had $96 to burn, we also ordered two non-alcholic drinks and churros for desert.  The churros came with a chocolate dipping sauce.  We will definitely be going back to Tacolicious and making use of their small outdoor patio.

Lately, everyone has been raving about Trick Dog, the new bar in the neighborhood.  It comes up in almost every conversation I have.  Since it seems to be the new it-spot, we followed up dinner with one of their fancy cocktails.  

People seem to be going wild for their incredibly overwhelming drink menu.  Also, what is it with pantone and paint chips, and how did they become so ubiquitous with hipster culture?  I blame Pinterest.

I digress.  I went for the grandma's sweater, and Ryan had a paper moon.  The drinks were good, but not as amazing as I thought they were going to be.  With as much buzz as they were getting, I was expecting this cocktail to rock my world.  It was fine, but I don't feel like I need to go back.  

All-in-all we spent 93 of our $96.  The remaining three dollars went back into the coin jar to be used on the next spare change date.  

What do you do with your spare change?