Why Romantic Things?

Suzanne and Simon discuss the Romantic Things that Simon has received from the Romantic Things app over the past week.    

Transcript

Simon Davison: 0:24

Hi, welcome to the romantic things podcast. My name's Simon Davison, and I've been married to Suzanne Davison for 16 years.

Suzanne Davison: 0:32

Hi, my name is Suzanne Davison and I've been married to Simon Davison for 16 years.

Simon Davison: 0:37

Okay. So this being the first romantic things podcast, I think we should set up be why there is a podcast, um, and what it is we're doing here. Uh, I have a need, I'm an average man. I think when it comes to romance, uh, there are some things I do well, there are many things I do horribly and in a lot of ways, I don't think about romance as much as I think I would like to for my wife. So I wanted to find an app that had the ability to suggest romantic things for me and allowed me to schedule them whenever I needed to. Whenever I thought I could have the time or whenever I needed to do them, or whenever was convenient, I looked around and I couldn't find anything. So I started looking at websites to see if I could find any websites that would be useful. Unsure. I could find, um, websites with 150, uh, romantic gestures for boyfriends or girlfriends, but again, it, it dumped all of that responsibility on me and I had to pick through and find the ones that I wanted to do for, for my wife. There was nothing managing that, that romance for me. So I decided not finding what I wanted, uh, to go about and build an app that does this. So for the past few months, I've been working with a team in India to build out an application that does just that. Um, and I've called it romantic things for the past few weeks. It's been given me suggestions every day and over the course of the past week or so, I've been trying to do those or engage my wife with those romantic suggestions and gestures, whatever they might be. And I want to work with Suzanne and all of you and establish how well they're working, whether or not my wife recognizes some of these gestures. Some of them, she definitely will because I had to talk to her about them. But ultimately I want to get a sense of how well these romantic gestures are working from my relationship, because I think very early on there was, it was easy for me to be romantic, but I think I really only had four things in my arsenal, going out on a date, going out to a bar, going out for a picnic, um, and

Suzanne Davison: 2:59

Flowers. Oh

Simon Davison: 3:00

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, maybe flowers if I remembered to do that sort of thing. So that was really about it. So I thought that was awesome. And I thought that had me covered for a lot of things, but realistically for a long term marriage, that's not a great deal. So I, I found a few nice things in the first couple of years, there was a, a picture of a wedding ring in a book that worked particularly well.

Suzanne Davison: 3:23

Yeah, that was impressive.

Simon Davison: 3:24

Thank you. Um, but, but on the whole, it's not been particularly good and I've been wanting to improve this for Suzanne. So this is,

Suzanne Davison: 3:32

So I just wanted to ask a question about something that you said earlier, you get something every day. Is that what you need? Is that how it works? Works or

Simon Davison: 3:39

So the, the app gives you a choice. You can, it, it defaults to every three days. So the default is every three days. It will give you a romantic suggestion. I think every three days is about the right cadence for an average relationship. For me to be perfectly honest, I'm testing the app. So I want to test on a regular basis. So I'm getting them every day, but, uh, I've not been subjecting you to every single one of these

Suzanne Davison: 4:08

Romantics. So you movies, you not being as romantic as you could

Simon Davison: 4:10

Be. I know I could be more romantic. You could be more romantic if, if that's even possible, but yeah, I

Suzanne Davison: 4:15

It's possible.

Simon Davison: 4:17

Uh, so that's what I'm striving for. Right? So to try and find the right cadence. So for, for right now, these are daily, but at some point they might slow down. They might increase depending on how we think this is going and whether or not the listeners think things need to change as well. So,

Suzanne Davison: 4:33

Okay. So you could get'em weekly, monthly, you know, something you can choose your own cadence,

Simon Davison: 4:39

The lowest K every 10 days, 10 days. Every 10 days. Yeah. I think, I think after 10 days, you're, you're not paying attention if you're not, I think everybody can spend just a little bit of time after 10 days for their, for their partners. So yeah. Um, after that, I don't think you're in it for the long term. All right. So let's talk about first romantic thing. Um, which was, uh, the romantic suggestion was to make homemade ice cream and this, oh,

Suzanne Davison: 5:09

We did do that this week. Yeah. I did not know. That was a romantic thing.

Simon Davison: 5:12

Yeah. So we got the two bags, one bag filled of cream and one bag filled with ice and salt and we shook it about and got numb fingers for

Suzanne Davison: 5:23

We did I okay. It was really good. Um, we, uh, I think we bought them online and got, um, this just, it was good ice cream and we did it together. Yeah. And it was kind of out of the blue. I didn't realize that that was romantic, but definitely is. I mean, I, I think anything out of, you know, the ordinary that you wouldn't normally do is, is kind of fun. It shows togetherness and, and belonging and the ice cream was delicious.

Simon Davison: 5:53

Yeah. I, I, I, I, I must have made, I was in it for the ice cream. The,

Suzanne Davison: 5:59

You are a sweet tooth.

Simon Davison: 6:00

Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, the ice cream was great. Um, it was good. Fun. Yeah. It was a little bit different, uh, making your own dessert rather than just purchasing one

Suzanne Davison: 6:10

So well, and you didn't have to have like an ice cream maker. Right. Exactly. You could kind of do it wherever you yeah. You can make ice cream. Yeah,

Simon Davison: 6:18

Yeah. No, that was a good one. I like that one. So what are your thoughts on this as, as a romantic gesture, the making ice cream together?

Suzanne Davison: 6:27

Yeah. Um, I think it's, I think it's great. I think it's out of the ordinary and I think that as long as, you know, you're trying to do something together, you know, doesn't have to have the label of romance, but it can definitely be romantic.

Simon Davison: 6:41

Yeah, I think so. I mean, my, my, my general thought is that I think as long as you're doing the gesture together, um, and you're both committed to the event itself, I think that's, what's most important, right. Being present in the moment and spending time with the, your partner. I think collectively over the years, each of these small moments of genuine interactions all add up and work together. So for me, these small daily gestures all go a long way to making a relationship last.

Suzanne Davison: 7:17

So should people set it up like, Hey, I'm doing a romantic gesture or should it just be like a surprising, be natural? What do you think?

Simon Davison: 7:25

I think it's up to them.

Suzanne Davison: 7:27

Yeah.

Simon Davison: 7:27

Yeah. Um, I, I don't think there's any need to, I wouldn't NEC I, I mean, I've not been doing that unless it's been obvious. Um, but that's just me. I, I, I don't wanna set it up as a romantic gesture cuz I don't want necessarily you to then be judging it basically

Suzanne Davison: 7:46

Or having expectations about it. Right.

Simon Davison: 7:48

Exactly. So, um, but other people might want to do that and I mean, that's, that's perfectly fine.

Suzanne Davison: 7:54

Yeah. Like, Hey, I got my romantic gesture today. We're gonna make ice cream, you know something.

Simon Davison: 7:59

Yeah, definitely. Maybe I read, maybe our listeners will go, uh, other ideas, but yeah. They can let us know. Okay. Okay. So let's move on to, uh, the second romantic thing, um, which was be tourists in your own city.

Suzanne Davison: 8:13

Oh. Like we kind of do this a lot. Like we go downtown, um, and kind of hang out and be tourists. Which one? Which one are you talking about?

Simon Davison: 8:26

Well, so for, uh, me, it's the walking tour that we did of Los Gatos, um, where we had

Suzanne Davison: 8:34

That's true. We took, so we had that video or the audio. Exactly. And we walked around to all the historic stop in the town. Yeah. Held hands. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that was, yeah. That was very, that was thoughtful, babe. That was good.

Simon Davison: 8:48

Yeah. I enjoyed that. So that one, that one we did just recently. So that's one that sticks in mind for me. Um, but yes, you're right for this one. The reason it's in the list is cuz we do this ourselves. We, yeah. We make a point of visiting our town as, as tourists and just kind of see what's new.

Suzanne Davison: 9:06

Yeah. I think some people don't even realize like all the stuff that's available in their town that you can do and maybe the history around it and, and you just, you go to dinner, you go, come back, but you don't actually spend time learning about what, where the team, you know, where it came from. What's the history and things about, um, around it.

Simon Davison: 9:26

Exactly. And the sort of information you can get from places like the chamber of commerce.

Suzanne Davison: 9:30

Yeah. And you're discovering it together. Oh yeah. The chamber of commerce. They have tons of inform. No. Um, but yeah, you're discovering it together. So all these little hidden places, hidden gems that, you know, now make memories for you. Yeah.

Simon Davison: 9:44

Definitely. Mountain Charlie will be in my memory forever. I think, uh, an awesome story. So how did that work for you as a romantic gesture? A, a tour, a local visit? I mean, I know it's something we do on a regular basis, but does, does that, does that mean it's not romantic if it's done regularly?

Suzanne Davison: 10:03

No, because we got out together. Uh, we walked around town, held hands, you know, did just spent time together. I think. Yeah. I would consider it a romantic thing.

Simon Davison: 10:15

Okay, cool. Um, a good one bad one.

Suzanne Davison: 10:18

Well a good one. I, I mean, people get complacent in, um, just knowing what's happening in their town even. I mean, we get a, a weekly newsletter of what's happening in town and you know, sometimes we go, sometimes we don't, but I think just, you know, being together and doing all that in your own hometown where it's not a lot of effort, I think, you know, it could be considered a, a good yeah. Idea. Some people don't think about it. Right. Because they're just like, uh, you know, town is for shopping or town is for going to dinner, but well

Simon Davison: 10:51

That didn't, you get used to going to the same two or three locations. Right. You don't venture out and try the news or something different per se. It's always, well, we always go to Johnny's on, on main. Yeah, exactly. Right.

Suzanne Davison: 11:04

Yeah. Yeah.

Simon Davison: 11:05

Okay. All right. So let's move on to romantically. Number three, did this on Wednesday, turn off the TV and turn on the music where we just listened to music,

Suzanne Davison: 11:15

Which was great because we are TV people.

Simon Davison: 11:20

Yeah. We do much

Suzanne Davison: 11:21

And love it's my, like my relaxation after work is how do I decompress? And it's usually television. So it was a nice, you know, we looked at lyrics, we watched the lyrics go by and I, you know, I'm a horrible lyric person. I make up my own lyrics to most a song. So, uh, it was kind of fun to watch the lyrics go by and be like, huh, that's really what it said. Um, yeah. And then just to change a pace from not just sitting down and watching the next TV show.

Simon Davison: 11:51

Yeah. I mean, it, it it's, it it's nice. And it kind of also morphed into, uh, I'm gonna jump a little bit ahead to the fourth thing, which was dancing with the partner. So the, the music also allowed us to dance, which we don't typically do on the average week. I mean, it's usually, like you say you finish work and it's sit down in front of the couch and just kind of zone out for a couple of hours before getting to bed. Right. But,

Suzanne Davison: 12:18

Well, yeah. And it was, and it wasn't like necessarily couples dancing. We were just dancing together. Uh, and then it moved to couples dancing. Right, right. So, yeah. Uh, we were kind of just shaking our moneymaker and then yeah. And then you into, uh, into like a, a slow dance.

Simon Davison: 12:38

So let's see. So of let's focus on the, turning off the TV and turning on the music for, so for that particular aspect, how romantic was that? Was that something you were expecting? Um, and like I say, cuz TV is a big part of our lives. So how worthy were you with that change in the, the routine?

Suzanne Davison: 12:58

It was out of the ordinary. I will have to say, I was like, why aren't we just turning on the TV? But then it was enjoyable. Right. Because, you know, we just got to, it was more interactive between you and I than just watching TV together. Right.

Simon Davison: 13:14

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I agree with it for sure.

Suzanne Davison: 13:18

Yeah. Especially when we're making those stupid dance moves. Oh my gosh.

Simon Davison: 13:22

Hey. Yeah. I'm sure the people watching us through the window were enjoying the view

Suzanne Davison: 13:28

Something.

Simon Davison: 13:30

Okay. So for dancing with your partner, um, I, I think me personally, I'm biased. I think that's pretty, I think dancing with the, a partner is

Suzanne Davison: 13:38

Like, I mean, you're standing in the kitchen and all of a sudden some your, you know, your significant other grabs you and just twirls you around. I mean, that's made in movies, right. That's romance at hand for sure.

Simon Davison: 13:53

I agree. I agree. I like that. That's good. Fun. Um, not that I'm any good at it, but you

Suzanne Davison: 13:59

Know, you know, we did take those lessons once.

Simon Davison: 14:02

What a great use of our resources that was.

Suzanne Davison: 14:06

Oh, I don't even remember a step. Okay.

Simon Davison: 14:09

All right. So let's move on to the last, uh, the last, uh, romantic thing that we are reviewing, they, uh, which was the treat them to something from gold belly, which, um, we, I did, but you haven't actually received it.

Suzanne Davison: 14:25

I cannot wait. Uh, gold belly is one of my favorite things. Should we tell'em what gold belly is? Give them a

Simon Davison: 14:32

Plug. Yeah. So why don't you tell them about gold belly for those which don't know what gold belly is?

Suzanne Davison: 14:37

Um, so gold belly is, uh, I wanna what say famous foods from around the world that you can get delivered to your home. So it's like every, like the best of the best of everything. And you gets sent to your door and with in specific instructions on how to recreate it from like your favorite restaurant or your favorite dessert, or like your Chicago style pizza or your, yeah. So the best Philly cheese steaks from Philadelphia, like yeah.

Simon Davison: 15:07

The best, the best key lime pie from key Wests floor.

Suzanne Davison: 15:11

Our favorite dessert from what was that place? Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Simon Davison: 15:14

Yeah. Um, it's great. Um, it it's, it's a,

Suzanne Davison: 15:18

So what am I getting?

Simon Davison: 15:21

You're getting ice cream sandwiches.

Suzanne Davison: 15:23

Oh my gosh. The ones with the cookies on the outside.

Simon Davison: 15:26

Absolutely.

Suzanne Davison: 15:27

Oh, I get that way.

Simon Davison: 15:29

Mint mint chocolate chip.

Suzanne Davison: 15:30

Oh my God. Gosh. That's gonna be delicious now. You, why did you tell me? I don't now? I don't know it's coming well, it guess now I have anticipation of when it's going to arrive.

Simon Davison: 15:40

It's coming Wednesday.

Suzanne Davison: 15:42

Oh my gosh. Wednesday. Okay. Up day. Yay.

Simon Davison: 15:44

Exactly. Like the, we mid we'd go that much better.

Suzanne Davison: 15:47

Exactly. Well, that's definitely thoughtful. Uh, definitely. Especially if it's something like that could be so romantic, if it's like they moved from a different area and they had a favorite restaurant that was popular to get one of their favorite dishes and have it delivered how romantic is that? Yeah,

Simon Davison: 16:07

I agree. There's definitely a lot of opportunities to go belly. The they've got a food type that they really like. Um, uh, yeah. Gold belly is definitely the, the, the company to, to rely on for getting your food delivered.

Suzanne Davison: 16:22

Oh my gosh. Yeah, for sure.

Simon Davison: 16:25

Yeah. We use them for pizzas. Yeah.

Suzanne Davison: 16:27

My big one of my favorite pizzas. Yay. Okay.

Simon Davison: 16:31

Yeah. Uh, okay. So, alright. So what are

Suzanne Davison: 16:34

Your thoughts? I think you did well, I mean, it was a, so

Simon Davison: 16:36

For the week, how do you think we did?

Suzanne Davison: 16:38

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I definitely could feel more attention coming my way. Um, it's a lot for one week. I wouldn't, you know, I know you're trying to get things out there, but, um, yeah, I think, you know, a couple of these a week is definitely doable and definitely something that people would enjoy. Yeah.

Simon Davison: 17:03

Well, okay. Well, that's good. That's what I want to hear. Okay. Well, uh, that's the end of our podcast. Um, we're going to leave you for, uh, the next couple of weeks and we'll be back, um, in two weeks time with the next episode

Suzanne Davison: 17:18

And don't forget your romantic things.

Simon Davison: 17:20

Exactly.