There’s a big difference between talking and Reporting especially right now with a fire hose worth of news coming your way you know what helps having reporters in the field I’m Brad milky from ABC News and that’s what we’ve got on ABC’s daily podcast start here every morning
Start here takes you across the country and around the world for a quick smart look at the stories that matter it’s fast it’s straightforward and sometimes gasp news can even be fun so let’s meet up tomorrow morning listen to start here wherever you get your podcasts Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we’re getting you ready with some unusual date ideas around aget toown from archery to improv classes hey Houston newsletter editor Brook Lewis and producer Caron Jones join me to give their recommendations with a unique Twist it’s Thursday February 8th 2024 I’m rill ramzan and here’s what Houston’s talking about Carlyon Brooke how are y’all good morning doing good good morning so we’re going to have a little fun with this all right yes we’re going to have a lot of recommendations we’re going to put together some unique date ideas but we’re going to remix this a little bit
All right so the way we’re going to do this is we’re going to take your first name and each letter is going to represent a unique date idea that our listeners can try out so Brooke you’re up start us off what are your date ideas with your name okay so to all my
Potential suitors listening this is the way to my heart um I am a definitely a romantic so you will see that a lot of my dates are pretty romantic um starting with B books are key to my heart so going to a local bookstore like Kindred
Stories and Third Ward would be an ideal date for me and I think something fun that we could do is pick out a book that we think the other person would like and then buy it for the other person and then go to R Market which is the newly
Renovated part of El Dorado Ballroom in Third Ward so you know coffee books and really not coffee but tea at the at R and maybe some food sounds like a great great date experience so I want to ask you about bookstores okay and you kind
Of answered it but when you go to a bookstore as a date do you sit there and read for a while or are you just buying the book and moving on like is it a quick date or are we you know allocating two to three hours I feel like you for
Me I get lost in a bookstore so it could be like at least an hour of just kind of like looking through figuring out what you like that’s the fun part or just sitting down to read a little bit and then go to the coffee shop and maybe
Read the book that you bought and just talk and hang out okay that’s a fun one right there let’s go to R what do you got okay so R is romcom so I am a romcom queen my friends know this about me if you name a romcom I have probably seen
The romcom I do not discriminate on the romcom like I have seen so many romcoms growing up I blame my mom because one of her favorite actresses is Julia Roberts and she is a romcom queen so that that is why but I would love to see a romcom
I know guys are probably like uh not not the best but I I do feel like guys surprisingly end up liking it like I I most of the time when I’ve had this experience they end up liking the movie too so Rooftop Cinema in Houston is a
Great place that shows really cute um romantic movies and for Valentine’s Day week they’re G to have some movies um that are coming out on Valentine’s Day and then the Thursday that are all kind of you know romance So La La Land will be playing on Valentine’s Day and
Loveing basketball which is one of my favorites and then 51st dates which is on Thursday day with Adam Sandler which you know is hilarious so I think those are great options and I would love to see Love and Basketball that’s like a classic so going on to O um open mik
Night at Aven Garden they have poetry every Wednesday night and it’s a wide range of performances and every time I go there it’s like kind of feels like you’re in your own little Oasis it’s really relaxing you hear really Moving Poetry like you know all kinds different experiences all kinds of different
Houstonians and it’s a really great experience it’s in mantros so you know you guys know I love hanging out in mantro so that’s another another great one now do you expect your date to jump up there as well I you know I mean that would impress me but that that is a lot
To ask like it depends on is this the first date like I I would be impressed but that that would be a lot that would be a lot Carly if it’s a third date and your date is like yes you know what I think I’m going to jump up there you’re cool
With it yeah I feel like it’ll remind me of the the movie that Loren Tate is in what is it and I’m about to bring that up Carl Love Jones loveones that is like top for me you guys if you if you want to understand me watch Love Jones like
That is one of my favorite movies of all time so yes and that’s why I open mik night love it yeah okay I like that you got double o’s here so what’s your next o so I’ve always wanted to do this I’ve always wanted to go stargazing it is
Super romantic but also really fun and I think living in Houston when we look up at the sky we don’t always get to see stars and what they actually look like and so you can have this experience at George Observatory out in Fort Fin and
It’s only $10 so it’s I think it’s worth it and also just a really good Valentine’s activity but if you’re just thinking of romantic date activities that you want to do you know throughout the year it’s one that you should add to your list yeah that one is so awesome
Because we we do it a lot like the park is near us it’s inside brz’s Ben State Park so you do have to pay the Park admission fee as well in addition to the George Observatory fee if you want to do that but you can just go there and they
Have you know telescopes outside sometimes they have amateur stargazers out there as well with their telescope so you can just do it for free but you can just pull up and when it’s dark enough you can see the Milky Way it is amazing it is so beautiful you’ll see
That smokey rise on the horizon that’s the Milky Way um it’s beautiful and if you get there a little bit earlier when it’s daylight you can do a bunch of hikes as well and see alligators that is like alligator capital in Fort Ben so it’s a fun place yeah that’s awesome all
The Brooks so far are like so lover girl like they’re just exactly her like she called it she said look yeah it is she is all about this it is honestly it’s like my reputation my friends call me a lover girl it’s it’s so bad it’s really
Bad a lover girl that’s you know single but like not for long after this okay so karaoke is for K and I love a good caraoke night like I love having karaoke parties at my house but I also love going out to karaoke I think this could
Be a fun group date activity um Spotlight karaoke is one of my favorite places to go cuz you can rent a room but you can also be on the stage and kind of have your own little like American Idol voice moment if you want and I’ve always had a great experience going to
Spotlight and if you have the the like the guts to get on stage and sing along with me then I feel like we’re going to get along great I think it’s a red flag if you don’t get on stage and sing if you’re going on a group karaoke date
Like you got to just do it and I know it’s embarrassing you have to do it if you can’t can’t do it then to me it’s like red flag no somebody’s some people have like bad nerves and can’t get up on stage but like spot like is that good in
Between like I’ve been there before and like she said you can go get your own private room and it’s less scary yeah like but there’s something so fun about that fake little like American Idol moment like you’re on stage everyone else is singing along with you like I
Think you just make the most of it and there are people who can sing and there are people who absolutely can’t sing and you’re still like jamming out a alongside them yeah you just have fun at the end of the day okay last one e so for E it’s just simple exploring
Downtown I I think downtown Houston has just expanded so much there’s so many fun things to do I think something classic to do is to go to Discovery Green and then walk around you know explore have some fun there and then go to Phoenicia you might be like why are
We going to Phoenicia but get the hot chocolate at Phoenicia and get a little snack for yourself like that is Ultimate like winter date hangout I I love doing that so those are mine and as you guys can see I am a total lover lover girl yeah a lot of
Good Adventures there I like those and yeah exploring downtown I wasn’t downtown a few times like after 9:00 and it is popping especially in the Theater District there’s so much going on people are still out there they’re doing segue tours as well on a weekday it’s so much
Fun it is uh the place to be honestly like you got to go out and explore it and it’s a good date night to just go out walk and enjoy so many different things there yeah for sure Brooke those are awesome and by the way if you want
To see all of Brook’s picks our show notes have everything by the letter of Brook’s name so you can get all the recommendations There shipping can make or break a sale so optimize how you ship your orders with ship station they make it easy to automate and manage orders no matter how big your business grows and they might even be able to help reduce shipping and Warehouse costs so optimize and keep up
Your momentum for growth with ship station sign up for your free 60-day trial now at shipstation.com and use the code pod that’s shipstation.com with the code pod Carly on let’s go to you I’m just going to start calling you Carly here because we’re going to get to the
Letters here so let’s start it off C how you getting going yeah we’re definitely not going through my full name cuz that would be crazy but we’re going to start off with the SE and the SE is for Candlelight and if you haven’t heard about this there’s been candl light
Music hauls basically going on around Houston for a few months now and this one is going to be the Valentine’s Day Edition and it’s Romeo and Juliet themed and I think this is a perfect like romantic musical type of Adventure you’re in the like atmosphere of beautiful candles there’s you know that
Nice dark room and you’re just listening to music and vibing out um Romeo and Juliet themed I mean great off the bat like I mean who doesn’t love Romeo and Juliet and the tickets are only like $25 but it depends on which section you want
To sit in so they can go up to $65 as like the cap but I definitely think this is a super fun thing to do and I’ve been wanting to catch one of these shows for a while nice that’s a good one my question is who’s responsible to light
All those C right because there’s like hundreds of candles at these setups and I I actually saw one come across my Instagram the other night and I’m like man the logistics of sitting there and lighting all those candles kudos to them they probably send like a little team
Out and make people just spread out you get this section you get this section he just make it work yeah I also feel like Carly might be a lover girl based on this first suggestion Romeo and Juliet candle like what’s what’s next I don’t know she’s going heavy hitter out the
Gate I yeah my am a lover girl but I’m also a very like active person and you’re going to get that with my my letter A which is archery I haven’t done archery before but I would like to try it actually you know what I tried it at
A uh water park one time but I don’t think that really counts it wasn’t for real archery so if you want to get out and try archery there’s a lot of different places in Houston um one I saw online was called Houston archery lessons and that place is a indoor
Active Center where you have like 12 dedicated Lanes just for teaching it’s familyowned um you can even bring your kids if you want to I know it’s date night so you can leave the kids at home but uh kids six years and older are definitely allowed to come and they have
Just like different packages that you can try um one that I saw that would be good for date night would be like the single private lessons which one student is like an uh $80 an hour but if you want to add a second student on it’s
Only $20 so it’s like a $100 date but I think it could be a lot of fun because you’re learning a new like um skill and doing something kind of adventurous together and that’s definitely right up my alley and something unique right like how often do you go to the archery range
And learn how to shoot bow and arrows that’s so much fun I’ve taken lessons before and it is addicting I will warn everyone because you will get in there and like that first bullseye you get you’re like ooh that felt really good and then all of a sudden you go home and
You’re looking up $500 bows and you’re like wait hold on maybe this isn’t for let’s go to R what do you got okay so Adventure still I like to go roller coaster riding and this is like actually one of my ideal dates um I really would
Like to go like maybe Six Flags or something but we’re in the Houston area so something that you can do year round and do roller coasters is the Chima Board Walk of course um you go out there the prices are not bad you can get tickets um for as many like rides that
You want to do and then also there’s just so much to do on the boardwalk as well there’s a lot of restaurants um there’s some bars around there’s entertainment there’s a aquarium like there’s just so much to do in that area but I’m a thrill seeker for sure so
Roller coaster rides is definitely my R yeah and they also have a lot of deals you where you can follow them on social media and they’ll have specials they also have a wristband you can do unlimited rides and as you mentioned there’s so many restaurants and all that
Good stuff I’m glad that you’re a roller coaster junkie because I love roller coasters here’s a quick story for you so I used to work for landries in their marketing department and one day they took us to the Pleasure Pier which is the Kima Boardwalk cousin right they’re
Both owned by landri and we had unlimited roller coasters with no lines so I literally rode that shark roller coaster that’s on the water like eight times in a row and it was so much fun this is like my worst nightmare y’all I hate roller coasters I hate them like I
Love roller coers ha like you have to like pretty much drive me to get on a roller coaster like I need to have like some kind of like surprise at the end to make it worth it because I just hatte it even in when I went to Disney World you
Would think like this is like the happiest place on earth like I was like I don’t want to get on this ride I don’t want to get on this ride I’m so scared of roller coasters oh that’s the first thing I look for is like where are the
Good roller coasters Carly they’re so much fun I’m with you give me the roller coasters well we know not to surprise Brook with a roller coaster or anybody so hey if y’all are I’m getting you an all day wristband Brooke we’re going to go okay let’s go to L what do you got
Carly okay so this is something that I honestly haven’t seen going on in a while but limousine rides I feel like when I was younger that used to be so popular we used to see the limousine rides going around like the town and everybody would be wondering like who’s
In it like you know but I haven’t seen it as much but recently I was watching Tik Tok and I seen a bunch of your girls rent limousines out to go do Christmas lights which Christmas season has passed now but I think it’s a great idea I’m
Like this would be such a good date you can go get in the car together maybe like you know drink some wine maybe have some snacks in there and get to like talk and listen to music together I think it would be a beautiful thing to
Like just go around the city at night and see so I think it was a great idea for a date and you know what you can do Carly with the limousine ride as you mentioned you can go around check out the City but also go to a nice
Restaurant right so when you pull up and then people are like ooh hold on who’s getting out of the car who’s getting out of this limo all right is it Beyonce and Jay What’s Happening Here exactly it’s perfect cuz I love an excuse to dress up so you definitely
Have to dress up for the limousine ride so exactly you feel like a superstar okay your last one I I okay so for I I decided to do an improv class I think that this would be a lot of fun I used to love doing theater and acting when I
Was in school um and you can take these classes in many places in Houston but they have a place called station theater that we’ll have LinkedIn the show notes and I thought this one was really cool because you can start off as a level zero and you go in and there’s just like
No pressure you know this is like a weekly free 30 minute class that they do where you kind of can get your feet wet and do like a little test of your improv training before you like decide if you want to actually continue with the
Classes I love that any day that you can make your partner leave their comfort zone I’m all about so Carly I like that Brooke what are your thoughts on that one yeah I love that cuz I love to laugh so I think that I would get a kick out
Of that kind of class and it does put you out of your comfort zone and you can kind of see how they are when they’re out of their comfort zone and you guys would probably come up with some like good inside jokes from that class so
Yeah sounds like a good good one true story I took an improv class at UT because for the longest time I wanted to become a professional Improv actor because I used to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway growing up and that was my goal I was like I’m going to become an improv
Actor and I was so good at it in the class I loved it and then I was realized that oh there’s you really can’t become a professional improv actor or comedian you have to do something else you know in addition to that you can’t just be on
Whose Line Is It Anyway and survive yeah it’s like Wayne Brady is had like 50 jobs I feel like like there’s no way that he’s just getting his money from Whose Line is it in way yeah literally oh it’s Wayne Brady Okay so we’ve gotten the lover girl Brooke we’ve got the adventurous
Carly now we’re going to get the one guy on the show let’s see you guys can judge my date recommendations based on my name okay and the first one is r and that’s going to be the rink at Discovery Green which opens this Friday actually and
They have a huge opening day party and what the rink is you can go out there and roller skate so during the winter you’ve got at the ice skating but the rink now is converted to outdoor roller skating and here’s the best part you know I’m kind of cheap it’s only $12
Which includes roller skate rentals so you get a awesome date night for 24 bucks come on that’s going to be so much fun they also have days where you can learn how to roller skate so they have classes they have events and it is so much fun discover green.com has all the
Information here’s the best part the proceeds from the rink will support Discovery Green Conservancy Mission and park maintenance free cultural program so you’re given back to such an important Park in our city as well why did I not know this was a thing I knew about the ice skating I’ve been ice
Skating there before but I never knew that they converted it to an outdoor roller rink I love roller skating well not roller skating I love skating cuz roller skating is hard but still fun CU you go out there and you can fall just like you do when you do ice skating and
I think that that’s the best part of skating regardless it’s a falling down so I got to go try that oh my god wow yes I love love it yeah and again you got downtown in the background Brook it’s so nice yes no I love going to that
Rink and Discovery Green it is so much fun I also love rollerblading I honestly was going to put rollerblading for my R but I saw Ral that you were going to do that so I was like I’m not going to do it but I love rollerblading and it’s
Also perfect weather like it’s going to not be as cold when we during the ice skating time when they have it and so this is like the perfect time before it gets too hot mhm okay I’m going to move on to a and this one is antique shopping
And specifically at thrift stores now I like going with a goal in mind like I want to find X Y and Z Item or I want to find an old speaker set or whatever it is right and it turns into a fun game of like going through random stuff finding
Funny things finding really cool stuff and then you can go to various antique shops around small towns in Houston as well I know in our area in Richmond Rosenberg they have a lot of little stor and you can find some really unique stuff but antique shopping is so much
Fun and you can even turn it into just going to a Goodwill right and going through all the stuff there and trying to find that perfect accent piece if that’s what you’re into but I love spending time looking for something because you just kind of again see how
Your partner reacts to not being able to find that thing or can they adjust on the fly or come up with ideas so I like learning about your person while you’re there mhm yeah I feel like you you are doing better than you think at these data ideas for heal because you just
Picked out like the perfect romcom Montage they’re always like shopping and looking for something that’s like one of the key scenes so look that is you’re already on track you’re already there yeah I feel like antique shopping lets you kind of know what that person likes
Too so if you want to go pick a gift out later then you kind of have an idea like oh okay she like this or he like that yeah it’s a good idea that’s a good romcom he went hunting for a dresser but instead he found love that definitely
Like Hallmark definitely on Hallmark definitely Hallmark Netflix one of those yeah maybe not maybe not in theaters maybe not okay you know I got to put something Fitness related so for H I’m doing hot yoga I love working out with my wife it’s one of our favorite things and Hot
Yoga is so different if you haven’t done it before it is hard okay and there’s so much fun about seeing your partner struggle a little bit and again how do they react to those moments right so you can see how they’re going to do are they’re going to quit halfway through
Are they going to power through right and for me Fitness is important so if that’s important to you you got to let your partner know that hey this is a big part of my life so here we’re going to go try this and you know if they don’t
Like it then maybe you learn something about them that H maybe you’re not the right one for me right so I I like doing that I like going to Fitness dates and then the best part of Fitness dates especially something like hot yoga afterwards you are so hungry you get to
Go eat somewhere and you can pick a really good meal okay this is not a first day is it cuz like hot yoga on the first day is crazy no that is crazy that is crazy that’d be an awesome first day can’t you can’t you can’t bring it out
Like that on the first day that’s too much but also Ral I’m wondering do you do hot yoga in the summer as well I just do it in the garage truthfully I just shut my garage down I’ve got YouTube videos that I know so yeah it’s my hot
Yoga it’s free hot yoga oh my gosh my godog I will say a a good place in Houston to do hot yoga is Black Swan I have been it is a great place they have multiple locations throughout Houston but hot yoga for a first date not I I
Think I would even if someone who’s done it I I would be kind of like I don’t know if I want to go on a second date with this guy yeah see this is why I’m not in the dating pool anymore because I’m I I okay when I was single first
Dates would be like let’s go to Memorial Park because I want to know like hey do you like Fitness do you cuz this is a big part of my life I like working out so I would be upfront about it and instead of going to a restaurant we’re
Going for a nice walk or jog rill is out here testing people if you cannot do a mile he’s like we cannot be together this is CRA if you cannot run a 5k on the first dat don’t even bother we’re going to sign up for Houston Marathon on like the first day like
It reminds me of those people who take people on swim dates the first day to see like oh like to make sure you don’t have on makeup so that you don’t like scare them and stuff like that like this is hilarious like yeah oh my gosh oh my gosh I knew this
Is going to happen you guys are going to make fun of me what is your e what is your e it’s like is it going to go okay my e is an easy one it’s not as unique okay but it’s eat at a restaurant that you’ve been wanting to go for a
While as a couple but remember things do get busy on Valentine’s Day so if you are planning this date then you know it’s Amateur hour on Valentine’s Day all these restaurants are going to be packed but if you are picking something unique it might not be so take this time to try
Out a restaurant that is a little bit out of your comfort zone so if it’s something as simple as Sushi where you’ve been wanting to go or try a new place out and you just weren’t sure then take this time to do it so your e is try
A unque restaurant eat okay okay that’s not bad we could do that after you work out though oh my go hot yoga and then eat at a restaurant that’s ral’s like dream first date and girls all around are all just like shaking their heads as they listen it’s okay guys he’s married
And that’s he’s off the market yeah yeah and my wife’s problem now yeah your second e is endurance racing real stop don’t even finish at this point I know okay no for real my second e is Epiphany and that is the Jame Terrell’s Twilight Epiphany skyspace I recommended
This before on date night episodes if you haven’t been please go it is so much fun it is so relaxing yet so inspirational and you can turn it into a little picnic there watching the lights change and that skyspace area on Rice’s campus is absolutely stunning
It is one of the Marquee things in the city of Houston if you haven’t done it please go do it it is outstanding I can’t recommend that enough okay you did good there you did good with this one yeah that that seems normal we’re you’re moving in the right
Direction okay my last letter L is laugh and I’m recommending standup comedy at one of the various places around town from The Improv to the riot Comedy Club there’s a lot of good clubs around town that is featuring local comedian who are making their way to the top or are
Established voices around the city there’s something so unique about going to a standup comedy show because that’s something we don’t do in the city of Houston as much in New York you go all the time like there’s clubs all over and that’s almost like a normal night right
Like let’s go watch X Y and Z comedian but in Houston we don’t do it as much it’s Unique it’s fun you get a great laugh you might get picked on so you might have some inside jokes as well leaving that date so L For Laugh I like
This one like whenever I was trying to pick out my eye I thought about going to the improv comedy show that they have down here cuz I’ve been there maybe like once or twice and it’s a lot of fun they bring in like a professionals but they
Also have people who are like you know kind of just start in the industry that’ll come on before and it’s a lot of fun it’s a great time like you can eat there and everything so it’s a perfect date night for sure yeah I love that I
Love to laugh as I said earlier and so any kind of thing where we can just laugh and have a good time sounds like a good date I think you have redeemed yourself for heal you’re ending on a on a good note you’re ending on a good note
There you go okay I redeemed myself and that was a lot of fun that was a lot of information so we’ve included all of our date recommendations in the show notes don’t be shy make sure you look at those and enjoy all the great things around
Our city ladies that was a lot of fun thank youall so much thank you this really showed all of our personalities it’s hilarious Hot Yoga on the first date y’all please don’t do that from lover girl to Hot Yoga like what a what a what a transition bye y’all bye
Guys that was Brook Lewis and carlyon Jones don’t forget to subscribe to hey Houston for even more date ideas and Houston Happenings that will do it for today thank you for listen listening and I hope you learn something [Applause] New um if they like coffee I don’t like coffee but if they like coffee they can get coffee and we can just hang out together wait brick you don’t like coffee I don’t I know didn’t we do like a whole coffee episode we did cof it’s
Weird I think I put this in the newsletter like I did a Roundup of coffee shops I love coffee shops but I don’t like coffee
source
