Chad and I make it a priority to have at least one date night each week. I made a grab bag of possible dates for when we're feeling less than inspired with ideas. These 20 or so, possible dates are each written on folded slips of paper that live in a bag near my desk. I'm high-tech that way. The date options range from walkable neighborhood restaurants, to new-hotness restaurants not in our neighborhood, to "pick a movie and go see it". (In the age of Netflix and On Demand it's a pretty hard sell to make us leave the house for screen time.)
I applied this same technique to vacations recently. I'm a notorious over-planner and over-researcher, and often tire of the notion of chosen vacation destinations before we ever make them a reality. Instead of planning out our next few big/nice annual vacation options, I've thrown them in a bag, each written on folded slips of paper.
1. Seattle, Washington (again) & the San Juan Islands (first time)
2. Hawaiian Islands (Maui probably)
3. Belgium (likely a Rick Steves guided tour)
4. Scotland (maybe a Rick Steves guided tour, maybe a DIY itinerary)
5. Niagara Falls (both the U.S.A. and Canada sides)
I'm done with weighing pros and cons, and trying to perfectly plan. We're going to leave it up to the grab bag next time.