Young and Frugal » Uncategorized

Co-Brand With Your Employer

Daniel — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:02:36 +0000

I work for a company that has a great brand and a cool culture, and part of that brand and culture requires that I adhere to a strict dress code of jeans (or solid color shorts), tennis shoes, a belt, a company branded hat (optional), and an embroidered polo shirt. Some people love it, some hate it, but it’s our dress code and we stick to it.

As a result we are all extensions of the brand wherever we go. After work when we all go out to happy hour we are walking advertisements and representatives for the brand, and the way that we carry ourselves reflects back on the companies brand; if we slip up, have a few too many, or are rude it reflects back on the brand. We know that this is the case, so we all go above and beyond to act gracious when we get complimented outside of work (very frequently) or attentive and helpful if a customer has a concern. It is clear my employer views us as a physical extension of the brand.

This concept isn’t new, it’s proven, and works, but now is the time for companies to take it a step further.

It seems like everyday I read in the blogosphere about a personal brand and why you need to have a solid online identity which includes, but is definitely not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. I always read pretty basic reasonings on why we all need a personal brand, mainly so companies can find you, you can control and own your online image, and so you can market yourself. I agree with all of these things, and I’m not here to offer any new advice on creating a personal brand; for that I recommend going to the master, Dan Schwabel.

What I am here to do is ask a question. Why don’t companies view their employees online personal brands as extensions of the companies brand?

Think about where you represent your company on the internet. Do you have your employer listed on Facebook or Linked In? Do you have a website that contains your resume?

These are primary places where we as individuals represent our employers in todays world. If you have an inappropriate photo on Facebook and your employer is listed, like it or not that photo reflects back on the company and the next time you are in a meeting with someone who has researched you, they might know about that picture of you doing body shots from your last vacation to Mexico. Yes, that is a poor example, but now let’s look at the other side; say you have a strong personal brand, you protect your online image, you blog, you tweet, you are active on Facebook and on great websites like Brazen Careerist; that online presence and your following is a fantastic venue for you to be a steward for the company, instantly adding more value to the company should you choose, or be allowed, to promote your employer.

“That sounds great! Promote us,” your employer might say, but wait…it’s a two way street.

Think of the way large conglomerates advertise their brands. Ziploc, Pledge, and OFF! are all S.C. Johnson Brands. When you look at each of those brands you know they are something different and individual, yet part of something bigger. Every time something good happens to the smaller brand, something good is happening to the bigger brand. If Ziploc has great sales, then that helps S.C. Johnson’s bottom line. On a box of Ziploc there is an S.C. Johnson logo, and on the S.C. Johnson website they feature Ziploc, even at the end of every commercial you hear “S.C. Johnson, a family company.”

Much like the conglomerates there is a mutually beneficial relationship online between an employee with a strong personal brand and their employer’s brand. If I put up on an “About Me” page laying out where I work and what I do in my day job with a logo and a link to the company, I can instantly help give credibility to my employer if you’ve never heard of them, and you might be more inclined to go visit the company. On the other side of the coin, if my employer has a link to me on a company page, it can instantly help give credibility to me as someone who is employed by a great company.

Zappos has a great start at just this, twitter.zappos.com provides realtime streaming of their employees on twitter, but I think it should go a step further. Why not promote employees with good personal brands? Photo, website link, and twitter feed, all on the companies website. Make employees comfortable being online ambassadors for the company by encouraging it and giving them the ability to reach out on the companies behalf even if it’s not their job. It’s even in the companies interest to help employees develop a personal brand online.

The best way to increase brand awareness online is being represented, and if you have a good relationship, what better people to represent you and give you presence than your employee or employer?

Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenge

Daniel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:58:18 +0000

Congratulations to Matt and Emily for winning the Dallas $40 Date Night Challenge! You can read their winning write-up Here!

For this $40 Date Night Challenge we will put 4 couples from the city of angels up against each other. The rules are very similar to last time. I challenged them with the set of rules below, they did a write-up, and now you vote on the winner to win CASH!

I’m actually surprised to see that in a city as large and diverse as LA, two couples ended up visiting the same place. I’d say that’s a good sign that the restaurant/bar is pretty good!

I’m also surprised to see that one person blatantly broke 2 of the rules…but I’m not in the business of disqualifying, and the writeup was done well. I will let you all determine that via votes.

Here are the rules as presented to those who accepted:

The date night must include dinner, drinking, and entertainment
Dinner cannot be at a national restaurant chain, local chains are OK. Don’t eat at home.
Entertainment cannot be bowling or a movie
Drinks (yes alcohol) must be purchased, not brought, and not shared
Transportation costs (gas, parking, train, etc…) do not need to be included in the $40.00
Yes, a date is 2 people
If you use a gift card the amount spent still counts towards the $40
Take pictures
This isn’t a “who you know” night, so while we all love free stuff and “hook-ups” if you use them, account for what the normal cost would be out of your $40
Taxes don’t count in the $40
Coupons are allowed and encouraged if you have them

The links for the write ups and voting are below. The voting will be open for 10 days from today.

Be sure to read all of the Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out below!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Chris’ Los Angeles $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:36:37 +0000

A unicorn is easier to find then a cheap date in Los Angeles, or is it? I am an LA native and after spending my earlier of age years indulging in the pleasures of Hollywood and living beyond my means like the rest of Los Angeles, I decided to take a step back and become somewhat of an explorer. I decided to explore LA for frugal fun and as the years have gone on, my exploration has definitely led to plenty of treasures. So facing a new challenge of going on a date for $40, I picked up my girlfriend and we were off on another journey.

It’s Wednesday at 730pm and the first stop of the night was at Yamato a cool nuvo sushi restaurant in the Westwood area on Westwood Blvd. This restaurant not only one that offers great ambiance and great food, but it’s all at a great price. They have a happy hour that starts at 5pm and goes until close. So my girlfriend ordered a pink roll and crab and avocado salad and I ordered 2 rolls. With each roll and the salad 50% off, like most of the menu during happy hour, we had a superb meal with glasses of water for $19.

After dinner ended we headed to Culver City, to my favorite dive bar Backstage, this is a bar that is great for karaoke Thursday through Saturday. The average beer is $4 the well drinks are no more then $6 and if you really want to experience the good life you can get any top shelf liquor for $8, which in Los Angeles where drinks average well over $10 is equivalent to finding Atlantis.

Every Wednesday at Backstage you can experience the house band. They go by the name of King Chris and the Groove Thangs and they bring so much personality to the bar it is hard to stay

away. King Chris is Ragin Cajun from Louisiana with an eclectic band to match. The band is a great cover band that plays anything from Marvin Gaye to Steely Dan. After sitting down and listening to King Chris for an hour an each having three beers between us (bringing our total to $33.)

We headed to yogurtland, which is a better version of Pinkberry offering wonderfully flavored yogurts and eclectic toppings. We shared a cup of peanut butter yogurt covered in captain crunch and called it a night. Our total for the night was right at $38. It was a great night filled with new experiences that most of LA seems to never know about.

Be sure to read all of the Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out below!

Randy and Ashley’s Los Angeles $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:35:17 +0000

When thinking of what to do for a $40 date night, a few standards come to mind. A movie is always a safe bet, perhaps a picnic, or a simple walk through downtown Santa Monica. All of these options are fine, but none of them combine Dinner, Drinks and Entertainment on a budget any frugal young professional can appreciate. With the lofty goals of producing an amazing night for $40 or less my girlfriend, Ashley, and I accomplished the following:

Dinner and Drinks: We started at McCormick and Schmicks. When deciding on dinner, a cheap dinner with poor food won’t cut it. Happy hour must be utilized. Thus, I searched for the best happy hour in LA. I found a great one from Mccormick and Schmicks. Now for those of you that have never experienced the greatness that is Mccormick and Schmicks’ famous happy hour menu lets go through it: The hours are from 4pm-7pm and they have a nice but smaller selection of everything you could want for a pricey dinner, except for the fact that everything is under $5.00! This includes a Half-Pound Gourmet Cheeseburger for $2.95. The most expensive item is Beer Battered Fish and Chips or Mussels for $4.95. On Wednesdays they have $1 Oysters and Thursdays is $1 Fish Tacos. Now there is a catch, but you’ll like it. There is a $3.50 beverage purchase requirement per person. However, like the food, the drinks are a great deal, with Coors Light 10z Draft for $2.95 and some great choices for $5.00 or under. All in all, their happy hour deserves to be famous.

What did we order on our date you ask? I had a grand ½ lbs Gourmet Burger for $2.95 and my date had a blackened Chicken Quesadilla for $3.95. We each had a 10oz Coors Light for $2.95 a peace. So, we made it out of a great dinner and drinks and spent $12.80. Not too shabby.

Entertainment: There is always interesting, fun and inexpensive activity to do in a city on a given night. On this night, we decided to see the Groundlings. For those that are not familiar, the Groundlings is a theatre just off of Melrose that is famous for its sketch comedy. Many familiar faces perform their regularly to keep up on their comedic craft. The Wednesday night we were there, two cast members from Reno 911 were performing with the main stage cast, which includes many recognizable faces from comedy central and other comedy sources of which you have most surely seen but cannot name. The show we saw was called The Crazy Uncle Joe Show, and it was hilarious, as the Groundlings always are. The show lasts about 2 hours and the atmosphere is amazing, with live music and an intimate stage. Now for the price. The first time I had taken a date here, I had convinced her I had spent a bunch on these tickets to get into this exclusive, hip, underground comedy club that not many people knew about. She completely bought it. This time I did not hide how much the tickets cost. The price of the tickets for the night was $13 a person! If you go after 10pm on a Friday they are $9, and can be as much as $20. So entertainment for the evening was $26 total.

Conclusion: All in all we managed a great dinner, decent drinks, and great entertainment for a grand total of $38.80. That leaves a $1.20 for some breath mints on the way home.

Be sure to read all of the Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out below!

Natalie and Damien’s Los Angeles $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:34:01 +0000

As people pursuing careers in entertainment, and thus, destined to live in LA forever, Damien and I like to focus on the positive features SoCal has to offer. We frequently hit up the beach, are constantly exploring dive bars throughout the city and love to bust-a-move at some of LA’s lesser-known, less-douchey clubs. We aimed to incorporate all of these passions into the challenge to prove that you don’t need wads of money or name-dropping skills to have a good time in Los Angeles.

Enjoying LA’s scenery

Since we live two blocks from the beach in Santa Monica, Damien and I decided that the first part of the Challenge would be spent riding our bikes along the strand that runs parallel to the beautiful Pacific coast. If you ride South, you will pass the famous Santa Monica pier and Ferris wheel, and eventually hit the Venice boardwalk—an amazing spot to people watch. You’ll find drum circles, muscle builders, an array of carnival food (kettle corn is my favorite!) and plenty of spots to buy cheap t-shirts and accessories. If you head North along the strand, you’ll have a more peaceful ride and be able to marvel at the scenic mountains and coast of Malibu.

This particular Saturday, we chose the more peaceful route and rode our beach cruisers through NorthernSanta Monica. We stopped at some rocks that jut out to the water and carefully navigated our way to the end to feel the spray of the water and enjoy the sounds of the seagulls and waves. When you live in the busy city of LA, it’s nice to flee the sounds of traffic and find a spot like this where you can enjoy nature, especially with someone you love.

Eating and Drinking

Eventually, we had enough beach and sun and headed home to clean up and change clothes before hitting up one of our favorite places to get quality food and beer without the usual inflated LA prices—Back Stage Bar and Grill, located at 10400 Culver Blvd. in Culver City. During the week, Back Stage features a quality house

band, and on the weekend, the spot offers karaoke with a large array of popular songs. But we didn’t come to this spot for the entertainment—to us, the main attraction was the restaurant’s famous sliders and selection of beers on tap.

Damien and I each ordered a plate of 2 Back Stage sliders ($7 each), shared a basket of garlic fries ($4) and ordered two Blue Moons on tap ($4 each). And then, much to the crowd’s entertainment, Damien took the stage and appropriately sang his rendition of “Cheeseburger and Paradise.”

Entertainment

After our bellies were full, we had $14 left to spend and were ready to change clothes once again before hitting up our favorite dance club in Los Angeles—Bootie LA, held once a month at the Echoplex in EchoPark. The club features a handful of DJs each Saturday who mash up popular songs together so two to three songs are playing on top of each other at the same time. The result is a killer beat and an amazing time for the dancers on the floor.

For the frugal folk like us, make sure to arrive before 10 p.m., because then cover is only $5, as opposed to $10 each after 10 p.m. And also make sure to stay until midnight, because that’s when the Bootie dancers come out—sometimes they’re throwing out freebies, sometimes they’re dressed up in gold lycra suits, and occasionally they’ll

feature a Lady GaGa lookalike. With its mixes of multiple genres of music, quirky dancers and a group of chill people, Bootie LA is a gem for people looking to let loose and have a good time, for a nominal cover price.

By the end of the challenge, Damien and I were exhausted from our active date and still had $4 left in our pockets. We hope our challenge inspires others in LA to enjoy the amazing weather and scenic views that our wonderful city has to offer, seek out the dive bars and avoid overpriced cover charges at dance clubs!

Be sure to read all of the Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out below!

Greg and Anna’s Los Angeles $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:33:15 +0000

So Anna and I recently moved to Westlake Village near Thousand Oaks and were very excited to use the Young and Frugal Challenge as an excuse to get out and check out our new town. When we talk about going out its always to a bar or lounge like P6 or Suki 7, a Cheesecake Factory or Chili’s in the promenade or a dinner and a movie and at The Oaks Mall but of course that comes with a price.

With the focus of making the date night enjoyable and inexpensive Annie and I set off to make a plan to meet the challenge. First the food and booze then the entertainment.

With a few clicks on Yelp we came across Cisco’s Mexican restaurant which is only 2 blocks from our apartment and we decided it would be a great place to start The Challenge. When looking at the restaurants website two words caught our eye: Happy Hour, well actually to be more precise $2 Margaritas. Cisco’s in Westlake Village on Westlake Blvd, has a great Happy Hour from 4-7 everyday. $2 Margaritas, $3 shots, $3 Well drinks, $3 drafts, $6 24oz Coronas and Pacificos and $6 Jagger-bombs (an old college favorite) and of course 1/2 off appetizers. Now with dinner and drinks planned for the night the next step was to find some entertainment.

We decided to check the Thousand Oaks City website for an inside look into the upcoming events, concerts and show in our area. When looking for something fun and unique to do remember to check out the calendar on your town’s website. You’ll find a slew of fun stuff to do and great deals in the process.

Thousand Oaks has a lot of art shows, plays at the Civic Arts Plaza and special performances at places like the Thousand Oaks Library. Annie and I decided to check out one of the Bodie House Concert Series at the Thousand Oaks Library. The most important thing to remember when checking out the events in your town is to RSVP in time to get a spot. What’s great about event’s like this is that if you are running short on funds the admittance is free but donations are appreciated.

So after all this planning Annie and I were very excited to hit the town. We sat down at Cisco’s around 6:00PM on Friday evening. The place was already filling up with a bunch of people ready to start the weekend off right, inexpensive drinks, good food, loud music and fun people. We both started with a $2 Margarita, Annie had the chicken flautas ($4) and I had the Cisco’s Nacho’s con carne (that’s about the extent of my Spanish) ($4.50). Going along with the vibe of Cisco’s we decided to get a 2nd round Annie a Margarita($2) and I had Jack and coke ($3). At the end of dinner our bill came to $17.50.

We signed our check, hopped in the car for a short drive to the library for the concert. The library is a great venue, small, intimate and very welcoming. We were happy to donate $20 to the library for the concert. At thi

s concert, like most of the Bodie House Concert Series, they had appetizers and dessert available for all in attendance. We had an opportunity to see Jimmy LaFave, an extremely talented guitarist and singer whose laid back and comical nature really brings you in to his performance. The concert was great and something we both will be doing again together in the future.

So after all was said and done the evening came to a grand total of $37.50. It’s always fun when you have a chance to break your usual routine and try something new. So remember always check out your local resources for fun events and keep your eyes peeled for those two magical words: Happy Hour.

Be sure to read all of the Los Angeles $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out below!

$40 Date Night Challenge – Dallas (DFW)

Daniel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:54:45 +0000

First off, a hearty congratulations to Chris from Chicago for winning the inaugural multi-city $40 Date Night Challenge! You can read his winning write-up here.

For this $40 Date Night Challenge we will put 4 couples from the Dallas area up against each other. The rules are very similar to last time. I challenged them with the set of rules below, they did a write-up, and now you vote on the winner to win CASH!

Here are the rules as presented to those who accepted:

The date night must include dinner, drinking, and entertainment
Dinner cannot be at a national restaurant chain, local chains are OK. Don’t eat at home.
Entertainment cannot be bowling or a movie
Drinks (yes alcohol) must be purchased, not brought, and not shared
Transportation costs (gas, parking, train, etc…) do not need to be included in the $40.00
Yes, a date is 2 people
If you use a gift card the amount spent still counts towards the $40
Take pictures
This isn’t a “who you know” night, so while we all love free stuff and “hook-ups” if you use them, account for what the normal cost would be out of your $40
Taxes don’t count in the $40
Coupons are allowed and encouraged if you have them

The links for the write ups and voting are below. The voting will be open for 10 days from today.

Be sure to read all of the DFW $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check them out!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Blaine’s Dallas $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:46:01 +0000

Daniel’s Note: Blaine started his $40 date out in Plano, then moved down to the hip “Uptown” part of Dallas.

Last Friday, my friend Jess and I started our $40 Adventure with a trip to Geisha Sushi & Steak at the corner of Coit and President George Bush Turnpike. It was a logical dinner spot, as we both work up north. As we sat down, we ordered a large house hot sake ($7), which came out super-hot. We had a plan to start with edamame, but instead ordered the Sushi Nachos (3.95), which were pretty much just shredded crabmeat with a slice of avocado, all topping a bowl-style tortilla chip – pretty simple, but a nice, light start to the meal. Next up was the Geisha Blossom (7.50), a fresh jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese and crabmeat, then deep fried. The Blossom definitely ramped up the flavor with a bold, spicy balance between the pepper and crab.

Our two sushi rolls came out shortly after, one Ahi Tower and one White Dragon (12.95 each). The Tower was the traditional mix of spicy tuna, crab, spicy mayo and masago, all drizzled with a sweet eel sauce. The White Dragon is a combination of tuna, salmon, white fish and avacado, rolled in a seaweed wrapper and flash fried before reaching its final destination on top of a pool of three sweet and spicy sauces. Before leaving, we topped off the meal with a small house hot sake ($4). In a pleasant surprise, we also found live music at Geisha. This guy had a sweet setup of an electronic keyboard, some stunted looking guitar and a laptop to drop the funky Japanese beats. It really set the mood, and he was all about having his picture taken.

Anyway, back to the story… if you’re keeping a running tally, you may have noticed that we seemingly ALREADY went over budget. But don’t fret, loyal readers, as I unveil my secret weapon… Restaurant.com usually offers gift certificates of $25 for discounted rates… normally, that means you can get a $25 certificate for $10. HOWEVER, they regularly run sales of up to 80%!! So I managed to get a $25 gift certifiate for the low price of $2. Apply that to our ticket and we got out of Geisha for a super-modest $25.35 (including the $2 for the certificate).

Next up on this awesome date was a visit to the Barley House on SMU Blvd. This place has regular live bands and some pretty cool bartenders, and on this night it was no different as Parachute Addams, a bluesy/classic rock band took the stage. We also ordered a couple draft beers for $3.50 a pop. Since the Barley House rarely charges cover, that meant we still had room for 4 of these guys. However, since I was driving, I cut myself off at one while Jess took down two, bringing our bar tab to an incredibly satisfying $10.50.

Total bill for the evening: $33.85. BOOM!

Be sure to read all of the DFW $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check out the rest!

Matt and Emily’s Dallas $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:45:07 +0000

Daniel’s Note: Matt and Emily’s Date Night was split between Oak Cliff (South Dallas), and the Park Cities (which are two little cities in the heart of, and completely surrounded by Dallas).

We decided to find something different to do for entertainment; we aren’t the concert going types. My first idea, some sort of Sunday brunch at a strip club, was immediately out of the question because neither of us were free on a Sunday, at least I’m assuming that’s what Emily’s reason for saying “No” was. Our next idea was a fireworks show but unfortunately there wasn’t a large fireworks display in the area until July sometime (the powers at be forgot about Texas Independence Day, I know.) We searched several websites to find cheap or free entertainment including groupon.com, restaurants.com, dallasobserver.com.

First, we live in a hip, up and coming part of Oak Cliff full of some less well known bars and restaurants. We found a deal on yelp.com for a week long happy hour at some of the popular bars in our area. We chose the patio bar at the Hotel Belmont which is known to have one of the finest views of downtown Dallas. The Belmont is a unique treasure for Dallas. Originally built in 1946 along the only major road connecting Dallas and Fort Worth at the time, the hotel served as a stopping point for weary travelers as they made their way through North Texas. Only a handful of these popular hotels/motels still exists along Fort Worth Ave. and the Belmont, designed by famous residential architect Charles Dilbeck, is certainly special and a rarity in Dallas for it’s art moderne style.

Our drink specials were half off normal prices all week long. The drinks at Hotel Belmont are rather expensive (think hip young bar) but at half price they were quite reasonable. I had the Lonesome Highway (sort of like a Mohito/Margarita) and Emily had a Belmontini.

They were both delicious and in the end set us back $10, normally $20. We made sure to tip our waitress on the full price of the drinks (we’re frugal, not cheap) and enjoyed the end of the day with the warm sun and fruity (and very stiff) drinks.

As I said above, our entertainment plan was different than others’. We searched for any special museum deals during the week. The world renowned Meadow’s Museum of Art at Southern Methodist University has one of the largest collections of Spanish art outside of Spain which ranges from the 10^th to the 21^st century.

The Meadows Museum was constructed in 1965 with funds from the Meadows Foundation, an organization created by Texas oilman and philanthropist, Algur H. Meadows. Mr. Meadows and his wife were inspired by the Prado Museum in Spain and provided the funds necessary to establish an acquisitions program for the University, which amassed a large collection in a short period of time. Since his death in the late 70s, the Foundation has continued its support of the Museum’s permanent collection. Needless to say, it is quite impressive, with works ranging from a 17^th century wood sculpture with gold-leaf of St. Ignatius Loyola to several Picasso pieces. The exterior of the Meadows Museum is beautiful with a 90-foot long moving, copper sculpture and water feature designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish architect behind Dallas’ soon-to-be bridge to no where! (Photo credit: someone’s flickr page)

The museum usually charges $8 per adult but on Thursdays after 5pm the admission is free for all. Parking for museum patrons is also free. We spent two hours walking through their galleries and it was rather empty, which is nice for looking at art. Walking around for two hours we worked up an appetite. Total price: $0.

The Park Cities in Dallas are known for numerous local eateries and many of them are rather expensive. We wanted to eat something quintessentially Dallas and knew that the original Burger House was less than a mile from campus.

The burgers are delicious, but they are really known for their specially seasoned French fries (these got me through medical school – for real.) They don’t have many advertised specials, but by joining their email list on the website we were offered $1 off any sandwich, fries and drink combo. Total cost $9 x 2 = $18.

Total cost of the night: $28 not including tip at the hotel.

As stated before, we aren’t typical Dallasites. We are very big nerds who enjoy architecture, museums and greasy hole-in-the-wall burger joints. This was the perfect evening for us, and at $28 total, is affordable for any other nerdy couple out there! Of course, I still wish we could have pulled off the Sunday strip club brunch. Another challenge perhaps…

Be sure to read all of the DFW $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check out the rest!

Mayra and John’s Dallas $40 Date Night

Daniel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:44:14 +0000

On Friday, John and I had a very relaxed and chill date night. Our night started with eating dinner at Hook Line and Sinker, a casual seafood restaurant, which is located in uptown Dallas. Before going, we checked out the Yelp review which ranks it as a 4 out of 5. We both had their fried jumbo shrimp basket, it came with delicious french fries and hush puppies; for drinks we both ordered beers. The place resembled a fishing dock shack with limited indoor and outdoor seating. The atmosphere was very nice and cozy and the food was affordable but delicious. We made the mistake of going on a Friday during lent, which meant there was a huge line, but the wait staff was very fast and turned the tables quickly. It was definitely worth the wait! Our total dinner tab was $25.43 (alcoholic beverages $2.50/ each).

After dinner we headed for a fun and competitive round of golf at Top Golf driving range. Top Golf is known not only for it’s cool environment, but also for their technology features. Each golf ball has a microchip,each tee box has a computer monitor, and the entire range is monitored by technology so that when you hit the ball you can track the exact distance and location.

(Daniel’s Note: Top Golf may be one of the coolest things to do in Dallas, and there are only two other places in the US to do it! They have a full bar, with wait staff that comes to your tee box; the ability to play games and compete against each other is amazing)

All this technology enables you to play games against each other driving for distance or hitting targets. We played one round, and of course I beat John! … Not true but it was close. During our round of golf we shared a milk shake, that was brought to our tee-box by one of the awesome wait staff. One round of golf for each was $3.80; the total expense at Top Golf was $11.60.

Our total cost for the night was: $ 37.03

Be sure to read all of the DFW $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check out the rest!