Closing the book

The e-Harmony match with M-Daddy has been officially archived and now officially closed.

Ok, allow me to back up… So, we had a very nice (and somewhat involved) date, but apparently he didn’t like the fact that we were an hour away from each other.  Sure, he made a comment about the drive when he got here, but based on what transpired during the date, I was pretty sure he didn’t mind.  After all, we managed to make it work just fine when we were 3000 miles away from each other, surely we could make being one hour away from each other work.

My feelings on the matter:

·         I like him and saw good potential in the relationship.  An hour isn’t that bad and you find ways to make it work.

His feelings on the matter:

·         He liked me, we had fun together and he saw the same potential that I did, but an hour is just too long of a drive.

So that’s it.  After trying to make it work, I’m now officially done with M-Daddy.

Since it’s over, which he made very apparent after he uploaded a new picture on e-Harmony a matter of hours after our date (I noticed that this morning), I got busy reviewing my other potential matches.  I’m back to starting from square one, so I sent out some “smile” icebreakers to see what happens. 

I’ve been in the dating pool for almost three months (which come to think of it, my e-Harmony renewal will be coming up soon, ugh!), and so far the only thing I have to show for it was a very long text thread which has now been deleted.   Here’s to the next three months!

What’s Cookin’?

Deciding what to do on date #3 wasn’t an easy chore.  M-Daddy and I had talked about a “spicy challenge” for a while, so we started to stake out where this throw down could take place.  He didn’t want me to have to drive too far, so I started to scope out restaurants about halfway between our towns.  I turned to Yelp and Urban Spoon, which have always worked out well in the past, but not this time.  The issue wasn’t the number of restaurants or the ratings they received – it was the number of actual reviews that the restaurants had. Sure, a restaurant that has 4 ½ stars looks promising… until you see that there are a whopping 4 reviews.  Let’s see... #1 is probably the owner, #2 is probably the owner’s husband/wife and #3 and #4 are probably friends/relatives of the owner. 

So, after discussing the not-so-hopeful choices on Yelp and Urban Spoon, M-Daddy brought up the fact that I did have a selection of spices at my disposal – maybe he could cook for me.  So we made plans for a nice, casual Saturday date at my house. 

Of course, that first meant that I needed to (somewhat) finish unpacking so there were dishes/pot/pans/table/chairs available for this anticipated meal.  My furniture finally came on Tuesday evening, so I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday unpacking what seemed like an endless pile of boxes. 

I’m happy to report that almost all of my furniture safely made the trip.  The two pieces that sadly didn’t survive were the two armchairs to my dining room set (which, ironically, were the two chairs that I never really liked in the first place - DBE picked those out, not me). My headboard survived, but has a nice chunk taken out of the top, left corner.  My claim has already been filed…  Luckily, the pieces that I was worried about, like a large, glass front china cabinet and a 5’ tall resin Pepe Le Pew (yes, I am a animation art fan) arrived perfectly.  My mom came over to help me unpack and I’m happy to report that pretty much everything except the second bedroom and a little bit of the office was all that was left to do.  It was nice to be able to bring my “hot date” over to a somewhat finished house. ;)

On Saturday morning, I checked out the selection in the fridge – I had some basic veggies and beef on hand and I took a trip to a farmer’s market in the morning for whatever else looked good.  BTW, I must be really spoiled by the SF farmer’s markets because this one was not that impressive.  I found a few things, but nothing to supplement the potential meal.

The city I live in is a network of canals, so I’m glad that M-Daddy had GPS to find the place.  Turns out we’re an hour from each other, but that’s better than being 3000 miles away like we were before. We ended up spending a nice afternoon together, and the answer to the question is yes, he is as good of a cook as he said he was. :)  He perused through the available spices like a pro as he figured out what to make.  We ended up with beef stir fry with veggies and potatoes over rice noodles. He used three different spices in his concoction and it was very yummy.  I opened a nice shiraz and we had some great conversation over a great (and spicy) meal.

Date #3 has come and gone, and now we move forward.  This is already turning out to be a relationship with a little spice, which is always a good thing (*wink*).  Apparently, both of us can handle the heat…

Or maybe they are what they seem...

Ups, downs… and ups again.

After a few conversations early in the week, M-Daddy and I both agreed that we wanted to give it one more shot.  We had such great conversation over the past six weeks and neither one of us wanted to dismiss that.  So we agreed on a second date over drinks… no buildup… no hype… just a normal date.

I guess that, and a pair of stand in “secret weapons,” was the magic formula that we needed.

So, yes, I bought a new pair of shoes.  Not for him – they were for me.  I really wanted to feel good on this date and I knew that heels were the way to go.  Not just any heels… I needed something that made me feel cool, sexy and hot, all at the same time.  I had flats for date #1 – you feel cute in flats.  I needed heels for date #2 – I didn’t need to feel cute, I needed to feel hot (purely to give me a little “home field” advantage).  A quick trip to DSW took care of that with the addition of the “stand in secret weapons” to my shoe collection.  The rest of the outfit was simple – skinny jeans, black tank top and a khaki cardigan (which matched the black and khaki colors of the shoes LOL). Even though I had rockin’ shoes, the whole outfit felt casual, yet sexy. I must say that I felt much more comfortable than I did in the outfit from date #1 (which was never my first choice for date attire – it was just the best of the limited choices I had at the time thanks to my stuff not being here).

We met at the same center as before, but we went to Outback instead to have a nice glass of wine.  He had a meeting after work, so we knew it would be a later date, so drinks just felt better (plus it was a “school night” since we both had to work early the next day).  He got there and we found a nice spot on the side of the bar where it was a bit quieter.  We enjoyed some wine and just had good conversation for about two hours – it was nice, and exactly what we needed. 

Honestly, keeping all that buildup out of the date let us just get to know each other.  Our “virtual” selves had six weeks to get to know each other (and boy, did they ever get to know each other!), but our real selves were just starting out.  I knew that I liked him and I wanted to see where this would go since we had shared so much already.  A nice, low-key date where we could start to get to know each other was perfect.

After our drinks, we had another make out session in the parking lot that was more involved then date #1.  This time, we were both much more into it and since we already knew what to expect.  This was no “end-of-first-date” kiss… this was an “I-really-like-making-out-with-you” kiss and neither of us wanted to stop…

When we did finally stop (which we kind of had to since we were in a public parking lot and all), we bid each other good night.  He reached out to me the next morning to let me know that he felt much better about the date and that he wanted to let this progress naturally (and also that he really liked the shoes). ;)  We’ve got another date planned for next Saturday (he’s got his son starting tonight, so this will be a nice “cooling off” week to let him think about how much he wants to make out with me again LOL).  I think we’re going to try our “spicy challenge” over something wings or curry… that should be fun.

Anyway, this gives me time to get my stuff (which should be here in the middle of next week), unpack a bit and then have date #3.  They say third time is a charm, not that the second time was bad at all…  We’ll see what next Saturday brings, and hopefully, I’ll have my entire shoe collection to choose from when picking out what to wear.  Hmmm… what shoes go good with spicy food? ;)

Things aren’t always what they seem…

One word sums up everything for me right now:  Really??

Apparently, what I thought was a nice first date where M-Daddy was being a perfect gentleman wasn’t the same for all parties involved.  Our conversations had gotten pretty hot over the last six weeks (um, up to just shy of 2,000 texts and countless long phone calls) and we both agreed that we would hold off to make sure that didn’t overshadow our first date (since it was a first date and all…)  I thought that’s why he was a bit reserved and “gentlemanly.”

I guess I was wrong.

He said we had a great connection over the last six weeks, but he just didn’t feel the connection when we met.  Even though we had nice conversations and laughs over dinner, held hands as we walked around and made out at the end of the night… he just didn’t feel the “connection.”  He doesn’t know why he didn’t feel it, but he wants to think things through a bit now.

Really??

Wow, he was pretty quick to throw six weeks worth of great conversation and “connection” right out the window. 

Looks like I’m back to square one… Maybe this blog will be about the ups and downs of dating after all.

One Hell of a week…

Boy, a lot has happened this week…

First, my furniture didn’t arrive.  Turns out there was a “miscommunication” on the date that I requested the delivery.  The date you put is supposed to be the beginning of a 14-day window for delivery.  They guy who supervised my pick up said “oh, it never takes 14 days, so just put the date you want delivery.” When I started to call the company the day before my delivery to confirm it, they said it wasn’t coming because it was only the start of the 14 day delivery window.  Needless to say, I just want my stuff at this point, and it looks like it will get here in another week or so.  And yes, they’re already talking about giving me a discount because of the mix-up.  Ugh… the worst part is that all my sexy heels were packed up!

Since I don’t have any furniture, I’m “camping” in the empty house.  At least I have the basics (air mattress, small table for a desk, etc.) so I can function, but I’m working with a limited selection of wardrobe choices here since I really only packed for the road.  And as you know, I had a date to go on…

The date…  I know you’re all dying to hear about that, but let’s start before the date… M-Daddy and I had fun with the final countdown until the day.  First it was counting down days, then it switched to hours as it got closer.  It was fun and built a lot of anticipation.  We had our restaurant picked out and we knew we wanted to see a movie, but hadn’t decided which one in advance (but we both scoped out the choices in advance).

Wardrobe choices… Since I didn’t have much with me, I was really glad that I did make a stop at a large SF Banana Republic store and picked up a few things, including a cute (aka casual, yet sexy) knit dress.  I only had two choices of shoes – grey flat sandals or tan flat sandals (both Sam Edelman, so very cute).  The idea of wearing the “secret weapons” went right out the door since they were still in a box in California.  I picked up a tan cardigan at a local Banana Republic store here to complete the outfit with the tan sandals, and I was officially ready for the first date.  Not my first choice for a date outfit, but it will do in a pinch. :)

First meeting… So, after flirting quite a bit over the last six weeks or so, I was wondering what that first encounter would be like.  Would it be a mad passionate kiss?  Would there be groping involved?  Turns out, no – he was a perfect gentleman with a nice casual kiss and a big hug.  Boy, it really felt good to hug him!  And he’s tall, which was even more apparent since I was wearing flats.

Back to the date… We had a nice dinner (which he paid for), saw Real Steel, which is a surprisingly good movie (which I paid for) and got some ice cream afterwards (which he paid for) and walked around the center for a while and just talked.  It was your typical first date, except that we already kind of knew each other.  At the end, he walked me to my car and we had a nice “end-of-first-date-kiss” that reminded me of a couple of teenagers making out in the parking lot before going home.  That was totally fun! ;)

Now that the first date is behind us, we’ll see what happens next.  Both of us had to work a bit today, so maybe there’s a second date in the cards for tomorrow…  I can’t wait for my shoes to get her so he can really see what he’s in for with me! I don’t call them the “secret weapons” for nothing… ;)

Welcome to the Sunshine State!

I’m happy to report that I’ve made it to Florida!  I got in on Thursday night, so I was able to cover over 3o00 miles in 5 days.  M-Daddy kept me company along the way between texts and phone calls, and he got more and more excited as I got closer to Florida (I don’t know who was more excited – me or him!)

The trip itself was fairly uneventful.  But I did see some funny stuff along the way…

·         “Watch for Elk” – apparently there are a lot of elk between Arizona and New Mexico.  There were several signs including one that said I was entering Elk Country… I guess I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

·         “Watch for Snakes” – these were mostly in Texas.  I especially liked it when these signs were posted in the children’s play areas at the rest stops… “Here kids, play in this area and try not to pick up anything that hisses at you…”

·         “The Original Fried Pies” – two things come to mind about this one… (1) I didn’t realize that there were a lot of knockoff fried pies, and (2) how exactly do you fry a pie?

·         “Visit the Knife Outlet” – apparently the regular knife store had so much overstock, they were able to open an outlet… But that could be handy if the ol’ road rage gets out of control.

·         “Are You Going to Heaven or Hell” – I guess this depends on the road rage and if I stop at the knife outlet…

But the most interesting sign was one by the highway in Albuquerque, NM.  It has a simple message:

“Don’t Fry Bacon Naked”

Not exactly what I expected to see on the side of a highway, but a good tip nonetheless.

Anyway, now that M-Daddy and I are in the same time zone, we’re able to talk and text a bit more. He’s able to text me in the morning to say good morning without waking me up at like 3 am and I can text him to say good night when I go to bed.  (pause, smile, *sigh*)

Most importantly, we’re now only 5 days from our first date!  The official first date plans are the traditional “dinner and a movie” at a center about half way between our places.  I scoped out some of the restaurants, and found a good option.  Best of all, I can wear the “secret weapons” with a pair of jeans and a cute top and it will be the perfect outfit.  He’s coming from work, so he’ll be a little more dressed up (I certainly don’t mind that!)

Anyway, this will be a busy week!  My furniture gets delivered so I can start setting up the house and begin settling in.  Also, the days will be ticking down until Friday night when I finally get to meet M-Daddy!  It's the official start of my brand new life! :)