What a Croc!

Well, it finally happened.  After several months of hopeful blogging, I finally had something I’d been waiting for… A real, normal, nice first date!  Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if those even existed anymore with the string of bad luck that I’ve been having with online dating.

I know the question that you’re all DYING to ask is “which shoes did I choose?”  Wait, what’s that?  You mean you want to know about the guy first? LOL Oh, OK, fine…

So after my run in with the scam artist, I did get back online.  After all, you can’t be afraid to get back up on the bike after you fall, right?  At least I didn’t part with any money when I fell… *eye roll*  I was still active with Match for a little longer, so I decided to check things out (of course, after I reported the scam artist).  I sent a few winks out and got a nice response back from a divorced guy who is also fairly new to the area.  We ended up chatting on the phone for a while over the weekend and made plans to have a nice lunch date on Monday.  Lunch feels safe – it’s not as “date-y” as dinner, so there’s not as much pressure.  We picked a nice restaurant on the water, which ended up being closed so we had to quickly regroup and blindly choose another restaurant.  We headed to the outdoor seating and had a nice lunch right on the water.  The food was good… the conversation was good… a perfect example of what one expects from a first date.

Let me tell you more about the guy… He’s from Rhode Island and just recently moved down to this area.  He stayed up north for a while his now ex-wife and kids were down here.  Turns out the now ex-wife decided to begin dating other people… um, while they were still married (ouch!)  He tried to work things out with her to keep the family together, but apparently, she started “dating” again (double ouch and hence, the reason for her becoming the “ex” wife).   He is a little older than me – 8 yrs to be exact, which isn’t too bad.  He’s got two younger kids at home (6 and 11) as well as grown kids from a previous marriage…  So yes, he has baggage (remember that 9-piece matching paisley luggage set from Macy’s that I mentioned when I began this blog), but he is a really nice guy, we have a good amount in common and I did have a very nice time with him at lunch.  For that, he wins the coveted prize of a second date. :)  Since we had lunch, now we’ll graduate to dinner, where I will really break out the shoes.

Speaking of shoes, I did choose a “lunch appropriate” pair (the Sam Edelman mid-heel sandals in the pictures). I checked the weather and it was supposed to be mild, but nice.  I thought I’d look all cute in jeans, a tank and a sweater… then I sat outside.  In partial sun.  For and hour and a half.  Sweating. Ugh!  So much for my cuteness, right?  I didn’t realize that (1) it was so hot because I was in my air-conditioned house all morning, and (2) that we would be eating outside until we made the final plans and I didn’t feel like changing. It’s all good… At least my shoes looked great, right?  And, in the grand scheme of things, I was having such a nice time that I really didn’t notice. ;)

Speaking of shoes (again), we did manage to turn our conversation to shoes.  LOL!  He mentioned that his ex started wearing Crocs and looked ridiculous (actually, he said she looked like a lesbian, but I’m trying to keep this blog PC). I assured him that I would NEVER (ever, ever) wear those (ever).  But then, he admitted to me that he wears them around the house too, and he even (gasp!) managed to get all the way to Home Depot before realizing that he still had them on.  So in wondering what I can call him on my blog, naturally, he will now be known as “Crocs.”

I have set the ground rules that he can’t wear the Crocs on a date because they will cancel out the sexiness of my shoes… If we make it to date #3, I may find a way to make his Crocs “mysteriously disappear” (or at least make sure they are permanently banished to the house).  LOL - I'm kidding about this... He's a nice guy, so I guess I can handle a pair (or two) of Crocs.  Besides, it may provide some good blog fodder... ;)

I do have to tell you about one other funny online dating thing that just happened to me today.  I got an email from another match.  Honestly, he was way too old for me, but he did send a clever email, so it at least warranted a response.  I gave him a nice TBNT message (“Thanks but no thanks” for all of you who have never worked in retail), and then got this response back:

Hello Debbie,

Thanks for replying to my “hello” email.

I wanted to share a thought that if you come across an interesting and attractive single female who is bright, charming, smart and more than a little bit interesting, I hope you might consider passing along my contact information.  I can be a wonderful extra male guest at a dinner party – I scrub up reasonably well, my verb tenses match up and I am comfortably secure.

Regards,

Chuck

Well, there you have it… he would like my help in hooking him up.  Um, you know, I’m kinda busy trying to find someone for myself let along trying to find someone for a perfect stranger.  

But thankfully, his verb tenses match up…