Elle and {PDA}

I left off with telling y'all about my hot date at the zoo with {The Dutch Guy}. We had a great time, but come Monday I found out he had some x-girlfriend drama that I just didn't want to get involved in. Ugh. The older we get the more baggage we have. Rad.

After the completely awkward end of my date with {The Bus Rider}, I was surprised but excited when he asked if we could meet for happy hour later this week. This guy doesn't mess around. I have to admit I'm intrigued because he appears to be looking past my complete awkward and uncomfortableness. How is this possible? I distract myself with my awkwardness...how is {HE} looking past it?

This is what the end of our first date looked like.
Seriously...

I digress. He offered to meet me in my neighborhood this time {cute}. I figured I'd take him to the spot where I've dragged many of my other dates - Spur.

Wednesday roles around and I happen to have a pretty crappy-ass day at work. I'm running late. It's raining. By the time I get to my house to quickly freshen up, he's already at the bar and probably annoyed with me that I'm running late. Which makes me sweat. Which is attractive. So that's awesome.

Spur is pretty packed for a Wednesday but we snag a table. I had eaten a late lunch, and decided I'd get right to the hard stuff...if you consider red wine hard...he ordered gnocchi {and pronounced the "G"{cute}} and some sort of fancy man drink {a Manhattan?}. He gobbled down his meal like he hadn't eaten in days. {Bless his heart}.

We settled in and the conversation came easy. He lead the conversation, which I appreciate. I hate having to feel like I am working so hard. He dives right into some topics "you typically avoid on the first few dates." Religion & Politics. This made me giggle on the inside. We seem to be on the same page. However, I try to push the conversation elsewhere. I don't really know him, and I'm not sure if these are topics that he'll get all worked up about. I don't want tears or yelling on our second date...Right?

The next thing I know a few hours have passed. I look down and realize he's holding my hand. After being in a relationship for five years with {The X} - where we rarely touched in public - this feels different. But it feels okay. I realize I am a little tipsy. And by a little I mean a lot. He's sitting across the table from me and says he feels far away. He asks if he can come sit next to me, and I laugh on the inside. I know, I just know, that he is thinking of me sitting 3 miles away from him in his living room on our first date.

He moves to my side of the table where I decide I should come clean about the bus ride. I think I kinda freaked him out by alluding to the fact that I knew him a little better then he knew me. After I finally told the whole story, he seemed a little relieved and found it funny. I thought to my {tipsy} self, well Elle, this is a good sign.

I can tell he's about to kiss me but he's so adorable that he asks without really asking. This is of course {too} cute. But it also makes me sweat. I don't want our first kiss to be at Spur! But it happens and it's nice. And I think to myself, this guy is kind of adorable.

Spur ends up closing at 11, so we head across the street to the Bath Tub Gin Co. We arrive at the Bath Tub Gin and cozy up into a corner. I'm sucking face with this guy. In a bar. At 11pm. On a school night. {What, you weren't expecting me to write that?} Who is this girl, I keep thinking? I don't do this on second dates, much less in public! Well, whoever she is, I decide I like her.  And I decide I like like this guy whose bringing this girl out in me.

{The Bus Rider} keeps trying to end the date back at my place. He's a little broken-hearted because I told him that I don't particularly enjoy dancing. He tells me we should close the tab, head back to my place, turn on some music and dance. I can't help but think the dance he's thinking of is the horizontal mambo. Sorry {Bus Rider}, that just ain't gonna happen on the second date ;-). Luckily I planned ahead. I knew that if I got tipsy, my inhibitions would be lowered and I might be prone to making decisions that I wouldn't normally make in this kind of a situation. I purposefully left my home a bit of a mess, so we couldn't 'end up at my place' at the end of the evening doing a second date version of the horizontal mambo. Internet high-five!

He may not want to high-five over this,
but I'm a lady, and I do!

We end up shutting down the Bath Tub Gin Co., and he walks me home to my place. He hails a cab and we do a little more kissing against it for a healthy handful of minutes. I'm cracking up on the inside. I realize it took us nearly 30 minutes to walk two and a half blocks. Wow. What were we doing on that short walk home? I tell him my chin is red/raw and he apologizes. He tells me he thinks I'm cute, and I quickly forget about my red/raw chin.

I'm not ready to close my OkCupid account, but as I'm getting ready for bed I think to myself, yeah, I kinda like this guy.

xoxo,
Elle

Elle and {The Dutch Guy}

As ya'll know I signed up for okcupid.com since eHarmony failed me with {The Dreaded Friend} Match and I decided paying to meet me some men {husband candidates} wasn't jiving with my {Elle} style.

So I met {The Bus Rider} and we had a lovely little adventure together that commenced with me listening to him recount our date to his buddy on King County Metro Bus #26. Good times were had by all.

In true Elle style, I never put all my eggs in one basket and I had another date lined up that weekend with an okcupid match.

{The Dutch Guy} and I had been talking for several weeks by now but we hadn't had a chance to meet up due to scheduling conflicts. One thing that I thought was especially nice about him was that he wanted to talk on the phone before we met. He insisted. I was terrified, as I barely talk on the phone with my family and think that all phone conversations are horribly awkward. Especially with people you've never met. But we had a great rapport via email and texting and I wasn't going to let one little phone conversation get in the way of meeting this man.

He called me on a Thursday and the phone conversation went fine. Better then fine actually. We talked for about an hour but it only felt like five minutes. This is good right?

He suggested we meet in person. At the zoo.

Every person I consulted with thought this was particularly odd except for me and my good friend {The Meow}. I can always count on {The Meow} to be supportive.

{The Dutch Guy} offered to pick me up which I thought was very sweet, but I thought it would be better to bus it...that way I didn't feel trapped.

My bus arrived at the zoo and there he was waiting for me at the bus stop. How. Sweet. Is. That? He had gotten there early and already bought me a ticket, so there was no awkwardness when it came to paying/entering. But seeing him wait for me at the bus stop made my heart go pitter-patter. This guy is a gentleman, right?

Nine points for {The Dutch Guy}.

The zoo turned out to be one of the very best date spots so far. Conversation came very easy. There were no awkward silences. And if there was ever a lull in conversation, we talked about the animals. I told him a few "must sees" for me and he made sure we spent a lot of time at my favorite exhibits.
We spent several hours at the zoo and went back to my favorite exhibit twice {The Penguins in case you were wondering}. He was the appropriate amount of funny/interesting. And opened every door for me. This guy has class. I. Was. Hooked.

The very sweetest part of our date included a picnic at the end. {The Dutch Guy} had recently been back to Holland to visit his parents and had brought back an entire suitcase full of Dutch treats. He brought a sampling of his favorites on our date and he told me about each of them while we tasted. It was very neat to see his eyes light up as he talked about his home, his favorite food and his family. He asked several questions about me, my family and my life. It was such a relief to be on a date with a guy who took the lead.

We reluctantly realized our date was coming to an end. He drove me home and I got to learn more about another interest of his - racing cars. As he drove me home, he told me he could drop me off a few blocks from my place if I didn't want to tell him where I lived. We had a good chuckle over that.
When we arrived at my place, he told me to hold on for a second - he hopped out of the car and ran around to open my door.

He asked if he could see me again which made my heart pitter-patter again. I realized that this is what a first date is supposed to feel like. I felt a real connection with him and silently celebrated inside my head.

We parted ways with promises to see each other soon. And he sent me a few adorable text  messages later that night.Success! I felt really good about my first two dates from okcupid and couldn't wait to see what would happen next!

I was thrilled that the zoo date had turned out so magical and perfect. I realized it was easier to relax and enjoy myself with distractions. Rather then guzzling cocktails/brewskis and awkwardly looking {I am probably glaring} at each other from across a table. I found it interesting that both guys from okcupid had suggested a similar date - but then I realized that they had been at this longer than me and are probably experts at wooing innocent ladies such as myself.

Happy Virtual Dating!

xoxo,
Elle

Elle and {OkCupid}

Y'all. I've been slacking on the blog posting. You would too. This online dating thing can be exhausting. 

Recap. Talked to my friend {The Professor}. Heard his hilarious story about online dating. Told all of you. Signed up for okcupid myself annnnnnddddd...

I'm talking to some guys. Managing two online dating accounts is tough! Things weren't looking too hot on okcupid for a while.

One of the first guys that emailed me was wearing thick. black. eyeliner. And had long black hair. He had this whole email crafted about who he is and what he does. His pictures looked eerie - like hey, I'm a Satan Worshiper. Or a vampire. But not in an {Edward Cullen} kind of way.

He goes on and on and finishes by saying that he thinks we would be a perfect match. If you're not familiar with okcupid, the website gives you percentages of your likelihood of being a match.

Ours was 3%.

Honestly. 

Another guy winked at me. He said, "I like your cloak." I'm simply wearing a jacket in my photo. Not a cloak. He appears to be wearing a cloak in one of his photos. No thanks. While I'd never turn down the opportunity to attend {Hogwarts}, I know in my heart of hearts that it's not a real place. And I'm not interested in dating someone who might think it is.

I'm not throwing in the towel yet!

Happy Virtual Dating!
Elle