All Smiles

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Obviously I'm out having a wild time. Nope. In my defense, my best-friend had a baby today and I have been focused on that. She's so cute, and perfect, and I love her. And hey, at least I'm in love with someone!! Cause when it comes to dudes, not so much...

Ok, so had my date with Professor McMusicMan on Tuesday. The date was originally scheduled for Friday (much to my dismay), but when the texter-extraordinaire hadn't confirmed or told me when or where by 1:00pm on Friday, I cancelled for the night. Apparently he had been "at a gig" on Thursday and then in meetings on Friday morning so hadn't had a chance to get back to me. Although these seem like fair excuses, you cannot leave a girl hanging for hours and hours on end. We agreed on a date next week (he originally suggested Monday but I had to propose a few other dates because I was NOT about to miss The Bachelor Finale on Monday night), of course, over text.

Then comes the weekend - my birthday weekend! This dude is texting me up a storm: "Happy Birthday weekend! Hope you are having a great time!" I think he may have actually texted me something along those lines on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Haha cracks me up just thinking about it. I mean, I know it is nice, and he most certainly means well, it is just way too much for me. Tuesday rolls around and he again, hadn't confirmed when or where until 1:37pm (just double checked my texts). We go back and forth a few times and then he picks a place in Newport Beach for margaritas. Perfect. I'd also like to point out that in these few back and forth texts, I had to see an exclamation point at the end of every single sentence and also a minimum of one :) per text. The thing is, I've never used a :) in my life. In fact, just to make those 2 I had to search the keyboard for the appropriate keys. I'd also like to point out how feminine I think !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and :) ;) :) ;) :) ;) are!

5:47pm, I pull up to the restaurant and he was sitting outside waiting for me, which was very nice. Gave him a hug and the two of us struck up conversation right away. Seemed pretty comfortable right from the get-go. On a quick aside, I had had a REALLY bad day at work, was on the verge of tears (and had I spoken to my dad, which I really wanted to, I would have most definitely been sobbing), just seconds before this date. We sit outside on a beautiful Southern California day and both order margaritas on the rocks with salt (so good!). We talked a lot about sports (it's my comfort zone and go-to), our families, our work, school, etc. He asked me lots of questions and had me talking for a few hours which ended up being just what I needed to take my mind off of work. Although the conversation definitely did flow, as per usual, I did feel a bit like he was so entertained with me. The good-old Court Jester Syndrome that both Teachy McTallGirl and I suffer from. He must have said "Oh I like that" or "Oh I love that" at least 20 times (seriously) after I said something that he apparently liked/loved.

I know this is sounding nit-picky (and it probably is) but I also noticed that some of his mannerisms are a bit feminine (I mean, this is on top of the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and :) :)). When the server (who was TOTALLY an "it's Pat," btw) would come and check on us he would do this weird, head slightly thrown back and hand on his chest move and would assure s/he that we were fine (I literally have no idea if our server was a man or woman after 2+ hours).

Positives about the date - he was so nice, has a good job that he is super passionate about and I bet really quite good at, he loves sports and was comfortable talking to me about them, seems close with his family, and has a good education. I WISH I could like him but in the end, I'm pretty sure he's going to end up a bud.

He said that night, and has texted me since, that he would like to go out again. However, I have not yet been asked on an actual date. I am currently debating whether or not I should go (if I'm actually asked). I'd say right now that I'm leaning towards giving him one more shot, but we'll see how many :) :) :) I see between now and being asked on a date, and that could change my final answer. Willing to take suggestions and opinions, so if you have 'em, send 'em over!