Fabulous!

That word describes Date #1 with Guy #3 perfectly. I can't quite remember the last time I had a 7 hour long 1st date with someone and it not even feel like that much time has passed by. 7 hours! I'm still shocked. But I know you want me to get over the shock and get to the details already! Allright, I hear you...here they are.

I was tired considering it was my 4th date in a week and my 5th night out. I DO NOT have the energy for this type of insane dating activity but I was looking forward to meeting Guy #3 because it seemed like he was planning on this being a rather involved date instead of the traditional coffee or cocktail meet up date. I was supposed to meet Guy #3 at this little tucked away bar in North Beach at 6pm. I am getting my stuff together at work when my coworker calls me to say it just started raining. What!?!!!??? No one told me it was going to rain! So I run out and find a cheapo umbrella for $5 so I can make it to the bar with my make up still on and in dry clothes. I head up to the bar which was a suggestion from co-worker D (Thanks D!) and by the time I get up there, I am pooped. That's a pretty far walk when you're out of shape, ya know. I was ready for a drink...so I get my drink, get a table and pull out a book. Not 5 minutes later, in walks Guy #3. He gets his drink and we tuck in at the table to start the "get to know you". This bar was kinda nice because it was pretty dead even though it was during Friday happy hour. Perfect place to be able to hear each other talking, etc. After a while, I ask the time and it ends up we were 10 minutes late for our dinner reservation. We bust ass out of the bar and head to the restaurant, but not before I assure Guy #3 that I didn't need help putting my jacket on since it was still nice outside. Wow, helping with a jacket...I thought that was a lost art!

We get our table at the restaurant and spend some time joking around about wines and trying to figure out what bottle of wine to get and we involve the waiter and finally picked out a nice red. Ordering entrees took another half hour because we couldn't stop talking. Dinner was great, touched on all sorts of topics and we had loads in common. I don't think that there was any real lag in the conversation. We sat around talking and finishing our bottle of wine when the typical Italian man selling roses walked into the restaurant and I started shaking my head but either Guy #3 didn't see me or he ignored me and bought me a rose anyways. *insert Awww, how sweet here* Well with all our talking, laughing and busying ourselves drinking that bottle, we managed to be the last ones at the restaurant. Now I don't wear a watch so I had to ask Guy #3 the time and it was a quarter to midnight. Dinner took up almost 4.5 hours! OMG...how does that much time fly without even realizing it! Amazing! We decide to go to a nearby coffee shop to chat a little more and we continued our date for another hour or so over coffee and gelato before truly calling it a night at 1am.

Overall, I had a wonderful time...I can't even remember the last time I had a date like that not to mention Guy #3 has all the gentlemanly manners that seem to be extinct. I already mentioned the jacket thing, but there is the pulling out my chair, insistance on paying, opening doors, walking on the street side of the sidewalk and even paying for my cab ride home. Someone please pinch me, I think I'm dreaming. Ouch! Ok, ok...wow, it really all did happen!

I do have a couple of side comments to make about having a first date in North Beach. Never before have I had total strangers making overt comments or suggestions to me while with another person, let alone a first date. Walking to the restaurant, Guy #3 and I got a lot of the classic "2 for 1...come on in" comments from all the "skin" places along Broadway/Colombus. We had one guy comment on how we even "look like a great couple". Mr. Italian rose vendor kept pushing Guy #3 towards me while insisting that I give him a smooch for buying me the "longest rose" and the guy at the cafe said that the gelato "tastes better with one spoon" when we asked for two. A good stare and gesture had that gelato guy "forking" over the second spoon. Never before have I enountered so many matchmakers in one place! Them Italians really wanna pair people up!

But despite the fabulous time, we didn't make plans for Date #2. Kinda hard to do when you are trying to say goodbye in a cab with the meter running. I think he had a fun time too but only time will tell. With that said...

Stay tuned for an update on Guy #3...he may just be promising. Perhaps that saying "third try (or third guy in this case) is the charm" is really true. Or however that saying goes...you know what I'm talking about.