First Date #2 of the Week

Date #2 has an incredibly lengthy and sort of weird back story.   Let's see if I can sum it up in bullet points.

1. Guy #2 randomly follows me on Instagram sometime last year.  I check him out and follow him back after seeing he went to NIU also.  Random photo comment commences sporadically.
2. My friend, Meredith, tells me about this new dating app, Hinge, based on connections through facebook friends.  Very similar to Tinder but not necessary location specific.
3. After a week of being downright frustrated with Hinge and ready to give up, Guy #2 pops up as a "connection".  I say YES (obviously) and anxiously wait all day to see if we "matched".
4. Two days pass with no alert of a connection, so I quickly pout and move on.
5. Last Friday, I wake up to a message that "You and Guy #2 connected.  Say hi!"
6. Messaging via Hinge takes place.  I send him my number irritated by glitchy problems with the app.
7. Texting ensues.
8. After waiting 3 days to see if he was ever going to ask me out, I give up and ask him myself.
9. I find out that we actually "knew" each other in college and he admits he's wanted to grab a drink with me since then (and has had a bit of a crush on me).
10. Planned Thursday date.

So that's probably as simple as I can make that whole process.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited about this date.  This date was in the works before Date #1 was even an option and it was really hard for me to get excited about date #1 because I just couldn't wait to go out with this guy.  As I told my coworker, I am not sure I have ever been this excited about a date in probably a decade.  The upside - YEAH something positive this week.  The downside - I was totally in my head all week!  Instead of being casual and relaxed about this date, I was over-analyzing every text message.

ANYWAYS...  the date was terrific.

We hit it off right away (not surprising) and had a great time chatting.  I laughed a lot.  He is cute!  It was great.  And the best part... we had already agreed to see each other again on Monday before we even ended this date.

So really, aside from my shitty job situation and now the toe surgery, my week has been pretty awesome.  

I'm responsible for planning the second date - AH SECOND DATE!  I better get my thinking cap on.

And then God said, "this should be funny"

I know now that God has a sense of humor - and a really good one!  I'm not mad at him with how this week has panned out.  I think I actually reached the point with my employment that is acceptance.  This will be the kick in the butt I need to make the change I've been wanting to make for the last 18 months.  Anyways... what happened yesterday afternoon is what my title of this post is directly related to.

If you had told me last Sunday that THIS was how my week was going to go down, I would've laughed in your face.  A big old belly laugh.  

So with the job loss, two pending dates with two different people, I think God thought "eh, why not throw one more thing into the mix?"

*Disclaimer - if you are in any way squeamish... you may want to skip this post!

Yesterday, I had a pre-scheduled appointment with a podiatrist to take a look at the nail on my big toe.  It had been bothering me.  I messed around with it and it wasn't getting better.  My coworker thought I might have an ingrown, so I made an appointment like a good adult to see the doctor.

After seeing the doctor, she was concerned by the amount of irritation and said that in order to clean it and let anything drain, she would need to take the whole toe nail off and get a sample of what was under there.

So we went through the procedure of numbing my toe and then I had to look away when she was removing the nail.  I have a pretty tough stomach and most things don't bother me... but having a toe nail peeled off.  Ugh.  No thank you.

I was busying myself with my phone when I saw her reach to open the door and call out, "Nancy, bring the camera."

I will tell you.  That goes on the list of THINGS YOU NEVER WANT TO HEAR YOUR DOCTOR SAY.  For me, it goes directly under when my dentist was pulling teeth for implants and he goes "uh oh".  Seriously.  No dentist of doctor should EVER EVER say uh oh.

Anyways....  why she was asking for the camera was because there was a clearly defined "growth" underneath the nail that was pushing the nail away from the skin.  Hence the irritation and other issues.  She said because the "growth" was perfectly circular and felt hard, almost bony, there was a good chance it was "just a bone spur".

She threw out words like, or a cyst or small tumor - BUT NOTHING SERIOUS (I love how doctors do that) and sent me down to get an x-ray before I went home.  She said she would probably be able to call me and tell me by the end of the day.

So I went through the waiting process for the x-rays, stopped at CVS for gauze and supplies and headed home.  She said I would have only mild discomfort for the first couple of days until the skin started to toughen up, but she did not warn me that during the time that the numbing was wearing off - it felt like she was still attempting to rip off the nail!

She called me back around 6:30pm (while I was getting ready for my date) and told me that the x-rays confirmed it was a bone spur.  That they are VERY common, especially with athletes, and that I would need to schedule surgery so she could remove it.

And THAT is how God played a joke with my yesterday.  Fortunately, it did little to dissuade my enthusiasm for my date that night - which I will talk about it a follow up post. :)

Goals Update: February

On this week - the week when I seriously think God is messing around with me (he has quite a sense of humor), I have to update on my goals.  I'm going to try my hardest to keep what happened this week from completely derailing me on this.  Good luck, right?

1. GET REGULAR EXERCISE/COMMIT TO THE GYM - This did not happen.  I intended to and failed miserably.  No excuses, I just didn't do it. Given my new found situation in March, I was planning on using my free time to really hit the gym hard.  Then, yesterday, something else came up and that might not happen.  I'm writing a separate post about it.

2. DEVELOP THAT CAREER PATH - With approximately 10 days left in February, I received notice that I was eligible to sit for the CAE exam in early May.  This was EXACTLY what I was working towards to really push my career forward.  So, I'm trying to focus on the positives with this and not dwell on my impending unemployment.

3. BE MORE WILLING TO BE SPUR OF THE MOMENT -  Sort of, I guess.  I think this is going to be hard to measure every month, because sometimes I don't get the opportunity to even act spur of the moment.  

Trying not to jinx it - this week's dating

Over the course of the last week, I've been having a few conversations with people I've "met" through my various online dating channels.  Various - oh man - it's sad that it's so true.

Anyways, so over the weekend and Monday (which work was hitting the downhill slide), my dating life was getting interesting.  I'm dubbing this week my "playing the field" week.  Two dates with two different guys. 

You guys, this blog might just get interesting!  :)

Back to my point....I set a time to meet for drinks (yesterday) with Guy #1.  He and I have been "chatting" off and on since before Christmas.  He was that guy that thinks its okay to invite someone out "in 20 minutes", so I didn't think I was seriously going to meet him.  In fact, when we did actually pre-plan a date after Christmas, I ended up cancelling on him because I got a weird vibe and didn't want to go.

Long story short, we got back to chatting and decided to meet for a drink.  Given my work situation yesterday, I REALLY didn't want to go on a first day but knew  that if I cancelled on him again that this would be the end of that opportunity for him.  So I went.

And honestly, I'm really glad that I did.

He looked like his pictures.  I was actually attracted to him (imagine that).  He was very personable and chatty.  We had a really nice time talking about everything and anything.   And when the date was over, he gave me a kiss on the cheek, asked me to text him that I got home okay and said he would like to see me again.

So score one for the dating life this week.  We'll see when we get around to planning something again.

I have my first date with Guy #2 tomorrow - someone I actually know from college (very loosely).  Should be interesting.  I have actually been really excited about this date, so we'll see.

What a week

I am not sure I'm ready to discuss what's going on at work, but really anyone reading this would already know that I am being let go.

To make a really long story short, we've been having issues with our biggest association client since the new president came on in November.  On Monday, a forwarded email made its way to me that made a "before we fire them" comment.  So with losing this client, my small company cannot afford to pay me anymore.

So there's that.

I know am in the process of dealing with negotiations about when my officially "last 30 days" starts and how much I have to be in the office.

I will tell you, this situation has been handled extremely poorly!  But I'm not going to write about any details until everything is done here.  That's the last thing I need to deal with.  Which reminds me, this blog is no longer going to be searchable to the public.  There's really no point.

This post sucks.  I'm sorry.

Though, on the bright side, while my professional life is crumbling around me - my dating life is actually taking an interesting turn.

I'll write about this week's dating in a follow up post.

First date repeat

I have a feeling these first date posts are all starting to sound familiar.  I feel that way because all these first dates are starting to blend together in my mind.... because they all have a same theme.

zzzzzzzzzzz

Well, you will see.

A few short days after joining match, I received an email from a guy named D.  He seemed very nice and said that he enjoyed the fact that I was tall and that my family was important to me.  He was tall (6'5) and his profile implied that we may have quite a bit in common.  We emailed back and forth a couple times and then he asked if he could call me since he felt it was easier to get to know each other.  I, of course, said yes because (as I may have mentioned before), I really hate this whole texting phenomenon.

We picked a day to talk and ended up chatting for about an hour on the phone.  It was very nice, although there were a few things that stuck out for me as odd.  This is where I admit that online dating - or generally not dating much - has really made me feel hyper critical.  If there is something (even if it's stupid) that gives me a weird vibe, I tend to follow my gut and bail.  It's worked out for me - if you consider the first date and done behavior working out.  Anyways, we tentatively set a date time for the following Saturday and would be in touch again during the week.

We chatted on the phone one more time during the week to set plans for Saturday and I was actually looking forward to getting back out again.

Saturday came around and I was a little less than enthusiastic about it.  I blame it on the general winter feeling of NEVER WANTING TO LEAVE THE HOUSE.  This winter has sucked.

So I went.  We met at a restaurant I had never tried, but was familiar with the area.  He was waiting for me when I got there.

Now is the point (for all you non-online daters - which is basically everyone that reads this blog) where I tell you about the "blind date meet".  When you only have photos that the individual has selected to share, there are one of two things that can happen the first time you actually meet someone in person.

The first, the person shows up and is slightly better looking than they were in their photos.  There's a decent chance that this happens since photos aren't always the most accurate representation.

The second, the person shows up and does not look as good as their photos - OR - not even remotely close to their photos.  I'm sure you remember the date I had last year where the guy was a good 10 years older and 40 pounds heavier than his photos.  I will never understand why people don't attempt to put an accurate reflection of themselves online.  People don't like to be tricked.

Anyways, I'm regressing.  Getting back to my date.  So needless to say, when I first say D he was the latter.  Slightly less cute than he appeared in his pictures.  There was not an attraction on my part, but I knew that he was at least nice, so the date wouldn't be a total bust.

To spare you the recap of the entire dinner date, let's just say this.  He was certainly nice.  Almost too nice.  So nice is was kind of boring.

I feel terrible saying that, but he was.  The lack of general physical attraction plus the boringness did not bode well for a follow up date.  At the end of the evening, he said that we should do this again (this is starting to sound like a broken record of dates).  I told him that I had to head out of town and he said he would touch base when I returned.

Since then, not a peep.  I expected him to be the guy that would text a follow up after the date, and he didn't.  And to be honest, I didn't reach out to him either.

So, we'll chalk this up to another one-and-done date.  I'm getting good at these.

Hello blog

For a second there I completely forgot I had a blog.  I traveled again last week for work, and now I have over a month of no travel.  I can't wait.

Since it's been a while since I posted any outfit posts, I snapped a quick picture this morning.

I love when I can find ways to sneak in wearing my workout pants to work.

The sweater is a new purchase from a boutique in San Francisco that I bought over the weekend.

So here's an outfit post (not sure why its so blurry) to hold you over while I work on a blog post about my date last weekend from Match.

*boots - old navy (old), sweater - Ideeli boutique, pants - target