Chas arrived this evening with a bouquet of flowers.  Super thoughtful!  I am running out of vases and will soon resort to water pitchers.  #datingproblems.  For this evening Chas planned for us to go down to the Wetlands park and have a picnic by the Las Vegas Wash which is more like a stream with tons of, what’s the word?, greenery growing up around it.  It was a lovely sight.

The dinner was excellent.  He brought BBQ chicken, potato salad, BBQ chips, cookies and lemonade!  It was a nice place for a picnic.  The sun began setting and just as we finished eating, quite suddenly and as if provoked by the ominous hunger games arena clock, a horde of virulent gnats spontaneously appeared and converged on our meal.  They were ev-ery-where.

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice, I say in gnats. Millions of gnats.

Fortunately we were done anyway so we bolted out of there and drove over to Chas’ favorite place.  That’s right, E-String karaoke.  Now I’m not a karaoke singer, I have been invited countless times to go to E-String or other karaoke joints in the Valley and I just smile and politely refuse emphatically, but tonight I agreed because that’s what 29 dates is all about, trying new things and having new experiences.  Of course I am a fantastic car jammer, and on the way over we rocked out to Bohemian Rhapsody.

Chas singing, 3am by Matchbox 20, he also sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.

I sang Do I Wanna Know by the Arctic Monkeys, one of my favorites.  It was an experience, but don’t expect a reprise anytime soon, haha. 😉

Some great things to know about Chas.  He’s up for having fun experiences!  He likes to explore and find new fun places.  He’s a good singer!  He’s thoughtful and adventurous.  Thanks for the superb date, Chas!

Available for the date to Rome: Possibly

Tyler is so great!  I have found that Sunday dates are more difficult to fill than other days of the week, and since today is Father’s day many people have family plans; but I talked to Tyler yesterday about filling today and he said it would be his privilege! Awe. We decided on doing a breakfast date, which was such a fun idea!  He came over this morning and brought all sorts of delicious breakfast items to make.  We had eggs and sausage and pancakes and I had some berries and whipped cream for toppings.  He even made the pancakes from scratch!  I don’t think I have ever made pancakes from scratch, but he had the recipe down and they turned out so good!  He even donned one of my aprons, talk about manly. 😉

Mmm, pancakes. Full disclosure, I cooked the pancakes and the burned ones are on the bottom 😉

I’ve decided that I need to do fancy breakfasts more often.

Professional goofy faces: achieved!

It was a lovely, fun meal.  Breakfast dates are so nice and such a  great way to start the day.  This may have to be a repeat date idea. 😉

Some great things to know about Tyler.  He is driven and has a strong work ethic.  He really cares about helping others.  He makes great pancakes, from scratch.  He’s good-natured and willing to be a little goofy.  Thanks for the excellent date, Tyler!

Available for the date to Rome: Yes

Haha, so this date started out with some interesting misadventures.  Derrick arrived to pick me up and as I was getting in his truck he discovered that the tread on his front right tire was torn-up and it looked pretty bad.

We had a couple of options at this point so we decided that I would drive instead but then I realized that I had locked my keys in the house!  Whoops! Luckily I had a spare house key that I could get to pretty easily so I got back in the house and we switched vehicles and headed out to Gene Woods Racing Experience.

Before

After

The go-kart racing experience is pretty fun, and the training video is done by Larry the Cable Guy! Nice.  While we waited, the racers zooming by seemed to be going super fast, but by the time it was our turn, it was easy to gun it and speed along the track.  The first race Derrick and I were neck and neck but I was ahead of him for the last lap until he came up behind me and tapped my bumper causing me to spin out!  He was obviously sabotaging the race at the last moment. He said it would have been some dirty racing if he had done it on purpose.. mmhm. 😉  The second race we both got squirrely karts and I ended up taking out two kids.  I felt a little bad about that, but when I talked to their mom afterwards, she said she would have taken them out if she had caught up with them, haha!

Following the go-kart races, we went over to Osaka’s for fried ice cream.  That place is delicious, and our awesome chef created a bunny for us out of an orange.  So cool!

Some great things to know about Derrick.  He’s super handy, and great at fixing things.  He’s up for new adventures.  He’s a beard growing, bacon eating kind of a man’s man.  He’s a gentleman and a good guy. Thanks for the new adventure of a date, Derrick!

Available for the date to Rome: Possibly

Wade has traveled the furthest so far to come for a date, driving down from Logandale, NV; that’s a pretty good trip. 🙂  He had planned to go boating out on Lake Mead, but due to windy weather conditions we nixed the boating plans and made new ones.  Instead he brought down a dutch oven and grill and we had some dutch oven potatoes and grilled stakes!  Wade is an excellent cook, and they were prepared to perfection!

After our delicious dinner, we went out for a drive into the desert a ways.  Wade’s truck has a V10 engine after all, and I am a big fan of off-roading. 😉

After driving for a while on private land, we stopped and Wade pulled out a .22 that he conveniently had in the back of his truck so we target shot a bottle of Mountain Dew, and let me tell you, that bottle didn’t stand a chance.

Even though we had to change our plans a bit, the date turned out great!

Some great things to know about Wade.  He is genuine, he has that country boy honesty.  He knows how to cook!   He’s good about changing up plans and he’s always prepared for whatever may come. He can handle a little dirt and he’s a hard worker. Thanks for the excellent date, Wade!

Available for the date to Rome: No

Since many of you reading this blog have never met me before, I’ve decided to share my recent trip to Oregon with you.  Its a dance compilation of me and some awesome people I met who agreed to dance with me!  I feel like few things reveal your personality better than dancing. 🙂

Also a shout out to Chris Stiles and Justin Turner for creating the song in this video, and doing it in one week!  Check out their page, they are awesome musicians!

Justin Turner music: https://www.facebook.com/JustinJamesTurnerMusic

Their next performance will be this Saturday at Money Plays Bar at 8pm. They will be performing at the Best Off-Strip Show!

Check that out here: https://m.facebook.com/events/1457291657849118

I received a text from Ian before our date saying that for our date we would travel to “The Land of the Rising Sun”.  I thought, Great!  I love sushi!  That’s my number one “Treat yo self” food.  When he came by to pick me up he told me that he had made some Japanese cuisine and we were going to go eat it at the park.  So now I’m thinking, what a cool picnic idea!  We arrive at the park and he doesn’t pull anything out of the car so I ask if I can help carry anything and he says there is nothing to carry, everything is already set-up.  We walk over to one of the picnic tables and this lovely spread is waiting there for us, complete with an origami crane and flower.

Wow. And not only was the spread fabulous but the food was delicious!  He made miso soup, Japanese curry (another one of my all time favorites), and he brought Ramune sodas.  If you’ve never had the pleasure of having a Japanese Ramune drink, go pick one up in the Japanese food section of the grocery store.  It is sealed with a marble that you have to push into the bottle.  It’s pretty awesome. 🙂

We finished with Azuki Dorayaki for desert, it’s like a pancake sandwich filled with a sweet soy filling.

I would like to point out that Ian wore a soccer jersey in support of the world cup and Japan, his grandmother is Japanese after all. 🙂 After diner we walked around the park a bit.  This was a fun delicious night.

Some great things to know about Ian.  He can cook!  And he plays some sweet instruments, the upright bass and the bass guitar.  He goes out of his way to prepare a great date.  He’s creative and thoughtful.  Thanks for the lovely date, Ian!

Available for the date to Rome: Yes

Jon is so great!   Despite having to work late today, he kept our date!  We kept the date brief and simple due to the shortened time frame.  If we had had the time, he was planning to do some mini golf at the park, which would have been totally fun, too!

We went to one of my favorite places, Chilly Jilly’z in Boulder City!  They have tons of treats, and we got frozen yogurts.  I pretty much exclusively get the rich flavors of yogurt, chocolate and cheesecake and brownies, but tonight I switched it up and got orange and vanilla and it tasted like a creamsicle.  I approve of this flavor. 🙂

One of my favorite parts of Boulder City is the drive back into town.  I love seeing the blanket of lights over the Valley as if the stars were brushed from the sky and sprinkled on the ground.  I took a picture, but believe you me, a mental image looks better.

The more I do these dates, the more I realize how much I appreciate dating in its simplicity.  I think dates can be worked up to be a big production but sometimes its nice to just concentrate on the conversation rather than the convention of the date.

Some great things to know about Jon.  He goes out of his way to be a gentleman.  He is kind and thoughtful.  He is willing to rearrange his plans and make up new plans as the need arises.   He is considerate and true to his word.  Thanks for being a great date, Jon!

Available for the date to Rome: Yes

Now Baron is always a sharp dressed man, but when you show up sharp dressed and carrying flowers, your sharpness increases exponentially! He had a red theme going, including the red convertible that he drove.  Baron noted that none of my previous posts had said anything about the cars, so that’s one thing that makes this date unique! 😉

We drove to the Aria on the Strip to see some of the City Center Fine Art collection.  City Center is a pretty great place to visit, and their exhibits are pretty sweet, too.

We started with the Dale Chihuly glass sculptures.  He’s the artist that did the glass sculptures on the ceiling of the Bellagio, his sculptures are pretty rad.

The primary exhibit that we visited was the Rodney Lough Jr. exhibit.  He does large scale landscape photography.  His pieces were pretty incredible.  Baron’s favorite was called “Un…Believable” and it shows a multi-colored sky over Montana, my favorite was called “Gorillas in the Mist” and shows a mysterious waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge.

After visiting the exhibits we walked under the monorail and I mentioned how I had never ridden it, so we rode it!  Good ol’ monorail, check that off my Vegas 100 list! 🙂

It was such a nice night so, we took a scenic drive down Las Vegas Blvd. and got a great view of the lights and buildings without the obstruction of a roof over us. If you’ve ever wondered, where’s a good place to drive in a convertible? The answer is clearly the Strip at night.  We stopped at the Welcome to Vegas sign, since it was on the way.  It’s nice to be tourists every now and again.  PS this photo was taken by the woman who I met on day 6 who owns the little monkey, how random! 😉

We finished off the night right by getting frozen custard at Nielsons Frozen Custard. It really was a great night to be out taking a mini-adventure on the Strip.  It was fun without being exhausting, and going on a Tuesday means much less traffic. 🙂

Some great things to know about Baron.  He is super friendly and social, I’m pretty sure he knew someone from every place we visited, and if he didn’t know them when we arrived, he did by the time we left.  He put effort into the date, dressing sharp, bringing flowers, etc., which is endearing. 🙂 He’s a gentleman, good to talk to and a good man.  Thanks for the fun date, Baron!

Available for the date to Rome: Yes

Yay John! I consider it a great privilege to know John, he is one of the best people I know and a great guy! Today he had the brilliant idea to do a lunch date!  Can we do that?  Yes, and I am so glad we did!  Lunch dates are so very nice, you get something fun to look forward to in the middle of the day!  We went to Johnny Rockets and enjoyed some good old fashioned American eating, the strawberry Oreo shake was especially good 🙂

We had a lovely lunch conversation.  I’ve known John for a little while so it was good to catch-up.  He showed genuine interest in what is going on in my life and asked some great questions about how everything is going with the blog, etc.  Totally considerate and appreciated. 🙂

Some great things to know about John.  He is always a gentleman.  He keeps his commitments and he’s good to his friends.  He’s willing to go on fun mini adventures and get outside of his comfort zone a little. He’s a hard worker and will be working all throughout July ergo a date to Rome would take a little more time than he can expend.  Thanks for being a great date, John!

Available for the date to Rome: No

Mark is probably one of the most optimistic people I know! He’s always smiling and a pleasure to be around.  Tonight was no different.  We did a double date with someone you may recognize from the 6th date at “Casa de Prez”.  Mark made us all tropical smoothies, which were delicious.  Then we played Life, the old school one and all we did was rack up the cash money, all the time.  I’m not sure if that’s how you’re supposed to play but since it was an obvious reflection of real life, we were really good at it.

We were so good we made it rain. 😉

After the double date portion, Mark and I talked for a while.  We talked about all sorts of things, family, travel, the future of the automobile, the past haunts of Brandon Flowers, all the important things. 😉 It was really good to get to know him better. He’s pretty much an outstanding guy! 🙂

Some great things to know about Mark.  His positive outlook is super charming and infectious.  He laughs easily and often.  He loves the outdoors and spends a lot of time hiking.  He cares a lot about his family. He’s kind and honest and someone you can completely trust.

Thanks for the great date, Mark!

Available for the date to Rome: Yes