chivalry is not dead

i find that lately i am prone to keep personal stuff..well, personal. but in this case i can safely blog because the subject of the blog is unaware of the existence of the blog.

so last night i had a first date, and it's worth blogging about because it ranks pretty high on the firt date scale.

it started when the boy in question, whom we shall simply call 'k' showed up at my door with a dozen roses. red roses no less. now, i love flowers. i think all girls love flowers, but for whatever reason men don't typically view me as a 'flower' girl. i don't know if i just come off like i might not like them, or if men have just gotten lazy, but in fourteen years of dating, this is only the third time i have been given flowers, and the first time i have ever been given roses.

i give k mad props for this. i don't know why, but these days, men seem to reserve roses for valentine's day and anniversaries, and this clearly fell into neither category. i was impressed immediately.

after getting the flowers safely vased (is that a verb? or a word?), we were off to mini-golf. k is passionate about golfing, and i 1. love mini-golf and 2. thought this would give him the perfect opportunity to be macho. i can be pretty competitive, but knew i wouldn't even try, being fully aware of the fact that he could kick my trash. what i wasn't expecting was that even though he had the perfect opportunity to show me how good he was, instead, he wanted to make sure i felt good about myself. he played with a children's club, and worked hard to make it close, but still let me win. normally, i might be irritated by someone throwing a game, but in this case i found the gesture sweet and endearing.

i don't mean to give the impression that he was a pushover by any means. he found the perfect balance of being sweet and playful, taking great joy in teasing and messing with me, which, for some odd reason, i enjoy.

after mini-golf it was time for him to show off and he took me over to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls. frankly, i was terrified. i had no expectation of actually hitting a ball, and was fully aware of how embarrassing this could be.

but lo and behold, he was an excellent teacher, and i exceeded both our expectations. yay!

after the driving range we headed to sweetwater (man i love those rolls!) for dinner. it was an hour long wait, but the time passed quickly and conversation flowed naturally as we waited by the lake-like body of water.

eventually it was time to eat, and though a bit loud, dinner was excellent. food was good, company was good. he kept me laughing and fed--two important ingredients to any date.

following dinner we headed back to the house and popped in my latest netflix movie (poseidon-and it sucks, don't bother), before calling it a night.

he was a perfect gentleman, forewarning me early in the evening that he would smack my hand if i tried to open a door for myself. and he was in control all evening, without being the least bit controlling.

the date is blogworthy for a couple of reasons. it's nice to be reminded that chivalry is not dead, that there are still men who won't hedge around the fact that you are on a date--not 'hanging out' as mormon boys so often like to do, and who know what it is like to treat a woman well. i am a pretty modern girl--i'll go dutch on dates, i've even paid for both of us in the past (if i ask the guy out, which i used to do but don't anymore), but i can't tell you how nice it was to be spoiled.

all in all, it was a great date. i laughed a lot, i learned something new, i ate well, and was treated well. it sets the bar extremely high for future dates, now that i have been reminded that there are men who are capable of such things, and that i am a woman who deserves having them.

a delayed post

4:30am friday morning and the alarm goes off.
i hit snooze.

5:00am and my phone rings.
i answer it. it is my backup wake up call.

up and at 'em before the sun is up and on my way to gainesville for the company's annual charity golf tournament.

by 7:00am co-workers and colleagues are lined up with clubs in tow, to check in and get squared away.

at 8:15 the shotgun marks the start of the tournament.

the rest of the day was spent checking on holes and golfers and food, setting up awards, and manning the 'pay-to-play' hole, where male competitors could pay $5, put on a skirt and a wig, and tee off from the ladies tee. (hence the entertaining photos.)

the play was extremely slow, but the weather complied beautifully. lunch, originally scheduled at 1:30 was delayed until 3:00, as there were many first time players in this best-ball tournament.

eventually by 4:00pm or so, all the golfers came home to roost, and everyone was exhausted.

this was perhaps, one of the most difficult events i have been involved with. normally an event will require a maximum of three hours on time--when you have to play the pleasant hostess. in this case, i had to be on for ten hours and it was extremely draining.

but, my first golf tournament was largely successful. a few glitches and a few lessons learned, but overall a success. and more importantly, there were some hilarious photos from our communications team, and you can check them out here.

it happened again

the most awful horrible dreaded thing that has ever happened to me, just happened again. after three months of being back in my stake's singles ward with no calling, i was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me. i wish it had stayed that way.

what most people do not know about me is that i have an extreme fear of public speaking. stick me at a party with hostessing duties, and i am fine. but give me a pulpit with all eyes in the room directed at me, and it is an entirely other story. i cannot understae this particular fear. it creates a physical reaction in me that usually manifests itself in a vomitous fashion. fortunately, that stage hits before the actual 'performance' so as of yet, no one else has been victimized by my phobia. it doesn't matter if it is a talk in sacrament meeting, or simply directing the senior management to the next meeting room, it simply makes me ill.

four years ago, almost exactly, i was asked to serve in my ward as the gospel doctrine teacher. for the benefit of my non-lds readership, gospel doctrine is a scripture study class in which each year is a different book; old testament, new testament, book of mormon, and doctrine and covenants. at the time, old testament was being covered.

when i accepted the calling then, i was simultaneously laughing and crying. i was laughing because i have been blessed to be given some foreknowledge on matters like this, and i knew it was coming. i cried because i couldn't imagine a more awful thing to have to do. and every other week for nearly two years, i threw up, and i taught. it never got any better, and it never got any easier. but at the same time, i have never stood on firmer spiritual ground, or had a stronger testimony than i did when i was teaching. and even stranger than that, i am actually a pretty good teacher. i don't know how, but my unsuspecting pupils seem to never be the wiser about my great and terrible fear.

eventually after a couple of years, i finally escaped this traumatic calling by leaving the ward. but it seems that one cannot run from destiny. last night my home teacher, who is also in the bishopric, came to home teach and extend a calling. i feared it, i dreaded it, and i was even too afraid to vocalize it, because i thought it would tempt the fates just a little too much. but it seems that was irrelevant, because, as it would happen, the calling i have been extended is gospel doctrine teacher. and ironically, i will be teaching the same set of scriptures i taught before, and once again, i am terrified and nautious.

so why would i accept such a calling? because i believe in inspiration, and i believe in service. i believe that this calling is as much about getting me on better spiritual footing as it is about any wisdom i might impart to others.

i don't really know how i am going to do it. it takes me an average of 15 hours to prepare a lesson, and i simply don't know how to do it any other way. it's my process. and lucky for me, my first lesson will be two days before my huge event in october. i continue to learn lessons about humility and submitting to the lord's will, and look forward to the day when i have that mastered. in the meantime, there will be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

sast presents: ashburn hearts five guys, i heart aaron sorkin, and london. it's official

if i'm not mistaken, today is national lack of focus day. and in honor of the holiday, short attention span theater brings you the following:

they just put in a new five guys in ashburn. it seemed like a perfectly delectable dinner choice on my way home last night, but apparently that was true for every resident in ashburn as well. it took me 15 minutes in line and another 10 to get my burger, and there was no dilly dallying to be found. ashburn hearts five guys.

i admit it. i am still mourning the loss of the west wing. but with sorkin's return, last night's premier episode of studio 60 has temporarily eased my grief. i'm sure there will be mixed reviews of the much hyped new series, but as for me, thank heavens intelligent tv is back. that's not to say that i require intelligence in my tv programming--i do love reality tv after all--but it is noticed and appreciated. in addition, despite my affinity for a few of the cast members (bradley whitford, steven weber, and timothy busfield), i was skeptical of how the ensemble would work. and i don't know how it did, but it did. this show has managed to do what many attempt and most fail at--hooking me in episode 1.

it's official. i will be spending thanksgiving in london. today i used lara's birthday gift to purchase a couple of old friends--the rick steves and lonely planet guides to london. oh how i have missed you.

the annual cruise

i wish my annual cruise was a bit more exciting, however, every year, my company puts on a dinner cruise which benefits the darrell green youth life foundation. although i guess men dressed up like female pigs is exciting in it's own way.

if you have been wondering what exactly has me so busy these days, this would be one of many answers.

though the event took place a couple of weeks ago, i just got photos from corporate communications and you can find all of them here.