Fourth

Coming off the heels of this super fun date.
We made plans for a midweek date.
MrRealtor came to pick me up after work.

He was looking so super handsome in a blue dress shirt and a black cordoroy jacket.
Seriously so cute.
And we only had a brief like pause oh wait do we kiss hello or not so we sort of did a side mouth kiss.
Gosh I'm TOTALLY AWKWARD!

So he told me about a new Asian restaurant that just opened at the Shops at Don Mills.
Called...P.F. Changs.
As in the American chain.
And when I told him I had been before.
He was like wow you've been so many places and this one is new.

Pic from here.

So I had to break it to him that it is an American chain.
But I was excited because it has been a few years since I've been.
It is the first one in Canada too.

So we headed in.
And I found it so sweet that when he saw I was struggling with the wine decision he asked if I wanted help and then picked out something for me.
And I LOVED that when the waiter came by he ordered for me with a "the lady will have..."
(I made my own choice but he listened and ordered for me).
I'm totally an old fashioned girl.

Pic from same as above.

We shared the crab wontons to start.
And yes P.F. Changs is a very "americanized" Chinese food but sometimes it is exaclty what you crave.
I do love the hole in the wall places too though and in Toronto there is some delish (and more authentic) Chinese food.

Pic from same as above.

After that we headed to Joey for some cocktails.
And we chatted over drinks getting to know one another.
He's quite cute though I think I need to get past more of the surface stuff and start asking some harder hitting questions.
Val is so good at stuff like that...I'm pretty sure she never makes it past 2 dates without asking the serious questions whereas I'm happy to tapdance around frivolous small talk (ummm hello MrDentalSurgeon was all surface).

Pic from here.

When we were walking back to the car I was clearly shivering so he took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders.
Seriously...he is pretty amazing.
He dropped me back off at home before a really good goodnight kiss.
One where he FINALLY reached and grabbed my neck and pulled me in a little closer.

And I was on cloud nine all the way up to my apartment.
Date five is on the calendar.
Kind of pretty excited.

Third time's the charm

So I was left sort of wondering if there would be a third date with MrRealtor.
We were pretty chatty over text the next few days.
We had made plans to see each other Saturday night.

So Friday I had a nutso day at work.
And I got a phone call from a florist saying they were delivering flowers.
I got upset because Friday was Jane's birthday and I had arranged for flowers to be delivered to work.
So I thought there was some kind of mistake.

Only when the flowers got to work...it wasn't a mix up...

 

Love the pink!!!

How excited was I?!?! 
What a sweet and thoughtful gesture.
Though I'm not sure about the message.
I can only imagine that it is hard to come up with what to write seeing that we are early on in hanging out...what do y'all think of the message?

It definitely made me feel super special.
And it's so nice to have lovely fresh flowers to smell in my apartment.
It also made me even more excited for Saturday.

 

So Saturday night almost couldn't come fast enough.
He made mention of going to a steakhouse and a show.
And all I could think was Oh no! I HOPE we do NOT go to the Keg.
And I was disappointed with a suggestion of a show because I wanted to talk and get to know him better not sit in a dark theatre watching a movie.

It was a wonderful Saturday night date.
He looking so darn handsome...wearing dress shoes/jeans/a light sweater and a blazer
(seriously my fav!)
We went downtown and headed to Bardi's a classic steakhouse.

Pic from here.

It was super romantic.
Though I think it also had something to do with the company too ;)
Love their wine cellar

Pic from Bardi's website.

Pic from Bardi's website...we sat in the top right booth.  Definitely an old school vibe.

Time absolutely flew by.
The food was really good too!
Before I knew it we needed to head to our show.

Which ended up being the "We've totally (probably) got it!"show at Second City.
Which is a sketch comedy show.
The last time I went there was last year for Jane's birthday.


Pic from here.

So we spent the night giggling and laughing and holding hands.
Near the end I got up to go the bathroom and he was like "hey come here" and I leaned down and he kissed me!  I practically skipped to the bathroom.

Afterwards we decided to head to Gretzy's (a sportsbar named after the Great One) for some more cocktails.

Pic from here

Where I proceeded to drink Appletini's and yap his ear off.
Like excessively.
At the point where I was worried that I talked entirely way too much about my interests and the things I care about.
The bar closed and we headed out.

We ended our night with a fantastic kiss (well at least I think so).
And the next morning he texted me to let me know he was having a lot of fun and wanted to hang out more.
So am I ...so today will be our fourth date.
Eeek excited!

Sunday Second

Pic from here.  I'm always the leaner inner.

So the Sunday before this past one.
I had a second date with MrRealtor.
He came to pick me up and we headed to the Shops at Don Mills area.

And for dinner off to Fabbrica.
I didn't have the heart to tell him I had just been there a few days before with my high school friend Mitchel (read here if you missed it).
And we had the awkward sort of initial dating timing.

The type where the hostess took us to a certain area and then MrRealtor asked to move to a quieter part of the restaurant.
Which was thoughtful.
We chatted and he suggested after that we head to JackAstor's to watch some Sunday night football.
Y'all know how I feel about Jack Astor's.
But somehow in this context it was okay.
And we chatted and watched football and had some drinks.

When he dropped me off I leaned in to kiss.
Just closed mouth on the lips.
Only he didn't really pursue the kiss further.
So I was left a little hesitant.

Wondering if there would be a third date...

Blanking

So y'all... I just realized during my daily snip-its of convo with Taylor 
That I completely blanked on a post about a first date with MrRealtor.
Not sure why I didn't write about it but it was likely because of my internet crashing multiple times in August.  

So about two weeks before my Dallas trip on a random Tuesday night...
I went on a blind date/set up from me being at my co-workers wedding single 
(read here if ya missed it)

He came to pick me up and he was cute!
I thought...way to go co-worker for the handsome set up.
And he wanted to try a place his best childhood friend talks about and frequents.

Of course I happily oblige because I love trying new places.
So we went to Church Aperitivo Bar.
It's in the Queen Street West neighborhood of downtown Toronto.

Pic from here.

Pic from here  these are the inside doors.

Pic from here.  Kind of easy to miss at night!

Pic from here  Love the sign and the simplicity because it was a church.

As we walked in MrRealtor is like "no way".
And said "no way what?"
His friends that recommended the place were there with two other couples.
I suggested he go say hello while I sit down (because umm hello that could get awkward).

Pic from here 

Pic from here

Upon returning he assured me that this wasn't planned.
And I laughed telling him, "well I guess your friends really do like this place".
Admittedly I was distracted and just a little "off" that night anyway.

Pic from here

We decided to order a bunch of stuff to share (my FAV style of eating).
We had...

• The crostini and selected black olive spread, cured salmon, roasted red peppers and sauteed wild mushrooms.
• Polenta Fries with side of spicy tomato sauce and fontina, gorgonzola truffle sauce.
• Meatballs, veal and pork with house made sugo



Pic from here

The also had really fun cocktails.
I ordered one called The Saint which was Vanilla Smirnoff Vodka, Prosecco, Cointreau, lime juice, and apricot nectar.
It was delish.

I had a good time though.
Afterwards we debated about going out for drinks but couldn't find Barchef 
(the place he wanted to take me to). 
I said if we drive by it and miss it then we can just call it a night.
So we did.

The night ended with a hug.
I couldn't really read him to be honest.
We said we would hang out again but I wasn't sure.

I'll give you a hint.
We did.

to the rescue...

Pic from here

So my dad called me last night.

And said that he thinks we should go to Victoria and Albert's for dinner.

And he's excited to go...

AND he suggested we go to Disney for the Day before and stay in a Disney hotel like we used to when I was little.

And insisted on giving me his credit card to book it.

And I know my mom is sitting there listening...

And its very likely because it was realized how my mother went nutso and horribly mean this night...

but of course she can't call me to admit that.

Ughhhh family drama!

I love my dad though...and the thing that kills me is that going to Disney/Universal is how we do the best as a family 

(like at Easter when I was in Florida).

Just is unfortunate that my mum treats me like that first...

Love my dad...we are two peas in a pod...my brother and mother run the same over the top emotionally. 

So funny.

How I can go to bed one night completely hurt and sad.

And here comes my dad to the rescue once again and sets everything right.

My dad is the kindest and most patient person I know.

I just hope I am more like him.

Dallas Trip ~ Tuesday (Day Six)

Today was all set for another big shopping day.
With that we first headed to Cavender's to find me some boots!

Very Americana looking!
I was so super excited! 

There were clearly so so many options.

Good thing I had the most amazing shopping partner EVER in Taylor.
I really am not usually a big shopping person but with Taylor I have SO much fun!!!
We also had the sweetest man helping us named Kirk.
When I settled on a pair I asked to take a picture with him and he happily obliged.

The brand is Lucchese.
And I love them!!!

To me they are the classic cowboy boot.  They already look worn in and they are super comfy.

Did you know that these boots are all made by hand???
I had no idea.
So you have to match them up by sticker underneath the sole.
So each and every pair is a little bit unique and not the exact same!

After that we went to Lilly Pulitzer in SouthLake.

Pic from here.

And they were in the process of redecorating and painting the walls by hand.
This was the day we were there.

Pics from their FB page.

Obviously obsessed with the wall and how they show the Lilly colours!

They call this their Texas toile

Not sure how I feel about this star mirror though.

Their super cute bathroom.  Love the Aquanet Hair Spray cans on the ceiling.

This is what we saw and it was done so perfectly it looked like wallpaper.

I love Lilly!
Here is what I scored from Lilly.
My first drink cup this style (obviously in our sorority print).

Pic from here.

My fabulous new phone case.

Pic from here.

And a planner for 2013.  I'm seriously obsessed with planners.

Pic from here.  Monthly agenda in Dirty Shirley print.

Then we headed to the Cheesecake Factor for some food before heading to a meeting she had.
Then it was off to bed for us two girls.
I was heartbroken at having to leave the next day.
I cannot believe how quickly this trip flew by!

Highs and Lows

Coming off the lack of sleep last night.
How excited was I to head to a girls night with the CanadaCrew girls.
5 of us and Vietminese Pho at a place on Spadina called Pho Hung.

I'm going to pretend that I wasn't a little perturbed at Laurel who insisted we change the location.
And then she didn't show up.
Granted she had a perfectly good work excuse.
So I tried to just let it go.

It wasn't a crazy night like this.  But we had lots of laughs and fun.  Pic from here

And I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
I was so so happy.
Finally feeling like I'm getting my groove and making new girlfriends.
We are also going to do a bookclub during these cooler months.

I practically skipped downtown all the way to my car.
Then I made the mistake...

Then I called my parents because I had made dinner reservations on July 6th with the thought that we just might be celebrating Christmas in Florida.
To one of my bucket list restaurants...Victorias and Alberts in the Grand Floridian (@ Disney).
As in I made a reservation on July 6th for December 29th and I still didn't get my prefered table!

So being that it is in Disney and my parents place is in Delray Beach...I called tonight to suggest we get a hotel there (about 3-3.5 hours away).
Only my mom BLEW up at me.
Saying I NEVER said it was at Disney (ummm I know I did).

Then she informs me that now in our little Florida house not ONLY is it going to be my parents, my brother and me (as I was originally told)...4 people 2 bathrooms one living space = already being in everyones face a little much especially because I was going from the 22nd-1st.
But NOW its going to be my uncle and his 4 kids and my grandma too. 
Please add that up...now its 10 people...2 bathrooms.

And since I did (mistakenly already screwed up the date of my dinner reservation I said it was the 26th but as I checked my email now it is on the 29th)...my parents are like cancel it.
This is the ONE activity I wanted to do over Christmas.
My mom then yelled at me that I was being a brat and that they didn't want to go now.

Pic from here

Of course than I was irritated because of all the extra house guests.
You've GOT to be kidding me.
I know what this means...I will be sharing my bed with my grandma for sure and just there will be no escape from everyone. 
So I maybe said, "okay well maybe when they are there I will head to Miami to stay with a friend".

To which my mom blew up at me and yelled at me saying that I don't give a f*ck about family and I always put my friends first and they just screw me.
Ummm okay.
To which I got so mad....I mean really.
I may have said I will change my flight because that is not relaxing for me to spend my only vacation jammed in a house with 10 people.
To which my mum siad I was being a high maintenance brat and it was my FAMILY.

She also then screamed at me for the money they spent on my flight and I was ungrateful.
And that I think they just have all this money floating around when they don't.
Please keep in mind my parents are going to Florida THREE times between now and Christmas.
This is the cycle of guilt and punishment that does seem to rear its ugly head.
It hasn't happened for awhile so I thought maybe just maybe it had passed.

I am now FUMING.
Ummmm guess what I'm not close with my family.
And if you knew how much my "family" screwed over my parents it is really quite laughable.
AND hello what about Thanksgiving???
I will be spending it ALONE here.
Since family is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO important.

I'm literally so livid and now DREADING this Christmas vacation.
What the HECK did I get myself into.
I can't even describe how angry I am.
With that I'm going to munch on the chocolate one of the CanadaCrew girls brought back from her recent work trip to Switzerland.