Eleven

Thursday night.
Another day at work to be followed by a dinner date with MrKent.
I love that during the days that I know I get to see him I'm so excited.
I have the fun anticipation building all day.


And then to see him looking oh so cute.
Thursday he was looking gorgeous in a white shirt, navy blazer, and jeans 
(totally drool worthy!)
I love walking towards him...and can't help but break into a grin.
The sweetness in kissing him and whispering "hi".
Just is amazingness all around.


So then we walked downtown.
Hand in hand.
Picking where to go for dinner.

We decided on Osteria 55.
FKA (formerly known as) The Bowery.
It is a southern Italian restaurant.
All restaurant pics form here.

I LOVE the chandelier in front!

It has a pretty cool atmosphere.

An eclectic mix of finishes.

They apparently have a basement bar (we didn't venture there this night but it looks really cozy!)





We thought the wine cellar was simple and beautiful!

Gotta love the red subway tile in the kitchen.
Perfect for a fresh new restaurant.





I started off with Negroni (a cocktail).
Made me think Taylor would love it...a not too sweet cocktail of gin, campari, vermouth, and garnished with an orange peel.
Our server said it would be the best Negroni I ever had...but I had never had one before so that was hard to compare.

Pic from here.  I loved the red display case at the front.

We ordered an appetizer of scallops and greens.
Then we shared the asparagus risotto and the pork belly and tomato pasta.
All their pastas are made in house.





Conversation is always just wonderful with this man.
He always has me giggling and is just smart and witty.
I literally enjoy every minute with him.


The only negative we thought was the service.
Because it is new...they wre super eager to clear our plates.
It happened no less than three times where we were like...umm we're still working it.
I love that we can take our time enjoying a meal together.
Well at least when the servers aren't constantly trying to yank away the plates.


Then we went back to his place for some tea.
Where he teased me about never wearing the same thing on any of our dates...asking 
"do you have a lot of clothes or something".
I joked that we may have to stop dating soon if I run out of outfits.


It was another perfect date.
And then he casually dropped this into conversation.
So for tomorrow I was thinking we would meet two of my friends for dinner/drinks.
Well I guess that is the next step.
Meeting some of his friends...which had me freaking out a little with nervousness.
To be continued...

Being Bendy

Pic from here

Now I hope y'all weren't thinking dirty with the title of this post.
This is about plans and switching plans.
Not the late night antics of MrKent and myself.


Anywho.
One of the things I KNOW I need to learn about myself is to be more "bendy".
I suck at "bendy-ness".


My definition of "bendy"


-> being flexible with plans.


I am the total opposite of Bendy.
If I had it my way, my planner would be chiseled into stone.
I like plans and want everything to go exactly as planned.


Want to make me a super excited happy camper.
Send me an hour by hour itinerary. 
Yes I'm that much of a big dork.
I'm going to say this stems back to my high school competitive cheerleading days where the competition itinerary was given out and the hour by hour planning put my heart at ease.
Which is possibly why I also love school schedules etc so very very much.
If you didn't think I was a dork before now you know its irrefutable.  


BUT here's the thing I think I need to become more bendy.
Real life doesn't go by schedules set.
And I'm trying to be less rigid.
Because sometimes when you force plans through things actually break.


So most recently I'm trying to be more bendy.
I know when I talked about upcoming trips here I was so excited.
So obviously I was less excited when things seem to not be working out.


The July girl's trip to Chicago isn't going to happen.
When it came down to it we would basically be there for 2 nights getting in super duper late Friday to run around all Saturday just to leave early on a Sunday.
We probably wouldn't have enjoyed our trip at all.
So on the "bendy" side now cancelling Chicago will allow me take more time 
(and have more money) for my Labor Day trip to Dallas in the fall.


This weekend coming up is a long weekend in Canada.
We call it May Two Four 
(it generally falls around the 24th and usually involves a case (24) of beer).
I was supposed to be headed up to Ottawa.
Now Brooke and her daughter, and Jane are going to head to Toronto for one maybe two nights.
All in all this actually works better for me to allow me to get some work stuff done that I would have pushed to a later time.
Also it means I wouldn't be doing the 4 and a half hours long road trip alone up to Ottawa and then 4 and a half hours back...actually it would likely be a lot worse because it is a long weekend and the highway gets CRAZY because we essentially have one major highway here.
And not going to lie I'm excited because I may even get some time in with MrKent 
(they do have fireworks on Monday night and I'm a SUCKER for fireworks!)


So you see things can be great for bendy people.
I'm just trying to be one of them.

Mother's Day

Just a quick post on how Mother's Day went down this year.
I tore myself away from MrKent after an amazing date.
And drove to my hometown.

The hometown I tend to avoid at all costs.
The hometown that I haven't been in since Christmas (yes really).
I just feel uncomfortable there...as I've mentioned only like a zillion times on this blog.


Anywho I sucked it up after all it was Mother's Day.
It's funny how some things never change and remain the same.
Which is weird because I feel like I've been through a WHOLE lot of change personally.


I still picked up a Mother's Day gift for my mum.
My brother signed the card.
And asked if he could go in on it on Mother's Day...rightttttttttttttttttttttt.


My brother was all excited to show off his new 12K Rolex.
Which makes me a petulant child because all I want to do is be able to move downtown.
(I can't afford it)...and I'm jealous that everything seems to come so easy for him.


Family lunch where everyone drinks their face off (except me).
And everyone discusses all the out of North America travel places they will got the remainder of 2012 (except me...I do have to say at least I have Dallas over Labor Day to look forward to!)
It just sometimes feels very out of body type experience around the fam.


I packed up my car and came back "home" currently the TDot.
I may have been thinking of places I would like to travel to or move.
And it just led me to daydream.
Some exciting things I did come back with...more things from my grandfather that I will highlight in another post.


This post sort of feels like Mother's Day...awkward.
But just for fun.
I thought I would leave you with this pic that I found at my parents place.
One of the pics that my grandpa had left with his other things.


I've never seen this photo before this weekend.
I guess there is a little bit of my mom in me.
As evidence in this photo.
Plus I seriously rocked leggings and a mini even back then.

Ten

Friday brought about the end of a loooooooooong week.
I had sort of a frustrating day at work.
How nice was it to look forward to a fabulous Friday night date with MrKent.

He came to pick me up (awesome).
There was some minor awkwardness.
As we new we woud spend the night together but to actually say that and get organized is a little tough when things are new.
Or likely I'm just way over thinking things as usual.

We parked his car at his place.
And then walked about downtown finding a place to go and eat.
The criteria...something casual that both of us have never been to.

Pic from here

Coming along the street we came across Carisma.
Seriously so cute from the outside I thought I would love it.
As we entered in the hostess turns to MrKent and says "oh my goodness she is beautiful!"
To which MrKent responded "I know isn't she"
Hostess then says "she looks like a doll"...which randomly is like my all time favourite compliment.
I think it's because I associate a doll with being perfect...I know total random sidenote.
To which I turned to MrKent going "I LOVE this place already!"
Hostess was then joined by a server that said "wait just a second I'm going to set you up at a table in front of the window".

Our table in the front right corner.  Pic from their website.

So we had the perfect little table in the perfect little restaurant.
And as we perused the menu.
I couldn't help but smile with content being seated across from this handsome man.

Inside. I loved the chandelier and the romantic vibe of the place.  Pic from their website.

We decided on a bottle of wine to share.
I started with a cocktail.
It was delishious and had the name Carisma in the title but now I can't find it online to describe it.

Then our incredible waiter suggested we venture off menu.
And we went with almost all his suggestions.

First we started off with the bread.
Warm from the oven brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary...it was devine.

Then an appetizer of 4 things.
Though MrKent and I were splitting everything they served it up on two dishes that were perfect portions.
The appetizer was quad grouping of...

Calamari alla Griglia ~Grilled Calamari, Warm Morrocan Black Olives, Scallion Tomato Salsa

Insalata di Bufala~ Bufala Mozzarella, Wine Ripened Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Insalata di Funghi~ Warm Wild Mushroom Salad with Goat Cheese, Organic Greens, Balsamic Vinaigrette

Prociutto wrapped asiago cheese with organic baby greens

It was incredible and we were glad that the server offered it up.

Next we did the Primi of two types of pasta....perfectly portioned (I would say about 3-5 bites of each).

Tagliolini All’Anatra~ Tagliolini, Duck Confit, Wild Mushroom Black Truffle Jus

Pappardelle al Cinghiale ~ Pappardelle, Wild Boar Ragu

Just heavenly!

Finally for our Secondi

The waiter had suggested a surf and turf like steak and shrimp.

I'm really glad MrKent suggested a fish to keep it light because it was a lot of food.

We had the

Pesce del Giorno~ which I can't remember what it was.  It was a nice light white fish with veggies.

At this point I may have been pleasantly tipsy from the cocktail and wine.
Which had me giggling and just grinning from ear to ear.
My idea of a PERFECT Friday night.

We finished off with an espresso for MrKent and a cappachino for me.
We shared a dessert of chocolate molton cake with creme anglais.
I could only get in a bite becuase I was stuffed.

Then we walked to his place hand in hand.
Which obviously lead to making out on the couch and a fun sleep over.
This man is amazing.

We had a lazy Saturday morning.
A quick shower before heading out for brunch. 
MrKent suggested Hanks.

All Pics from their website.

It was a perfect brunch place.
MrKent got the Hanks' Benny, I got the usually bacon and eggs breakfast.
After lazing around and a second round of coffee we went for a walk.
I had to hand in my background check paperwork downtown for a hopefully upcoming event in August (more about that later).
So we spent the afternoon walking the city and really not doing a whole lot.

I do know I need to relax a little.
I'm really falling for him.
But I get worried if he is feeling the same way.
I'm a worrier like that.
Only I'm terrible at verbalizing it.
Like do we need to have that conversation.
Like ummm are we like boyfriend and girlfriend or how does that all work?
I mean I'm certainly not interested in dating other boys.
I just can get a little nervous about all that stuff.
I just know that I never want our dates to end.
Anywho moving on...

Before I knew it it was after 4pm.
So he had to drop me off so that I could head home to my hometown for Mother's Day.
Perfect date, perfect guy, just perfect.
I loved every single second of it.

Nine

Yesterday was date number nine with MrKent.
And he was looking AMAZING.
Can I just stop for a moment and comment about style.
This boy has amazing preppy style...as in collared shirt under knit sweater amazingness.
Throw on a cool gray jacket/rain jacket and I was definitely excited to be on his arm.


So the challenge was with the middle of the week and him coming up here (to the northeast part of Toronto) to pick a place to eat by me.
You see every other date has been downtown (which you know I love).
So he messaged me during the day saying "I think I got it :)"


So he picked me up (also love by the way).
And we headed to Asian Legend.

Pic from here

And it was really actually really good.
And I was worried because my area can be a little sketchy.

Pic from here

Pic from their website.

The crazy thing is...as I sat across from him I couldn't help but grin like an idiot.
He seriously cracks me up.
I was laughing so much during our date.
And I just have the best BEST time with him.
And I love that we order food and share.
And that when I'm completely indecisive (which I can be)...he helps pick things out.


We ordered way too much food!
Here's what we got.
Their website (like their menu has pictures of the food!)

Braised Bamboo Shoots

Sauteed Beef with Chinese Broccoli

Kung Pao Shrimp

Shanghai Style Fried Noodles

Steamed Soup Filled Dumplings with Crab Meat and Pork.

After we were obviously totally stuffed.
I invited him up for a drink.
Which obviously is ploy for making out!


Y'all I'm crazy about him :)
He's incredible.
I'm so super excited about this!


He is a little hard to read (we've totally had discussions about this).
Where as I'm the easiest person in the entire world to read.
Which means I sit a little bit on the edge of ...
does he like me?
does he think I'm pretty?
does he think this has potential?


All I know is date ten is lined up for tomorrow.
And I couldn't be more excited...

Girls Night Out

For my sorority alumni group I organized a wine and cheese event.
At first it was about to go horribly wrong when I called to confirm 4 of us for that evenings class and they said it was full!
As I was in full fledged panic mode...I tried to think of other places to go.


Then I remembered this place from date number number two with MrKent.
Luckily they had room for us that night.
And now I can give you more pictures of the place :)

 Wine menu...decisions...decisions...

 Food options!!!

 Wine flights!

 Sometimes this is just the perfect dinner!

All perfectly paired together!


All and all it was a successful event.
And yummy!
And MrKent sort of saved the day.
Just saying...

Hail to the Victors!

I've had this gift from Will since he came to visit for St. Patrick's Day weekend.
Read here if you missed it!
And thought the perfect place for it would be one of my offices.

Isn't it awesome?
It's a banner that was made to commemorate the 500th football game at The Big House.
One I happened to be at with Will.


It was such an exciting game.
I loved every minute of it!
I cannot wait to go back for the first time in years this fall for another football weekend.


Go Blue!