Go, Go, Lance Armstrong!

Well, THAT was a super fun evening! I wish you could have been there. Well, not really. But you would have had fun. I know I did. :)

For whatever reason, I was as nervous as heck walking down to the waterfront to meet him. I might have mentioned that no small part of me was nervous because, well, I suspected his body looks like this:

and mine looks like this:

And, I was right. Statue of David, eat your heart out, Lance Armstrong has got you beat. :) You know, they should do public service campaigns about bicycling: "Do this, and look like that!" My good friend/ideal man (what do I call him on the blog? I confess, I am only thinking of one boy this morning) is a major cyclist, too, and he says bicycling = good body + screaming metabolism. And Lance Armstrong said the same thing last night, basically. I asked him what he gets from Starbucks (I am not a coffee drinker at all) - he said anything with a lot of calories. :)

Anyway - on to the date. I was nervous, but rallied. We were meeting on the waterfront: him driving down after work, me walking from my office. We saw each other walking down the street: big smiles all around. Big hug. Even a little hello kiss. Jeez, we've talked on the phone and texted so much this last week, meeting in person was a formality. Maybe that was what made me so nervous! Everything had seemed so good going into it - what a let-down it would be if the reality fizzled.

It didn't. We had a blast. He had already planned to take me on the new Great Wheel (our new waterfront Ferris wheel), which we did first. It was a gorgeous day. There was a little bit of a line, but not much. There was a couple in front of us: the man actually seemed a little nervous to go on it. His girlfriend was looking up all kinds of information on her phone, saying how big this one is compared to the London Eye, the biggest ferris wheel is in Singapore, etc. Lance Armstrong pointed out to me that this guy was nervous, and me, being a jerk, started telling Lance that she should google "Ferris wheel fatalities" and "Ferris wheel catastrophes" for him. We were cracking up, and he actually asked the guy's girlfriend, "Hey, what does it say about accidents on there?" Then the four of us were laughing and talking about it, the guy saying that he hates these things but only doing it to make his girlfriend happy. It was very fun.

The Great Wheel was awesome, and what a sweet first date thing to do. I am very, very glad that I had not taken advantage of other opportunities to ride it since it opened this summer. He kissed me at the top, and let me just say I will be actively working to assure more of those kisses in the future. He kissed me again, too, at some point when the adjacent gondola was right across from us and the old guy in it pointed his camera at us: Lance Armstrong laughed and pulled me in for a photo opportunity.

After the Great Wheel, we walked the waterfront, and it was a beautiful evening. He is just fun. And very nice. With a side of wicked, just the way I like it. He was wearing a Superman t-shirt (seriously, all this stress that goes into choosing an outfit...big necklace, little necklace, no necklace [always my preference], sandals or boots, tights or no tights...and he wears jeans and a Superman t-shirt. Men have it so easy.). We were walking by an outdoor dining area and a group of couples asked him to take their picture (is he like the most approachable person, or what??). He said he would try but didn't know how to use that kind of phone. One guy said, "Oh man, you're Superman, you can do anything!" We all had a good laugh.

Later we stopped for dinner at my favorite fish and chips place on the waterfront (umm, for which I do not know the name, but they do delicious alder-smoked salmon). We sat on the patio and laughed and talked easily. The most HILARIOUS part of the evening was when we were talking about kids (him: 17yo daughter and 15yo son) and he kind of got this "wait a minute" look on his face and asked me "You don't want more kids, do you?" and I was ROLLING out of my chair laughing, telling him I hadn't even committed to finishing raising the ones I have. Oh gosh, we were dying. :) It was so funny, and we were also cracking up that both of us had taken surgical means to assure there would be no further offspring.

Let's see, more walking on the waterfront, sitting on a bench in front of his truck to watch the gorgeous sunset. His parking meter had expired and we had seen a parking enforcement officer down the street, so we watched the sunset with one eye out for the meter maid so he didn't get a $48 parking ticket. He gave me some REALLY GREAT kisses and I told him he was going to get distracted and get a ticket. He said he'd definitely pay $48 for those kisses. Oh my, this guy is good.

I think I wrote that when he first emailed me, he said that he liked my profile and pictures, but after seeing the one with me holding my bike over my head, he had to email me. We had laughed about that, he said my bike is so big, he didn't know if he'd be able to lift it over *his* head. I had said I'd seen his pictures and was pretty sure he could. He said, "Oh yeah, I can lift YOU over my head." I told him to save it for if the conversation got slow on our first date - that would liven things up. :) So there was context when we're sitting there watching the sunset and decide it's time to head out,  and you know he cracked me up when he reached over and swept me up and started carrying me to the truck! Ha! Umm, I like to be picked up. Plus, with being so short and now small, I think there is something about me that compels men to pick me up, haha. Life is good.

We're going out on Sunday, he wants to take me for a bike ride. I was internally PANICKING about this, although I would LOVE someone that I could go for bike rides with. Remember, though, this guy is Sunday morning "quick sixty miles" at 25 mph with his friends, and 180-mile fundraising rides. My longest ride to date is 24 miles and I am very proud of it. I am slow, but getting better. And I will tell you that my weight is about the same, but HELLO, my clothes are sure fitting differently. Today's jeans used to be skin tight and now they are hanging off me. And you just don't know how I suffered this week when Macy's didn't have a size 4 of the skirt I wanted...but the size 6 was swimming on me...and oh, ladies, I just wept bitter tears that I just had gotten too darn small for the size 6's. Bitter, bitter tears. But imagine my RELIEF when I did try on the SIZE 2 and it just fit beautifully! OMFG. OMFG. This is *me* we're talking about here. In a Size 2. Wide awake, not dreaming, hahahahaha.

I digress. :) So I'm nervous about riding with him, but I am as straightforward as they come and I have set no false expectations about my abilities. So how sweet is he when he says he'd like to take me for a ride at Alki Beach on Sunday, and he sells it like this, "It's about ten miles round trip - flat, with lots of people-watching and plenty of places to stop." Okay, he melted my heart. Plus, inside I'm all like "Pshaw, ten miles?? You insult me, sir!!" I need not worry about him getting me out there and trying to get me to Tour de France with him, and me feeling stupid not being able to keep up. I think he's just a good guy. :)

Umm, I think I've recapped the whole date. He drove me back to my car at the Park and Ride, we necked like teenagers in his truck and I can't wait to see him again on Sunday. :) And re-reading this post, I realize that I have COMPLETELY forgotten the old adage "don't kiss and tell." Oops. But hey, I had a stinking blast. Remind me next time I'm wallowing about being single that sometimes it is actually pretty freaking fun.

I'll sneak you one picture. I may delete it soon, but he's just too cute not to share.

Photo deleted. Boo on you, Lance Armstrong.

Edited to add, with regard to last night's necklace. I did wear it, I did feel a bit self-conscious, but I got over it. At some point, though, he reached over and said, "I just have to see how heavy this is." Haha! It's plastic, very light. No chunky necklaces for the bike ride on Sunday. :)