E: Oh, Mr. February...

I'm a slacker. I admit it. Jane and Sheila post 5 times more often than me. But that doesn't mean life has been boring lately! In fact, quite the opposite. Let me start by telling you that I've lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year! Needed to be done to fit back into my sexy dating clothes. A lot of that can be attributed to not sitting at the computer late at night eating M&Ms. I am eating cookies right now though, but they are Nutrisystem, which is cardboard, really. No harm in that.

Anyway, you probably remember my last minute scramble to find Mr. January. The date happened on 1/29, and the knot in my stomach started to form around day 18 as I quickly realized that finding a date is much harder than it should be. I was determined not to find myself in that predicament in February. After all, February is a short month to begin with.

So imagine my delight when the same friend who set me up with Mr. January emailed me on 2/3 to tell me about another prospect. Score! Her only concern was wanting to know up front what my political party affiliation was. WTF? Why does that matter? So I answered her, and low and behold, the stars were aligned that day, and whew, it was the same as his. (It must have been meant to be.) This aspiring politician called me the next day to set up plans to go out on Saturday night. Unbelievable! I had a date 2 weekends in a row. A first for Elle in quite some time, I must say.

Unlike Mr. January who called because he was going to be over an hour late, my February texted to see if he could be 15 minutes early. Yikes! I'm never ready early for a date, with all of the last minute outfit changes and whatnot. I casually texted back "Gimme 5". When he arrived my heart got kinda fluttery. Damn, he was hot. From his button down shirt that had his initials stitched on the cuff, to some kind of American symbol cuff links, to his jeans and Italian leather shoes, this man looked sharp. We drove to a nearby restaurant and much to his dismay the wait time was 1 1/2 hours. Now that doesn't really bother me on a date, because i like to sit at the bar and chat over drinks before dinner anyway. But he wasn't having it. Ok, so we went to the next restaurant where the wait was 45 minutes. Bingo. It seemed to calm him down a bit. We had an enjoyable conversation and come to find out this guy has done some incredible things in his young life. I thought I had stories, but nothing like this guy! The problem was, most of the conversation centered around him. He really didn't go out of his way to ask much about me. Which was hard for me to handle. I never felt like our conversation was that engaging, and I couldn't shake the fact that although I was super attracted to him, something between us just didn't quite click.

Much to my surprise, after dinner we went out to his car and he asked me where else I would like to go. I suggested we go to a local pub for a drink, to which he replied that he has to be mindful of where he is seen in public. So he suggested we go back to my place. Oh no, I wasn't expecting to have anyone over...crap! I quickly went through my mental checklist: was my laundry that was air drying (undies) put away? Did I have any sort of non-girlie alcohol in the house besides Wild Grape Smirnoff Ice? Do I have any snacks other than Nutrisystem cardboard chocolate walnut cookies? Do I have any interesting movies that are not chick flicks or my sister's wedding video? No.... But wait! I have video on demand, and we can always order a movie.

"Sure, let's hang out at my place." Which we did for a couple hours. Only to find out that my video on demand was not working (found out later it was an area outage.) And I did not have his drink of choice (iced tea). So we sat on the couch drinking bottled water flipping through stations and finally settling on watching the Matrix. Only it was the sequel, and it was half over, and I hadn't even understood the first one, but oh well, I am on the couch cuddling with super cutie. Life is good.

Fast forward 2 days, and he calls and wants to see me again. Because of his super busy schedule, he has time to stop by my house on the way home from a work function about 8:45 p.m. Oh great, another date at my place. With the tv. And video on demand not working. And what do I wear? Do I try to dress up and look cute, like on a real date? Or do I have lounge pants on, because, face it, I had just got home from the gym and that's really more comfortable for a date on the couch. And damn it, Monday nights are The Bachelor, and it's hometown dates tonight... I agreed, but felt a little uncomfortable because I felt like a second date should involve going out on an actual date, not just the remants of what's left of a Monday. And I wanted to have some engaging dialogue and get to know more about each other. And see if we really could have a connection on some emotional level. Guess that's what i get for being a girl! Anyway, all he wanted to do was snuggle on the couch and watch tv again. I started to get annoyed, and during commercials would try to make small talk. But he wasn't really biting. In fact, I think it was kind of annoying him.

All in all, it just wasn't meant to be. Too much trying too hard. But I'm not heartbroken in the least. Well, I might be when he becomes President some day, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there!

P.S. I must share with you that one of my recently divorced friends and I made a pact the end of January to be on Match.com by Valentine's day. That's 5 days away. How much you want to bet Match sees a flurry of new activity around this particular holiday? Yes, i do believe I'm looking forward to Mr. March!