E: Hey, it's Elle....remember me?

I broke a date club rule - did a date club no-no....I haven't blogged since mid-March! Honest to goodness, I sat down to blog many a time, only to get interrupted and not get back to it. The second half of March was even more eventful than the first half. Lemme see, where do I start...

Let's start with boys. Always good to start with boys! In addition to Mr. March, I also went out with "March Man 1" and "March Man 2". I'm happy to say that I now seem to be in a dating pattern, with at least 1 date every weekend! The Elle of last year would never have believed this about herself. I think I had all of 8 or 9 dates in ALL of 2009. But the Elle of this decade is now a dating machine. :) Thanks mostly in part to Match.com.

March Man 1 was a local professional who listed cute randoms about himself such as he only likes his cheerios with chocolate milk. Adorable. Also, he emailed to tell me what beautiful eyes I have and how they are perfectly complemented by my smile. (awww, you know I eat that stuff up). He asked me to go out for a drink down by the water, and we stumbled upon this great band, and it was beautiful outside....the makings for a romantic evening. Only I wasn't really digging him. You know, there is so much to a man and what makes us like them. Like the song says, "the way you walk, the clothes you wear, they way you move, the style of your hair." or something to that effect. My dislike for this guy can only be summed up in that way - he carried himself like he didn't have much confidence. And that was a turn-off for me.

March Man 2, however, was a lot of fun. And has a lot going for him and a lot of what I look for in a guy. And let's just say he has a really good profession, with lots of letters behind his name, and lots of figures behind the dollar sign in his salary. And he is down to earth and very, very into me. Our first date was to a little beach village in my coastal town (did I mention spring break?) Don't worry, though, I learned my lesson and did NOT act like a spring break gal this time! (as an aside, February Fellow #4, who had the not-so-pleasant experience of watching me lose my cookies after acting like a spring breaker, wrote me a nice little email after the experience telling me that the cookie experience had nothing whatsoever to do with his decision, but he has determined that we just are not a good match. Ok, I believe you, buddy. No, i really DON'T believe you, but I don't blame you either!)

Anyway, back to my date with MM2. We had a good first date down by the beach. Great conversation, etc... however, I couldn't shake the fact that he just wasn't as cute in real life as he appeared in his pictures. Maybe it was the fact that he had on a shirt and tie in his photo (i love that about a man) and tonight he was sporting his "beach attire" - faded navy polo shirt and khaki shorts. And of course no tan. The date ended with him wanting to get together again as soon as possible, and I was down with that. After all, I'm not so shallow as to not date someone who has amazing potential, but less-than-fortunate genes.

Our second date took place 2 days later on Sunday evening. After hours of rain, we settled on dinner and a movie. He came to pick me up...wearing his apparent movie attire....a faded navy polo shirt and jeans. Hmmmm, I know what you did on Saturday - laundry! We headed out to dinner and enjoyed a comedy. And while dinner conversation was good, I found the need for him to have his arm around me the entire time at the movies to be kind of annoying. I mean, I have neck issues, and the way he had his arm at times had me leaning and was starting to hurt my neck. And it wasn't like we were snuggled up - he had a whole tub of popcorn on his lap, and was holding it, eating it and wrapped around me at the same time. And sometimes when I would look at him and laugh at the movie, he would bend over and plant a salty one on my lips.

It's flattering to be out with someone who is so excited to be out with you. And for that reason, even though I did not find him anymore attractive than the last date, I decided to give him one more try. He asked me out for the following weekend, and I told him I was free Friday night.

Throughout the week Mr. Romance did his best to keep me in suspense about what our magical Friday night date would entail. He would text me mysterious hints, asking what I was doing on Easter, etc. To which I replied I had plans. (Hey, an egg hunt with my nephew is plans.) Mid-week MM2 finally reveals to me what his grandious plans for Date #3 were, almost. He said that he was trying to fly us to Vegas for the weekend, leaving Friday night and coming back on Sunday! I was in complete and utter shock, and a little horrified. What was this guy thinking?? Never mind the fact I had plans both Saturday and Sunday, but what made him think I would jump at the chance to jet off with him for the weekend, after only having known him 1 week? For all I know he had reservations at the Little Chapel or some craziness like that. I mean, it's Vegas, baby. Anything can happen! Have you not seen The Hangover?

Fortunately, the flight times on Easter Sunday with last minute plane tickets were not in his favor, so he wasn't able to book the trip. Or maybe it was the fact that he didn't really know my last name. For whatever reason, I was spared and Plan B entailed us meeting at a town halfway in between our towns. Ok, dude, this is your last chance, better make it good. So I haul my cookies all the way up to another coastal town, where we went to a restaurant on the beach. Are you sitting down for this one? He met me in his beach dinner attire....faded navy polo shirt and khaki shorts! Unbelievable. It was starting to feel like Groundhog Day. And I hated that movie. Time for me to move on.

Which brings me to April. Oh the possibilities. While I have been on many a date this year, I have yet to find one that floats my boat. Or I float his. And we have mutual boat-floating experiences. I look forward to Mr. April and beginning the 2nd quarter of this dating challenge. Mr. April and I have plans this Sunday night. He is adorable in his Match pics. In his primary photo he is wearing a big grin...and a navy polo shirt. Stay tuned to see how this one goes. I promise not to wait so long to blog.

Remember at the beginning of this ridiculously long post I said there was a lot going on, but I would start with boys? Well, I almost forgot to mention that a big chunk of my time the past few weeks has been directed toward buying a condo! This is a big step for me. I have not owned a home since I sold the one my husband and I lived in 8 years ago. And while I never thought I would want to own a place of my own again until I was re-married, the realist in me has kicked in and noted that I could very well be single for a VERY long time, interest rates are incredible, and houses are on sale. And to top it off, Obama wants to give me $8k just for taking this step. I don't see how I can say no. I will soon be Elle, the homeowner, and I'm thrilled.