Furlong? Trifecta?? Hasha??? What do these 3 ridiculous sounding words have in common? You’ll see…
This is Kim, reporting in after one, eventful date, full of wonderment and firsts! My tale begins with a little history…
Nathan and I have known each other for quite some time now. We met at church and have been known to hang with the same crowds. I’ve been a fan of this funny and charming Texas native from the beginning. So, when the opportunity presented itself to include him in the project, I asked. This was a big deal for me…my first time asking a guy out on a one on one date! (I had a lot of encouragement from him and a group of friends at a taco stand the other night…a lot of "encouragement!") So Nathan became my first official date of 2012 and this project.
I knew that whatever I decided to do, we would have fun together, but I wanted it to be something unique, something that I’d never done. Have you figured out what it might be? The clues are in those 3 words above. That’s right! A night at the races! I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to go to the horse track. No one I know has ever been. We don’t gamble, so I had never considered going, but turns out you can just go and watch the races. Who knew? Horses, cute little jockeys, and Nathan…I knew this was a recipe for success!
Of course, Houston decided to rain on my parade…literally, and I was worried that the races wouldn’t happen. I was unsure if the track was even covered. Nathan assured me, however, that whatever we did, the rain didn’t scare him. Gotta love an adventurous spirit! So the race was on and Nathan being the gentleman came to pick me up from my house.
I heard the doorbell ring and when I opened the door…there he was…with 11 pink roses (there had been one casualty). A literal gasp escaped my lips and my little heart jumped for joy! Another first…flowers from my date! This guy’s good! My favorite part was the strange leaf shedding disease these flowers seemed to have. We couldn’t get them in the vase fast enough. There was quite the pile of leaves that accumulated, which made me love them more…they were beautiful and entertaining. After they were settled in the vase, we jumped in the car and set off on our adventure! We chit-chatted easily as I navigated him to our destination. I was proud of myself for keeping our outing a secret, but he was quick to tell me that he could have got it out of me, if he had wanted…which I’m sure wouldn’t have taken much…I was super excited. When we got closer and we could see the incredibly bright lights, he knew where we were headed and turns out it was a first for him too!
I knew that Nathan would be hungry after a long day at work, two hours of which were spent in the rain (Nathan is in landscape design). So when I saw a deal at the race park for a buffet + general admission, I was intrigued. The buffet was pricey, but sounded real good. I decided I could justify the pricey-ness by using a gift card I’d won at a recent Chili Cook-off. Now, I didn’t know at the time that this was a magical gift card. Had it been full, it would have been the exact amount of two tickets, however I had used it earlier in the day, depleting it almost halfway. Nathan was ready to pay the difference, but when they swiped the card at the gate…da, da, da, da...they handed us two tickets! I stared in confusion and told them that there shouldn’t have been enough on the card to cover both, but he just smiled and said that it took it all and we were good. Aaaaaaaaah! The heavens had smiled down on us…this amazing date was totally free!!
As we walked into the park, we took time to stop and smell…the trees. They were a favorite kind of Nathan’s and smelled incredible. When we got inside, I was amazed at the variety of people that were at the races, how nice the facility was, and how fancy our seating area in the Winner’s Circle Restaurant looked. (And yes, it was covered!) As they ushered us to a table, we passed the table for two that would have worked and they sat us at a table for 6. Guess they thought we needed some extra space. The tables were set up stadium style and each one had a small TV at the end. From our seats, we had a clear view of the finish line. Awesome! We put our stuff down and went to make our first trip to the buffet. Now this wasn’t your everyday buffet. It was fancy. They had a mashed potato bar, various kinds of meat, including steak, a grilled vegetables section, a salad bar, and a dessert bar. The food was real good and we helped ourselves throughout the night.
We had missed the first race of the night, but we got to see the rest…all 9 of them. I loved watching the horses explode from the gates and the jockeys bouncing up and down as they came in. While we ate, we chose the horses we thought would win. This was no easy task…horse races have their own language and we didn’t become semi-fluent until race 7. I had had some luck and had chosen a couple winners in the beginning, which made me feel real good about myself, but we didn’t catch onto the system until we were both struck by the same bolt of inspiration in the same instance.
Race 7 finally brought clarity and we had to high five each other for our achievement. Between the two of us, we picked 5 winners and many horses that placed in the top 4. It was so fun and I found myself really getting into it. We spent down time making fun of the horse names. My least favorite horse name of the night was Plant City…really? How would you ever get
affectionate with that horse? “How are you doing today, Plant City?” That is ridiculous. So we came up with our own…some of which are equally ridiculous. Here they are…
Nathan’s Horses: ChuckNorrisIsFromSpace, Hampster Wheel (for the light brown and kind of fuzzy horse), Walk the Walk, Drunk Astronaut, and Bingo Mojo.
My Horses: Midnight Oil (for my black and shiny horse), Caged Thunder, and Can’t Touch This
We laughed pretty hard out our own funniness. :) My other favorite part of the night happened when we watched two college age boys in sports coats lead two girls in fancy shirts (ok, they were dresses, but basically long shirts) to the buffet. They made me laugh out loud. They were trying so hard to look suave. When we went back to the buffet line a few minutes later, we started noticing more of them…a lot more. Then we stood back in amazement. Were we in some kind of frat boys go to the races movie? Before us was a sea of frat boys and their young under-clothed dates. We counted about 14 or 15 couples and they were all in uniform…Are you ready for this?
Boys
Option 1- Sports coat, khaki pants, a brightly colored, striped, plaid or checked, collared shirt, and cowboy boots.
Option 2- Sports coat, khaki pants, a brightly colored, striped, plaid or checked, collared shirt, a bow tie, and loafers.
Girls
Only one option- Long fancy shirt and black high heeled shoes.
It was incredible…everywhere we turned. It was like an episode from that old show Beauty and the Geek. How did these girls end up with these guys?? Some questions are better left unanswered. Needless to say it was unexpected entertainment!
So we finished out the 10th and final race at 11pm. What a night! Who knew the horse races had so much to offer for the non-gambler? As we arrived at home, Nathan had a surprise of his own. Had it been raining more he would have forced me to stay out in the rain…he had brought towels and all, but alas standing in the drizzle wouldn’t have had quite the same effect. So he pulled out his last surprise. Two bottles of Martinelli’s, which we shook up and popped open on my porch. He said it was to kick off our dating project…a Christening so to speak. He also said he had to set the bar high for the rest of the dates to follow…and he succeeded at that. I don’t have a ton of first dates under my belt to compare it too, but I can easily say that was the best first date ever! Thanks Nathan!
Gold star to you who made it through the whole date with me…brevity is not my strong point when it comes to writing.
Come back for round two on Monday!
Kim
This is Kim, reporting in after one, eventful date, full of wonderment and firsts! My tale begins with a little history…
Nathan and I have known each other for quite some time now. We met at church and have been known to hang with the same crowds. I’ve been a fan of this funny and charming Texas native from the beginning. So, when the opportunity presented itself to include him in the project, I asked. This was a big deal for me…my first time asking a guy out on a one on one date! (I had a lot of encouragement from him and a group of friends at a taco stand the other night…a lot of "encouragement!") So Nathan became my first official date of 2012 and this project.
I knew that whatever I decided to do, we would have fun together, but I wanted it to be something unique, something that I’d never done. Have you figured out what it might be? The clues are in those 3 words above. That’s right! A night at the races! I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to go to the horse track. No one I know has ever been. We don’t gamble, so I had never considered going, but turns out you can just go and watch the races. Who knew? Horses, cute little jockeys, and Nathan…I knew this was a recipe for success!
Of course, Houston decided to rain on my parade…literally, and I was worried that the races wouldn’t happen. I was unsure if the track was even covered. Nathan assured me, however, that whatever we did, the rain didn’t scare him. Gotta love an adventurous spirit! So the race was on and Nathan being the gentleman came to pick me up from my house.
I heard the doorbell ring and when I opened the door…there he was…with 11 pink roses (there had been one casualty). A literal gasp escaped my lips and my little heart jumped for joy! Another first…flowers from my date! This guy’s good! My favorite part was the strange leaf shedding disease these flowers seemed to have. We couldn’t get them in the vase fast enough. There was quite the pile of leaves that accumulated, which made me love them more…they were beautiful and entertaining. After they were settled in the vase, we jumped in the car and set off on our adventure! We chit-chatted easily as I navigated him to our destination. I was proud of myself for keeping our outing a secret, but he was quick to tell me that he could have got it out of me, if he had wanted…which I’m sure wouldn’t have taken much…I was super excited. When we got closer and we could see the incredibly bright lights, he knew where we were headed and turns out it was a first for him too!I knew that Nathan would be hungry after a long day at work, two hours of which were spent in the rain (Nathan is in landscape design). So when I saw a deal at the race park for a buffet + general admission, I was intrigued. The buffet was pricey, but sounded real good. I decided I could justify the pricey-ness by using a gift card I’d won at a recent Chili Cook-off. Now, I didn’t know at the time that this was a magical gift card. Had it been full, it would have been the exact amount of two tickets, however I had used it earlier in the day, depleting it almost halfway. Nathan was ready to pay the difference, but when they swiped the card at the gate…da, da, da, da...they handed us two tickets! I stared in confusion and told them that there shouldn’t have been enough on the card to cover both, but he just smiled and said that it took it all and we were good. Aaaaaaaaah! The heavens had smiled down on us…this amazing date was totally free!!
As we walked into the park, we took time to stop and smell…the trees. They were a favorite kind of Nathan’s and smelled incredible. When we got inside, I was amazed at the variety of people that were at the races, how nice the facility was, and how fancy our seating area in the Winner’s Circle Restaurant looked. (And yes, it was covered!) As they ushered us to a table, we passed the table for two that would have worked and they sat us at a table for 6. Guess they thought we needed some extra space. The tables were set up stadium style and each one had a small TV at the end. From our seats, we had a clear view of the finish line. Awesome! We put our stuff down and went to make our first trip to the buffet. Now this wasn’t your everyday buffet. It was fancy. They had a mashed potato bar, various kinds of meat, including steak, a grilled vegetables section, a salad bar, and a dessert bar. The food was real good and we helped ourselves throughout the night.
affectionate with that horse? “How are you doing today, Plant City?” That is ridiculous. So we came up with our own…some of which are equally ridiculous. Here they are…
Nathan’s Horses: ChuckNorrisIsFromSpace, Hampster Wheel (for the light brown and kind of fuzzy horse), Walk the Walk, Drunk Astronaut, and Bingo Mojo.
My Horses: Midnight Oil (for my black and shiny horse), Caged Thunder, and Can’t Touch This
We laughed pretty hard out our own funniness. :) My other favorite part of the night happened when we watched two college age boys in sports coats lead two girls in fancy shirts (ok, they were dresses, but basically long shirts) to the buffet. They made me laugh out loud. They were trying so hard to look suave. When we went back to the buffet line a few minutes later, we started noticing more of them…a lot more. Then we stood back in amazement. Were we in some kind of frat boys go to the races movie? Before us was a sea of frat boys and their young under-clothed dates. We counted about 14 or 15 couples and they were all in uniform…Are you ready for this?
Boys
Option 1- Sports coat, khaki pants, a brightly colored, striped, plaid or checked, collared shirt, and cowboy boots.
Option 2- Sports coat, khaki pants, a brightly colored, striped, plaid or checked, collared shirt, a bow tie, and loafers.
Girls
Only one option- Long fancy shirt and black high heeled shoes.
It was incredible…everywhere we turned. It was like an episode from that old show Beauty and the Geek. How did these girls end up with these guys?? Some questions are better left unanswered. Needless to say it was unexpected entertainment!
So we finished out the 10th and final race at 11pm. What a night! Who knew the horse races had so much to offer for the non-gambler? As we arrived at home, Nathan had a surprise of his own. Had it been raining more he would have forced me to stay out in the rain…he had brought towels and all, but alas standing in the drizzle wouldn’t have had quite the same effect. So he pulled out his last surprise. Two bottles of Martinelli’s, which we shook up and popped open on my porch. He said it was to kick off our dating project…a Christening so to speak. He also said he had to set the bar high for the rest of the dates to follow…and he succeeded at that. I don’t have a ton of first dates under my belt to compare it too, but I can easily say that was the best first date ever! Thanks Nathan!
Gold star to you who made it through the whole date with me…brevity is not my strong point when it comes to writing.
Come back for round two on Monday!
Kim
10 comments:
Sounds like tons of fun! :)
Kimmie--- Sounds like you had lots of fun! And I am jealous, because I had talked about going to the races many times but we never made it before we moved, so I'm glad that you had a great time! Cant' wait to hear about the rest of your dates!
That sounds like a wonderful first date!!
You're a good story teller!! What a cute date you had. He's already my vote for your last date!!
lol Nathan will be so happy to know people already are voting for him to "win the contest"
He has turned this into a contest...date #2 has joined the competition though. He dropped off a rose and balloon on my doorstep yesterday. A girl could get used to this!
so fun! Ya tell them to compete all they want!!! :)
I like this one. :)
Ok embarassing: Jeanne is really Beck - oops. :)
LOL, there could be many reasons why and how horses are called! I think the owner of Plant City named it that way to combine the description of rural and urban places… you know, plant = rural and city = urban. They probably want the horse to be known in a very different way.
Lisa Gilliam
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