Day 9 - Kim & Justin Z.

Wow! I can't believe that I've been on three dates in less than a week! Who knew 30 was going to be such a productive year!


So date #3...Justin...


Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...


Justin and I met through church, where, unbeknownst to him, he's a rather talked about boy. Only yesterday, someone was saying, "I'd like to get to know Justin better. He seems like such a good guy."  Well, I'm here to confirm it...he is!


As of last night, around 8, I still did not have a date lined up. I had tried to call several people, but no one answered. Finally, I decided to call Justin, who I was going to ask for Sunday, but needed a little sooner. Thankfully, he saved our project and agreed to be date #3 on super last minute notice. I've never been out with a foreigner, so I was excited that he'd agreed. (He's Canadian...sweet, eh?) I told him I'd be there at 6 to pick him up since the activities I had planned were on his side of town. Of course he offered to come get me, but we settled on me driving to his house and him driving us to our destinations.


Now having the advantage of knowing Justin, I had wanted to plan something I knew he'd enjoy. I had a lot of really good ideas, but feasibility on such short notice was not in my favor. He is an amazing photographer (he took all our pics for the blog) and I thought it would be fun to get disposable cameras and take pictures of random things, but I couldn't develop that idea fast enough. He also has an affinity for fine cheeses, as do I, but the cheese tasting location I looked up was not available. So I decided that Monday's plan of Shankz and The Black Walnut Cafe would be a good option. I was excited to find out that Justin loves mini-golf...whew! 


I got to his house a little late, but he's a laid back guy and it was no big deal for him. Now upon first observations of Justin, you might think that this really cute guy was on the shy side and wasn't very social. However, Justin can throw an awesome party and has a lot of quiet confidence, with occasional and unexpected outbursts of randomness. It's great! It was fun to get to to talk to him one on one and get an even better sense of his true personality. We talked easily throughout the night. I learned a lot about him and found we have a lot in common.  


Back to the date...we made it to Shankz, got our gear, which included glow necklaces, and got golfing. Shankz is sweet! Shankz does not only have a cool name and black lights so everything glows, it also has big glowing animals everywhere.  What's better than hitting a golf ball under a giant gorilla with "big breasts!" (That was a Justin comment!) The black walls are covered with incredibly well done, spray painted scenes of oceans, jungles, etc, which also glow under the black lights. We decided that it would be awesome to have a room like that in our houses...call it the party room. So turns out that Justin and I are fairly equal in our putting ability. As we talked, we snaked our way around the course, where we both had a few pretty bad holes and some really great ones. He was a little generous on his tallying on one hole, which gave me a one point advantage in the end. So, I'm going to call it a draw...regardless it was super fun!

After Shankz, we headed to The Black Walnut Cafe. The food was fantastic and I found in ordering that I am not alone in my distaste for fungus. Mushroom haters unite! Getting to sit and talk with Justin was probably my favorite part of the night. I learned about his family and his yearly bouts of rebelliousness, which made me laugh. I heard stories of when he was a kid and the things he pulled on his teachers...yea, he was one of those. :) Turns out as I get older, having conversations with people gets more and more fun. We also shared war stories from the workplace, which was entertaining and comforting that I was not alone in having them. 

We talked for awhile and realized we should probably head back...it's a school night after all! When we got back to his house, he had to return something that Becca and I had left there a long time ago. He showed me some of his most recent pics that he had blown up and was deciding on where to put. They really are good...I think he should work for National Geographic. I'd buy his pictures! So while I was looking over his pictures, he ran and grabbed my stuff. When he came back we said our thank you's and goodbyes, hugged and I was off. As I was walking to my car, though, I noticed there was something on the roof. When I got closer, I saw flowers, a wrapped box, and a card! That's right...I got more flowers and chocolates and a super cute thank you card! Not only was I impressed that he even did that, but I was more impressed at how stealthy he was in doing it!  How great are these guys! I had a fabulous time with Justin and just know that he can be added to the list of awesome dates I've been on. I feel really lucky to know such amazing men! Thanks, Justin!


This is Kim...signing out!
See you on Sunday!