We’re looking for 40 single men and we need your help!!
A few months ago, I (Mauren) heard about Tamara Duricka Johnson’s book 31 Dates in 31 Days. The title intrigued me so I ordered a copy to read about the author’s unique dating experience, which has led my friends and I (a total of 4 of us) to creating this blog and venturing into a similar project. The book is about a single 31-year-old young woman who decided she needed to get back to the dating basics.
Like so many women, Tamara found herself evaluating every guy at their first encounter on whether or not he could be her potential mate. We women have an innate nurturing gene (we can’t help ourselves!) that causes us to love and want to be loved by the people that surround us and dating is no exception. But Tamara was tired of constantly looking at every guy as husband-material and instead wanted to become a better dater without wondering if a proposal was possible from every male that crossed her path.
To achieve her goal, she decided to start a dating project made up of 30 first dates, one night after the other, that she would then blog about each evening. Some of the men would be friends, others would be strangers and some would be setups.
A few months ago, I (Mauren) heard about Tamara Duricka Johnson’s book 31 Dates in 31 Days. The title intrigued me so I ordered a copy to read about the author’s unique dating experience, which has led my friends and I (a total of 4 of us) to creating this blog and venturing into a similar project. The book is about a single 31-year-old young woman who decided she needed to get back to the dating basics.
Like so many women, Tamara found herself evaluating every guy at their first encounter on whether or not he could be her potential mate. We women have an innate nurturing gene (we can’t help ourselves!) that causes us to love and want to be loved by the people that surround us and dating is no exception. But Tamara was tired of constantly looking at every guy as husband-material and instead wanted to become a better dater without wondering if a proposal was possible from every male that crossed her path.
To achieve her goal, she decided to start a dating project made up of 30 first dates, one night after the other, that she would then blog about each evening. Some of the men would be friends, others would be strangers and some would be setups.
After the 30 first dates, date number 31 (which fell on Valentine’s Day) would be a second date with one of the first 30 guys. The decision of who it would be with, was made by a combination of votes from her blog followers (2/3 of the equation) and her own decision on which man she wanted to get to know even better (1/3). In the end, she chose the man who had the second highest number of votes for her date and a year later, found herself married to him, too.
Now let me assure you the purpose of our project has never been to find our own eternal companions. That wasn’t even Tamara’s either, but it was sure a big bonus! No, the purpose of us participating in a similar project is to change attitudes, make ourselves better daters, and to see what wonderful things 40 young men (in some cases, from around the country) have to offer. Though they may not be our personal Prince Charming, they will be someone’s and we’re looking to discover those characteristics for ourselves. Maybe we’ll even find some personality traits we never would have considered important to us in a potential mate, but then again that’s the purpose of it all – to learn.
So, as you’ve no doubt guessed by the title of this blog, we’re looking to go on and blog about 40 dates over the course of 40 days. That means each of us will go on 10 dates between February 15 and March 25, providing you with write-ups on our adventures and what we learn from each experience. Each day during that time frame will need to be accounted for and we’re looking for your help! We need dates – and LOTS of them! We need single, available men who can help be part of the project.
THE RULES
- Since the intent is for it to be a first date, the participants must be men we’ve never been out with before
- Each date will cost less than $40 and we’re happy to pay
- Each date must last at least 40 minutes
- All dates will be blogged about after the fact and must be accompanied by at least 2-3 pictures from the date
- All dates will take place in a public setting
- Though we’re all active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), dates are not required to be LDS (remember, we’re looking for first dates here, not a marriage commitment)
- No kissing (this is all PG here, folks)
- No drugs, alcohol or smoking
- Some dates will be with friends, some with strangers and others will be setups
- Each girl will go on a second date with one of her 10 dates on Wednesday, March 28 based on a vote from our readers that will take place March 26-27; second dates will be announced on March 27 for the following evening.
Again, every day during that time will be accounted for so if you have ideas on guys that might be willing to participate or great ideas for dating activities, please let us know!! A few last items to note… We realize that not everyone we’d like to include in this project will qualify to participate since we’re only looking for first time dates. However, we would still be honored to go on other dates during this time frame, even if they don’t count towards our project, so please don’t hesitate to ask!
Also, we realize that there may be some that would be interested in going out and helping with our experiment, but that might not want their name splashed all over our blog. We are happy to change the names of the men we go out with upon their request, but we will be including at least 2-3 photos from each date on the post so your photo has the potential to be seen, even if the name is changed. If you’re ok with that, then we are too!
So, that’s it folks. We need your help and we need it STAT! Have an idea or a name you’d like to pass along for a potential date? Send us an email at 40datesin40days@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you and having you follow us along in this adventure.
Thanks for your support!
Mauren, Kim, Jessica and Becca
