The bottom line is that just spending time with her is all I really need…
First off, big thanks to Genuine for opening up his personal wallet and throwing a hunski down on the table. Ben Franklin is always a welcome chaperone on a date and in these economic times his presence is all the more appreciated. Thanks genuine. You da man! Let me know when you need my address to send me the scratch. A check is cool with me.
Before I start detailing my ultimate date night(s) with The Blogger Hottie, let me say that I believe every truly great date ends with breakfast. It could be me whipping up a scramble with eggs, ham, jalapenos, tomatoes and cheddar or heading out to a cool local breakfast joint for pancakes and coffee. In case I forget to mention it at the end, you can go ahead and assume that Date Night will end with breakfast!
Dating The Blogger Hottie comes with its own set of restrictions. She lives in the Chicago suburbs and I live in the Buffalo suburbs. In case its been a while since you looked at a map, that means she lives in Illinois and I live in New York–roughly a 10 hour drive or 90 minute plane ride apart.
What this means is that when we do see each other, we make the most of the moment. It would be awesome to live close by and see each other in person several times a week, but right now thats not reality. We have our Skype dates and take the face to face as we can.
The wonderful thing about the relationship Jamie and I have is that we’re both pretty simple people. We can have fun doing a number of different things–from a quiet concert to a Sabres (or Blackhawks) game to kickin it old skool at the drive in.
There really is no way for me to describe the “Ultimate Date Night” because that could be many different things depending on the weather, our moods and what is happening in the city at the moment. Therefore, I will throw you two different scenarios of what a great date night would be with The Blogger Hottie. One is set in Buffalo and the other in Chicago.
Buffalo in winter
It’s a cold winter night. I pull my car into the lot at University of Buffalo’s city campus and we make our way onto the train to take us downtown. I only live 15 minutes from downtown Buffalo, but on event nights parking can be crazy. And expensive. Plus, there’s just something romantic about taking the train.
We board at the first stop and exit at the last–HSBC Arena, right on the shores of Lake Erie. The new(ish) home of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL and Buffalo Bandits of the NLL. This building flat out rocks when there is a home game, but tonight there is a different vibe emanating from the building.
We exit the train and I take her hand as we walk across the street and into the arena. The tickets in my pocket say ‘Michael Buble–one night only” and it’s a night I’ve been anticipating since the pre-sale started a few months ago.
I like my music loud and crude, but I also like the soft stuff. There are several Buble tunes on my iPod. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin too. It’s cool to go retro and in these modern times, Buble is as vintage as it gets.
We grab a cocktail before grabbing our seats and as the lights go down, we look at each other and kiss…
Chicago/Milwaukee in summer
It’s a warm summer night along the shores of Lake Michigan and as my plane touches down at O Hare I think about the great weekend I will have with The Blogger Hottie. I lived near here in the mid 90′s and the truth is that the Chicago and Milwaukee areas are two of my fav places in the world and given the right chance, I would pack up and move tomorrow. Or maybe a week from Saturday.
P.S. this “date night” actually spills into the next afternoon, but since we have a very rare child free weekend I assume that will be OK.
As I come towads baggage claim I see my Blogger Hottie waiting for me with a smile on her face just as big as the one I have for her. Being single parents raising daughters on our own, when we get the coveted child free weekend, we make the most of it.
As we meet, we kiss like a couple of love-sick fools and make people around us wish they brought the barf bags from the plane. Sorry people. It was necessary.
We cruise back to her place and spend some quiet time together (this is supposed to be a PG blog post, so I will leave it at that). As early evening approaches we climb into her Passat and drive north towards Wisconsin.
Almost immediately after crossing the border we arrive at one of my favorite dumps, The Brat Stop. I have to be honest, as much as I like a good steak or prime rib, there is nothing quite like a couple of brats and some Old Style in Wisconsin. After dinner we head back to her place to “watch” a movie and make out on the couch like a couple of teenagers.
The next morning we wake up, I don my Cubs hat and grey jersey and we head towards Wrigleyville. We make a quick stop for breakfast, then a game at one of my absolute favorite spots in the world–Wrigley field.
The Blogger Hottie was cool enough to score some bleacher seats (is there any other place to sit) for this afternoon’s game against the hated (though WAY better) St. Louis Cardinals. We grab a couple of cold ones and I begin to heckle anyone wearing red, including left fielder Matt Holiday.
Seriously–with a last name like that, how can you not heckle him. It’s so easy. “Hey Matt, looks like you’re taking a Holiday out there.” “Hey Matt let me know when you get back from vacation and actually want to play.” Stuff like that.
The wonderful thing about The Blogger Hottie is that she’s not sitting there trying to shush me or rolling her eyes at me. She’s throwing me ideas on things to say. I totally <3 her for that.
After the Cubs beat the crap out of the Cardinals (it’s my dream date, right?) we head across the street to spend the last of our $100 at the Cubby Bear. We join with my fellow Cub brethern to celebrate the ass kickin we just laid on the hated ones and prepare for tomorrows battle. One which I will miss because I will be spending it alone with my sweet honey.
The bottom line is that just spending time with her is all I really need and I know I could be just as happy sitting on the couch with her, watching TV and putting Ben aside for another night.
