Happy Holidays Part II

So as I'm speaking with "Andy," I had to ask him what his real name was. Trust me. No Indian from India is named "Andy" at birth. He gave me a fake name, or rather, his nickname, but was at least quick to correct himself. After about an hour of talking with him, he kept asking me to dance or to do a hookah with him, but I didn't want to do either! Then he suggested we go outside (hello! frigid weather!), but I declined and said there were a couple more people that I wanted to chat with. So he went off to the dance floor, but not before asking me for my number.

As I made my way back to the banquet area, I saw the Russian guy and caught up with him a bit, while a few others joined us at the table: G, and a Beyonce wannabe. Other people were around us as well and the music was loud in the background. We were chatting and I guess Beyonce took it upon herself to play matchmaker. There was no bottle in sight, but somehow she advised the Russian to kiss me on the cheek. It felt like kindergarten. Amidst the joking around, G had taken his cell phone out and asked me for my number, so I gave it to him. Since there were different side conversations going on, I was getting slightly distracted, but I know I heard G say under his breath as he finished inputting my number in his cell, "but I do like you." He said this as a statement, like when you've made up your mind about something or someone. It got my attention.

Except my attention keeps getting interrupted by "Andy," who keep coming over and asking me to dance!! Even G made a comment to me regarding Andy... that he saw him checking me out ealier and that he took me away from everyone else for more than an hour!

As the party is dying down, I relocate to a sofa, and the Russian comes over to talk some more. Behind us I notice G and his friend that he brought along. As they come around, I thought they were leaving and wanted to say goodnight, so we all stood up. Instead, G switched places with the Russian and sat down with me. The Russian looked over and seemed annoyed, but G's friend is quite the aggresive type and she took it upon herself to drag the Russian away towards the bar.

G and I talked and joked around. He is really funny and definitely has me laughing a lot. Then I remember he's a bit younger than me, and thought he was just being friendly... until he kisses me.

Did NOT see that coming!!!! All I could think about was getting a glass of water! All the wine I had totally dried my mouth out!

Aside from the minor panic attack, it was a really good kiss. A great way to end the evening. :-)

Happy Holidays! Part I

The Meetup organizer decided to throw a last minute holiday party for the group.

Getting ready for the soiree, I couldn't decide between the warm and easy black slacks, or the tighter fitting dress (apparently one too many Christmas cookies). The dress won.

Driving to the party I was already creating plan B in my mind -- just in case the evening wasn't fun. Then wouldn't you know? I was one of the last to leave!

When I arrived, there was already about 25-30 people there. Before I started to mingle, I decided to get a glass of wine at the bar. As I was waiting for my drink, I ran into someone I had met last time, this funny guy named G. We chatted for a bit and made our way over to the banquet area, where we shared a table with several others.

As the evening progressed and so did the crowd, I decided to get another glass of wine... even though this older gentleman asked me 5 minutes earlier if he could get me something, I had declined. Again at the bar, I ended up next to G. There was a bunch of people waiting to be serviced, but the bartender catered to me first. G looked over wanting to know how I managed to sneak in. ;-)

So walking around I started talking to someone else, when I kept noticing this guy pacing a few feet away. He kept looking over to me. This happened several times before he interjected our conversation and introduced himself as "Andy." I was laughing inside myself because "Andy" managed to kick the other guy out of the conversation. So Andy says he want to get a drink, and he walks us over to the bar. I already had a glass of wine with me (white) and he kept insisting that he get me another, but red, because he thought I needed something darker and more woody. I swear on both of my grandmothers' grave that he said that verbatum! I'm thinking, hope he's not describing himself! It was just too funny.

Meetup?

Whoever invented meetup.com... you are awesome.

After being involved in various non-dating groups, I was introduced to one called Relationship Minded Singles. So, figured it couldn't hurt if I joined.

The first event I attended was a picnic potluck. I went with zero expectations. In fact, on the drive over to the park, I considered being a no-show. Instead, I kept driving to the valley.

It turned out to be pleasant, more of a meet and greet. An extremely wide variety of ages, but people were friendly. You had your nerds, your socially awkward men, the bizarre loudmouth lady, the vegan doctor who brought her dogs...

There was one Russian guy who emailed me through the site afterwards, saying he'd like to get to know me. I emailed him back and left my number. Except, I think he has a phobia of being on the phone. He called me - to ask for my email address, so we could communicate that way. Seriously, he says to me, "Well, thank you for your email address... I'll be emailing you and we can plan something that way."

Hmmm. With the holidays and the craziness of the end of the year, we never did really hang out. A little bit at the holiday party, but that's it. I'm sure I'll see him around though.