The Bees Knees

*p.s.andbytheway, I have no idea why the font is so weird today.

Now that you have recovered from the shock of my online dating announcement, I thought I'd go back to the beginning to tell you how we got to last weekend. Along with pictures!!

Around the start of the new year, out of curiosity, I began the process of having a profile on one of those LDS dating sites, heretofore referred to as "The Planet." I was immediately...horrified. Even without a picture or a populated profile (do you dig the alliteration?) I started receiving messages from people wanting to connect even though they knew absolutely nothing about me. Does anyone else find that creepy, or is that my overly-sensitive creep meter? Additionally, I didn't really find any profiles that were interesting. So I kind of gave it up until some pleading from my parents, who were concerned about my lack of social activity, and kindly paid for me to talk to people on the site. I was still a little wary, but one profile stood out enough for me to give it a go:

This isn't Max's profile picture...this is him and my cat Mr. Bingley, who adores Max.

So I wrote up something cute and charming, posted my picture, and hoped for the best. The next morning I had a message from Max, who lives in the Seattle area. And so for a month we exchanged emails and even had some fun live chats. He pretty much had zero competition, because everyone else who contacted me was either over 60, from a developing nation, or just plain not interesting.

Fast forward to Easter weekend and my cousin's wedding. I thought that perhaps since I would be in the area, I should try to meet Max. So, I sent an email to invite him to the wedding reception, which is quite possibly the most awkward way to meet someone ever. Besides perhaps a funeral. My phone was not working at all, so I had absolutely NO IDEA he was going to come until he actually showed up. My heart totally skipped a beat when I saw him walk through that door. He's totally cute in person.

We hit it off famously, finding conversation natural and easy. It wasn't even awkward. After the reception we walked around Seattle and threw around potential opportunities to see each other again. Things like the Farm Chicks antiques show here in Spokane. You just can't help admire a guy secure enough in his masculinity to agree to go to this estrogen-fest.

But before he showed up at my doorstep on Friday afternoon, we got to know eachother by texting, phone calls, and Skype. Since the distance makes traditional dates a challenge, we have Skype dates. For example, to celebrate 1000 texts, we each got Jimmy Johns sandwiches and ate them while Skyping. He helped me have the best birthday ever by sending me flowers and a gift card to my favorite art supply store.

He found out that I like peonies and hydrangea.

We have a lot of things in common, like music, style preferences, and a healthy dislike for mushrooms. And the icing on the cake is his kindness, generosity, sensitivity and patience.

So naturally, I couldn't wait for his visit. Which I would love to tell you all about, but I need to get ready for my Skype date with Max. Wouldn't you be eager too to talk to this dashing fellow?