A stroll down memory lane (with caffeine and FOOD!)

Since I haven't had much time to blog because of the approaching wedding (July 26), I decided to transfer a couple of posts from mine and Jon's wedding blog we are keeping, mostly for out of town guests who will be visiting Nashville. Jon wrote the following post about our first three dates. I followed with a post about my perspective, which I'll share tomorrow.

A stroll down memory lane (with caffeine and FOOD!)
Quite a few of you may not know much about the beginning of our relationship, other than that we met on Match.com. Three places figured prominently in the beginning of the relationship and also in my plans for proposing to Jen. If you would like to do a tribute to us, you could always visit the following three locations in Nashville.

Our first date occurred at Fido, a local coffee house near Vanderbilt. After corresponding with each other via e-mail, it was time to actually meet. So, I chose Fido because: (a) it was a public place in case Jen turned out to be a psycho, and (b) there was a ready source of caffeine in case Jen turned out to be boring. We met and had a wonderful first date, talking comfortably with each other. I knew after talking with Jen that: (a) I was attracted to her, (b) she was not a psycho, and (c) I was going to ask her for a second date [note (b)].

So, our 2nd date was at Rumours Wine Bar. I knew that Jen was Baptist and if she didn’t drink alcohol I would have no problem with that. I can say this now because we’re getting married, but this was a test. I wanted to know whether she could handle being with a Lutheran, one who was raised in the fine tradition of Luther himself (who enjoyed his beer). Jen had no problem meeting at Rumours and once again we enjoyed a night of great conversation. During our conversation I learned that she has a fourth degree blue belt in Tae Kwon Do, which made me realize that: (a) she could beat me up if she wanted to (cardio kickboxing is not going to be much help against real martial arts), and (b) she could also defend me if she needed to (see cardio kickboxing). I was nervous, intrigued, and impressed by this knowledge, which meant one thing: a 3rd date!

The 3rd date was quite traditional: a movie and dinner. However, the movie and restaurant were not as traditional – “Little Miss Sunshine” and dining at South Street. If you know anything about “Little Miss Sunshine”, it’s a movie that rewards a sense of humor that is slightly askew, i.e. mine. When I heard Jen laughing during the movie, I knew that this relationship could go somewhere. After the movie, we enjoyed a wonderful time eating at South Street.

The tale of our engagement will be the subject of a later post, but it involved these three venues. I highly recommend any of them if you have free time. If you decide to go to South Street for a meal, you must save room for their New Orleans bread pudding with Jack Daniels sauce – it’s SO DELICIOUS. Just thinking about it is making me hungry.