Tuesday, August 16, 2011

{ DATE #15: Brad Johnson }


Once I saw Brad, I could feel myself getting a little nervous and not being quite as eloquent on the doorstep as I would have liked to be…I found this guy attractive! Maybe it was the fact that he looks like Jason Bateman from Arrested Development who I’ve always had a crush on. Fortunately I quickly overcame this once we got in the car and we easily fell into conversation. We had a lot of things in common and so we had a lot to talk about. Brad is well traveled, well read, he’s adventurous, he’s athletic, he’s smart, and he’s funny. I was excited when he took me to Joe’s Real BBQ in downtown Gilbert. He’d never been, so I got to show him the ropes in the cafeteria style restaurant. I decided to indulge a bit and grab some chocolate milk. I felt better when he decided to follow suit. You get to pick a couple of different sides to go with your main entrée, and I was happy that Brad was willing to team up on the effort and get different sides so that we could both try more. I love sharing food! A guy that is a germaphobe and won’t share with me…that would be a tough one for me.

When I eat BBQ, I like to have a lot of sauce. So with a pulled pork sandwich and lots of sauce, you’re definitely asking for a mess, which is always fun to try and come off looking like a lady when you have BBQ sauce dripping all over. But I didn’t feel nervous anymore with Brad, so I just went with it. While we ate and talked, I noticed that Brad was really good at focusing on me. Despite the normal traffic of a restaurant, and the film crew a few tables over, Brad really zeroed into our conversation. It was really reassuring and helped me open up even more. He had lots of interesting stories to tell from his many varied experiences in life, and we just went back and forth. I was loving our communication!

By the time conversation wound down and we started to think it was time to get going, it had already gotten pretty late into the evening. The plan had been to go ice skating, but Brad’s flight had been later than originally planned, and since we talked so long, we wouldn’t be able to make it in time. So the backup plan was to head straight to the last phase of the date – ice cream at The Sugar Bowl in Old Town Scottsdale. This cute and traditional ice cream parlor has all sorts of goodies to choose from. But to be honest, Brad and I were so full that nothing looked all that appealing. But Brad suggested the Blarney Dream parfait. He does have Irish blood, and he has in fact kissed the Blarney Stone, so it seemed fitting. I was happy that in order to look over the menu (which was quite large); Brad came over on my side of the table and scooted right next to me. By this point, Brad had me rolling with laughter. He’s really quite charming and entertaining.

Once we determined we just couldn’t put any more ice cream down, it was time to get a little competitive and flirty. The Sugar Bowl has a bunch of little arcade games. I won Skee-ball, but he won Basketball. I was feeling evenly matched overall, but then he proceeded to win every other game we played. It was a humbling experience but Brad was so cute to always reassure me with a hug or a squeeze of my arm, so I didn’t mind as much.

Some of the audience feedback has been that I’m not flirty enough and they can’t tell if I like any of the guys. First, I do have to say that I think you generally are really only so flirty on a first date…think back to your first dates. But second, I really am one to follow the lead from the guy on how physically flirty I’m going to be. Brad has been the flirtiest date so far, and since I was interested, I went right with it.

It was fun to look over the prizes we could buy with our tickets. We settled on matching neon bracelets (totally 80’s style), a Chinese finger trap, and a plastic spinning top (Brad thought this would be a good test for whether we were living in reality or a dream – think Inception).

When it came time to say goodnight, I really wished we didn’t have to. I would have loved to spend a lot more time with Brad. But he ended the night perfectly with a sweet kiss on my cheek. Tell you what, this guy knew how to make a girl feel special. I think if Brad had been one of my first dates I would have been swept right off my feet. But as with normal dating , sometimes we get a little burned, and that’s happened for me with TMB (in some ways it really is more like real dating than I first thought it would be). Because of that, I’ve made myself just a little more guarded. Don’t worry, not too much. Just a healthy amount of reality to go with the girlish fantasies that can spring up after a first date. In the end, I really like Brad.


14 comments:

Kelli said...

oh he is adorable.

The Judd Family said...

He really does remind you of Jason Bateman - good call, TMB, good call. I'm a fan.

Margie said...

Cute date Brad, it looked like a fun night for both.

Unknown said...

I think they are a good physical match.

How does Ashley leave the house without a purse?

Time to do an "Ashley's Mailbag" post with questions from her fans.

Anonymous said...

He is SUPER cute!!

Kim Messick said...

Oh, I really, really like him! And they do look cute together! Hope she picks him!

Stephanie said...

I'm really loving Brad too! They seem like a good match!

Lizzy said...

I noticed she even added him as a friend on her Facebook page. Oh la la!

Deveny said...

Umm he's adorable & they are adorable together. He's totally getting a second date.

Caity said...

I think you're perfectly appropriate on your dates! But PLEASE for the love of Pete give us some more "dirt" Who has burned you already, for instance? We want to know these things! Also, I didn't even know you didn't like Tadd because you never told us! I just wish your blog posts were less about the facts of the date and more about what was really going on.


Oh, and yes. Brad is cute.

It Started With a Wink said...

chemistry!!!

Suzanne said...

Woot! Definitely in my top 3. But that doesn't really matter. The question, is he in Ashley's top 8? I think so!

michael. mindy. dane. said...

best date by far. for sure.

Josh Long said...

Jason Bateman, eh? Yeah, I guess I can see that. My wife and I thought he looked like William Mapother ("Ethan Rom" on LOST).

By the way, here's Brad's IMDb profile for the movie buffs out there: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1959866/