Best-Date-Ever Contest: CAST YOUR VOTE!!!

Did you think that romance was obsolete or strictly confined to Meg Ryan chick flicks? Read below and discover that men are still chivalrous and well....romantic.

Thanks to all the women who shared their real-life, best-date-ever story with us! Each of you is already a winner because the Lord blessed you with a special sign of His love.

By the way, stay tuned in June on this your fav blog for a special guest blogger:
Dr. Clarence Shuler, President/CEO
Building Lasting Relationships, Inc.
"Taking the BLUR out of Relationships"
http://www.clarenceshuler.org


In the meantime, Vote for Your Favorite Entry!

VOTING SCHEDULE:
Entries will be posted thru Wednesday, June 6, 2007 so friends and others can vote for their favorite best-ever date story.

People can vote for their favorite entry - only once - by clicking on the "comments" section beneath entry and leaving their comment. This is a Christian blog so we trust that you'll follow the Golden Rule.

The winner will be announced and re-posted on June 7, 2007

The prize will be a Mary Kay Essential Eye Set containing an age-fighting eye cream, eyelash curler and oil-free eye makeup remover.

Heartbreak Rescue by B.J.

My best date ever was on July 4th, 1976 in Philadelphia, PA. I was 19. The guy that I had an eternal (I thought) crush on and I got in an arugument and he left me on the streets. I was walking around heartbroken, when out of nowhere came this handsome man. He began to talk to me and the next thing I knew, we were spending the bicentennial celebration together. He was a perfect gentleman and when the night was through he bought me a rose and walked me to the bus. We said goodbye. Funny we never asked each other for our names. It was the best night of my life.

Hawaii - My Perfect Picnic On the Snow - By Irma Marmolejo

He was dashing and a good looking Hawaiian dude. He
was attracted to me as I was to him when our eyes met.

We had gone out to dinner that night but the following
morning picnic date was what was perfect.

We were off by 6 a.m. and arrived at a snowy mountain top
in Kona. As I was taking in the beauty of the view,
he set up a picnic for two. The delicious muffins,
bagels and hot chocolate were all homemade from his own
kitchen. He had gotten up earlier that morning to
bake just for me.

We talked and laughed for what seemed like days and he
was shocked that I had never received roses from a
man. To my surprise, the next morning at my office I
received a dozen long stem roses... just for me... with
a card saying "Let me be the first"…

Josie C and Finding the Key

I had been dating my boyfriend, Todd, for about 3 months. We were
having Sunday brunch after church sitting outside a cafe in Malibu.
Above us was an extremely high bell tower. Suddenly, something fell
out of the sky and landed with a clunk right by our table. Todd bent
down and picked it up. It was a door key - dropped from heaven?!?
Being a wag, Todd cried out, "I've got it! I've got it! I've found
the key to life!" It was so extraordinary and we and all the tables
around us laughed. Two months later on my birthday I opened his card
to me. He had taped that key inside with the words, "You've got the
key." And a year later we were married.

Here's to a New Friendship by Debbie G.

We went horseback riding then dinner. After riding, he took me to an ocean-view suite so I could "freshen up” before dinner. I got suspicious and before I could accuse him of trying to sleep with me, he said "OK, well I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up." He leaves and soon after, the spa calls to confirm the 1 ½ hour massage Mr. X had arranged for me. He returns, and as we waited in the lounge with several celebrities, we tried not to "act" excited, but we couldn't help it! We were hobnobbing with the rich and famous and ya know, after the day I had, I felt rich and famous. Finally our table was ready, a perfect window seat overlooking the ocean. Suddenly, another gentleman delivered a vase with two dozen red roses and a little card that read...."Here's to a new friendship".

Best-Date-Ever Contest

Share your memory of your best date ever and if your friends and others vote for your story as the "best" best date ever, you'll get a free prize!

The prize will be a Mary Kay Essential Eye Set (see picture) containing an age-fighting eye cream, eyelash curler and oil-free eye makeup remover.


Email your entry by
Tuesday, May 29, 2007,
5 p.m. (PST) to

singlesoutloud@gmail.com

VOTING SCHEDULE:
Entries will be posted for one week, from Wednesday, May 30, 2007 thru Wednesday, June 6, 2007 so friends and others can vote for the best entry.

People can vote for their favorite entry - only once - by clicking on the "comments" section beneath entry and leaving their comment.

Contest Rules
1) No more than 150 words.

2) Limit of one entry per person.

3) Limit of one vote per person for all entries.

4) There is no financial compensation for entries.

5) Your entry's submission is your approval that your piece may be published on this website. You retain all rights for your submission.

6) To be credited for your submission, include your name, a title for your story, and if you have a website/blog.

7) The winning entry will be announced and re-posted on June 7, 2007.

Obscene, provocative, or otherwise objectionable content will not be considered nor posted.

Here is my best date ever.....so far. But, of course, I'm not eligible to enter the contest.

For my 21st birthday, my boyfriend picked me up in the morning without telling me where we were going. We ended up at LAX for a one-day trip to San Francisco. I had never before been on a plane. In the evening, he drove me to a scenic spot overlooking the city and gave me a beautiful gold diamond necklace that he had designed and created just for me.

The Search Goes Back to Internet Dating Sites

With a strong dose of humor, singlehood can be such an adventurous experience!

For fun - and without having to pay (yet) - I am on a few trial runs with Christiancafe.com, relationships.com, loveandseek.com and match.com. How will I juggle the overwhelming responses on all these sites? It's really not that hard when you consider what's out there. It only takes a second to gasp out loud at some of the photos.

Take for example, a bald 47-year-old guy (who looked more like 57). In his first photo, he was wearing a shirt and pants. The second pic showed him topless and then, I should have guessed. The third photo had him sporting speedos! Wish I had Ajax to remove that mental imprint that's been haunting me ever since!

But there is hope. I spotted a Jesus-friend who was quite handsome, had a Master's degree, a lovely home with a backyard that looked like a golf course, was a former U.S. Army Airborne Ranger and appeared to be a world-traveller ( a pic of him in Venice to prove it). The frosting on the cake was his terrific and catchy write-up. I like that. The catch? He's been stationed in Iraq for the past two years and is home on the opposite end of the country for only three months. He's in one of the most dangerous parts of Iraq. Go figure! Well, maybe I should pray about this? You never know. Or is it the non-commital me attracted to the far-away ranger?

Looking for Mr. Right

"Let it not be said that she didn't try or that she was not persistent." That is what I think they may say at my eulogy.....many, many, many years from now, of course.

So this week I took it easy and decided to "hang" and check out places where there may be fish - as in guys. Let's see, where would my mate hang out? Since he's a man of faith, he would probably be growing in knowledge and understanding of such matters, so I went to Fuller Seminary's bookstore/coffeehouse to sit and read and wait - a clever technique I learned from the paparazzi (See Where to Wait for Mr. Right, March 12, 2007).

After an hour and a half of sitting next to two men discuss intellectual principles and philosophies about other intellects who have written inordinate theories about God, my eyes began to droop. No, my future husband wouldn't be sitting intellectually massaging theological formulas. He would be moving in the love of Christ touching hearts and minds in Argentina or some faraway place which would explain his long absence in my life.

Or, he may be growing in his knowledge of financial stewardship. So, I went to a real estate investor's event. There was a mixed crowd, but no signs of him there either. However, I did come home with lots of info for my financial future.

Later in the week, I stopped by NYPD Pizza Restaurant in Burbank. Lots of testosterone there, but gosh, just a bit too brawny for me. Can't say I walked away empty-handed, though. A couple of extra pounds of me followed alongside me...and they continue to stalk me.

Debbie, a former single, wrote in (See Where Are the Fish, May 4, 2007) suggesting I go back to internet dating sites and you can see why I have to.

Stay tuned for more on that fishing expedition!

Where Are the Fish?

Now I know why there are so few Christian blogs dedicated to singles. Most of the time, there isn't much happening as far as dating or meeting guys to talk about. So, what is there to talk about as a Christian single woman? Well, the fact that it's difficult to meet good Christian guys and date.

Over the past two months, I've been sick and working on an intense project, so I was focused, well, on that and not on singlehood or dating. Now that my project is coming to an end, guess what is looming at the top of my list? Where are the Christian guys? They sure weren't in the secular circle where I had to work.

The first thing I did was go to a free singles dating website touting it is "the largest 100% free online non-Christian dating service, so you will never have to pay a dime to meet your soulmate." The name "Plenty of Fish" for some reason made me think it was Christian. Sure wasn't. All I have to say is that after seeing what's out there in the secular world, Christian internet dating doesn't look bad at all!