The Men of TVP, (Matt, Tyler, and Jamie) sat down to discuss their respective girlfriends with answers about Valentine's Day, first dates, attractive qualities, and the age old burning question: What did it take to bag a girl like Karly, Kit, or Zoe?
Tyler:
The first thing that ever really attracted me to Kit Bangles was something she did in the bar she worked at in Portland, OR.
I had just knocked off from the restaurant I worked at up the street and stopped in for a shot and a beer, which was my ritual on the way home at the time. I had always thought she was very cute, rather smart, and had an amazing laugh, but I'd never really seen her be fierce.
That night there was some guy at the bar being rather rude and she threw him out.
I have never been so smitten.
He was at least twice her size, but literally had none of her fire. She took his drink from him immediately after he ordered it, dumped it out, and gave the dude the bums rush out the door. Suddenly I was in the presence of the tiniest Amazon I have ever seen. I sat at the bar the rest of the night silently crushing on this girl like a 3rd grader.
In the end it paid off. I don't know how many months later. She asked me out. I guess. Sort of.
We have birthday that are really close, like within 10 days of each other. On the night of her birthday Kit Bangles went out in style. There was lots of drinking, lots of partying, and I guess someone poured her into a taxi.
Somewhere in all of that she left her phone number at the bar she worked in...for me.
The thing is I never got it. It was a Friday, and I usually stopped in at our old bar for a drink to unwind after the craziness of a Friday dinner service. This was the one, seriously, the
one Friday I didn't stop that month.
A few days go by and I'm off on a Wednesday and headed to band practice. Since I also happened to live close to Kit's work I stopped in for a drink on the way.
We chat.
We trade stories about how the weekend went. She mentions it was her birthday. I laugh and mention that's pretty rad because mine is coming up. She made sure to ply me with at least three shots and then told me she did something really stupid. I took the bait and asked her what. She tells me she left her number for me here at the bar and that I never came in while it was still there.
I'm floored.
What could this incredibly attractive, smart, funny, drop dead awesome bartender want with a scruffy looking nerf herder like me? I asked her if I could still have it, she giggled and said sure. I promptly pocketed it and had to jet for the bus. I think I texted her like 3 times before I realized I had I had copied her number wrongly into my phone. The rest. as they say, is pretty much history.
And I apologize to who ever got those texts, as i'm sure they were rather, uh, forward.
As far as a first date, well I feel like we've had very few "dates" as it is. I'm not even sure what qualifies as a "first" date anymore. She walked me home one night after an employee part her bar thre. I think that was the first or second time she slept over. I remember the first night I met her cat, I couldn't ever possibly believe a cat could be that loud or such a persistent ball of "Mreow!" Those probably aren't dates, but they're good milestones.
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One time she came home with me in the rain. She didn't have a rain jacket so I gave her mine. I wore a trash bag the entire walk home, and i'd do it again in a heart beat. There's photographic proof somewhere, I just don't know where.
I can't really say that there's any one thing that is the sweetest Kit Bangles has ever done for me. I remember one time after, or maybe during a very brutal dinner service, she brought me gummy worms, some stuff from Whole Foods, and a Kombucha.
That was amazing. I think I survived that night because of that. She sent me the most beautiful set of lillies once.
She likes to hold me, even when I act like I don't want to be held, but she knows that I do and i'm just being surly. She sees things inside me better than I do. She has a laugh that is almost like a cackle, but not in a maniacal way. It's playful and spritely. She moves like bambi on roller skates.
These are all qualities I find deeply attractive in her, but mostly, I just love that she loves me and the way she squeaks in bed when she burrows under the covers. We don't need pets for cute noises, we have each other.
Being a TVP boyfriend is interesting. It's weird to know that people are talking about you out there. And not in a bad way. I just never though part of my personal life, aside from whatever gets posted on Facebook, would be out in a public place. Maybe it just feels that way cause I don't keep up with TVP as much as I'd like. Up until 5 weeks ago I was so busy with work I usually had one day to do laundry, catch up on whatever I wanted to catch up on, grocery shop, and sleep as much as possible.
Ultimately, I would like to listen to more of the show's episodes and keep up with the blog more, just so I can be in the know, but none of it really bothers me. It's really through talking and sharing that anyone is going to make any progress in anything involving life, love, and relationships. So let's keep an open dialogue! And if it came up I would gladly participate in a TVP discussion, podcast, or blog. I reckon i'm doing that right now.
I'd do a men of TVP calendar if the chance arose. Think about it.
This being the first Valentines Day that Kit and I have ever spent together, I'm trying to keep expectations low and easy. She's been super busy lately and I haven't, so I figure why not make this easy.
I just want a couple bottles of wine, some good pizza, some snuggles, and some movie watching. Maybe Mean Girls or something along those lines.
I'd also be down for attempting to make up last Valentines Day to her if she'd let me. I'm sure I can think of some fun things, but i'm not exactly sure I should write them here, or that I possess the vocabulary to describe everything that i'd like to see go down. There's a lot of angles I don't know the names of. Never was too good with geometry, but you get the idea.
Happy Valentines Day TVP readers!
Jamie:
What first attracted me about Karly was the fact that I felt intellectually challenged for the first time in a long time because that's what you get from Karly. It kind of lit a fire in me because I felt like there was someone that I could talk to and actually be on the same level with instead of just having someone agree with me all the time and it kind of grew from there. I just felt like our energies were the most, I don't want to say compatible, but I guess the most like each other.
There wasn't any instant moment where you can pinpoint where we got together. It was a long term thing that happened gradually, i'm guessing because I never thought that she would actually be achievable so I never put any serious thought into it. Plus, in the beginning she flat out told me that it would never happen....so there was that.
Even though we don't have an exact moment, we had a lot of little moments where I just fell in love.
One of the first times was when there was a snow storm outside. I was the sous chef in a restaurant at the time and while everyone else got to stay home I had to go to work six hours early and I was pissed but then she ended up coming in to visit me. I made her macaroni and cheese and she told me to stop acting like a prom queen who got dumped on prom night and it snapped me right out of being pissed....because fair...I was stuck there and I was acting like a bitch...even though I had just fed her mac and cheese there was something about her brutal honesty that I hadn't seen before.
I think a major turning point was another snowstorm. We both worked at the same restaurant and everyone got to stay home but us. We didn't have a single customer that day while two feet of snow piled up outside and our boss refused to let us go home. We sat at the corner of the bar all day and just talked and got to know each other. I guess snowstorms are our kind of thing.
Still though, there was no "asking anyone out." It just kinda happened. We worked together and spent a lot of time together. We never really went on a first date or anything. We kinda skipped a bunch of steps and somehow ended up living together.
One of the things that's most attractive about Karly is...do boobs work? Her eyes? No? Okay..the challenge. The fact that what I say doesn't always go and I like it. I like not getting yessed and I like having someone to bounce ideas around with. You'll never get yessed with Karly if you don't deserve it. I don't like people who are fake and Karly definitely is not. She's about as real as they come. I don't know why that's so attractive, it just is. It's more of what I feel than what I can put into words.
As for being a TVP boyfriend, to be honest, I don't believe I've ever listened to an entire episode. I'm truly glad she has an outlet to express her opinions whether they're intellectual, logical, or just for fun and entertainment. The one thing I know for sure is that it will always be honest and straight forward. She rarely {if ever} "sugar coats" anything. The greatest thing about her is you will always know where you stand. From someone who has been around the block, it is quite a different world. We live in a world of conformists, cliques, and popularity contests. It is refreshing to have someone understand and see through the majority of the BS and not be afraid to call it out.
Of course I would participate in TVP, I am and have. I love the fact she has her own thing, but like her, if asked my opinion; you'll get it. And most of the time I'm appreciative of anyone willing to listen.
As for what's in store for Valentines Day, unfortunately the "romance fairy" completely missed me with her magic dust. I don't need much from Karly. I'm happy because I know, no matter what day it is, she pays attention to even my smallest of needs and does her best to make sure i'm happy. I wish I could say the same, but I am well aware I don't deserve her and try my best and just hope she feels at least half as much for me as I do for her. I will never be able to express and show as much love as she deserves. But I do know that if anyone can show me the light, it's her. I have never known love like this and could never replace it. You ask what I want for Valentine's Day. I say every day she is in my life is Valentine's Day. She is my gift, my bright and shining star, my love and hopefully, my forever.
Matt:
I was smitten with Zoe the first time I met her.
My friend Tom had invited me to attend Pax East with him and one of his gaming buddies. I went there expecting Tom's gaming buddy to be a stereotypical nerdy, geeky dude (like Tom was). Instead, his friend was this gorgeous brunette in a leather miniskirt. Yeah, I was strongly physically attracted to Zoe, because who wouldn't be? But as we went about the day, she dazzled me with her intelligence, sense of humor, and kindness to others. She was so polite, so gracious, and so humble. I think I was smiling like an idiot the entire time, except for when she gave me a hug at the end of it. I think then I was blushing and trying not to get a stiffy.
I asked our friend Tom for her number, which he gave me, and I called her up the next day to ask her out. Zoe turned me down, and I was crushed. But a few days later she called me to invite me to their next gaming meetup at her place. I went, and I tried not to crowd her but I was really there for her, to see her. And I think she knew it, because at the end of the night she asked me if I wanted to stay. I knew it wasn't a sexual thing, and that was fine with me, I was happy just to spend more time with her.
I helped her clean up the apartment (because yeah gamers are kind of a messy bunch), and then we sat down on the couch with glasses of wine. We stayed up all night talking, and god it was tough to resist the urge to kiss her but somehow I did it. And I think she knew that, too, because when I finally realized the time and told her I had to go, she asked me out. I couldn't resist giving her a hard time and said something along the lings of "but I thought you didn't want to go on a date with me."
I'll never forget her response: "I tried fighting my attraction to you, but as you can see, it didn't work. We're very different, and I'm not sure if I'd be good for you, but I'd like the chance to be. Because I think you're beautiful inside and out, and I think I'd regret it forever if I don't give us a try."
We went out for Italian the next night. Everything was great until the end of the night. I'd had tiramisu for dessert, and when I went to kiss Zoe goodnight, she put a hand over my mouth to stop me. When she informed me we couldn't kiss because I'd eaten something with chocolate, which she's allergic to, I was crushed. But then she leaned up and kissed my jaw, letting her lips linger a bit. It was SO hot.
Next date I avoided the chocolate, and I got my goodnight kiss. It was perfect.
Being a "TVP" boyfriend is never boring. I do follow the blog and show, I'm very proud of Zoe and all she does.
What some people may not realize is how much Zoe involves me in the behind-the-scenes Vodka Press business. She let's me sit in while she's editing episodes and when she's recording her break segments. Nothing beats when Zoe records her Flirtini and drink break recipes. She does them at my place, usually while she's dressed in one of my button downs (and nothing else). There's a lot of outtakes that go on because I can't resist touching her or teasing at her while she's doing them. Zoe's not the only who likes to tease, you know.
If any talk of us comes up either in one of her blog posts or on the show, she asks me how I feel about it and, if I'm not comfortable with something, she'll take it out or rework it. That of course includes talk about our sex life. In a way, I'm a part of the team, a silent part of the team, and it's really cool.
Behind-the-scenes for both the show and blog, I would certainly participate in the future. It makes me feel special when she includes me in things.
I'd probably write something again for the blog if Zoe asked, but I don't know about being on the show. Maybe. But be warned, I do not have a radio voice.
If I had to pick the most romantic thing Zoe's ever done for me, I'd say it's when she wrote me a really beautiful, romantic poem for our 6 month anniversary. I'd share it here but I'd hate to incur her "death stare."
For this Valentine's Day, what would I want from her? A batch of her delicious bourbon ice cream and one of her world famous scalp massages...preferably while we're both naked in bed. Although honestly, I'd be happy with anything Zoe wanted to give me. This is our first Valentine's day together as a couple, and I'm excited to celebrate it with her.
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