Date #1 -- Mexican hot chocolate

To get the ball rolling, I went with online dating to get some initial dates under my belt. I went back to match.com and relaunched my profile-- I've done online dating in the past, with modest success.

The first time I set up the account, I was fresh off a year of traveling and decided to go with the name "vagabondage." And, unfortunately for me, on match, you can update everything in your profile except your username! Sooo, I'm not sure I attracted the right group of guys to my page wih a name like that!

But attract the guys I did! The nice thing about online dating is that if you have a few good photos of yourself, you're certain to get a bunch of attention from the men. I paid my month's subscription only after I had over 10 emails in my inbox. It's a great ego-boost to know that yes, I am good enough, and gosh darn it, people like me!

My first date was with a young lawyer. We met on Sunday afternoon at a very excellent indy coffee shop in Foggy Bottom. My date had recommended the mexican hot chocolate, and it was delicious! Benefit #1 of date -- I discovered a sweet coffee shop! It's called Bourbon Coffee and is a Rawadan coffee house. There's one in NY, too.

He was a lovely guy and we chatted for almost 2 hours... although it was mostly him doing the talking. By the end of the date, I decided he wasn't my type and that I wasn't interested in date #2. But then, he walked me to the metro, and as we were saying goodbye, he began making plans for our second date... sigh. I would have enjoyed being friends with him-- after all, we did have lots in common and he knew a ton of great places to go in the city. But, alas, how do you say you want to be friends after he already expects a second date? After getting home, I wrote a "let's be friends" email. He never responded.

Lesson of the date: In the world of online dating, expectations can run high and finding friends through the process takes skill. Only agree to meet up with someone if you think they are very cute in their photos. Because after all, most people look way worse in person than in their best pic.