(Forgive me, but if you're a gentleman in your fifties, please understand the age difference is too significant - I say this because I have been barraged with notes from fifty-something year old men - and while I understand age is just a number, I also take note of the fact those men are looking at 35 year olds, not 65 year olds!). I suppose it's proof the dating scene is as hard as they say when you think of yourself as having a lot to offer but find yourself setting up an online profile! I've lived kind of all over the U.S. and in France, and although I love the South, I'd like to meet a man whose interests are more diverse than Nascar and video games (no offense lol) - but mainly someone who is up for anything fun and who can incorporate humor and laughter into even the most mundane of activities. For whatever reason I'm just about the most faithful and devoted person there is (ok now I sound like I'm describing a dog - nice) and would love to meet a man who enjoys being as good to a good woman as she is to him. I think one of the most beautiful gifts that a woman can feel is genuinely loving to take care of her man - that may be old-fashioned, but I don't give a d*mn. Ok...so continuing on with this self-infomercial torture...I can be as much myself at a fine dining restaurant as I can hooking a worm for fishing, and everything in between. I'm a guy's girl in the sense that I tend to think more logically and less emotion-based than the average Jane, so I guess that affords me the best of both worlds - loving everything about being a feminine lady and all that encompasses, but roll with the punches and don't mind getting my hands dirty or freak out at the sight of a snake (read that as much metaphorically as literally). It would just be great to find a man who can become my best friend and lover who is on the same page in his life as I am in mine. I am a happy girl with a good life just looking for a special man to share it with :-)

I value a man who is confident and comfortable enough in his own skin to enjoy being independent but who also wants to be part of a team, the motto of which is enjoying life and each other. I'm a firm believer that no one is going to make you happy unless you're happy within yourself first, and that's a beautiful place from which to start any endeavor, especially friendships and romantic relationships. I don't need a man to complete me because I'm missing pieces, I want a man to complete me in that having him in my life makes me even happier. It's strange to me that it is difficult to find a man who can appreciate the different facets of a woman...strong and vulnerable, graceful and clutsy, independent but with great love for a gentleman, funny and serious, practical and romantic, ladylike but sexual, living life like a child at play but with the ability to take care of most anything handed her. Ah, but one can dream :-)

I'm thinking "what's your ideal first date" is a silly question since the answers are going to be highly predictable - it's not like someone is going to say a hot air balloon ride and mean it! So...I enjoy having fun at home as much as I do going out...a good game on TV with pizza, or fine dining and the theatre, or rocking out to a band in a club, or a picnic by the lake. I think variety is key, doesn't have to be extraordinary, just fun :-) Road trips, fine dining/wine tasting, concerts, festivals, sightseeing... speaking French, traveling as much as I can, any kind of learning, live entertainment (especially music) including sports, anything to do with water or the mountains, dancing, cooking, painting/sketching, collecting wine, nonformulaic humor, and making people happy! Different cultures (especially European), having the kinds of conversations you don't want to end, the feel of a passionate kiss, inner beauty, being a confidant, and that moment when I say something random and dry witted but the audience gets the joke!