escargot, miss?

"lakai?
sure, sounds great"
i said not knowing what i was getting myself into.

it was a restaurant he wanted to take me out to.

i don't know if [he] falls under the category of 'blind date' per se...

true, i hadn't ever met him, but then again there's facebook these days, so it wasn't necessarily blind, and we have been talking for a good while now. 

when i told my friends i was finally going on a date with Mystery Man they asked where he was taking me.

"lakai??" not even knowing how to say it, what it was or where it was.

"LA CAILLE!?" they all shouted back.

 that's where i learned the nature of this beast.

apparently one of the top restaurants in all of utah... this guy was gonna take me there. on our first date!

what was homeboy thinking!!

after doing some research online and seeing just how fancy this place was i began to stress big time. for many reasons...

A) i wouldn't know what to do with 3 forks

B) i couldn't pronounce ONE menu item

C) what was valet parking again??

4) BUT WHAT WILL I WEAR!

desperate times call for desperate measures and you can guarantee i spent my evening surfing through some 'etiquette' youtube videos where my girl lisa taught me 9 videos worth of things i needed to know. thanks lis!

"make sure whatever you wear you're comfortable in" my wise sister in law stated. but apparently my jeans and joe's crab shack tee weren't gonna do. so i upped it to a nice dress shirt with some dressy skinnies. feeling good, but double checking i asked what he was wearing...

a tux.

frantic, yet again. i scrambled through my closet and pulled out the dress i had never worn but bought 5 months ago just because.

and those 'just because' shopping items always do come in handy!

asos.com

it was raining when we met. and he already had an umbrella out and ran it on over to me.

having worked at a suit and tie store i have an eye and a love for a well dressed man. [he was].

ok, so his brother is getting married next weekend and he had a tux fitting appointment right before our date... makes much more sense. phew.

as he opened the door to let me in he realized it was locked so he ran around to unlock it. once i heard the unlock i just out of habit opened the door and started getting in. [oh crap, and remembered that ain't lady like] and bounced back out and slammed the door right as he came back. i blushed and apologized. i was already starting out on an excellent foot..

after driving up a little into the wasatch mountains i was blown away by how pretty it was. it was rainy and a thick fog set over the whole area and the trees were a lush green. then we came to a big gate and that's where the fairy tale began. 

you had to drive for awhile, but it was beautiful!! it was 7:30 so it was dusk and the lights were already glimmering us along the path. then we strolled up to where two men escorted us out of the vehicle and took the car away (i mean really, i just came from rexburg idaho... i didn't know that kinda stuff existed). 

then he took my arm... or i took his arm?? i dunno, he escorted me into the tower. and woah! 

THIS was the first thing i saw...

not surprised right?? and then i turned around and saw this guy...

and look! he is wearing a top hat AND bow tie! (:

but of course this is what was all around me the whole time i was staring at the animal heads....

and i do believe we were seated right here by the fireplace and statue, but at a table for two.

he was such a gentleman! his momma done raised him right! i know i can exaggerate at times... but i'm telling ya, the dinner was near THREE hours long! we arrived a little before 8 and left almost at 11! that's how much food i had to eat! of course this is many girls dreams, but remember, i eat like a bird and as many, many say... don't know quality food when it's in front of me. 

i tried to pick menu items that had at least one familiar word such as chicken or bread or salad...

i had to choose an hors d'oeuvre, course 1, course 2, and the entree! 

and somewhere in between that they placed me a small scoop of carrot, cinnamon sorbet to cleanse the pallet.

my only experience with "cleansing the pallet" was on the movie princess diaries. so i was hesitant and waited for him to go first. in reality, i felt like mia all night...

i drank so much water, if i had counted i would say the waiter filled up my glass 11 times. 

i politely asked if i could slip myself away to the ladies room TWICE that night. how embarrassing...

as i stood up so did he. which caught me off guard for a second. i thought maybe he was coming with me. he stood standing as did i. then some olden time movie popped into my head at that precise second reminding me how that was the proper, gentleman like thing to do! 

man, lisa must have forget to share that tidbit on even 1 of her 9 etiquette videos!

but i'll tell you... the bathroom was amazing! its the only place i didn't feel silly snapping a picture of. and that's only because no one was there.

when i came back (the 2nd time around...) there was yet another menu on the table. he came around and pushed my chair in as i sat. i told you, a gentleman. 

it was the dessert menu. and i had no idea what either was so i just said graciously, "i'll have what he's having." and this is what came back

creme brulee is what they called it, yeah, now that is was in front of me i remember hearing this once before.

delicious.

and he did the sweetest thing. i suppose my face lit up once or twice during the night when they lit other guests baked alaska on fire. so he asked the waitress if she would light mine, which she said they don't light the creme brulee's on fire but since he insisted she would. 

i hadn't even said a word about it to him!

but i didn't want to hassle her and besides fire or no fire it was a masterpiece!

and no that wasn't all. just when i thought it was done a little box was delivered to me with a ribbon wrapped around it. he was just sitting there smiling. 

i opened it and inside was a ring.

just kidding, but even better... chocolates! this boy knew exactly the way to my heart.

after he left an all too gracious tip (and mind you he tried to hide it from me, but i've got a woman's natural sneaky eye)  we walked outside to where the swans and peacocks were. 

but it was night out so it looked more like this....

and the baby swan even let me take a picture with her!

via instagram.

(this is the only picture taken of the night (besides the cool bathroom one) the rest are pictures i found online of La Caille, Sandy Utah. i was too nervous to be walking around snapping pictures here and there at this fancy joint!)

what a great night, and such a great date. he knew just how to treat a lady. he did everything right.

after being treated like royalty all night it sure was hard to snap back to reality and remind myself i don't have a chauffeur,  i don't have a red carpet to walk upon and i do have a twin sized bed.

either way, last night was a fairy tale. 

i always dreamed of a fancy french waiter offering me escargot on a silver platter...

to which i'd graciously decline...and decline i did!

au revoir!