Blind Date: Build and they will come

Usually with PACIFIC blind dates, our team seeks out sexy singles to enjoy the adventurous dates our behind-the-scenes staff dream up. Sometimes, however, unsolicited locals reach out to us, asking to be setup with someone new. That’s the case with tonight’s daters, who will soon find out, after meeting in an EPIC Limo, that they share a surprising connection.

Brooke and Seth each contacted PACIFIC individually and submitted a short bio, along with a few photos of themselves and a description of what they were looking for in a date. Based on what they wrote, we matched them up with each other and arranged an exciting evening on a North County beach.

The date begins when an EPIC Limo picks up Seth from his Pacific Beach home prior to heading up north to pick up Brooke in Encinitas. But before these two set eyes on each other for the first time, let’s review their pre-date interviews.

Where are you from, and where do you live now?
BROOKE: I’m from Ventura County, and I now live in Encinitas.
SETH: I moved around a lot as a kid; I lived in the Bay Area, Hawaii and Southern California. I live in P.B. now.

What do you do for a living?
BROOKE: I’m an animal care technician for marine mammals, and I’m a bartender.
SETH: I’m in cloud and telecommunications sales.

Why are you going on a blind date in PACIFIC magazine?
BROOKE: Because it sounds like a fun and unique experience, and it’s what I’d imagine a one-on-one date would be like on The Bachelor.
SETH: My buddy told me about it, and it sounded fun.

What do you do for fun?
BROOKE: I love to surf, go to yoga and eat good food with great people.
SETH: I snowboard, play sports and volunteer as a high school football coach.

What are you best at?
BROOKE: Watersports, being able to fall asleep anywhere, saying yes to an adventure and always saving room for dessert.
SETH: Movie quotes.

What do you suck at?
BROOKE: Most video games, dating apps, reaching anything on the top shelf and resisting the urge to play the next episode on Netflix.
SETH: Basketball.

What are you looking for in a date, physically and/or otherwise?
BROOKE: Someone who is down to earth, outgoing, open-minded and family oriented. Someone with common interests. And physically — not a meathead.
SETH: A good sense of humor is a must. Pretending to laugh at my jokes works too.

Describe your special brand of sex appeal in five or fewer words.
BROOKE: Bad boys, cowboys and Mom’s approval.
SETH: Less-attractive Chandler from Friends.

What do you like least about yourself?
BROOKE: That I’m not telepathic with my twin sister.
SETH: Being less attractive than Chandler from Friends.

Rate yourself on a scale from one to 10 for looks.
BROOKE: I’ve been told I’m the hotter twin.
SETH: Seven.

Rate yourself on a scale from one to 10 for personality.
BROOKE: My mom said I’m a 10!
SETH: Eight.

What’s your biggest fear?
BROOKE: Being set up with the Craigslist Killer. And public restrooms.
SETH: Having a mental illness that I’m not aware of.

What traits might your date exhibit that would be complete deal-breakers?
BROOKE: Being rude to the waitstaff.
SETH: Being inconsiderate and rude to other people.

How many people have you slept with?
BROOKE: Eww. Inappropriate.
SETH: I don’t kiss and tell.

Fill in the blanks: I want my blind date to be “blank” and “blank.”
BROOKE: Justin Timberlake and Prince Charming. But kind and driven would be nice too.
SETH: Hilarious and spontaneous.

Will the night end with a kiss, something more or something less?
BROOKE: I don’t give strangers boyfriend privileges.
SETH: I guess we’ll find out.

What’s the most important thing in the world?
BROOKE: Water. We literally cannot live without it.
SETH: Gratitude.

The limo arrives in Encinitas to pick up Brooke, and Seth goes to meet her at her door. Now it’s on to a beach in Del Mar, where the daters are slated to build sandcastles before feasting on a sumptuous sunset picnic.

Surprisingly, traffic on the 5 isn’t terrible, and the limo arrives in Del Mar slightly ahead of schedule. The daters decide to kill some time at a nearby bar while waiting for a sand master to give them a crash course in castle construction. It’s not immediately apparent how Brooke’s Bachelor expectations are matching up with Seth’s Chandler complex, but from the looks of things, so far, so good.

HANDS-ON

The night gets a little dirty on the beach

After the couple finish their drinks, they head to the beach and meet up with J.T. Estrela, a long-time member of the local sand castle community. J.T. is the owner of San Diego Sand Castles, a business that specializes in helping people of any artistic ability create magical sand sculptures of epic scale.

First, J.T. has the daters wade out into the evening tide and haul in a several bucketloads of water. Then, they set up some large, black sculpture forms and J.T. teaches Breth (Brooke + Seth) the basics of a technique known as stacking. The daters shovel sand and pour water into concentric circles, condensing the foundation of their castle as much as possible. Before long, it’s time to remove the rigid forms and begin the actual art.

Armed with a set of sculpting tools — and under J.T.’s tutelage — Breth begins breathing life into their amorphous mound. Within minutes, the spire of their castle’s tower begins to emerge, and, an hour later, an impressively intricate 4-foot structure is ready for some obnoxious a-hole to come knock over.

Yet, before that inevitably occurs, Brooke and Seth celebrate their architectural accomplishment over a sunset dinner courtesy of Pop Up Picnic. After the daters enjoy a taste of everything their picnic has to offer, and when the sky starts to darken, we split them up for mid-date debriefings to find out what they think of each other.

How’s it going so far?
BROOKE: It’s going great. Seth is a total gentleman and the food is fantastic.
SETH: It’s good, it’s good. Good conversation. Yeah, it’s been awesome.

What were your first impressions of your date?
BROOKE: Like I said, he’s a gentleman. He came to my door — my house door — and introduced himself and then opened the limo door. So, it was super impressive.
SETH: She had two dogs, so that was cool, because dogs are awesome. Yeah, I knocked on the door, and she’s got a great smile, super high energy and super nice.

Is this the type of person you’d normally date?
BROOKE: Um, yeah, actually, I would.
SETH: Yeah, I usually try to date attractive females. Usually.

What do you think of the way your date is dressed?
BROOKE: Great. I mean, we weren’t really given that good of direction for our activity, so no judgments.
SETH: She’s dressed well. She somehow made sand castle building look classy.

How was your sand castle-building experience?
BROOKE: Super fun. JT was a super awesome instructor, and we had a really good time.
SETH: Well, I haven’t made a sand castle since I was 5, so I had no idea it’s a professional thing where people actually compete and do that kind of stuff. That’s interesting. It was fun. It was like a little nostalgia trip for sure.

Describe the atmosphere.
BROOKE: The sunset was gorgeous, and I love the beach, so no complaints.
SETH: Overcast day, but we got to see the sunset right as it lowered through the clouds. And dinner on the beach was amazing.

How was your experience with Pop Up Picnic?
BROOKE: Oh, they were great. I loved the charcuterie plate. We had chicken and rice bowls, and the sauce was awesome.
SETH: Pretty cool. I didn’t even know that was a thing. All of a sudden, they were just bringing food out to the beach, and that was pretty fantastic. The food was great. It was chicken and rice with this really good sauce, I don’t know what it was. And some charcuterie, which I can’t spell. Yeah, it was good. It was really good.

What’s the most attractive thing your date has done so far?
BROOKE: Um, just gentleman qualities. He opened the door. All those old-school gentleman acts.
SETH: The most attractive thing she’s done is laugh at my jokes, no matter how bad they were. She’s super easy to talk to, which is great, especially when you have no idea who the person is walking into the situation.

What’s the least attractive thing your date has done so far?
BROOKE: None so far.
SETH: Ummm, she doesn’t snowboard? No, I’m just kidding. I can’t think of anything.

Rate your date on a scale from 1 to 10 for looks.
BROOKE: I don’t want to rate on looks, but he’s very attractive.
SETH: Look, it’s 2018. The 1-10 scale is so out of date, but a 10.

And for personality?
BROOKE: Also great personality.
SETH: 10.

What’s your date’s most attractive quality?
BROOKE: He has a great smile.
SETH: Her eyes.

What’s your date’s least attractive quality?
BROOKE: Nothing.
SETH: The sand all over? I don’t know. I got nothing.

Do you want to kiss your date right now?
BROOKE: Maybe.
SETH: Sure.

Does your date want to kiss you?
BROOKE: I have no idea.
SETH: I don’t know. I hope so.

How and when will the date end?
BROOKE: The date will end probably when we’re done here. I’m not sure, but we live in two different locations, so we probably aren’t going to hang out after.
SETH: I don’t know, we’ll probably figure it out after this interview.

Anything you’d like to add?
BROOKE: No. So far, I’m having a really good time and I’m grateful for the experience.
SETH: No. If anybody is thinking about doing this, definitely do it. It’s a lot of fun. I was super nervous at the beginning, but it was totally worth it.

But the date’s not over yet! Brooke and Seth get back into the limo, crack open a couple of Corona Extras and buckle up for a quick ride to tonight’s last stop: the new Crème & Sugar dessert shop in Del Mar.

A SWEET CONCLUSION

Easy conversation and a hometown connection

Upon arrival at Crème & Sugar, Brooke and Seth spend a few moments taking in their surroundings. With a unicorn-themed decor and a distinctly pastel color palette, this frosty new hotspot is the sister location of the original in Anaheim Hills. Both locations specialize in insanely Instagrammable desserts, and that’s exactly what the daters are in store for. After they finish splitting a series of sweets, we decide to split ourselves and follow up with the daters the next day to find out what we missed.

How was your experience and dessert at Crème & Sugar?
BROOKE: Crème & Sugar was delicious. It was like any sweet-tooth lover’s dream. It was like walking into Willy Wonka’s factory.
SETH: Yeah, it was good. The milkshakes were pretty ridiculous looking, but it was awesome. They tasted delicious. They definitely gave us plenty of ice cream on all the things they had, so I thought it was good.

What did you eat and drink?
BROOKE: We had a ton of things. We had a mermaid float, a unicorn milkshake, some type of cake batter, a hot chocolate and then a big brownie sundae.
SETH: They brought out three or four things, and we decided that was probably enough sugar for a month, so we didn’t have to order anything on top of that.

Where did you go and what did you do for the rest of the evening?
BROOKE: So our date ended pretty early, and we had the limo for a while, so he took us to downtown Encinitas, and we grabbed a drink at The Saloon. Then we just walked around and talked some more outside, because it got kind of loud in there.
SETH: So after the date was over and everyone left, we got back in the limo and went bar hopping in Encinitas. I’ve never really been out there, but Brooke lives in the area, so she was able to show me around. It was cool. Nice mellow night.

When did you get home?
BROOKE: I got home at 10:30.
SETH: I think around 11? 10:45, 11.

Was there a kiss or romantic exchange?
BROOKE: We just hugged, and we said goodbye.
SETH: No, just a hug, and then I think we’ll probably meet up at another time.

What’s the funniest thing that happened during the date?
BROOKE: I think the funniest thing that happened was we found out that we both grew up in the same hometown. We’re both from Thousand Oaks, or he went to high school there, but I grew up there, so I thought that was pretty funny.
SETH: We showed up about 20 minutes early in Del Mar, so we decided to just go up to the bar for a drink, and that was probably the only moment in the night where it felt like a normal date and where we got to talk and there wasn’t this whole production.

What was the best part of the date and why?
BROOKE: The best part of the date, I think, was before our actual date activity. We walked to a bar and grabbed a drink beforehand; it was nice to get to know each other before all the craziness happened.
SETH: I think the best part was going to that bar before the date really started. And we just kind of talked and found out that we know a lot of the same people because we’re both from the same hometown, which was crazy. That was kind of an interesting conversation. And yeah, going through the whole thing with her was fun because we were both just having a blast with it and rolling with the punches.

Will there be a second date? Why or why not?
BROOKE: If he asked me out on a date, I would say yes.
SETH: Probably. We’re talking. Yeah, we’re hoping to meet up this weekend.

What’s one thing your date really should know before going on another date?
BROOKE: I don’t think he needs to know or change anything. He has really great date etiquette. He should know that. He was a gentleman.
SETH: She should tell more dorky jokes. She told a couple, but she could definitely ramp that up to match my level of dorkiness.

What could have made this date better?
BROOKE: I think that, as cute as the picnic was, if we could have had dinner where we could have picked our own meals and maybe had a cocktail together, that would have been nice. And, if we had have worn better clothes for playing in the sand.
SETH: Probably a nice sit-down dinner with drinks, would have been nice. On the beach, we couldn’t have any cocktails.

Anything else you’d like to add?
BROOKE: Just that it was a super fun experience and I’m definitely glad I went. And thanks to (PACIFIC) and Seth for the time I had.
SETH: Yeah, I’d like to shout out to my roommate Chris for talking me into this. He interned at the magazine, so he’s the one who told me to try it out and it was awesome. I’m glad he told me to do it.

AFTERMATCH: It’s true what they say, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” While Brooke and Seth seemed to have it in for each other, apparently PACIFIC’s desire to keep date activities a secret ahead of the date threw them for a loop. But the couple managed to “roll with the punches,” as Seth said. So, it’s back to the drawing board for next month’s blind date activities, and who knows, maybe you’ll volunteer yourself to hop on the ride that is a PACIFIC blind date.

If you’d like to (maybe) meet the love of your life, while also entertaining PACIFIC’s legions of loyal readers, send an email to lifescool@pacificsandiego.com with a short bio, some photos (of yourself, silly) and a description of what you’re looking for in a match.

Editor’s note: Daters’ answers may have been edited for length and clarity.

THANK YOU!

EPIC Limo

858.270.LIMO (5466), epiclimo.com

San Diego Sand Castles

619.200.0565, sandiegosand.com

Pop Up Picnic

pop-uppicnic.com

Matchmaker Jessica Pelligra

matchandmagic.com