And Away We GO!!!!

EDIT: BIG oops on my part last night! That's what you get for blogging drowsy. ;) I was up all night with a puking child the night before and had to force myself to stay awake to blog. Anyhow, for my 2nd pick I SAID Phil, I meant Chris L., The one who's mom had passed away. I am sure my explanation of Phil made no sense, haha. Anyhow, I have changed it. :) Sorry!

I am so excited to finally be blogging about this! I love that I have a fun way to share all the drama with fellow Bachelorette lovers....LOVE IT!!!

Quickly...I wish that Ali would give more of a sincere reaction to the guys. Even if it is just in the confessionals. The only one we really saw her break out of her norm for was 'Shooter', but the rest seemed to get her generic, "I love it! You don't even know!" reaction. I would have liked to know more of what she was truly thinking of the guys, you know? I also hated how tense she was, she really does outwardly show her stress. Her shoulders were so scrunched up at the rose ceremony, I thought they would pop off!!!

Okay, so my take on the night, and most importantly, the men! I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the men that she had to choose from. Definitely some stood out more than others, but overall I think that ABC did a pretty good job choosing some cool guys. Now, you know that I LOOOOOOOOOOVE making 'picks' in the beginning, and this year is no different. I knew my guys the minute I laid eyes on them....so, here we go!

Roberto:

Okay, I know what you are thinking: OBVIOUS choice, Joy. I know, I know. Seriously, though, I had him pegged from the moment he came out of the Limo. I think he is darling! Mike wanted to fight me for this pick, and he wanted to change the rules of our picking and make it into some kind of a draft, because he wanted to steal Roberto from me. Sooooooo, I decided to share, because I couldn't back down, even for my dark horse (who I also love!!!). So Roberto is both Mike and my pick. However, in the previews it seems like he is the one she is obviously attracted to, which usually means she ends up not picking him. So boo to that.

My 'dark horse':

Chris L.

Okay, so this guy falls into my dark horse category because he is a nice guy...and we all know that the nice guy never wins. I am hoping this guy proves me wrong because he is an absolute sweetheart! Seriously, his hometown interview had me falling for him very, very quickly. I think he made a wierd choice when he told her his parents were still together....but whatever. Still love him.

Mike's dark horse:

Chris H.

I agree, this guy is a great dark horse. Really cute but not a lot of face time. We didn't see him much in the 'upcoming previews', though (which we watch after we make our picks), so who knows if he will be around much longer. I hope so because he seems really cute.

So, moving on to the rest of the guys!!!

Justin: Definitely a 'must mention'. Okay, so it's obvious now from the previews that someone leaves early. Obviously that person isn't limping away as they leave...so either Justin heals quickly OR he doesn't end up leaving after all. HOWEVER, I did hear that someone leaves who is trying to 'promote themselves.' That seems to fit the bill here. I personally don't think that what he has done so far has seemed like 'self promotion' more than any of the other guys have put themselves out there to make themselves stand out. I am curious to see how this works out for him! One thing Justin has against him....pretty sure he can't hang in a hot tub with that cast!

Frank: This guy caught our eye when we were surfing through the pictures before the show. He looks a bit...enthusiastic....which definitely showed up in person! He is the type who wears his heart on his sleeve...who keeps nothing inside....I am interested to see how things pan out for him. I don't really see him with Ali- what do you think?

Hunter: I liked his song. It was clever, which you know I love. I am glad he showed this side of himself and glad she kept him around. She claims to love to laugh, and this guy seems witty.

Kirk: I was laughing about his trip to the scrapbook store and making his keepsake book with his gluestick. I wasn't sure how it would go over with Ali, but she seemed to like it. Looks like he scored with that one!

Jonathan: At first I liked him...then slowly but surely I started liking him less and less. Sure, he has a lot of personality, but I think his favorite thing to talk about is himself. And, did you notice at times when the camera would pan over to him, he seemed to be lurking, almost sulking, in the corners? It kinda weirded me out. I hope this guy can prove me wrong, but for now he is not my fav.

Kasey: First can I point out that he looks like he could be Jake's brother? Okay, with that out of the way, let's just skip to the 'coming up this season' talk. Um, Whhhhaaaat????!!! Seriously this guy is going to give me nightmares! There always has to be one person who has already built their life with the bachelor/bachelorette and believes it as truth and cries whenever they so much as dare glance at another contestant. Looks like this is our guy.

Craig M: Okay, WHY did she keep this guy??? Was it his charm? His wit? His amazing good looks? His amazing attitude? HUGE eyeroll. I am really surprised Ali wasted a rose on this guy. Blah.

Craig R: This guy gets an honorable mention just because I am weird and I like to point things like this out. Does he remind you of Toby from The Office? His mannerisms and the way he speaks completely remind me of him! Do you agree?

Alrighty, I uploaded pictures of all the other remaining men....but then found I didn't have much to say- positive or negative about them. So far, not much is standing out. No one had an awesome story like 'Shooter' Derrick. Bless his heart. I am excited to watch this all unfold! Oh, and I really hope to avoid the spoilers this time. Let's cross our fingers that the winner isn't blown too early!!