Bachelorette Blog: Jillian Takes the Guys Home to Vancouver

In week 4, Jillian takes the guys to her hometown of Vancouver, where she cooks something up with Kiptyn, holds a curling match and takes the winners out on a yacht. There’s also a two-on-one date with Mike and Mark and the unsettling discovery that some guys on the show have girlfriends.

WOW! What an awesome week that was … well aside from the drama that went down at the cocktail party — I had an incredible time in my hometown. It reminded me how proud I am to call Vancouver home. When the guys were here, it was mid April — and usually by that time there are flowers blooming everywhere — but not this year! Vancouver had a late spring, so I was secretly a bit worried about the guys wondering where the greenery was. But to my surprise, the guys never asked once about it — instead they were oo-ing and aww-ing about how beautiful Vancouver was.

As you know — the first date went to Kiptyn (are really calling him Kiptyn-ite?! That’s hilarious!) I know it wasn’t all glitz and glam, but neither is this girl! I knew I had a huge crush on Kip and really wanted to see what he thought of MY LIFE here in Vancouver. I actually go down to the Granville Island Market almost every Sunday. It’s always full of and live music and good food — it really makes one feel totally alive! As suspected, Kip was great at kayaking, and fit in to the Vancouver scene perfectly. Back at my pad, the two of us cooked up a wonderful dinner FROM SCRATCH! Okay seriously, I was VERY nervous about this — so much could go wrong when trying to create two pasta sauces, fresh salad dressing and maple baked salmon for a guy you’re falling for on your first date. I was so flustered in the Kitchen as you can imagine, but the dinner turned out perfect thanks to Kip’s help.

Ahhh the curling date. This was such a nostalgic date for me. I remember curling bonspiels when I was just a kid — so much fun! To my delight … the guys loved it too! What they didn’t love was the fact that only half of them could come on the yacht that night. To make it up to them, I sent the losers each a massage from the spa at the Fairmont. Having only half the guys there, allowed me to really connect with the five on the boat. I saw David’s true colors (finally!), had a long overdue great conversation with Jesse … and of course there was my conversation with Jake that I think came off totally wrong! Oh boy.

The dreaded two-on-one date. In hindsight … did I make the right call? Well, although it may not seem like it — it really was the right thing. Lets face it — Mike IS a sweetheart, and he said and did ALL the right things that day. But I’m not sure you saw really how much Mark opened up about who he is. Our conversation was not as romantic as my conversation with Mike, but it was very real and I believe that is how real connections are formed … This is what is hard about being the Bachelorette, there is always more than one right answer, and so many ways to look at the scenario.

When Tanner told me about the girlfriend thing, at first … I was sort of numb. Part of me didn’t even want to react — but then I got really upset and decided to put my foot down with the guys. It was really so hard to know what to do especially when no one came clean. Also, it’s so hard to take advice from someone when you truly don’t know their intentions or what context they received that information. It was no surprise to see the guys talking about Wes and his intentions, I suspected a bit of this at the time — but I addressed my concerns with Wes several times and he was very adamant of his feelings for me. Again, it’s another one of those things where I want to pick who is right for ME, who I have the most natural conversations with, who is the most real with me — and not just who would win Mr. Congenitally. I hope that make sense to everyone, but please trust me on this one — I am looking for a good guy, who treats me like gold, makes me laugh and adores me … and I will never settle for anything less! (And neither should you, ladies!)

Well, sorry if this was a long one — I truly appreciate you all reading and watching every Monday.

With lots of love, happiness and hugs, Jilly Bean

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