Meredith Mendenhall

Meredith Mendenhall, 32

I teach Spanish to high school students, and I am an independent beauty consultant with Mary Kay.

I enjoy reading novels, watching any kind of movie, cooking and baking, traveling (especially to Spanish-speaking countries), volunteering with Junior League of Wichita.

I am very easy-going, and I get along with everybody.

My favorite thing about Wichita is that it has a really good variety of things to do and awesome restaurants. I feel like I can do things I would do in a bigger city, but it still has the benefits of being a smaller community. I think we have a pretty good mix of hometown restaurants and chains.

The freedom to do what I want when I want. It’s nice to be able to pick up and go for a weekend if I want to and not have to make plans with somebody else.

That’s easy because it was a blind date, and on our way to a rodeo, he got pulled over for speeding. It turned out there was a warrant out for him, and he got arrested, and I had to drive his car to Kingman to bail him out of jail. We still went to the rodeo because I thought if I had gone that far, we might as well go ahead and go to the rodeo.

I think it depends on how the date goes. If the date goes really well and there’s a lot of chemistry, I’m totally OK with it. I’m for it.

A guy I dated was a bicycle racer, and I used to stand in the road during his road races and hand off water and food to him.

Usually men lack good communication skills.

Meeting the right guy.

Angie Elliott

Angie Elliott, 34

My official title is Manager of Business Services and Events at the Wichita Chamber of Commerce. It’s the best job in town. I work primarily with small businesses to help them network and market themselves and expand the knowledge base of their employees. I get to work with people who are passionate about making the Wichita area its best. It’s fantastic to feel the work you’re doing is having a lasting impact on the community.

I like to spend time with family and friends. I like to run, and I work out at least five days a week, and I have several ongoing volunteer activities, the most rewarding of which is being matched in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program. I’ve been matched for four years. I’ve done a lot of things within the context of that match I would not have done without it.

I would say probably my sense of humor and maybe my patience. They kind of have to go hand in hand.

People who are friendly, hard-working people. My sense of Wichita is I feel people have a sense of ownership of the direction the community is moving. I get to see a lot of that with my work at the Chamber. I love seeing people getting involved, making their voices heard and seeing the positive impact of their work.

One of the nice things is not feeling like I need to check in with someone and coordinate everything. If I’m going to be late at work, I don’t have to think about what someone else is going to be doing for dinner. I can do things on the spur of the moment that otherwise I might have to check in with someone about. It gives you time to explore more hobbies.

I don’t really have any dating horror stories, but there is one situation that came to mind. It was at the start of a blind date, and this guy came to pick me up, and when I got in his truck I noticed there was an air freshener hanging in his rearview mirror it had a raunchy picture of a naked woman on it. I just remember thinking, “This is not a good first impression.”

Go with the flow.

I lived in Kansas City and was dating guy in Wichita. At the time Wichita didn’t have a Chick-Fil-A. I would travel with a cooler so I could stop at the Topeka Chick-Fil-A and bring it to him.

I think that’s kind of an awful question. My least favorite characteristic in any person would just be laziness. But I’m not saying all men are lazy, not at all. The question almost sounds like, “What do you hate about men?” But I don’t hate men; I love men.

It’s not that I prefer to be single; I prefer to be happy. That might mean being in a relationship, but I’m able to be a happy single person. I know that can be really tough for some people. I feel each person really has to know himself or herself before they can give their best to the relationship.