Over the past year, I’ve shared over 50 lessons that I’ve learned in my single life to remind you that being single is more than a table for one (even when you’re eating a meal portioned for two), or going dateless to you’re cousin’s wedding — it’s a way of life.

Here are my top 10 favorite rules to live by while you’re single:

initiating the gallery...

Dear Mom,

Lately you’ve been giving me an earful about how “my generation” is somewhat selfish, immature and materialistic, which is evident in our relaxed, no-rush approach to marriage, babies and careers. You’ re not being mean, just observational. “Your generation” started younger, so to say; marriage, babies and careers happened in your twenties not your thirties as it does more often in today’s world. Although you strongly believe it is different for everyone, you seem to have a special standard for me personally. You were married with your first kid by the time you were twenty-five…and that was after being a fashion merchandising buyer for the once popular clothing store A&S. (Superwoman.) You never had a problem with me being single until I turned twenty in September of this year. All of a sudden my relationship status has become a constant topic of conversation. I know you want what’s best for me mom but I have to be honest. With all due respect, Mom, I don’t want a boyfriend.

My friends and siblings are in relationships and I am so very happy for them because I get it — relationships are great. But right now I am at a place in my life where being single is great for me. Here’s why… Read More »

By college, we’ve learned that sometimes the one that we want doesn’t always want us. And at that point it doesn’t matter that you would’ve loved him for the rest of his life, or that he promised you he’d never hurt you. Because the only thing that matters when your heart begins to crack again for the first time in a long time is you.

Lesson #51: Make Yourself Your Priority

We’ve all heard the advice from our best girlfriends in times of heartbreak—“Don’t waste tears on a guy who walked away from you when they were falling down your face,” “Don’t lose sleep over a guy who isn’t losing sleep over you,” and my personal favorite, “You were so much hotter than him anyways!” Whether any of it’s true or not isn’t the point, what matters is what you turn the situation into.

Rest assured you are not stupid, you are not a masochist, and you are not an emotional/psychological cutter. You fell hard. And then you looked up from your fall and realized you were alone. That’s all. Don’t look into it and try to make it some kind of representation of your overall personality. Take this one situation to deal with and move on from. It’s hard enough getting over heartbreak without being bogged down by your entire dating history simply because you’re desperate to make some kind of psychological breakthrough about yourself that probably isn’t even true anyways. Give yourself a real chance because heartbreak is hard enough to get through without you being hard on yourself. Read More »

Which YA novels would you reread?

Get ready for a celebrity cat fight!

Are creative people more likely to cheat?

Daniel Craig thinks the Kardashians are idiots

Worry free outfits for finals week

Fun alternatives to your average winter coat

Kirsten Dunst fears our fear!!

Enjoy being single this season

Starting the real person job search

So Glamour magazine tells you you’re supposed to wear sexy underwear even if you’re staying in for the night, and your mother says you’re supposed to keep an open mind — even if that means going on a blind date with a family friend who you’re pretty sure used to get high on cleaning products — and people keep telling you you’re the crazy one?

Lesson #48 – You’re not crazy, you’re just single.

As single girls, every now and then someone is bound to call you crazy. Sometimes it’s warranted, like when you’re screaming at your ex outside a bar only to realize it’s just a guy who looks like your ex from far away (and with drunk goggles on), and sometimes it’s not-so-warranted, like when you pass on the party everyone’s been talking about simply because you don’t feel like putting on makeup. I mean, there is, after all, a difference between crazy and lazy. Needless to say, at some point in our single lives, we’re going to feel like we’ve not only lost control, but are spinning further and further away from reality. Read More »

Lesson #44 – Halloween is the ultimate girl’s night.

Halloween weekend is here! Get your corsets and animal ears ready because if Mean Girls has taught us anything, this is the one time of year when skimpy outfits are perfectly acceptable…well, if you don’t count that Spring Break booze cruise you took to Mexico. If you ignore the fact that mass-produced costumes sexualizing occupations traditionally dominated by women is totally demeaning, Halloween is the ultimate girls’ night.

The perfect single girl’s Halloween starts with you and your best friends, getting ready together with the perfect party soundtrack playing the background. Halloween is basically a night of dress-up, so take a little extra time getting glamorous with your girlfriends. Just think, if you were getting ready with your boyfriend, you probably wouldn’t get to interrupt applying the perfect smoky eye for a Britney Spears dance-off on the bed. But with if you’re getting ready with your girlfriends you can swap around makeup, do each other’s hair, ask opinions about things your guy would’ve cared less about, and laugh about the Halloween versions of yourselves. Read More »

Lesson #43 – Don’t Fall For A Weed In A Flower’s Suit

When I was younger, I used to spend afternoons collecting bouquets of what I thought, at the time, were wildflowers. When I skipped into my house, unaware of the mud stains on my clothes, and too consumed with my new bunch of handpicked flowers, my mother would always shake her head and laugh at me. As she put my handpicked bouquet into a paper cup, she’d smile and say, “These are just weeds with cute outfits.” Looking back, I wish I would’ve taken her input more seriously, because as soon as I started dating, I quickly learned her advice applied to more than just gardening.

When it comes to guys, why is that the worst weeds disguise themselves as flowers? As my luck would’ve have it, the most annoying weeds that I can’t seem to get rid of in my dating life were the guys that caught my eye first. This theory even goes beyond looks. (Not to say I haven’t been drawn to an impeccably dressed guy rocking a crisp Brooks Brothers’ shirt and tie, only to realize that his good sense of style was just about the only good thing about him…) It seems like the life of the party guy — who may not even be the most attractive flower in the bunch, but certainly had the most entertaining personality — has also turned out to be one of the biggest weeds in my life. Read More »

Lesson 41 – Don’t Ask For Advice You Don’t Intend On Taking

There you are, shaking your head again, because somehow (perhaps under the influence of a little Grey Goose and Sarah Dessen) you’ve wandered into dangerous territory yet again. So you fell in love with a fool. Who hasn’t? And it seems that every time you’re left to your own devices, you wake up covered in his sheets and your own shame. And even though you refer to him as a soul-sucking douchebag void of emotion, he’s always been your soul-sucking douchebag void of emotion. But just because he’s a fool doesn’t mean you have to be one too.

The way I see it is that if you’re going to go out of your way to beg your friends for advice on how to fall out of love with a man who clearly has no regard for your feelings, than you need to go out of your way to at least try and take their advice. So many times I’ve given my closest girlfriends pep talks that they’ve requested, to deter them from their loser ex-boyfriends, and so many times it’s like they haven’t listened at all as they race back to him and the bedding his mother probably purchased for him. If you have no intention of taking your friend’s advice, especially after you practically begged for it, then please do them a favor and stop asking for it. Read More »

So school’s back in full-swing and with it comes mixers that have already started to wreak havoc on your liver and your attached friends who can’t help but interject with something like this, “Maybe this will be your year.” Funny how the year of the single person is supposed to be the one when they become un-single.

Lesson #40 – Make this year your year.

If you’re anything like me, your response is less than ladylike. Something along the lines of an eye-roll, a fake smirk and a murmur under your breath just before downing the rest of your jungle juice and figuring out an exit strategy. Okay, so maybe you’re not as bitter as me, but enough is enough, it’s time single ladies everywhere put their stiletto-clad foots down. Read More »

Sometimes the hardest parts about being single are not the phone calls from your older sister asking you if you have a date yet for her upcoming wedding or trying to walk past the couples interlocking fingers as they walk hand in hand to class. Instead, the hardest part about being single can be the things we never really consider, like just how depressing it is to reach for a box of Just For One frozen vegetables every week. This week’s column is different than the usual dating tips but just as integral to a single girl’s life.

Lesson #38 – Cooking For One

As far as being a domestic goddess is concerned, I’ll take a TV dinner with a glass of wine if it’ll save me time at the end of a long school day and 112 degree weather. Cooking is more than time consuming, and cooking for one can be a challenge. No matter what, it seems like I never master cooking the right amount, always ending up with too much or not enough. And while I doubt I’ll ever be one of those people who finds cooking at the end of the day soothing and relaxing, I’ve picked up a few tricks that have made it tolerable and quick enough for my constantly thinning patience. Read More »