I wish someone would have taken that bottle of cran away...

I’d consider myself a seasoned formal veteran. As such, I have acquired a bit of wisdom as far as formal do’s and dont’s. Whether you are a freshman going to formals for the first time or even a senior not affiliated in the Greek circuit, I have chosen a recent and epic failure at Greek formal-ing that will hopefully teach you from my mistakes… or at least give you a good laugh.

The Blind Date

Blind dates are quite common in the formal world. Twice now I have agreed to help out a friend of a friend who “just can’t get a date.” This would be the red flag for most girls – why on earth can’t this dude nab a date?! -  but I, blinded by naivete and the prospect of free food and drinks, always acquiesce. My second transgression was just a few weeks ago. We get to the place, which happened to be a $30 cab ride away, making my chances of leaving slim to hitchhiking. We pre-gamed in a hotel room, where my date doted on me. And by “doted,” I mean basically poured booze down my throat. I even started pouring drinks down the drain out of fear of being too drunk around strangers. (Go me!)

We get to the formal and since he planned it, he left me every 5 minutes to “take care of things.” He couldn’t get me a wristband for whatever reason but brought me a flask of vodka (red flag #2). I decided to have a little chat with him about expectations, which was me conveying my disinterest in anything but “cutesy dancing” and eating and drinking. As well as I thought that went, when we got to the dance floor it was obvious that “cutesy dancing” did not register on his radar, or that maybe he thought grinding me against a wall was cute. Read More »

Do you want to throw up on everyone who wears pink and red on February 14? Do you want to hose down those PDA-displaying couples who take up every square of sidewalk on your way to class? Do you really hope the flowers that the girl two doors down got from her boyfriend of five and a half years wilt immediately?

Have no fear, single girl.  Valentine’s Day isn’t just for couples.  In fact, when you’re not joined at the hip, you can usually have more fun by partying it up and enjoying your independence with a gaggle of equally fun, single ladies this year.

Hit the Bar Scene.

Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest bar nights of the year (along with Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day,  the last Saturday before exam week, etc.), and if you have to miss it for a boring dinner date, you definitely drew the short straw.  The bars will be packed with other singles, and if you want to shack up, you’ll find plenty of fish in the booze-flooded sea.

Ogle Some Hotties.

Valentine’s Day, whether you’re single, dating, married, whatever, is a woman’s holiday.  And guess what – you’re far from the only one who isn’t getting wooed this year.  Plenty of nightclubs sponsor male revues and other events where men are forced to put their six packs on display for salivating singles.  Can’t find a live show? Rent your favorite hot stud films and admire Brad Pitt et al on the small screen. Read More »

You got everything you wanted for Christmas. You nailed the New Year’s Eve kiss. Hell, you even celebrated MLK Jr. day with a bang! But in the not so distant future looms the dark abyss on the next page of your calendar—it starts with a V and ends with an –alentine’s day. While your attached friends concoct wish lists from Tiffany’s or stress about dinner reservations on Feb. 14th, you wonder if maybe, just maybe, you’ll be playing footsie with someone special too. So here is a simple guide to finding a guy before—gulp—Valentine’s Day.

Keep your head straight.

Prioritize your goals. Meeting a new guy, as awesome as it theoretically seems, should definitely not be numero uno on your list. No matter how much time and effort you dedicate to searching for your Prince Charming, it won’t pay off if that’s all your interested in. A) You will absolutely come off like that crazy girl from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days—and guys just aren’t into that. B) It’s Murphy’s Law that whatever you want will find you exactly when you’re not looking for it. And, most importantly, C) Maintaining your circle of friends, hobbies, talents and already great life in general is what makes you an interesting person in the first place; if you want to meet an interesting guy, don’t you think he’ll have the same expectations of you?

Get Sexy (-er).

Whether you’re already a bona fide bombshell or you’re ready for a complete face/wardrobe/etc., overhaul, getting dressed up to the point where you look HAWT and you know it is an instant guy magnet. Why is this? Well it’s more than your 4- inch stilettos and “ass jeans”—it’s the confidence you radiate knowing that you’re the bomb.com. So whatever you need to do to get yourself in the “You will worship the ground I walk on” frame of mind–be it a blowout, manicure, shopping spree or your favorite perfume—make it a habit before you go anywhere you think you may meet Mr. February 14th…and it could be somewhere you weren’t suspecting. Read More »

You’ve already got a semester of partying under your belt by the time New Years Eve rolls around. How are you going to throw the bash that everyone’s still talking about in 2010? Here are some ways to make the 2008 send-off the most memorable.

If you can travel…

Hey, if you’ve got the funds, lucky you. Hit up another country and see how they do New Years. You don’t regret it. If you’re still underage, Canadian cities can be quite the hotspot (take it from someone who spent her last <21 New Years in Montreal, after a 10-hour road strip). If you’re loaded despite being in college during the recession, head on over to Europe. Hate the cold? Sing Auld Lang Syne in Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.

Okay, those are nice ideas in a fantasy world… but let’s move onto options for those of us who can’t cough up the money for airfare.

If you want to travel but can’t afford it… Read More »

I’ve been single for well over a year and I have truly enjoyed every moment of it. Especially those no-strings-attached moments between the sheets.

For the past year I have enjoyed new experiences, new men, new positions and a whole new chapter of my life. Having recently gained the self-confidence to approach a man, I took charge of my sexuality and decided it was time to let loose a little bit and have a good time.

And that was the best decision EVER.

Recently, though, I was set up on a date. Not really looking for anything serious at the moment, I only agreed to the whole event to appease my friend. But as soon as the boy came to pick me up I was glad that I did.

He was cute. He was smart. He was funny. And he was a total gentleman.

At the end of the evening I thanked him for dinner and awkwardly dodged his attempts at a kiss by slamming my apartment door in his face. Smooth, I know.

It was not like I didn’t want to kiss him – in fact, I wanted to do a lot more…in the shower – it was just that, well, I didn’t know how. I haven’t kissed someone I actually liked in a really long time. The last 10 guys I kissed, in fact, had names I could not recall and happened in a dark corner in a gross bar. The kiss almost always led to sex, which was always lots of fun, but was always purely physical, carnal, and fueled by too much alcohol.

In other words, the only “feelings” involved in the whole exchange were the feelings that were happening below the belt. Read More »

Seriously, who gives out their number anymore?

I remember having a drunken bonding moment with a really cool guy in college a few years ago, and he asked for my number. I asked for his screen name instead. I mean, IM-ing someone is so much more casual, and so much less stressful. You don’t have to feel your heart thumping through your chest as the phone rings. Is he going to answer? Is it going to go to voicemail? Is he blocking me? What do I say if he picks up?

With IM, you can see if he’s away or idle, and choose your own adventure from there. You can leave a casual “Just wanted to say I had a great time last night” IM, rather than starting a phone call with the same line and then struggling to make small talk. Likewise, you can make small talk behind the shield of the IM window, where he can’t hear your voice crack, and where you can copy and paste the whole convo to all of your girlfriends and get advice while you try to weed out his intentions.

And then came Facebook. The social network has made quite the mark on the dating scene. There’s the poke, which can be viewed as casual, flirty, or creepy. There’s the “it’s complicated” label for the relationship you’re in (finally- you can be open about having a f*ck buddy without warding off the rest of the male population!); and of course, there’s the wall post, which makes the casual IM seem like the awkward phone call of yesteryear. Read More »

More and more people are looking for love online these days and I’ll admit, I’m one of them. I honestly don’t know where else to find a date besides the typical bar/club scene, which seems much more conducive to finding a one night stand than finding love. I don’t work in an environment where I meet eligible bachelors, I pretty much know my friends’ friends so getting set up isn’t really an option. So where else do you look? People tell me I should do something I enjoy; a cooking class, hanging out in Barnes & Noble, join some sort of sports league and I’ll meet a guy who shares similar interests with me, but as social as I am, I’m not one to go to a cooking class alone, and I have yet to meet a guy in B&N. So that leaves me with the internet.

Sure, it’s scary and I’ve had my fair share of weirdos or guys who were several inches shorter than what they claimed, or sent pictures from when they were 10 years and 50 pounds lighter, but I’ve also been taken on some pretty amazing dates and met some really cool guys, some of whom I’ve remained friends with. Obviously, my prince hasn’t come along, but maybe the timing just hasn’t been right. I’ve tried a lot of the sites out there; match.com, Plenty of Fish, okcupid, Craig’s List, eHarmony and even Jdate (yes, I’m a shiksa who likes Jewish boys). Thus far, I’ve had the best luck on Craig’s List and the worst luck with match and eHarmony (the one that claims it’ll help you find your soulmate), but as I’m still single, I haven’t had the luck I’m really looking for, so I decided to try out a new site, it’s called crazyblinddate.com, and yes, it’s crazy. Read More »

I’m going to preface this by saying I truly wish I was making it up.

I set myself up on a blind date with a beautiful, foreign, twenty-something man last weekend after meeting him at a bar. And by meeting, I mean, chatting for two seconds while waiting for friends, leaving, then going back into the bar to pull a stunt I had abandoned since freshman year of college. I was a few drinks into my evening, and he had been amiable during our little chat before…

“I’m really sorry, I never do this–” (blatant lie… it’s just been awhile) “–but I’d really like to see you again. Could I get your number?”

Why, yes, he said, I could. High five, self! Confidence, boosted.

We ultimately decided to meet for drinks the following weekend. Why did it have to be that weekend? Oh, because of course he was MOVING TO EUROPE the following week. The night I met him had been his going away party.

Naturally, the first date I’ve been on in months would have no potential to go anywhere. But he was hot, and I thoroughly enjoyed that accent. This was a pressure-free situation, and he showed up in a suit. Screw Europe. Europe had nothing on my evening out with this guy.

Things were great… and then came a random man who approached and started chatting Date up, gesturing to me and asking, “That your girlfriend?”

Awkward. Read More »

For some reason, after a few cocktails, I feel the need to delve into the personal lives of others. I call this tactic an “h-to-h,” or heart-to-heart, whereupon after listening for all of two minutes, I find it appropriate to tell a person how wonderful they are and how they should never settle in life.

Without fail, this innocuous good deed always comes back to bite me in the ass. Something about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, I guess. If you’re not religious and live in the tri-state area, think of Times Square at rush hour when you need to get just beyond it. Yeah. Hell’s probably exactly like that.

One of my cab drivers this weekend and I had a great little h-to-h on the trek from SoHo to the UES after leaving a birthday party. I figure driving a taxi must be a real hit-or-miss form of employment, and so, with a pretty strong buzz going, I decided to ask who was the worst of this guy’s clientele. Read More »

So I went on a date. Goooo me! My grandma would be so proud. “Just get out there” she says. And get out there I did.

Everything went well, we talked prior to meeting up and we emailed on a pretty frequent basis. And much to my surprise there was nothing awkward about it. In fact, it was all oddly comfortable.

None of that boring history of “this is every insignificant detail of my childhood that you don’t really care about, but I’m just going to tell you because we have nothing better to discuss and I hope it gets more exciting from here”. But rather, I felt as if I was schmoozing with an old friend. This could be something really good, I thought.

And suddenly, this first date with a stranger thing was looking a whole lot more promising.

Even the date itself went smoothly and based from my friend’s horror stories and some of my far from fun past experiences, I was more than thrilled not to have to execute my pre-arranged escape plan. We talked for two hours and nothing about it was awkward (thank you, lord–I owe you one)

In fact, it was the opposite. I clearly was so at ease that I proceeded to talk about my Teddy Bear, Snuggles, who I still sleep and travel with. (Normal, I am not).

So naturally, one would think “Success! When are we going out next?” (And my grandma, bless her little foreign heart, would start shopping for a dress). Read More »