the one where spring is awesome

i had an excellent night last night. i went to dinner with LS BFF, her BF, l, lo and (unexpectedly) AHS. we had a table outside, a pitcher of margaritas and life was good! it was delightful. then, i had the great idea that i would turn the tables and start catcalling groups of men that were walking by. talk about amazing. i freaking love acting like a man! the men were so surprised when they realized i was hollerin' at them. so cute. :)

then l and i went to patty boom boom for some reggae music. it's a total sweatbox in that place, but we had a good time. the rum punch is a-ma-zing! kind of strong, but totally delicious. AND the bartender was HOT. so...i did what any red blooded gal would do and left him my number on the bill. and he has been texting me all day! it's pretty funny because now i can't remember anything about him except he was hot. and i never introduced myself so he has no idea who he's texting. but it's kind of fun.

i blame all of this on spring fever. yelling at men! leaving numbers for bartenders! what can i say - it's finally nice out!!

the one about unexpected fun nights

i love nights where you think you aren't going to stay out late, aren't going to drink much, you aren't looking to meet anyone...and then all of the above happens! so last night, i attended a wetting-down party at a local bar. it was pretty awesome, all you could drink beer/wine and all around good times. when my girls and i walked into the bar, we were pretty cold since we had walked there. right when we walked in, a guy came up and introduced himself to us. he said his name was michael. as we were shaking hands, i kind of refused to let his hand go because it was so warm. i told him this and then he really concentrated on warming my hands...it was kinda cute. right off the bat, i liked this guy's style. he had this cute little beret on and it was adorable. we entered the party and proceeded to have a really good time. everyone there was super nice and i got a chance to talk to hand warmer a few times during the evening. i decided early on that i was totally in love with hand warmer. well, not really, but it was fun to say it.

towards the end of the night, i had lost track of hand warmer. i was convinced that he had already left and was slightly bummed. then...he appeared!! somehow, hand warmer, one of the new lieutenants, l, and i all decided that since we were being kicked out of the bar, we needed to move on to another one. so we did. and it was delightful. i learned that hand warmer is an alabama fan! and had even been to some of the same game watch parties that i go to!! seriously, what are the odds? so he is kind of cute, i'm kind of smitten and the night was kind of amazing. here's hoping he calls. :)

the one about recycling

so, as most of you know, i've been single since late october. which, since it's now early april, means that it's been awhile. i have always liked the concept of recycling, if at all possible. i like that i'm not introducing someone new into the mix and i already know what to expect. i've successfully recycled before during LS when times were tough. it was the perfect setup. CL (recycle boy) and i had hooked up midway through the last semester of 3L year. it ended kind of badly but then we were able to recover and remain friends. graduation weekend, we were both crazy busy and stressed w/our respective families about to come into town. so, 2 nights before graduation, we recycled each other. and it was nice. a good way to say goodbye :)

so now, i want to recycle. i'm not dating anyone and i don't do random hookups. but who to recycle? definitely am not recycling the Banker or the other loser i dated in bham. no one else lives in dc. probably the closest person (distance-wise) is CL and i don't particularly wish to travel to NYC to recycle someone. or do i? sigh.

are we in agreement that i should not travel across state lines for the sole purpose of some recycled booty? i think i'm pretty much closing the book on this one and resigning myself to wait until i actually have a boyfriend again. double sigh. actually, i take back that sigh. i do like being single. i just don't like not being able to scratch the itch :)

the one about dating

...and by the one, i mean the 50th one about dating :). i've decided to issue a challenge/request to my friends. as well all know, i'm pretty fabulous. :) i think i'm just about ready to meet a man who is just as fabulous. and, my friends are pretty freaking fabulous as well. so, it only makes sense that my fabulous friends introduce me to their other single fabulous men friends. so, i'm asking: if you live in the dc area (i'm not doing long distance), think of one super fabulous friend that you think i would get along with. once you have that friend in mine, let's go out and get a drink. 

i figure i probably have about 10-15 dc area friends who read this blog. so that's 10-15 introductions. seems like a good place to start to me :) especially since i couldn't go to the libel show this year and meet my future husband at uva (ahem, LS BFF!)...

alright. the challenge is there! go team!

the one about the anatomy of a breakup

there is this line in a pink song where she wonders: "how did we get so mean? how do we just move on?" i was listening to it this evening and i started wondering the same things. how do you go from thinking you could marry someone to refusing to take their phone calls? is it as simple as saying that they simply were not the "one"? or is it deeper than that? is it that they somehow betrayed your trust or let you down just too many times? and even so, why do thing sometimes get so ugly? 

i used to pride myself on the fact that i stayed friendly with people that i dated. i figured there was something about them that i like initially and even if things didn't work romantically, there was no reason we couldn't maintain a friendship.  however, i've recently begun to change my philosophy on that. after the loser and i broke up, i had NO desire to see him, talk to him, or even here how he was doing. to be painfully honest, i was just pleased to be done with him. and though it took a little longer, i now feel the same about the Banker. 

how did i get to that point? am i getting cynical and bitter as i get older? or, am i getting smarter by putting distance between myself and the men i've dated? who can say what the best method of dealing with a breakup is? 

the one about dating

i just read this excellent article speaking about steve harvey's dating tips for women. i actually really like steve harvey and think he's super funny. i enjoyed the article and i think that steve is right. one of the main things that stuck with me was about standards and expectations. men will rise to the standards you set if they really want you. and if they don't, you don't want em anyways.

i recognize that in the past i probably wasn't picky enough and i'm actively changing that. the Banker is an asshole? he's cut off. match guy doesn't walk to the metro and then texts me (and you all KNOW how i feel about text message dating) thursday to ask about plans for friday? no way. i told him i was busy all weekend. and for him, i am. 

not to sound like a jerk. i'm not. but, as i've said before, i don't think it's too much to ask for a man to not ask me out via text message. and to not ask me out on a thursday for a friday evening. of course it isn't. and my future husband won't ;)

the one about my date!

so last night i went on my date with match guy.  we met here (well not at ben's actually, but at ben's next door, their new lounge which doesn't have its own website yet). so we were supposed to meet at 8. well, i actually specified 8ish, to give myself a few minutes breathing room b/c i've never metro'ed it to the u street station. i was told by some friends that it was probably the easiest thing.

so, dressed in skinny jeans, brown boots and a cute red sweater top, i headed off. to begin with, just as i was dashing up the steps at the new carrllton station, i missed the freaking train. ugh. so i had to wait 12 minutes to catch the next one. at that point, i was pretty sure i was going to be late. luckily match guy texted me and said he was running a little late. i was like, excellent. although i was really hoping to beat him so i could down a drink before he got there. yeah, that didn't happen. i was about 25 minutes late. which sucked, but i couldn't help it. when i missed that train i was fucked. however, i did manage to catch some howard university frat guys doing a little mini step show on my way out of the train station. that was pretty cool.

once i arrived at next door, i was  in love...with the venue. it was really cool, and nicely done. there is some interesting portraits on the back wall, a long bar, some tables set up and 4 nice size flat screen tvs facing the bar. match guy was waiting for me at the bar and he was drinking what looked to be an appletini....hmmm...

match guy looked like a skinnier version of his picture. he looked nice, but i thought he was hotter on the internet. oh well. he was excited to see me and very friendly. his voice was strange, though. kind of high pitched, it was little weird. once i got settled and had a drink, he started asking me some general questions. we got the preliminary stuff out of the way and then he wanted to know if he looked like his profile picture. i said, "well...in your picture you're wearing a hat and you look a little...different now because you're not wearing the hat, but i guess you look pretty similar". then he wanted to know what i remembered about his profile and i almost choked on my drink. i wanted to say "um, you used 4 in place of for..." but instead i just recited his tagline and hoped he didn't ask me any more questions, because to be honest i had forgotten. 

luckily, my q&a session was done. he was super flirty and kept touching my leg and things like that. all in all, he seemed like a nice guy. very open and fun. he's originally from baltimore, went to school in pittsburgh (but hadn't seemed to have heard of this place which is supposedly one of pittsburgh's most famous restaurants. i digress.) and works for homeland security. we had good  conversation and he was insistent on paying for my drinks. i'd probably hang out with him again, but there wasn't any spark on my end. he's cool though - we can definitely be friends.

oh, one final thing. i know that d.c. is not the south and certainly not the  deep south where i was formerly living. however, i would have liked it if he had walked me to my train station. sure, it was two blocks, but it was 10:30 p.m. and more importantly, i think it's the gentlemanly thing to do. aside from that, he seemed like a good guy.

the one where i am sick of the texting!

today i talked to SouthGA about this guy that was interested in her but essentially refuses to call her. he will only text her. and SouthGA hates texting and so usually when he texts her, she calls him back and they talk. usually for quite awhile. and he always ends the conversation by saying something along the lines of "well if you get bored and want to hang out, give me a call". and she's like, why don't you call me when you get bored. so he never calls and just texts her all the time. and its driving her nuts. when we spoke, i realized that it drives me nuts too! for one thing, i have a limited amount of texts and have to pay if i go over that amount. but mainly, it bugs me because it's so frustrating to try to have a conversation via text message. my general rule is that if you are texting back and forth more than 2x, it warrants a phone call. 

what the heck happened to calling?! i know a lot of men who do this texting instead of calling thing. in fact, i just called AHS out about it tonight. i really don't know the thought process behind it (if you do, PLEASE enlighten me!) but i think it's just lazy! pick up the freakin phone and dial my number. i refuse to have a conversation via text message. that is ridiculous. this goes hand in hand with another problem that i observe often...

what the heck happened to dating? to being courted?! i know that we live in the age of hookups and no commitment everything, but is it really to much to want a man who calls, asks you out on a date, takes the time to plan an evening and expects nothing in return beyond your company. is that too much to expect?