Posts in Relationships
50 First Dates
50 First Dates

At the risk of sounding like a bad Cosmo article, have you ever imagined residing in an exotic locale, lounging in a hammock while a tanned and buff Fabio (or Fabiana, whatever floats your boat) fans you with palm leaves? 

Blame it on growing up with such classics as The Lizzie McGuire Movie, but I presumed that if I ever lived abroad my romantic encounters would closely follow the previously mentioned fantasy.  Upon planning my year in Argentina (when I was not milling through government documents or googling “Why do you people not flush toilet paper in Buenos Aires?”) I was quick to jump to images of Fabio.  Absolutely none of this makes sense considering I am deeply shy and renowned for my lack of flirting prowess.  Just one glance from a suitor and I will break out in an itchy red rash.  I spent a greater part of my junior year wearing turtlenecks and scarves because I frequently saw the boy I liked on campus. 

However, this was before I moved to South America.  For those of you who have not traveled this far south of the equator, let me tell you one thing – prepare yourselves.  The men of Argentina (while I hate to generalize, this has been my experience so far) make Italians look shy.  They will pursue you, they will want to wine and dine you, and it will be bizarre though occasionally wonderful.  I’ve found that the strange experiences can be justified simply for that random, golden “perfect” date.  Here are some tips I’ve garnered from three months of rom com-worthy experiences, meeting less-than Fabio’s in the search for my true Fabio.

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Travel, Life, RelationshipsKelsey WorshamFeaturedComment
We Need People
We Need People

I am of the opinion that life’s smallest moments are often life’s most profound. It’s in these seemingly simple intonations that the best sort of change occurs. 

I recently cried at a wedding.

Lest you be fooled into thinking this is unusual and possibly profound, it is not; I often cry at weddings. Deep expressions of familial love, well-executed personal details and concentrated statements of beauty and commitment overwhelm me, usually to the point of tears. 

In the hopes of being honest and transparent, I did cry for all of those reasons at this wedding; many tears were shed. But the brightest moment among a night saturated with light didn’t have to do with the wedding at all. It revolved around a gin and tonic. 

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Life, RelationshipsLaurel DicusFeatured, ArchiveComment
The Glorious Silence
The Glorious Silence

Two weeks ago I realized that I was an introvert.

I know. As one who LOVES personality tests, I probably should have sorted this out long ago, but I didn’t. I probably had other stuff to do, like sit in my room by myself and read a book on the Supreme Court or sleep through someone’s birthday dinner (that has happened multiple times). I used to be able to fake extroversion but at the ripe old age of 23, I’m tired of the bullshit.

If I want to sit home by myself and read Jane Eyre, then by golly I will! I don’t want to go clubbing, I don’t want to be in the same vicinity as people who are talking loudly over bumping club music, and I don’t want to go to a party with strangers. At all. It literally suffocates me. I don’t think it’s social anxiety so much as the realization that I could be hanging out with my friends drinking wine and watching a movie instead at some bar in DuPont Circle hating every moment of my life. 

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Life, RelationshipsRachel MallisonFeatured Comment
What to Do When You Just Really, Really, Really Want to Give Up
What to Do When You Just Really, Really, Really Want to Give Up

Have you ever experienced getting sick in a foreign country with no family or loved ones nearby?

If you haven’t, let me paint you a mental picture: Me. In a Buenos Aires hospital on a Saturday morning because I had bronchitis.  The process of obtaining healthcare in a foreign country is difficult but in this one you literally take a number from a slot machine and hope that a doctor can see you at some point. 

It was a beautiful spring day outside of the hospital waiting room so the windows had been left open to allow the wind to blow in.  All of a sudden, in the midst of waiting for a doctor, I glanced up to see a mangy, flea-bitten cat simply walk in through one of the open windows and into the emergency room.  Something about seeing a stray animal enter a hospital (what I normally imagine as a hygienic, humans-only kind of zone) was strange.  Something about having had a fever for three days was also strange and with this combination I began to cry. 

In the last week I have cried three times. 

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Life, RelationshipsKelsey WorshamFeatured, ArchiveComment
Mother Knows Best
Mother Knows Best

“It’s your freshman year and you’re gonna be here for the…” (it’s okay you can go ahead and finish the lyrics—we all know you just channeled your inner T-swift). Take out “freshman,” add “senior” and fast-forward to the part where she sings about her best friend Abigail. You know, the one who gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind? Yeah, that was me.

The summer before your last year in college is meant to be the most enjoyable time of college, but mine was far from it. I’ll spare you the details, but that summer put me on a plane to visit a boyfriend interning in Nashville. Little did I know that as soon as school started I’d be the last thing I expected: heartbroken.

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Life, RelationshipsSally HelmsComment
All the Crazy Men
All the Crazy Men

Like many of my new and exciting ventures, the very one you are reading began with a call to my best friend, Madeline.

“You could write about the men,” she offered.

“The men?” I questioned.

“Yeah. All of the crazy men youʼve dated.”

“The crazy men?” I once again had to question her.

“Yeah, you know. There was that 40 year-old man or the really interesting one that went away for a while... Or that cheese dip. You could write about the most perfect beer cheese dip in all the land.”

On to the crazy men.

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RelationshipsLaurel DicusFeatured, Archive Comment
And So We Camped
And So We Camped

My friends and I decided to go camping recently. We're all getting ready to start medical school, law school or a year of volunteer work and thought we should have one last trip to just have a good time. None of us are planners but we figured we'd just wing it.  Spontaneity is the spice of life, right?

After running the plan by my dad, we decided it would probably be beneficial to make a list of supplies and food we would need. As we combed through my family's camping supplies I started to wonder, "How on earth are we going to pull this off?" But, that's what makes it exciting, right? 

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Life, RelationshipsOlivia LandryComment
The Power of Saying "No"
The Power of Saying "No"

ll my life I have watched other people use this strange superpower that I just didn't possess.

I remember an instance when I was ten years old and had friends who wanted to go to the mall. But my family was going to lunch. It was such a dilemma that I cried! I literally stood there crying, unable to choose between the two. I couldn't bear the thought of having to tell either my friends or my family “no.” I didn't want to disappoint anyone.

Fast forward to my junior year of college: I was working three jobs, two of which I was commuting an hour for three times a week for minimal pay. I was exhausted.

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Life, Career, Dreams, RelationshipsMaddison GilcreaseComment
Home
Home

Last week was the two month-iversary of graduation, and now that the initial shock of it all is finally beginning to settle in (although the nausea still hasn’t…), I find myself back to where I started from: a place that has been there through both kickball and keg-stands, both diapers and diplomas, and now is where I’m currently enrolled in the class “What-Am-I-Doing-With-My-Life-101.” Just like that, I am home again, back to my old bedroom walls who heard my oh-so-sassy-preteen self rant about how my mother wouldn’t let me wear darker eyeliner. I was lucky enough to learn and grow in a home that allowed me so much love and laughter, somewhere I once thought I could stay forever if the option was given to me.

So when I first came back for good, I didn’t want it to be different, wanted my home to rearrange itself back to the way I had always remembered it to be. But we painted the walls, and we got a new remote for the television. There are hardwood floors where carpet once used to lay, and there are new curtains hanging loosely over the kitchen window. Things are changing. Things have always been changing. And it felt like all at once, the home that in so many ways shaped me, made me who I was, wasn’t the home that I once knew.

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Life, Travel, RelationshipsAlyssa VottoFeaturedComment
You Are Not Alone
You Are Not Alone

Let’s all take a step back down memory lane of what was our lives just a few short months ago, shall we? In college you are blessed and cursed with being constantly surrounded by friends: living with them, sharing the same classes, working with them and enjoying Friday night shenanigans together. We are just floating along on a social high and maybe even yearning for some alone time.

Fast forward to present day: My daily social interactions consist of yelling at other Dallas drivers on my hour-long commute, chatting with my co-workers in the office (S/O to the cube), hanging out with my family when I return home around 5 pm each evening, and nightly snuggles with my cat who I’m fairly certain suffers from severe attachment disorder.

I’ll be completely honest: I have been throwing quite the pity party for myself.

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Life, Career, RelationshipsAlyssa RichardsonComment
My 23rd Year
My 23rd Year

There are three photos of me at my college graduation.

1)     I’m coming in with the rest of my class, capped, gowned and wearing my mother’s pink and black polka dotted sunglasses. Everyone else is marching with gravitas, but my arms are high in a victory V, my mouth wide open and excited. I love that picture.

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Graduation, Life, RelationshipsLiz LizzaraFeaturedComment
Heartbreak Happens
Heartbreak Happens

I have grown up more in the past few months than I have in the last 22 years of my life, and I owe all of that to heartbreak. Now don't get caught up thinking this is some mopey post about a boy because it isn't. (And trust me, I would be the LAST person to give advice about that.)

Heartbreak happens all the time. You lose a friend. You get rejected from a job. You realize that bad things happen to good people and that money means way more than you ever thought. And yes, sometimes you do lose love.

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Life, RelationshipsEmily YoungFeatured, ArchiveComment
All the Single Ladies: 5 Resolutions for 2015
All the Single Ladies: 5 Resolutions for 2015

I’ve had a bit of practice at being single, and along the way I’ve noticed some common traits among a fair portion of the single gal population, myself included (read: especially myself). I’ve also come to realize that these aforementioned common traits pose as a disservice to us, so I’d like to present some counterarguments on why we should consider breaking up with these habits.

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RelationshipsAlly WillisComment
Home Sweet Home: 5 Rules for Moving Back in with Your Parents
Home Sweet Home: 5 Rules for Moving Back in with Your Parents

I personally moved back in with my parents about a month ago. I started a full-time job in Corporate America but chose to move back home to save money over the next year. My parents went through this process in the summer of 2011 when my oldest sister came home after earning a college degree and finding very little in the job market, like so many millennials today.

In the few years she lived at home, our family learned the “best practices” by trial and error, so I’ve devised 5 rules if you’re heading back home.

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Life, Graduation, RelationshipsJuliette KibodeauxFeatured, Archive Comment