Despite the title this is not a mushy post about a man, it's a mushy post about one of my best friends. I think taking a girl as your date is completely under-rated. I had a wedding this weekend and instead of having an awkward conversation with the girl I'm seeing, I decided to bring my lovely friend Hannah. One of the best decisions I've ever made.
From what I can tell these are the advantages to taking a girl:
1. It's easier to talk to people when you're not in a couple, I feel it's less intimidating.
2. Good dance partner, especially when I comes to cracking out the dad dancing.
3. Discussing the details of the wedding only a girl would notice e.g. place settings and wedding favours.
4. Planning your own wedding while your there, yes we know we're single but every girl does it so no girl will judge you.
5. You're not judged for ordering a white wine spritzer.
6. Someone to share a bottle of wine with once you are drunk enough.
7. You get to leave the wedding with one of the best people in the room.
So next time I'm panicking who to bring I'm turning to one of my girl friends because they are the new hot date!
I always love it when you get to catch up with friends you haven't seen in ages. Firstly because you always have so much to talk about no matter how much you talk between visits and secondly it gives you an excuse to do things you wouldn't normally do.
The weekend just gone was the perfect example of this, one of my best friends Anna was down from Scotland so it was our duty to cram in as many Devonian/Cornish things as possible.
For us this meant a trip down to St Ives, cream tea and no trip down to Plymouth would be complete without seeing one of our favourite bands, Mad Dog Mcrea.
St Ives is one of my favourite places in the world and I've always said if I win the lottery I will buy a house there...a girl can dream. Property dreams aside, St Ives is one of those places where it never seems to rain, the sun is always shining and the sea always look so inviting (beware it's freezing).
One day this will be the view from my bedroom window....
It's just such a picturesque town with loads of lovely shops to potter round and a wide choice of cafes to take refuge in and have a cheeky cream tea.
I don't know what it is about cream tea, it's not something I would ever normally have but something about being in Cornwall makes me want to shove a cream and jam covered scone in my face.
One we were stuff full with Cream tea and cider (an odd combination I know) we sat on one of St Ives many beaches and tried to get some colour on our very pale faces. No luck yet.
After a lovely day down in Cornwall, we decided to have a break on Saturday before our evenings activity. Whenever Anna comes down we try and see Mad Dog Mcrea. Not only are they one of our favourite bands but she took me to my first Mad Dog gig when I was 16, I've been as least twice a year ever since.
I don't know what it is about them, possibly it's all the jigging and the cider or the fact that I know I will always have a good time. Whatever it is, I love them.
On Saturday they were playing at the donkey's sanctuary in Ivybridge. I was a little dubious about the venue but I was so wrong. It was the most Devonian night I've ever had, I jigged in a barn, dancing on a hay bail, fell off a hay bail and drank cider under the stars. It was amazing.
If you are ever in the South West I recommend you go and see them but wear comfy shoes because you'll be jigging the night away. I've posted a link to their website below the video, which contains all their gig info.
Today was one of those days where gossiping with your co-workers proved useful. I was all set to go on my first online dating date tonight, when it turns the guy who I was meant to go out with has hit on my co-worker a lot despite her telling him she's married. Once you go through all the possibilities that no there must be two men with the same name and job in the same town, you realise it's the same guy. Despite people telling me not to let me put it off him it does. I will have judged this guy before I went in (and lets me honest I wasn't that sure anyway) so I have done the honourable thing and cancelled.
It just shows that sometimes having a chat about things saves you from a horrible mess. So for once thank you gossip. Onwards and upwards to the next date.
You know that feeling that you get mid-week and all you want is to jump forward in time and for it to be Friday? Well I have a solution. A play-list of all the song you associate with that Friday feeling. Play them mid week to cheer you up, or on a Friday to celebrate it being the weekend. It doesn't matter what the songs are, don't pick them because you think they are cool, pick them because you love them and they genuinely make you happy.
To give you some inspiration here is my Friday feeling playlist:
Online dating has always seems to be a bit of a taboo in your twenties, with people asking themselves: "Why can't I meet someone naturally anymore?' From what I can tell from my own experience there is nothing wrong with us. We are all very normal people just looking to meet people, it's just the society has deemed it more acceptable and convenient to do it in a modern way and lazy way - the internet.
From talking to people it seems that people in their twenties are using two main apps/sites to use are Tinder and POF (plenty of fish) and I'm not ashamed to admit it, I've tried both. At first I was just being nosey and wanted to see what all the fuss was about, especially since Tinder has had an elevated profile after it was featured on a channel 4 programme and on the Scott Mills show. You know what, they aren't that bad. Sure at the moment I don't take Tinder too seriously and use it slight more like a game (as I'm it a lot of you do!) but it actually a great way to meet new people. Sure I haven't been on hundreds of Tinder dates but I have been on a few and lived to tell the tale.
I'm now single again and tempted to "get back on the horse" and move my Tinder app out of it's hiding place on my phone and give it a go again because lets face it what's the worse that can happen?! POF is a little harder to commit to, you have to write a vaguely witty profile and invest some time in searching through peoples profiles. However, this does mean that when you do start talking to someone you probably actually have some common ground. I don't know about you but I have quite built up the courage to commit to POF quite yet, maybe it will be my March goal.
What I'm trying to say if you single and in your 20's it's ok to give it a go. I mean sure it make not be how you planned to meet Mr Right but since when did anything go according to plan? You've got nothing to lose, except maybe an evening trying to write a profile. So next time you're bored and feeling a bit flat I recommend taking the why not?! attitude and trying it, you could meet the man of your dreams.
