Blogger Interview: See Claudia Date

One of the things I enjoy best about Twitter is the ability to find (and follow) people you don't know who may (or may not) have interesting things to say. This past week one of my random follows tweeted about @SeeClaudiaDate. As Emily and I have recently had an extra long post about dating, it caught my eye.

Claudia

Claudia is a soon-to-be 30 year old woman living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL who is attempting the monumental task of going on 30 dates in the month she turns 30.

I decided to go out on a limb and see if Claudia wouldn't mind being interviewed (via email) for our blog.  After checking us out, she agreed and now I'd like to present my interview.

Know any single guys in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area that would like to go out on a date with her? You can find her information and blog at seeclaudiadate.com!


So since this project is about going on 30 dates in the month that you turn 30, which is scarier - the dates or hitting the big 3-0?

The 30 dates are definitely scarier than turning 30, hands down. 

 

On one of your recent posts, you indicated that you had about a weeks worth of dates lined up so far. How have you found these guys?

Some of the guys have e-mailed me. I also set up an online dating profile to "cast a wider net". Actually, Match.com recently gave me a complimentary membership for 3 months, so if I do get any dates from there, I'll definitely give them credit.

 

Do you have a date on August 1st?

 

I do. The date is confirmed, but the actual activity is to be determined.

 

What happens if you meet the perfect guy early on in your quest? Would you go out with him again within the 30 days and would it count as another one of the 30 dates?

 

Ahh, I have gotten this question more than once and I have yet to really answer it. The truth is, if I do end up liking someone I go out with and the feeling is mutual, I think a 2nd or 3rd date would be totally acceptable. Never did I set myself up to say that I couldn't go out with the same person more than once. The only challenge I gave myself was to see if I could actually go on 30 dates in the month.

 

Describe what type of guy you would typically go for?

Hmm, to be honest, I've never really had a type. Looks wise, most of the guys I've gone out with have been slender to athletic. But the last guy I dated with a neuroscientist. The guy before that was a musician. Another was a teacher. I definitely want to try and keep an open mind going into these dates, since I think that's part of the social experiment.

 

Is there any type of guy you wouldn't want to go out with?

Hmm, someone asked me to go to their house for dinner. It doesn't necessarily break down into the type of guy that he is, but I wouldn't go out with anyone unless it was in a public setting. As far as characteristics go, I think a smoker is a no-go (assuming I know they smoke when they ask me out).

 

Why should someone date you? What makes you unique? What do you think you bring to the table in a relationship?

Well I think the fact that I'm doing this makes me somewhat unique and shows that I am confident and I don't take life too seriously. I actually have a plan to have someone "endorse" me as a person that's worth going out with, but I haven't followed through yet. Stay tuned.

 

Moving from New York to Florida is a big change in geography, climate, population density, how would you compare the dating "scene" in the two cities?

I guess I've learned that dating is hard no matter where you live. But as someone told me last night, you can't really compare the two cities. They are so different in and of themselves that I can't really compare the dating scene.

 

We recently had a post about bad dates - what's the worst thing that's ever happened to you on a date?

Someone else asked me this as well. I can honestly say that I've been very fortunate to date extremely great guys. Even if the date itself was a bust, there was never anything embarrassing or unfortunate that ever happened.  However, I did go on an international trip with a then boyfriend and that's when I realized I wanted to break up with him, but had to wait til we got back home.

 

What about the best?

The best thing that's ever happened to me on a date? This one particular guy, when we first started dating, every date was absolutely lovely. I never wanted it to end and we would just talk for hours. I miss that. I miss the excitement of a first kiss or looking forward to seeing them again. I think that's the best part of dating anyone. The excitement and longing.

 

What is the perfect first date outfit for you? For the guy?

 

Well, it really depends on the date. But for a girl, you can't really go wrong with a blouse, nice jeans, and heels. It kinda works for everything from dinner to bowling to a sports game. Might I be over or underdressed? Sure, but it's a safe outfit. For the guy, I guess the guy version of that. Maybe a button down, nice jeans, and sneakers? But I'm perfectly happy wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and converse.  

Vanilla Cupcake (photo from eatdesertfirst.com)

 

If you could be any flavor of cupcake, what would it be and why?

 

Ha! I love this question because anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE cupcakes. That said, my answer isn't very exciting. I just love a vanilla with vanilla frosting.

 

If "40 is the new 30", what does that mean for the old 30?

 

Hmm, I don't even know how to answer this question.

 

Are you planning any sort of celebration for your birthday other than going on 30 dates? Will you go out on a date on that day?

Remains to be seen. I know I want to celebrate my birthday but not necessarily with a date. I kinda just want to hang out with my friends that night. 

 

Will you tell your children or grandchildren about this when you get older?

Sure! I mean, it's on the internet, so why not.

 

What would you tell your 20 year old self about dating?

 

 Just to keep an open mind. But overall, I don't have any regrets about the last 10 years of dating.

 

What would you say to girls who are interested in doing something like what you're doing?

 

Take a leap of faith and do it!

Anything else people should know about you or your project?

Just that I'm doing this to see what happens. I'm not expecting to find "the one", but maybe I'll meet a few nice guys and make some friends. And the best case? I end up meeting someone that I like and likes me back and we'll go from there.

Well, that's the interview. Emily and I both wish Claudia the best of luck (we're crossing our fingers that everything works out correctly).

Again, Claudia's website is www.seeclaudiadate.com - so check it out!

Through Claudia's site, I've also learned about a guy in NYC who is doing this RIGHT NOW! Check him out at www.datingbrian.com (I'm especially charmed by his "interview sheets).

My Deep Dark Secret

I have a confession to make.

I want to be a hipster.

Yes, that's right. I want to be one of these:

N

No, I don't know where this image came from but I <3 it. 

I know I come off as a sort of nerdy/preppy girl, but I like to thing this is sort of because I wear glasses (if I were a real hipster, I would wear glasses ironically).

It started last year with a slight obsession. I wanted a "warm-weather scarf" - the breezy non, knitwear version of a winter scarf, perhaps with a funky pattern or in plaid.

I finally found the perfect one (it's blue with a blue and black plaid over it) and bought it.

Next, when I got my hair cut, I added bangs. What goes well with a fun, funky banged haircut? Headbands of course. The best would be the kind with bows or flowers or feathers on them. Got those too.

As the winter months began approaching I discovered footless tights. I said I bought them for wearing under jeans when it was cold out, but that never happened. I would, as this picture above demonstrates, wear them with my jean skirts or short dresses.

This past fall I purchased an argyle sweater vest and eyed some chunky black bangles.

I colored my hair a great shade of red.

Deep down, I am a Hipster.

Purple Footless Tights

I don't want you to get me wrong, I don't rock skinny jeans, lip rings, big wide belts or anything that could be misconstrued as being "worn ironically." I just want to be in to indie music, work my footless tights/leggings, rock a headband and scarf, and just pretend I'm cooler than you.

I mean, I don't buy in to all of the "hipster stuff" but I definitely think there's something to be said for the style choices of some hipsters.

But in the end, I too will make fun of hipsters. For some of the greatest "aren't hipsters funny" sites, you can check out:

Look at this F-ing Hipster (language)
Hipster Puppies (cute puppies! as hipsters!)
Unhappy Hipsters (life is so sad!)

Sidebar

Phew. Emily and I have both been slackers as of late with this pet project of ours. It happens.

As they say: "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans," (and no, I don't know who "they" are).

No truer words have ever been spoken.

Ok, I admit it, our last two posts were a bit more serious than some of our other posts, but that's fine. We're real people, and it's only natural that we'd want to write about what is going on in our lives.

My goal here in the next few weeks is to try to blog a little more because I know, come June, my job will keep me incredibly busy.

But you tell us. What do you want to see us talk about? Do you mind the more serious entries? Do you want us to interview you (because would totally do that if we found the right person/people)?

What, exactly, is "crazy?"

Before I start writing the rest of the post, I have to let you know a fact about me: I am NOT crazy.

I like to consider myself someone who thinks/writes/acts with my stream of consciousness. If something comes to my mind, I say it or write it. That leads a lot of people to find me funny (not narcissistic, just a fact) because, as they tell me I'm quite quick witted. I think I just have an overactive imagination.


Now here's the thing:

Some of the thoughts that occur in my head I have to seriously consider this question "if I say this out loud, will people actually think I'm insane?"

Whenever I'm in an elevator alone, I may do something weird like sing to myself or dance, and then I automatically think "gosh, what if someone were watching me right now... what would they think of me?"

Sometimes I'll be driving my car and think about what would happen if I suddenly turned my wheel sharply and hit another car or a tree. Some people may also think those thoughts, but that's where they stop. Me? Then I think about hitting that tree, rolling my car over, rolling in to a ditch, and breaking my leg. It's always breaking my leg for some reason.

When I was younger, I used to have this regular thought whenever I would use the restroom that a snake or other lizard type animal would come out of the toilet and bite my rear end.

Last night, in fact, I was crawling in to bed, and I thought about what would happen if I stepped on a mouse. Granted, I thought about that because we recently had a mouse sighting in my apartment.

Seriously. Who thinks about this stuff?

Oh, yeah. I guess it's me.

My boyfriend has learned to live with it and love me regardless...in fact, he occasionally finds it endearing. He reminds me, however, that every once in a while I need to think about things in my head before I say them so that I don't come off as a crazy person.

Spring = Flowers!

Well, it would if the grass wasn't buried under feet of snow still.

Ahh March. You're here, and even though spring isn't officially (who decides these things?) due to arrive for another 18 days,  I'm looking forward to seeing green grass instead of dirty snow.


I know that the adage is that "April showers bring May flowers*" but my favorite flower is one that starts to rear its head (bulb) in mid-February.... the lovely daffodil.

Also known as narcissus, the name of the flower comes from the myth of Narcissus (you know, the guy who was the original narcissist) who happened to catch his reflection by the lake, fell in love with it and stared at it so intently that he (depending  who you hear it from) fell in and drowned OR couldn't tear himself away so he just starved to death. And the very first narcissus flower bloomed on that very spot.

The original narcissist. 

Narcissus by Michelangelo Caravaggio

For nerds - Narcissus, the person, is also closely tied to the story of Echo.

Anyway, I really like daffodils. One of my favorite things is that they're always the first flower to pop up, usually in early February and though they typically come in three colors (yellow, white, orange, and the combination thereof), there are a million different varieties. Some are closed buds, some are double layers, and some are just simple flowers - the bell and the petals.

I think part of the reason why I love daffodils is that when my family moved when I was ten, I went to the store and picked out bulbs and planted a bunch of daffodils around the light post. Even though I didn't pay much attention, this hearty flower bloomed regularly every February.

In college and grad school, I always noticed the flowers peeking out from the soil on campus. 

When I was living in Alabama, I noticed that one of my co-workers had a daffodil tote bag. I commented on it and the next day she brought be a whole bouquet of flowers for my desk.

They herald the spring like little flower trumpets.

And now, a poem by Wadsworth:

 

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

*bad joke alert - If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? PILGRIMS!! (get it? May flowers...the Mayflower....)

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2: Electric Boogaloo

This post was originally going to be about the greatest TV show you're not watching, but I decided to change my topic due to the impending snowstorm set to befall the Washington, DC metro area starting as early as late tomorrow morning.

Growing up in Maryland, I always enjoyed the fact that we never got much extreme weather. When we did it was always a freak tornado, a freak blizzard, a freak earthquake. Nothing to write home about. In fact, the big joke was always that when there was little more than an two inches of snow on the road, school was canceled.

Then I went to school in Connecticut where it snowed a lot, including a storm that would dump at least a foot or two, usually in March. It was awesome. I remember Freshman year trudging across campus in a foot of snow to get to that little booth by the entrance for my work-study gig as an University Ambassador. School wasn't canceled unless professors couldn't make it to campus. It was at UHa where I learned, truly, the sheer joy of being snowed in, especially with friends, and especially with some alcohol.

In fact, I missed the snow living in Alabama. I didn't like wearing short sleeves on New Year's Eve.

I love the snow. But what I love, way more than I could ever love snow itself, is the sheer madness that occurs just before the snow is about to hit.

Like I mentioned, we never get a ton of snow here in MD, usually the snowfall for the entire winter is less than a foot. Then we had last year. It snowed twice in December, including a massive snow dump on Dec. 19th that dropped about two feet in my town.

That storm, was dubbed by many in the DC area as the Snowpocalypse. There was even a Facebook group with that same name. I took pictures, starting the night before of the empty bread aisles and then, starting with the first flakes, I took photos every hour documenting this historic snowfall. It took me three days to get my car completely dug out (I didn't have a shovel for one of those days, and realized that it was easiest to get my boyfriend's car out first). There was even a snowball fight in the middle of DC!

Just when that snow was almost completely melted away... bam, two more snowy days, the most recent being on Sunday. Now, however, the DC area is bracing for a snowstorm that could start as early as mid-morning tomorrow and dump ANOTHER two feet here.

YES!

Wanting to avoid the grocery store panic (quick, where's my bread/milk/toilet paper?), I hit the store late last night and it was already crowded. The photo above is from December's Snowpocalypse.

Every time I log on to Facebook or Twitter, someone else is posting the most recent snow-cast, and it's followed by a string of "NooOoOoOOO!!!!" comments.

I can't wait to see the insanity that will inevitably ensue when the snow starts to stick tomorrow.

Traffic? YES! Lines at the Grocery and Liquor stores? YES! Schools and businesses closing early? YES (Heck, the Feds have already put a liberal leave policy in effect for tomorrow)!

I'll be spending my snowed-in weekend, baking cookies, enjoying some TV and movies with my boyfriend, blogging (lucky readers, you), and once again taking photos as often as possible.

Want some tips on how you too can survive a SNOWPOCALYPSE?

1. Go to the store early. Like 3 days. If you don't have it when the first flakes fall, it's not worth it. Trust me.

2. If you can avoid it, don't drive, but if you must get out, make sure that you have the right kind of car. Just because you have a pick-up truck, it doesn't mean that you should be driving in snow, especially if your bed is empty (car accident waiting to happen).

3. If possible, don't get snowed in alone - that's one sure-fire way to go stir-crazy. Make a plan with friends to end up at one person's home.

4. Record lots of silly stuff on your DVR (if you have one), if not invest in Netflix on-demand.

5. Bake. It makes your house smell good, gives you something to eat, and, at the end of the day, keeps you from being completely totally lazy. Try a new recipe!

6. Start digging your car out early, especially if you live in an apartment complex where you will get plowed in. Help your neighbors if they need it!

7. Enjoy it! Make snow angels or go sledding. I think running around in the snow can really put a smile on anyone's face.



PS Flights have already been canceled, the Feds are on liberal leave, and I know at least three people who were waiting in line at DC grocery stores for more than an hour!

I Love the Internet (Links I Love!)

While I was unemployed for a period of time this summer (almost four months) I found myself with a lot of time on my hands.

Even though I spent time at the gym or hanging out with a friend who was teaching summer school, that left a lot of hours of alone time. I did spent at least two hours a day applying for jobs, but that still left me with an exorbitant amount of "free time." I plowed through a new book almost every day, got obsessed with Mafia Wars on Facebook, discovered Twitter, and then mostly trolled the internet for interesting things to read.

I always started my internet meanderings with CNN.com, and one day I came across this article and literally found myself clicking through each and every site.

My top two from this list are:

This Is Why You're Fat
Awkward Family Photos

I also love (though it's not on that list) Passive Aggressive Notes - because we've all had that roommate....

But one day a friend took a Facebook quiz entitled "Ben and Jerry's Flavor or Pottery Barn Paint Color" and I said to myself "Hmm... that's interesting. I should check out that website."

Well, that took me to the wonderful world known as MentalFloss.com

Billed as a site where "Knowledge Junkies get their fix" this is an entire website (blog, trivia, quizes, etc) dedicated to random tidbits of information. Want to know the background on the State of the Union Address? What about the men behind the alcohol (Jim, Jose, and Jack to name a few), Take a quiz entitled "Ben and Jerry's Flavor or Band I found on Myspace?" or "Doogie Howser's Diary Entry or Random Twitter Update?"

This site is updated several times a day, but be warned, once you get on the site, you will find yourself clicking through to read more and more.

Plus, they have a store with some of the funniest T-Shirts I've seen.

In fact, I've been working on a mailing at work that requires me to HAND FEED envelopes through our printer, but since i have to feed an envelope every twenty seconds or so, I can't really accomplish any other work. What do I do? I go on Mental Floss and read and read while my left hand feeds the printer. That's what I call multi-tasking.

What are some of your favorite time wasting links?

Four (Other) Things

Taking a page from Diana's book, I too shall write a short passage about the four things that are making me geek out major right now.

1. Vintage/Retro Clothing
Much like my counterpart, I love dresses. And skirts. And cute shoes. I have a sick obsession with the website, ModCloth. So sick, in fact, that over the span of 2.5 months this past fall, I spent over $1000 on it. Yes folks, that's how much I geeked out. However, it resulted in me getting gems such as these:



Lovely, aren't they? I won't show anymore now, you'll have to wait until I geek out about the site later.

2. Cambridge Culinary School
I'm not geeking out about the school as much as the Back-to-Basics course that I am taking there. The class is six weeks long, once a week, for fourish hours. We study things such as knife skills, eggs, entrees, soups, etc. My teacher's name is Dave, and he's pretty easy on the eyes, and therefore I get to combine pretty boys with cooking. I'm enjoying it a lot. Plus, I am gaining great skills to assist with my dream of becoming an amateur chef.

3. Coffee
Yes, I know. But coffee is so, so, so, so, soooooooooooo good. I am currently looking into buying a grinder and a big ol' french press, but moolas is tight. My little brother got me coffee for Christmas, a pound of the best smelling coffee EVER called "Hair Bender". I am drooling in anticipation of drinking said coffee. I'll let you know how it goes.

4. The Gym
I might write an entire entry about this, but I am truly obsessed with my new gym. I go to Healthworks, a Boston-based women only gym. It's right around the corner from work, and has a sauna and a hot tub. SOLD. Plus, I got two free personal training sessions just by signing up. I've worked with Shauna twice, and am excited to start my regime so I can look like this:

Except I don't tan.

There are so many other things I am geeking out about, such as: my friend Leyla, book club, books in general, nachos, etc etc. I'll write about them later (well maybe not Leyla, cause that'll probably creep her out.)