the one that got away?

somewhere in the sea of my lost boyfriends, there is a man that some hopeless romantics might call "the one that got away."

(thank god i'm no longer a hopeless romantic.)

he and i dated for a few months a couple years ago. he was gorgeous, funny, liberal, a die-hard packers fan with season tickets (my mom liked this best of all), and most importantly, he treated me like a princess without being overwhelmingly cheesy about it. in other words; he was perfect.

unfortunately, i was still hung up on a quite imperfect ex, so i stupidly ended it.

yes, i was an idiot. (though i'm not still kicking myself over it.)

fast forward a year later– we decided to become friends. we hung out, went to happy hour and live music, i attended his many house parties and we always got along fabulously. while my feelings for him never really died, i only felt them growing stronger with our newfound friendship.

so, one night at happy hour last summer, after a couple cosmopolitans, i found the courage to confess my lingering feelings to him. i was let down, but he seemed to leave the door open on us... it just didn't seem like the right time for him.

a couple of weeks later, after he confessed his feelings for one of my good friends to her, i knew the door had slammed shut right in front of my face.

our friendship didn't survive.

once again, fast forward several months to the present moment– he's moving hours away from the city to take a new job. he's invited me to a going-away party and he recently included me in a mass email about getting together for happy hour before he leaves.

i've been cordial with him, but i read the email, smiled and deleted it. there's no need to see him again.... i've already gladly waved goodbye to "the one that was meant to get away."

see, that's the thing about being perfect. so many expectations to live up to, and so many chances to fall off that pedestal. his behavior during our friendship showed me that perhaps he wasn't who i thought he was, perhaps he never should've been up on that pedestal to begin with.

and now i know this door was meant to be kept shut.

scenes from a surprise party

i had so much fun planning and hosting a fabulous little birthday soiree for my most honored guest, my mom, on saturday night. here are some snippets of the action!

the rules according to brooke

a good friend (MSN.com) once told me that before you write a man off, you should give him at least three dates. the reasoning? the first date is like a horrible job interview (my single girls are nodding knowingly to this one). the second date is a bit more relaxed, but the third date is when you can really start to unwind and feel comfortable "being yourself."

this advice inspired me, as i'm always the girl to write someone off if there aren't immediate sparks. i need fireworks and blaring trumpets before i commit to a second date. unfortunately for me, i only hear trumpets with one type of man– The Jerk. (guess i should've realized a long time ago those trumpets were warning me, not encouraging me.) and since i am officially over The Jerks, i decided to give this bit of advice a try.

enter adam.* adam and i are the victims of a set-up by a mutual friend. (really, i don't mind set-ups. i just find it humorous how constant set-up attempts can sometimes be.) a few weeks ago, we met for a group happy hour at an uptown pub.... there were lots of people and we weren't able to talk a whole lot, but what i did learn of him, i liked. sweet, cute, nice, fit in well with my crazy girls (which can be nearly impossible to achieve at times), and my crazy girls liked him. there weren't immediate sparks on my end, but keeping my new rule in mind, i decided to give it another shot.

this past tuesday, adam and i met up at my neighborhood coffee house for a latte and conversation. the conversation flowed easily, and his dimples were much cuter than i remembered. although he was in a flirtatious mood and i was in full-blown political mode (the pennsylvania primary got me all hot and bothered, i was itching to go home and turn on CNN), we meshed well, and he humored me with political conversation. we ended our casual little date with a hug. no promises to see each other again, no kiss, no awkwardness.

i still wasn't sure i felt any sparks with him, but the next morning, as i made my coffee, i thought of him and smiled.

i guess there may just be a third date after all.


*name changed to protect the innocent brave enough to date me.

happy earth day!

at the risk of sounding like a tree-hugging hippie (which, really. who are we kidding. let's call a spade a spade here!), it is earth day and it's never been more important to celebrate and cherish the planet we live on, and continue the fight against climate change and global warming.

click here to learn how easy it is to "go green!"

and just in case you need some more proof.....

our old friend al can help you out with that.

curveballs.

as i sat at my college roommate's baby shower this past weekend, watching her open gifts, her pregnant belly and her excitement over welcoming her little boy to this world growing by the day, it all felt so surreal. i thought back to our freshman year in nelson hall, how we'd all giggle over our boyfriends and dream of the day we'd walk down the aisle, of what it would be like when we'd have children. it all seemed so far away, such a fantasy and now..... it's here. it's reality.

at least for her.

for me.... i ended my engagement years ago. i made the conscious decision to be the "single city girl" i was to everyone at the shower. i floated outside myself and thought of how different this picture could have been. i could've been married and pregnant (perhaps with a little one or two already in tow) right alongside her. i could've been one of the young mothers who knowingly sung the praises of the diaper genie. i could've been giving her advice on how to deal with stretch marks or a colicky baby.

instead, i soaked it all in. i oohed and ahhed over the gifts, held the cute little babies, touched her pregnant belly, truly hoping to feel a kick (no such luck), ate the fabulous cake, and when it was over, i got in my car for the two-hour drive back to the city. back to my single girl life, to a cocktail party fundraiser, which led to dancing uptown, which led to pizza and conversation at 2am.

and– as happy as i am for her, i was happy for myself as well.

happy friday!

with love, magnolia wilde.

it's oprah's world, we all just live in it!

Oprah Launches Own Reality