All posts by Wander Lost Blog

Wander Lost Blog is about the journey of A., a hapless 30something who has lived in Chicago, San Diego, LA, and currently resides in NYC.
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Happy Things.

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I’m not going to lie, the first few weeks of 2013 sucked. I was probably setting myself up for failure as I rode 2012 out on a high wave. January was one of those months where every small thing that could go wrong did. The Cold Sickness Part II made a nasty reappearance and I’m still not recovered, my HMO screwed me over (not a surprise), I screamed at a dishwasher repairman with an Eastern European accent on the phone and he screamed back (he had the accent, not me), I wasted an entire Saturday waiting on my couch for a delivery that showed up completely wrong but then I yelled at Overstock.com and got my way.

Basically, the last 6 weeks have been a nonstop cycle of anger and screaming and coughing. I’ve decided that the only way to break the cycle is to at least smack a fake smile on my face and try to focus on positive things. Because according to my “glass is half-full” friends, if you keep focusing on the negative, you’ll never break out of the cycle. Or some sh*t like that.

So, in tune with some of my favorite bloggers Cupcakes & Cashmere and Serendipity, Life Itself, I give you my “Happy Things.”

Any sunset in any part of Southern California.

Image: Out & About Girl
Image: Out & About Girl

Chicago.

Image: TraceyCapone | Etsy
Image: TraceyCapone | Etsy

When this finally happened. And it was amazeballs.

Image: Tumblr
Image: Tumblr

LA Roads Art from Z Gallerie.

Image: Z Gallerie
Image: Z Gallerie

The cutest passport holder for whenever or wherever I travel this year (it’s going to happen!).

Jcrew.com
Jcrew.com

2013, you’ve thrown me through the ringer so far, but I’m going to come back on top.

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In Memory of Liz Lemon.

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Today marks a sad day for me. My hero Liz Lemon and 30 Rock are coming to an end. In honor her and her fantastic memory (and giving us such lines as “I want to go to there” and “Blurg”), here is a picture from my favorite episode, “The Spinsterhood of the Drawstring Pants”.

Image: The Kweskin Report

Like Liz Lemon, there is often a day where I want to call it quits on the dating world and adopt Emily Dickinson the Cat. I’m just bummed I can’t get my hands on an Orlando fanny pack.

Thanks for the last 7 seasons, Liz & company!

dating, douchebags, online dating

Mr. Wine-No

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Not too long ago, I found myself on a second date with Short Mark*. I’m allowed to actually call him Short Mark because he lied about his height. He said 5’9 on his online profile but I quickly realized on our first date he couldn’t possibly stand taller than 5’6. However, I have been trying to be more open-minded about short guys, so I chose to ignore this rather irrational lie on his part (you can’t fake height so why would you lie about it online??) and agreed to a 2nd date with him.

We went to a Brentwood Italian restaurant I had never been to before and that meal was the best part of the whole evening. He admitted to being more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker and asked if I had any wine recommendations (no judgments here; I love giving wine advice!). I said, “Since we are in an Italian restaurant, I think Chianti would be a good bet. Red wine always go well with this sort of meal and Chianti is one of the best values.” Mind you, of course I pronounced Chianti as “key-ant-ee”, as any wine lover or anyone who’s ever watched Silence of the Lambs should know to do.

The waiter asked to take our drinks order and this short dude apparently felt he was ordering for the two of us. Short Mark said, “We’ll each have a glass of the Chee-ant-ee.” I wanted to hit him across the face. The waiter grimaced and politely walked away without correcting him. It wasn’t the fact that Short Mark didn’t know how to pronounce a relatively well-known red wine. It was the fact that he clearly wasn’t listening to what I was saying as that I’m pretty sure I said the word Chianti (correctly) at least 4 times.

Needless to say, the night took a turn for the worst at that point and I haven’t seen Short Mark since.

dating, online dating

Mr. Tall Guy.

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I hit a milestone at the end of 2012. I actually made it to a 5th date with someone for the first time in 1.5 years.

Mr. Tall Guy was a tall (over 6’0!) sales guy from eHarmony. Something very rare happened our first date. I laughed a lot and actually had butterflies in my stomach. The last time that happened was with Mr. Dog Lover (more on that later) in the summer of 2011.

The first 4 dates consisted of lots of good food, conversation, laughter, and wine. I followed my cardinal rule of not telling my friends I actually sort of liked a guy, because the minute that you do — much like that job you really, really want — it all disappears. But things started to take a turn for weird around the holidays. He stopped initiating conversation and dates. He didn’t wish me a Merry Christmas or Happy New Year’s. I did my best to dismiss this as “People are busy during the holidays” but it’s been my experience that when a guy actually likes you, he’ll make an effort to contact you. I’ve read He’s Just Not That Into You after all.

The last I heard of Mr. Tall Guy was in early January, when he texted me that he really, really wanted to see me but then listed all the reasons he was too busy that weekend to meet up. I decided then and there that I was done trying and if he really, really cared, he’d reach out after his busy weekend.

I should have known better about Mr. Tall Guy; he went to U of Arizona which probably turns out more douchebags than USC and his full name bore way too much of a striking resemblance to my college boyfriend, Ted1 (again, more on that one later).

I’m not sure if this guy fell off the face of the Earth or just decided he would never contact me again for who knows what reason (don’t worry – I know it’s the latter and he didn’t actually disappear into thin air; I’m not delusional), but I don’t look back at the Mr. Tall Guy incident as a bad thing. The good news is that the last time I saw him was technically in 2012, so as they say – out with the old and in with the new! Also, the whole incident was a fresh reminder that it is possible to meet someone online and have chemistry with him. It just may happen every 1.5 years. And once every 1.5 years is sure better than never.

dating, random

Stop Judging Me, Television.

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Recently, I spent my first Saturday night in in…2 months(?). The fact that I can’t give you an exact date should tell you that I have a moderately awesome social life.

So, due to a number of circumstances (horrible, horrible Saturday when everything went awry and I knew if I further subjected myself to humanity, sh– would hit the walls), I elected to do myself (and most everyone else) a favor to stay parked on my couch. Of course by staying in, I mean me plus a bottle of Rioja.

Fun fact: Saturday night is a good time to catch up on Liz Lemon and her many misadventures on your DVR. Then when you’re done, Saturday night TV has great TV like Iron Man and Sex and the City reruns. Horrible fact: media planners (evil little 20somethings in my business) have somehow decided that this is an optimal time to air Match.com commercials to us sad spinsters home on a Saturday night on our sofas.

The worst part of said evening consisted of me pouring myself another glass of wine in the kitchen and returning to a commercial of an image of the world’s saddest sea otter on the TV staring at me. The commercial voiceover went on to explain that “if you suffer from depression, then you should consider XX medication.”

Oh hey television, just because I’m home on a rare Saturday evening, that means that I am single, lonely, and suffering from depression? Fine, judge me all you want. But why did you have to bring the sad sea otter into all of this?