A Little Sunshine Goes a Long Way

On Friday night I went to a fun girls dinner at San Marzano, a spot in the LES that has a $30 all you can eat pizza/drink wine pre fixe. Not nearly as rowdy as the Sushi Kumo experience, but it was still great. Three words: truffle oil pizza. Mmm.

We were also celebrating one of my fave gal pals M's new job. (M is a former sorority girl from a big Southern school too, and when she told me the news, the Woo Girl celebration was a bit much for the tiny restaurant. Oh well.)

Unfortunately, as much as we wanted to have a crazy night with the girls, we were both fighting the Fadeout Fear. M does not tolerate that BS, and she reminds me that I shouldn't either. Downing wine when you're antsy and annoyed has a tendency to propel you toward some closure. Two text messages later, we were both done.

Now that The BFF is coupled up, M has turned into my go to wingman . Not only is she pretty and fun (pre-recs), but she's the most over-achieving dater I've ever met. Seriously, just hearing about her social life exhausts me. That being said, I'm hoping some of her dating ambition will rub off on me.

Especially considering we're embarking on the greatest time of the year: Pre-Summer. Pre-Summer is the time when it warms up to sundress and Frying Pan weather before everyone heads out of the city each weekend. Basically May 1 through Memorial Day. Much like all those years growing up, we're waiting for school to be out. Except now we have jobs that don't end just because warm outside. (Depressing.)

This fleeting time is perfect for roof top happy hours (and hopefully building up the roster), but even the simple things like leaves and flowers, puppies and babies, sunshine and blue sky make everything better. Sometimes you just have to surround yourself with that and then the world seems a little happier.

I didn't take this pic because I'm lazy, but this is literally
the corner of the park where we were. Google is magic.

And that's exactly what we did on Sunday. After M and I had (brunch and) 16 Handles, we laid in the grass in Tompkins Square park listening to random live music. (I also talked about how 20 years ago we never would have been there because that park was known for being full of heroin shooting homeless people. Thanks, gentrification, for making our time there possible.)

Maybe it was the inner Austin hippie in me, but that's just what I needed to salvage the first Pre-Summer weekend. And the fro-yo helped. That was a good call.

P dot S: M shared this with me yesterday, it's great: Open Letter to the Men I've Casually Dated