Cheers to 2012

Quick! Someone pinch me!
 
Maybe it's the insight that comes with age, but every year really does seem to get better and better for me. If the first couple weeks are any indication, 2012 is likely to be simply divine.
 
In all of the life categories that matter, I feel on top of the world. My family is healthy and happy. My friends and social life are vibrant and fulfilling. My work is better than ever. And even my dating life, invariably the question mark, might even be leading all of those categories.
 
In the last month, my work has taken me on quite a ride. Some weeks it seems surreal to be bouncing from some of the world's best cities. Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, London, and of course the city where my heart lives, New York.
 
As I walked back to my hotel from dinner tonight down the streets of London soaking in every bit of of the charm and sophistication this city exudes, I had one of those moments where you just want to take a mental snapshot so you can remember every detail. Quite simply, I just wanted to freeze time to make sure I didn't lose a single second or detail.
 
So cheers to 2012. May it be the best year yet in this crazy, wonderful, mysterious Life After Athens.
 
JLH

Damn Good Dawg

It is a day of truly mixed emotions for the Bulldog Nation.  

On the one hand, it’s the beginning of Clean Old Fashioned Hate Week, one of my favorite of the year. 
  
With Georgia’s win Saturday against Kentucky, we clenched as Eastern Division SEC Champions.  Our beloved head football coach, Mark Richt, began the season with many doubters, but has replaced all doubt with renewed energy and excitement for the program.
 
But even with all this, today marks a day of great sadness for all those who bleed red and black.  Our venerable announcer and famed college football broadcaster Larry Munson died yesterday.

He holds a place of incredibly high esteem in the hearts of all Georgia fans.  If you asked fans who in the history of the program best represented the UGA spirit, I suspect you’d hear Munson’s name more than any player or coach.  He was legendary long before he died, and even before he retired in 2008 at age 86.

Munson’s calls were the kind that transported you just by listening to them.  Though some of his most remembered calls were made before I was born, you can still feel the energy and passion just by listening to them.  Run, Lindsay Run.  My God a freshman.  Sugar falling out of the sky.

I was lucky enough to have met Larry Munson a handful of times while I worked for the UGA Athletic Association as a student worker in college.  I was luckier still to have been a freshman still soaking in Georgia tradition when Munson made his infamous Hobnail Boot call.  I remember what it was like to watch a Georgia game with the sound all the way down while listening to Munson, and for that, I’m grateful.

Though we knew this day was coming, I cried when I heard about his passing nonetheless. For a man larger than life, this news struck me as nothing less than personally devastating.

Larry Munson, damn good Dawg, you will be missed.

JLH

Sometimes, a girl just needs to vent. A few things that bug me:

• People who claim they listen to any kind of music "except country"
  
  
• Misuse of there, their and they're
  
  
• Toms shoes
  
  
• Subway panhandler sob stories and how they always begin with "Attention ladies and gentlemen" and end with "God bless you all"
  
  
• Anything Florida Gator
  
  
• Ugg boots on anyone older than 15 or younger than 11
  
  
• People who wear sweat pants, yoga pants or any workout gear to airports or on planes
  
  
• Anyone who says they could never live in NYC and has never even been to the city
  
  
• The feeling the morning after going out when you realize you can't account for the last of the cash in your wallet
  
  
• That fully half of the recently tagged photos of me on Facebook were taken in wedding photo booths
  
  
• How I'm starting to sound like my parents when I make statements about things that happened 10 years ago in college and how it feels like just yesterday
  
  
• Every Old Navy commercial
  
  
• When my DVR doesn't record House because the baseball game ran long
  

JLH

My Longest Relationship

How fitting it is that when I refer to my longest relationship, I am talking about my city and not a man.

It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years today since I arrived in New York on a one-way ticket with just four suitcases.

While it wasn't exactly love at first sight, it was pretty close. And like any other relationship, we've had our ups and downs-- New York and I-- but we've also grown to love each other.

I know you're thinking that a city can't love someone, but you'd be wrong. This city has a way of drawing you in like few other places I've ever been.

It's that electric, indescribable feeling you get just walking down the street. Or the undeniable energy you can sense all around you. It's the little moments, hard to describe but impossible to ignore.

I think this one's a keeper.

JLH

Pardon My Absense

You'll have to excuse my hiatus from blogging. But really, would you bother blogging if this was your view from the back deck of your house in the Hamptons while you vacation for a week? Yeah, me neither.

JLH

Top 10: Ways You Can Tell I am OLD

Y’all. I am getting OLD! (Related: I turn 28 in two weeks. YIKES!)

So, here is a top 10 list of ways I can tell I’m getting old.

10. No one cards me anymore. Not at the liquor store... Not at the bar... Not at a restaurant in Georgia where they are required by law to card anyone under 35.

9. My roommate who is moving out is having a relaxing dinner with girlfriends for her birthday instead of the bar crawl we had originally planned.

8. They aren’t even doing bouquet tosses or garter throws at the weddings I attend anymore because NO ONE is single!

7. I am getting sappy. I cry when I watch Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition. Watching my best friends get married? Forget about it.

6. I’m always in bed by 10 p.m. on weeknights. Worse, I feel it when it’s later.

5. I find serious joy in making homemade hummus and trying new recipes.

4. The highlight of my week so far was finding the perfect antique secretary for my living room.

3. My doorman is seriously concerned for my welfare whenever I come home after midnight...
weekends included.

2. My most exciting plans this weekend are a golf lesson and a trip to the flea market.

1. It’s really more about quality than quantity of wine these days. That pretty much says it all.

And yet, I still somehow hold the reputation for being the wild one with many of my friends from back home in Georgia. If you ask me, that just sounds like a challenge.

JLH

Single and Complete

I have always identified myself, however incorrectly perhaps, as contently self sufficient. Even when in a relationship,I'm so stubborn that I find it difficult to escape my own irrational independence.

But I really do enjoy it being just me.

My plans are often made at a moment’s notice, because there is no one to check with or answer to.

My goals, ambitions, desires and self satisfaction all belong to and rely solely on me, because there isn’t anyone else to account for.

But yet it still bothers me that the first question people often ask when they haven’t seen me for a while is Are you in a relationship?

I feel like screaming, YES! I’m in dozens of relationships every day of the week! You see, they’re called friends. And colleagues. And Family. And my doorman and dry cleaner and manicurist and golf instructor. And yes, too, the men I date.

My life is abundantly full with so many people and the uniqueness that each of those relationships bring to me.

So why all the focus on finding someone to marry once you reach my age? Surely no one I know would argue that life suddenly holds more meaning the day you start wearing a wedding band, least of all my married friends themselves, I’d suspect.

I know my fellow single friends can commiserate with me when I say that I don’t understand the condescension I still face from people who suggest that single folks are somehow incomplete. I know they mean well when they make comments about how there are PLENTY of men out there who’d be LUCKY to be with me.

If only you weren’t so picky….

You’ll meet a guy when you’re least expecting it…

If you’re just happy with yourself, love will come to you…


Excuse me while I barf at all of these implications, even some that I have subscribed to in the past, but WHAT A BUNCH OF NONSENSE!

I’ll say it again. My life is abundantly full with so many people and the uniqueness that each of those relationships bring to me.

And I’m thankful for this article that reminded me how true that is.

JLH

Sexting Summer

Dating is so strangely seasonal in Manhattan. Almost every year since I’ve lived here, my dating life has followed seasonal patterns that include a major spike once the weather gets warm and near hibernation in the winter months.

So it was no surprise really that my dating, and particularly first dates, have picked up recently with the arrival of summer. But similar to much of my dating past, this dating season hasn’t been without its follies.

By way of providing a bit of background, I’ll let the record show that I would hardly consider myself a prude. I’m comfortable having intimate conversations with friends and regularly serve as a sounding board for friends who are too embarrassed to have conversations about their sex life with other people.

That said, I’m also still a Southerner at heart and there are just some things better left unsaid, as I still prefer at least some degree of mystery to remain in my dating life, especially with a new guy.

Enter my most recent first date. He was everything I’d hope to find in a NYC guy. He’s handsome, smart, charming, witty, incredibly confident and is even from Virginia-- a quasi-Southern boy!

So, you can imagine that I’d be excited after a very fun and comfortable first date last Friday.

But then shit got weird.

This is where maybe I clam up and start hearing my mom warning me about men not wanting to buy the cow when they get the milk for free. Or whatever... I’ve never been one to get too wrapped up in silly, old fashioned constraints like that.

This is also where where insight from a slutty 15 year old might prove helpful, because I was feeling a lot of pressure to have regular “sexting” sessions with this guy. He wanted to talk dirty, and definitely expected me to reciprocate.

When I’m tipsy on a Saturday night, I can see where that could be fun, at least with someone I was comfortable with and had had more than one date. It’s possible that I’ve lost touch, but his expectations and definition of normal simply did not match up with my own when it came to this particular issue.

So here I am, single in the city again. At least it’s summer and I’m sure to meet my next summer love soon.

JLH

A Day at the Beach

As summer officially kicked off this weekend with Memorial Day, a few friends and I packed our beach towels and umbrellas and headed to Long Beach.

Before my first trip to Long Beach, I had visions of hoards of Jersey Shore wannabes taking over the beach. Except for the average number of tattoos per person resting squarely in the 4.3 range, it’s a delightful place for an easy beach day for those city kids looking to escape the Manhattan heat.

For my NYC friends who haven’t been, here’s what you need to know:

-Take the LIRR from Penn Station to Long Beach. Select the getaway package, and the total cost will be only $21 including round trip train tickets and a one day beach permit. Bought separately, this would be $36, so it’s a great deal.

-When you arrive, there is a Five Guys, a grocery store and a few other places to pick up snacks, drinks or something for lunch.

-While they do allow food and coolers on the beach, alcohol is strictly prohibited and there are patrollers actively looking out for this and issuing citations.

-We took the 8:45 a.m. train and arrived on the beach just before 10. We had our pick of spots on the beach, which was rather crowded by noon.

-Umbrellas and chairs are available for rent on the beach or you can pick up that stuff in the Penn Station KMart like my friends did ($17 to buy an umbrella vs $15/day to rent one).

Let’s go to the beach!

JLH

How to Survive the Sweltering NYC Summer

I moved here in late summer 2008. When I arrived, it was hot, sticky and humid, and I was consistently uncomfortable.

I soon realized this was because New York, as a city, doesn’t really do central air conditioning. Apartments are equipped with shoddy window air conditioners that are both noisy and inefficient. Stores just keep their doors open for relief from the intense heat of the concrete jungle to save money from running A/C. Subway cars are supposedly cooled, but it’s often not enough and that certainly doesn’t save you from the intense stuffy heat that is a NYC subway platform during the summer.

So here it is, my humble guide to how I manage the city’s summer heat for those who can’t spend the entire summer in the Hamptons.

1. Take the bus. They have some of the best cooling going in the city, and aren’t packed like the subway, which I actively avoid during the entire summer.
   
   
2. Leave yourself extra time and walk slowly. New Yorkers are constantly in a hurry, and thus can be seen walking in a pace that is akin to a healthy jog wherever they go. SLOW DOWN and you won’t be quite as hot.
   
   
3. Walk on the shady side. The skyscrapers provide tons of shade, and typically one side of the street offers more shade than the other depending on time of day. Avoid the sunny side, and you’ll stay much cooler. I cross the street A LOT during the summer.
   
   
4. Eat cold foods. I swap my regular joe for iced coffee and smoothies* or yogurt for oatmeal. I avoid turning on the oven and even the stove when the mercury rises above 80.
   
   
5. Take cool showers and skip the hair dryer. I’m addicted to drying my hair, but on the hottest days, even I will let mine air dry. It’s the only way I show up to the office without being an over-heated hot mess.

See everyone at Boat Basin and Frying Pan because summer is officially here! Stay cool this summer, NYC!

*JLH's Favorite Smoothie Recipe
Handful of frozen fruit of your choice (I like raspberries and strawberries)
A couple heaping tablespoonfuls of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt (like Fage)
1 banana, cut into 5-6 pieces
Orange juice as needed for liquid
Blend and enjoy! I find that using frozen fruit instead of adding ice makes it really creamy and gives great flavor.

JLH