When my editor first gave me the thumbs up on doing a dating column, I solicited advice from friends on what to write about, and Eric in Colorado shot back a text saying: “Romance on the Road!” But, although work takes me anywhere from Denver to Denmark these days, and I have an excessive amount of travel time, I have decided to let my online musings stretch beyond the sporadic trysts of a frequent flyer.

Drawing on my own hard-learned experience, I’ll give you a sassy single woman’s two cents on everything from whether it is okay to date your friend’s ex (she never really liked him anyway!) to whether or not size matters if he’s willing to work really hard at it—and other wringers that may not see that crucial but can prove life-defining when you’re single!

I used to think that the whole dating and mating thing wasn’t all that hard: You go out with a guy who chats you up at the gym while doing bicep curls, and after a few dates the two of you decide to be exclusive. About a year (and a ring) later you end up with a man as sweet and loyal as your dad. Right? Guess again.

Following some elaborate trial and error I have discovered that love is a puzzle, and not one that’s easily solved. It seems to be on everyone’s mind, especially in the springtime when people like to get all fun and flirty! Those who don’t have it want it. Those who have it (good) step it up to let their significant other know how much they care. And, those in doubt sneak wishful glances at their single friends, thinking how easy life was back when they could do shots with colleagues in some illicit dive bar and flirt with the bartender all night, no questions asked.

I belong to the first category. At 30-something I figure it’s not a bad time to take inventory of my life and try to figure out what I really want in the love department. I live in a posh apartment in a nice neighborhood and have plenty of great friends, as well as leftover change to go snowboarding in the wintertime and Euro-cationing in the summertime, and hit Vegas for some spa time in between.

You could say that I’m working my dream job, and all the more reason for me to put some serious effort into figuring out these matters of the heart and balancing things out. So, click onto The Independent every other week to read my R-rated column on courting, dating, hooking up, and falling in love.

And, remember, as Rachel said in (500) Days of Summer,, “Just because some cute girl (or guy!) likes the same bizarro crap you do doesn’t make her your soul mate.”

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