by Meggin Sanez

You know it’s wedding season when you can’t bear the thought of opening your mailbox because of the plethora of invitations to various bridal showers, lingerie showers and couples showers (the list goes on) that do nothing but serve as a chilling reminder of your single status.  And need I even mention the debilitating fear of logging into Facebook and having your mini-feed bombarded with pictures of dazzling rings along with black and white stills of your friends donning full bridal garb in windblown fields at sunset?  It kinda goes without saying that all of this can be a bit depressing when you can’t even get a man to commit to a cup of coffee with you, let alone a lifetime of wedded bliss.

I’ve been there.  And as a single girl who has been single long enough to make becoming either a lesbian or a nun look like better options than retiring alone with 80 cats in a house that the neighborhood children run past on their way home from school, I feel your pain.  But just because everyone around you seems to be getting married and settling down doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world because you aren’t.   I may not have found my prince charming yet, but I have taken notes along the rose petal covered paths of others.  To get more specific on my findings, here are a few things I’ve learned whilst wearing the title of bridesmaid:

Lesson #1:  Being jealous gets you nowhere.  If your attitude matches the exact same disgusting shade of the kelly-green chiffon bridesmaid dress you are being forced to wear on a friend’s (well maybe ‘friend’ is too kind a moniker for a person making you wear such a monstrosity) big day, you are sure to look worse than you originally thought—as it turns out, jealousy is a look worn well by no one. I’ve attended too many weddings to count minus a plus one…and I’ll be the first to tell you that it can be tough to kick back and watch as swarms of happy couples dance around you.  But one thing I’ve learned is that being jealous does you no good.  It is just downright exhausting to throw yourself a pity party when you could actually be partying at the reception.  As corny as it may sound, positivity is one of the most attractive things about someone.  So why waste a perfectly good opportunity to enjoy your favorite cocktails and delicious cake on someone else’s dime?  Put a smile on that pretty face and you never know…you may just catch the bouquet…and maybe even a cute single groomsman!

by Selam Aster

It’s amazing how I never grow tired of Sex and The City reruns. Each time I watch an episode from the iconic HBO show about four thirty-somethings figuring out their romantic lives in the Big Apple, I either learn something new or a lesson will further resonate with me. In the early years of the show, the narratives spoke to the universal struggles of love and dating but once SATC hit the big screen, all truths went out the window in favor of movie fluff. Oh well, that’s why we have the show. Nothing can replace the clever and smart writing of the series and the way it integrated the Manhattan city landscape into so many of the scenes.  Aside from heightening my appreciation for HBO, SATC also taught me a lot about dating, relationships, ageing and the universal struggles of city women everywhere. Here are just a few: