Venus Trapped in Mars Sports and Lifestyle Blog Dallas

14 May 2014

Dear Match.com,


Hi there! In case you don't remember me (I'm sure you get a lot of love notes) we worked together back in January! I am writing you today because I am a hopeless romantic looking for love, but not the kind of love that match.com offers... yet. 

I am hopelessly searching for my new bestie, my BFF, my partner-in-crime, my some day maid-of-honor. I say hopelessly because last night as I sat on the couch with my two pups watching reruns of Real Housewives of NYC for the hundred millionth night in a row, I started to give up hope. Hopeless is what I felt. 

Over a year ago I picked up and moved, all by myself, from Tennessee to Dallas, Tx for a great job offer. I had no doubt in my mind that cultivating new friendships would be a breeze. I mean, I’m bubbly, I’m outgoing, I have a smile that rarely leaves my face and I love to make new friends, how hard could this be?

It was my very first week at my new job when I was already feeling bummed out. The company I was working for consisted entirely of middle-aged men. “Do you think any of these old dudes want to hit up that Topshop event at Northpark with me next Tuesday?” I laughed to myself.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and I was still shopping solo at Anthro.

I joined my college’s local alum club and would go watch our school’s football game each Saturday with them. By them, I mean my grandparent’s classmates because that is who attends alum watch parties. I remember back in my day at Tennessee…… 

More weeks to months, and I was still enjoying a glass of happy hour vino, solo.

I signed up for meetup.com, which was everyone's suggestion for me. As I scrolled through mommy meetup after mommy meetup, I finally landed on something called the DFW Nightlife group. Well that sounds like me, I thought, and nervously clicked "I will attend." The event was an art fair on the outskirts of downtown. I had posted a note on the group discussion board,"Hi! I'm sorry, I'm new to this whole thing, so I again apologize if this is a dumb question, but where is it that we all meet? And exactly what time? Is there a leader I need to find?"

Someone posted back and said, "How about 7:30 at that 7-11 on Elm? We can go from there."

Relieved and thankful for a plan, my nerves somewhat subsided. I arrived at the 7-11 at 7:31, and all I saw was a guy laying on a sleeping bag next to a trash bag full of soda cans. As I always do when I'm nervous, I checked my phone, I had 9 notifications from meetup.com.

I kid you not, every message went a little something like, "Not going to make this one. Sorry guys! Have fun without me!" Or, "Running about an hour and 45 minutes late, I'll just come find you guys when I get there."

When the thought crossed my mind to ask the soda can man if he was with the meetup group, I decided the safer thing to do was just go home and watch Real Housewives with the dogs. Solo. 

I am a blogger. I started Venus Trapped in Mars about a year ago, and it went from a hobby, to a huge passion, to now a gigantic source of new and very real friendships all over the world. Bloggers go out on what we call, “blates,” or blogger dates!

Some girls go on a first blate with a blogger that lives in the same city. Many (yes, I said many) even form such meaningful, and deep friendships with another blogger that they hop on a plane, without giving it a second thought, and spend a week with a girl they only know via the internet. And guess what we all think when we see these cross country blates occur? We don't think they're crazy, nope, not one bit. We think, "Ahh cute! I am so jealous, I can't wait to do this with my blogging bestie one day!" 

Thanks to blogging, I now have a bestie to go to anthro with, and a bff to go to happy hour with, but I always want more so I have someone to go to the gym with and someone else to go see the Rangers play the Sox with, and a wing-girl to go to your match.com stir events with! That is the beauty of female friendships, you can never have too many, the search never ends.

This brings me to my reason for writing you today. Females can and do successfully meet other females online.  It isn’t intimidating, it isn’t stressful, it isn’t even hard work or a lot of effort; it’s natural.

You see a girl’s picture, you read her bio, she’s flipping hilarious. As you read on, you quickly realize you love the same things, share the same passions. So what do you do? Well, naturally you leave her a comment professing your OHEMGEELove for this chick you didn’t know existed 30 minutes earlier. All of those high school feelings girls seem to hold on to, “oh she won’t like me because *insert dumb reason here*,” just don’t seem to exist on the internet. Before you know it you’re on gchat messaging back and forth, exchanging phone numbers and eventually, meeting face to face! Easy as that.


But here is the problem, unless you’re a blogger, this friend wonderland fairytale doesn’t exist. So, match.com geniuses, with your help, I want to partner up and bring this idea to every single girl with an Internet connection. Sure, I could've just privately emailed you all with this proposal, and I still will send an email with more details of what I'm thinking..... BUT....

BUT if I had simply done that, then how would I have gotten you to scroll down and read the comments below from all of the girls just like me (or maybe nothing like me, sort of like me, older than me, younger than me, with more kids than I have, with husbands, without husbands, with boyfriends, without boyfriends, from Dallas, from Australia, from England, from Bettytonvilletownburg, from Canada, without dogs, with dogs, new to a city, not new to a city) that have made very very real friendships on the internet, thanks to blogging.



(Ok friends... that's your cue, leave a comment with your story. Help yo sistah out!) 



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78 comments :

  1. Not quite through blogging, but I met one of my closest pals through Twitter! We joined the same Twitter chat for a few weeks, and next thing we knew, we were Facebook friends. Then we exchanged phone numbers. Then I was driving 8 hours to meet her and stay with her for an extended weekend. A few short months later, she was making the same drive in the opposite direction to stay with me. I'll be venturing back for the 4th of July with her. We joked that we were probably never supposed to meet because we were living parallel lives to one another, but I'm so glad we did.

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  2. Love this! I totally feel you. I'm not new to the city, but I've gone through changes (like getting married) and seen other friends go through changes (like getting married or moving away) and I'm constantly wishing I had the steady stream of friends I did in college and high school. I've yet to have my first blate (insert sad face) but I think it's awesome how we form friendships from blogs. I'm here if you ever want to grab a drink or go shopping! :)

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  3. YES x 50! I'm not a troll and I like to take shots...how hard is it to make a friend 'round here post-college?? You've got a grand idea - whatever you need, I'm in!

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  4. I just moved to a new city a year ago, I work from home and have a 4 year old kid so making friends isn't easy for me. Where do you go to meet new people in a new town? I think the biggest hindrance to me meeting new people is the tourist and transient population in my area. There are only about 22,000 full time residents but there are 320,000 tourists here during the summer. So meeting a local person and connecting is next to impossible. I've looked for local to me bloggers but no luck. I think that match.com offering friendship connections is a FABULOUS idea, I'd join!

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  5. I wish I had some advice, but I'll be in that same boat once I arrive. I'm surprised to hear the college alumni group wasn't a success. I was really relying on meeting people through the LSU group. The one up here in Boston had a ton of 20-30 something's. Hopefully it will be the same in Dallas, I have a feeling. If all else fails, you can put on your purple and gold with me ;)

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  6. I have lived in my city for nearly two years now and I have a whopping one friend. One! It's so hard to meet people. I don't even know where to find them.

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  7. My birthday was a little under a week ago and after finishing finals I relied heavily on my high school besties who proved they have not yet left high school. I was one bummed girl which means this post comes at an absolutely perfect time. I'm in.

    Also as far as seeing the Rangers play the Sox- I'm your girl. Ship on up to Boston. You won't be disappointed in Fenway.

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  8. I am 100% all about this. I want a friend that love electronic dance music as much as me but isn't 18 years old and wearing fluffy boots. I know that person is out there but I don't know how to find them. especially in this day and age we need a way to meet our friend soul mate. we are VERY lucky we met eachother but seriously, there needs to be some way to do this!

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    1. I love electronic dance music!! bet you didn't know that :)

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  9. Even when you aren't new to an area, sometimes you just become a different person from the friends you once had, and you need a little help finding people who are similar to who you are now. I know that I've been going through that since I graduated college in 2010. So far, I've met one person and it's only because I work with her. We also never get to hang out, though, so I'm not sure she even counts. This is a GREAT idea!

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  10. Friends isn't a problem for me right now, but this time next year I'll be moving to a whole different state and I'm so worried about meeting new people! I mean, there will probably be work friends, but I want to meet other people too!

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  11. I meet some of my close friends from all sorts of online things. Sometimes just from facebook groups about being a chihuahua owner, message boards, or instagram car people.
    XO, Ellen from Ask Away
    www.askawayblog.com

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  12. Add in small town woes to this and you have me ... I've made more friends through my internet activities (blogging, photography forums) than in real life since college. Thankfully I still have my close friends from high school & college and a few via current/past employment, but many are busy/have families/moved away to get together often and with the addition of living in a "certified retirement community" and working in another that has lots of restaurants and some bars ... and not much else for 20 and 30 something singles to do. If only more of them here in East Tx blogged ... ;)

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  13. I'm in the same boat and it's so hard. I was actually thinking of doing Meetup, but now I'm scared. People in my area said a good way to meet friends is through exercise classes and that is something I'm seriously thinking about just because I want some friends.

    -Jackie
    http://ournashvilleife.com

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  14. I totally feel you on this one. I moved to Connecticut two years ago, and while I have made lots of acquaintances, I still don't feel like I have any real friends. I thought the same thing as you - I'm nice, I'm friendly, I have buckets of friends from home and from college and from the rest of my life. Then I started this whole adult thing and my social life tanked. I tried Meetup but none of them worked that well for me either. Blogging seriously saved my sanity. Unfortunately all of my blog friends seem to live in Canada, so...that doesn't really help does it?

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  15. Just yes!!!! I moved to a new city three years ago and the only friends that I have made on my own are people that I have met through work. Not until I started blogging last year did I meet anyone that I didn't work with. I have been on a few blates and have found a few girls in my area that I would now consider friends. I would love to have even more friends though! It is so hard to make friends as adults!!! This is a great idea!

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  16. This is beyond genius! This totes needs to happen. I just moved back to Ft Worth for grad school after 3 years away. Sure I've got friends here from undergrad and I've made friends through grad school, but like you said, the search for friends is never over!

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  17. Yes yes yes to all of the above! I'm lucky enough to have a sorority alum group I love, which helped but otherwise? So hard, unless there's people at work you can hang with. This is an awesome idea.

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  18. Ditto to every problem you have experienced/are still experiencing! When did it become so hard to make friends? I was a pro at it in kindergarten! Things can't have changed that much, can they?

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  19. I love this friend connections thing. I hope they make it affordable but I would totally be down!

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  20. I am on the same page for sure. It's even harder when you're not in college where you have day to day classes where you get to mingle with people that have the same major as you.. I've heard people use MeetMe for friends, but as far as success in this app..I'm not sure. But I definitely think there needs to be more access to find friends in new cities that are of the same sex without being in a relationship! If I lived in Dallas, I'd totes be your gym buddy and Rangers date!!

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  21. Love this! I am about to leave my home of 10 years for the bustling DC and I would love a way to meet friends; it gets a lot harder the further out of school and college you get, so I would love something like this! Brilliant!

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  22. Yes this needs to exist! And if I was in Dallas more than twice a year I would totally go to Northpark with you. And that bar on the Katy Trail. That seems like it would totally be my jam!

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  23. Umm, hello genius idea! Making new friends is never easy, I don't care what anyone says. There's always an inherent pressure. 'Will we get along?' 'What if they don't like me?' It's rough.
    I'd love to meet more people my age in my area!

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  24. Love this post Sarah! Also, reading it made me realize I never responded to your email a few weeks ago because I suck. You know I struggled hard with this and after 3 LONG years I've finally reached a happy place in my city but it wasn't without a lot of rough times. What I can say is that once I made 1 good friend, she introduced me to so many other people and it grew from there. So many of my good friends live in Dallas, I'm about to start doing some long distance hookups for you :)

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  25. I can so relate to this! Moving abroad has been a great adventure but I still really miss my girlfriends. I don't think it is too much to ask for just one bff!

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  26. I would LOVE for match.com to make a friendships section! I've made a couple of really great friends since we moved six months ago, but still don't have that core "circle" of people I'd invite over for a party or to go on a weekend trip or something like that. Match.com-- the demand is real! Do it!

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  27. I'm one of those girls who flew halfway across the country to visit a friend who I knew only via blogs/twitter/etc. And she did become a bridesmaid in my wedding because, oh yeah, she introduced me to my now-husband while I was there on that trip. I heart blogging!

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  28. YES! what a bomb idea. Have you read the book MWF seeking BFF? It's about this topic! I'm moving literally across the globe in the fall and I'm SO NERVOUS about making friends, but you're right, the internet always helps!

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  29. I love this! Just moved and it is way harder to find friends than I thought it would be!

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  30. This is great! I've met some great people through blogging, and I would love to meet even more. Instant friends with about a billion things in common is great. Thanks, Internet. And thanks for this post :D

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  31. I totally agree with this! I'm from a small town where everyone knows everyone, and now I live in a city where I don't understand how you meet people. Everyone is so busy with their own lives and no one talks to you out and about and it just seems impossible. People have suggested group fitness classes and as it turns out, people are working out, not talking. I hope you make some waves here and get something started!

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  32. I made a very close friend through YouTubing, so much do that I have gone to visit her and we still talk all the time. The internet is a powerful tool and a great way to make friends.
    In other news, I also met my fiance on the internet. Internet FTW!

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  33. Yep. Couldn't agree more. I moved to Indianapolis for grad school, became friends with the people in my program, and now that we've graduated, they are all moving away and I'm stuck here, friendless and with no idea how to meet new people. My coworkers are great people, but not exactly the kind of people I'd hang out with outside of work. If you aren't in class or a social group, it's nearly impossible to meet new people!

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  34. I've lived in my current city for nearly eleven freaking years and I still struggle with the whole friends thing. It's kind of a bummer sometimes. It wasn't such a bummer when I was married - having a built in pal is kinda fun - but not that I'm not (whomp whomp) it's kind of easy to get into a funk and not have someone to go running with, shopping with, to concerts with, etc.

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  35. The internet is how we make friends these days. I almost think it's safer than meeting someone at a bar. Before you meet them, you know their full name, you can search for a mugshot and court records, and can see their mom's profile, whether or not they're actually in a relationship, have kids, etc. But it's so hard to make friends these days!

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  36. My boyfriend is currently in the process of interviewing for a few jobs that would require moving, and I must say that the making new friends thing is one of the things that scares me the most about the idea. I've had the same group of bffs since I was in elementary school, so as weird as it sounds I haven't had to "try" to find friends in years, the process would be way less daunting with something like this!

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  37. I can totally, totally relate! It is hard to move and I would give anything for match.com for friends. I've tried so many different ways to make friends. I am going to my first blogging meetup on Sunday, though, so I hope that will help!

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  38. Let me know when ya figure it out... lol
    I'm in search of close friend who is driving distance away. UGH!
    A lot harder than it used to be.

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  39. The best way I've met people moving to a new city is joining a kickball league. 7 years later, I am about to leave my current city and I think I might try to do the same thing again - great way to meet a fun group of people who like sports and drinks.

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  40. I've definitely "met" a couple of really good friends through the blogging world, but more so from the Cara Box exchange run by one of the blogs I follow. Though I haven't had the chance to meet any of these women because we live in different cities, I talk to these women all the time and they definitely have been there for me when I needed someone. The blogging community truly is great and I definitely hope to meet some of these women for a blate sometime in the future!!

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  41. Yes to all of the above! I read about all these other blates and wish I had a blogging bff to meet up with or a way to meet more ladies to go to happy hour with or to a concert. I've thought ever since I came across your blog that you and I should be bffs. . . . i mean you have chipper jones on your sidebar . . . what else do I need?

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  42. Holy shit... did you read my blog entry from Sunday and write this? I wrote about this very same thing. I normally surrounded by a huge social circle - I am a "girl's girl" and I love having girlfriends. But lately, it's been really, really hard. I am getting older, as are they, and everyone is getting engaged/married/having babies, growing their own families, and lives of their own. Thus it's made friendships a LOT harder. I thank God for blogging because I have made such awesome friends and supporters. It is the most amazing rool!

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  43. Girlllll I hear you!!! I moved from NY to GA almost 5 years ago and I have yet to make one single friend that I can go to for everything. Yes I have met some really nice people, but nothing like I want, like text/movies/complain/laugh till I cry/just hang with waaaaa. Im going to be 40 and I work with all men, and I am starting to dread weekends because it just means I do nothing all day long. I long for a friendship like you talk about. I have tried Meetup with no success I have even tried Craigslist...again, nothing. So I think this is a great idea.....

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  44. OMG I feel you completely! I'm from Dallas and I've lived here for years but still feel like I'm missing my BFF. I've had multiple friends throughout my life and some I've been friends with for years, but still don't have that friend I talk to on the daily and that's tough because I feel like no one really gets me and knows every part of what's going on with my life except for my husband. I was never the friend everyone wanted to hang out with and fought over. I was the friend who got kicked to the side for another friend. I have friends I call my besties, but mostly because they've known me the longest but they aren't truly invested in a friendship with me. And when I think I found someone I really connect with they fail to write me back, or show that mutual interest in the long haul. I guess I'm always searching for more friends--in the physical world or blogging world!

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  45. YES! blogging friends saved me as I felt isolated in Seattle last year! Love your story!

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  46. Amen. Moving and working from home can change your entire social life into Bravo TV and the dogs. You and I should probably FaceTime on those nights. Meetup was a bust for me, but slowly we are meeting neighbors and really trying. It's a struggle. I'm glad you put this out there. You are VTIMBrave :)

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  47. Seriously this would be the best idea ever! Even though I moved back home after graduation, none of my high school friends did the same, meaning I had to start all over with making friends. I would love to have someone other than my mom to go to movies with or a great group of girlfriends to hit up happy hour with

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  48. I got pregnant and married at such a young age that I lost all my best friends. Its so hard to make friends now that im 27 with 2 kids but I miss girl time A LOT like A LOT A LOT! Hanging with dudes who fart and talk about perverted stuff is not my kind of Friday night...so yes match.com help a chick out!

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  49. ugh i recently tweeted how lonely it is here in LA for me. i moved here years ago and don't have one person i can call up and go hang out with. i live with my boyfriend and we do everything together and that's fine, i love spending most of my time with him. but i need GIRL THINGS. girl friends, girl dates, all that! and i also recently signed up for meetup and it's a giant waste of an app. literally there's barely anything on it and like you said, everyone bails. any event i might have had an interest in only had 1 person attending. sorry, that's creepy to me. so omg i hope Match does something about this!

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  50. Please can this be a thing?! I'm a college girl but most of my classes are online and I work from home so meeting people is extremely difficult! I thought it'd be a breeze (like you!) because I'm bubbly, funny enough (not to toot my own horn, buuuut) + am pretty much up for anything. Yet, when I found a free summertime beauty workshop at a local boutique, I had to pass because I really didn't want to be the loner among girls having fun with their besties. BOO. So, Match.com, PLEASE make this a thing. Like, for real.

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  51. I moved from Karachi to its outskirts nearly four years ago . People and other stuff here was too different than I'd been handling so yeah no success of being at new place. It was so heart breaking because okay, humans are social animals. Now I going back to Karachi and don't really want to experience the past 4 years. Blogging gave me a boost, not only at online presence but at social presence too. Though Almost all the people I know are either American or from other countries, I just feel like home. Being understood.
    If you ever plan to make something "pick a blogger bestie program", I'm in already :)

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  52. I have met people from my Twitter account, G+, strangers from Facebook, moved in with roommates through Craig's List and am all over MeetUp but making adult friends can be like job hunting. Not only is it a challenge to find decent people at the same stage of life but making time to gather with them is also an issue. The challenges mount.

    I went out to join a roller derby league, so try a sports team if you like that sort of thing. I know lots of people but many of them are married and I am single. I have a kid some are childless. I don't drink. I am not 20 something and soon will not be 30something.

    I just saw a post somewhere about a guy who determined to travel and meet all his FB friends or Twitter followers some 400 or so folks.

    If Match does not get back to us about this ladies we could probably create G+ & FB communities to join. Some of us are bound to live close together and others might want to travel. I live in northern California.

    Come visit. I have friends in MI and I loved visting NYC years ago. I want to go again to kick off turning 40 next year! http://toscasac.blogspot.com/2012/04/friendships-for-adults.html

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  53. Love love love this!! I've always thought there should be a site to meet friends! C'mon match.com set this up!!!

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  54. I love everything about this idea!! A couple of years ago I moved back to the area I was raised and quickly realized that all of my friends had gone and gotten themselves married and popped out babies. I haven't seen any of them since moving back and I've been here 3 years now! And my best friend is getting ready to move 11 hours away next month and I'll be all by myself. So I am so on board with this and any ideas for meeting new people and making BFFs.

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  55. I would LOVE a new bestie who is all about fashion, museums and art galleries, and music. Because honestly, I love all of my current friends, but none of them are really into the same things I'm into. And now that I've graduated from college, I'm wondering how one finds new friends out in the real world...

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  56. I have meet SO many people because of blogging. People I consider real friends, even if we live too far apart to go to Angels games together. And since almost all of my local friends moved away, I NEED NEW FRIENDS!

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  57. This is the perfect idea and why hasn't it been done yet? That's sort of what blogging is for those of us who love it, but the problem is when none of the bloggers we love live near us! It would be awesome for a friend match.com!

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  58. If I were from Match.com I'd hire you for this amazing project in an instant. <3

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  59. i'm not one of those girls who's good at cultivating new friendships. i'm better at it than i used to be; twenty years ago, i wouldn't really speak to anyone because i learned it was better to be quiet since the words that came out of my mouth were as awkward and clumsy as i was. and then i went to a women's college, where one of my suite mates could turn ANY conversation to sex and none of them let me be quiet. the girls there, they started chipping away at that shell. i've gotten better. but...

    it'd be nice if it were easier to make friends. good friends. allies. and confidants. and i don't know that i've ever had friends like that.

    it'd be nice if it were easier...

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  60. I love this post!! I'm planning on staying in my college town for the time being, but now that most of my friends are moving back home I don't have a very big friend group anymore, and I know it's going to start feeling lonely any day now. I love this little community blogging creates, and I can't wait until the day it fosters friendships in my life!!

    If I were in charge over at match.com, or any other similar website, I'd hire you in an instant!!

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  61. Totally on board! I have met so many great friends from blogging and other social medial stuff. I am fortunate that TCU had a pretty young alumni base so those events were good for me during my short stint in Austin. But... match.com for women? In! And blate? you/me? soon?

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  62. I moved to Idaho far aware from my friends and family in Michigan and I struggled so hard to make friends here. Since I'm an engineer, I also work with middle aged men and there's an interesting religious dynamic to the community that I don't fit in and which prevents me from hanging out with the younger, and already married, guys at work. I spent a really uncomfortable couple of years, but I finally met the right girl who I instantly decided I had to be friends with. She's so great. She went on a year work assignment out of town and it was like I got sucked right back into a black hole.

    I applaud your efforts to make it easier to find girl friends. It is so important to have at least one.

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  63. Next you need to do a roundup like Sarah at yes and yes: http://www.yesandyes.org/2014/05/may-network-of-nice-hook-ups-yoga.html

    Hi, I'm Mandi, I enjoy (fill in the blank). I'm looking for a friend in (fill in the blank). This is where I blog and here's my email.
    boom bam. connections!

    It is so hard to make friends after college when all of your best friends dispersed.
    If this is something you would really be interested in doing, I would love to help out.

    email me! holmes.mandi@gmail.com

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  64. What a fun idea! I've lived in the Dallas area for a long time, but my husband and I mostly hang out with his friends - I love them, but it's fun to meet new people who like to do other things now and then!

    I'm also new to the blog scene - maybe I'll have luck with blog friends :)

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  65. I moved from Knoxville to Los Angeles so I almost feel like we should be BFFs but the distance wouldn't help you much. The truth is though that meeting new people in the big city is harder than I thought it would be. I worked hard when I first moved here with people my own age, but I was still too tired to go out after working a full night at the Hard Rock Cafe. That being said, I finally did meet my best friends. The story is crazy, but it was definitely worth the wait.

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  66. Loved reading this! I live in Switzerland, so I can't go and see the Rangers with you. But I can certainly relate. I moved from Switzerland to California 13 years ago. Alone. With no job. Not even a Green Card. Imagine how easy it was for me to make new friends. Not.
    I met one nice girl when I signed up for some classes. Maybe that'd be the way to go?

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  67. What if you're a dad blogger who doesn't want to hang out with the 40-somethings you work with? They'll just want to eat wings and drink beer and leer at waitresses. Give me day baseball or a round of disc golf instead.

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  68. Agreed! I moved from my hometown nine years ago, met my husband and now am a 28 year old mom of a one year old. I have friends and probably two that I would consider good friends that live locally. But I am always looking for more. I started up my blog full time in June and there are for sure ten other bloggers that I would love to meet one day. (The chances of me meeting any of my blogging friends is more rare because I'm up North in Canada..) But I hope one day to go on a blate and have it be a success!

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  69. I've always thought this would be a great idea! Making friends in real life is so hard to do. I spend many nights in bed with my dog and my BFF Netflix because I don't have many friends to be social with.

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  70. That would be AMAZING! I'm single in a city with a few friends, but most are married. I'm always the third or fifth wheel, and that gets old. Making new friends randomly isn't easy...and there aren't many bloggers in my city. I fully support your campaign!

    -AJ
    OccasionallyAJ.com

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  71. In my case, I met Melanie through IG out of all places haha. We first went on a blate to have dinner then we went to the movies, then we started going shopping and we don't talk every day but we knew we had a bond somehow. Now a year later we have gotten closer and we booked our rooms together for the Blogcation cruise so we are very excited but it didn't happen overnight.

    I think it's hard to meet people out there but lately I've found that at my current job I've been able to hang out with people close to my age (I'm usually the oldest one) and I found a bestie. She keeps trying to move back to GA where she's from to be closer to family so for now we do a lot of things together including going to lunch together, but I know a time will come when our lives will change, but hopefully not our friendship.

    I had fun with you on our little brunch blate! I just felt like it was too short to be able to do any kind of bonding. Maybe you, Melanie, Helene and I could all get together sometime soon and have a big blogger hangout :)

    I think it also makes it harder when people live further away (me in Plano, you in Deep Ellum) but where there's a will there's a way! I don't want you to feel alone and go solo everywhere. I'm usually free on the weekends, just hit me up :)

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  72. Tell me you have magical powers and are a mind reader? No but really, this is my daily or rather weekly and monthly struggle!!! Currently sitting here looking at a 10 year high school facebook message and wondering how the hell I had so many friends in HS and college and where everyone has gone!? I swear I talk to more bloggers than "real life friends" these days!


    Sincerely, Lonely in Michigan

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  74. Hi Sarah! I just wanted to let you know that I successfully met one of my best girlfriends on Match.com about five years ago.

    I had been finishing out a 90-day Match.com membership and I was simultaneously lamenting the fact that so many of my girlfriends had recently gotten hitched, given birth, or moved out of state in a tidal wave of responsible-qualify-for-home-loan-and-buy-a-diaper-genie Adultdom, leaving me to fend for myself in still-eating-cold-pizza-over-the-sink Singledom.

    Anyhow, long story short, I decided that just because I hadn't met "The One" on Match didn't mean it had to be written off as a total loss. So two weeks before my subscription expired I simply did a search as a "Man looking for a Woman", input all the criteria about geographic proximity, age range, activity level, non-smoking, etc. and viola! I cruised through dozens of profiles for my prospective new lady friends, narrowed it down to a smaller pool of candidates, and sent them each a little note expressing my interest in a platonic friendship.

    The response rate was about 50% (no doubt the non-responsive half either thought I was a total weirdo or took issue with my oft-misunderstood taste in Jean-Claude Van Damme action flicks). In the end, I ended up meeting 2 of the ladies in person (one for barre method class, another for dinner) and we have been friends ever since. One has moved back to Canada for work and the other is now married with her first child (a direct result of letting me auction her off to the highest bidder at a charity date auction 3 years ago - lesson here: let your friends push you outside of your comfort zone).

    So there are happy endings to be had, even if you don't meet the love of your life! You might just meet your future Maid of Honor!

    Good luck!

    Lisa aka the Boss Lady-in-Chief
    thinklikeabosslady.com

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  75. Don't know how I missed this post! You are totally welcome to road trip to San Antonio and stay free in my airbnb guest room (pics in blog)! One long weekend and you will have a San Antonio bestie forevah! Promise we'll have fun! (Not to be a creeper or anything!) You can even bring Veenie and General. Chase and Bandit love other pups.

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