Heather is a contributing editor at the-dah. She is a Los Angeles based writer, improviser, snacker, social media mistress, and aspiring adult. Read more of her food-stained stories about growing up weird at Terrible-Twenties.com, or follow her digital alter ego @MissHezah on Twitter.
I’ll never forget the day I discovered that the last scene in Sleepless in Seattle was filmed on a sound stage. Remember that scene? It’s iconic. After months of admiring from afar, Meg Ryan is finally united with Tom Hanks– the widow with a heart of gold– and his precocious son at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day. Watching that scene is basically the best thing that can happen to your insides.
I’ll never forget that day because it’s the same day I visited the Empire State Building.
In the last couple years I have actively been trying to pursue storytelling. It’s a great medium for writers who like to perform, but aren’t necessarily actors, which is something my mother might contest to having had to raise a very dramatic child.
Storytelling is scary! You have to get up in front of strangers and tell/remember all the words to a very personal and true story.
It’s even more nerve-wracking when you try to do The Moth, a monthly live storytelling event in multiple cities that’s also an NPR radio show. It’s so anxiety inducing because you basically have to come fully prepared to tell a five minute story on the selected topic, but you might not get to go. The 10 Moth storytellers are chosen from a bag, where you have to put your name in for a chance at the spotlight.
The first time I tried to get up, I did, because you know beginners luck. I have gone several times, since seeking that high I achieved the first time. In fact, I came ready to spill my guts three times with no dice. Even though I left feeling disappointed, I also felt a little relieved. Hey, I tried, ya know?
This past Tuesday, I tried for the fourth time in a row, and finally got up for my second time, six months after the first.
Michelle Higa Fox and Stuart Higa Fox, center, in their home in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They are flanked by their roommate Ege Soyuer, left, with Merlin, Mrs. Fox’s corgi, and their former roommate Theodore Przybyla, who now lives in the apartment upstairs. Credit: Karsten Moran for The New York Times
My answer: Only if I really had to!
I came across this article from the New York Times real estate section, profiling several married couples living in New York…with roommates.
Anywhere else in the country and you’d find it a little strange. The first few years of marriages are for Sunday mornings spent in bed, binge watching TV on the couch, walking around in your underwear, and general stewing in the marital soup of each other before you become too comfortable with each other or children appear, whichever comes first. It’s not, stereotypically speaking, an extension of your college/post-college experience, roommates and all.
But in New York, it makes sense, and it’s possibly the smartest decision. It seems like a huge reach for a married couple to afford rent on their own AND save for the future. Perhaps the only way to save for a house is to live with others, if you want to live in NYC of course, which I don’t blame you.
I live in LA and have a pretty sweet set up with my boyfriend. It’s a two bedroom, two bathroom spacious place in a rent stabilized building. We won’t be moving until we buy a house. I haven’t had a roommate since I was 23 years old, and I can’t imagine doing it again, especially if I was married, even if I lived in NYC.
Could you?
Postcards aren’t enough anymore! We’re looking for high production value people!!
Ok, but honestly, this is so cute, and probably so fun for their friends and family. Also, possibly the best par, it’s totally eco-friendly. No one feels pressure to keep it lingering on the fridge for X amount of months, and then weird guilt when you inevitably toss it in the trash because what else are you going to do with it.
Bottom line: YAY for creative wedding messaging!
Ever get tired of swiping left or right through a sea of people in your city who have been narrowed down only by an age range? Let’s get more specific shall we?
As always, the Internet has come to our rescue. Here are some incredibly specific dating sites to meet all your individual needs.
EquestrianCupid.com
Unclear whether you can sign up to find someone else who has horse posters all over their room, or if you can match with an actual horse.
This is what a male feminist looks like.
I’m not talking about a guy who just believes in you and is cool with you having a career. I’m talking about a guy who actively fights for women’s right in his daily life. If my my boyfriend wore a bra, he would 100% take it off and burn it at a rally to send a message. These are things about him that confirm my suspicions that I am in love with a feminist.
I do not know this person. LinkedIn is officially not safe.
Perhaps at some point I accepted an invitation to connect with this man because we are relatively in the same industry, but I do not personally know this person. We have never met.
I don’t know about all you other professional adult people but, I’m on LinkedIn to engage in business. I’m there to make new connections, explore new opportunities, and gauge movement my industry.
I’m not there to flirt. (Even if I am the biggest one I know, I understand boundaries.)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/
Oh happy day! Finally a refreshing piece on why dating is so broken, from a MAN. A real man.
The conversation around the ills of modern dating seems to skew very feminine. It feels like women are the only ones brave enough to honestly question the current romantic climate. The result is the sad, desperate girl narrative, of which we’re all too aware. What’s wrong with me? What am I doing wrong? Am I just choosing the wrong men?
Finally, a man has spoken up! In his piece, “Is Your Boyfriend Muscle Out of Shape,” on NYMag’s The Cut, Jeff Wilser publicly questions his serial dating behavior. At 38, he finds himself repeating the same patterns and bad habits and wondering, “Is it me?”
Yessir. It is you! Thank you.
Yesterday the Internet broke over #THEDRESS, leaving co-workers, friends, families, and lovers divided over what color the damn dress was.
Were you and your significant other on the same page? Did someone sleep on the couch? Here’s what #THEDRESS says about your relationship:
Floyd and Violet Hartwig died hand-in-hand after 67 years of marriage. (Cynthia Letson/ABC News)
It’s a bittersweet real life Nicholas Sparks story. Floyd and Violet Hartwig died just five hours apart on February 11th. Violet has been suffering from dementia for a few years when Floyd went into kidney failure and was given two weeks to live. Their daughter made accommodations for the couple to share a hospice room and, when the time coming for for Floyd to go, she placed her parents’ hands together. Although Violet was not coherent, her family told her of Floyd’s passing. Five hours, she joined her husband.
Amongst the barrage of divorce statistics, celeb break up news, and cheating scandals, it’s refreshing to know that true, lasting love and respect still show a glimmer of hope. Thank you Floyd and Violet!
Read the whole story at ABC!
Oh boy, oh boy. You think you’ve seen it all with wedding invites until you’ve seen this one:
Thankfully, this did not go out to the entire guest list, but rather two people in particular…the bride’s parents.
According to the Daily Mail, Aussie based Alyssa Pearce, 23, posted the un-invitation on Reddit before her wedding to husband Alex, 28, last year. Obviously, this went viral. How could it not? In the original post Alyssa offered some context that a family dispute, due to a contentious relationship with her father, had driven her to run away from home at the age of 16.
This some honest, real talk. Valentine’s Day candy is some of the best holiday candy around (short of Easter’s mini-eggs more on that in a couple weeks) and isn’t that reason enough to have a good time on February 14th? It is for me.
I am telling my boyfriend to shoo (after we’ve exchanged loving cards, kisses and purposeful, “I love you.”) in favor indie rom coms and MUCHO candy with my best friend. That’s how you do a Hallmark holiday.
If that also sounds like a great idea that you want to steal, go right ahead. Here is a great list of movies to watch from Vulture. But choosing the right candy from all the options at CVS? That’s tough. Here are my top picks:
See’s Chocolates
Maybe it’s because they remind me of being a kid, but mostly it’s because you can waltz in to any store and handpick and entire one-pound box of chocolates. You want only ooey-gooey carmels, YOU GOT IT BABE.