One of my favorite scenes in Love Actually is when Mark (Andrew Lincoln) brings cue cards over to Juliet (Keira Knightly’s) character’s house and confesses how he feels about her on her doorstep. Is it wrong? Most would probably say so. She’s married to his best friend. But it’s brutally honest. And as I was watching the romantic comedy the other night, I couldn’t help but think… why aren’t we all showing up with cue cards at each other’s doorsteps more often? Why do we hold so much of how we . . .
How to Date On a Budget (and why it’s more romantic to!)
A while back I spoke with a guy who said he’s not dating because it’s too expensive. “It’s not the same for women,” he said. “You just have to show up and everything’s paid for.” His first point was valid. In Orange County a cocktail alone can cost upwards of $18 and a ticket to a movie, $22. (Fun Fact: when I first moved to the OC and went to a matinee alone, I was sure the cashier misheard me and rang me up for two tickets when he told me the cost. “I just need one,” I reiterated. “That is . . .
Second Chances: Can An Ex Change His or Her Stripes?
In our friendships, we forgive and forget all the time, but when it comes to our exes is it good or bad to give second chances? I’m someone who has gotten back together with exes more times than I care to admit. As an inherently nostalgic person, I tend to remember the good, totally forget the bad, and it’s not until I’m back in the relationship again that I think: oh yeah, I remember why this didn’t work out. I think this is because I’ve been fortunate enough to never have had a really . . .
How Being a Diehard Nicholas Sparks Fan Landed Me in the Hospital
To say I’m a Nicholas Sparks fan girl is an understatement. As most of you know, I up and moved across the country to the setting of his novels to write the first draft of Waiting at Hayden’s. So during my recent book tour, where I traveled through the South and then the East Coast introducing shopfiction™ to bookstores, I knew I had to stop in his hometown. The drive there was filled with excitement. And lots of missed exits and wrong turns (hence why I ended up having my sister’s friend, . . .
Heartbreak: Why It’s Okay (and Important) to Risk it Again
The other week, while traveling on my book tour, I fell for somebody. It was one of those instant, mutual connections—the kind you don’t have to question, or ask your best friend: what do YOU think about him? I love anything in life that doesn’t need to be questioned, because I am naturally someone who questions everything. (The other week I was in an online chat with someone in tech support for GoDaddy, and after three hours going back and forth with the guy about a problem with my website, I . . .
In Today’s Day and Age Can Love Last a Lifetime?
This summer, according to Instagram, every single twenty-eight-year-old girl got married. Except for me—and a few of my single girlfriends. “I thought I’d be married at twenty-two,” one of my friends lamented to me the other day on the phone. “And have at least three children by twenty-eight.” Yes, I thought. We all did, didn’t we? That was back when we were ten and twenty-two seemed like several lifetimes away (or at least after a shit ton of summer breaks and Christmases). Now, I can’t . . .