Guilt-Free Gorging

After a brief hiatus, it’s great to be back on the blog track again. As I write, the snow is continuing to fall on top of the 10 inches on the ground. The local meteorologists have already named this the Blizzard of ‘08 and it isn’t through with us yet.

Our local post office has made the decision to break their “whether rain, snow, sleet or hail, the mail will get through” promise and postpone mail delivery until the first of next week. My road is impassable and the drifts are growing rapidly. A neighbor has just knocked at my door to see if I wanted my driveway ploughed, but he can’t do it for free. The price of regular gas yesterday was $3.29 per gallon, but my car can safely wait in the garage for a couple more days with the hope that the cost of filling the tank will decrease.

The cupboard and refrigerator are stocked, my Saturday gig has been canceled and why in the world do I even want to go out anyway? The blanket of snow, or I should say layers of comforters of snow in my yard, actually give me a warm feeling as I watch the flakes get larger, blowing aimlessly in the wind that swirls around my house.

This calls for cuddling up on the sofa with a bag of the latest chocolate/peanut butter chip cookies I discovered at the market. Once again, the benefits of being single come to the surface. It’s cold, I’m snowed in and the cookies are all mine!

You Can Flirt As Much As You Want

So, the here’s the question: Is flirting an art? Let’s take a look at what some experts say. They have actually created flirting tips:

Give Clear Signals
Since your intensions can be easily misconstrued, make sure that you are sincere and clear with who you choose to flirt with and be cautious of how far you’re going as you indulge in flirting just for fun, if you will.

Dress for Success
Your appearance will be the key to how successful your flirting attempts will be, whether it’s your hair, what you’re wearing or even your accessories. Some women say they carry something just to get noticed. Is that how the miniature dog, (pet) thing got started with Paris Hilton?

Keep Your Distance from Your Friends
If you’re planning on making serious moves on a certain someone, the experts say you’ll need to split from your friends or buddy. It’s that three’s a crowd principle.

Use Diplomacy
Maybe you thought he was cute at first. You made your move, said something cute and funny. Then he laughed like a pig and it scared you to death. How you politely walk away and hope that he doesn’t try to approach you later is the defining moment, especially if you have your sites set on someone else.

Use Your Best Voice
Guess this one goes without saying, (no pun intended). It would be interesting to find out if some women actually rehearse in the mirror or record their voice to see if it’s sexy enough.

After finding these tips from the experts of flirtation, it’s evident that yes, flirting is an art. Practice makes perfect!

Planning For the Future

I know, we can’t get the year started without making those good ‘ole New Year’s resolutions. How long do we keep them anyway? For many, the single life is all about discipline and commitment to oneself, so it’s the perfect time to take inventory, reinvent ourselves and get on with life.

What can we do different this time? Does it always have to be a new diet or exercise resolution? Why not make a list of dreams, wishes or financial goals? If you’re working hard at building wealth, what can you add to the plan to give it more muscle? For example: I resolve to stop wasting money on frivolous items that I don’t need and invest it in the future.

Maybe 2008 is the year to focus more on friends and family. Maybe it’s all about balance in our lives. What if the whole world would focus on balance, love and peace~ together? Okay, so I’m getting off of this computer, stop working and starting on that one ~balance~ right now!

Happy New Year, stay strong and I’ll see you in blog land in 2008! Single 101:)

Best Wishes to Single Parents!

Never having been blessed with children of my own, I can’t begin to understand what it feels like during the holidays to be a single parent. Meeting the demands of the regular routine and schedule must be tough enough, let alone the additional stress of shopping, decorating and planning the festivities for Christmas Day.

Attitude, compassion and hope make up a great recipe to survive the holidays as not only a single parent, but a single person. The greatest blessings we have are the people in our lives, our family and friends. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday and I hope this season brings much joy and many reasons to celebrate being single along with those who are special in your life.
Merry Christmas! Single 101:)

Free Drinks in Pubs and Clubs

One of the 101 most popular reasons to celebrate being single includes the advantages of being unattached when you’re partying in pubs and nightclubs. Whether it’s Happy Hour, Ladie’s Night or a free drink for singing karaoke, there are more places you can imagine where the booze is flowing freely.

It’s also amazing to learn how many women have this thing down to a science. Even if they don’t admit to mooching off of their friends and favorite bartender, they’re organized right down to the hors-doeuvres at wine tastings. Just how easy is it? Here’s Miranda’s story:

My girlfriends and I have a weekly calendar, or “party-time schedule”, as we prefer to call it. Monday nights are specifically for ridding our woes of the typical manic Monday at the office. Jordan’s Harbour Pub gets the evening started with free goodies on the buffet and complimentary flute of wine. For just us girls, it has to be pink on Mondays, so the zinfandel is perfect.

Skipping to Wednesdays, our favorite karaoke spot is Mandy’s, where the free cocktails keep flowing for the one who is the most popular singer. If the audience keeps voting for that singer, one can have all the imported beer or wine of their choice!

On Thursday nights we head out to Moe’s Sports Bar, where it’s Ladie’s Night. Ladies get in free and the first drink is on the house. Everyone is always checking out ring fingers, even though that really doesn’t matter anymore. Every other Thursday, they offer free salsa lessons, where the main room cuts loose and gets wild.

Friday’s is a must at Club 19. They have a great deejay and the girls get two free drinks before 10pm, plus no cover charge for ladies. If we’re partying into the weekend, Shannanigan’s downtown offers a “Girl Classic Card”, where ladies can drink free Long Island Tea’s from 9:30pm and on into the night on Saturday nights and also get 20% off anything on the menu. Cheers! . . . Miranda

There are some who contest the whole principle behind Ladie’s Night. If women can receive a free drink, many men believe they should have the same benefit. One man actually filed a lawsuit against several night spots promoting Ladie’s Night. An attorney in Manhattan, he states that an establishment that offers Ladie’s Night enticements, violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. His class action suit accuses several NYC clubs, such as the Copacabana, Sol and the China Club of “invidious discrimination” against men in their policies for admitting patrons.

This is one man’s fight over clubs who, in his words, “discriminate against men”.
It will be interesting to see if he wins his case and no, if you’re wondering, we don’t know if he’s just ugly and can’t get a date.

Happy Holidays and celebrate responsibly! . . . Single 101

Suddenly, We're All French!

Maybe the stockings can be hung by the chimney with care, but sometimes the unmentionables are unwanted articles hanging to dry in the bath. In many a quaint village in Europe, where one tenant building stands inches from the next, they still hang all of the laundry, including the lingerie on the clothesline tied between the downspouts.

I’ll never understand why men love to see us wearing push up bras, garter belts and seamed stockings, but hate where we choose to wash and dry them. If you’re single, living alone and not lost in the jungle of his unmentionables, they can dry on the back of the kitchen chair or tossed over the shower curtain without a care.

Some are too shy to admit it, but we all love shopping at Victoria’s Secret, even if we’re just curious about what other shoppers have inside that pink striped bag. To get you in the spirit of the hustle-bustle, I’d love to share my song about the joys of what a few inches of lace can bring. Here’s something to put under your tree or stuff in a stocking for someone you love and you won’t find this one on iTunes!

Written in 1995 and debuted at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, this is a fun and lighthearted cabaret-styled romp through the secrets tucked inside that little pink-striped bag. A part of the forthcoming stage production and soundtrack for 2008, “Single 101”, “Suddenly We’re All French!” will hopefully warm your heart on these wintry days.

Check out my music player at: www.MySpace.com/celestefriedman and click on,
“Suddenly We’re All French!” Happy Holidays from Single 101!

Have Male Friends without Having to Defend Yourself

When you’re free to make friends with whoever you want, especially the opposite sex, life is but a dream. If you find yourself in a stifling relationship or marriage, the bowl of cherries can turn sour. Here are three women’s stories:

Cherie lives on the Atlantic coast of Florida, where the beach is only two blocks from her home. She stops by the beach on her way home from work whenever she can, just to walk along the shoreline and listen to the ocean. Cherie and her boyfriend Chad met at the same beach and he knew how much time she spent there. One afternoon, he confronted her about how late she was getting home. She told him that she ran into a friend and didn’t mean to be late.

Her boyfriend began to feel uncomfortable and allowed his imagination to run wild, thinking that Cherie had met someone else. Late one day, he stopped by the beach and saw Cherie sitting on a bench having a conversation with a man he didn’t recognize. Chad approached them and asked Cherie if she was ready to go home. She paused to introduce her boyfriend to the man on the bench, when Chad insisted they leave immediately.

“What is your problem, Chad?”, she asked, as they walked toward the car. “So, is this where you go to meet men?” he yelled back. Shocked, Cherie reminded Chad that she had female friends and male friends and if he had a problem with that, he better think twice about living with her.

Alena works at a health club, where both co-workers and members are male.
There was a time when she was struggling with not only a jealous husband, but a co-worker who had been flirting with her. As she found herself constantly re-assuring her husband that she wasn’t interested in anyone at work, she was also being confronted by her jealous boss, every time he thought she was being too flirtatious with a male member of the club.

“It was a nightmare”, said Alena, “a very difficult time in my life”. I love my husband, but he has never accepted how I have to dress at the club and who we interact with there. As an assistant manager, Alena also has to keep a watchful eye over the other female club consultants and defend them in situations when male club members claim that they don’t receive the attention they believe they are paying for. Alena says that it’s challenging at where you draw the line between service and pampering.

Liz spends every possible waking moment in her yard and garden. Bill, her next door neighbor, is another one of those homeowners who has the latest gardening equipment and would mow twice a week if he could. Liz and Bill usually just wave to each other, but occasionally stop to visit at the fence to share gardening tips.

Married to Jack for fifteen years, Liz is content with Jack’s disinterest in the garden. “When the grass is getting high”, says Liz, “he seals himself off in his office over the garage to write.” But Liz doesn’t mind and finds her zen in mowing and trimming among the roses and herbs, so Jack never has to be concerned with exterior maintenance.

Bill lost his wife two years ago and found that escaping in the care-taking of the yard seemed to be healing. Liz can tell that he is lonely, but finds herself being careful about how much she talks to Bill. “Even though Jack doesn’t seem to care”, she says, “he would never understand”.

Stay tuned for a future blog where I feature one of the 101 reasons to celebrate being single, “you can flirt as much as you want”.