Updated Blog Address

This is the last time I change my blog address (I swear!).  The new address allows for more creativity and is formatted more like a website. 

Please visit it, subscribe, and follow!

http://karithinkingoutloud.wordpress.com/


Thanks!

So, You're say'n there's a chance...

We’ve all been there.  The endless dates (some great, some horrible), have resulted in lasting (for a while) relationships, friendships, lessons learned, and (for me) a few stage-five-clingers (stalkers). 

Sheer frustration doesn’t fully describe how I’ve felt during the majority of my dating history.  I’ve dated some really great men, a few bad boys, and a lot of stereotypical immature liars and cheaters. 

There’s good news for us single-slingers. We are not alone (figuratively)!

The average woman dates nine men before finding the right one (Crap, nine?  I’m waaaayyyy past nine!), according to a survey of 2,000 women from Meeteez.com. 

The survey shares some interesting information:

Before finding “Mr. Right”, women:

·         Kiss 22 guys

·         Have 6 one-night stands

·         Have their hearts broken 5 times

Before finding their “true love”, men:

·         Kiss 23 girls

·         Have 10 one-night stands

·         Have their hearts broken 6 times

I may still be single because, I’ve:

·         Kissed 37 guys

·         Had 1 one-night stand

·         Have had my heart broken 3 times

Shouldn’t my higher than average number of men I’ve kissed compensate for my lack of one-night stands and broken hearts?

I would like to bring to your attention the following questions I have about this survey:

1.        At what age did the men and women surveyed start counting those they’ve kissed?

2.        Does a one-night stand mean you had intercourse (One could get confused by this)?

3.        Define a broken heart.  Are we talking about extreme disappointment? Wishful thinking? Or the stereotypical “I can’t possibly go on….I’ll never love again…blah, blah, blah,” broken heart?
               

           

If dating is confusing enough, the question: “What are we?” makes people crazy.  So when do you go from “seeing each other”, to “dating”, to a relationship?

 According to TopDatingTips.com:

When does a date become a relationship?

1. 1 week 3%
2. 1 month 17%
3. 2 months 20%
4. 6 months 13%
5. Once we have had sex 13%
6. Once I have met the parents 8%
7. Once we have been on vacation 0%
8. Once we have moved in together 0%
9. When he/she says I love you 25%

So I pose a question for all the single, confused daters out there.  In the dating game, when does a date become a relationship?

Please comment or send me a message with your thoughts on this!  Let me know if you would like to be featured in my “ride’n solo” series as well!

Moving On...

This is my first published editorial.  It premiered on August 11, 2010 in the Des Moines Register's Juice Magazine.

This Renter's Guide is/was the largest special section ever at the Des Moines Register in special publications, and  I am very proud of this piece.

Once again,  It's just a bit of what happens....when I think out loud...

 I am a professional mover.  I have perfected the art of packing and unpacking the entire contents of my quasi-young life in a day. The past ten years of my life have been, let’s say…mobile.  I have uprooted my “home” 19 times.  I have made residence in seven different cities, four counties, and one state.  I have had 11 roommates, lived in two basements, seven apartments, two houses, two townhomes and one “home on wheels”.

 I, like an increasing percentage of people my age, rent. Renting has its advantages.  It gives you the freedom and the flexibility to pack up and jump ship if you want to.  It doesn’t take an expensive mortgage to have a home.

While roommate(s) can be great, nothing beats having your own place.  The air conditioner can be set on “freeze out” mode without anyone complaining.  You no longer run the risk of your roommate(s) eating all of your food, leaving the refrigerator door open, or drinking your last imported beer. Have you ever meandered around your own place in nothing but your birthday suit?  It can be quite freeing! (Just remember to close your blinds).

Moving can be one of those inevitable and unpleasant realities of adult life and the physical task of moving ranks right up there with taxes, heartburn, and irritable bowel syndrome. 

Being the nomad that I am, I offer you one important piece of advice. Hire movers.  While there is an additional cost, it is by far the best moving investment.  Why not hire a gaggle of men who appear more than obliged to climb the mountain of stairs to your apartment with an over-sized couch strapped to their backs? You get to stand around, point your finger and flex your supervisory muscle while they do all the hard work! The only blood, sweat, and tears you shed is during the unpacking process.

I have misplaced belongings, injured myself, and shattered entire sets of dishes (packing breakables in my underwear drawer seemed like an efficient idea at the time)… all for the sake of moving.  I have chased fly away couch cushions into corn fields, and have witnessed my kitchen table and chairs hurl themselves off an uncovered trailer only to be hit and smashed to pieces by a semi-truck… all for the sake of moving. 

But packed in all those piles of bubble wrap, I learned a lot about myself.  I know that if and when I announce for the twentieth time, “I’m moving (…for the last time, I swear)”, my friends and family will be there.  How else will they know/remember where I live this time!

Like I always say, “when the going gets tough (or bored, or cash-strapped), the tough get moving… even if it is one heavy unorganized box at a time.