Have fun, Eliana! Enjoy the music and hopefully you'll meet fun folks of both sexes to join again at some point! Girl friends are good (though my guy friends are a lot less drama-filled - ha!) and might have good ideas of other places to meet folks. We have the generic Starbucks and Panera's but also have a number of the corner coffee shops - enjoy!

Oh yes, you did! ;) I know! I think I needed yet more ideas and didn't want to completely hijack that thread. T'was much appreciated, believe me, and largely the reason for me doing this tonight!

If I'm being honest, I think what I REALLY wanted was for one of you to reach through my computer screen and drag me out the door. :p Now since that probably isn't going to happen, I'm gaining confidence by reading your responses instead. :^: Now I just have to figure out how to keep my head up and not immediately avert my eyes. :D

I have some of the best friends in the world, male and female. ;) They're just all married. My girlfriends would go with me, but they can't go all the time and when I'm with them, I'm WITH them, focused on them. And darn if I don't keep meeting the nicest of married men! :dizzy: LOL! I do get along great with guys and somehow I open up as soon as I see the ring on a guy's finger. They're safe, ya know? But if that ring is not there, I clam up.

However, you are indeed right! I do hope to meet some friends. I don't like to think I'm "trolling". But I DO need to get out, because there are literally 0 prospectives in my life. 98% of the people I work with are women and I've heard it's not such a great idea to date co-workers anyway.

I went to "meetup" (thanks for the suggestion everyone) and came across the same hiking club I've come across several times now. I finally signed up. I'm excited about this because I'm going to see new places, meet new people and will have something to DO that doesn't involve drinks or food. Even the coffee house is going to be difficult because I only drink water! What am I going to order? I refuse to drink pop and I do not like coffee. So likely I'm going to buy coffee and water and ditch the coffee. :rolleyes:

I know the feeling. I almost said no to a girlfriend that asked me out for drinks last night. I wanted to stay home and watch baseball. :D But despite the fact that I overindulged in food and drink, I had a great time! I found a new band to see and I even gave my number out! :eek:

I'll keep thinking of new things to do. I think you and I are in a very similar boat. Hmmmm, how close to we live to each other? :p

You gave your number out! :yikes: That's awesome!! You were lamenting before that you hadn't yet been noticed! I'm glad you ditched the baseball game!

And yeah, I'd love to live in CO, but I don't. ;) I'm in Ohio.

I wasn't noticed, I approached. I'm not holding my breath for a call either but can't deny that I'm still hopeful. The only reason he has it is he asked me if I was going to the bar on Wednesday night. I didn't want to show up on Wednesday and either him not be there or him be there but not want to talk to me. So I told him if he was going to go and wanted me to come to call or text. So it wasn't even that he really asked for it. Okay, I'm a little embarrassed admitting that. :o

Well darn! :)

have fun! tell us how things go

I am so proud of me! It was downtown and very unlike me to try something like this. I went in and immediately an older man and his wife asked me to sit with them. :D Not exactly what I was going for! LOL! But they were so nice and told me a lot about the place and the area. This was a very artsy, casual kind of place. I loved it! The music was a mellow acoustic guitar and the singer had written most of his own music. Just right up my alley.

I only talked with the kind couple that invited me to sit with them, but at least I got myself out there and enjoyed a very pleasant evening.

That is awesome Eliana! What you did sounds like my ideal evening. I'm glad it worked out :D

Awesome! Good for you! Very glad it was a good night. The first of many!

thats great Eliana, im in kind of the same situation. i have a 10 year old and im recently single, whereas all my friends have babies and are recently married! and i live in the back of beyond so its pants sometimes. who'd of thought being a normal human and leaving the house would be so darn awkward lol :)

The gym seems like a good place to meet people with similar interests. (fitness) I do my own thing with my hubby but I avoid eye contact with people daily who look like they want to strike up a conversation.

The grocery store is another place that would be easy to strike up a convo.

I have to say REALLY to both! LOL!

My gym is great, but not so much for meeting people. Well ok, not true. I've developed some very good friendships there. But it's not so great for meeting men I'd like to get to know better. Most of them are married and the guys I lift with wear headphones and I don't get a second glance. I make sure to not wear headphones when I'm lifting so I am more approachable. It seems like the gym would be the ideal place to find someone for a couple reasons. One, I am a ridiculous morning person and anyone there at 5:00 AM is going to be a morning person too. This kind of person would already be in stark contrast to my ex, as in someone who actually sees the sun before noon. A person coming to the gym every morning shows dedication and just coming to the gym shows a general desire to be healthy and fit. These are all things that have become very important to me, so in all honesty, I MOST want to meet someone at the gym. But it doesn't seem to be happening.

And the grocery store? LOL! I'm there all the time and no one ever talks to me! Do people really give out phone numbers and stuff at the grocery store? I only see that on TV. I guess I'm just not that seductive. LOL!

I am totally serious about the gym! Why not just try a different time of morning? Or pop in one night with the cutest of workout outfit and hair and make up done. Not overdone! LOL I get a giggle out of the women (and there are a LOT!) that come in to work out with full on makeup and hair. I think they work up to the point of almost sweating. And me, I roll out of bed, brush my teeth and work until I'm almost passing out and drenched in sweat. Or if your gym isn't good for that, do a trial membership at a different one. The crowd changes at different times of day.

The grocery store totally does happen. I've been approached by men asking how to pick out fruits and veggies in the produce and how to cook meats in the meat dept. It's not gone so far as passing out phone numbers but I don't really encourage conversation because I'm happily married.

LOL. I'm picturing you standing with a random person feeling up cantelopes. It's like getting to first base within the first two minutes of meeting someone.