V is for VALENTINE'S DAY

My friend hosted a Cookie Baking Party on Sunday with a Valentine's Day theme. To get in the spirit, we discussed love in the Big Apple. A couple of girls asked if I thought living in NY makes people neurotic. As we all know, neurotic is not a good quality when dating. Plenty of females think that Manhattan men are neurotic. Others will say that the women become neurotic too. Neurotic about body image (Why do some people still care about being the thinnest in the room?), neurotic about fashion (Why do people care about having the most expensive clothes in the room?), neurotic about career (Why do some think their paycheck defines their personal worth?), neurotic about marriage/kids (Why do some people care who gets married 1st, who has kids 1st, or who has kids in the best pre-K program?)

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again. NY does not make you neurotic unless you let it. It IS possible to have a healthy relationship there. Not easy, but possible. There are endless temptations in The City That Never Sleeps Yet Somehow Sleeps With Your Boyfriend. If you refuse to buy into all the advertising lies ("What? I won't become perfect from drinking cans of Red Bull and bottles of Stoli Vanilla?? What about the new Bailey's Caramel Irish Cream?"), then it is possible to live happily ever after in New York. Unless you re-kindle a penchant for the suburbs.

Out of the hustle and bustle, many of you are probably enjoying a quiet Valentine's Day.
For those of us paying $200 for a $70 dinner because it is February 14, well, consider it a small price to pay for timely and romantic atmosphere. Plus there's all the people-watching and free entertainment that occurs every day on the cold, windy sidewalks where millions of footsteps make their marks.

This is a warning to New Yorkers (neurotic or not): Start making reservations soon - next year's Valentine's Day is around the corner, so secure some seats before every restaurant books up.
And if you make a heart shaped cookie, don't forget to check on it and err on the side of caution. You wouldn't want your own heart to get burned, would you?

Labels: Boy Stories, Noelle, Valentine's Day