Dating on Bumble as a Millennial Video

So my friend Rachel is getting her Masters at USC and asked if she could interview me all about Bumble and dating as a millennial. I said sure! And she really blew me away with how amazing the video came out!

Continue reading “Dating on Bumble as a Millennial Video”

How to Avoid Being Tricked by Future Fakers While Dating

I have learned a whole lot about dating in the past few years and now I want to pass along some of that knowledge. What exactly is a “Future Faker” you ask?

Ever meet a guy that seems too good to be true? They’re super into you and go on and on about all of the fabulous things the two of you are going to do in the coming days, months, years, etc.? On the extreme end they may even talk about your wedding, marriage, or future children within the first few dates.

You may think “Finally! I’ve met someone who I’m super into and here they want to spend time together and do all of these awesome things with me!” Ever wonder what it means when a man like that then disappears and you never do any of the stuff they mention? Welp, gather round children and listen closely to this cautionary tale: Continue reading “How to Avoid Being Tricked by Future Fakers While Dating”

Who Do People Tell You You Look Like?

Hi everyone Happy New Year! It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I wanted to share a quick little dating story with you all. So over the years people have told me I look like a few different celebrities. I generally get Rachel McAdams or (less commonly) Katherine Heigl. I take either of these as a huge and compliment. If I had to estimate I would say approximately 50 people have told me I look like Rachel McAdams. I don’t say this to brag, but to add a little context to this story.

My Date: Who do people tell you you look like? Continue reading “Who Do People Tell You You Look Like?”

I Went Home with Jeremy Piven: A Cautionary Tale

In light of the new Entourage movie I thought I would share a story of something that happened almost exactly 5 years ago on my first trip to LA.

The whole reason why I live in LA is because of my best friend Annabelle. We met in high school and then were living in separate places for a while and at the end of my time in grad school she decided it was time for us to both live in LA. I had never actually been to LA before so she flew me out in June 2010 for my birthday present and we stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel and had quite the adventure.

One of the fun touristy things to do when you’re in LA is to get tickets to be in the audience for a late night show. We decided to get tickets to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on back to back dates because of the guests. The first day the guest was The Situation and I’m not going to get into why we were interested in seeing him in this post since that is a whole other story and the second day the guests were Jeremy Piven, Drake, and Louis CK. FYI if you want good seats at a show like this the secret is to dress up.

The first day we were picked to sit in the front 2 seats and we made friends with someone in the band who got us out of waiting with the crowd the second day and instead we got to wait in the green room with a few of Drake’s entourage who stared at their phones the whole time and we were seated back in the front 2 seats again.

Annabelle Jay Leno Lindsay June 2010
Here’s a blurry Blackberry photo of a Polaroid that was taken on our first day visiting the show. Remember it was 2010.

Continue reading “I Went Home with Jeremy Piven: A Cautionary Tale”

My Tinder Date Left Me at the Bar

Well I had one of my top 5 worst dates of all time last month. The short version of what happened is, as the title says, a Tinder date actually left me at the bar.

So let’s go back to the beginning. We texted for a while and then he told me we should meet up for drinks (I’ve written before about how this is one of my least favorite invitations). He said if I wanted we could just hang out at his place (red flag). I said absolutely not we’re going somewhere public. He said ok great let’s do it.

When he asked me where I’d like to go I told him that I’d like for him to plan it and also could he please pick me up. He said sure no problem. Before our date I briefly Googled him since he is a former model (this is LA after all) so he has some web presence. I find out that he is actually 27, not 28 like his Tinder profile says. This is a trend I have been seeing a lot more lately with people lying about their age. I have no clue why there’s any difference between 28 vs. 27, but when I asked him about it he said he was indeed 27.

The day of the date comes and he asks me if I went to meet him at a bar in Brentwood. As the name of this blog suggests, I live in Hollywood (~30-40 minutes from Brentwood) so I said hell no you as he is supposed to come pick me up as we previously agreed. He said ok sure I can do that.

He then shows up half an hour early (better than late I guess?). I get in the car and we say hello and he starts driving. I ask him where we’re going and he says “I don’t know I don’t really know this area” and I try to keep my eyes from rolling out of my head since hello, use Google or Yelp like the rest of us. He then says we could hang out on his side of town or maybe we could just hang out and have a drink at his place.

He then says “but you already said you don’t want to do that so..” that’s right buddy. His next idea is that he’ll drive down Fairfax because there’s “a group of bars and lounges and we’ll just go to one of those.” He’s not sure exactly where they are and when I ask for more information he has none. He then proceeds to pass every single bar on Fairfax and points to some place I’ve never heard of when he realizes we are practically in Little Ethopia and says “what about here?” I tell him no and suggest we go to a great date bar called The Woods which is back by my apartment. He agrees and we drive back there. Continue reading “My Tinder Date Left Me at the Bar”

My Date with a Magician

When a friend asked me last year if I would be interested in being set up for a date with one of her friends last minute I thought “Sure, I’m spontaneous! And a hopeless romantic! Who knows what could happen??” It turns out this guy was from out of town and tried asking her out on a date, which she was not interested in, so instead she thought of me and my adventurous spirit and passed him off to me.

She told me he was a magician, but he was cute and nice and had basketball tickets for tonight. I got home from work, transformed myself pretty quickly (see how I did this for another first date here) and took an Uber down to meet him at the Staples Center.

I met up with him and he was definitely cute and tall and seemed friendly enough. We went in and found our seats which were very good because he had actually grown up with one of the Clippers players in a small town in the Mid West.

One of the first things he did was he went down a few rows to take a picture for Instagram to make it seem like we were sitting in the front row or on the court which we weren’t. I tried to tell myself maybe he’s just excited and enthusiastic? I try not to judge my friends and their social networking strategies… Continue reading “My Date with a Magician”

My Awkward OkCupid Date Immortalized in Cartoon

I was bored and browsing Twitter the other day (btw let’s be Twitter friends! I’m @blushinginhwood) when I saw OKCupid had posted this:

www.blushinginhollywood.com

I thought “I’m a dating blogger, I’ve got this” and sure enough they picked mine!: Continue reading “My Awkward OkCupid Date Immortalized in Cartoon”

The Worst Gifts To Give a Girl

I asked my girlfriends to tell me the worst gift a guy has ever gotten them and the answers were hilarious. Here I separate them by category for you so you know what not to buy the ladies in your life this holiday season:

1. No gift at all– This was the #1 response, no bueno! Don’t do that thing where you act like the holidays don’t exist either that shit’s not cute.

2. Gifts that are a little TOO creative– One girl was given a painting of herself worth several thousand; a shoddily homemade Starbucks drink sleeve; M&Ms custom made with the couples’ face on them

3. Self help she didn’t ask for– Dietary supplements for working out/protein powder; your mom’s cookbook; a 3 month membership to Equinox that implied a) she needed to workout b) he was cheap and c) they would be together for 3 months Continue reading “The Worst Gifts To Give a Girl”

Not Every Girl Wants a Tiffany Box

I was rushing to get ready for my date and throwing a few things in my clutch. “Shit” I thought in a panic, where had I put my ID? There’s no way I can go on this dinner date without having at least 2 glasses of wine. The first date was bad enough, but I wanted to give this guy a second chance in case he was just nervous… I find my ID and he calls to let me know that he is downstairs to pick me up.

I get in the car and put on a smile and say hello. I’m greeted with a blue Tiffany & Co. box pushed in my face. “Open it! Open it!” he insists “I couldn’t wait to give it to you!” The panic strikes again. “Umm you didn’t have to do this it’s WAY too much. I can’t accept this” I plead, but he makes me open it.

I slowly take the box and the analytical lady in me notices that a) there’s no white ribbon and b) it’s not in a gift bag. I open the box and it’s a sterling silver charm bracelet. It’s the kind that was very popular 15 years ago that was THE item to have in middle and high school. “Thank you, but this is way too much I can’t accept this” I say as I try to hand it back to him. He takes it and puts it on my wrist and I know that this fight is futile so I say thank you and smile for real this time because this is so crazy that I find it amusing.

tiffany-bracelet-in-box
The gifted…or re-gifted Tiffany & Co. Charm Bracelet

I met this guy while walking to my car on a day that I was feeling particularly optimistic and open to something new. I was coming off of my break from dating online and I knew I needed some practice being friendly and open to dating someone.

When I met him he said to me in a sing-song-ey way “My head’s in New York, but my heart’s in LA. The weather is good and the traffic is bad.” and other canned sayings he had obviously said a million times. We all have those so it was no big deal. Then he came to pick me up and he repeated that saying again almost immediately and verbatium “My head’s in NY, but my heart’s in LA. The weather is good and the traffic is bad.” He had a million of these it was like he was speaking in bumper stickers. He was talking the entire time, but never actually SAID anything.

He barely asked me anything more than shallow questions about myself and didn’t ask any follow-up questions. For example when I told him I had a DATING and beauty blog he didn’t ask what it was called or if I was going to write about him. He probably wasn’t even listening.

Here’s some more interesting parts of these dates: Continue reading “Not Every Girl Wants a Tiffany Box”