The Importance of Being Lauren

Good dates actually can happen! I also hit the date quota for February! February 23rd I matched with a guy on Tinder (Idaho Guy). He messaged me immediately and asked about my reading prompt (I read 111 books in 2023). I was interested immediately because most guys are super gross in their first message. We chatted about books, libraries, and Avatar the Last Airbender. I asked if he wanted to hang out on the weekend and he said that he had time on Sunday. I also threw in "if you like classical music there is a free concert tonight!". He texted me right away for the information. He told me about his years playing tuba, baritone, and piano.  I told him that I had already invited my little brothers so he would be our fourth wheel. He said he was totally okay with it. My little brothers looked dapper in their matching winter sweaters and I wore my favorite sunflower dress. When I first saw him I loved that he was dressed up as well! He interacted well with my little brothers and

Dating in 2024 is an absolute drag. I have made many connections in the last few months but nothing has really worked out. I have been seeing a guy (Shared Birthday Boy) fairly consistently for the last 3ish weeks, but we are not official. He ghosted me for 24-hours this past weekend, so I took the time to update my dating profiles (FB Dating and Tinder) during the break. My profile is super fun, if I do say so myself.  Pros and Cons of Dating Me:  Pros: I always have snacks in my bag. I am a good listener and I will research the hell out of things you're interested in so I can be more engaging.  I have a Costco membership and I'm always down for a Costco run.  -I can talk about a plethora of topics! Cons: I am allergic to most animals (but I can buy allergy pills in bulk at Costco, haha). I am hyper-independent and over-scheduled so I require at least 2 business days to schedule a date. With the bio update I also posted a few new pictures of myself. I ended up getting 20 match

I have a goal in 2024 to go on two dates a month. January was a bit of a slow month so I only went on one. I matched with a really nice guy from Sri Lanka. He was super sweet and I enjoyed messaging him. I asked him if he wanted to go to a free fitness class with me because the local rec center had a bunch of free classes. He was confused and ended up accidentally standing me up. I started to notice that there was a bit of a language barrier in our texting so I became a little apprehensive about our rescheduled date.  We decided to go to a local pizza shop for the rescheduled date. He ordered 3 slices and we shared them, we chatted for about an hour while we ate. The music was loud and the environment was very distracting. It was also really hard to have a conversation because I was trying to focus on speaking slow. If you know me in real life you will know that I have a very fast speech pattern. All the external distractors combined with trying to focus on keeping things slow and simp

After an abysmal month of dating in January, I recommitted to my goal to go on 2 dates a month for February. On February 10th I matched with an Australian guy. We chatted throughout the day until my accidental 2-hour nap. I woke up at 6:45pm and saw a message from him asking if I wanted to go to a film festival with him. I immediately responded with my number so I could get the ticket and rushed to get ready. I was completely showered and ready to go in 5 minutes and made it to the theater a few minutes after the event started.  He was so sweet and offered his jacket to me because in my mad dash to get out of the house I had forgotten to grab one. I didn't need it because the theater was pretty well heated. We sat close to each other as each of the 2023 Banff Film Festival short films played. At intermission we chatted about art, goals, life, and our aspirations. He told me about Australian slang (water fountains = bubblers) and his life as a digital nomad. He was the perfect gentl

We are coming up on a year since the incident! I finished physical therapy before the new year, and it was very anti-climatic. I didn't pass one of the hop tests at first, but my PT challenged me to try until I got it. I was finally able to pass after trying 5 times! He was going to pass me without it, but I was stubborn and said that i wanted to pass with a 100% or not at all. I have missed going, but I definitely do not miss all the bills haha.  He said that because I was consistent with the exercises that I was able to complete PT way faster than anticipated! I still don't have full range of motion in my left knee, which is only noticeable when I try to put my foot to my butt. 

Let me share a ChatGPT haiku about dating: Flickering screens glow, Echoes of hearts left unmet, Lonely swipes in vain. Dating is exhausting and I ready to accept my spinster fate. The woes of dating have been slowly crushing my soul. I make connections with people who seem super cool and then they turn out to be the scum of the earth. It's emotionally draining to talk to 30+ people over the apps and hope that they ask you out.  This month I was done with the chat roulette and I decided that I wanted to be proactive about going out on dates. I put in my Bumble bio: "I hate chatting forever, let's just go on a date". To my surprise I got a compliment from a guy and he said he agreed with me. I immediately swiped to match, and we made plans to meet up a few weeks later. We matched when I was on a NYC trip so we scheduled a coffee date for two weekends after.  I meet him at the coffee shop and I was shocked when he reached for a hug upon meeting. I am not a particularly

I have not been great about updating y'all on my recovery! So much has happened in the last 12 weeks, and I am better than ever. I only have a tiny bit of soreness in my left knee when I get up in the morning, which is AMAZING. The knee pain first thing in the morning was super annoying.  The only issue that I can complain about right now is my knee's new occupation. My left knee is a straight up meteorologist now. A cold front with rain came through last week, and I had sharp pains all day. I asked the other girl in my office if she experiences the same thing post-surgery, and she said 12-years post-surgery she still gets weather related pain.  Week 12 The flexion in my knee in week 12 was at 125 degrees. I was assigned new exercises to build my hamstring strength. My PT had me do 220 lbs on the single leg press movement, and exclaimed, "Damnnn Cordova, I wouldn't want to take you in a fight." I was finally able to do a 50 lbs single leg curl without pain. My PT

Before the pandemic I was a very social person. I had a PACKED social calendar, and constantly sought to be around people. I would host weekly game nights, friend dinners, and group outings. During and post-pandemic I was left with a lot of social anxiety and depression, and that really impacted my ability to socialize with others. I was convinced that one of the lasting symptoms of COVID was introversion.  When I first started working in my current office, I was still recovering from teacher burnout. I felt drained after any social interaction, and felt overwhelmed in highly populated areas (i.e. the grocery store). Anyway, when I started working in the office, I told my parents daily about how chatty people in the office were. I frequently said, "Wow, everyone in the office is so chatty. They just stop by my desk to talk to me all the time. Sometimes I get behind in my work because people stop so often.*" *I feel the need to clarify that I am constantly weeks ahead of sched

My physical therapist cleared me to run the Friday before Labor Day. I used to run all the time in college, but I got out of the habit in NYC. I was so excited to get cleared to run because that means my recovery is advancing. I ran at 3.9-4.0 for a few minutes with my PT watching. I stopped running before the belt had slowed down at the end and stumbled a bit. He freaked out and tried to catch me and put his hand on my very sweaty back. I didn't fall or anything and we just laughed about it.  I started working on endurance on Saturday and Sunday, and planned to run for more than 5 minutes on Monday. Labor Day was super busy, but I decided to go to the gym anyway. I ran for 4 minutes and started feeling pretty tired. I wanted to push myself to run for 6+ minutes at speeds between 3.8-4.0 mph. I decided to take a quick break, but I didn't think about how much faster 3.8 mph is compared to 2.8-3.4 mph. I missed the step and felt my body lurch forward.  I desperately tried to grab