Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I have been lucky to meet and share my life with some amazing women throughout the years.  Over the last several years, however, I have been geographically isolated from most of them.  Of all the amazing women who attended my bachelor party (pictured right), only one of them lives in my area and she's about 30 minutes away (and has a host of things going on in her life that prevent us from getting together reguarly).

One of the goals I am working on is cultivating new friendships and, like most desirable things, it is not easy. I work with mostly women so you'd think it wouldn't be so hard to make a connection.  Yet most of my coworkers have kids or second jobs or live too far away. I admit I haven't tried really hard here but sometimes it's best not to be too social with people you have to see professional five days a week.

Determined to get out of this female friendship drought I joined several groups on Meetup.  So today I am going to my first event - the opening of a new artist space nearby.  I'm nervous for a few reasons: 

First, there's not too many people from the group attending the event.  It's a pretty small group to begin with.  This means that if I don't hit it off with anyone tonight I might be wary of attending group outings in the future even though it looks like they are scheduled to do some interesting things.  Moments like this I wish I lived in a huge city where there were hundreds of Meetup groups to choose from.  Our pool is quite limited. 

Second, I don't know what to wear.  I woke up late today (shocker) and threw on some ensemble that makes me look perfect for a theatrical stage crew.  Now I only have an hour to walk home from work, get changed, maybe do something with my hair (more on that later) and get back downtown to the show.

Third, and I know this is a bit ridiculous, but meeting new people makes me self conscious.  Some people will hear I'm a lawyer and assume I'm some sort of intellectual snob.  Or the other women will be so fabulously put together I will feel like a hot mess.  I can't even wear eyeliner!  I should have gotten a manicure last night.

And lastly, also stupid, but I feel like a bad wife.  My husband travels most weeks for work and is home this week.  I feel bad skipping out on time we could be spending together (and being so excited about it) to try and meet new people.  It's almost as saying he's not enough for me.  He really does want me to meet new people so he's totally fine with me going.  He may go see some friends too.  I know it's important to have friends in addition to your partner but sometimes it's hard to remember that when you get home from work and see them waiting for you.  I must resist the temptation of pajamas.

So here goes nothing.