Classy Ladies are also good to their girlfriends

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.  I trust that you are all enjoying your holiday.  Yes, I do love my job, this is a busy time for us in the world of travel, if you can imagine, lots of people want to travel during the holidays and there are lots of cancelled flights.  So while I do get lots of days off until January 5th, I have been on call.  Unfortunately, we have been busy!

Me?  I had a wonderful holiday.  Spent time with my family here in Chi, hosted some friends at my house, had a wonderful dinner with some friends on Christmas.  And was reunited with a friend I haven't seen in a long time...let's just say, I hope to see him again very soon.

Last night, I had a chance to go out with a friend for some cocktails.  We tried a different neighborhood...Logan Square....let's just say, it was a different scene.  We felt dressed up and cute....which is not necessarily the case when we go out in the LP.  And there were just a lot of beards..Gentlemen seriously, lumberjack chic is pretty hot, but not when every guy in the bar is like that.  And well, you know me, I like the bald guys.

But anyway....on to my subject for this post.  The gorge blonde that I was out with last night (and BTW, it has a little pink in it now) said something that rang true to me...You can tell a lot about a woman by the quality of her friends.  And if you think about it, it is so true.  How many classy ladies do you know who also have fantastic friends?  That usually means she is a pretty good friend.  And yes, we all know those ladies that don't have a lot of girlfriends, probably means that she doesn't treat her friends very well.

A long time ago, my mom told me that my uncle told her that if you can count 5 good friends in your lifetime, you should consider yourself lucky.  Well, I am happy to say that I consider myself very lucky.  For all you classy ladies out there, can you name 3-5 friends that would drop everything if you needed them?  Last night, I found out that my best friend (whom I love dearly) was emailing another friend of mine (unbeknownst to me) while I was dating the last douche bag boyfriend to make sure that I was OK as she was very worried about me.  WOW, thanks to that BF, it's really nice to learn how much she cares.

So here is my message ladies seriously....it is classy to be a good girlfriend because at the end of the day, men come and go, but you always have your family and friends (and of course, there is also my favorite quote, boys come and go, diamonds are forever, that one works as well).  And you need to take care of those relationships.  Return phone calls, shoot a text, be mindful of your girlfriends.  Practice good girlfriend code, don't blow them off for a new boyfriend all of the time, don't hit on her ex or her potential new BF, be honest, be supportive and just be there when she needs you.

Well, here is cheers to all of you!  Happy New Year!  This classy lady is fabulously happy and ready for 2015!  I hope you all are as well.

......Keep your chin, heels and standards high....
BONSOIR, CHEERS AND CIAO BELLAS!

YOU...Just do you...

Happy holidays to one and all!  I trust that you are all keeping it classy this holiday season.  This girl is happy to report that all of the Christmas shopping is done, all cards are done and ready to be mailed, Christmas decor is done AND I did my annual trip to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Christmas trees around the world last week.  It has been a pretty amazing year here....still love my job, got to take my parents to Australia for three weeks, am planning three more amazing trips for next year and after years of financial struggles (after owning and closing a business)....feels like things are back in the black as they say.  So what did I do to celebrate....well, today I got a pedicure and bought an amazing bottle of wine just for me.  :)

So one of my besties (a guy) has been doing tinder for the last couple of months and recently he has been to posting tinder fails on his FB page.   Lots of humor but in seriousness about the lead in pictures that women post on tinder.  Ladies and gentlemen seriously....this is an app where someone decides if they like you based on a picture and they decide within about 3 seconds. Ya might want to think about the pictures you are using.

So all of this online dating stuff, of course, had me thinking about our online persona and what we put out there for the world to see.  Not just on online dating, but also on facebook, twitter, instgram etc.  Why is it that we are SO afraid to be real on all of those sites?  Ladies and gentlemen, let's take the online dating thing first...why do we post pictures that don't actually show us?  Group pictures, really old picture, pictures with sunglasses, logos of your favorite sports teams?  HUH?  How are you going to make online dating work if you aren't being truthful about who you are and what you look like?  UM...newsflash, if he or she likes your profile, you are going to meet in person eventually and then what?  I know a lot of women that pretend they are something they are not to get a date, wow, that sounds miserable.

Ok, let's also talk about people that are constantly posting/tweeting about how super uber ungodly happy they are.  Really?  If you are that happy, why are you wasting time posting about it and not enjoying it?  I mean I get, if good things happen, post about it....but all of the time?  Makes me think that someone is trying to convince themselves how happy they are instead of everyone else.

And then of course, there are the ones that complain and moan about how unhappy/unlucky they are?  You know the ones that post crap like this:   So sad today, I want to cry....  And then what happens, everyone posts something like...what is wrong???  Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, if you are sad, call a friend or a family member, someone who can actually help you....not the random facebook friends out there.

So ladies and gentlemen seriously, my soapbox message about keeping it classy is this today:  social media and online dating is fun.  Take it for what it is....not real life.  BE YOU and your online date, your social media network will respect you a heck of a lot more than if you are someone else online and show in up person differently.  And think about it this way, if you aren't being true about who you are online, and someone likes your online persona, when they meet you in person, they will be disappointed, it will be one date and out...and then you will be back to square one.  SOUNDS exhausting, why not skip those steps?

At the end of it all....Everyone should be proud of who they are...OWN IT, WORK IT...don't apologize.  And to quote a song ..... every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.  Thanks Meghan Trainor...All about the base.  :)

So that's all for me today.  Have a wonderful holiday season.  Be nice to your family, they are the only ones you have.  Eat, drink, be merry and keep it classy.

....Keep your chin, heels and standards high...
BONSOIR, CHEERS AND CIAO BELLAS!