Love in this Sub(stack)
In today's quickie: shirtless Usher, professional bridesmaids, fringe friends, dissecting breakups, relatable valentine's, solo date ideas, and dating with credit scores 🥵💍💔👯♀️🌹💸
Happy love day! I hope you’re feeling romantic. If you aren’t, this Make Out Jams playlist might do the trick💋
Both Sides Of A Breakup, the cut
This is one of my fave sections of The Cut (and perfect for Valentine’s!). These entries are filled with drama, heartbreak, and some insane meet cutes like this one:
Jessa: He gets arrested. His cousin is like, “Can I get your number?” I was like, “No. But you can give me Charles’s number.” A few hours later, the police officer contacted us and was like, “Someone has to get him.” I’m like, “I’ll go pick him up.” I had my car at the dock. So I let myself sober up, then I went to get him.
Charles: An Uber pulls up and who’s in it but the pretty girl I’d been ignoring all afternoon.
The Surreal Life of a Professional Bridesmaid, the hustle
Not all heroes wear capes. This one wears overpriced chiffon gowns.
Making friends, maintaining friends is really hard,” she says. “I think people are lonelier than ever.”
And that’s what Glantz is really selling: a support system. A friend-meets-therapist-meets-assistant who will always text you back and can weather any crisis, from holding another bridesmaid’s hair back as she pukes to running interference between divorced parents reuniting for the first time, no matter how mentally, physically, or emotionally exhausting.
America is Facing a 'Fringe Friend' Crisis, business insider
On the topic of being lonely…
These are the people you see only at parties but are always happy to chat with. The people who you see at the local watering hole every so often, and maybe challenge to a game of darts. The people who ended up in your orbit by proximity — the ones who rode the subway to work with you at the same time every day or waited next to you for their morning coffee. Have you seen any of those people in recent years?
…In some ways, these weak social ties are even more important than our intimate friendships and relationships that we have because they connect us to a wider world
David Milch’s Disembodied Writing Process, subtle maneuvers
This one isn’t love-related, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I think he’s on to something.
“I find that by writing out in the open, I am less likely to, for example, begin to write the same sentence a thousand times, or hang upside-down like a bat in the corner of the room, you know, or smoke crack.”
🌹Nothing says romance like… These relatable Valentine’s for the 30+ crowd
💸 Score! The dating app that includes credit scores
🥵Yeah Yeah Yeah. The clip of Usher taking his shirt off at the Super Bowl (you’re welcome)
💕 Stunning: Red and pink outfit inspo for your Valentine’s Day
👍 Lonely Likes Club. Gen Z’s are posting friendship applications on Facebook
🎶 Unlikely couple. I’m formally requesting that these two make an album
🛁 Love in this tub. A couple remodelling their bathroom found decades-old love letters in the walls
No plans tonight? No problem! Check out this article with 99 solo date ideas from The Good Trade.
“I started to feel like I was missing out on life experiences just because my calendar wasn’t synced up with a friend’s.”
