Our first advice seeker!

Dear Advice Girl,
Help! Living in the big city is hard for a nice girl like me, especially when it comes to dating. It seems like I can never meet a guy who's interested in a real relationship. The guys in bars only have one-track minds, and everyone else I know is married or has a girlfriend. Is there any hope for a woman who's tired of dating and ready to settle down, but not ready to settle for less?!?
-Desperate in DC


Dear Desperate,
Oh my, Advice Girl is sorry it’s taken her so long to reply. She’s not yet accustomed to seeing anything besides the “confirmation-noreply” email in her Advice Inbox. But seriously, she’s on top of it now. (Now, possibly being slightly too late, as rumor has it you’ve had two excellent dates in the last week, but anyway…)

So, the first thing Advice Girl would like to remind you is that, difficult as the big city may be, living in the big suburbs would be infinitely worse. At least here you’re having regular interaction with guys of the same age (more on that in a sec), interests, and marital status as yourself. What is most frustrating to Advice Girl is that she hears this frequently from the guys and the girls, indicating some major missed opportunities.

Speaking strictly from personal experience, Advice Girl recommends being set up by friends, specifically coworkers. The key to making these successful, or at least bearable, are… 1) do NOT go out as a group. There is nothing more awkward than the wink-wink-I-think-they’re-getting-along of your accompanying friend and his girlfriend, unless it’s the oh-my-god-I-can’t-believe-they’re-not-getting-along stealth glances of same said couple. Just go out with him by yourself and be your own charming self. Remember, you can always be “going to Tajikistan for a while” if you don’t want to go out with him again. And 2) Meet for drinks. Have a glass of wine or five. It will, shall we say, bring out your charming self a little more quickly. Just trust Advice Girl on this one.

And finally, Advice Girl would like to remind you that man-age in DC is not the same as man-age elsewhere in the country. You need to be dating guys several years older than yourself. This has many benefits including, but not limited to, minimizing the chances of being romantically whisked off to a group house with six roommates and their mates sharing one bathroom. Advice Girl will be happy to elaborate further over drinks.