Man Repelling

Wednesday night I joined my friend Meaghan and a few hundred other bloggers/fans/stalkers to attend a book signing by Leandra Medine. She's the smart aleck behind the Man Repeller blog.  The book signing was hosted by BrandLinkDC at the W Hotel's P.O.V. rooftop bar. 

Measure of success for me: making a funny person laugh! 

Measure of success for someone else: writing a book and having the cover of your book made into an edible adornment on mini cupcakes. Because honestly just having your edible book cover on a regular sized cupcake would be bush-league!  Thanks Georgetown Cupcakes for the delicious treats.

Kind of random, but there were models sporting looks curated by the Man Repeller. I just thought the reflection of the lights were cool. 

Speaking of pretty lights - hello lover! 

Two things:

First - Back in February Leandra Medine spoke at the IFB Conference and one thing she said struck me. She was providing bloggers with advice on how to stay true to themselves and she said, "Niche Niche Niche Niche Niche.com" Recap here 

It was at that point in time that I was still slowly embracing my "Made in USA" motto, but after hearing it over and over again that having a small focused approach was better than having a wide approach I figured why not go with it. And since then I've been focusing on items made in the USA whenever possible. My friends used to think I'm crazy. They probably still think I am, but at least now they just go with it. 

Second:  I have the utmost respect for funny women. I vividly remember a very frank conversation I had with a highly respected grad school professor about life and funny women. This professor had just met my soon-to-be-hubs at a department social event and saw how crazy we were about each other. My professor was thrilled for me because there was an old adage that funny and successful women did not always have the best of personal relationships. The beginning of that conversation felt like a slap across the face with a hot iron. I felt like I had to make a choice in life: be funny and single or be not-funny and married. 

To sum up: I said "screw it" to the old world of thinking and I went ahead and married the hubs and we make each other laugh every day. Okay, fine I no longer do stand up comedy, but those engagements were few and I think my potential was held back by my lack of cursing rather than my happy home life. I can still crack a joke during the most insensitive of times like the best of them. 

All of this boils down to why I'm a huge fan of Leandra Medine's and many other intellectual, funny women. The old world thinking that women couldn't be smart, funny, and successful is just outdated. Nobody's got time for that crappy way of thinking! Smart and funny women do not repel men. They repel intellectually inferior little boys, but attract smart and funny men. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

What was a moment in life where you said, "screw it" and did it your way?