I was recently walking down the street in the West Village during a long weekend in New York taking in the scenery.  I was visiting friends and as we were delivering invitations for a fashion week party we stumbled upon the topic of love and relationships.   This is not particularly unusual, especially considering that Valentine's Day was quickly approaching and by quickly approaching I mean the next day.  As we were discussing the men in our lives or rather the lack of men...oh wait that was just me, I stumbled upon a motto to get the single girl through this dark economic time: "A girl has to take what she can get when it comes to men...it is a recession after all."  Let's be honest every day when I quickly peruse the front page of the New York Times on the way to the Style section there is an article about just how awful the economic times are.  One merely needs to look at the signs in every bar window in New York to see that happy hour is now running from noon until 8 p.m.  Now this can be seen as either a good or bad thing for a single girl such as myself.  On the one hand there is less money to be thrown away on "extravagant things" such as god forbid a date, however one could argue that with 8 hours of happy hour 5 days a week there is potentially 40 hours to meet someone who used to be a catch in a bar.  

I am the queen of high standards and as a result I usually watch other people screw up relationships from afar, and then I get to watch them fight about it and then I get to watch them romantically make up while canoodling in the corner.  As times get tougher though I wonder if maybe the playing field is going to be leveled.  Will there even be such a thing as a catch anymore?  If having a job makes a guy date worthy then I guess it won't matter that they talk with a lisp or call their mother 57 times a day.  Guys will no longer be able to flaunt their paychecks and business cards because frankly they probably won't be printing business cards...it is a recession after all!  Now I am in no way a girl who is suffering as a result to the man in her life no longer being able to pamper her with dinners and jet set weekends.  As comical as they might seem I do recognize the dilemma that one faces when her cookie cutter life that she had envisioned for herself slips away.  If the overqualified grad school folks can't get jobs then what is a girl with a mere college degree supposed to do?  Next thing you know there will be therapy groups for women who are struggling with the transition into a life of domesticity.  I mean what is a girl to do when she can't find an apron to match her wardrobe? (My suggestion...go to Anthropologie and smell the angel food cake candle.  You will walk out feeling like the next Julia Child and you can grab an apron while you're there).  

The real question is will I find myself settling for the so-so guy because the great on paper guy doesn't exist?  Or is this whole recession thing really a blessing in disguise for my love life because at the end of the day the perfect guy on paper was going to be really boring anyways?!  So I figure why not look forward to what lies ahead and instead of trying to get meals at fancy restaurants paid for by a dashing man with an expense account I figure it might be worth a try to snag a guy who is willing to pay for my half price Qdoba...it is a recession after all!