Single on a Saturday Night Tip #1

One of the most difficult things about being single can be watching all your "couple" friends wander off in twos on "date night."

But to me, this is the thing that married people forget: Being single is wonderful in so many ways. People tend to define themselves only in terms of their sexuality, but people are so much more than that. We have so many dimensions, and to me, being single on a Saturday night is a perfect time to celebrate these. It's a perfect time to feed your other needs.

If you're sick of the typical club and bar scene, though, try this for something different.

Last year, my single girlfriends and I had a standing Saturday night "date" for about six months. Each Saturday night, we tried a new restaurant. The rules were as follows: It had to be under $20 a plate (preferrably including an alcoholic beverage), none of us could have ever eaten there before, no more than four people could go, we would rotate choosing the restaurant, and whoever chose the restaurant drove to the restaurant. In addition, we usually planned to go around 3:30 or 4:00 to beat the supper crowd. We found many of the restaurants from City Search, and I don't believe we once had a bad experience. We tried lots of great cuisine, including everything from mango shrimp at a Malaysian restaurant to sweet potato fries at a great little neighborhood joint with an awesomely sarcastic waitress.

There were many great things about this experience. To begin with, I never once envied my couple friends for their date night. Why would I? Every week I had a new and interesting experience to look forward to. In addition, it brought "us girls" closer together, and we would usually plan a movie or a museum or a night on the town afterwards. We have an extensive list of restaurants to choose from when we want to eat out, and we have some great stories to re-tell when we get together now. We still quote the sarcastic waitress: "Was it everything you hoped it could be and, oh, so much more?" We still go back to some of our favorite spots.

So, if you're single and wondering what to do in the upcoming weeks when the winter starts to bring you down, try getting a group of your single friends together for a restaurant sampling of your own city. There's no reason why couples should be the only ones with dates on Saturday night.