Second Date With A JDater

Wednesday night, my action-packed evening continued at Upper East Side restaurant Trata, where I met up with JDate.com member and pet pharmacist Scott.

Trata: Scott and I met up for drinks at this lively UES Greek restaurant and bar

Having come straight from the gym, Scott showed up wearing spandex shorts, a baseball cap and lots of cologne. Not my first choice for date attire, but his impish grin and warm greeting helped me get past it.

It had been four months since our previous date, so we talked about how we spent our respective summers. Scott spent most of his on the beach at Fire Island, co-habitating with six female friends.

Speaking of other women, Scott’s Blackberry buzzed while he was in the restroom. I stole a quick glance at it (I know, tsk tsk), noticing a message from ‘Nicole-J Date’ that she was looking forward to seeing him. A message next to hers from me was filed under my JDate username. Ahh, the romance of online dating.

Though it was fun catching up with Scott, date #2 confirmed we’re better off as friends – and reminded me that, the older you get, the quicker you can tell whether or not there’s a mutual spark.

Seeing Scott also got me to thinking how much more fun it is to be on the prowl when you’re not doing it through cyberspace. Tonight, one of my best galpals and I will be heading down to one of NYC’s hottest neighborhoods for some mingling. Watch this space to see where the night takes us.

Drinks At Trata

Tuesday night, after dinner down in the West Village, I headed up to my Upper East Side neighborhood for a late-evening drink with my brother Andrew and his business partner Parker.

I met them at Trata, a trendy Greek seafood bistro that happens to serve delicious white sangria.

Parker, a former financial big wig turned consultant, joined Andrew in giving me the scoop about their current venture capital project involving new medical technology and an heiress investor with spellbinding charm.

We also talked about my shortlived candidacy for Murphy-Goode Winery’s highly coveted Lifestyle Correspondent gig.

Earlier in the day, I had learned that I didn’t make it onto the Top 10 shortlist of contenders. Given how stiff the Top 50 competition was – seven other New Yorkers among them, including a guy with Food & Wine magazine on his resume – I wasn’t too surprised.

Once I got over the disappointment that I won’t be living on a vineyard for six months, I was actually relieved. Had I made the final cut, it would have been tough to weigh my wanderlust against my love for NYC. Because, for as much as I’m a travelgirl at heart, there’s still no place I’d rather be than the Big Apple.