About

Ten years in the making and here I am world!

Hi everyone, I’m Mary. We all have a couple (or many) dating horror stories so I wrote the book Nicknames, Tales from the Shallow End of the Manhattan Dating Pool and created this blog to share with you. It turns out the longer I wade in the dating pool the more stories I have to share!

I did the reverse of my friends. I married way too young to a guy who needed a green card (21!) and was divorced at twenty-six. I spent five years of my life being treated like a step stool. Finally I had had enough and told my husband to pack his shit and get out! And he did. $900 we were divorced by a lawyer we found advertised on Queens Boulevard. I sold my 2000 silver Saturn, got custody of the cat, and moved into Manhattan!

Since then, I have amassed a multitude of emails, text messages, and stories about my post-divorce experiences trying to navigate the perilous waters of both on- and offline dating. My stories are funny and if I didn’t share them with the world, I would have imploded, so I wrote Nicknames.

I can’t make this shit up. I have met many, many women who have had a few of their own “Nicknames” and I figured it was time to compile my most memorable men into one easy-to-read book and blog. YAY!

Many single women have a common thread of disastrous first dates. You will enjoy learning about what is often in the minds of women in the moment of the date. Some things that come to mind may include:

“He doesn’t quite look like his pictures but if I have another drink we can find some common ground. After all, looks aren’t everything, right?”

“This guy looks like he just escaped a mental hospital. Why isn’t he blinking?!” True story, I actually experienced this type of date once.

“Will he stop looking at his fucking phone?!” 

“WTF: I can’t believe I met another guy who is just out of a five year relationship as of like one month ago!” 

“WHAT! How many roommates did he say he has?!”

“I have to cross the Hudson to visit him…ummmm no thank you.”

“Is he gay?”

and the thoughts go on and on….

I’m a healthcare sales professional by day and a semi-reformed-hopeless-romantic serial dater by night. Married at age 21 and divorced at 26, me and my rescued pets kitty Diva and Pup Valentino were left to learn how to balance our checkbook.

In Nicknames, I tiptoe back into the dating pool, accumulating many late night, drunken scraps of paper and text messages, outlining unbelievable—yet totally true—events. I couldn’t make this shit up, so I stored the memories away, and am finally able to share them with you!

Undaunted, I live, work, and play in NYC and call Hells Kitchen home. When not dating, I can be found planning my next scuba diving adventure and hanging out with my pets.

I also charge full speed ahead pounding the pavement, racing marathons and raising money to bring awareness of suicide prevention and outreach programs.

But nothing brings a smile to my face like my famous garlic roasted mashed potatoes, perfectly whipped mountains of starch, hoping to one day find the meat to my potatoes.

To unwind, I’m on a mission to create the perfect martini!