Unexpected Valentine

Skinny Petie and Kip look alikes (love this photo but don’t know who took it)

Ah, it’s that time of year again. The time when restaurants overcharge love birds and single women either stay in drinking vats of wine or go out in large groups to “take back the night.”

Last year, because of my New Years resolution to meet a non-furry two-legged single straight male, I dipped my toe into the world of online dating. Specifically sites that were more geared to the pet lover.

It wasn’t promising.  In fact, I didn’t do too well with dating – online or not – as most of you know from my 3 part dating series from late last year.

But do not fear. I think I’ve found my niche. Meeting cute, single, straight men at pet writers and blogging conventions.

While the girl to guy ratio is abysmal (20:1?) the number of single outgoing women 40 or under is pretty limited.

Haddie (l) and Kip (r) try to make their own heart shape!

Last year I attended BlogPaws, a pet blogging convention with mostly married attendees. But yours truly ended up honing in on the cutest guy at the event. Granted nothing came of it but it was fun and unexpected.

This past weekend I attended the Pet Writer Convention in NYC where I got to reconnected with Ingrid King (Conscious Cat), Yvonne DiVita and Tom Collins, (BlogPaws) and meet some new folks like Stephanie of Catsparella and Ann Dzieimianowicz, the author of “Careers for your Cat.”

I couldn’t help but notice the hipster photographer covering the event and wondered what was going through is mind as he photographed the crazy cat and dog ladies spending their Saturday afternoon at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Stephanie of Catsparella and Tamar from I HAVE CAT finally meet in the flesh!

I’m not sure who made the first move but suddenly I was babbling to him about being a 40 year old writing about living in NYC with cat (s).

“How many cats?” he asked.

“Um…three,” I said with a shrug to signal I knew it was a bit much.

He got quiet and stared at me somewhat blankly.  I figured I’d blown it with either the “I’m 40” or “3 cats” bits.

To my surprise the only thing he repeated back to me was “you’re single?” We ended up hanging out (okay and smooching) after the convention but sadly he had to go back to Florida where he’s living for a few months. The good news? He lives in Brooklyn, so perhaps a proper date awaits me in 2011!

HAPPY VALENTINES EVERYONE!

Hug your cats (if you can) and your friends and family. Take a moment to recognize love in your life in whatever form it comes.

Lots of Love,

Tamar, Kip, Petie and Haddie.

PS – Photog guy is allergic to cats. Ah cruel universe!