National Friendship Day is coming up soon and in honor of that, I'm calling out some of the greats! These are in no particular order!

1. Kiera- always a good time! Doesn't matter if we're drinking and turning up or laying on the couch watching SVU (she got me hooked!) She's currently in PA school! Can't wait til she graduates so we can catch up on our lazy days and party a little bit :)
2. Devin- easily the sweetest person I've ever met! I could sit and talk to her all day long while drinking wine and watching Friends! Hope to see her soon :)
3. Te'Jal- she sweats peace and love and fights hard for the community! I admire her tenacity and determination to make a difference. She made me watch that Draya movie on Netflix and Someone Great...both scarred me LOL Can't wait to see what movie she makes me watch next :)
4. Quanita- proof that real friendship doesn't follow a specific path or a set of rules. I hadn't seen her in years, maybe two? And when we got together, it's like no time had passed! Looking forward to our next adventure :)
5. Marvin- he supports all my naps, yall! I be like tell me to get up and he be like go back to sleep. That's my kind of love LOL hope to catch a community nap soon :)
6. Miracle- inspiring in so many ways! I still can't believe she moved across the country lol that still blows my mind. I enjoy witnessing her growth and being apart of her journey. I have to get to Vegas again...but not while its hot :)
7. Rachel- my road trip partner, my goodwill tour partner, my gym partner, and the person who taught me how to parallel park! We have a wonderfully random time every time we get together! I wonder where we'll end up next :)
8. Jamall- BILLY! yall wanna know whose nerves I get on? Jamall's LOL but he still answers my phone calls every once in a while. Hope to see you around here in like October :)

Each of these people stuck it out with me for YEARS!! Do you know what happens to people over time? We grow, we go through things, we change, we move away, we have kids, we get married, we get second jobs, and we get stressed out. But you know what happens because we are real friends? WE STICK AROUND! We find a way to make it work with all the other things going on in our lives. We stay loyal. We love each other.   

To all the friends above and to those not listed: Thank you ❤

Before we jumped into today's topic, I have two things to say: Eric Bellinger's pandora station is the best thing ever and Outshine Fruit Bars are the best in margaritas!

​Oh, I also have updates!

My office is fully functional again!
I am not the teacher of the year, not officially anyway! We all know I'm a good teacher!
I'm saving money, yall!

Umm that's all I can think of right now. 

So today's topic is about dating apps. Back in 2014, I used Soul Swipe and met one guy. We'll call him, Max because idk anyone named Max lol Max said he was 26 and at the time, I was 22. Yall know I love me an older man, YUM! So we matched and we talked. We exchanged numbers and then he made some confessions. One of which was that he was actually 20...I was so pissed. He immediately became annoying and super clingy. I had to tell him I was uncomfortable with how reliant he had become on me for his mood. If I didn't talk to him, he was depressed. I guess I didn't like him enough to want to talk to him all day. We eventually stopped talking after a few months. Fast forward a few years and somehow we reconnected. It was then that I realized he had some mental health issues. 

The weekend of June 21, we all went Cincinnati to celebrate my best friend's engagement. It was a combination of new and old friends. I caught up with an old friend who was using Bumble, which is a dating app if you don't know. I didn't know anything about it before she showed it to me. She was detailing some of her experiences using it and I was just so amazed!! She convinced me to try it myself, so I made a profile for the weekend. It was nice to have conversations with different people and I guess since I wasn't at home, it felt a little less risky. I matched with a few guys pretty quickly and the conversations just took off. I was drinking, so I was a little less inhibited and more comfortable being myself. I was encouraged to try to link up at some of the bars we went to, but I was nervous about that. I have such an incredible fear of strangers online. I blew off a couple of them, but one guy was very persistent. He kept trying to meet up with me in cinci and I was okay with that because I don't live there and I had friends around. It didn't work out for us to meet so I said screw it and gave up on that. I didn't think we would talk anymore, but like I said, he was persistent. When he found out I was back in Dayton, he told me his mom lived there and that he was coming to visit her. Again, I was encouraged to meet up with him. Ultimately, I couldn't do it. I gave up on the app entirely. Deleted that shit. It didn't work out for me, but the experts told me I didn't give it enough of a chance. And that I can agree with. I was half-assing my efforts. We'll talk about why later.

The experts are two friends of mine who have had great experiences using dating apps. They put the effort in, weeded through some garbage, and found some people on there who are worth their time. I asked these two ladies what they would tell people before using dating apps. Here is what they said:

• Know what you want to get out of using the dating app
• Openly communicate that to avoid wasting anyone's time
• Be open minded, its a different, non traditional way of dating but that doesn't mean it's wrong or that it can't work
• Give it an honest shot
• Don't be afraid to be assertive
• Stay true to your standards
• Don't get caught up in talk, focus on actions
• And at least get food or drinks

Maybe one day I'll be ready to really put the effort into dating apps, but today isn't that day! Third time's the charm though, right? 

Here's a cool assignment, how would you describe yourself in your dating profile? I'll anonymously post them on IG! If you're not following my blog, you should! @nicolenaturallyblog on IG :)
I'll be posting my description on my blog page soon!

This is what I wrote back in 2015, a few months after I lost my virginity. To this day, it is still one of my favorite stories to tell...here goes. 

It was Saturday, July 11th and I had attended an event for work. It was exhausting, but lots of fun. A few coworkers and I had decided we were going to go out. We made a liquor store run and everybody went home to shower. We met up at a friends place to pregame. Everybody had their own liquor, which is crazy thinking back. We had vodka, tequila, and whiskey all in the same room with just 4 people. Everybody likes what they like, right? Somehow the conversation of sex came up and I happened to mention that I was a virgin. Before I could even say anything else, one of the guys was like "Bullshit." Yall...I dont know why, but I decided in that moment that I was going to have sex with him. I cannot tell you what about that statement turned me on so much, but it really did. I saw him so differently instantly. I felt drawn to him.

I became two people inside one body, battling each other. The "good girl" was like we are not doing this. The "new girl" was like yes we are, watch me work. I flirted so much trying to see if he could see what I was on. I discovered that we were on the same wavelength when he tried to untie my shirt in front of everyone LOL Everybody was too drunk to notice, at least I think so. The "good girl" was getting nervous. The "new girl" was getting excited! Like wow this is really going to happen. 

He was eating sour patch kids and I took the bag and ate the rest. He told me I would have to go to his place and get his other bag. (His place was real close). So I did. And I left him a note that read something like "She even excels at things she's new to..." I can't remember. Something along the lines of I'm a virgin but so. When I came back and gave him his candy, one of our friends decided he was ready to go home. The other friend was drunk off her ass not paying us any attention. There was music in the background and we started dancing. I made sure I had my entire body pressed up against his. Next thing I know, his hands were everywhere and I could feel his lips and tongue on my ear. The "good girl" started panicking and the "new girl" was like bitch go away, I got this LOL

The other girl that was in the room was totally in her own world! The guy and I changed the music to better fit our mood. I remember he was sitting in a chair and I stood in front of him. He started feeling me up and I could feel myself melt. Everything about this was wrong, yet so wonderfully right at the same time. At this point we had decided that maybe it was time to put ol girl to bed. She was so drunk yall! Oblivious to everything that was happening right in front of her. We left and stood real awkwardly outside her door. We went our separate ways and I was like oh, I guess it's not happening. 

Remember that note I left...He texted me about it and I went to his place. We had a conversation about something and he made me mad so I left. The "good girl" and the "new girl" were both silent. I was just Ashley making a decision for Ashley. I can't remember if I texted him or if he texted me, but I went back. He knew I was coming and he knew what I was coming for. There was music playing, the lights were off, and when I made it to his bedroom, there were no words...at first. We did a few things and he thought it was over. I was like no sir...you started something that you have to finish. And he did....