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"We&amp;#x27;ve talked about taking vacations alone and sleeping in a big house alone (eeks), but what about eating dinner alone in a restaurant? Have you ever done it? Would you?A few years ago, I met a girl named Hilary who often ate alone. &amp;quot;If I want to try a new restaurant and my friends aren&amp;#x27;t free, I&amp;#x27;ll go by myself,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;I love sitting at the bar, drinking a great glass of wine and paying attention to the food.&amp;quot; Inspired and impressed by her independence, I challenged myself to try the same thing. I went to the East Village restaurant Cafe Mogador and asked to sit at the bar. I ordered a Mediterranean dinner--with hummus, Greek salad and warm pita bread. The crowds around me were boisterous, but I sat and forced myself to eat slowly. At first I felt awkward, but after a few minutes, do you know what I realized? No one notices you. In a good way. No one thinks you&amp;#x27;re weird or friendless; no one watches you as you take giant bites of hummus; no one thinks twice. To everyone else, you&amp;#x27;re just another person in the restaurant doing her thing. It was liberating! During the dinner, I did miss having someone to chat with--it&amp;#x27;s fun to gossip over grape leaves--but I was glad to know that I was a strong, independent woman who could have dinner sitting proudly by herself. It sounds like a little thing, but it felt like a right of passage! And now if I&amp;#x27;m ever in a city alone for work or pleasure, I know I don&amp;#x27;t have to hide in my hotel room, but can go out and explore the city and restaurants. What about you guys? Have you ever eaten in a restaurant alone? What was it like? And if you haven&amp;#x27;t, would you like to, or would it feel too awkward? P.S. Who do you normally eat dinner with? And what&amp;#x27;s your favorite dessert? * More Cool Ways to Get Glamour.com Wherever You Go! * Add glamour.com to your Google homepage Follow Smitten on Twitter"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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