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"Raise your hand if you&amp;#39;re a fan of The Real Housewives of New Jersey! Me? I&amp;#39;m a born and bred Jersey girl so you know I make fun of watch (and thoroughly enjoy) the ladies every Sunday on Bravo. But lately I&amp;#39;ve actually found myself relating to them more and more too (well, not so much that Teresa...). Something happened on last week&amp;#39;s episode that felt really familiar. Maybe you&amp;#39;ve experienced it in your relationship too.\nPinterestFacebookSo, if you didn&amp;#39;t watch on Sunday, Albie (the super-cute Manzo brother who lives in the same town as J and I!) introduced his new cheerleader girlfriend to his mom and sister. At a gay club. Seriously. Umm, but, anyway...mom, Caroline, seemed a little underwhelmed and we found out that sis Lauren is the toughest one in the family to impress. Lauren revealed that she had gotten too attached to Albie&amp;#39;s past girlfriends and didn&amp;#39;t want to let this new girl in too quickly unless she was really going to stick around. She&amp;#39;s a tough cookie and it kind of makes sense. A new girlfriend or boyfriend becomes part of the entire family, not just\nyour\nlife (especially when you&amp;#39;re part of the tight Manzo clan).\nThe whole scene really hit home for me. My younger sis, Heather, was the exact same way when she first met J. Actually, when I was with my ex years ago, they were pretty close. Once he became, well, not-so-nice to me, she went into super-sister mode. We both kicked him to the curb and, from then on, she converted into an over-protective version of herself whenever I brought a new guy around. She wanted to make sure I didn&amp;#39;t get hurt again but also didn&amp;#39;t want to let someone new into our family unless they were going to be there for more than a month or two. Needless to say, it took her a little while to warm up to J. She had to feel him out.\nThank goodness, over two and a half years later, she has warmed up to him. It took a little longer because we didn&amp;#39;t live super close (she just moved back up from Florida after college), but they&amp;#39;re buds now. And I&amp;#39;m hoping we&amp;#39;ll start hanging even more once she starts grad school in NYC in the fall (can you tell I&amp;#39;m way psyched?). Then we can all go to a gay bar and take body shots off of Joe Gorga&amp;#39;s stomach. Wait, what?\nHave you experienced any tough love scenarios with your siblings and your man? Would you want your brother or sister to be tough on your guy at first to make sure he&amp;#39;s a keeper? I&amp;#39;m so happy J and Heather are close now (and I love that J is like the &amp;quot;cheerleader&amp;quot; in this situation, ha!). And, before you ask, YES I do live in Hoboken with the Manzo brothers. I&amp;#39;ve seen Chris once but no Albie yet!\nMore on family &amp;amp; dating...\n\nReader&amp;#39;s Dilemma: Help! My Bofriend&amp;#39;s Sisters Hate Me!\n\n\nThe DOs and DON&amp;#39;Ts of Winning Over Your Boyfriend&amp;#39;s Sister\n\n\nSo, My Dad and Boyfriend Hung Out Without Me. Let&amp;#39;s Discuss.\n\nPhoto: Thinkstock"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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