Dear Wendy blogger dishes out all types of relationship advice
There comes a time in each of our lives when we could really use some advice. And sometimes it’s necessary to have a nonpartisan sounding board who can dish out just what you need to hear. That’s exactly what the blog Dear Wendy is all about. Wendy Attererry, the woman behind the blog, is dedicated to giving advice on all types of relationships. Meet Wendy …
Where I’m based: Brooklyn, N.Y.
How long I’ve been blogging: Over nine years, but just over two years at my current blog.
Blog basics: Dear Wendy is a site all about relationships — romantic, platonic, familial, roommate, and work relationships — and everything in between. The meat of the site is a daily Q&A advice column. But, it also features personal essays, funny and informative lists, polls, gift guides and commentary on relationship discussions in the news.
Other blogs I love: Lately, I’ve been reading “Mad Men” recaps wherever I can find them — Salon, Slate, Vulture, Esquire, and my new favorite, Tom and Lorenzo, which is a style blog that totally dissects all the costumes of each episode and predicts what will happen later in the season based on the outfits and colors worn by different characters. By the time I’m done getting my “Mad Man” fix, there’s not much time for other blog-reading. I’m a stay-at-home mom to a toddler in addition to running my own blog, but I’ll occasionally read Huffington Post, The Atlantic, The Hairpin, and whatever cooking blog I might get sucked into looking for that night’s dinner recipe.
Where did you get the inspiration for starting Dear Wendy? I wrote an advice column of the same name on a popular women’s site for a couple of years, and decided I was ready to venture out on my own. I wanted Dear Wendy to be like a friendly bar where people kind of eavesdrop on one another and drift in and out of each other’s conversations — which are inevitably always about relationships.
It’s been so rewarding building a community of thoughtful, engaged, wise, and funny readers — many of whom meet up with each other in their respective cities for drinks, dinner and picnics.
What is one the best stories someone has shared with you? The letters that stick out to me the most are the “crazy” ones. For instance, the time a woman wrote to me in a panic because one of her fiancé’s groomsmen had no teeth and she was freaked out about him ruining her wedding photos. There was another woman who was angry that her fiancé still had photos of his first wedding in an album in their closet, so she got drunk with a friend one evening and ripped up a bunch of the photos and then couldn’t understand why her fiancé was so upset. Oh, then there was a woman whose boyfriend told her she could never come over to his house because his dogs, whom he told her he kept tied up in the front yard, would attack her.
We heard you like to bargain hunt, what’s the best deal you’ve ever gotten? I almost exclusively bargain shop and have gotten a lot of great deals on everything from bedding to my wedding dress. Probably my favorite bargain was a vintage sequin dress I found in a flea market in Manhattan, N.Y., a few years ago. It fit like a glove, was in perfect condition and I got it for 75 percent off — I paid less than $100 for it. The vendor even threw in an awesome vintage handbag that was worth at least $20 or $30 to boot.
Do you ever splurge? Yes! It’s called paying New York City rent.
