a love of Dublin pizza: Manifesto

Happy Tuesday! How are you doing? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe it’s yoga, meditation, running, reading, building a pallet garden, or even playing animal crossing. Whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break. Heck, I had a fun D&D session with two friends from Dublin yesterday, and we’ve decided to actually have a second session this week. You do you, cutie.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post, “technology and theatre,” you can click right here to catch up. And also, if you didn’t get the chance to vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl yet today, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours, and I’d be so grateful for your support! The first round of voting ends on June 4th (this coming Thursday), so I really need your help to advance to the top 20! Honestly, my Maxim page doesn’t tell me how many votes I need to secure first place, which is a bit sketchy in my opinion, but if everyone I know who has voted submitted their free daily votes moving forward through Thursday, I couldn’t imagine it wouldn’t be enough (assuming the other candidates don’t have agencies pumping in $500/day in votes, which is possible). Whatever happens, I’m just so blown away by the amount of support I’ve received and the outpouring of love and support in private messages, texts, and sharing of my public posts. All of you who helped out in one way or another, thank you. You're seriously amazing. Otherwise, if you’re all caught up on reading and voting, buckle up and let’s go on an adventure!

In my last post - “technology and theatre” - I wrote about my experience with two separate plays that both incorporated technology into their productions and whether or not the technology worked for the performances. Today’s post will keep us in Dublin but will start discussing one of my favorite things I’ve done for a long, long time but started really talking about while I lived in Europe: date night for one (#datenightforone)! Now, I’ve taken myself on solo travel trips and solo date nights ever since I first started college (seriously, going to the movies alone is the BEST), but being able to do so in Europe was absolutely awesome.

Date night for one is not just practicing eating alone. Grabbing lunch alone between classes or on a break from work does not count as a date. Nay, date night for one is an entire experience. It sometimes requires reservations, like my first date night for one in Dublin, but it always requires pampering. Date night for one consists of me dressing up, putting on makeup, shaving my legs, and eating whatever I want off the menu at whatever restaurant I’ve chosen. Sometimes date night for one isn’t dinner but a show or a movie (some of my favorite date nights for one will be ones I write about very, very soon in an upcoming series of posts), but it always includes treating myself the way I deserve to be treated on a date. I wine and dine and treat myself the way I would expect a partner to treat me. If you’ve never done a date night for one, I highly recommend it. You also don’t need to be single to do a date night for one, either. I’ve taken myself out on dates even when I’ve been in relationships. It’s a simple act of self-love that will remind you of just how important you are, regardless of whatever your situation in life.

One of my first date nights for one in Dublin occurred right down the street from my flat in Rathmines. I called ahead to a small Italian restaurant called Manifesto, which bore a sign out front that boasted the restaurant had won Gold for World’s Best Pizza, and made a reservation for one. There were actually several award-winning pizzas when I got seated and opened up the menu, and after some debate among a few delicious-sounding selections, I chose the Mamy Pizza, which won Gold in 2006, along with a glass of Pinot Noir, which was actually a bit disappointing. No regrets, though, because the pizza was amazing. Since my date night for one at Manifesto happened before I’d had the chance to try pizza in Italy, I knew I’d be even more excited to finally visit Italy one day if the pizza there was anywhere close to being as delicious as the pizza at Manifesto. The servers were kind, the lights dim, the music soft, and by the time I’d finished my pizza, glass of wine, and paid my bill, the restaurant was utterly packed. Apparently I’d snagged a last-minute reservation cancellation (on a Tuesday) because everything from 7 PM on was booked up for the night.

Have you ever taken yourself out on a date night for one? Did it involve pizza? Or are you more of a cocktails and a show type of #datenightforone-r? Now, I won’t say that Manifesto was actually my favorite pizza I had while living in Dublin, but it was one of my more memorable date night for one experiences since I was able to get a last-minute reservation by chance due to cancellation and since it was one of my first date nights for one in Dublin. If you want to know my favorite pizza in Dublin, you’ll have to check back in tomorrow! So, subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been getting a lot of really great, fun-to-read stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe from all different chapters of my life (and from new friends I can't wait to meet one day)! The other stories of people’s travels that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about the crazy stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Especially during this time of uncertainty, unrest, and pandemic, it's important to surround yourself with things and people (via video chats) that bring you joy; we're all in this together. I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you. And please, let me know about your date nights for one (especially if there's pizza involved)!

And please, I know the world is in a period of uncertainty and tension right now, and we all have more important things to do, but I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote! Voting ends this coming Thursday June 4th, and I really need your help!

And, more importantly, today is #blackoutTuesday for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I've donated to a number of causes, but if you're looking for a simple way to contribute, please consider clicking here to donate to the NAACP.

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my