Alexa initially wrote to me because she was interested in one of my single peeps. She attached a picture of herself — a headshot, where she looked like she was 14 years old. My friend never responded, probably fearful of getting arrested on a date with a ninth-grader. But I invited her to the Anti-Valentine’s Day event sponsored by The Journal. She came with a friend, and after the event they hung out with my crew at a bar. Apparently she’s of legal drinking age. Alexa’s kept in touch with a few of my friends. I saw her last week at my friend (and fellow single peep) Eli’s Shabbat dinner. She looks a bit like Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” — a cartoon character come to life. When she walked in, she said “hi,” then went to the kitchen and helped prepare the food. Because she’s sweet like that. Later, a girl I know leaned over me to dip a chip in guacamole and dropped a dollop of it on my shoe. She said, “Oh,” and then threw the chip in her mouth. Before I had the chance to stand, Alexa swiped off the guacamole with a paper towel, tossed it in the trash and went back to making the salad. I said, “You will make the greatest wife ever.” And then I turned to my friend. “And this is why you’re still single.”
Alexa’s parents are from Mexico City. She didn’t learn to speak English until she went to school. She’s wanted to be an actor and director since she was 9. She went to community college near her home in Irvine, but decided to drop out of school at 19 and move to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.
“I live with my best friend and my brother. I enjoy yoga, I’m getting into kickboxing. I’m very healthy. I’m vegan because of a new discovery that I’m allergic to dairy. I haven’t eaten meat since I was 16. It’s easy to be kosher now,” she jokes.
“I want someone who’s smart, someone who’s funny, someone who’s ambitious and has a passion. A nice guy. If he’s being a [jerk] in some way, I get turned off. My friends think it’s attractive. I’m not like most 21-year-olds. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t party. I’m low-key. I don’t care about the finer things. I’d rather be eco-friendly than have a nice car or a big house. If I have a lot of money when I’m older, I don’t want to have more than I need. That’s why I don’t shop that much. I don’t spend money on stupid things.”
I make fun of the spandex pants she’s wearing. She laughs. “I hardly get dressed up. I’d love to be in yoga pants every day if I could. I hate jeans. I’ll wear them, but if I’m not comfortable in what I’m wearing, I’m very fidgety and [don’t feel] confident.
“I want to raise my kids in a suburban area. But you never know. I change my mind every day. The only thing I do know is that I want kids. And I want to marry a good, Jewish guy. And a huge thing for me is communication. If there’s no communication for me, then there’s nothing — because there are going to be arguments, but if we can’t see both sides of it, then it’ll build up. It’s like me and my roommate — the only way we get through things is by talking about our problems, talking about what we need to work on, and we grow from there. And that’s how I see my husband. We hit rough patches, but we’ll grow through it together, and we’ll become closer.”
If you’re interested in anyone you see on My Single Peeps, send an e-mail and a picture, including the person’s name in the subject line, to mysinglepeeps@jewishjournal.com, and we’ll forward it to your favorite peep.
Seth Menachem is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. You can see more of his work on his Web site, sethmenachem.com, and meet even more single peeps at mysinglepeeps.com.
