Dating

Fantasy Valentine’s Days involve a surprise diamond hidden in box of french chocolates. Just in case your own Valentine’s Day threatens to fail to come up to this ideal, here are some thoughts for making the day sweet:

1. Send a card to every girlfriend who has stood by you. They are your true loves.

2. If you still have your own Mom or Dad, make sure they get hugs and kisses.

3. Bake heart shaped cookies and give them out at the office

4. Indulge in the one perfect sweet treat you’ve been denying yourself. Send a lot of time imagining what this will be.

5. Download your favorite piece of anti-heart break music — think Pink, Beyonce, Gloria Gaynor and beyond. Play it LOUD in your car

6. Or…try playing your favorite classic love songs, and put yourself back in the romantic mood.

7. Consider sending penny Valentines to every attractive man you know. Sign them “I’ve got a crush on you.” Or don’t sign them at all.

8. Give out compliments like Valentines, all day long.

9. Put on perfume; buy new lingerie; try a new lipstick and day dream about the future.

10. In general, be a sweetheart to everyone who crosses your path. It will boomerang back to you.

Filed under: Dating

Things are tough these days. We all know that. All week around here,Judith Sills has been telling you to get back out there, dating-wise. But what are you supposed to do when money is tight and you can’t afford fancy dinners all the time?

Luckilly, Marie Clare has offered up a good list of alternatives:

You can read the whole list here. Do you have any others you want to add to the list? Leave us a comment.

Filed under: Dating

Okay, okay. So Henry is a lizard (a turatara living in the Southland Museum in New Zealand to be exact), but he still managed to find love–at 110 years old! Henry met Mildred (a spry 80), last March. He wined and dined her for several months. Then last July she announced that she was pregnant–with 11 babies! All 11 hatched this week and they are the proud parents of 11 healthy lizardlings. (Take that octuplets!)

It only goes to show that you just need a little bit of confidence, no matter how old you are. I’m not saying that you should necessarily start with someone 30 years younger, but it’s worth getting out there. Henry next has his eye on a 20-something turatara. He’s clearly getting a little carried away. But maybe you should too. Or maybe, it’s better that Judith Sills give the relationship advice, and I stick to quippy posts about lizards!

Filed under: Dating

Hey Springboarders. Sorry we blacked out there again. Last week I got a little caught up in the inauguration hoopla to blog, then took a mini-vacation, and then came back sick. I’ve been a little out of it, but I’m back.

To celebrate the upcoming release of Judith Sills’ new book Getting Naked Again next week, I want to talk a little bit about dating. It’s hard whether you’re single, divorced, widowed, or whatever. Does anyone have any experiences using Match.com, Chemistry.com, JDate or any of the other sites? One reader already shared her story. I hope others will too. We want to hear about good dates, bad dates, coffee dates, sexy dates (well, not too sexy–acceptable for work!), boring dates, and whatever kind you’ve had.

In the meantime, Cosmo is offering up some help. Want to know 40 things you can learn about your date in the first 10 minutes? Well, here’s your chance. What can you learn, for example, about the kind of sports a guy likes?

“Solo sportsmen, like runners and swimmers, savor their independence and relish spending a lot of time alone,” says relationship-skills coach Steve Nakamoto, author of “Men Are Like Fish: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Catching a Man.” Men who are fans of mainstream team sports, like football, basketball, and baseball, 2 tend to be competitive — on the field and in all aspects of their life — and they like to hang with their entourage. As for the guy who’s just not into sports at all, 3 “he’s an independent thinker, usually on the sensitive side.”

Is there anything that the article leaves out?

Filed under: Dating