The Race to the Altar

In the past couple of days, I've noticed that I've been having the same conversation with my friends about how they want to be married by the time that they are thirty years old. For some reason, thirty seems to be the magic number when it comes to marriage for many women. Many women don't want to give up the independence, freedom and self-discovery that you get to experience when you're in your twenties so they put off getting married until later. But many women are more than willing to give up all of their new found independence so that they can get married by thirty.

Why are so many women putting on their Nikes and making the race to the alter? But better yet, why do women feel that if they are not married by thirty they'll be alone and why do women have such a fear of being alone? What do you think? Have you ever felt pressure from family and friends to be married by a certain age?

Going the Distance for Your Long Distance Relationship

I've never personally been in a long distance relationship (because it really just seems like your pen pals with benefits), but for those who are in a long distance relationship, keeping it going can be really difficult. Not being able to enjoy the simplest of acts like going to dinner or even holding hands can be hard to deal with. And constantly worrying what your mate is doing while you're not there can really strain things. But fear not, your long distance relationship can survive. It might be a lot of work (you might wreck your phone bill and sprain your thumbs from all of the constant texting you'll be doing), but with this Howcast video your long distance relationship can be just as fulfilling as if you were sitting on your couch watching that funny Old Spice commercial together. Happy Dating!!!!

How To Maintain a Long-Distance Relationship on Howcast

Breaking Up Just Got A Lot Easier

In one of my favorite Simpsons episode, Homer opens up a professional break-up business called Sweet Conclusions. How convenient it would be, I thought, to have someone else handle your dirty relationship laundry when you just don't feel like dealing with it yourself. But apparently, there are such services that will dump your tired ass boo when you don't want to.

Ran by a man named Bradley Laborman, iDUMP4U will dump your significant other via telephone for the price of a Chipotle burrito. Brad will also call off your engagement or (yikes) tell your spouse that you want a divorce.

If all of this just seems to cold and heartless for you, check out this video on how to break up with your significant other. Happy Dating...or rather dumping!!

How To Break Up With Someone on Howcast

A Woman's Perspective on Dating for A Man's Website

Sometimes while looking for inspiration for this blog, I'll 'troll men's websites and look at their dating and relationship stories. Most of them are way off (like the one about how, apparently, women prefer the "dark triad" of personalities: narcissism, thrill-seeking and deceitfulness) but some of them are right on point like this video about a woman's perspective on first dates. Do you agree with what she's saying?

What to Wear on that Casual Date

Knowing how to dress for that night time date is easy: high heels and high hems. But what about that brunch date? Here are eleven great cost-friendly fashion options for that casual date. Happy dating!

Could These Be the Dating Rules That Finally Land You a Boo

So, I came across this article about dating advice. Of course it had the obligatory tips on how to get boo'ed up, but this one seemed different than the millions of others that I've read. For one, these tips were more practical and attainable than most. Telling me that I should practice fluttering my eyes and tossing my hair is only going to leave me with a stiff neck and strained eyes. These eye tips provided by author, match maker and dating coach Rachel Greenwald (who is responsible for 750 marriages) really seem helpful. Investing more time into our love lifes, using social networking (which we're all already obsessed with) to find people and letting people know that you're looking are just a few of the tips that she provides. Here are her 8 tips to a better dating life. Waldgreen has also published a book entitled Have Him at Hello. I'm actually going to try some of these tips to see if they work. Maybe you should too. Happy dating!!!

Can You Read Your Way to a Better Love Life?

Lately, there have been two books about dating that have gotten my attention. They are both very popular books but one preaches a more common message while the other is spreading a message that some are seeing as slightly controversial.



The first, If I'm So Fabulous, Why Am I Still Single?: Ten Strategies That Will Change Your Love Life Forever. Written by relationship guru and the founder of the first university-based human sexuality program Susan Page, this book delivers ten dating strategies that are meant to help women identify their dating problems and fix them. I've only read a few pages of it, but seeing as how it's published in 18 languages and read in 25 countries this book must be saying something that women are identifying with.



The next book, Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr. Good Enough. This book is basically telling women that if they truly want to get married than they need to stop searching for Mr. Right and settle for Mr. Good Enough. In this excerpt, author Lori Gottlieb tells women this:

Whether you acknowledge it or not, there’s good reason to worry. By the time 35th-birthday-brunch celebrations roll around for still-single women, serious, irreversible life issues masquerading as “jokes” creep into public conversation: Well, I don’t feel old, but my eggs sure do! or Maybe this year I’ll marry Todd. I’m not getting any younger! The birthday girl smiles a bit too widely as she delivers these lines, and everyone laughs a little too hard for a little too long, not because we find these sentiments funny, but because we’re awkwardly acknowledging how unfunny they are. At their core, they pose one of the most complicated, painful, and pervasive dilemmas many single women are forced to grapple with nowadays: Is it better to be alone, or to settle?

My advice is this: Settle! That’s right. Don’t worry about passion or intense connection. Don’t nix a guy based on his annoying habit of yelling “Bravo!” in movie theaters. Overlook his halitosis or abysmal sense of aesthetics. Because if you want to have the infrastructure in place to have a family, settling is the way to go. Based on my observations, in fact, settling will probably make you happier in the long run, since many of those who marry with great expectations become more disillusioned with each passing year. (It’s hard to maintain that level of zing when the conversation morphs into discussions about who’s changing the diapers or balancing the checkbook.)

Hmmm, Gottlieb has definitely raised more than a few eyebrows with her call to settle.

These are two books with two pretty different dating messages. But whatever your dating philosophy, one of these books will be sure to appeal to you.