Integridate Dating Topics

If you have to work on the relationship early in the game, is the relationship worth working on?

It’s funny how some people on MySpace make a big to-do about friend requests, proclaiming themselves to be against “friend collecting”. I can’t help but think that maybe they take MySpace a little too seriously, but that’s just me. When it comes to dating though, I have always had a hard time juggling lots-o-dates.

Take the quiz and find out:

It’s been said before, but saying it again doesn’t hurt. Volunteering is a great way for singles to meet.

...you might just find the love of your life because of your positive vibes...

What is your deal breaker in online dating? It seems pretty obvious at this point that a huge percentage of people who online date are lying about something. Just like real life actually! So what is your deal breaker?

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."
Albert Einstein

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love."
Sophocles

"The risk it takes to remain tight inside the bud
is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom."
Anais Nin

"Do you love me because I am beautiful,
or am I beautiful because you love me?"
Cinderella

"All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love."
Leo Tolstoy

"LOVE: The irresistable desire to be irresistibly desired."
Mark Twain

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

One nice thing about a first date with someone you met on www.eharmony.com is that you absolutely have something to talk about. Imagine the scene. You meet, sit for that drink or for dinner or for coffee. Things are moving along, and then the conversation hits a rough patch. You slide into the first awkward pause. He’s your chance. Laugh. Laugh loud and hard and then hook your date in. Ask him to close his eyes and recall the awful grating creepy voice of Dr. Neil Clark Warren. Oh the willies. I get the willies. Your date will laugh. Well, he might get willies, but he’ll probably laugh. It’s hard not to laugh when you are sitting across from someone who is completely out of control laughing and it’s just plain fun. Don’t think. Try not to think. If you do, you might halt the laughing. Of course it will dwindle. It always does. But now you have this nice experience with someone and the ice is broken, and hell…you just laughed.

So thick. So luxurious. Just beautiful. I was excited to get eyelash extensions. This was back in December 2006. Call me stubborn, but I still believe these would have been worth every penny if they actually looked like the salon advertisement (www.xtremelashes.com)

So there wasn’t a special reason. I wasn’t going to the prom or getting married. I just always hated my lashes…well, not hated….I disliked my lashes and I’m so tired of buying new mascara (I know…the drama, right?). I had thought about the lashes for a long time (months, maybe even a full year). Justification did not come easy but I was trying. Heather Locklear talks about how she trained herself to sleep on her back so as to deter additional wrinkles via laying on her face 8-10 hours a night while asleep. I always felt stress when taking off my mascara, even before I had heard about “sleep lines”. All the rubbing….it was troublesome. I kept thinking about how I needed to make a change for the better. I needed to eliminate the rubbing all together. I made a list of the pros and cons. As far as I could tell the only con was the price tag. That was before the procedure. It was also before I paid the bill.

I thought about how much I spend on mascara each year. Lancôme Definiciles is $23 a tube. I probably buy a tube 5 times a year. That’s $115 plus tax every year forEVER. This doesn’t count the impulse purchase(s) I make several times annually on drug store mascara. Let’s bump that total to $145 plus tax. Ok, so either way, I wasn’t convinced. I needed to figure out how I could stand myself for purchasing faux lashes and actually get the lashes without too much internal discord. My husband said he’d give them to me as a Christmas gift and that was helpful….but still….not good enough. Finally, my sister made an excellent point. Getting eye lash extensions was cheaper than fake boobs. Why this little factoid helped, I’m not sure. I had daydreamed about getting lashes for months but took no action. When she mentioned the boob job, well….it all became crystal clear. I finally had the excuse I needed.

When I called to make my appointment, the salon woman gushed with excitement and instantly I felt like I had made the best decision….ever! It never occurred to me that the excitement might be the fact that the set costs $350 and required monthly, if not bi-weekly maintenance. That maintenance fee was never discussed, partially because the process was as uncomfortable as you might think. The idea of going back for more as well as paying for it wasn’t at the top of my list when I left the salon. The procedure included lots of stretching of the eyelids. You know how I feel about that. The faux lashes felt stiff and slightly sharp. The “technician” had the audacity to say some people fall asleep while getting them applied! The whole process took almost 3 hours and I did not fall asleep. I left in a haze thinking all the pain must have been worth it. I mean I wanted this all to work out. I wanted beautiful lashes.

See the problem with eyelash extensions is….well….if you already have skimpy lashes you’ll just end up with longer skimpy lashes. Spindly lashes if you will. It’s like if you had thinning hair and the solution was to glue individual hairs onto the few that you had….thus making your thin hair suddenly long. So obviously I skipped maintenance. The lashes fell out gradually over a few weeks. I had to pluck the last few because it looked like I had a spider’s leg hanging off my eye lid. So the eyelash thing is all done and over with, and my lashes are starting to grow back.

My husband asked me to marry him while we were in the hammock. We had spent so many fun nights in the hammock that it was perfect for us as a couple but it also took care a potentially awkward moment…which is the whole kneeling thing. Who does that?!

There was an article in the Washington Post on the effects of online dating in relationships. Take a look the featured blog - read the article and weigh in with your opinion.

Online Dating can be such a 'crap shoot'. You spend 2 weeks getting to know each other with witty emails and late night phone calls that you wish would never end. You show up for your first date full of excitement. As you walk in and scan the coffee shop - you see them seated at a small table - quickly realizing that photo wasn't accurate - now what?