40% of U.S. Marriages Are Remarriages

Sometimes once just isn’t enough. Marriage rates in the U.S. have been declining, but over the past few decades the rate of remarriage has been on the rise. Nearly 40 percent of new marriages in America involve at least one person who had been married before, and one in five are between people who both were previously married. The new data from the Pew Research Center show nearly 42 million adults in the U.S. have been married more than once, up from 22 million in 1980, and 14 million in 1960. There is also a significant gender gap: Among previously married men, 65 percent told pollsters they want to remarry or are not sure, while only 43 percent of women said they would.

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One Dozen Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Inspire Romance

Here are one dozen out-of-the-box gift ideas to help you think differently about what to give on the days your want to inspire romance and let your partner know how much they mean to you:

1. Take her car for the day. Have it washed and vacuumed. Get the oil changed and take care of any other needed repairs or maintenance. Deliver it back both cleaner and safer – this will remind her that you do value her safety, security and comfort.
2. Use your design skills to create a “Take a Day for You” certificate on the computer. Print this and give it to your wife or girlfriend. Explain to her the certificate can be redeemed on any day that is most convenient for her to do whatever she chooses.

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3 Relationship Red Flags That Should Send You Running

You've found your soul mate, you've been together for a while, and you feel like you're ready to take it to the next level. Maybe even marriage -- eek! Is he the prefect life-long partner for you? Wouldn't we all love a crystal ball to show us exactly what to expect from a man in the future. I've known women who fretted over doubts all the way up to the altar who went on to enjoy long, fulfilling marriages. And I've known women who were 100 percent sure of their man only to find out they'd ignored some pretty important red flags along the way.

The thing is, sometimes a red flag looks a little, well, gray. And chances are there might be something about your man that makes you wonder a little. But you kind of want to just give him a pass because you don't want to be hypercritical -- and because you really love him, dammit! Sometimes those little things can turn into a big deal later on. Here are 3 red flags you're better off facing right now, before you let things go any further.

Candor

If You Want A Successful Long-Term Relationship (Of Any Kind), Here Are 3 Invaluable Things To Know

The Feminist Guide To Non-Creepy Flirting

No one wants to come across as “creepy”, especially not to the attractive person they’ve just approached. In the case of men who approach women, the word creepy doesn’t even need to be said.

A cold shoulder, quick step, or plain old rejection from a woman or her group of friends can signal to some men that they’ve just been dismissed as a “creep”.

So what exactly is a creep? A creep isn’t always the spray tanned, aggressively narcissistic jerk who treats women like crap as a way of hitting on them. A creepy person could be anyone of any gender or sexual orientation, well-meaning or otherwise, who makes someone else feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or wary.

For this article, we’re going to focus on the social norms and expectations targeting straight men. Given how men and women are socialized around dating in our society, men are more encouraged to behave in creepy ways toward women.

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7 Things Your Partner Wants to Hear Every Day

From the tiny compliment that's guaranteed to make him smile to the question that always leads to intimacy, these small things to say will make for a more blissful union.

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Top Five Complaints of Women About Men

1. He's not affectionate enough.
2. He doesn't listen to me.
3. He doesn't help out around the house.
4. He raises his voice when we argue.
5. He never talks about tough issues.


Real Simple, June 2007, pg 198

7 Things You Should Consider Before Getting Back Together With Your Ex

If you're thinking about breathing new life into a dead relationship, here are seven things you should consider first.

What happened to break you up? People break up for all kinds of reasons -- everything from an affair to physical or emotional abuse to just not feeling like you have anything in common anymore. There are no right and wrong reasons to breaking up. Everyone has to weigh what works and doesn't work for them individually. What you might not be able to stomach anymore, someone else might not see as a big deal. Think hard about what it is that broke you up and whether or not it's something you can either forgive or live with -- because there's no 100 percent guarantee that it won't keep happening.

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3 Ways to Deal with the People Who Drive You Nuts

Rev. Ed Bacon, author of the new book 8 Habits of Love: Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind, offers tips to deal with your toughest relationships Read more

You’ve slept with how many people?

Men and women agree that 10 ex-lovers is the ideal number, but should a lady or gentleman ever reveal how many partners they have had? Read more

5 Signs You're Dating the Wrong Person

We all have our dating doubts, but if you are experiencing any of the following issues, you could be investing time in the wrong person.

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Study Reveals the Perfect Man

If you’ve been having a hard time finding the perfect man, it’s perhaps because you simply do not know what to look for. Thankfully, a recent study by Austin Reed surveyed 2,000 women about what they look for in a man.

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10 Reasons Not to Get Married

People are delaying marriage (or not getting married at all) far more than they used to -- and it's for a reason.

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6 Things Men Find Sexy About Women

We rounded up a group of guys to find out exactly what they think makes a woman sexy.

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The Blessing of a Mate

Someone has compiled the following list of observations about married
life:

* A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can
spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

* Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed. Women somehow
deteriorate during the night.

* A man is a person who will pay two dollars for a one-dollar item he
wants. A woman will pay one dollar for a two-dollar item that she
doesn't want.

* To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a
little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not
try to understand her at all.

* When women are depressed, they either eat or go shopping. Men
invade another country.

* A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A
man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.

* A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man
never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

* There are two times when a man doesn't understand a woman - before
marriage and after marriage.

* Only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. One is to
let her think she is having her own way. The other is to let her
have it.

* Any married man should forget his mistakes - there's no use in two
people remembering the same thing.

* A man has six items in his bathroom - a toothbrush, shaving cream,
razor, a bar of soap, deodorant and a towel. The average number of
items in the typical woman's bathroom is 437. A man would not be
able to identify most of these items.

* A woman always has the last word in any argument. Anything a man
says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

Marriages at All-Time Low

Could married people soon be a minority? Just 51 percent of Americans over the age of 18 are married, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s a six percent drop from 2000. The decline is, in part, a reflection of a higher median age of marriage—older than 26 for women and nearly 29 for men. There is a socieconomic distinction, as well: Nearly two out of three college graduates have tied the knot, with less than half of people with only a high-school education can say the same.

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Loving partners sculpt like Michelangelo

Just as a sculptor chisels and polishes away flaws in stone to reveal an ideal form, skillful partners support each other’s dreams and aspirations and nurture traits they hope to develop.

An international review of this so-called “Michelangelo phenomenon” shows that when close partners affirm and support each other’s ideal selves, they and the relationship benefit greatly.

“To the degree that the sculpting process has gone well, that you have helped mold me toward my ideal self, the relationship functions better and both partners are happier,” says Eli Finkel, associate professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.

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Is he Flirting with you? Reading Men's Body Language

Did you catch a glimpse of him looking at you from across the room?
Did you notice his eyebrows?