Last night I saw Ocean’s Thirteen. It was an eye-candy feast, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt 25-feet high. Yum! We know how effective media is in shaping our perspective, even our values, including our self-image. We know that being bombarded with images of beautiful men and women molds our vision of attractiveness. As we…
Dating after 40
Are you depriving yourself of lessons?
The other day my friend, bestselling author Sam Horn*, let loose with another one of her sage sayings: “You can’t learn anything from experiences you aren’t having.” —Louis L’Amour I immediately thought of the women who’ve said they would like to date, but can’t quite get up the gumption to do so. People look at…
Approaching dating like a buffet
A dating friend asked if there were any new interesting men on the horizon as I reenter the dating scene after the meltdown. I shared that an intriguing sounding man showed up in my Chemistry.com matches. He’s a graduate school professor at a nearby internationally renowned university. I said, “Even if we’re not attracted to…
How does your parents’ relationship affect yours?
Our parents are often our role models for relationships, for better or worse. No matter how much I rejected my parents’ toxic relationship as a template, I’m sure messages of how a couple treats one another were deeply embedded in my psyche. Today would have been my mother’s 83rd birthday. When my mother was a…
How you know you’re over a guy
One of you has called it quits. If it is him, you may harbor lingering hopes he’ll IM, text, email or call you. This delusion may last days, weeks, months, or even years. Even if you pulled the plug, you may secretly hope he’ll see the error of his ways and apologetically come back. So…
Learning about male magnetism from … rats
Perhaps you’ve lived this common scenario: You’ve dated a guy a few times. You hit it off and enjoy each other a lot. You feel great around him. He treats you well when you’re together. However, he calls unpredictably, emails periodically, and you see him only sporadically. If you call him, it may take him…
Are you a dating “hypertaster”?
You are thinking, “What is DG talking about? What the heck is a hypertaster? And what can it possibly do with dating?” Let me explain. Yesterday, I had a fabulous day at Copia, the American center for wine, food and the arts in Napa, CA. Being a self-admitted wine dolt, I spent the day taking…
Do you treat him like a friend?
“Love and friendship exclude each other.” —Jean de la Bruyere Common wisdom is that long-term relationships are based on solid friendship. I agree. But I do ponder where is the line between how you’d treat a friend and how you treat your beau. For example, with my very best friends I can talk about anything….
Are you ready to pick a guy?
A former beau and I had an email conversation today. He saw my profile again listed on a few dating sites and asked what was happening. I explained about the meltdown and he suggested we should get back together. I tried to reply pleasantly, but still let him know I’m not interested in him romantically….
The anatomy of a relationship meltdown
Some DG readers have emailed asking what’s happening with Mr.Romantic. They have noted a decided absence of any reference to my “sweetie” the last 2 weeks. We had a meltdown. It started over something dumb, but then escalated to yelling and disparaging remarks. This prompted me to rethink if I was willing to continue with…
Review of “Ex-Wives Club”
There’s a new five-episode series called “Ex-Wives Club.” Its hosts, Shar Jackson, Angie Everhart and Marla Maples, whose apparent qualifications are that they are good looking, are minor actresses, have had 15 minutes of fame because they were connected to famous men, and have been divorced, although Shar doesn’t even meet that qualification. She is…