How to Be Romantic With Food

Have a plate engraved with a message for the one you love without them knowing about it. When you take them out to dinner, ask the waiter to serve their meal on that plate.

Wrap up a small gift for your sweetheart and put it in his/her favorite box of cereal.

Call a restaurant where your love lives and have them deliver a nice meal to him/her.

Surprise your sweetheart one day when he/she expects you to be at work with a picnic lunch at a local park.

Make your love breakfast in bed and serve it with a rose, a love poem and a sweet kiss.
You can make it extra special by feeding it to him/her.

Cook dinner in your fireplace. Eat and enjoy the evening in front of it with no distractions other than a sweet romantic music playing in the background.

Make some heart shaped sugar cookies and decorate them. Then leave them on your sweethart�s passenger seat in their car, so they go to work knowing how much they are loved.

Go to the beach and bring a blanket and a radio. Sit on the blanket while feeding each other chocolates or fruits, with some soft music playing. Then tell your mate how you feel about them, while holding hands and walking in the sand.

Romantic Gifts for Him

Shopping for a man can be more arduous than a five-mile walk in 90-degree weather. Yet, it’s not unusual for women to want to romance their men as some people might think. The concept of romance is used in many commercial ads for jewelry, flowers, candies and other gifts to lure men into purchasing them for the women in their life.

There is no written rule that says a woman can’t send a man flowers. Quite often, receiving flowers can be so unusual as to make it stand out. Men like to hear “I love you” too – in fact, one way to show a man you really care might begin with a flower delivery and a card that could either include tickets to a favorite sporting event, comedian, play, musical or even just a note about reservations for two at a favored restaurant.

For men who like movies, plan a movie night for them – take them to see something they’ve wanted to see. Whether it’s an action flick or a romantic comedy or just a plain silly comedy, let their tastes dictate. Movies and flowers not quite what you’re looking for?

Show your man how much you love him with a little pampering. If he shaves every morning, offer to do it for him. If he likes his coffee a certain way, bring it in to him or have it ready for when he emerges. If you’re not home when he gets up, leave him little sticky notes with jokes, funny messages or just a simple I love you where you know he will see it.

It’s funny how doing little things often show how much you care and how interested you are more than huge, expensive gifts do. Romance is about communicating to someone else how much he or she means to you. It’s a demonstrative show or action, small or large that is designed to make them smile and feel wonderful. Romance is a gift that continues to give long after the actual exchange – because with each act of romance, it continues to grow.

Finding a Date Online

Finding a date online is simpler in the post Y2K world than ever before. With a dating service for every type of person, religious persuasion, sexual persuasion and more, the options are virtually unlimited. But finding a date online doesn’t require just locating a good dating service.

People have been meeting via the Internet for more than two decades. Prior to the World Wide Web’s phenomenal explosion in the 90s, BBS’ had existed for more than ten years. BBS, which is short for bulletin board systems, were easy to set up and maintain; all you needed was a computer with a modem attached that was capable of receiving phone calls. That’s it – no sophisticated servers or anything else.

BBS’ were very popular on college campuses and made their way through niche groups such as science fiction fandom, literary clubs and more. Users were given a login name and password by the owner of the BBS – again, nothing sophisticated. All the login name was really designed for was an identifier for your posts. Logging in was a phone call and you could read messages and post replies. Newsgroups and BBS boards were the antecedents of online chat rooms and eventually the dating services. Numerous people could meet and interact with other individuals of like mind who shared similar interests and then, just as now – attraction occurred.

The most important thing to remember about finding a date online is to have a healthy sense of self and of caution. There’s always going to be that first ‘face-to-face’ meeting and it should always happen in a public place and someone should always know where you are. Male or female, it doesn’t matter; an ounce of caution never hurt anyone. It’s also good to recognize that as humans, we communicate on several levels, including nonverbal ones. Our online acquaintances, no matter how much we think of them, cannot interact with us on this nonverbal level until we’ve met them face-to-face. So allow yourself time to get to know this person you’ve already developed an intellectual affection for – and even if all you’ve made is a fantastic new friend, how great is that?

Chocolates Romantic Tips

Keep a candy or a chocolate piece in your mouth and ask her/him to bite the other part.

Find out what his/her favorite candy is and write a special message somewhere throughout your home using the candy.

Heat up a chocolate heart until it just starts to melt, when it starts to melt, remove it from the heat and place it in the refrigerator. Give it to them with a note that says "My heart melts when I'm around you."

Take a bag or two of M & Ms, single out one color and fill a jar with it. Place a single M & M of a different color on top of a note in the jar that says "You make the difference in my life."

Buy as many Hershey's Kisses as you can afford. Take out the little slip of paper and put them all in a small jewelry box. Buy a crystal or glass vase. Fill the vase with the Kisses. Wrap the jewelry box and give it to her. Tell her each slip is worth one real kiss, then give her the vase full of Hershey's Kisses.

Romance After Kids

Having a baby can be stressful to any relationship, sleepless nights, constant care and the non-stop demand of a newborn can leave a couple worn out and just wanting sleep, peace or rest more than anything else. However, as with anything, the baby will grow and the parents will get more sleep.

Yet, despite the fact that sleep may return to normal, the day-to-day lifestyle begins to perceptibly shift. Concerns about errands, your children’s activities and your own can begin to overwhelm the need to take a night out for just the two of you. Being parents means that you tend to list yourself as last on the list for ‘fun’ or ‘down-time.’ It seems selfish to want to be away from your kids or just have a night where the two of you can go out together and be a couple rather than being parents.

While it might seem a little selfish, it’s actually a very important bit of selfish because all healthy relationships need to have time spent on them. If it’s a matter of not being able to find a babysitter, offer to swap with another couple. You take care of their kids for one evening a week so they can go out and they can take care of yours the following week. Many daycares, Churches and other organizations offer ‘parents night out’ – usually a four-hour window of time where your kids enjoy planned activities and you enjoy a few hours together.

Date nights aren’t the only way to keep romance alive. Little notes left in a place your spouse or partners are sure to find them. You can send flowers, cook a favorite dinner or even just curl up together on a sofa after the children have gone to bed to watch a movie. Time with your spouse is precious and should be treated as such. Don’t let the pressures and stresses of life let you take another person for granted.

Dating After 65

Losing a partner, whether wife or husband, after years together can be a devastating experience. For couples who have been together for more than thirty or forty years, the idea of looking for another person to fill the void their partner left behind can seem anathema. Dating after 65 is every bit the choice that the dating at 16 or 26 or even 36 is. It’s about mindset and how you feel.

If you are over 65 and considering dating again, don’t fight it – you wouldn’t be thinking about it if you weren’t ready for it. Your needs as a mature adult are going to be very different from what they were when you were in your teens or twenties or thirties. Recognize that what you want and what you are looking for, need to be in line. You can never replace a lost spouse, but finding someone just to enjoy time with doesn’t mean you are trying to replace that.

Of course, you aren’t looking to replace your spouse. They were a unique person and you had a unique history with them. Anyone else you date is going to be in their own way unique. The relationship or experience you have with this person is going to be different and unique to the two of you.

There are many opportunities through community centers, the Internet and professional services that offer to hook you up with likeminded people. If you elect to travel this route, be careful. Make sure the agency or service you select is reputable. While some may require a small investment, avoid any service that is looking for large sums of money.

Also, be aware that relationships start most naturally with a foundation of friendship. You are likely not looking for someone to sweep you off your feet or have the Harlequin romance, but friendship offers deeper and more meaningful rewards towards future relationships. And for the ladies out there, it’s a sad fact but pickings for single men over the age of 65 are pretty slim. For the gentlemen over 65, he will find a greater selection. Take your time, enjoy meeting others and if you are ready to date, go for it.

Igniting Intimacy in Your Relationship

The hardest part about having children is the sheer wealth of time, emotion and energy you invest in them. Don’t doubt for an instant that your children are worth it, but there is a new type of stress that your relationship will undergo as you transform from couple to parents. Parents lose sleep, parents are always busy, and there is always something for parents to be doing. Parents rarely get to sleep in and in some cases, rarely get to go out anymore.

If you discover that you are spending less and less time with your spouse and that your romantic gestures have been reduced to a half-wave as you pass the coffee in the morning, then it’s time to re-ignite the intimacy in your relationship. It’s a lot easier than you might think it is, because you were a couple before you were parents.

The first thing to remember about being a couple is that couples need quality time together and that begins with setting aside time for each other that isn’t about work, bills, household chores or your child. If your infant is too young or you aren’t comfortable with going out for a long period of time; make plans for a date evening at home. As soon as the baby is down for the night or their longest sleep cycle – four or five hours – share a nice dinner, either ordered in or prepared together and watch a movie or just talk. Don’t worry about the dishes, the laundry, and the work that you brought home from the office – those four or five hours are for the two of you alone. Turn off the phone; let your friends and family know that this is a 'don’t show up' night.

Remember love tokens – those little gifts of affection that you used to give each other? Do that again. If you both work all week, take turns giving the other one a morning to sleep in and breakfast in bed on the weekends. If you like to write love notes, leave them for each other to find. The most important thing to re-igniting romance in your relationship is to remember – you love this person and their smile is what you are working for. So, pick up a single carnation or a box of their favorite candies or even just a movie that you’ll enjoy – be thoughtful, be creative and most of all, remember to be in love.