My Lonely Valentine

This year, I’m alone for Valentine’s Day. Not without suitors, but also not at a point where I would celebrate the event and get all lovey-dovey and sentimental with one particular person. I imagine there are a lot of single men and women in the same boat. So what do we do on Valentine’s Day? Do we acknowledge it or ignore it. Going to a movie or dinner is not an option. Restaurants will have those tragically romantic prix fix dinners at outrageous prices, and movies will be crowded and sold out across the board.

Here’s a quick list of things to do for yourself this Valentine’s Day: eat chocolate, spray yourself in perfume, put on some sexy lingerie and take yourself to dinner. Women can do this too! Seriously, if you’re alone this Valentine’s Day, you should do something to love and appreciate yourself. If you’re a woman, this is a slam dunk.

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Top 5 Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

“Dear Santa…I mean Cupid.  I have been a sexy, hot girlfriend all year…” Hmm. How exactly does one write a Valentine’s Day gift wish list? Now, I think I speak on behalf of 99.9% of all women when I say that men just don’t seem to get the significance of Valentine’s Day. All too often, they wimp out on the gift department or ignore Valentine’s Day all together. Not cool. Negative cool. Think ‘Saudi Arabia in the summer’ cool. Valentine’s Day, albeit a Hallmark Holiday (proof in the pudding - every year around 1 billion Valentine’s cards are sent around the world, making Valentine’s day the second most popular greeting card–giving occasion after Christmas), is of utmost importance to women and simply cannot be ignored if you’re a man in a relationship or actively pursuing one. I know you guys hate shopping, so here’s a list of the five most popular Valentine’s Day gifts. No need to think outside the chocolate box with this one; they are the top five, because they get the job done!

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Going The Distance

A friend of mine met her husband when she was traveling in the South of France. A few days later, she was introduced to his family and shortly thereafter she entered into a long distance relationship with him. Within a year, he had applied for a work visa and moved to Los Angeles. They have been together seven years and tied the knot three years ago. While her husband applies for permanent citizenship, she is becoming fluent in French, and they are planning on starting a family. Had my friend not ventured out of her comfort zone in both traveling and dating, she may still be single. I asked if either of them were concerned when they met about the distance and how it would impact their lives. Hell, yes. They knew there would be obstacles, but they would work them out. They could not ignore how perfect they were for each other and were willing to take the risk of having loved and lost than never having loved at all. Embracing love outside their immediate geographic zone worked for them and it has worked for others.

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My First Video Blog, or Vlog?

I thought it was about time people got to know the woman behind the words, so I figured I'd say "hello" in a little video introduction. For those who are new to my blog, I post a story every Saturday morning, and so far, I'm keeping up with also posting on Wednesdays as well. My Saturday blogs are usually a dating horror story, and my Wednesday blogs are usually more advice oriented or heart-felt in nature.I hope you enjoy the new layout of my site.I wanted to convey Los Angeles and love - a tricky combination at the best of times - which is why I used red and some Los Angeles images.In the upcoming weeks, I'll start video blogging on a more regular basis, sharing some dating tips and providing insight into the LA dating scene.  

Don’t Die Tink! He’s Just Another Peter Pan.

In 1983, pop psychologist Dan Kiley coined the term “Peter Pan Syndrome” in his book, Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.  Not only have they never grown up, they have all migrated to Los Angeles – Never Never Land.  Kiley was ahead of his time, as the “Peter Pan Syndrome” appears to be on the rise.

A wannabe Hefner, Peter Pan is an aging Playboy in his mid-fifties that throws “lingerie” parties at his Venice beach house. His entire life revolves around training for Ironman competitions, sticking his butt cheek with a daily dose of HGH, and dating women 20-30 years younger than him. He has never been married, or has been married several times without duration, and says he may want to have children in a few years. Despite his desire to remain young forever, in a few years Peter Pan will be a grandpa. While men don’t lose their ability to reproduce the same way women do, there are health concerns (downs syndrome, for example) that increase drastically when a man reaches the age of 55. The Botox, mini facelift, and celebrity-style hair transplants by the notorious Dr. Walter Unger cannot disguise the fact that he is genetically old. Why is this man even considering having children, to pass on his superior personality traits?

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40 Love?

Forty love. In tennis, it means one person is on the verge of winning the game while the other is on the verge of losing - badly, I might add. On my recent visit to the Australian Open, I heard these words mumbled over and over by the referees of the matches I saw. It got me thinking about these two words - forty, love - and what they mean in the modern world of dating. In the Renaissance period, we would be dead of disease (consumption being my favorite as it encompassed pretty much everything) by the age of forty. But in this era, many of us are just beginning our lives or starting them over - post divorce, post children, post economic setbacks, post career challenges. 

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