John And Katy?

John Mayer has slithered on to Katy Perry. Read More »

The Other Woman

Thoughts on having been the other woman. Read More »

Bad Dating Patterns

Break these 10 unhealthy dating patterns. 11 Photos »

Remember that hot guy in high school who dated every girl in his class, despite treating every one of them like crap?  Why was this possible? Because women suffer from It Will Be Different With Me Syndrome. Sadly, it’s usually never different.  Men aren’t rocket science. In fact, they are like The Weather Channel.  You can predict fairly accurately what weather lay ahead, based on their past behavior.

The type of men that lie, cheat, or are guilty of general douchebaggery come with a track record. Other women warn you to stay away, his friends tell you about his sordid past, and yet, you’ll convince yourself that you and you alone are up to the challenge of taming him.

There are times when our hopes and beliefs contradict all available evidence and can actually hurt us. Simply wanting someone to be an awesome guy doesn’t make him an awesome guy.  Just ask Katy Perry. Despite all evidence that John Mayer is one of Hollywood’s biggest love-em-and-leave-em type of guys, she’s convinced herself he’ll be different with her.  I hope she likes her love life discussed intimately on Twitter, or on the pages of Playboy, because that’s what she has to look forward to. It won’t be different with Katy. Just ask Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, or Minka Kelly. Keep reading »

Dating Don'ts: Bad Ending

You shouldn't do these things if the relationship ended badly. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: Kisses

Women fear these types of first kisses. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: Money

These bad money habits are bad news. Read More »

My relationship has hit a roadblock. This roadblock may be like a piece of highway shrapnel that we need to swerve around or it might be more like the Berlin Wall, which would take radical change to make fall. I don’t know yet. If it’s the latter, I’d better take up graffiti art. And I call West Berlin, obvs.

I don’t want to go into detail about the impasse my guy and I are at because it’s über-complicated (isn’t it always?) and because I’m a private person sometimes (despite being a blogger). And because I’m taking a radical approach to conflict resolution.

Last week I was out with one of my best friends. He’s been with his husband for 15 years now, so he knows a lot about this “making relationships last” stuff. I told him about the issues we were dealing with and expressed being torn over the future — not knowing whether to have hope and fight or stop trying altogether.  He responded with the most genius bit of advice ever (and you know how much I dislike relationship advice): “Just be Switzerland,” he told me. Keep reading »

Dating Don'ts: Overreacting

You are probably overreacting to these things. Read More »

Dating Don'ts:Dumped

The only piece of advice you need to avoid getting dumped. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: 2nd Date

Don't turn down that second date! Read More »

Last week, I got an email from someone who said he was referred to me by W*, a guy I went on a few dates with a couple of years ago. Backstory on W: on either our third or fourth date (I can’t remember), he invited me to his place to cook dinner for me. Not going to go into too much detail, but W was a shitbird from the moment I took off my coat. At one point, we got into a heated debate about our literary tastes and he threw a book of poetry at me (not violently, but still!) and told me to read something worth my while. I told him to go fuck himself (in more flowery language), put my coat back on and hightailed it out of there. The next day he sent me an email and admitted to being “stressed about something else” and “not at his best.” I replied with a “fair enough” and we never spoke again. In my mind, we were not on good terms. We were on “let’s never talk again” terms. Keep reading »

Dating Don'ts: Bad Advice

The most unhelpful dating advice Ami ever received. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: 2nd Date

Don't turn down that second date! Read More »

Dating Don'ts: He's Back!

Why you should be wary when you hear from him unexpectedly. Read More »

I believe I’ve made it clear how I feel about relationship advice. Mostly, I find it utterly unhelpful. I think that relationships are so complicated and personal, that advice is not one person fits all. I especially hate gimmicky, quick-fix relationship advice that’s like “The Magic Thing That Will Get You Married In 364 Days!” WORST! The only brand of dating advice I can stomach is the kind that’s empowering. And when I stumble upon it, I share it with you.

Last week, I had coffee with a good friend. We both started dating new guys we met online on the exact same day. (Weird, right?) That was a few months ago, and both relationships are still on and popping. During our coffee session, one of the things we talked about was how we both were having persistent, irrational anxiety about our relationships suddenly ending. Our shades of anxiety were a bit different. Mine has been taking the form of a recurring fear of being dumped out-of-the-blue. Keep reading »

Dating Don'ts: Money

These bad money habits are bad news. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: Love

There are certain times when "I love you" doesn't count. Read More »

Dating Don'ts: Injury

If you're not fit to date, get off the playing field. Read More »

One time, a guy I had been dating for more than a month canceled our Saturday night date, calling an hour before we were supposed to meet, telling me that he was “itching all over.” I’m putting that phrase in quotes because that is exactly what he said. I couldn’t have made it up if I tried. I followed this up with the normal questions a person would ask:

Did you see the doctor?

Are you running a fever?

Are you having an allergic reaction to something? Keep reading »