Danny & Annie: A Love Story

I was lucky enough to find this video in my web travels last night (thanks to Sarah Prout for sharing it) and I just had to post it here for everyone because this is a story that should be told. It’s sad (you’ve been warned – grab a Kleenex before you hit play) but also [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting as a Couple – Part 3

So, you’ve successfully held a couples money and budgeting meeting together, as outlined in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. Now what? Guest Poster Timothy Ng fills us in on how to ensure smooth ongoing handling of finances.
Successfully Managing the Budget as a Couple
With an understanding of your partner’s attitude to money, [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting As a Couple – Part 2

So you’ve done your prep from Part One and you’re ready for your first Couples Money Meeting. Here’s how to tackle it. Part 2 in this series that we’ve asked guest poster Timothy Ng from Credit Card Finder to put together for us:
With your individual meeting prep done, it is time to lay the [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting as a Couple

As I told you earlier in the year, I kinda suck at saving. I’m learning how this year, and it’s going okay. Den is exceptionally good at saving. Needless to say, the discrepancy causes a few, ahem, disagreements between the two of us. With the purchase of our first house looming ahead of us, it’s [...]

Do You Make These Relationship Mistakes?

Relationships don’t come with instruction manuals. It’s a funny thing, because anytime you’re embarking on a new adventure be it a baby, a holiday, or buying a house, you tend to research everything you can on the subject.
But how many people arm themselves with instructions on how to be in a relationship?

Not many. And certainly [...]

Write Wedding Vows You Can Be Proud Of

There’s the boring. There’s the funny. There’s the soppy. And then there’s that special balance in between that is touching and sweet while also packing a little giggle.
I think your goal when writing your wedding vows should be to get your audience to shed a few sentimental tears. Everyone comes to a wedding ready to [...]

mX Column: A Little Privacy

A friend of mine has taught her husband how to wax her pits for her. They are clearly a couple who are very comfortable with each other.
Me? I like to keep a bit of mystery going on in a relationship. Some things are best done behind closed doors.
Hell, I wouldn’t even reference my underarms in [...]

Get Lips Guys Will Love!

Continuing our week of beauty, the divine Stefanie from The Lip Print imparts her beauty wisdom on us with great tips for great lips!

Picture this: you’re enjoying a blissful Date Night with your partner. The mood is perfect, there’s ambient lighting and smooth background music. You close your eyes and lean in for a kiss [...]

Fuss-Free Beauty – New Fun Things

There are three new things in particular that have come to my attention this week in the fuss-free beauty arena. I’m pretty excited about them! As we discussed earlier in the week, being in a relationship makes me lazy when it comes to grooming. I know a lot of other women in the same boat. [...]

Fuss-Free Beauty – Things I Love

When it comes to my beauty routine, I’m kind of lazy. Add to that my general busy-ness and my hate of early mornings and what you get is a girl who either doesn’t have time or patience to spend hours in the bathroom every morning.
In an ideal world, one of two things would happen.
1) I would [...]

A Week of Beauty on $30 Date Night

Happy 201st Post, Daters! Just to mix things up a little bit, this week $30 Date Night is going to take a little deviation down the beauty route.
Why, you ask? What does that have to do with dating and relationships?
Plenty, it turns out.

Because if you feel good about yourself you’ll feel better [...]

6 out of 10 People Not Trying Hard Enough

Wow, Daters. Did you know that 6 out of 10 people are unhappy with their relationships? That’s a lot of people. 60% in fact (I should’ve done maths and stuff).
The Daily Mail reported last week that: “More than six out of ten adults in a relationship admit there is a lot they could do [...]

Man-Colds Proven to Exist!

Man-colds do exist!
I knew it! I’ve been saying it all along.

Says the Daily Mail in London:
“Half of men will upgrade a common cold to flu and describe headaches as a migraine to gain maximum sympathy.
They will also moan more than women when suffering a bug or virus.
This is despite the fact [...]

Newsflash: Couple Dates Each Other, Finds It’s Good For Relationship

I just found this article in The Sun about a couple who took on a one-month date night challenge (sounds suspiciously familiar) only to find that dating each other once a week was – GASP – good for their relationship!
Okay, I’ll stop being snarky now.
Because it’s great.
It really is great that we [...]

Marriage is Good For Your Health!… Until It’s Not

Marriage: When it’s good, it’s very good. But when it’s bad, it’s… deadly?
New York Times Magazine recently published this long piece on whether marriage is good for your health or not. Very early studies into the matter, circa 1858, concluded that marriage is a healthy estate and that single people died from disease “in [...]

Sexy Christina Hendricks Has Advice for Men

A wonderful open letter to men, from the Best Looking Woman in America (So Esquire says. I might just second that after reading the following advice from Christina Hendricks to Men of the World.)
“We love your body. If we’re in love with you, we love your body. Your potbelly, everything. Even if you’re insecure about [...]

How to Save a Marriage

Laura Munson’s new book This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness
has just been published, containing the account of the time her husband walked in the door one night, after 20 happy years of marriage and two children, and told her it was over. “I don’t love you. [...]

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Happiness expert Sophie Keller wrote this great piece over at Huffington Post about whether you and your partner are “Incompatible, or Refreshingly Different”
“My husband loves the middle of a quiche and I love the outside. He hates exercise, I love it. He knows everything there is about music, I know very little. Does that mean [...]

“Me? Oh, I’m Naturally Gorgeous…”

I had just jumped out of the shower this morning and was in the office, pre-make up when Den suddenly asked me what was on my face. “It’s all shiny” he commented. I’d just moisturised. It was nothing different to my usual daily routine, but he’s usually at the gym still when I’m getting ready [...]

Will Marriage Always Have a Place in Society?

It’s pretty much common knowledge by now that the marriage rate in the Western world has been on a steady decline since the 1950s. Even moreso in Europe than in the US, people are electing again and again not to get married.

The divorce rate is insane, and divorces are easier and cheaper than ever [...]

5 Cotton (2nd) Anniversary Gift Ideas

Given everyone loved the paper anniversary post so much, I thought I’d continue the series of Traditional Wedding Anniversary Present Ideas for couples. We’re at 2nd year anniversary – cotton!

Clothes – It’s obvious, yes. There are a few ways to execute this present though. You can either:
1. Pick up some great threads for your [...]

The Same Four Tracks

You learn a lot about a person when you work and live with them all day, every day.

I am fast learning that my husband is a creature of habit. He gets very comfortable with the things that he knows well. For example: All day every day, we hear the same four music tracks over [...]

Mistresses vs. Wives – The Showdown

A survey conducted by the Women’s Weekly shows that nearly half the 1115 respondents that answered the survey report that when they were single they had had an affair with a married or otherwise-committed man.
While these affairs rarely led to the break up of the man’s marriage/relationship, over a third of them lasted for [...]

mX Column: The Age of the Bromance

I think my husband may be having an affair.
G. – the object of his affection – is tall, good-looking, and also happens to be our next door neighbour.
They see each other every day. They are members of the same gym, take frequent coffee breaks and if they can’t be in the same room [...]

Getting Back on the Date Night Horse

I have to confess, ever since Christmas hit Den and I have been kind of… slack when it comes to date night. It’s been a blur of road trips, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, partying… summer nights at rooftop bars… bad, bad date night couple.
We’ve waned from our usual Wednesday night date night, which means some [...]

8 Paper (First) Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas

It’s our first wedding anniversary today! That makes it a paper anniversary. We’ve decided that we’re going to stick with the traditional gifts in the traditional order.
Of course being a guy, Den automatically went “Well, what do I get you? A ream of A4?”
No, Den. No you don’t.
Here’s a list of paper-anniversary gift [...]

Me and Febusave

I am the first to admit that I’m crap when it comes to saving money. For a long time, I was convinced that there were many more interesting things I could be doing with my money, rather than hiding it away where it would never come out to play.
Things have changed.
For one, I [...]

How Much Does Your Man Pay Attention?

I wrote late last year about creating Love Maps in your mind, to track the small details about your partner that are important.
The Daily Mail has reported how millions of men don’t know the most basic of details about their partner – including dress size and even eye colour.

2,000 men in the UK [...]

For Men: How to Buy Lingerie for Your Sweetie

Today’s post is written by the saucy Bra Queen, who knows more about lingerie than anyone I know!
Valentine’s Day is coming and you’re probably thinking about what a con the whole shebang is. To be honest? You’re probably right. But any man worth his weight in gold would want to Va-va-VOOM his Valentine. Blow her [...]

Why Don’t Men Listen?

I get Deja Vu on a regular basis, what with the amount of times I have to repeat myself during the day.
I don’t know what goes through Den’s head when I talk. I can only imagine it’s something along the lines of “miow-miow-miow-miow, miow-miow-miow-miow, miow-miow-miow-miow-miow-miow-miow-miow”… Or perhaps the grating pitch of my voice inspires [...]

mX Column: The Problem with Valentine’s Day

For our out-of-town readers: mX is a free newspaper available in the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBD at the end of the day, giving 700,000-odd people something to read on their commute home on trains, trams and buses. mX covers the issues that matter most in a concise, upbeat, funky, intelligent and sexy way.
Our very [...]

New Year, New Goals

Welcome back! I feel like I’m waking up from a really long hibernation today…. so much to do to! So many things to think about!
A new year is a great time for couples to set new goals together… something you can both look forward to, work on together or learn as a couple. It [...]

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Guys! We’re here in rural Victoria celebrating with Den’s family (presents any minute!) after spending a relaxing day with my family yesterday. Denis looks like a stuffed turkey, he’s beached himself on the loungeroom floor after three days of too much food (the Croatian in him doesn’t have a “full” switch!).
We’re taking a [...]

To Have and to Hold, and to Buy All the Presents.

Ah, the Christmas season. What I want to know is, where on my marriage certificate was the small print that stated “now that you are my wife, the job of sourcing, buying and wrapping presents for everyone we’ve ever known in the history of the world – including my own family – falls to you. [...]

Is Music Unhealthy for Your Relationship?

The Boston Public Health Commission has proposed a new initiative to categorize music into “healthy for your relationship” and “unhealthy for your relationship”. The campaign will arrive in the form of a badge – kind of like the health department’s tick of approval on healthy foods – and is aimed at teenagers, encouraging them to [...]

In Sickness and in Health?

I was fairly taken aback to read recently that a US doctor has just discovered that women with terminal illnesses are seven times – that’s seven – more likely to go through a divorce than men with the same illnesses.
Says the article:
“When Dr. Marc Chamberlain, a Seattle oncologist, was treating his brain cancer [...]

How to Survive the Festive Season Together

Love it or hate it, there’s no escaping the festive season. And it’s approaching fast!
For some, it’s dreams of a white Christmas in front of yule logs, singing carols and trimming the tree… a lot of the time though, the stress of the holidays can result in heated arguments, crappy presents and trying to mesh [...]

Are You and Your Sweetie Speaking the Same Love Language?

It turns out, Denis and I are not speaking the same Love Language… in fact, our Love Languages are so different that Denis might as well talk to me in Klingon for all the good it does to get through, and likewise right back at him.
The Love Language theory was developed by a lovely [...]

When Musical Tastes Collide

I went to see Britney Spears last night! I love her, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Den didn’t come, of course. Britney is definitely not his thing. But, bless him, he’s tolerating it right now as I play her entire back catalogue through his precious Bose speakers and into the apartment.

And sometimes, [...]

Elizabeth Gilbert Talks Soulmates

I was sitting down to lunch the other day and I flipped on the TV to find Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the beautiful book Eat, Pray, Love, was on Oprah.
I’d been looking for some source of inspiration all week after feeling a little stuck and Elizabeth was a breath of lovely, fresh air for [...]

Do Soulmates Exist?

I got thinking about this after reading a recent guest post on Mamamia… Do soulmates exist?
I think… I think so, but I think there is more than just one other true soul mate out there for everyone. Like maybe there’s a certain – batch – of people that we are somehow connected to. The ones [...]

Tinky-Winky-Pummy-Umpkin-Snookie-Bum.

Rove’s little presenting dance got me thinking… It’s amazing the things we’ll do in a relationship. The way Den and I act sometimes, I swear… there’s the silly in-jokes that make no sense to anyone, chasing each other around the house squealing like children, singing silly songs loudly at each other with made-up lyrics (in [...]

Rove Interviews Tasma – Adorable!

Okay, so I’m a little behind the eight-ball on this one. I didn’t see the actual show (it was a couple of weeks ago) and my sister-in-law just told me how seriously cute Rove and Tasma were together on Rove’s show! (Ah, for our American audience, Rove is our favourite talk show host over here [...]

Government Gives Second Honeymoon for Troubled Couples

A Malaysian state government is taking it upon themselves to give assistance to troubled couples, encouraging them to work on their relationship rather than divorcing – by sending them on a second honeymoon and providing counseling.

(Source: AP) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian state government says it plans to offer free honeymoons to save [...]

Pleased to Meet You!

After our marriage in March, I started to go about the process of changing my name. It was a decision I made (with some very strong encouragement from Denis) and am still very happy with. I like the idea of being on Team Merkas, of me and my children all having the same unified family [...]

I’m Breaking Up with You!

I found this clip from the Man stroke Woman comedy sketch.
It’s pretty funny… if you haven’t seen it, it’s worthwhile checking out… cracked me up!
These guys are from the same team that brought you the Man Cold Syndrome – if you like this vid check you’ll most likely enjoy the Man Cold… [...]

“Some People are Just Happier in a Relationship”

I know I’m one of those people. Last time I was single, I gave myself a horrible haircut, dyed my hair a different (hideous) colour and promptly stacked on 10 kilos (that’s 20 pound in American-speak) which was quite the feat considering I was training in dance for hours per week… I was the exact [...]

How to Make a Love Map

In our spring clean-up this week (more on that later), I unearthed a file of papers from when Den and I did our pre-marriage education weekend earlier this year. In Australia, these weekends are generally a prerequisite for marrying in any given church – though after being pleasantly surprised by the genuinely great information we [...]

Do Opposites Really Attract?

Den and I, we’re not much alike in many of our behaviors. That is to say, we definitely were not much alike when we first met, but over the years I think we have softened each other away from our extreme opposite behaviors… we’re becoming more and more similar all the time – to the [...]

Planning Holidays Together

Coming up to summertime in Australia, it’s about that time of year we should be planning our Christmas holidays if we want even a chance at securing a good holiday house, hotel or destination… or even securing a good bunch of people to holiday with.

I’m not actually sure if we will take a holiday [...]