Blog Posts by Smitten, Glamour Magazine

I'm still drooling over those amazing Red Velvet Whoopie Pies that Glamour's own Joanna Muenz shared with us yesterday. Simply Sifted, a new baking website she and her roommate Jessie Thisell created, features the most amazing recipes. And guess what? The girls are sharing another romantic treat with us today!

When Joanna first emailed me a picture of these linzer tarts, I received the message on my phone. Once I caught a glimpse of the deliciousness, I headed straight to my computer so I could get a better look. Yowza.

See our tips: 12 Creative Ways to Say "I Love You"

Note from Joanna: You may notice I don't use salt in any of my baking. I was raised in a home where high blood pressure was in the history so I grew up without using salt and I have never had any complaints. Also I made this in my new food processor!

Heart Shaped Linzer Tarts

Makes 20-25 cookies depending on how big your cutters are (from Rosie's Bakery Chocolate-Packed Jam-Filled Butter-Rich

The Los Angeles Times recently featured an article about the science behind falling in love. Chemical reactions, brain activity, ooh wee, science never sounded so sexy.

The story looked a several methods different researchers used to measure love and its chemical reactions in our brains. One scientist in New York performed brain scans on new couples. The scans revealed that "after that first magical meeting or perfect first date, a complex system in the brain is activated that is essentially 'the same thing that happens when a person takes cocaine.'" Holy moly! The study found that dopamine was released when those participating in the study were asked to think of their significant others or shown pictures of them. Larry J. Young, a psychiatry professor explained that the chemical is released in our brains "'when you're doing something [highly] pleasurable,' like having sex, doing drugs or eating chocolate."

Related: Crazy but true! This woman got pregnant from oral sex.

But

As I was paying our gas bill the other day, I realized the way Chris and I divide bills is pretty unorganized. And I know it shouldn't be.

Here's a breakdown of our bills and expenses:

*We're both listed on the apartment lease and we split the monthly rent down the middle.

*Chris pays our power bill, which is due every other month.

*I take care of our monthly gas payment; it's considerably smaller than the power.

*Chris picks up the tabs for our cable, internet and cell phones.

*I tend to buy the groceries. I usually pay for goodies from Target or the drugstore.

*We divide going out costs (restaurants, coffee, etc) pretty evenly.

Related: Would you marry someone with serious debt?

It may seem confusing to an outsider, but to us, it's quite clear. Perhaps that's just denial? I realize that having a joint bank account would make things much easier. And after we tie the knot in May, we'll certainly open at least one account together. The reason we have

Happy Friday everyone! Need some twisted comedy to get you through the rest of the work day? Here are two Dating FAIL stories sure to make you giggle.

Reader Heidi1985 left a hilarious Dating FAIL story in the comments and she was sweet enough email me with the full scoop:

There was this super hot guy in my college Psych class, and I was really stoked when he asked me out. We went out to dinner and everything was going great. We stopped at a park to walk and when I got out of the car he put his arms around me, with my back nestled into his chest. I thought I had really lucked out until he put his hands on my belly and said, "I can't wait until this is swollen with my seed." I broke the sound barrier getting out of there, and in class he'd glare at me like I was the weirdo!

Related: This guy shared the details behind his rating system.

And now for a Dating FAIL that hits close to home. This one happened to me:

When I was 19, I dated this adorable guy I met through a

Actress Emma Roberts recently lightened her locks from rich brown to sun-kissed blonde and says that her luck with boys just might be changing, too!

"Guys check me out more, which is weird," she said at the premiere of her new flick, Twelve. "When I had brown hair, girls would tell me I was pretty all the time, and then with blonde hair, guys tell me I'm pretty a lot. So I really don't know what that means."

I asked my friend Jackson for a translation.

"For me, I'd rather date a blonde…but marry a brunette," he explained. "I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's just because my girlfriend now is a brunette and-don't tell her-but I'd totally settle down with her. Oh, but redheads? Damn. They're just plain SEXY. Don't tell my girlfriend that either!"

Oops, sorry to blow your cover! It's all in the name of journalism!

Here's Emma as a brunette:

Do you think one color is cuter?

My personal

Ladies, can we talk about something super personal? Yes? Great, it's going down…

And I mean going down on him. We've talked a lot about oral sex and it seems like we're always looking for tips to really wow him. Let's not dance around the fact that you have a penis in your mouth. Sometimes those suckers are big, other times not so much. But the point is that it's larger than most items that normally go in your mouth so it can be a strange feeling to get used to.

Related: 4 Things Men Hate About Sex

A lot of girls I know (myself included) thought things were going just swimmingly during a ----- . The guy was into it, the girl was relaxing and then suddenly BAM! A gag is triggered and the girl awkwardly pulls back and stops and the guy is momentarily confused. Though in all honestly, I think some guys get off knowing they've gagged a girl.

When I read this article on Tres Sugar about Go Deep Oral Sex Mints, I had to shake my head. Apparently, a mint "numbs your mouth" and

Remember that story about Sylvia and Patrick…the couple who met on the subway platform, but didn't exchange numbers? For those of you who didn't catch it: The guy (Patrick) kicked himself for not getting any contact info from the girl (Sylvia) who he had a chance encounter with, so he left a note for her on the wall of a New York City subway station, hoping she'd see it and email him. That's right, he left his email out there for the whole city to see. Well, have I got news for you…

…Patrick saw my original post about the incident (my sister and I just happened to find the note in the subway station!), and he offered to share his side of the story with us. Here's his sweet-and honest-account.

Jessica: So, what happened? How did you and Sylvia strike up a conversation?
Patrick: It was late one evening as I arrived on the D train platform; I noticed this girl waiting for her train. I actually couldn't really see much of her, as she was all bundled up from the cold weather

Earlier this week, I received a sweet email from Smitten reader Melanie. After giving a guy her number and exchanging a few texts, she's not sure what to do next. The ever clever John is also weighing in on this later today so make sure to check out Single-ish for a guy's take on the situation.

Here's Melanie's email:

I am at the precipice of either major flirtation or let down...Last night in my college comp class, I decided to be rather ballsy, and write my phone number on the cutest guy's essay (which I was correcting). I passed it back to him, and booked it out of the class to avoid his reaction. He texted me that evening, with general small talk about the class. We exchanged a few harmless messages, and he stopped responding. I have no idea what to do next, because I am really into him. I don't want to be the one to initiate texting next, and after watching "He's Just Not That Into You" a few too many times, I feel like the ball is in his court. Should I go for it, and just