Blog Posts by The_Stir

All marriages need work. Maybe not "rebuild the whole foundation" work, but a marriage, like a house, always needs a little maintenance. Especially once kiddos arrive on the scene, the relationship with your spouse often goes through periods of neglect by mere fact you are both exhausted. So, every once and a while, it's good to check over your marriage to see if the nuts and bolts are a little loose, see if they need a little tightening up.

More from The Stir: Why More Men Are Saying 'I Don't' to Marriage

There are so many ways to tighten up your marriage, make it stronger. Do a new activity together, touch more, schedule weekly date nights. But the latest one I found actually has nothing to do with being with my husband.

What am I doing? I'm working on my relationship with other women. Okay, it's not in the "every man's fantasy" kind of way, no sex tape is coming out, folks, but I'm making a definite effort to spend more time with my girlfriends.

Don't get me

Today for lunch, I decided to get a Greek salad from my local Panera Bread Co. Usually, I'd rather make a salad at home than cough up $7 or $8 for one over there, but I haven't gone grocery shopping yet this week. From your waistline to your wallet, it's always better to brown bag it, right? But now, since reading some interesting news about the fast casual chain, I can't help but feel a bit proud that I patronized Panera today. Turns out that the company is truly invested in making a difference.

More from The Stir: Fast food lies: A Shiny, Gooshy Mess in a Box

In three locations (the St. Louis 'burb Clayton, Missouri, the Detroit 'burb, Dearborn, Michigan, and also Portland, Oregon, there are "pay-what-you-want" Panera cafés. Operated through Panera's charitable foundation, food items on the menu don't have set prices -- just "suggested funding levels."

In general (and I don't know if this is just the result of living in the NYC area), you'd think a lot of people would

Since the beginning of time, people have been stumbling upon ideas that make them go, "Why didn't I think of that?" In the 1800s, it was the telephone. In the '80s, it was the piano key tie. And now, in 2011, it's NewlyMaid.

NewlyMaid is a new -- ingenious -- website. Its purpose? To take your old dust-covered bridesmaid dresses off your hands (and out of your closet) and provide you with a new cute little black dress. All together now! "Why didn't I think of that?"

More from The Stir: Woman Vows Not to Look in Mirror for One Month

I want you to think hard for a minute here. Think about the last few weddings you were in. (Were they fun?) Think about the dress that you wore. (Was is cute?) Think about where it is now. (In the trash?) Now don't you wish you knew about NewlyMaid a few years ago before you left your dress in a giant taffeta heap in the closet of a Hilton in upstate New York where the bride found it, called you out, and then didn't talk to you for three months?

I am admittedly pretty unconventional when it comes to what I find attractive. I fell in love with Mos Def because he used the phrase "upper echelons of academia." I crushed on a guy in college because he stuttered and went bananas over another because he answered a question right in class.

More from The Stir: How to Boost Your Guy's Libido

I adored Nas with his chipped tooth (it is worth noting, however, that I'd love Nas with pink eye and a bad case of the gout). And I've been known to like scars, wounds, and other signs of boyish rough-and-tumbleness.

So naturally, my interpretation of romance isn't your standard flowers and candy lineup. It's not that I don't like that run-of-the-mill schmaltz from time to time. But it's the random, weird things that are inadvertently swoon-worthy and unintentionally hot.

More from The Stir: One Perfect Man for Every Woman? Gimme a Break!

Crack my toes. While watching TV, my boyfriend will absentmindedly pick up my feet,

Darn you, cheesy love story! Curse thee, romantic comedy! And I shake an angry fist at even you, low-budget soap opera!

For you've all played a part in tainting us, the legions of single women running around here clutching on to the concept of one true, amazing, kiss-me-on-a-mountaintop-as-doves-circle-overhead kind of relationship. And many of us -- including me -- are all tangled up in the fantasy of a man being "The One." (Strike up the sappy violin solo and the breeze that mysteriously tousles my hair.)

More from The Stir: The Real Reason Men Say 'I Love You' First

The older and more analytical (read: smart alecky) I get, the more I question whether there is such a thing as The One. We've all fallen in love before, some deeper than others. But how do you define The One? And does that mean that this singular person is supposed to be so amorously superior that you couldn't be happy and content with, say, The Two? Or maybe even The Three?

According to legend,

Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer ... what do these three famous men have in common? All eligible bachelors, they've never married. Having dated then broken up with some of the world's most gorgeous women (Gisele Bundchen? Bar Refaeli? Earth to Leo!), they may all be total commitaphobes. Even scarier: They seem to be typifying the same behavior of many other 30+-year-old guys these days.

More from The Stir: 3 Duh! Signs He's Just Not That Into You

Carl Weisman, 46-year-old single guy and author of So Why Have You Never Been Married? 10 Insights Into Why He Hasn't Wed, boasts that he "forgot to get married." But I highly doubt that he or any other guy just "forgets." Weisman actually surveyed 1,533 single men aged 40 or older to dispel myths that they hate women, are selfish, or have a disdain for marriage. He identified the two main reasons these men aren't into it: 1. They're worried about money/security, or 2. They're acting like neurotic freaks about

We all get annoyed with those employees who take their breaks to smoke, but what about the ones who take breaks to masturbate? The fact is, many probably DO leave work to go into the bathroom and masturbate (men-folk, I am looking at you!), but a Brazilian woman with a condition that makes her need to orgasm has taken it to a whole other level. She has sued for the right to diddle herself in the workplace.

More from The Stir: 69 Creative Ways to Have Sex With Yourself

Thirty-six-year-old Ana Catarina Bezerra Silvares works at an accounting firm and is a divorced mother of three who lives in the village Vila Velha, Espírito Santo in Brazil. She has a condition known as "compulsion orgasmic," caused by a chemical alteration in her brain's cortex, which leads her to need to masturbate to relieve pain.

She needs to take medication that reduces her need to masturbate to only 18 times a day. Eighteen times!

Now she will be allowed to masturbate at work for 15 minutes every

Tongues are wagging in the fashion world about Sarah Jessica Parker's recent hairdo at the 2011 Robin Hood Foundation Annual Gala in New York earlier this week.

SJP, long known as the arbiter of new trends, was sporting this Bride of Frankenstein-esque hairdo, and if she's doing it, well then it's official:

BIG HAIR IS BACK.

And I'm gagging.

More from The Stir: Beauty Mags: Think Twice About Those Lip Gloss Picks

Oh, I think big hairdos that recall the Miss America pageant back in 1985 can be fun -- but Sarah Jessica's take on the look is frankly frightening.

It's sprayed up off of her head in a way that makes her look like she's trying to win a role in She-Ra: The Movie.

What do you think of SJP's big hair?

Judging by Ms. Parker's facial expression in the photos taken of her at this occasion, even she was having second thoughts about her hairdo. She looked particularly strained and unhappy in all the photos.

More from The Stir: Sarah Jessica