Blog Posts by The_Stir

I am a huge fan of the dating website HowAboutWe.com, which matches people up based on their date suggestions. It's a cool concept -- artsy people will likely be interested in an evening at a gallery, while sports fans would love to attend next week's Yankees game -- but I've tried it and didn't really find success, mostly because the dates that men suggested were the typical drinks and conversation. How original.

More from The Stir: Outrageous First Date Deal-Breakers

What made me a frequent visitor of the site is that it did often offer up great unique date ideas, usually posted by the women, that I copied tried out with my current squeeze.

They recently put together the 25 top-rated date ideas that were posted in 2010, and the overall theme that everyone seems to love is a night of boozing and nostalgic childhood activities. Here are a few of my favorites (for the full list, check out the How About We website):

24) ... drink some cocktails and then go see Step Up

Goodbye Jumbotron proposal. You've been replaced. Allow us to present romance 2.0: marriage proposal via Facebook. It goes against my inner curmudgeon to say this, but this is one old-fashioned tradition that can't be hurt by technology.

Even on Facebook, it's the thought that counts. The first example I've seen popped up on Imgur recently, where the poster covered up names to give the couple a semblance of privacy. The guy asked, the girl said yes, and 11 friends "liked" it.

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Facebook proposalThat he used a personal anecdote shows he put thought into this, and her response shows he was right on the mark. With the amount of time most of us spend online these days, it's as appropriate if not more than taking her to her favorite place. Maybe he read about the dad allowed on CafeMom just this once so he could propose to his girlfriend, an ardent CafeMom fan? That dad was just catering to his girlfriend's favorites to create the perfect

Pubic Hair PantiesOh, Etsy. What would we do without you?

If it weren't for you, we might not be able to buy ourselves a pair of handmade pubic hair panties!

Yes, girls, even if you've waxed those pubes into oblivion, you can still rock the au naturel look whenever you want, simply by putting on these one-size-fits-most pubic hair thong panties!

More from The Stir: What Do Men Really Think About Pubic Hair?

Better yet, they're only $15!

This would make a FANTASTIC present for your mother-in-law's next birthday, don'tcha think?

But that's not all this Etsy seller is offering! Click through to see more!

Perhaps these Old Lady Vagina Panties (Etsy, $15) are more your style ...

If you like to take a walk on the wild side, don't worry! There are Aqua Faux Pubic Hair Panties (Etsy, $15) for you too, my friend!

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Feeling a little grouchy? These Monster Pubic Hair Panties (Etsy, $15) may be

Oahu Hawaii beach hotelSnow, sleet, frozen rain, and black ice, wet, drizzle, frostbitten fingertips, and the never-ending bundle-up -- has the cold winter weather got you down? Well, come then, dream with me. Let's escape (if only in our minds) to several warm-weather vacation hot spots. Sun, sand, and flip flops, where are the best summery-type locales to head to when it's cold and dreary at home?

More From The Stir: Prisons Turned Luxury Hotels, You Won't Believe the Transformations!

Maybe you really are planning a warm-weather getaway this winter -- and if so, lucky you. But if not, close your eyes and go with me. I swear it gets a few degrees warmer after the jump.

5 Warm-Weather Places to Visit This Winter (even if it's only in your mind)

Oahu, Hawaii

Oh, Oahu, what a lovely, warm place to get away from the winter blues. Swimming, surfing, and snorkeling, visit Waikiki and Honolulu or island hop over to Kauai, Maui, or big island of Hawaii.

Cancun, Mexico

Visit ancient

letterThere's a fine line between your parents wanting the best for you and being so over-bearing about it that it pushes you to the point of self-inflicting abuse. A mom wanting her daughter to have the happy life that, sadly according to society, being "thin and beautiful" will get you, may motivate her to have a healthy lifestyle, but it could also unintentionally lead to a full-fledged eating disorder.

Point in case, a bride-to-be recently posted a letter on Tumblr that she received from her parents, which included money to purchase scales to weigh herself once a week to "insure our wedding dress investment."

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Not kidding. These folks are clearly competing to win the Parents of the Year Award:

Dear Katie,

You are beautiful now. We believe you will be a beautiful bride. To help insure our wedding dress investment, please buy some scales of your choosing with this money and weigh yourself once a week.

meat market signIn an ironic twist of fate, my New Year's resolution for this year happens to be the exact opposite of my resolution from last year. What can happen in 365 days? Why the about face? Here's what went down:

One of the things that occurred near the end of my marriage -- when we were already having problems -- is that my now ex-husband and I both read a book (Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer, one of my favorite authors), and our meal time together was immediately changed. We both were impacted by Foer's ethical arguments for being vegetarian -- namely, that factory farming is bad for animals, for people, and for the environment. But while I was content to simply use his message to make more mindful decisions about what we were eating, my ex was cleaning out the refrigerator and swearing off meat forever.

More from The Stir: My New Year's Resolution for Food is Delicious

I wish I could say I was as enthusiastic about the vegetarian lifestyle as he was: I blogged about

Ask Dad has returned from his wintry hibernation. I'm declaring that 2011 is time to get back to the basics of love. So give me your troubles, we'll clear them right up:

I'm very much in love with a new man. I think he's the one. Marriage material. There's just one little problem. He's uncut, and I hate to say it, but it really grosses me out. I want him to get circumcised, but how could I possibly ask?

Pity the poor foreskin. Little guy just wants to do his important little job and everyone's always looking to hack him off. Won't you consider his feelings? But I've written that lament before.

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So let's set aside the merits. I think you've really hit on something here. A truer test of devotion you will not find. His saying "I love you," giving you a ring, buying you a house, all good signs to be sure. But cutting off part of his body, in the most sensitive and nerve-wracking spot possible? That, my dear,

Sprout Surprise Whopper2010 was a been a bad one for the fast food industry. McDonald's is getting sued, and the Double Down just gave us double the ammunition for the old "heart attack on a plate" jokes. They had to change see the light eventually. But I never expected to hear Burger King and Brussels sprouts in the same sentence.

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The scourge of vegetables is popping up on the Whopper this month, and I've got just one complaint. I can't "have it my way."

The King is keeping this one in the UK, where it's a "festive" offering for the holidays. The Sprout Surprise Whopper as it's being called is topped with the sprouts and emmental cheese (a gentle Swiss). Paul Rowland, culinary development manager at Burger King UK said, "We believe that taste is king, and as such, we wanted to create a recipe that would challenge existing sprout perceptions, and genuinely make sprouts a flavour to be reckoned with.

Go ahead and tease us Burger