Blog Posts by Redbook

By Aaron Traister, REDBOOK

DEAR WHYS GUY:

Why do men never appear to be listening to you, but then when you ask them what you just said, they can repeat back a whole bunch of stuff verbatim?

Related: 10 Things Never to Say to a Man You Love

DEAR REDBOOK READER:

Have you ever seen The Wire? In order to listen in on the drug dealers' conversations, the cops have a little box on the phone-tap marked "pertinent." If it's not pertinent, they don't listen in, and it can't be recorded or used later in the prosecution of the case. I have a little box like that in my head. Karel has a lot of stuff that she thinks is important, but that little box in my head lets me know when it's time to pay attention and record information that may be needed later and when it's time to tune out. But just like the cops on The Wire, I don't want to tip my hand and let Karel (who is like the drug dealers in this scenario) know what is being listened to or recorded for later use, so I keep the same

By Aaron Traister, REDBOOK

DEAR WHYS GUY:

What's your take on the maxi dress trend sweeping the country? Hot or not?

Related: The 5 Outfits Guys Secretly Hope You'll Wear

DEAR REDBOOK READER:

I had no idea what these things were, so I asked Karel. According to Karel, a maxi dress is the type of long patterned dress that she wears (and she is quick to point out that she's been wearing them for several years-I can back up that claim). I've been calling them Mrs. Roper dresses. Actually, I love Karel's Mrs. Roper dresses-they're casual and form fitting, and, along with gas prices, crumbling infrastructure and high unemployment, they make me feel like I'm back in the '70s, which I firmly believe is the decade I was supposed to live in.

Related: Why Men Need More Touch

So my take on "maxi dresses" is a positive one (fine: hot). Karel can slip one on and sashay around the house while I wear my throwback Eagles t-shirt, questionably tight Levis and drink Yuengling from a can while we

By Heather Cocks, REDBOOK

The best moment of any trip with the boys is that first night when they are passed out at the hotel and my husband and I crawl into bed and say, "WE MADE IT!" It's how I imagine a football team feels: You game-plan all week, you finally take the field, you scale obstacles to eke out a victory, and then you revel in it while icing your creaky joints. Traveling with one toddler is hardly a picnic; with two, and all the associated baggage, it's like our faces freeze into those famous comedy-tragedy masks. Here are 10 ways to manage:

1. Wheels: The boys would always rather walk, but because their two-second attention spans make it impossible to get anywhere fast-much less in a crowd-turning the airport into a fun ride is the only option. These gizmos strap to your car seat so you can roll your toddler through the airport. Plus, everyone looks at you like you're some kind of genius, which is fun for the ego.

Related: 5 Tricks for All-Day Energy

2. New

By Nancy Rones, REDBOOK

Yeah, yeah, you know that exercising and eating right should be at the top of your daily to-do list. But let's face it: Some days there's barely enough time to sprint from the car to the pizza parlor to grab a pie to go. We're in no way suggesting you abandon those bigger long-term health goals, but we would like to help you by giving you these six simple, science-backed steps that you can take today-and every day-to live a longer, healthier, happier life. And don't let the small nature of these lifestyle tweaks fool you: They're proven to have a major impact on your health.

Related: 43 Sneaky Tricks to Look Younger

1. Buy a bouquet: Looking at flowers can put you in a brighter mood, research from Rutgers suggests. In three different studies, receiving flowers was shown to have both immediate and long-term positive effects on emotional outlook.

2. Turn off the tube during dinner: You already know that watching television at mealtime can lead to mindless eating

By Beth Kobliner, REDBOOK

When I wanted to lose five pounds, a looming high school reunion motivated the weight right off me. Having a saving goal-something meaningful you're socking away money for-works the same way. Here are three ideas:

Related: How to Survive a Cash-Flow Crisis

1. Use a money-management app or site: Mint Goals, a new tool on the free money-management site mint.com, calculates how much you'll need to set aside for a specific dream (such as a home down payment). It tracks your progress with each deposit (yay!) and registers the negative impact of each splurge.

Related: 5 Tricks to Get More Done in a Day

2. The proven no-tech method: Divide the cost of the item by the realistic number of months you'll need to save for it. Then open a new bank account strictly dedicated to reaching that goal, and have money automatically deposited from your paycheck each month.

Related: How to Ask for a Raise

3. Request an offline account: No more withdrawing on a whim; in order to

By Frank P. Melodia, REDBOOK

These main-course salads deliver flavor, protein and crunch with minimal stove-to-body contact. And each one has variations, so your summer dinners can be exponentially more delicious.

Related: Cellulite Solutions That Actually Work

1. Antipasto Pasta Salad: Sweet and tender sun-dried tomatoes, crisp veggies and salty proscuitto compliment each other perfectly in this classic recipe for an antipasto-inspired pasta salad. Get the recipe!

Related: How to Beat Bloat Fast!

2. Bistro Chicken Salad: Quick grilled chicken tops off this healthy salad of fresh summer veggies. Get the recipe!

Related: 6 Dream Salad Dressing Recipes

3. Tropical Shrimp Salad: This fresh, sweet salad is full of summer's juiciest fruits, then topped with light grilled shrimp and a dollop of tangy goat cheese. Get the recipe!


More from REDBOOK:

• Could You Go a Week Without Yelling?
  
• Have the Hottest Sex of Your Life…with Your Husband
  
• 6 Shocking Reasons

Man holding flowers towards someone.By Aaron Traister, REDBOOK.

This month, Aaron Traister pledged to transform himself into the man his wife deserves: thoughtful, physically fit, and sexually patient. She got two out of three - not bad!

During a recent argument, my wife, Karel, told me I needed to "grow up," so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'd spend four weeks making myself over, and I wouldn't tell Karel, just to see if she was paying attention. Among other things, I changed up my clothes and returned to my teenage wrestling workouts - because nothing says maturity like playing dress-up and trying desperately to relive high school. Here's the whole rundown.

Related: 18 Most Annoying Male Habits, Explained

I bought her flowers.
When Karel and I started dating, I was a bouncer at a bar in New York City. After every shift, I'd grab daisies (her favorite) from a 24-hour bodega near the bar so Karel would wake up to fresh flowers in the morning. I gradually slacked off, blaming it on the fact that our

By Gretchen Voss, REDBOOK
Child and mother by a window.

We think of bruises, not pregnant bellies, when we hear domestic abuse, but millions of women are pressured to have kids against their will by partners bent on controlling their bodies. Gretchen Voss meets some of them, and learns what we can all do to stop it.

Like the beginning of some bubbly Hollywood rom-com, Sara* and Mark met in a postgrad science class. They hit it off early in the semester, but Sara-who, at 36, was more than a decade older than Mark-was hesitant when he asked her out. He won her over, and very quickly the two shared their dreams of becoming doctors and starting a family together; in fact, Mark talked excitedly about having kids with Sara just months into dating. After he proposed, Sara says, he became obsessed with getting her pregnant: He called her "the baby maker." When she confided that one of her fallopian tubes was blocked, he insisted that she visit a fertility doctor before their wedding so they could get started as soon