Blog Posts by Rich Santos, Marie Claire

What is it with women and Fashion Week?

I get women and shopping, women and puppies, women and chocolate. But Fashion Week? Women around town are desperate for a peek at the pageantry.

So what's the deal?

Actually, I've been to a show or two - I admit it. Let me tell you some of the things I saw:

Weird Attire
At a Heatherette show a few years back, I saw one model prancing down the runway with baskets acting as cups for a bra. Wicker baskets! I guess that style didn't catch on because I didn't see any bras like that anywhere from Victoria's Secret to Walmart (not that I go looking through the bra sections at those stores).

Outlandish Hair
Some of these girls come out with their hair spiked in all sorts of different directions. I suppose this is part of the artistic statement, but I've never seen any woman I know cop any of these crazy hairdos.

Ghoulish Makeup
The most common look is that black under the eyes that make the woman look like a

I've put together many a Christmas wish list in my day. I'm an expert. It's pretty easy to tell people what you want, and it's also kind of fun.

If Valentine's Day had a wish list, I'd put together a list of characteristics I'd wish for in a girlfriend:

An Honest Woman
The number-one trait I look for in a significant other's personality is honesty - perhaps because my overactive imagination drives me crazy with crisis thinking. It's hard for me to trust women in relationships for a number of reasons (we'll have to go over those in another blog post).

Sincerity sweeps me off my feet every time. But it takes a while to learn that someone is sincere. In other words, this trust doesn't happen overnight because building trust is full of little recurring tests. One failure of a little test can topple the whole thing.

A Woman Who Lets Me Hang Out with My Friends
This one's a no-brainer, and I'm pretty sure most women know that us guys love our friend time. If we

As you plan your Valentine's Day, keep these Dos and Don'ts in mind:

Don't Pressure Your Significant Other
We get enough pressure about your birthdays, so don't make us feel like we have to do something for Valentine's Day. Let it happen...he'll do something if it's supposed to happen.

Do Remember It's Valentine's Day
Believe it or not, some people (well, guys) completely forget about Valentine's Day until Feb 13 th at 11PM. This puts them in quite a pickle if they have a special someone that expects a nice Valentine's Day.

Don't Go Too Gung-Ho Too Fast
If you've just started dating, you might not have to do anything for Valentine's Day. Do you plan to exchange gifts, spend a lot of time and money on each other? The easiest way to figure this out is to talk about it, but sometimes you just have to feel it out. I'm not sure which is more awkward: receiving a gift when you didn't buy one for your significant other, or giving a gift when they didn't get

The other day my friend and I were chatting about cheating. She mentioned that she'd cheated on every boyfriend she had until she met her husband.

The former guys constantly asked her to put a title on the relationship: boyfriend/girlfriend, dating exclusively, or what? This habit of looking for titles made the guys appear insecure and also made my friend feel trapped.

She couldn't take the relationships seriously.

My friend admitted her reasoning was not a good excuse to cheat, but she rationalized it by telling herself she cheated because she felt trapped.

But she changed when she met her husband. Somehow he was able to allow her space, and he wasn't always demanding answers about their relationship. The cheating stopped and they lived happily ever after.

My friend is an example of a rehabilitated cheater. She had gotten to the point where she rationalized and accepted her cheating behavior, but she found a way to change.

Personally, I believe a cheater

Sometimes a successful relationship is about how little you annoy each other as much as how attracted you are to one another.

Which is more accurate to say to your significant other: "I love you, because you're so great"? Or "I love you because you don't annoy me that much"?

My buddy said I'm making progress. I'm accepting that my future girlfriend will annoy me often, and that there is no such thing as a girl that's completely like a guy. And if there is, I won't ruin that friendship with sex. Wait...am I saying that I only have sex with annoying girls? That's so messed up!

Here's an annoying thing that I must learn to live with in a long-term relationship: talking when the TV is on.

The other day guys in my office were watching SportsCenter's Top 10 plays in silence, except for a few quick words during the tiny lull between each play. Watching these plays with the guys was glorious, and my head was buzzing with the highlight/conversation rhythm.

Tragically

As Valentine's Day approaches, men all over the world will scramble to pick up beautiful bouquets of flowers for the women in their lives - or the women they hope to have in their lives. But, what's the big deal with flowers?

Why Men Give Flowers
1. They represent beauty. Perhaps he is saying, "Here's something beautiful for a beautiful person," or he's making a visual commentary on a beautiful relationship.

2. They represent sexuality. It seems a bit weird, but flowers are basically plant reproductive organs. Is there some subconscious reason that we give reproductive organs to someone we love ... and would maybe some day reproduce with?

3. Our mothers told us to. A "well-trained" guy knows the cultural significance of flowers in romance.

What His Flowers Really Mean
Chances are good he has no clue what the bouquet he's getting you actually means, but if he's done his research into the type of flowers he's handing over, let this serve as your translation

I used to think I've never had a broken heart, but upon further reflection I think my heart was broken once.

The strange thing is that my heart was not broken by a woman, but by my dad. When I was 8, my parents split up and he left the house for a while. He took a huge piece of me with him. At that point in my life, he was THE guy. I remember crying uncontrollably for a week or so, exhibiting behavioral problems in school, and having other problems develop.

Luckily, my parents got back together and they are still together today, and they seem happier than they've ever been (probably because they are not dealing with us kids).

People use the term "broken heart" loosely. I might quip that "it broke my heart" when the chicken skewer guy stopped coming around during the cocktail hour of a wedding. Or, it broke my heart when the Ravens lost that important game...OK, maybe the Ravens have broken my heart a few times for real.

In dating, people often think they've had their

I've written many times about meeting women that don't cause me to go out of my way.

I'm hardheaded and I love the things that I do, so any girl that comes in to my life is in for some competition. This past weekend a girl I hung out with caused me to go out of my way in three main areas that I thought would never happen. I'm not sure where our relationship will end up, but I must give compliments to this girl for being able to do that.

Here are three ways I went out of my way for this girl this weekend:

I Tried Food I Don't Normally Try

I'm intensely afraid of fish. I'm more of a children's menu guy: chicken tenders, pasta, soup, chili, meatloaf, etc...and not fish sticks. This girl and I decided that I'd try fish this weekend. In fact, I told her I'd cook for her (she only eats fish and vegetables), but I had to find a fish recipe. She said she'd help. I thought it was so cute that she said she'd help, I felt compelled to try it.

So, I bought this big slab of