Lorraine Bodger - Love Stuff: 515 Delightful, Delicious, Sexy, Silly, Fun, Frivolous, Passionate, Positive and (Above All) Romantic Things to Do with Your One-and-Only

Love Stuff 2004 by Lorraine Bodger. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004101471

Illustrations by Lorraine Bodger

Book design by Lisa Martin

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L ove and romancetwo of the greatest thrills in the universe. When love walks in, each day is a delight. When romance is on your menu, you look forward to everything . Life is juicy, full of unexpected small pleasuresand large ones, too. Youre roughly ten thousand times happier with yourself, your partner, and everyone else. Who in the world wouldnt want to keep love and romance going twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?

But romance has a bad habit of disappearing just when you need it most. It sneaks away into laundry and dust bunnies and arguments and kids with runny noses, business trips and project deadlines and family visits, computer crashes and leaky faucets and car repairs. When life piles on the distractions, romance gets buried. And oh, how you miss it when its gone!

How do you get it back? How do you retrieve that head-over-heels feeling? How do you and your partner even find time for romance? You find it when you say to yourselves, We need love and romance more than we need to mop the kitchen floor or plant rose bushes. More than we need to go to another soccer game. More than we need to stay late at the office. When youve straightened out your priorities, then youre ready to plan for romance, make room for it, embrace it.

And how do you light that fire again? You read Love Stuff , you choose romantic things to do, and you do them . Thinking about romance is great, but making it happen is much better. Keeping the romance in your romance requires action . Action is the operative word, and this kind of action is the most exciting kindjoyous and surprising and fun . This week you and your partner may only (only!) have time to snuggle on the couch at midnight, but next week, next monthanything goes!

Open a bottle of wine and settle in for a private talk about what sort of romance youd like to get back into your life. Your personal choice might be plain or fancy, quiet or noisy, casual or formal, naughty or nice. It might be as simple as taking walks together at sunset or going dancing on the weekend, or as jazzy as season tickets to the opera or planning a round-the-world cruise. Or it might involve something a little sexier. Whatever it is, explore the possibilities (and thumb through the rest of Love Stuff for more ideas), and set a date and time for taking action.

Pick a night and go to bed (together!) early.

Pick an afternoon and spend it (together!) doing two or three favorite things. Not your favorite things, not his favorite things, but things that are favorites of both of you.

Pick a weekend and spend it (together!) in the nicest hotel, inn, or bed-and-breakfast you can afford. If you have kids, leave them with someone you trust completely and do not call home even once.

Pick a week and spend it (together!) in a place youve always wanted to visit. Doesnt matter if its Tahiti or Cleveland as long as its where you both want to be.

Run a bath for her and add fragrant bath oil. Put a glass of chilled white wine where she can reach it easily from the tub. Light a few candles. Escort her into the bathroom, and lock the door if theres a chance someone else (like your ten-year-old) will barge in. Help her into the soothing hot water, then stay to chat until the bath starts to cool. Dry her off gently, and wrap her in her robe.

Ask your partner to plan a special dinner menu, then make it for him and him alone. No guests, no kidsnobody but the two of you. Dont forget wine, candles, flowers, and a few perfect chocolates to top off the meal in a deliciously romantic way.

Find out more about each other: Take magazine quizzes togethernot because theyre reliable, but because your mates answers will probably come as interesting surprises.

Get matching ID bracelets and have them engraved with each others names. A little throwback to high school...

Make a (mutual) written commitment for six months of Saturday night dates.

Sit on his lap. Murmur in his ear. Snuggle.

Buy a different pair of frivolous, sexy panties for each day of the week. Let him know.

Take lots of pictures of each other. Whats more romantic than knowing your mate has his full attention on your adorable self through the lens of a camera? Whats more romantic than knowing she wants to have a permanent memory of handsome, dashing you?

And while were on the subject of photos: Have a professional take photographs of the two of you together. Order and frame two copies of the best shot, one for your desk, one for hers. Look at the photo often and remember how much you love each other.

Whats more romantic than the night sky? Thats easy: two lovers out under it!

• Learn the constellations and point them out to each other.
• Watch the Perseid meteor shower.
• Look for shooting stars and make wishes on them.
• Contemplate the harvest moon.
• Cuddle in a sleeping-bag-for-two as twilight turns to velvety darkness.