The Rachael Ray Show

Monday, May 28, 2012

Popular Online Dating Activities

All types of everyday activities are growing in popularity online these days like sharing photos and greeting cards. In fact, both of these even go hand in hand with online dating opportunities, one of the most popular online activities for singles today.

Before actually meeting in person, many dates get acquainted online first.

Here’s how.

Photos - As a wonderful keepsake of your budding romance, create an online photo album for your new cyber-mate.  Include digital photos of favorite outdoor scenes, pets, flowers, cars, silly moments, your computer corner or laptop, etc.  Then you’ll even have more to discuss during online dates via emails and chat rooms. Search for “photo albums” to find places that store your photos.

Greeting Cards- Regardless of where the person lives, you can mail a greeting card. If privacy and security is an issue, check into renting an inexpensive P.O. Box (check the Yellow Pages). You do not have to be an artist to make something homemade and special for the new friend in your life.  Even making a special, personalized greeting card would be appreciated and show your date that you care enough to take the time needed to make something by hand.  Search your favorite search engine for online greeting cards to send, too. They range from free to low cost and can be sent in a click.

So get online and get active! No need to risk meeting in person until you get more familiar with each other online first. So take the online plunge!

What do you think?

Monday, May 21, 2012

More Popular Online Dating Activities

A couple of popular online activities are sharing recipes and bidding at auctions. And both of these easily fit well into online dating opportunities, one of the most popular online activities for singles today.

To help many dates get better acquainted online, here’s what potential cyber-dates do.
Sharing Recipes – People get tired talking about the weather. So a popular subject to turn to is food. Sharing favorite foods and recipes helps break the ice and even forms friendships over culinary skills – or lack of – and tastes. Search your favorite search engine for “free recipes” to share. Take photos of your culinary creations and share them with your date, too.

Bidding at Auctions – Ebay auctions sell nearly anything and everything! So surf around and enter searches like the dates you were in middle school. Share cool memorabilia photos of old games and toys from when you were a child or when your parents or grandparents were little; The Dating Game, Oscar Mayer wiener whistles, The Partridge Family Album, Bobby Sherman’s Album, 45’s and more.

Online dating can be an educational and fun experience. So learn more about each other and have fun while you’re at it. Take a cyber-stroll down memory lane together and see what’s cookin’.

What do you think?

Monday, May 14, 2012

Growing Online Dating Relationships

Just like regular real-world relationships, online relationships need tending, to grow over time. Here are some quick growing tips.

1. Take time and make time. Does your online date get in touch with you regularly? Do you do the same? Neglecting virtual meetings can be considered abuse or neglect, so treat each other’s time with respect. If it’s lacking, might mean time to move on.

2. Communication needs to “feel” right for both of you. If one of you is too pushy about meeting, for instance, that can give off bad vibes. So don’t rush. Take time to learn more about each other and develop trust.

3. Respect each others privacy. Don’t share personal email addresses or digital photos online, for example, if your online date sent you the information in confidence. 

4. Share special online and offline fun times. Online – send greeting cards, links to favorite places to upload digital photos of your favorite pet, download music and video clips, post on favorite forums of interest. Offline- if you’re exchanging addresses or post office boxes, send print greeting cards and postcards, small items from your area (like a key chain with your state bird).

Tend your online relationship. Water it with care and over time it can sprout and grow.

What do you think?

Friday, May 11, 2012

Establishing Online Dating Relationships: Safety First

Online dating can be fun. But don’t neglect safety and common sense when you try to hook up with a mate. At minimum, take caution in the following areas.

Protect Your Computer

Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you may want these two solutions that are offered at no charge to home computer users (i.e. not for commercial use):

Free Firewall Download: ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com
Free Anti-Virus Download: AVG Anti-Virus www.grisoft.com

Protect Yourself

Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service.  How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend. In addition, search “online dating services” and keep a notebook of their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place.  Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others.
So take care. Arm your computer – and yourself- with the correct tools and knowledge!

What do you think?

Friday, May 4, 2012

Divorce, rebuilding your life, avoid sex with the ex

Divorce is something that no one wants to face.  It is a hard situation that many people have to find the strength to get through.  Sometimes there are hard feelings between the two couples and sometimes the couple will still get along very well.  It is hard to tell what is going to happen and sometimes you just have to see how it goes. The ball is in your court and you need to make the best choices that you can. 

One thing is for sure; once you are divorced, you do not need to be having an intimate with your ex.  This is not something that is wise because of the issues that will come along with it. You want to break your ties so that you are free and able to move on easily to better and bigger things. 

You will want to remain friendly with your ex.  This is for obvious reasons. When things go a lot smoother, you will find it to be a lot easier to get things accomplished.  You really can kill them with kindness however you do not want to be so kind that you are jeopardizing your health and well being for any reason.  You do not want to get involved with the complicity of having sex with your ex when you are trying to rebuild your life and make something better for your future. 

When you are trying to rebuild your life, you want to do the right things.  You need to make the right choices for you and you family so that you are not putting anyone's well being at risk. This will also include your ex.  When you are still carrying on an intimate relationship with your ex partner, you will find that you may be setting either one of you up for a very big fall.  This is not something that you should be doing at this stage of the game.

A divorce is something that can be very complicated and when you are combining sex with your ex, you are only making the situation more complicated. You need to make sure that you are severing these ties and making it very clear that you are not interested in this part of your life anymore.  You need to of course make sure of this before you file for divorce but having a physical relationship is not the only thing that matters with a marriage.  You need to have all the factors there so that you can have a successful relationship that works for both of you.

There are so many things to worry about when you are trying to rebuild your life after a divorce.  You do not want to have to deal with too much when you already have so much on your plate.  You want to be careful and make the wise decisions that you know you can make.  You have to be willing to let the physical side of your relationship go so that you can free your mind and body up for the next chapter in your life. 

There is so much life out there and when you are divorced, you are able to take it all on. You should not be holding on to the past even if it is comforting at the time.  You want to get out there are find out who you are and what your goals and dreams are in life.  This is the only way that you can make your new life a huge success.  This is going to be worth the self-control that you have when it comes to refraining from having sex with your ex. 

What do you think?

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

How to rebuild your life, stay away from romance movies!

Rebuilding your life after a divorce is not always easy. You will find that many things will come up and make it difficult for you to get through them. You will want to make sure that you are making the right decisions so that you are able to make the best of your new life that has been changed so dramatically.

Getting the things in life that you want in life is not always, what you get. You may have to do some things in order to make them happen.  We all do not have the life that we want all of the time. Sometimes we make mistakes and we have to deal with them. The same will go for marriages.  Some work out while others do not.  There are many people that go through a divorce and they will have to make the changes in their life that get them through their hard times. 

You should avoid some things when you are going through a divorce. You will defiantly want to stay away from romance movies. You have to be willing to stay out of any movie theater or renting any video that has any type of romance in it. You will only be making your situation worse and you will have problems that are more emotional if you do this to yourself. You do not want to make this mistake because it can make your healing process much worse than what it already is.

You will want to watch movies that are upbeat and positive. You need to find things in life that are going to make you feel good about yourself and how you deal with your divorce. You will want to make sure that you are getting out the house as much as you can.  It would be a great idea to go out with friends or with you to a movie theater. You can catch a new flick or a classic comedy from time to time and help you with your outlook on life.

The best types of movies to watch when you are going through a divorce are comedies or about people that have gone through much worse and ended on top. You want to see success stories so that you are able to keep the feeling that everything is going to be good again and that are going to get better.  It is amazing how a movie can make you feel good about yourself and the situation that you are in. 

If you are renting movies for you to watch at home, you will want to keep them light and upbeat.  Make sure that you are watching movies that make you laugh.   Invite some of your best friends over and make a big bowl of popcorn.  This is a great way to spend an evening so that you can feel good about yourself. You will want to be able to sit back and relax while watching a movie that will keep you positive and feeling good about yourself. 

You can rebuild your life when you are able to keep a good way of thinking. You do not want to have any contact with movies that are depressing in any way or sad. You want to stay focused on the good things in life and what is out there waiting for you.  When you are sure of yourself and what you are going to do to make the situation better, you will be able to come out on top. You will have a better chance at making the future better and brighter for you after a divorce if you keep those comedies coming and throw the romance movies out!

What do you think?

Creating Effective and Efficient Relationships


Relationships of all kinds are often perceived as very delicate things, that require extra effort to maintain. However, a relationship can also be something that can provide security and can also be long lasting despite many trials.

Building an effective and lasting relationships is a necessity for several reasons. For example in a group or organization, the well being of the people depends on how efficient and effective that group or organization works.

The group or organization is also dependent on how the members work well with the management.
An ineffective group or organization can really be very frustrating.  An effective group or organization can also ask so much on their members, that sometimes the members would be having no life outside the walls of the area where they work or sacrifice the other aspects of their life just to meet deadlines. For an organization or group with this kind of scenario, relationships can be stressed or suffer from breakdown.

People or other entities who depend on these groups or organization also suffer.

Society is defined as a web of relationships, which requires all parties to work and contribute their share in order to achieve  a common goal. Having a relationship that is good, where cooperation and respect are manifested, can make society work better. In this way each member works for the good of the whole and towards achieving a common goal. This can only be attained with effective and efficient relationships.

Understanding the other parties' feeling and position creates an effective and efficient relationship. The easiest method to understand what is important to another party is to ask them what they want and listen to what they have to say. When the other party realizes this, they would feel the importance given to them.

Effective and efficient relationships require parties to openly express their feelings and positions on all matters pertinent on the relationship. Assuming that the other party understands our needs and give us when we need it without asking for it is not a good practice.

Respect is the key to relationship. In order to create a more effective relationship, parties should treat each other with respect.  We can show respect just by listening to the other party and by trying sincerely to understand how they function. You can also show respect to other parties by confirming that they are doing everything they can.

The opposite of respect is quick forming of judgements based on unfounded facts and prejudice.

Respect is the very foundation for a great relationship. This also means respecting yourself and respecting others.

Another key area in forming an effective relationship is to tackle differences of the other party directly. Differences between parties or people are quite interesting. For example in a conversation where each party listens to the other party, you may observe that each is having two different perspectives.

Work towards a win-win solution for both parties.

This can be done when at least one party acknowledges that the relationship is important. That party would then exert more time, effort and energy to understand the other party's needs and deal with it to get it out of the way. Should they fail, it is comforting for that party to know that they tried.

Effectively listening and no pre-judging. This is important if parties are to understand each other.
Informal discussions are conducive for parties. They bring out issues and concerns comfortably. They also feel more relaxed making them think more clearly.

Developing an atmosphere where the other party can express their feelings when they need to.
When parties fail to express whatever is on their mind or their feelings, it can get in the way of building an effective relationship.

Parties should be aware that certain things exist naturally but should be controlled in any dealings in any relationship.  Human nature is one. Some of these things found in a relationship also include a history of stereotyping or mistrust, blaming the other person or party for a strained relationship, excluding the other party's feelings when focusing on a task, no clear and defined objectives, roles and expectations of each party in a relationship is also unclear.

Relationships are important to anyone, addressing issues and problems right away is a must to further improve the relationship. As they say 'No man is an Island'.

What do you think?