Here’s a few hints on what you can do to keep your cool when things heat up.

Go ice skating. Since it’s hockey’s off season, most indoor rinks are opened to the public on weekends for public skating. Not only will you get to spend the hot hot day inside an ice box, but you get to share a unique experience with your date.

Get ice cream. Who doesn’t love ice cream! Either get cones and enjoy them in the local ice cream shop, or grab a tub and head down to the park for a dessert-only picnic. Either way, you’ll be satisfying your taste buds and your cold craving.

Hit up the beach. Sure being out in the sun might get a little hot, but what better way to cool down than a dip in the lake?! If you’re lucky enough to be by the ocean, maybe bring along a surf board so you two can learn something new together.

Visit an amusement park. Some roller coasters can reach up to 180KM/H. No matter how hot you are, winds like that will cool you right down. And these days most amusements have full water parks right on their grounds, so you’ll get twice the cooling satisfaction in one place.

See a movie at the drive-in theater. Since drive-in movies only play at night, the air will have already cooled by the time the movie plays. If it’s still a little too hot for you outside, then head over to the vendor and grab a slushie. It’s a great snack for the movies, and is way more tasty than eating ice.

There’s a lot of things you can do on dates to keep cool! If you’re ever short on ideas, just think about things that are too cold to do in the winter. Chances are they’ll still be cool in the summer! Start your dating search for a steamy summer fling, and stay cool while you get hot.

Summer is the season for concerts, hot weather, and steamy hook ups, so wouldn’t it make sense to mix these things together? When people think about going to concerts they usually think about how excited they are to see their favorite band, but it’s time that people started looking at them as a great place to do their search for dating!

In the summer, amphitheaters are great places to pick up. They’re usually an outdoor venue and on average hold about 13, 000 people. Let’s assume that half of those people are in a relationship, and half aren’t the sex you’re interested in, that still leaves you 3250 people to make a connection with, and those are pretty good odds.

Grab your tickets, bring some friends, gather up your courage and get ready to go on the dating hunt, because it’s not just the amount of people that will help you hook up. Concerts are the perfect storm of hookup helpers.

• Everyone around you has a common interest! One of the hardest parts about walking up to a stranger is not knowing what to strike up a conversation about, but if they’re at the concert, chances are you both like the same band. It’s easy to talk to someone about the song they’re playing or the quality of the sound. It’s casual and there’s no need for fear of rejection, because they’ll probably simply assume that you’re there only to talk about the music.
• People are happy. Who is in a bad mood at a concert?! No one! It’s always easier to approach someone when they’re in a good mood, and you can rest easy knowing that the cute guy you want to talk to at the concert is probably in the best mood he’s been in all week.
• You can continue the conversation somewhere else. If you start talking to someone that seems to be interested, there’s always other fun places to sneak away to. Beer tents, merch tables, snack bars… There’s a ton of places at concerts that you can go and converse while still getting to hear the great live music.
• Plan to meet up at other concerts! You’re obviously both music lovers. Mention that you’re going to be at another show in the area and see if they’re planning to do the same. If they are, it’s an easy suggestion for a second encounter.

Next time you’re at a concert, be on the lookout! A little live mood music set by the band makes for a perfect opportunity to hit on the cute stranger beside you ; )

Sometimes we can have friends that we really care about quite a bit, and they end up being friends with benefits. Often the relationship is actually even deeper than a romantic relationship because the couple started out being true friends. They end up being people that we can really confide in, tell our deepest and darkest secrets to, and share with in ways that we can’t with other friends that we are not intimate with.

It may not make sense that two people like that aren’t in love with each other and having a romantic relationship, but sometimes this type of friendship can actually transcend a romantic relationship or last quite a bit longer than the average marriage. Being a great match as friends or even friends with benefits does not preclude that the couple would be a great match for anything more than that. While in a friend’s with benefits relationship, there can be deep love between the two people, but a friend love instead of a romantic love, and the friend love is often the stronger and longer lasting of the two.

It’s amazing to develop that kind of deep friendship with someone. It’s rare and something to be cherished by both parties. Having that level of trust and respect between two people is a very special thing, and it’s something not often seen in most mainstream marriages. Being able to have sex with that person in addition to that deep level of friendship is even more special. So many people have relationships that keep those things separate – the friendship and the love – but it’s not necessary. With the right people and great communication, people can have both, and sometimes it can actually develop into a romantic relationship. When that happens, it can end up feeling like the most amazing relationship ever because both parties have already developed trust and respect for each other and the foundation of any great relationship starts right there.

First of all, don’t go overboard! People tend to light too many candles and play too much Boys II Men. This isn’t a movie from 1990, it’s your life. You’re not looking to get a bunch of high schoolers to ‘aaawe!’ when you kiss, so you can check the cheese factor at the door.

What you should do in advance is set up a few simple things to make the night go smoother.

First, make sure there’s appropriate lighting. No one wants to start foreplay in the living room if it feels like there’s a spotlight on them. If your lampshade is too bright, simply drape a thin scarf over the shade. That way when you turn it on, the lighting is going to give the room a more romantic feel.

Once you have the lighting set, take away anything in the room that might make someone uncomfortable to undress in front of. The people you met through your dating search probably don’t want to see pictures of you and your ex still sitting around. Nor do they want to see your family photos. Tuck them away for the night so there’s nothing to ruin the mood.

And lastly, if this isn’t already obvious enough, put away all cameras! When a girl sees a camera during sex, even if you’re not planning on using it, it instantly gives them the mental connection of sex tapes, which is enough to send any girl running.

If you’re going to bring someone home, go out of your way to make it a suitable environment of the occasion. And remember– Sex isn’t guaranteed! Just because you have someone in your house doesn’t mean they have to be in your pants. Don’t have a trey of Trojans sitting out in hopes they’ll get used. That’ll have girls walking out of there just as fast as they walked in!

10- Win A Date With Tad Hamilton
This is your typical girl is childhood friends with boy, wins a contest to go on a date with an actor, ends up dating the actor, and leaves said actor when she realizes she’s in love with the childhood friend. I mean, who hasn’t this happened to yet! In all seriousness, the movie is a very innocent and light hearted spin on friends dating, so if you’re nervous about dropping the hint, this is a great movie to watch together!

9- Drive Me Crazy
Sabrina the Teenage Witch falls in love with Vincent Chase. I don’t know what else to say about this movie.

8- 13 Going On 30
Ben Afleck’s wife gets sent 17 years into her future where she’s living with a new boyfriend, and without her best friend, Mark Ruffalo. Over the movie, she starts to see what her life would be like without him and realizes not only does she want him in it, she wants him to star in it.

7- Definitely, Maybe
The movie follows ryan Reynolds in three relationships– two with girlfriends, one with a friend– where he takes a look back at his life, telling his daughter how he met his ex-wife. In telling the story, he realizes that it’s not his ex-wife who is his true love, but his best friend.

6- Made Of Honor
Two friends who are so close she asks him to be her maid of honor, but end up falling in love during the wedding planning process. It’s a little cliche as far as chick flicks go, but you get to see Patrick Dempsey take his shirt off. Not a bad time.

5- Just Friends
Former chunker shows up in his home town only to see that the girl of his dreams is living there and is still single. After a few obstacles get in his way, he  proves that nothing gets in the way of true love, and the two of them live happily ever after.

4- Zack And Miri Make A Porno
While making a porno in order to not be poor anymore, Zack and Miri end up realizing they’re in love with each other when they’re faced with sleeping together.

3- He’s Just Not That Into You
Justin Long goes out of his way to help his friend Ginnifer Goodwin learn the ropes of dating and falling in love. In the process they end up forgetting about their outside dating troubles and realizing that yes, he actually is that into her.

2- When Harry Met Sally
If you don’t know the story of When Harry Met Sally, then I don’t care if you’re going to show this to your friend or not. You have to watch it with anyone! Your mom, your roommate, your dog… Just watch it!

1- A Lot Like Love
A Lot Like Love is the perfect movie to give someone the hint. It shows what happens when no one takes the first step, when someone makes a move at the wrong time, and how good things are when you eventually get your happy ending.

One of my favorite things to do with both girlfriends and buds is take a road trip- and it’s all that much better when you mix the two together. But being in closed quarters for such a long time can put you both at the end of your rope. Finding a way to road trip without wanting to kill each other can make the difference between “The trip was perfect!” and “We’re never going on a road trip again.”

• Don’t sing along to the music. He gets it, you know the words to every song on the radio. Instead of forcing him to listen to your out of tune voice, let him enjoy what’s on the radio!
• Have something to occupy your time. People get so excited about the trip and the scenery that they often forget about having to entertain themselves for hours on end. Stock up on magazines and movies on your iPad so you have something to do during the journey. It’s always nice to give the driver some quiet time during the ride, so have something to keep yourself from getting bored.
• Plan it out! The biggest mistake people make when going on road trips is deciding to ‘wing it.’ When you have no structure, you’ll often find that you spend a lot of time getting nowhere. Prevent yourself from the irritation of not knowing where to go and have a time line of when you want to get where.
• Don’t mention the time. Ever notice that a year goes by with the person you’ve been dating before you know it? Well that year would seem a hell of a lot longer if you spent it reminding them daily about how long you’ve been together– just like road trips. When you spend the day saying “We’ve only been driving for 3 hours?!”, it reminds you about how bad the drive has been.

It’s hard not to get at each other when you’re stuck in such a small space, but keeping these key road trip rules in mind will make the ride a joy.

Cooking someone dinner for the first time may have a little more science behind it than you think! Certain foods can act as an aphrodisiac, increasing the libido and stimulating the areas of the brain that make you crave sex.Using these foods to cook with won’t only impress the friend you’ve been dating, but it’ll put them in the mood faster than any foreplay will.

Asparagus is the biggest mood-booster. Back in the day, kings and queens were made to eat full meals of asparagus before their wedding because it was said to make you feel more in love. Well, they didn’t know the technology behind it, but they were on the right track! Asparagus has all the vitamins and nutrients that boost histamine production, which gives both parties a better orgasm.

Almonds and nuts in general are another one. Adding them to recipes of things like chicken and salads will create an aroma for women that increases passion.

After you’ve finished your dating searchand have brought someone home, there’s another ‘A’ you should keep in mind when you cook: The Avocado. Not only will the color stimulate your sexual sensors, but it works so well to increase libido that people have been doing it since the stone ages. Dating back thousands of years ago, the Aztecs’ name for Avocado was ‘Ahuacuatl’, which means testicle tree. The shape of the Avocados reminded the Aztecs of hanging balls, and when they ate them, they had a little more tingle below the belt than usual.

Now when you think of eating on a date, you probably don’t think about garlic, but you should! When doctors started suggesting people use garlic to help keep the heart healthy, it was because it increases blood flow in men. Increased blood flow makes for a stronger heart beat, and also a more solid erection.

Lastly we have to things that don’t quite mix, but have something very important in common: They’re the two biggest sexual stimulators you can find in food. Honey and oysters. They’re both chalk full of the horny goods, and won’t leave you stinking when you sweat like garlic will. Cooking with either of these two ingredients are a guarantee to get both of your libidos moving.

So when you’re ready to bring your date home for dinner, make sure you cook to excite with these stimulators!

It’s not a long weekend here in Hollywood, but way up north, Canada is getting ready to end work and start their first long weekend of the summer. Long weekends are my favorite excuses to put my pick up lines to good use for the first time of the season. I’m going to put aside my usual bias towards free dating sites and offer some words of wisdom to pick up in the real world. I have a lot of theories on why it’s easy to get down when you have an extra day added to your Saturday and Sunday, so here’s a few to keep in mind.

People are off work for three days! Use their relaxation to your advantage. Who doesn’t like having an extra day off of work? It’s the best feeling in the world! People are relaxed and stress free, probably for the first time all week, so use this to your advantage and play the part of fun, charming potential dating partner who helps them shake out whatever leftover knots they have in their shoulders from the work week.

The fresh air people get from being outside will put them in a better mood. No one wants to hit on the grumpy kid in the corner, which works because on long weekends, those people seem to disappear! Long weekends attract people outside, which gives their lungs and minds extra fresh air. Having that change of atmosphere is proven to lift peoples moods, making them easier and more accessible to hit on!

Liquid courage gets passed around. Cheers to courage! People embrace their freedom on long weekends and take advantage of the fact that they don’t have responsibilities for three days. If they’re hitting the cottage or simply getting some sun at their local beach, people like to crack a few cold ones open and enjoy them under the sun. This makes people less uptight than usual, which creates for a fun flirting experience.

There’s more fish in the sea to choose from. Ever notice you pick up less in the winter because there’s simply no one around? Well, the long weekends draw out the crowds! Even people who work jobs that don’t get long weekends off seem to come out for the celebrations. A few fireworks, a few campfires, and if you’re lucky, a few sparks flying between you and a special someone you met on the pier. Hooking up during long weekends is easier than any other time because people are actually out being social, which is a nice change.

People treat them like mini-spring breaks. There’s nothing quite like meeting that one group of friends that treats every weekend like it’s spring break. Stocks up on booze so they don’t run out, swears cowboy hats with bathing suits just because, and always has a beer opened by 9AM. Those are the kinds of people who make long weekends fun! When everyone is having a good time, it’s simply easier to connect with people. You don’t have to try as hard to make good conversation, because if you’re both in a good mood, the conversation will be great no matter what you talk about!

If you find yourself in Canada this weekend, use the long weekend to go out and have a good time. Connect with people and make memories that you can talk about later to hopefully build a relationship on. The more you enjoy yourself, the more you’ll enjoy other people, so take advantage of your three days off and start work towards something meaningful.

Like in any relationship, there’s things you should and shouldn’t do. Obviously obsessing over the age difference is just going to make you see it more. Relax! You’re among good company. Demi Moore, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Mick Jagger, Van Gogh and Mozart are just some of the people who have been in relationships with at least a 10 year age gap. So many great people wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t something to gain!

But for the basics, here’s a few things you can do to make yourself more in tune with your younger counterpart.

Familiarize yourself with new technology. Nothing says you’re too old for me than someone handing you their cellphone to program your number, and you don’t even know how to turn the screen on. If you’re going to go out with someone younger than you, don’t give them any reasons to think about age. Technology is a big part of 20somethings lives now, and you need to be in tune with that. Every cell phone you can imagine is on display at your local Rogers, AT&T or Apple store, so walk in and test a few out. That way when the time comes, she’ll be thinking about how she’s happy to get your number, and not about how confusing it is that you don’t know how to work a Backberry.

Brush up on your slang! Don’t start dropping words like Purple Drank just so she knows that you listen to Lil Wayne, but don’t say things like ‘groovy’ or ‘bitchin’ either. Nothing can date a person quite like the language they choose to use, so watch some current TV popular with a younger audience and make not of what they do and don’t say.

Familiarize yourself with the Billboard Hot 100. The most common conversation topics people fall back on is music. It’s something everyone has an opinion on, and no matter when it is, it’s always relevant. You don’t want someone asking what you thought of the new Adele album when you haven’t even heard of it. Take a look at popular new artists and listen to a few of their songs so you have something in common to talk about.

Relationships with large age gaps seem to work because each party brings something very different to the table, but you still have to both be able to meet in the middle. They’re probably not going to be talking about Woodstock, so you shouldn’t either. Stay away from stories and references that are going to date you, and enjoy them for their company, not their age.

If you’re taking someone you met on your free dating sites and you’re going to meet them for the first time, you can feel a lot of pressure. There’s tips and tricks to that first meeting, like doing it in a public place and somewhere you can distract yourselves if the conversation ever goes south, but those are usually mundane places that don’t add much of a spark to that first date.

A great way to relieve that pressure and still have a good time is to bring that person to a group setting. Most people’s biggest worry for the first date is how they’re going to keep the conversation going smoothly. When you’re with a group of friends, you always have someone to lean back on when there’s an awkward pause. You don’t need to be thinking about the next thing to say, because chances are someone already has that covered.

If you’re going to walk the group date line, make sure you’ve told your date! There’s no bigger buzz kill than thinking you’re going to get some one-on-one time only to realize that you’re surrounded by people. If you think this is going to be best dating dynamic for the two of you, let her know that you have friends that know a certain area very well who have offered to show the two of you around. This won’t only impress her that you’ve gone so far out of your way, but it may relax her as well, knowing that she won’t be meeting a stranger alone for the first time.

Make sure that you’re always being inclusive! She may feel uncomfortable if you’re focusing all your attention on her, and she’ll be really uncomfortable if you’re putting it all on your friends. Talk in rounds, have some fun, and enjoy the date! If it’s going better than you thought, you can always sneak away for a little alone time.