The Miraculous Push-Up Bra, for obvious reasons. $58. ( is sexy, too.)
Cool heart hoops by Marc Jacobs, $48.
A gift certificate for a foot massage. Have you ever gotten one? Pressure points on your feet correspond to other parts of your body (your head, your arms, your back) so you leave feeling relaxed and floppy all over. Amazing and such a treat. $115 for an hour.
Flowers, and here's the kicker: Send them to her office. It's so much fun to get flowers at work! Her heart will secretly skip a beat when the delivery guy walks in and calls her name, and they'll look gorgeous on her desk for a week. (P.S. Skip the traditional dozen red roses and mix it up a little or a lot; and be sure the bouquet includes a vase. Call up a local florist, or Teleflora and Proflowers are great, too. xoxo)
Ampersand necklace to show your sweet connection. (The font was inspired by the alphabet magnets on everyone's fridges growing up!) $124.
Etta James CD, with classic songs to make her starry-eyed. $4.99.
Giant heart balloons to have waiting in the bathroom, bedroom, hallway and living room when she wakes up.
A notepad with your favorite schmoopy photo, $12.99.
A brownie of the month club. (This exists!!!) $65 for three months.
A good old-fashioned love letter, since that's all she really wants anyway.
Sweet. :)
The Sisters Brothers. All my guy friends are obsessed with this page-turning thriller, which is described as a Coen Brothers film in novel form. Spooky. $16.
A John Derian tray for his desk, for keys, change and reminding him how lucky he is, $66.
In this 9-minute film, Rendezvous, a man gets into a sports car and drives at terrifying speeds around Paris. He actually runs red lights, dodges pedestrians and screeches around corners, then finally stops the car and meets a beautiful woman. The 1970s film is taken from the driver's viewpoint and was shot illegally early one morning; the director Claude Lelouch was rumored to have been arrested when it first aired. Trust me, you will be the coolest girlfriend ever if you give him this gift. $29.95.
If he's a foodie, get him something crazy obscure and awesome from Gilt Taste, like beer sausages, basil-fed snails or scotch and stout truffles.
A stinky cheese class for you to take together. New York or San Francisco, $75/person.
Artwork for your bedroom, to make him laugh, or smile. $20 to $60.
I Could Eat a Horse pasta measuring tool, plus a homemade pasta feast. $15.
Silver frame with a photo of when you first started dating, so you'll both remember falling in love and getting butterflies. (You can upload a photo and get the frame here.)
Temporary tattoos to wear on your shoulder when you go out to dinner that evening. $5/each.
A sweet love note and a kiss.
My friend Susan Cernek (who also happens to be the Fashion Development Director at Glamour) shared the best tip with me the other day: Pack in a single color scheme. "For my two-week honeymoon around Italy, I packed all blue and white pieces," she told me. "That way, I could pack more efficiently, and mix and match."
A bonus tip? "Pack a red dress," she says. "Red always looks dramatic in photos, even if you're lost, like I was here."
New York has been so chilly recently that I've been wearing hiking socks to bed. Hiking socks. It's super sexy, as you can imagine. This comic made me laugh out loud. Why are girls cold and guys hot as furnaces when they sleep? It's one of life's great mysteries.
Before Alex and I got hitched, I wondered if our wedding kiss should be big or small. In the end, swept up by the emotion of the day, we just went for it! And it felt awesome!
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P.S. A Swedish island wedding, and two rad City H`ll weddings...
Ok, we've talked about enough intimate stuff on Cup of Jo that I think I'll just go for it today and ask the big question: Do you pee in front of your significant other? My answer...
Back in 1958, John Steinbeck, author of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men, got a letter from his teenage son Thom, in which Thom confessed that he had fallen desperately in love with a girl named Susan at his boarding school.
Do you feel like a chicken with its head cut off? My sister sent me this fascinating article, which says that, even if we feel swamped, most of us are actually less busy than we think...
We've talked about everything from break-ups to breasts, so today let's talk about sex...
The Bachelor this season has been wildly entertaining. Have you been watching it? The show's premise is clearly insane, but it's like a train wreck where you can't look away. (Even Alex, who makes fun of me, now asks me to pause it if he goes into the kitchen. Busted.) So, let's take a minute to chat: Which of the final three women do you think should end up with Ben? 
With Valentine's Day (and mating season:) fast approaching, let's chat about our beauty secrets when going on dates! Here's my little routine...
First, Bare Escentuals foundation with SPF has changed my life. It makes your skin look clean, pretty and glowing. Honestly, I've felt a little self-conscious about my skin as I've gotten older, but this foundation is a miracle. It covers everything beautifully, without looking like you're wearing makeup. It's my holy grail foundation, and I highly recommend it.
Second, I wear this Fresh Sugar Passion lip treatment when I'm on a dinner date or bike ride with Alex. The hint of bee-stung color brightens up your face, while the hydrating treatment makes your lips soft for kissing.
