My Very Worst Date happened a few weeks ago. We met on an online dating site. He seemed pretty normal on his pictures and when chatting, it wasn’t all about sex. He was kind of short 5’7 (I prefer taller guys) and he told me that he wasn’t too skinny. I don’t mind the size thing because I’m kind of into the Seth Rogen type. I decided I couldn’t be too picky because he seemed nice online plus he was half Swedish, which seemed interesting.

When I saw him, I immediately felt betrayed. He wasn’t 5’7 he was more like my height (5’3) and he wasn’t cute chubby he was just plain fat. And his clothes looked like he stole them from his little brother (a too tight beige shirt with orange stripes and he wore an horrible cap). Normally, I’m not a big fashion queen but at least I made an effort to look nice. And I could see why he never smiled on his pictures because his teeth looked like those of a rat. Small and brown.

While sitting in the pub during our date, a few guys were loudly talking about how a guy like that could ever go out with a girl like me so it got even more awkward. Then he started talking about how all his “black interns” (yes, he used another word) were so lazy and how there were all these “gay people” on the bus (yes again he used another word for it). As a person with gay and multicultural friends, I felt really uncomfortable sitting at a table with such an ignorant person. I told him I had to get up real early in the morning finished my drink and left.

When we left, he grabbed my hip and tried to kiss me. I gave him my cheek and ran. I decided to ignore his texts, which got more mean every time I ignored them. The last one he send was that I should grow the f**k up.

I was complaining to a friend at work about not having been on a date in awhile and a male coworker overheard me. He asked if he could set me up with a friend of his who had been feeling down and “could use the company of a good woman.” I agreed to meet his friend for a happy hour drink a few days later. The co-worker showed me a photo of the guy so I would know who to look for.

When I arrived at the restaurant, he greeted me and I thought he was cute. I soon found out what he thought of me.

“You look so much like my ex-wife – it’s amazing!” he said squinting at me.

I was a little shocked since I did not know he had been married before. He then explained, without my prompting, that the “ex” was actually still his wife since they had been married for seven years and only separated for two.

He then proceeded to tell me that she already found a new boyfriend, that she had most likely cheated on him before they were separated, and that he couldn’t believe she had done this to him because they had a daughter together. I did not know the daughter part either, but at this point I had already give up on this date.

He then called his ex-wife every four-letter word I know of, and some I hadn’t heard before. He kept running his fingers through his hair and talking quickly, and he seemed to get more and more agitated as he talked about her. He never asked me a single question about myself!

I made up an excuse to leave after about 30 minutes, and he insisted on walking me home. It was getting dark, so I agreed. For the entire 15-minute walk, he talked about his salary, repeating over and over: “you don’t want to even know how much I bring in.” And I really didn’t want to know, so I stayed silent.

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” he said. “It’s more money than you have ever seen in your life.”

Finally, acting exasperated as if I had been trying to get him to reveal his income, he told me that he makes $400,000 a year. I doubted this, but stayed silent. I don’t think I said a single word during the entire walk.

When we reached my house, he leaned in to kiss me, and I ran into the house before he could make contact. I ran upstairs to peek through a window to make sure he sauntered away.

Like it or not, wedding season is here. The ritual can be lots of fun, especially when you are genuinely close to the couple tying the knot, but many times the months leading up to a wedding can be painful, especially if your friend is a Bridezilla-in-training and you have to hear the proposal story again and again (and again). BuzzFeed’s video roundup of 16 Embarrassing Marriage Proposals is sure to make you laugh (and lighten up on the subject). Then check out Passive Aggressive Notes’ hilarious post about Facebook Wedding Drama.

Bad boys, femme fatales and impossible relationships. We’d sworn that we’d quit all that masochistic mental fun and games a while back but if we’re being real about it, we’ll concede that there’s something inexplicably alluring about that charming, intellectual that never calls you back despite all your deep conversations (and other activities), or that stunning girl that turns up at your doorstep at her convenience (and in the wee hours of the morning) and that on-off relationship that’s punctuated with addictive drama.

Cristina Nehring’s new treatise, A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-first Century has, well, vindicated our difficult love obsession. She argues that in the quest for picture-perfect relationships, crazy passion and all it inspires has been sacrificed.

“We inhabit a world in which every aspect of romance from meeting to mating has been streamlined, safety-checked and emptied of spiritual consequence … Romance in our day is a poor and shrunken thing.”

Nehring calls for throwing caution to the gusting wind  - and covers celebration of failure, feminism’s fault for the passion deficit and other sexy/buzz kill areas. We’re looking forward to reading the tome but even reviews have got us hot under the collar. When we read the first lines of the NYT book review – “For most of us love is largely a matter of shared mortgage payments, evenings curled up on the couch in front of a video, or maybe a night in a hotel for an anniversary” – we thought : really? Then we read and kinda agreed with Amanda Fortini’s central take in her Salon piece that our contemporary ideas of all-consuming ardor are perfectly in place:

“…most people long to experience love, especially love of the wildest, most complicated sort. And I would venture to guess that many have — romance born of mischief, with a co-worker, perhaps, or a professor or student; obsessive love characterized by vigilant waiting for calls and e-mails, or a humiliating inability to stop calling even after the relationship is broken. Most of us have not consciously or categorically banished passionate love from our lives, we just can’t seem to make it fit…One of the reasons…may be that we can’t seem to afford it economically or temporally.”

We also perused (and giggled a bit) Ross Douthat’s NYT Op-Ed, which reckons that mad love is well and thriving – except amongst the members of the chattering classes. Enough of other people’s thoughts, what are yours? Tell us below!

Summer is officially here and what is it about the heat that makes us want to date more? Perhaps it’s those warm nights or days at the beach wearing close to nothing that’s getting us all hot and bothered. Or maybe we’ve just seen Grease one too many times. From festivals, weddings and BBQ’s to boating, fireworks and outdoor screenings, it seems that the warmer months make us more social — and in turn more likely to look for love. To help get you in the mood, Glamour has compiled a list of romantic beach reads.  And The Hypnotic Love Coach Debra Berndt has a few tips on how to keep your summer romance alive so that it doesn’t expire come fall.

What was your best summer date, fling or love story?

I experienced my Very Worst Date a few years ago, after some of my gal pals conspired to set me up with a guy they knew. He seemed like an all-around nice, even-keel, normal guy, and we went on several dates, usually just having dinner or catching a movie together. It was incredibly laid-back.

After a month or so, I invited him to come as my plus-one to a wedding reception. On the way there, he confessed he was a little nervous about being in a room full of strangers. I assured him that he’d be fine but he insisted that he was really anxious, and made noises about not wanting to go. I made the mistake of dismissing this as butterflies and we went, anyway.

As soon as we got there, he morphed into this incredibly rude, awkward stranger, and when he wasn’t glued to my side and completely silent, he kept cracking really inappropriate jokes about other people’s clothes, hair and mannerisms. When the food arrived, he practically inhaled his first course salad, only pausing in his frantic chewing to chug his wine. Before anyone at our table could really register what was going on with him, he announced that he felt sick, leaned forward, and threw up all over the tablecloth. Almost the entire room noticed, and those that didn’t certainly noticed when he went running to the bathroom!

After he’d cleaned up (and the waiters had stripped our table, much to the annoyance of those we were sitting with), he insisted that I immediately drive him home. The whole drive, he complained that he’d warned me and that it was unforgivable I’d still “forced” him to go to the reception when he’d been so incredibly nervous. Then, as icing on the cake, he demanded that I come in and spend the rest of the evening with him at his place, because he was going to be lonely and it’d been “my fault” he’d gotten sick in the first place!

Needless to say, I went back to the reception, and I’m still not sure I’ve forgiven the friends who set me up with him.

Last month, Orange County, California residents Chloe and Matthew were supposed to walk down the aisle. Instead, the wedding was postponed because they are engaged in the battle of a lifetime. Matthew was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 2007, endured 16 months of chemotherapy, overcoming one complication after another and ultimately reached remission. But six months later, Matthew relapsed and he is now in desperate need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to save his life.

But by his side, always, is Chloe. Whether talking about the Jon and Kate drama, who gets traded from the Lakers next season or sharing their love of food, these two overachievers (he’s a UCLA grad and distance cyclist who was attending pharmacy school at the time of diagnosis; she’s a talented lawyer) simply love being together. “I love his tenacious spirit, his unrelentless kindness and ability to make me laugh until I cry, the way he loves his family — and me — unconditionally, the way he plays and connects with every kid as if they were his own, his sharp wit and intelligence and much more,” says Chloe. “He is the best thing that has happened to me and I am forever lucky to have met him, to love him and to be his wife in sickness and in health.” 

From now through June 22, you can join the Be the Match Registry for free, and possibly save a life.  The effort hopes to bring 46,000 people to the registry in just two weeks. One of them could be the person who will save Matthew’s life.

Remember the date night the Obamas had a few weeks back in Manhattan? Well, according to the New York Times, the First Couple has caused a stir with women who wish their husbands would would be romantic like our President. Even with the economic crisis, dealing with two ongoing wars and raising two girls, Barack always puts daily “Michelle time” on his schedule.

“I’m jealous,” said Emily Giffin, the Atlanta-based writer of Love the One You’re With and other chick-lit novels. Home stats: married seven years to a corporate executive, three children under six.

Last date with husband? She’s thinking, she mutters. “We don’t have a date night, I have to say,” Ms. Giffin said. A lame excuse? Her husband’s beloved Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Stanley Cup finals. “But I flew to New York alone and went out with my friends while he stayed home with the kids,” she said. “Does that count?” 

Most of us don’t have private planes to whisk our sweethearts away for a Friday night date, but we think making a fuss over your partner (male or female) once in awhile can only do good. And why not take a cue from the President and First Lady? They genuinely seem to adore each other and that’s what counts.

Our current Great Recession is getting tougher every day. Could dating, em, rich be the way out? We went to Tatiana Boncompagni, a journalist and author who’s specialized in chronicling the ways of the rich and aspiring, for advice on following the money. While researching her second novel, Hedge Fund Wives, she took a lot of HFWs to lunch and asked them all sorts of prying questions, including how to successfully date (even in this economy!) a hedge funder/banker/financier for that Happily-Ever-Harry-Winston-after.

Here’s what Tatiana, who’s happily married, gleaned tips-wise: 

1. Pretend not to care about money, but look like you’ve got plenty of it. (No matter how bad things get, he still doesn’t want to date a girl with chipped nails, frizzy hair and overgrown eyebrows.)

2. Cook for him. (Broiling a steak is surprisingly easy, ladies.)

3. If you happen to make more money than him, don’t rub it in his face. (And don’t tell your friends, who will gladly do it for you.)

4. Try not to laugh when he starts crying at the ATM.

5. Knowing how to give a great blow job works in any economy.

And Tatiana had a few more words of wisdom to add to this list: 

“If you follow these simple rules you may just be able to survive the recession with your relationship intact. But might I suggest that any of you eager readers out there take a second or two to ask yourself: Is it really worth it? Consider the opportunity costs—i.e. the hotties you could be dating—and the costs (all the upkeep and ego stroking!) versus benefits (that diamond engagement ring is getting smaller by the day…) and come to your own conclusion.”

On the heels of Elizabeth Edwards’ tell-all interview with Oprah, where she stated that it “wouldn’t matter” if John Edwards fathered a child with the other woman (we beg to differ), cheating has been on everyone’s brain. The Stage 4 breast cancer fighter said, “He made this one mistake, so do I throw out all the good stuff and say, ‘That doesn’t matter, only this matters?’” Tough call. Clearly every woman or man handles cheating differently, whether it’s a one-time indiscretion, an emotional affair or a full-blown relationship. Does John Edwards feel bad that his wife is the one answering and addressing questions for his mistakes? Em & Lo note that researchers studying cheating assumed that men would feel guiltier about emotional infidelity while women would feel guiltier about sexual infidelity. However, the research showed the exact opposite — you feel guilty about the thing that would hurt you the most. It’s a subject that everyone has their own opinions on, but  judging by the ways the ladies of The View handled Ashley Madison ceo and cheating profiteer Noel Biderman, we’re guessing they’re not into the whole “bit on the side” thing that his site promotes.