Chick Flicks for Your Man

As girls it is in our DNA to love a good chick flick. I used to swear I didn't care for girly movies for a few years, but sometimes you just need a little romantic comedy in your life. You tend to tone down the sappy love movies when you get in a relationship. Let's face it, your man does not want to stay home and watch Fried Green Tomatoes or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Never fear! There is some common ground. Plan a movie night with one of these movies, wine for you, beer for him, a fabulous dessert, and he will be just as enthralled as you are. Then you can gush with your girlfriends about how your amazing man took you to see that new Channing Tatum love story without being tricked into thinking it was G.I. Joe 3.

Black Swan
They call it a sexy for a reason. This isn't just another ballet movie. This intense psychological thriller has everything a man could want. A captivating plot line, beautiful characters, and a dark scary element. Oh yeah.... and Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman have a lesbian sex scene. He will be raving for days, and telling all his buddies they HAVE to see it.

No Strings Attached
Other than the obvious, Natalie Portman half naked again, this movie was enjoyable for both men and women. Men have always been drawn to the idea of casual emotionless sex, and this movie gives it to them. So many great quoteable lines, which you know your man will incorporate into his everyday life. "you can't fight me, you fight like a hamster" will come out of his mouth at some point in the week after you watch it. In the end, women get what they all want, a commitment.

Friends with Benefits
The sexier version of No Strings Attached. Lord knows in the looks department that Mila Kunis and JT beat out Ashton and Natalie any day. Plus, FwB's gay best friend is 10 times better, Woody Harrelson gets 2 thumbs up for his HILARIOUS role in this movie. Your man gets to see a lot more nakedness, the characters are a little more blunt and witty, and JT will have Kris Kross stuck in your head for days. In return, you get 1.5 hours of Justin Timberlake amazingness.

Valentine's Day
Writer for Louisville Magazine Josh Moss says it best when trying to describe the plot for this movie:   

Julia Roberts' niece is dating a guy who plays guitar in the nude, who is friends with the wolf from "Twilight," who dates Taylor Swift, who stands in an elevator with a giant teddy bear and Jennifer Garner, who has a thing for one of the "Grey's Anatomy" doctors, who buys flowers from Ashton Kutcher, who proposes to Jessica Alba and is best friends with George Lopez, who gets in a fender-bender with another "Grey's Anatomy" doctor, who's the Brett Favre-like client of publicist Jessica Biel, who might have a thing for Kathy Bates' employee Jamie Foxx, who is a TV reporter who wants to interview the Favre-like client of Biel and sport's agent Queen Latifah, who bosses around employee/"phone-sex performer" Anne Hathaway, who dates Hoosier Topher Grace, who meets Shirley MacLaine's husband.

Whew. 

Also, Julia Roberts sits on an airplane next to the guy with great hair from "The Hangover."

Men like this movie for the comedy, and the ADHD plot line. Trust me.

New Year's Eve
Critics may have ripped this movie apart, but if you got your man to watch Valentine's Day, then he will watch this one too. Half of the V Day cast returns, along with some new eye candy, in the same ADHD plot line with a different holiday. Sadly, it's witty, enthralling, and you and your man might both shed a few tears. Michelle Pfeiffer is absolutely unrecognizable in this movie. Amazing actress.
Oh... and Zac Efron. He's hot.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Matthew McConaughey is every mans dream in this movie. He plays this middle aged playboy who seemingly sleeps with every hot woman in the entire city. Every man wants to grow up to be his character. He also has the same relationship beliefs that any single man has, and some of those in a relationship STILL have. If your relationship is on rocky grounds, don't watch this movie. You will want to do more than slap your man when he is cheering on McConaughey's philandering. Luckily for Joe.... he just got slapped. Eventually he falls into the role of every man in a romantic comedy, sees the light, and settles down with the woman of his dreams. The men will love it and so will you, even if he's sleeping on the couch afterwards.

The Ugly Truth
This movie is full of everything a man wants you to know about dating. He will agree with Gerard Butler, while you agree with Katherine Heigl. It is the typical plot of feminist woman against chauvinistic man. Men will love Butler's one liners, typical male psychology, and beautiful women. Most men (with the exception of mine) find Heigl sexy and will love her quirky attitude. That said, it really is a guys version of a romantic comedy.  It shows the difference between what men and women want in a mate. Men want the librarian stripper who dresses sexy, laughs at all his jokes, and never criticizes him; while women want a sensitive, mature, successful partner. In the end the message is that women should play to the male fantasy and leave men to be themselves, which your man will wholeheartedly agree with. Just like Ghosts of Girlfriends past.... be ready to slap him while he is having such a great time loving the movie!

The Proposal
While this has typical romantic comedy written all over it, your man will sit through it for a few reasons. His man crush on Ryan Reynolds, Betty White is flipping hilarious, all men wish they had a sexy dominating female boss to sleep with, and all men find Sandra Bullock sexy.... no matter how old she is. So while you enjoy the romance  in this movie, your man will be laughing and enjoying the scenery. He won't mind one little bit.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
The epitome of Battle of the Sexes comedy. Few people are funnier than Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, so when you put them together you are bound to get laughs. Men will sympathize with McConaughey because Kate Hudson does all the things that we do to drive them crazy. It has both laugh out loud and stunned silence humor. Be prepared for your man to look at you with that "OMG you totally do that" look at least once in this movie. Hudson's over the top crazy will keep him laughing through the whole movie, and her looks will keep his eyes glued to the screen.

Definitely, Maybe
This movie is How I Met Your Mother, just in a condensed 2 hour version. What man doesn't like HIMYM? Guys will be so enthralled with figuring out who the mother is in this movie that time will fly by. Be prepared for him to figure out the mom at least 3 times in this movie. This means you will have to rewind it at least 3 times to not miss key plot points while he explains why he is so obviously right this time. His thought process will be entertaining however, so make sure you just pause the movie and chuckle while he gets so into a 'chick flick'. While his brain is working 100mph, you can enjoy Ryan Reynolds with only a few interruptions. Afterwords you can get in another laugh while your man discusses why the mom should have been so and so instead.

So rent one of these movies, cuddle up under a blanket, and soon your man will be letting you pick the movies just so he can watch some love stories and blame it on "my girlfriend made me watch it".

You're Welcome.

So. What. If.

"'What' and ‘if’ two words as nonthreatening
as words come. But put
them together side-by-side and they
have the power to haunt you for the
rest of your life: ‘What if?'..."

-Letters to Juliet


Sitting the other day watching this movie with my best friend, and the letter that the main character writes to Claire really hit home. (if you haven't seen the movie, rent it. NOW) It made me think about, WHAT IF. Anyone who knows me, knows that in the love department I have endured a lot of tragedy to get to a place of peace. Starting off with my high school relationship which was always just short of enough. I wasn't happy enough, satisfied enough, or perfect enough to make it last. Bless his heart for putting me out of my misery since I was too stubborn and too worried about having a perfect life to end it all myself.

From that break up I became a mess. A home became just a house I didn't want to see anymore. I lost friends, had a hard time with my family, and lost myself along the way. Then came the joy and heartache of trying to find myself. I ended up filling the void in my heart with all the wrong people. The bad boys, the stupid boys, and then the boys that should have stayed just my best friends. I had fun, I made mistakes, and I learned there is much more to life than being a sweet little housewife. I found my style, my drive, and my ambition all over again.

Then came a series of events that blew my world away. I lost someone I loved so dearly in such a tragic way it still doesn't feel real to me. I still expect to see him one day. Walking down the path in the park we used to play in, sitting on the curb of the parking lot we used to talk for hours on. He still feels real. After that I submerged myself into party upon party, flirtatious relationship after flirtatious relationship, but the hole remained the same.

Then I met someone. He was kind, and fun, and made me want to stay home and watch movies more than go out and act crazy. He was like this magnetic force for me. Brought me back to earth, life, and reality. I spent about 6 months getting to know him and his friends and family, but something was off. The whole time he swore he didn't want to settle down, didn't want a relationship. Here I was, the girl scared to ask. He made me happy, what if asking him to commit drove him away. What if he LEFT me too. We were always together, we both knew we were the only ones in each others lives. We just wouldn't say it. Looking back I don't understand why. We were happy, and functional, and never really fought. Most people would have thought we were perfect for each other. My friends loved him, I adored his family, everything should have been just fine.


We were happy, he was good to me, made me feel beautiful again, made me want to work on myself and my life. Because of him I changed. Needless to say about 2 and a half years ago all of that changed because I met Joe. Talk about a whirlwind. For the first few months I tried to handle both. I told myself that if he wouldn't commit to me I didn't owe him an explanation for dating Joe. I would go out with Joe on a Friday and stay home with him on Saturday. I thought I was living the life. 

All that changed when I realized one night that I was falling for Joe, that I didn't call the other guy as much, he was the one always calling me. I was making excuses. He knew I was dating someone else. He didn't want to be in a relationship with me remember? So that makes it all just fine in my head. I finally stop talking to him all together about 2 months into my relationship with Joe. One night, Joe and I have about the only fight we have ever had in our relationship. February I think. I need to get away. I call up some old girlfriends, and we are going out. In a moment of weakness I call him too. He always knew what to say, how to make me feel good.  We had a blast, drank a little too much, and went back to my house. 

I know what you are thinking... nothing happened. I actually ended up crying my eyes out  in his lap because I knew that no matter how good he was to me I wasn't going to ever be with him again. I was fighting with Joe, but that didn't change the fact that I loved Joe, we may not have said it for another 2 years, but I did. I knew I did.  He was perfect. He let me cry about it, didn't get angry with me. (or if he did he didn't say so)  We didn't talk about it again. In fact other than a little "hey how are you" we didn't talk for months. No fighting, no big break up, we just knew it was over.

I had the same problems with Joe, everyone knows that he didn't want to commit, didn't want to be in a relationship. It was frustrating to say the least. One day at my weakest point I told the other guy how I didn't understand how no one wanted to TRULY be with me. I heard the words I wanted to hear, "I should have when I had the chance" For 5 seconds I thought... What if....

Of course I didn't say anything, didn't change my mind. I just remembered thinking What If last time and not acting on it. He made me realize that I needed to stand up for what I wanted. I eventually stood up to Joe one too many times and he finally came around and realized that I wasn't going anywhere. I had the commitment I longed for.

I'm happy, I have a wonderful life, and I am lucky to live the life that I live. I have moved on from him, but the other day I noticed a picture of him, with this pretty girl. She looks like she's wonderful. Has great values, naturally beautiful, and a girl I'm sure his whole family loves. He's "In a Relationship" with her. For a second you feel a little shock, a little bit of pain, and a little insecurity. But those 2 words didn't pop into my head. I didn't think What If... I thought SO what, if. So what, if he committed to her and not me. Yes, it stings, but it doesn't devalue our feelings, it doesn't cheapen our friendship. So what, if he finally grew up and it wasn't with me. I'm happy for him, I wish him all the best things in the whole world. He was there for me when no one else really cared. So what, if he found someone again. 3 years later, he deserves it. So what. Doesn't mean it doesn't sting a little. But so what. If it was my place to be beside him, I wouldn't be beside the wonderful amazing man that I am beside today. 

There are a million "What Ifs" in life, but if you dwell on the what if and not the what is, you will never be truly happy. "What if" is definitely not better than what is. The world doesn't revolve around if. So turn your what ifs into what is. If it's important, fight for it. If it isn't, then there is obviously something better in store for you down the road.