360) Start each morning with a twenty-second kiss—no exceptions!
361) Don’t fall into the “sex without kisses” trap. Make kissing part of your sexual routine.
362) Book a hotel room for one night, even if the hotel is located right in your home town. Driving someone else for the night and ordering room service will relax you both and inject some excitement into your ordinary daily routine.
363) Follow your instincts. If you’re driving down the highway at night and you both start feeling a little amorous, pull off the road into a rest stop and get busy in the backseat.
364) Decide to have a “naked” day where you do all your daily errands around the house in the buff. Chances are, you won’t get very many of those errands done!
365) If you both just don’t feel like cooking, don’t go through the motions of making a home-cooked meal. Order pizza or bring home Chinese takeout and sip some beers.
366) Don’t feel that every single sexual encounter has to be long, and romantic. Spicing things up with a quickie every now and then is the key to keeping your sex life exciting and variable.
367) You don’t have to have sex in the bedroom! Experiment with new locations. She’ll love the change of scenery.
368) If you’re in the habit of eating dinner out of Tupperware standing over the kitchen counter, change things up by having a formal dinner, even if you’re only serving leftovers! Light candles, set out the good china, use nice silverware and linen napkins—the whole nine yards.
369) Don’t buy household appliances for her birthday—unless she really wants them. Surprise her with thoughtful gifts like a certificate to a day spa or a luxurious present she will treasure for a long, long time, like a cashmere blanket. These gifts show her that you think it is important for her to pamper herself, just the way she has taken care of you.
370) Don’t get locked into the habit of having sex at the same time every time you do it. If you’re used to making love after dinner, try having a sexy encounter in the middle of a lazy Sunday afternoon.
371) Show her that you respect her emotions and pay attention to her feelings. If she is aggravated over something or is visibly upset, don’t ignore those emotions, even though you may want to. Approach her and ask if she wants to talk to you about what is bothering her.
372) If she calls and says she’s going to be late for dinner, why not surprise her by having a meal ready for her by the time she gets home? You can either order takeout and put it out on nice plates or else cook a nice homey meal.
373) Be considerate of her time. Don’t be late without calling, and if you’ve set aside time for a special date, don’t break that commitment if you can help it.
374) Ask your wife where she fantasizes about vacationing, and for your next anniversary, plan a trip there.
375) Too often, married couples stop laughing with each other as much as they used to. So bring the fun into your marriage in silly ways. Go to a goofball comedy movie. Buy tickets to the circus and buy cotton candy, then feed it to your wife. Play Twister or get out a water slide and set it up in your backyard. Act like a kid again, and you’ll rekindle all that energy and laughter you used to have in your marriage.
376) Don’t wait for her to ask for your help. Most women are very good at multitasking and also shoulder a huge portion of the burden when it comes to the household. They can take on a lot of responsibility and get it all done without complaining outright, while men (sorry guys, but it’s true!) tend to be more single-minded and can’t juggle as many tasks at once. Well, make her life a little easier if you can by pitching in, even a little. Do it before she asks and she’ll be that much more appreciate and thrilled by your actions. She’ll also be much more likely to have more free time to spend with you.
377) Get the TV out of the bedroom. A TV can be deadly to a hot sex life and can get in the way of good conversation, too. If you have a TV, keep it in the living room or another public part of the house.
378) Get genuinely interested in your wife’s hobbies and ask her if you can get involved in some of them. If she loves art, make a date with her to visit a local studio or art gallery. If she loves jogging, make it a morning ritual to go running with her. Show her that you are deeply interested in the things she loves to do.
379) If you and your wife have kids or you’re both extremely busy, she may be feeling frustrated about not having enough time to spend on herself. If this is true, one of the nicest things you can do for her is to give her the gift of time. Take the kids away for a day or give her a weekend away at a nearby hotel. Even something as simple as offering to take care of things at home while she goes to get her hair done can show her how much you care about her.
380) Try to avoid activities that involve both you being passive and facing in the same direction. For example, watching TV requires you to sit side by side, not facing one another, and doesn’t require any activity whatsoever. That means there’s no real opportunity for serious connection to take place. To keep your relationship interesting, take it out of the house and do activities that you can really engage in together. Play tennis or go bike-riding, perhaps.
381) Both you and she need to maintain strong friendships outside the marriage. Having separate friends and separate interests helps you both retain a sense of self, and that individuality can really spark up your marriage.
382) When you come home at the end of the day, set aside time—at least ten minutes if not longer—to just talk to each other and reconnect. If you’re tired and just want to relax, why not pour two glasses of wine and sit out on the porch or in your living room chatting instead of turning on the TV and zoning out?
383) Don’t expect her to do all the housework. So many women feel taken advantage of because of the societal bias that says women should do the laundry, wash the dishes, wash the floors, etc. Help her out with the chores, guys—she’ll really notice this one!
384) If you have shared interests, use that to your advantage and make common activities out of them. For instance, if you’re both supporting the same political candidate, get involved in his campaign. You can go around your town knocking on doors together, for example. The shared challenge you both face will bring y you together.
385) Understand that women are far more likely than men to feel responsible for the needs of everyone around them, from you to the kids to her parents to her work colleagues to her friends. Pitch in and help with the children as much as you can. Offer to help her out if she appears stressed out.
386) Set up a weekly date night when the two of you can spend some quality time together, no fail, no excuses. Don’t schedule work appointments for this time, and don’t score tickets to the game with your buddies. Keep this time “sacred” and pick a new and fun date each week. This means you and she will always have something fun to look forward to.
387) Get in touch with your senses by taking cooking classes together or going to a wine-tasting.
388) Buy new sheets to make things more interesting in the bedroom. Then spoon her or cuddle her as you are both drifting off to sleep.
389) No matter what else is going on in your life, spend time alone with each other whenever you can, and don’t forget to tell her that you love her.