you've got a secret smile, and you use it only for me.

I think most women (whether they admit it or not) have this basic instinct/desire within them. We want to please the men we're after - while we're being pursued, dating, engaged and even long after we've been married for years and years. We have a strong desire and urge to make you happy. The fact that we have the ability to make you, our men, proud to call us yours is...well...a really good feeling! Now since I obviously do not have the experience of marriage to speak upon - I'm going to narrow this down to something we can deal with and get chiseled into our brains while we are dating. I warn you, it will sound vain. Perhaps even shallow. Please trust me when I say there is much more to this topic than just conceit- and I could go on about it and all it's facets for a while, so I will try to keep it to the point.

The topic: Why ladies want to look nice, and how important it is that you, as men, vocalize when you notice! This is especially important and FAR less risky for you if you are in a relationship - in fact...it's mandatory!

Please tell your special lady that she is beautiful, and I recommend you do it often. I don't know if you know this, but if you have a planned date - she will purposefully spend time getting ready....not for the date. It's all for you, baby. She wants to look nice for you, not to impress people she doesn't know in the restaurant, or passers-by on the sidewalk, or even the waiter you're jealous of because HE notices you have a gorgeous girlfriend. Frankly - if the waiter or some schmuck in the parking lot makes it obvious he's noticed how pretty we are...and you don't say anything the whole night....you've ruined a perfectly good date night.

The more you tell her that she's beautiful, that she looks great in the color ____, or you love her hair like that, the more confident in the relationship she will be. Can I side-step the topic here for a quick interjection? -Confidence does wonders in relationships, for both genders. Seeing a relationship that both people are confident in themselves, and each other - you might as well just call the kettle black. I promise fewer pointless nights wasted on a poor guy trying to figure out why his girlfriend is upset but says nothing is wrong. It's either A) she spent time and energy trying to look nice for you, and you didn't even take a second glance or say a peep. B) you were giving more attention to another girl, or were more interested in your computer/tv screen. 86.7% of the time...that was probably where you went awry. The other percent I'm not really sure...she probably just had a fluke case of Girl Brain.

A shout out to the single guys, if a girl out there in your social realm has an interest in you - my guess is she's making sure she looks nice if she knows she's going to see you. The risk would be great to go around telling every dressed up girl she looks lovely tonight; and to be honest if I told you to do that...that would probably be really bad advice. So don't do that. However, if your interested in a girl it wouldn't hurt to give her a signal by paying her some sort of compliment.

I know that this has been my experience and observation, but feel free to comment and agree/disagree/offer advice!

It's really pretty simplistic. Just tell her she's pretty for crying out loud! She won't beat you up or slap you - unless you're a smarmy jerk whose out buying ladies drinks at tacky bars- but I don't think those guys are reading this blog.