If you are a gay single person who is seeking marriage and a family of your own, researchers from the online dating site Chemistry say that you might have to move or at least travel to another state or city where there are more like-minded gay singles that share your interests. In order to underscore that point, the team at Chemistry recently published a list of the top 10 U.S. cities where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender singles (LGBT) are looking for marriage and a family. The group’s findings were based on over 10 million survey responses and personality tests that showed traditional family values are still very strong in the Southern states of the U.S.

Surprisingly, many of the top cities on the list are not what most people would expect. Although some of this nation’s largest urban centers like New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are well known for their large populations of gay people, the number one city for gays looking for permanent partners and families on the Chemistry list turned out to be a very unlikely place; Richmond, Virginia. Liberal and open-minded New York City on the other hand, did not even rank in the top 10 at all. Other surprises on the Chemistry list included Baltimore, Maryland in second place and Hartford, Connecticut in fifth place.

Chemistry’s Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Helen Fisher noted that “The brain circuits for romantic love and deep attachment to a partner lie way below the thinking cortex, in survival pathways that evolved millions of years ago. Gays and lesbians inherited these brain circuits just like the rest of us. So their desire to make a bond and rear young together is natural.”

Dr. Fisher also noted that the gays and lesbians in the top 10 cities have an extra predisposition in that most of them are also what the doctor calls “Negotiators.” Fisher went on to state that Negotiators are men and women particularly expressive of the estrogen system in the brain. The Doctor thinks Negotiators tend to be empathetic, linguistically skilled, and adept at handling people and nurturing. She also said this accounts for why so many will naturally want to marry and raise a family.

Top cities for LGBT singles to get married and raise a family:

1. Richmond, VA
2. Baltimore, MD
3. Los Angeles, CA
4. Rochester, NY
5. Hartford, CT
6. Las Vegas, NV
7. Pittsburgh, PA
8. Seattle, WA
9. San Francisco, CA
10. Washington, DC

Dating Over 50

Many singles over the age of 50 have a tendency to hesitate to get back into the dating game because they feel the dating scene has changed so dramatically in this age of modern technology and the rise of online dating is something they just are not familiar with. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that of the nearly 100 million Americans who are now 45 or older, almost 40 percent are currently available singles.

The over 50 dating game has never been more interesting and challenging than it is today simply because there are more players than ever before due to higher divorce rates and longer life spans. The reality is that there are now more single Americans than at any other time in history.

Despite the fact that our culture places on a heavy emphasis on being young and looking young, there is nothing that says single seniors can’t act young, even if they are not. When you are over 50 you should have mastered a few aspects of your life by now, even if it is only the wisdom to know that not every dating experience is a life or death affair. You should have gained enough perspective to have an edge on maturity and personal development, and those are both good things when it comes to dating.

One thing singles over 50 can do to get back into the dating game is to search online for books, CDs, coaches, courses and the many other resources available as you venture onto the dating scene. The rise of online dating sites, such as SeniorFriendFinder, may throw some seniors off a bit when they realize the old dating ways they were used to are not viable anymore, but the good news is that most of the good online dating sites allows seniors to hook up with like-minded seniors in their areas quite quickly and easily these days. It’s a fact of modern life that there is really no better way for a single over 50 to meet potential partners than on the Internet today.

According to data from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), a study of singles over the age of 55 said “Having someone to talk to or do things with” is the most important reason for dating. The AARP also asked both men and women in their 50’s what their top complaints about senior dating were and found that the men said:

Dating partners with a lot of baggage – 42%.
Women who become extremely difficult to get along with after a few dates – 28%.
Women who want to get serious too fast – 18%.

When the group of over 50 women were asked the same question the responses were:

Dating partners with a lot of baggage – 35%.
Not having a clue where to meet men and meeting too few new men – 23%.
Overeager men who want to get serious too fast – 21%.

Despite the complaints, it appears the phenomenon of online dating does offer singles over 50 the best way to find a relationship worth keeping today. The older generation is fully represented online and studies have found that nearly three quarters of adults between the ages of 50-64 now use the Internet regularly. Data from the Nielsen ratings firm backs this up with the finding that computer users aged 55+ now account for 22% of all traffic to on-line personal sites, and that the 50+ segment is the fastest growing group of subscribers on the most popular on-line dating sites. Overall, it is estimated that some 15 million Internet users have pursued their romantic interests successfully on-line in the U.S. and there is no reason that singles over 50 should be left out of the game. If you’re over 50 and looking for a relationship today, going online is simply the best and easiest way to accomplish your goal.

Call it what you will but SeekingArrangements.com, launched in 2005, is a straightforward way to meet people who either want a fling, a relationship or a future spouse in a mutually beneficial relationship. For instance, you can join as a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Mommy if you are looking to meet young attractive ambitious men or women. You can also sign up as Sugar Baby if you are a young adult looking to date older and more established men and women that will spoil you. There is nothing wrong with knowing exactly what you want and using a service to help you meet your goals. Most people love to be wined and dined and SeekingArrangement.com just makes it easy to do so. To be a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Mommy, you just need to be very generous; you don’t have to be a millionaire.

Similar to most dating sites, there is a free membership and easy to setup. Once you ensure your profile is complete and a photo included, you will be approved.

Sugar Babies – All the website features are completely free for Sugar Babies
Sugar Daddy and Sugar Mommy – Are able to access the free features and send up to 10 emails for free. More features are available in the upgraded versions. The paid versions included priority placement in search results.

SeekingArrangement.com prides itself on ethical practices so there are no false profiles and billing is not automatic. There are members across the world and SeekingArrangement.com will soon be translated in other languages in addition to English. It’s a reputable website that has been featured in prominent media such as Dr. Phil and New York Times.

With the advent of the internet, it’s become much more accessible to connect with people of similar interests to you. What was once a taboo subject; the swinger lifestyle is now supported publically and embraced by dating sites. SwingLifeStyle.com is one of those sites that makes it simple for you to connect to other married couples or singles near you. The profiles are diverse so you’ll be able to find your preference whether it’s ethnicity, age or lifestyle.

With thousands of real profiles across the United States on SwingLifeStyle, you’ll be able to select people with similar interests and goals in married dating whether it’s something on someone’s bucket list or something they have always participated in with their spouse. There are also chat rooms , forums and groups that help you connect. The easy to user interface allows you to update your profile, pictures, security settings and your membership.

It is free to sign up for the basic membership. You can also upgrade to a paid membership which, gives you additional features. You can also select to be featured on the login page that includes a picture and short description about yourself. The SwingLifeStyle.com site also has sex stories and offers sex toys at a discount price.

Costs
There are several options for members from a monthly fee of $14.95 to a one-time payment of $169. Given the nature of the site, this may be worthwhile in the long term versus more conventional dating sites that you leave once you’ve met someone.

AfricaBeauties.com is a highly reputable international dating site that started as a family owned business in 2001. The network has thousands of beautiful and sophisticated African women waiting to find their ideal match.

This online dating site works a little differently than others and has a variety of services.

Correspondence
If you find someone that interests you, you can submit the letter through AfricanBeauties.com as they work with local agencies in Africa where women are interested in dating overseas. You can also send a photo along with your correspondence.

Cost: You purchase a minimum of 20 credits, which is $15.99 or buy in bulk with a 1000 credits at $399. Our recommendation would be to start small to ensure this is the right service for you. Each letter, both sending and receiving, is 10 credits.

Live Chat
If you prefer to live chat, this service is also available for 1 credit a minute.

Phone Translation Service
You can also chat with the African lady of your choice. Simply call the 1-800 toll free number and give them the ID of the woman you are interested in talking with. They offer translators for women that do not speak English.

Cost: Varies depending on the amount of time you talk. You are charged in initial fee of $28.75 for the minimum call of 5 minutes.

Flowers, Presents and Virtual Gifts
AfricaBeauties.com now offers the service of sending flowers, presents and virtual gifts to your lady of choice.

Cost: Price varies

Dating an African Lady
Once you want to meet the lady you’re interested in, you must have a clean record and have communicated through email at least 5 times. Once you meet these simple criteria, you can then submit a form for Dating a Lady.

Cost: The meeting arrangement is $70, which includes an interpreter for 90 minutes.

Have you always been attracted to a man in a uniform or can you only relate to other people that are in the military as well? Here’s the perfect military dating website for you. CupidMilitary.com is both for single military men and women as well as civilians who are interesting in dating someone single in the military.

You can sign up free at CupidMilitary.com. It just takes minutes to create your profile and allows you to select the division of the military you are in so you can narrow down on your searches.

Membership Levels
The free membership allows you to add up to five profile pictures, show interests in others and contact paying members as well. The standard or free membership is a great way to test MilitaryCupid.com before becoming a paid member. The paid membership offers two levels; Gold and Platinum. Additional benefits for the Gold MiliartyCupid.com membership include search profile results above the free membership, instant messaging, personality profile, allows free members to read your messages. The Platinum level ranks above both the standard and Gold membership and also includes video capabilities helping you narrow down your choices. With the Gold membership, you can contact any member level whereas the other two options you can’t.

The only real limitations with MilitaryCupid.com is it’s a very niche dating site so you don’t have as many members as some other dating sites but you are getting quality members who are interesting in meeting someone in the military.

Costs:
With both the Gold and Platinum memberships, your minimum commitment is one month and costs range from $29.99 to $34.99. If you commit to longer terms such as a 12-month membership the monthly fees go down to $10.00 and $12.50 respectively. You may want to join for one month, see if you like it and then commit to 6 months or a year.

Any single person who wants to attract a new partner in life would do well to employ both positive thinking and the power of positive attraction in their lives today.

Whether you’re currently single by choice or by circumstance, when you want to attract a new significant other into your life it can help to remember that your own attitude can have a powerful effect on anyone you may happen to meet along the way. Everyone you meet can be affected by your thoughts and feelings, as well as through your body language. Just like the Law of Attraction that pulls similar energies together, people can also be put off by negative and unhappy moods and actions. This makes it imperative that singles who would prefer to be doubles keep in mind that most normal people want to be around positive people, and prefer to avoid negative people that may enter their lives. If you’re single, generating a negative vibe is one sure way to remain single.

The power of positive thinking is also a big component of attraction that can draw similar people together and explains why groups of like-minded individuals can usually get more good things accomplished than one individual can. When you are positive, people are instinctively drawn to your energy and subconsciously they will become more likely to agree with you. There is just no getting around the fact that people want to be around you when you are positive, and at the same time they will dislike you and try to avoid you if they sense you are negative.

Being positive can also help you create and bring into your life more real-world positive results through the use of positive affirmation and repetitive positive visualization. This can be accomplished by visualizing a positive mental image of what you want to achieve and the positive outcome you desire. Repetitive positive visualization has been demonstrated to work as repeating the same good thoughts and feelings over and over can actually cause those good things to appear in our lives. Singles who desire a partner in their lives today would do well to heed these realities and knock off any negativity and utilize positive thoughts, feelings and energy to bring someone good into their spheres.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, President Barack Obama leads presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney among voters nationwide with the help of an almost 2-1 advantage among single women. The Quinnipiac survey shows the overall voter support for Obama with 46 percent and Romney with 43 percent. In the category of Single women however, they favor Obama over Romney, 60 percent to 31 percent.

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Hamden, Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute was widely quoted in the media as saying that the president is benefiting from a marriage gap that may be related to social issues. Brown also said unmarried people overall favor Obama 54 percent to 34 percent, while married people support Romney 51 percent to 38 percent. In an e-mail statement that accompanied the poll conducted in early July, Brown said that “Married voters are more likely to focus on the economy and health care, while single voters are more focused on issues such as gay rights and reproductive issues.” He also added that married people tend to be older, more financially secure and more conservative and also include a larger proportion of Republicans and white voters.

These differences in opinion and voter group backing may lay in the fact that Obama, as a Democrat has stepped up his support for gay marriage and says he favors abortion rights. Romney, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and has stated his opposition to abortion during several recent campaign stops. The Quinnipiac poll also revealed that
Romney leads 54 percent to 35 percent among married men, and he has a seven-point advantage among married women. For single men, Obama leads 47 percent to 38 percent. Men as a group overall, support Romney 47 percent to 40 percent; while all women combined support Obama by 51 percent to 39 percent for Romney. Further breakdowns of the polling data also suggest that Romney leads 51 percent to 38 percent among total white voters, and Obama leads by 59 percent to 30 percent among Hispanic voters. The advantage among Hispanic voters could prove to be a critical in the crucial battleground states of Florida, Colorado and Nevada. The poll also shows Obama with almost total support among black voters, pulling in 92 percent compared to Romney’s 2 percent.

The Quinnipiac poll shows that voters are nearly split evenly on which candidate would do a better job dealing with the economy, immigration and health care. Some 56 percent of voters said they believe Obama “cares about their needs,” but the also poll found that most voters disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy with 55 percent disapproving compared to the 40 percent who do approve. Obama’s handling of immigration policy and health care was also viewed mostly negative with 49 percent of the voters disapproving of the job Obama is doing overall. Although the Quinnipiac University poll data is very interesting, there are still many months before the election, and the numbers could easily make big swings in that time.

Just as the recent U.S. Census Bureau’s latest findings have generated much speculation as to the current and future social and financial trends in this nation, Australia also conducts its own official government census that gives interested observers a better look at the problems and solutions facing that nation in the coming decade.

According to the latest census data from down under, it appears that the city life there is highly attractive for singles under age 30, while families with children are flocking to suburbs in record numbers at the same time. Australia’s latest census data shows a distinct trend toward major urban areas full of city dwellers under age 30 who are free of children and wedding rings. At the same time, the Aussie census data also shows a real trend where Australian suburban and country counterparts are twice as likely to be married with a few children. The numbers show that nearly two-thirds of the women in the city of Sydney have never had any children at all, with the most recent numbers rising up to some 45,000 women, a figure that is up a full 10 percent within the past five years.

Looking a bit closer at the numbers from the city of Sydney show that two-thirds of women there have had at least one child compared to the average suburban Sydney family that has 1.9 kids. The census shows that children under 15 years old account for just 7 percent of the central city’s population, compared with the entire greater suburban Sydney area where 20 percent of the population is composed of children. Sydney is also mostly devoid of grandparents too, as people over 60 make up only 9.8 percent of the city’s population, compared to the surrounding suburbs where more than 17 percent of the population is between the ages of 60 and 84.

Sociologists have said they feel the city is now also attracting more young women who would not have children until their early 30s and would have otherwise raised their children outside the city. Some sociologists have noted that inner-city Sydney is not a very child-friendly area because there really isn’t much housing for children there. The census data revealed that only 24 percent of Sydney’s city dwellers are currently married compared to the Sydney suburbs and the rest of the nation where the rate of married couples is closer to 5- percent.

As a result of these census findings, Australians are beginning to think of Sydney’s inner-city area as a “young person’s area” where builders and property developers are designing new, smaller apartments specifically for singles and women without children as over 50 percent of the buyers in the market are currently single women under the age of 30.

The number of couples and single adults who are choosing not to have children is increasing throughout many nations in the industrialized world. Childlessness is steadily becoming more widespread, particularly in English-speaking countries as well as Japan and much of Europe. In the last 20 years, the number of childless women in many countries has nearly doubled.

In Japan, the country’s birth rate has fallen to just 1.39 children per woman, approaching half of the American birth rate of 1.93 children per woman in 2010. Figures from the Japanese government estimate that the low birth rate will have the effect of lowering that nation’s population from 128 million to just 43 million within the next fifty years. The falling birthrate in Japan has been blamed primarily on shifting attitudes toward sex and economic problems, but just because so many Japanese are now childless doesn’t mean the situation has negated the basic human need for love and companionship, as an increasing number of childless couples and single adults are now filling the void in their lives with pets.

While Japan’s birthrate may be dropping, the pet population there is expanding. It appears that since Japanese couples and single adults don’t have children to raise, they are instead lavishing their attention on their animals, and treating the pets as if they were kids. It is not uncommon for Japanese single women to carry small pets with them everywhere they go and pamper them with everything from spa treatments to designer clothing. The trend has been great for the pet industry in a nation where 22 million pets outnumber the country’s 17 million children under age 15. In the dense urban areas like Tokyo where most people live in small apartments, small dogs like miniature dachshunds, poodles, and Chihuahuas are very popular, and nearly all dogs and cats are treated like family members.

Childless Japanese spend so much on their pets now that the country’s pet industry is estimated to be worth nearly $18 billion per year. About half of the money is spent on pet food, but the rest is spent pampering their pets. The Japanese pet owners now regularly buy expensive dog clothing with designer labels like Chanel, Dior, and Gucci, and take them to restaurants that allow pets to sit at the table with their owners where they eat organic meals together. There are yoga classes for dogs and hot-spring resorts where the pets can get swimming lessons, bubble baths, and massages. The obsession doesn’t end when the pets die either, as it can cost $8,000 for a deluxe Buddhist funeral and cremation. What childless Japanese couples and singles may lack in terms of family, they are surely making up for with their devotion to their pets.

Match.com is a well-known singles site that opened in 1995, and today is considered a pioneer in making online dating into the mainstream. Match has grown to be one of the largest and most successful online dating sites for singles and now boasts more than 15 million members with active profiles posted and about one million paying subscribers from more than 246 countries around the world.

Recent research studies on online dating have examined just how effective the online dating website algorithms actually are appear to suggest that romantic relationships started online really don’t reach fruition until two people actually meet face-to-face in person. Realizing this fact, Match has recently announced it will soon take online dating offline as it employs its ‘matching’ software to create a series of 3,000 real-life singles nights events in 40 countries around the world to help more singles get to know each other face-to-face. So far, relationship experts are applauding the decision by Match because they know getting people in a room together is what can push a beginning romantic relationship to the next level, and that Internet dating really doesn’t work very well unless the people can actually meet with each other.

Although online dating has been often touted as the new way everyone would find love in the future, even Match’s President, Mandy Ginsberg admitted that “Online dating has been an effective way to meet, but it’s not always the best way to get to know someone.” Now the website will try to use its computer algorithms to carefully select couples that it hopes will match well in person, and will sort them by age and interests as well. Much like an offline version of the algorithm the site currently uses to suggest dates, the new offline meetings which Match calls “The Stir,” will include many different events to get couples together. Match anticipates that half a million people per year will attend the new events which will include bowling nights, cooking classes, tequila tastings, dance lessons, rock climbing and many other interesting variations on the meet-in-person theme. Match says the events will better address the fundamental pitfalls of a typical night out for single people that can often result in meeting people you don’t really like.

It will take some time to see just how well-received Match’s new “stir” events are, but how you meet someone is usually less important than meeting the right person, and knowing that they might meet someone in person might make single daters feel more inclined to be more open. Overall, the move by Match seems to underscore the fact that there is no substitute for communication in person, and the success or failure of a new relationship depends mainly on the degree of compatibility experienced in that all-important first fact-to-face meeting.

Caliente.com is the site if you are looking for beautiful, sexy Latin women, men or couples. It’s one of the fastest growing online Latin dating sites. This takes the ease of meeting hot Latin women or men in your area. On Caliente.com, there are a lot of local Spanish members ready in your area eager to meet you.

It is 100% free to sign up and when you do that you will be able to enjoy all the features that they offer. You will be able to get that and you will have no problem meeting one in your area in several days. Just upload a flattering and updated photo of yourself, make sure your user profile sounds appealing and specify what you are looking for. Make sure to have a complete and current user profile will help your chances of mingling with people faster.

Benefits:
A lot of times, we know exactly what we want in a person whether it’s a relationship, one night fling or friends with benefits. Caliente.com makes it easy to narrow down what you are looking for whether it’s a sassy Latin woman with specific physical features or a couple you and your girlfriend want to share with. The service only takes seconds to setup and easy to use.

Caliente.com is still growing but we bet you’ll find what you are looking for in days of signing up.

Most people are aware that online dating has become an American success story within the last decade. Although the combined membership of internet-based dating services now exceeds well over 50 million users, online dating has taken some time to ramp up to the point where it has overcome its initial stigma as a less-than-desirable way to meet available singles for romance and more. Online dating is now much more comprehensive and sophisticated than it once was, and now it has finally gained mainstream acceptance in our society.

The days when American singles had to participate in the tired rituals of initiating romantic relationships with introductions through friends, bar encounters, blind dates, and brick and mortar singles clubs are quickly approaching an end. The ability to predict the potential romantic chemistry between people is one of the biggest advantages of online dating. Comparing life styles, interests and habits with online communication before you go out on a date is a huge advantage over the slow and very uncertain methods of meeting people used in the past. Online dating makes a first date far less awkward because the chances are good that a potential new couple has already gotten to know each other fairly well through spending hours talking to each other online.

The fast growing popularity of online dating proves that the chances of finding suitable partners online and developing long-lasting relationships are quite good these days. Some people may prefer to stick with the old school ways of dating, but once they actually try online dating, they usually never go back to their old ways. Online dating services provide a level of comfort and security while searching for a suitable partner that cannot be duplicated in any other way. Online dating has now evolved into a high-tech, vibrant marketplace where millions of users have realized that the benefits and advantages have swept away any prior negative connotations and drawbacks. Millions of people have already used online dating sites to meet someone special and the chances are very good that you can too.

Benefits of Online Dating:

Variety – With thousands of members on any given dating site, variety is not a problem.

Compatibility up front – Communicating with a potential date long before you actually hook up on a date makes compatibility almost assured.

Quality – High quality matches are common when profile matches are based on detailed personality and psychological testing.

Cost – Most dating websites are very low-cost or even free to join and there’s no need to get dressed up and spend hundreds of dollars on a date that was a mistake.

Distance –Online connections can overcome geographical barriers and open a whole new world of travel and adventure for those interested in long distance friendships

Ease – All you really need to get started is your computer or mobile phone and an internet connection.

Clarity – Communicating through instant messaging and emails before dating results in far fewer errors and mistakes than an unknown and potentially scary first dinner date.

Time – Online dating is quick and fruitful compared to the time-consuming method of meeting other singles at bars, clubs, church socials and boring parties.

Honesty – Online conversations allow unfamiliar people to be more honest, frank and to the point when dealing with compatibility.

Injury – Incompatibility can be brutal in person. Rejection is far less hurtful or embarrassing when it happens online.

Anonymity – Online dating services offer tools that provide the safety of anonymity and the avoidance of unwanted contacts for those not wanting to share too much at first.

The fling. The hookup. The complete fulfillment of the id; the thing we all want, but all the gloomy grumpy people tell us we’re not supposed to want. These same people should have to answer why suffering in a miserable boring relationship is somehow any better. This leads straight into my first tip:

1: All’s fair. Eschewing morals, ideals, and ethics in pursuit of the almighty hookup does not make you evil. And as a matter of fact, true evil is a big turn off. You want to go more for aloof (not quite a “bad boy” or a “bitch”). Aloof is mysterious, absolutely intoxicating, and people will, after seeing that they cannot break your shell verbally or emotionally, will do it sexually. Hence, the hookup.

2: Go to uninhibited environments. Believe it or not, an uninhibited environment is not the local watering hole. There is an entire skill set that has to do with bars and clubs. Go somewhere NOT threatening. Daytime. A little conversation at the farmer’s market goes a long way on the date that night. Also, the innovation of the internet can not be understated. Sites like AshleyMadison.com and Fling.com are fertile hunting grounds.

3: Be Yourself and Die. If you are a guy, you have no weaknesses. Do not give the girl any excuse to brand you the somewhat jerky creep you are. If you are a girl, you have no body fat. If you want to hook up with guys with all their teeth, the bottom line is your physical appearance. Nothing wrong with putting up pictures from a couple of years ago.

The successful hookup begins with the fulfillment of a fantasy. Fake it till you make it, suck it in and tuck it, and forget that useless being yourself crap.

4: Entice the mind. Building off of that last idea, keep in mind that the mind is the biggest erogenous zone in both men and women. Watch a couple of Orson Welles films, maybe read an Ayn Rand book or two and learn to talk. Wit showcases spontaneity and social grace, both intoxicating features.

5: Use AshleyMadison.com and Fling.com. They are hugely successful for a reason.

Looking to leave a lasting impression on your date, but not ready to invest in that private helicopter tour? Try these alternatives that will show you’re in a romantic mood without a huge tab at the end of the night.

1. Salsa dancing and Latin fare: Most cities have a free or low-cost salsa-instruction night at a local restaurant or bar. Plan for dinner in advance followed by a little instruction and an evening on the dance floor. Dancing is a great way to get close while staying classy. Plus it’s a chance for her to wear that ruffled dress she needs an excuse to wear out. For guys, black slacks and a button down shirt and you’re ready to go. No tie needed for Latin night.

2. Movie and a meal: Rather stay in than go out? Create your own version of “dinner and a movie”. It could be anything from watching Chocolat and preparing a fancy dessert to watching the Godfather and whipping up some homemade lasagna. The important thing is to pick a theme and stick with it. It shows that you put time and thought into planning the date, and that’s good for major brownie points! Prepare the meal together and enjoy the sensuous food experience.

3. Adult Ed: Sound like a strange way to get romantic? Think about a partner’s cooking class, or maybe pottery? Everyone can picture that seductive scene in Ghost…Adult education classes can be weekly or a one-time event, and are very reasonably priced. It’s sure to be unique, and learning together generally results in lots of laughter and closeness.

4. Art museum and jazz: Almost all art museums have at least one free night each week. Pick a wing to explore together and take your time to relax and enjoy the discussion that flows. Finish the evening with coffee and dessert at a low-key jazz club, where the sharing of ideas can continue in a romantic atmosphere.

5. Outdoor picnic: Some dates have become classics for a reason. Prepare a light picnic meal in advance, (wine, cheese, fresh bread, fruit, honey) and choose a secluded spot. A spot that can become “yours” when you walk down memory lane. Remember to keep the hiking light so you’re feeling calm and confident when you arrive. Time it right and get to your destination to watch the sun set during dinner.

They say when you meet someone to avoid politics and religion, because they can be so divisive. But Religion can truly be the ultimate ice breaker, saving you the trouble of looking for things that you have in common on a date: the most important thing is sharing a belief system.

It can be the thing that brings you together more than anything else, that really gives you that deep and loving connection that you have been seeking. Below is an overview of the top religious dating sites online:

ChristianLifestyle.com is one of the premier sites on the internet for meeting Christian singles. It features profiles that people can set up, complete with photographs and descriptions to give you a glance at what potential mates are like before you contact them.

One of the things that sets the site apart is that you can join it for free. They are more concerned with connecting you with someone who is perfect for you, who will pursue a Godly relationship with you, than they are with making a lot of money off of your search for love.

BigChurch.com
This site includes a popular video option where you can watch videos clips of potential suitors; this is much closer to the experience of talking in person, and gives you an instant idea of what their personality and how they carry themselves.

JSingles.com
This site caters to Jewish singles and is also free. The profiles are simple to navigate and users say that JSingles.com is particularly user friendly. One thing that sets it apart is that it features a number of articles relating to Jewish dating: ranging from articles about how to go on religiously-themed dates to how to find different events for Jewish singles.