How We Got Cheap Wedding Rings (Romantically) Under $200

Want to hear a romantic engagement story? When we got married, my husband and I paid for our wedding and reception. To cut costs, we looked for cheap wedding rings. For less than $200 we bought an engagement ring, woman's wedding ring and man's wedding ring. What's romantic about that? Read on...How We Got Cheap Wedding Rings (Romantically) Under $200

Sexy Gothic Victorian Halloween Costumes

My older son asked recently what was meant by pre-Raphaelite? It's a scintillating (and rather sexy) term for women as idealized in the mid-Victorian period. A small community of artists and poets (like Rosetti) figured women with loose Titian tresses (mostly red), virginal gowns, prim, remote and oozing sensuality. Sexuality in Victorian times was taboo, subliminal, repressed and therefore hugely exaggerated.  

Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Everett Millais painted mad Ophelia, drowned for unrequited love of Hamlet. Tenneyson's Lady of Shallot (another jilted suicidal lover), painted by Waterhouse is pure pre-Raphaelite. 

How erotic would it be it recreate a pre-Raphaelite zombie girl costume for Halloween? The artists conventionally showed the dead girls romantically laid out and incorruptible. But we know that corpses don't stay fresh. Zombies of vengeful or jealous dead lovers have walked the pages of horror fiction for centuries. The restless undead have plagued generations of Devil's night, Samhain and Walpurgis revelers. Looking to recreate some of those vintage creeps of yore? Here's a DIY guide to make Gothic Revival Victorian costumes for women. Gothic Victorian Pre-Raphaelite Ghost Halloween Costume Guide

Meditations for OCD, Relationship Therapy

I'm a recovering obsessive-compulsive. My OCD can devastate my relationships if I let it (and it's pretty hard not to). It cramps intimacy and turns me into an irritable, irritating drone. Every case of OCD manifests itself a little differently--for me, time (or feeling the lack thereof) is a big OCD trigger. I'm consumed with urgency. I feel overwhelmed by responsibilities (many self-imposed). I'm driven by anxious thoughts that I'm behind and can't get caught up. If you struggle with OCD like this, here are some meditations I've developed. I repeat these when I feel an OCD mind-storm brewing. Meditations for Time-Driven Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Thinking