There is certainly a part of me that feels a bit nervous to tell you that Old Chicago is a frequent date-night spot for me and my husband. I know, it’s nothing fancy. There’s sometimes loud, weird music playing from the modern-day jukebox, and the pizza and beer certainly don’t help our healthy focus. It has been a go-to for us for so long that even on my

One of the common myths about relationships is that sex should come naturally. There is also often the assumption that if your partner really truly cared about you, he would know exactly what turns you on without you even saying anything. Unfortunately, not telling your partner what turns you on and what you enjoy is like expecting your partner to read you like a crystal ball. Since your partner isn’t a mind reader, you want to

Before we dive in I want to put out there that pets are wonderful! They are super cute and cuddly and that big smile when coming home is totally worth it. And although I’m not a lizard person, for those with other pets like iguanas out there, I know that any pet can bring happiness into your life. I get it! I have two dogs of my own and so I know that fur babies are a big part of many people’s lives. I want you to be careful, though, that your wonderful companion isn’t

Sexual desire in women is something that can feel like it’s not as simple as putting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich together. As a woman, you are more like a fine, multi-course meal of an experience. Because your sexual self is made up of multiple ingredients, there are often multiple contributions to why your sexual desire is not where you may want it to be. It can feel complicated but I have you covered.

This past weekend I went to my Saturday morning yoga class. Well, it’s going to start being my Saturday morning class because I just made it a weekly thing. Week one, check! When I was in class I was reminded of several things that I want to share with you about the paths that we want to take to feel ease and joy in our lives. For you and your relationship, the path may be embracing a new opportunity to follow the path of Intentional Intimacy, where you use an intentional approach to your relationship so that you have more ease and comfort in the intimacy between you and your partner. As you may have heard me say in the past,

In our busy world, it can be easy to feel like a ball in a pinball machine going from one thing to another. I get it, you have important things to do as a high-achieving person. But with the next thing you launch off to, whether it’s work or your son’s baseball game, it’s important to establish a Hello/Goodbye Ritual with your partner, where you create a boomerang-like interaction of …

Being in a long-term relationship doesn’t mean saying goodbye to your sex life. It just doesn’t. No evil fairy comes down and casts a spell causing your intimacy and sex life to disappear. Yes, it may be different from what it was at the beginning of the relationship but it doesn’t mean it’s gone. You just need to approach your sex life in a way that actually is sustainable in a long term relationship. But, if you are like me, no one handed me a guide book when I was younger about how to actually make sex stay alive in a long-term relationship. Lucky for you I’ve …

If you are like most of us out there you likely weren’t given the necessary puzzle pieces that help make a beautiful relationship picture come and stay together. Instead, you may have been left to just wing it and when it comes to relationships, we can’t just wing it. It just doesn’t work. Sure, it may work for trying some new restaurant because if it doesn’t go well then there is no harm no foul. But when it comes to your relationship, there is harm. The impact is way more detrimental because…

I was out for a run the other day along a path I normally take where I curve around the field of a school. Usually, when I’m out running there are kids practicing lacrosse or football or some other sport. On this run it was baseball. As I ran by, a ball went over the fence. I had options. I could have kept on running because, well, it was their ball and those kids are agile enough to hop over the small fence. It wasn’t my job to help them out nor did I particularly need to. Or I could instead go out of my way and run off my path, grab the ball and throw it over the fence so they didn’t have to go out of their way. I chose this time to…

The number of times I have heard the phrase “I want to want sex but I don’t” has been too many to count. This is what often has many women come into my office asking for help. Their partner wants more sex and this puts them into a feeling of wide-eyed pressure and thoughts of “uhhhhh well I don’t want sex” and they feel stuck. This then creates a negative feedback loop which…

Vulnerability is the glue in life and relationships. Without it you would not be able to connect with those around you. Well you could but only on a surface-to-surface level. Vulnerability allows you to connect deeply from heart to heart. But as important and valuable as it is, vulnerability for many of you may be hard and scary. Actually I might even go as far as to say for most of you. Like words might not seem to explain hard and scary it is to express your desires, and needs. Sure maybe you can share…

Whether you have been in your relationship for 2 years or 20, it’s important to have a shared idea of the values that are important to both of you in your relationship. A wonderful way to do this is by creating a shared Unity Vision Statement for your relationship. Many of you may be married and had wedding vows that focused on just this. But what often happens is those words get said on the wedding day and they then get tucked away in a sock drawer somewhere literally or figuratively. For everyone, I want you to take a closer look at what the unity of your relationship means so it’s easier for you and your partner to…