Flirting Tips for First Encounters: For Women

t doesn’t matter if you are at a local nightclub or in the grocery store, don’t take a chance of missing a first encounter with a man because you are unsure of how to start flirting. A few tips for making contact and flirting can eventually lead to a date. Consider the first attempts at flirting as practice. It may take a little time to get comfortable and even longer to get results, so don’t give up…eventually the odds will be in your favor!
Before beginning flirting in any location, identify the person of choice as actually single and available for a flirting session. Obviously if there is a ring STAY AWAY! Don’t add unnecessary drama to your life. Some conversation starters that will determine availability and possible interest:
If at a store look in their cart and if there’s no “girl stuff”-say “remember to get something for your wife/girlfriend.”
For a man sitting at the bar alone say, “you must be a great guy for your girlfriend/wife to trust you going out without her.”
In a store if a man is looking at an item of interest, like a pan-“do you and your girlfriend/wife like to cook together?”
Based on the answer, you will be able to determine if a man is available or not. Of course there are those men who are not honest about being single so be alert! Even if you aren’t ready to start flirting, look around and think of other conversations starters that could determine if a man is single and flirting can begin; for when you are ready.
The difference between casual conversation and flirting isn’t in the words as much as it is in the tone, the eye contact, occasional touching of the arm, and intensity of interest. Lots of eye contact is a strong indication of interest.
Flirting tips for first encounters in a grocery store:
Before you even leave the house, check your appearance. Don’t over do the make-up. Your hair should be clean and neat. Put it in a ponytail if it is unruly. If you spend too much time on your looks to go to the store, you could appear high maintenance. Smell clean but not over-perfumed.
When you find someone who is probably single, look for something in his cart to start talking about. Be genuine. If you end up on a date, you don’t want to him have a false idea of your interests. Then find something about his appearance to compliment him on.
If it is busy try to head towards the checkout around the same time to have more time to talk while standing in line together.
Flirting tips for first encounters in a bar:
Take the time to look good before you go out. Take the time to put on make up, do your hair, and wear clothes that are flattering. It is really important to have fresh breath and some nice smelling perfume.
In a bar, it is acceptable to be a little closer while flirting than in a store. While talking, lean towards the person and smile a lot. With the noise of a bar, it is a good excuse to get close to hear a little better.
You want to avoid the typical and worn out pick up lines. It can be a good conversation starter to ask about the worse pick up lines he’s ever used or talk about the worse ones that you have heard.
Flirting tips for first encounters in a park:
Before heading out to play, walk, or workout in the park, be sure your clothes are clean and you are wearing enough deodorant. It will be hard to start a conversation if you smell bad or if you get a little sweaty!
If both of you have kids, compliments on the kids are great conversation starters. Be sincere, because if you are not, it will show. Show interest in his and his kids’ interests at the park.
There is a difference between sounding desperately lonely and hinting around at having some free time available. Before getting close to the time when one of you need to leave, give some warning, so there is time to get the courage up for him to ask you out. Men often still like to be traditional and be the one to ask the woman out, but they will want to feel pretty certain the answer will be “yes” before they ask. During the flirting, there should be several comments that will assure him you’d accept an invitation out.
If at any time that there is no longer interest in the person, be ready to stop the flirting and move to another area. It is awkward for both people when there is a date requested and it must be turned down.
Flirting should be fun and pressure free for both people involved, if it isn’t, you may be trying to hard.

Most Expensive Women’s Shoes

Top 3 Luxury Socks

There are so many articles of clothing to purchase for top dollar that socks often fall on the wayside. Well, no longer—here are some of the most expensive luxury socks on the market. Know of a more expensive/exclusive pair of socks? Comment and let us know!

Falke Luxury Cashmere Knee-High Socks
$77

These 90% finest cashmere socks feature reinforced toes and heels and a slightly ribbed band. They’re available in anthracite, black and plum.

Marcoliani Men’s Luxury Cashmere/Silk Windowpane Socks
$79

A blend of 60% cashmere, 26% silk and 14% nylon, these over-the-calf socks feature a tasteful windowpane pattern and can be purchased in a variety of colors. Each sock is produced by traditional craftsmen in Milan, Italy and very limited.

Marcoliani Sexy Cashmere & Lurex Knee-High Glitter Socks
$89

These Marcoliani socks made primarily from the finest cashmere (80%) and nylon (18%), the glitter effect is accomplished with a Lurex metallic yarn. They are also available in a slightly cheaper ankle-length variety for a mere $75.

50 Couples Halloween Costumes

Not sure what to be this Halloween? YourTango's pulled together 50 fun, original couples costumes. We're not the only ones who can come up with great couples costumes, so leave us a comment and tell us how you and your partner have dressed up together in the past, or what you're planning for this year.

Inspired By Pop Culture

1. Meat Dress & Butcher (a la Lady Gaga at the VMAs)
Butcher: White T-shirt, white pants, white apron with blood stains (use red food coloring or fake blood), meat cleaver (can be real, or for a safer option, one made out of cardboard and tin foil).
Meat Dress: Take a plain white cotton dress and use red markers to create a "meat pattern" a la this outfit. Wear a long white wig, a sparkly necklace and bracelet, and any other over-the-top, Gaga-esque accoutrements.

2. Eat, Pray, Love
Partner one (Eat): Chef's hat, apron and mixing spoon, or any food costume. For example, wear brown, carry Hershey kisses and be chocolate; wear green, carry a bag of arugula and be lettuce, etc. To be authentic to Elizabeth Gilbert's book, be a bowl of pasta by wearing a red shirt festooned with several yards of pale yellow yarn and balls of mixed brown and red yarn.
Partner two (Pray): Any costume with religious connotation—a priest (long black coat, white collar, cross, bible); a Franciscan monk (brown bathrobe, brown hood, rope around your waste, cross around your neck); or a sari with a bindi on your forehead to represent India (where the "Pray" portion of Eat, Pray, Love took place).
Both: Then, when someone asks you what you are, kiss and say, "We're Eat, Pray, Love."

3. Justin Bieber & Fan
Bieber: Unless she or he has anything like The Bieb's hair, the Bieber half of this couple must buy a Bieber hair wig, happily available at justinbieberwig.com. Pair that with a hoodie, jeans, some bling, big sneakers and a spot of fake blood around the temple where a bit of hair has been torn off by an adoring fan.
Fan: In addition to the costume's requisite lock of Bieber hair in hand, doll yourself up in fan-girl gear: a Bieber concert T-shirt, denim mini and an arm full of silly bandz.

4. House & Cuddy from House
House: A lab coat, cane and a perpetual scowl. Bonus: Limp and indiscriminately shout out obnoxious comments.
Cuddy: A skirt suit, high heels and cleavage.

5. Rachel Berry & Finn Hudson from Glee
Rachel: Borrow a cardigan from your grandmother's closet and pair it with a white shirt, a plaid skirt, black knee-high socks and a pair of loafers a la this outfit.
Finn: A red football jersey, jeans, and a firm conviction that a girl can get pregnant in a jacuzzi. 3 Things Glee Teaches Us About Love

Is This How All Men Orgasm?

As I mentioned recently, I've been reading Sabbath's Theater — a wonderful novel ... which is also wildly sexually explicit in some places, often in a way that made me pretty grossed out. It's about a serial adulterer and complete failure — a former puppeteer named Mickey Sabbath — who begins to have a nervous breakdown after his beloved mistress dies of cancer. Some of the suspense in the book hinges on the question of whether or not Sabbath will kill himself. For some people, I bet the fact that they are personally rooting for the arguably abhorrent narrator's downfall also creates tension.
Anyway.
At a certain point in the book, the favored mistress — a somewhat plump 52-year-old Croatian immigrant named Drenka who has plenty of paramours herself, in addition to Mickey and her husband — is describing to Sabbath, in vivid detail, the sexual relationship she is having with a young electrician who is new to town. She describes how, when they are having sex, he is like Mickey, in that he will say (as Drenka puts it): "'I don't want to come yet.' And then he says, 'Oh my God, I'm coming, I'm coming,' and then 'Ohhh. Ohh,' those big sounds he makes. And the relief, it's like they collapse almost."
I had to smile after reading that bit because it just seems so true to my experience: All men announce — in a way that sounds sort of childlike, sort of desperate, always very urgent, occasionally apologetic — when they are about to unleash themselves in you.
I always find this weirdly touching; it's a moment when men seem so vulnerable, and even kind of innocent. I always feel weirdly maternal in the moments after that, when they are spent and gasping for breath and physically weakened — like I just kind of want to pet them and tell them it's all right, take it easy.
Do I have some kind of point here? Or did I just want to talk about sex?
Well, maybe it's just that it strikes me as funny that when having an orgasm, every man is an everyman. There's surprisingly little variety.
Or do you disagree? Do Roth and I have it wrong? I mean, I know that when you settle into a more serious relationship, things change and you get to know another person's rhythms better. But I think, even then, it's fairly common that a man will let you know what's about to happen, almost as a way of making sure you're all right with his timing (or begging your forgiveness ahead of time if you're not).