Tuffy Luv Tackles Nice Guys…To The Ground

[Want Tuffy Luv to answer your question? Email her at tuffy@collegecandy.com.]

Dear Tuffy Luv,

Here’s my dilemma. I’ve been dating my boyfriend for about 7 months. He’s great, really into me and always doing anything he can to make me happy. At first, all the “you’re so beautiful and perfect” blah blah comments were cute and flattering, as any girl would think, but he’s still doing it now, to an extreme, and it’s a little…annoying.

I mean, every girl needs a little bad boy now and then; not a mush ball ALL THE TIME. Sometimes I wonder if I’m with him because I’m afraid no one else will treat me as well as he does, but other times, I love being with him. Am I forcing it? Am I leading him on? Should I end it now, before things get further along? UGH

~Overloved

Dear Overloved,

Honey, you need to sit this boy down and tell him to cut that sh*t out.

It’s great to be flattered, but it’s only great if you know it’s sincere. And to Tuffy, it sounds like this is exactly the problem. How are you supposed to know he means it if he says it all the fricking time?!

Guys are always complaining that girls don’t like nice guys, why can’t girls like nice guys, girls are stupid for not liking nice guys, blah blah blah save your breath, jerks. Girls like nice guys. We just don’t like guys to butter us up like a fat guy’s doorway.

Compliments are nice, but your boy needs to learn to save them for when he really means it. Read More »


Candy Dish: Can a Website Help Roommates Get Along?

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The most romantic cities in America.

7 tips for running into your ex gracefully.

Lindsay Lohan gets a real job! Well, maybe.

Too bad he’s a total douche.

Bethenny may not be done with ‘Housewives’ after all!


Romantically Challenged

Ew.

I think I may have a serious problem, and I don’t think I am the only woman to have it.

No, I’m not pregnant. No, I don’t have any sort of STI.

I am just romantically challenged.

I literally repel romance. For some reason, if a guy comes around with flowers, or gushy text messages with emo lyrics, or, heaven forbid, shares his feelings, I don’t know how to react. I’m either shocked, freaked out, or just plain confused.

One of my ex’s is a guitar player and I loved going to his shows around town. All was good and fine when I was just a common spectator enjoying his music. But when he wrote a song for me and played it for me, I thought I was in a bad-romance-novel-turned-even-worse-movie that would never end. I didn’t know where to look or put my hands. Should I smile? Do I fake a tear? Do I saw awww while he continues to strum away on the guitar and spew out lyrics about love? I had my own personal Jack Johnson and was turned off by him.

But why? Shouldn’t I be happy, joyous, or even giddy? Doesn’t every girl want a boy to bring her flowers for no reason and tell her how he feels?

Well, the idea of it sounds wonderful to me, but in reality it kinda makes me queasy. I mean, why do we have to hold hands all the damn time? Read More »


The CC Weekly Weigh In: It’s Good to be Loved

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being loved. Not even fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies (with a little extra raw dough on the side) gives you the same warm, comforting feeling of knowing that someone out there really, really loves you.

And that someone can be anyone: a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a best friend, your dog. It just feels good to be loved.

I remember the first time my dad told me he loved me. We aren’t really one of those “I love you” families that shares feelings (unless making really sarcastic jokes at one another’s expense counts), so it wasn’t until I was off at college that I heard my dad say those words. At first I panicked, called my mom and asked if he was dying (true story). But when she told he was fine (“I’d tell you if he was dying, dear.”) and that he’d just been talking lately about how proud he was of me and how much he loved me, it just felt…good. Like I was warming up from the inside.

It bothers me that the focus of Valentine’s Day rests so heavily on “romantic love,” because there is just so much love out there that should be cherished. Whether or not you have someone to get naked with exchange chocolates with on Sunday, we all have a lot of love in our lives. And we can’t forget it. This week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to share one moment when they really felt loved. If these don’t melt your heart (like the gooey chocolate on a fresh-baked cookie), I don’t know what will. Read More »


Duke It Out: Valentine’s Day?

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like gay marriage!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

OK I know what you’re thinking, ”ugh, another Valentine’s post.” You’re probably as sick of hearing about this lovey-dovey holiday as I am (seriously, they put up the Cupid decorations on New Year’s Day!) but I think it’s about time we really had it out on this one.

Valentine’s Day – do or don’t?

On the one hand, I know a lot of people (single and not) who would just as soon abolish the holiday. If you’re single, V-Day can be a real downer – all those movies and shows about love, everyone who’s not single walking around and cooing about how great their significant other is (or complaining that they weren’t romantic enough), plus, if you want any of the chocolate that’s freaking everywhere, you have to go and buy it for yourself which can be a definite blow to the ego. Read More »


Six Things Every Girl Secretly Wishes Her Boyfriend Would Do

"I really wish you'd give a little more between the sheets..."

Girls are known for nagging. It’s not something we’re proud of, but, honestly, do we really have a choice? If we didn’t pester our boyfriends we would never get them out of their man cave and into a civilized restaurant.

But despite the fact that guys don’t whine and give us puppy dog eyes when they want us to do something, it turns out that they their own list of secret wishes when it comes to our behavior.

The dudes over at Guyism.com recently shared all the things they secretly wish their girlfriend would do. While we won’t be enjoying Fantasy Football anytime soon (seriously WHAT IS THE POINT OF IT?!), we do understand the allure of the sexy Halloween costume and promise to continue sporting it every year.

This little list was quite enlightening (guys like funny girls? Score!) and got us thinking (as usual) about the things that we secretly wish they would do.

Our boyfriends are wonderful; we love them more than anything. But if they did some (or preferably all) of the following, we’d be sending a mass text for a girls night ASAP to brag to all of our girlfriends about how absolutely amazing our guy is (and chances are they’ll be getting a little luckier then usual come bedtime…).

Read More »


Do It Yourself Tuesdays: Romantic Dinner for Two

candle lit dinnerSo, it’s the beginning of a new school year, and you’ve got a hot prospect. How can you woo him (or her, as the case may be) and get those googly eyes to focus only on you?

Easy.

It’s like your mom always said: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Even if you aren’t exactly Julia Child, you can still follow instructions, and that’s all you need to do to bust out a romantic dinner that’ll have him drooling for your food and bolting with you to the bedroom.

Trust me, it’s way better to make food for your dude than take him out. Anyone can whip out a credit card, but it makes you look extra-special if you can whip out a spatula and use it like you’re supposed to. Plus, it’s obviously sweeter to make dinner than to buy it, and it gives you the opportunity to tailor what you make to what your guy really likes. (And it might even inspire him to cook for you . . . swoon!)

Before you get carried away, don’t go all Bridget Jones and try to make super-fancy recipes for multiple courses. Keep it simple, especially if you don’t have a ton of cooking experience. Odds are, your guy loves the classics: what meat-eating man would deny a nicely grilled steak or a plate of spaghetti just like his mom used to make?

So set out that tablecloth, light those candles, put on some tunes, and give these two tried-and-true recipes a whirl. Read More »


And Why Can’t My Life Be a Movie Moment?

the notebook romantic copy

Forever a dreamer, I have lived through movies. I wanted to change the bad boy like Reese Witherspoon in Cruel Intentions. I wanted a wardrobe like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada. And mostly, I wanted to dance my way to sex like Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing (and not in the frat party/grinding sorta way).

Keep dreaming, right?

However, after spending lots of time analyzing my favorite movies, I’ve realized that it’s not so hard for the everyday man to create a movie moment in everyday life. Sure, finding a Leonardo DiCaprio to sketch my naked body on a sinking ship might be hard (and not ideal considering the ending), but many of the most romantic gestures in movies aren’t so hard to manage, even without a script: Read More »


The Perfect Man…Or Is He?

the_perfect_manWhen I first heard that Joe Jonas couldn’t keep it together post break up with girlfriend Camille Belle and sobbed on stage during a show, I thought it was adorbs. A guy who is in touch with his emotions and willing to let it all out in front of 25,000 people? Be still my heart.

But then I started to wonder if weepy boyf is really all that appealing. Or if any of the qualities we look for in guys are really all that great in reality. We all want that perfect clean-cut, handsome, sensitive, funny and smart guy who dresses well and treats us like a princess. But why? If you’re “lucky” enough to find him, you’ll soon realize he can’t give you your happy ending after all.

The Dream: A nice clean-cut boy toy.
The Reality: Okay, so guys tend to be dirtier than women. And sometimes it can just be gross. Really gross. And what’s worse than having than a guy with crusty armpits on his shirts and a faint aroma of fart? Uh, how about a guy who takes longer to get ready than you, or one who douses himself in Axe so you can smell him 10 minutes before he shows up at your door? Or a guy who makes you look and feel like total crap on a Sunday when you’re too hungover to shower, so you take the day off?

The Dream: A guy who takes care of himself
The Reality:
As many of us can attest, there isn’t much less attractive than a dude with random patches of hair on his back/shoulders/between his brows/in his nose. And no one can deny that running your hands over a smooth hair-free chest (with six-pack abs) feels amazing.  But when you’re getting a manicure with the girls, you don’t want to have to see your guy come in for his 2 hour body waxing appointment. Or deal with all. that. stubble when it starts to grow back. And have you ever interacted with bald balls? Yeah, I always wanted a guy to do a little trimmy trim down there too…until my guy did.

Take it from me: SCARY. Read More »


He Said/She Said: Swiping Your V-Card

sex_intro_thumbI waited a long time to swipe my coveted V-card. It wasn’t like I was waiting for my Prince Charming – more like I was waiting for the right opportunity. The right guy. The right comfort level. I wanted it to be something I could look back on down the road without regrets.

And I don’t have any, but it definitely wasn’t what I expected. I thought it would be some really intense situation where I’d feel completely different after the entire thing was over. And maybe it would have been had it lasted longer than 4 minutes. Instead, the entire sitch was just….weird. And when it was done? I didn’t feel more connected to my partner – I just felt sore downtown and a little bit sweaty.

Everyone’s first time is different, but do we all feel the same way going into it? What do guys think of losing their virginity, and what do they think about taking it from someone else? Let’s find out… Read More »