Share in hobbies

One of the largest divisions between a couple is the time they spend doing their hobbies. While the husband is out fishing, the wife is at home scrap booking. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing in moderation, it isn't healthy in the typical amounts we see everyday. If the two of you can share in a hobby together, that will be quality time for the both of you that will help you in growing together. You can try a new hobby like dancing, or one of you can try to enjoy helping the other in the hobby they enjoy. You could sit down and help her scrapbook, or she can come with you fishing. This will help the two of you to grow together.

More Tips: If you decide to join her in her hobby, make a genuine attempt at enjoying it too. If she feels like you are bored out of your mind it will not only ruin that time for her, but it will make her not want you around when she's using that time. Remember, people engage in hobbies as a fun pass time, so make sure you keep it fun!

Let Her Decide

A common problem in dating and marriages is one person tends to call the shots. If this is the case then let her choose the kind of food you both will eat today, or let her choose the movie that you will see. Often times a partner will sacrifice their own wants or needs to demonstrate their love for the other person, but this sacrifice then turns into the routine and is not acknowledged as it should be. This can lead to a lot of pent up frustration. Sometimes she may just want to enjoy watching "Benny and Joon" rather than "Fast and the Furious 26" and this is where there should be an equilibrium.

More Tips: There doesn't have to be a power struggle in the relationship. If you have to, agree to alternating who chooses what each week. But you must adhere to this, even if your all time favorite movie is screening this weekend you need to be willing to skip it to honor your agreement.

Hold Hands

Many couples let simple things like holding hands just float off into the recesses of grade school history, but the simple act of holding hands can really make an ordinary moment just a little bit more special. I see many married couples walking around nonchalantly as though they were just friends. This is generally fine and acceptable, but I think that grabbing her hand, especially if you do not do it often, is a great way to just further enjoy the ordinary walk through the mall or park.

More Tips: When sitting together you can hold hands or just bring her closer to you to cuddle. It's just a nice way to physically express your love and appreciation for her.

Don't Forget Things!

We have seen it a million times in sitcoms, commercials, and movies. The wife is doing something that could be construed as special, like making a nice dinner and immediately the guy needs to run down a quick checklist of important holidays and events. This doesn't need to happen! Get your cell phone out right now and start setting reminders (which you can make occur annually) and program it with these important dates. It's easy, it might take you an hour, but the hour is well worth never missing another important holiday, or event.

Some women think this is cheating, and it should be important enough to remember. While that is a kind thought, the fact is that life is happening constantly, and there is no crime in getting a reminder. And if you're anything like me, your wife will understand that you have the worst memory on Earth, second only to me.

Use Your Hands

The next time you're in the card aisle, you might be better off going to the nearest arts and crafts store. While it may not be manly to you, it would be quite meaningful to your wife that you made her the card that you're giving her. The best thing about this idea is you get to truly customize the card for her. Few cards will ever fit her perfectly off of the shelf, and no matter how much she likes a card picked off of the shelf at a store, she would prefer a card you made. Yes, it will probably be more expensive then buying a card, because arts and crafts stores are pricey, and yes it will be time consuming, but this is part of what makes it so special.

Get some nice heavy card stock, then go into the scrapbooking aisle and find those puffy stickers, and foam cutouts and whatever else you think she might like and adhere them to the card. Yes, this is journeying into territory that you probably don't often visit, but it will be very special to her.

More Tips: If you are unsure of what to do, or how to make a nice looking card, find an employee at the store and they will probably be a huge wealth of knowledge. They can also make the experience a lot more comfortable for you. I've been to many arts and crafts stores and the employess are generally nice, and they enjoy arts and crafts.

Bring her a flower

Women love the occasional flower. Do not do the whole bouquet, save that for a special occasion. If you give her a bouquet of flowers all the time, then it will start to lose its meaning and affect. But a single flower says that you were thinking about her. This is a really great thing to do when you know she's been having a rough day. If you hear her listing off all of the things she's had to deal with that day, then bring her home a flower so that at least for that moment, she isn't thinking about everything she has to do, but is thinking that someone else is thinking about her as well.

For those kinds of occasions I would suggest a more romantic flower like a rose. You can also dress it up a little more by purchasing some nice material like a thick lace, or some other material that compliments the flower color and tying a nice bow around the flower, or if you're not the bow tying type you can purchase one of those really thin vases designed for a single flower.

More Tips: On a particularly rough day where everything has been miserable I suggest that you also get a card to go along with the flower, or you can hand write a note or poem. If she's the one who usually cooks you can also try and bring home dinner (or cook her dinner, which she would probably appreciate more, unless you're terrible.) to at least spare her that extra chore. This will relieve the pressure of her cooking, and if that is the last chore on her list, you just helped to bring her day to a well deserved end.