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"February 14th is a major opportunity for single women. You get to take advantage of the fact that men are not expecting you to be out on the town and smiling. They expect you to be sitting at home crying. They&amp;amp;#8217;re floored when you&amp;amp;#8217;re not. And they act bolder, too&amp;amp;#8212;because they know you must be single. So here&amp;amp;#8217;s your step-by-step guide to picking up a guy on Valentine&amp;amp;#8217;s Day&amp;amp;#8212;your most opportunity-filled pick-up day of the year!1. Be productive that day. Before you go out, do something that makes you feel proud of yourself. Run 6 miles or bake a souffle. Whatever it is, don&amp;amp;#8217;t make it about your looks. Sure, you&amp;amp;#8217;re welcome to get a manicure or a facelift if it will make you feel pretty, but I think you&amp;amp;#8217;ll gain more confidence from something you did. It&amp;amp;#8217;s a reminder that you&amp;amp;#8217;re someone worthy. Pretty doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t equal worthy. Anyway, of course you&amp;amp;#8217;re beautiful. Of course you&amp;amp;#8217;re worthy of attention. If you say, oh, I did my eye makeup to perfection and I pushed my boobs up, well, it&amp;#x27;s still possible that no one will pick you up. You might go home thinking your boobs weren&amp;amp;#8217;t big enough or someone&amp;amp;#8217;s eyes were more stunning. Why go there? If your confidence is shaken, you&amp;amp;#8217;ll want tangible evidence of your awesomeness. Better to have a souffle sitting at home waiting for you, or a 6-mile run under your belt to fall back on. 2. Choose an ideal venue. You want some place fun. But not a romantic, couples place. You&amp;amp;#8217;re probably going to do better at a bar that skews young and is not a fancy date destination. You want a Brother Jimmy&amp;amp;#8217;s in NYC or Shark&amp;amp;#8217;s Cove in Manhattan Beach, CA. (By the way, I&amp;amp;#8217;m not a big fan of anti-Valentine&amp;amp;#8217;s parties. The host is giving every guest permission to mope and bitch&amp;amp;#8212;and that stuff feeds on itself. Sure you can still meet someone, but a themed party like that starts everyone off on the wrong note. Unless you&amp;amp;#8217;re into cynical, insecure, or bitter types.) P.S. On February 14th, there will be tons of college basketball games playing, as well as Olympic events such as Freestyle Skiing and the Luge. You know some dude will be dragged out by his buddies to watch the game, but with any luck, he&amp;amp;#8217;d rather watch you. 3. Invite one girlfriend out. You don&amp;amp;#8217;t want to surround yourself with multiple girlfriends. Guys get intimidated. Take one girl. When choosing a friend, though, do not think about competition. Please. We are all women and we need each other. Your ideal V-Day wingwoman is a decent conversationalist. She is warm and inviting. She smiles. She is happy with herself. She is single. Jenny is always a good wingwoman! 4. Check your expectations at the door. I know, after all this buildup, I&amp;amp;#8217;m telling you to expect nothing. I&amp;amp;#8217;ll let Shakespeare explain: &amp;amp;#8220;Expectation is the root of all heartache.&amp;amp;#8221; 5. Make yourself visible. Stand at the bar. Wear a bright color. Show some skin if you feel comfortable (see &amp;quot;Exactly How to Attract Guys: It&amp;#x27;s the 40% Rule&amp;quot; in the March issue of Glamour). Hey, if the moment&amp;amp;#8217;s right, dance on a table&amp;amp;#8212;why not, it&amp;amp;#8217;s Valentine&amp;amp;#8217;s! That will get his attention. Do not sit in a booth. Do not complain to your girlfriend about work. Don&amp;amp;#8217;t get sucked into her drama. Look around the room! Eyes on the prize! 6. Give the green light. Make eye contact and smile&amp;amp;#8212;that will encourage him to come over. Honestly, that&amp;amp;#8217;s all you need to do. It&amp;amp;#8217;s that simple. 7. Acknowledge the holiday if you want. When he introduces himself, you can say sweetly, &amp;amp;#8220;Happy Valentine&amp;amp;#8217;s Day.&amp;amp;#8221; Just don&amp;amp;#8217;t say it bitterly or ironically. You really mean it. You are wishing him well! No cynicism. It&amp;amp;#8217;s unattractive. 8. Be bold (optional). If you so desire, send a free drink his way. Do the approach, introduce yourself&amp;amp;#8212;but I have found way more often than not, guys prefer to do the approaching, no matter how hot or nice or clever or refreshingly confident you are. You could be Halle Berry and the guy still wants to do things his way. Anyway, it&amp;amp;#8217;s not rocket science. Just enjoy the holiday&amp;amp;#8212;you really don&amp;amp;#8217;t have any other choice because all other options make you look like sour grapes. So you gotta embrace. It&amp;amp;#8217;s unfair, but that&amp;amp;#8217;s life! What&amp;amp;#8217;s your strategy on Valentine&amp;amp;#8217;s Day? More: Your Valentine&amp;#x27;s Day Pep Talk! More Ways to Get Glamour You could win $50,000 just for registering for or logging in to Glamour.com! Sign up for Glamour.com&amp;amp;#8217;s Style Tips of the Week and Beauty Tip of the Day newsletters! Add Glamour to your iGoogle homepage. Follow us on Twitter! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/single-ish/2010/02/exactly-how-to-pick-up-a-guy-o>