Thanks to our Guest Blogger, ChiCityChick, for the following post:

August 1st marked a day that might be little known to some, but that should be richly celebrated by many. The special day in question was National Girlfriends Day. Yes, there is actually a holiday to celebrate the rich and rewarding benefits that come from having girlfriends in one’s life. The term girlfriend refers to relationships between women. Another trendy and modern term for this would be “BFFs”, or best friends forever. There are many reasons to celebrate your girlfriends. First, it’s great to know that someone in the world has your back! Nobody gets a woman like another woman. Your girlfriend is your first point of contact , for example, when you experience the joy of meeting that potential new dude in your life. You know, the one you met at the grocery store, the gym, or walking in the mall being your fine self!. Who is the one that you call when you have the world’s most awesome date? Who picks up your spirits when you have the world’s worst date ever, and you scream that you’ll never date again? It’s your girl, or your gang of chicas of course! So, just how do you celebrate your special friend girl, or friend girls? Lots of women have mini-celebrations that include dinners, or pints of ice cream around the table. Or, you might plan a girl’s night out on the town, looking like a pack of supermodels, and comparing notes as to which lucky guy gets your number. If you need inspiration, watch any episode of Sex and The City. You’ll quickly see many examples of the girls celebrating each other, and having their pick and choose of gorgeous, or not so gorgeous men. Even when the guys were the biggest losers, the girls still had a great time, because they were with each other. They were the party at the party! Although the actual holiday has passed, why not keep the party going? Make every month, heck, make every weekend a Girlfriend’s Day! Another great thing about women is that they are super creative, so use that creative, warm, and fuzzy energy to think of ways to celebrate the women in your life that build you up, and melt your heart. Get on the phone, that blog, get those emails out! Dust off your sexy heels, and those sexy jeans that make grown men cry. Get your girls together, and compare notes later about shutting down your local hang out, and giving the guys whiplash!

Are you rebounding like an NBA all-star? →

Thinking about rebounding after a recent break-up? Not sure if you’re someone else’s rebound? Check out the DateRaters’ Love Docs’ newest article on “rebounds” (even if you’re not there now, you know you have been)

Crowd-source your dating decisions

Her: You’ve read his Match.com profile at least 10 times. He’s an urban professional seeking the same. He’s 6 feet tall (yeah, right!), enjoys the outdoors, chillin’ at home with a good movie, and spending time with friends and family. Sound familiar?

Him: You’ve checked her out on Facebook and she seems promising. She’s a traffic-stopping blonde whose looks are rivaled only by a killer bod. She prefers jeans and flip-flops to trendy clothes, would rather slum it at the neighborhood pub than a fancy club, is low maintenance (yeah, right!) and outgoing, loves giving massages, and digs your fave brew. Is she the real deal or too good to be true?

It’s pretty hard to figure out what someone is really like from those scripted responses to basic questions on dating and social networking sites. And let’s face it, not everyone is totally honest in their online profile. While sites that match singles based on assessment results may help a bit, many people would rather watch paint dry than spend an afternoon filling out a 20-page personality test on chemistry.com or eharmony.

So, what’s a singleton to do? Crowd-source, of course! We crowd-source just about every other decision we make in life, so why not our romantic ones? The collective wisdom that comes from others familiar with your new love interest far exceeds the opinion of any “date coach” (seemingly all the rage these days) or computer that matches you based on some fancy statistical algorithm.

People’s behavior is simply too complex to predict with a high degree of accuracy. Not to mention the interaction effect - even harder to predict - that occurs when two unique people join forces as a couple. As a psychologist and statistician, I assure you this is true. But, I also know that one of the best predictors of future behavior is past behavior, so daters’ best hopes of finding their ideal match is to learn from others’ relationship experiences with the person that has piqued their interest.