With Valentine's Day fast approaching, it's time to kick your love-life into high gear.

Brace yourself, this one is a little wacky. This will seem really odd at first, but you'll be shocked at how effective it can be. Studies have shown that men associate the scents of cinnamon and vanilla with love. Now, I'm no scientist, so I couldn't begin to tell you if it's some food/mom connection, or something deeper in their hardwiring, all I know is, it works like catnip for men.

According to Francoise Rapp, aromatherapist and alchemist of Melusine-Arom'Alchemy, "Vanilla and cinnamon are warm and comforting scents. Scientists have found that certain food-related fragrances like these stimulate our emotional and sexual appetites."

About an hour before your date arrives to pick you up, pop some of those ready-made cinnamon rolls in the oven. If you're feeling really Martha, you can make homemade cinnamon bread, and impress the guy with your culinary prowess. If you don't have store-bought rolls on hand, and you're not handy in the kitchen, just throw some old bread in a pan, with a little milk and lots of cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. Put the mess in the oven and bake it at 325 degrees for a half hour to 45 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, it will be a horrific-looking blob of glop, and nothing you'd want to eat, but your house will smell undeniably fabulous. Just stand back and watch the men come running.

Whether you use the ready-made cinnamon rolls, or the cinnamon blob, your place will have a yummy, homey, cinnamon smell that men just can't get enough of. Yes, it's something akin to baking chocolate chip cookies when you're trying to sell your house, just formulated to zero in on guys. Your man probably won't have any idea why he feels so good and comfortable at your home, but he'll want to eat you up with a spoon.

There are candles and air-fresheners with the vanilla and cinnamon scents, and they're okay to use in a pinch. The dream girls have found, however, that nothing works quite like the real thing.

My girlfriend and former roommate Betsey and I used this technique on a number of occasions with great success. It's easy, and it sure gives the men a better sense of direction when they're beating a path to your door. If you like, you can take it a step further, and wear a subtle perfume with vanilla undertones, or a vanilla-scented lotion on your skin. Just be sure to put it on with a very light touch. The goal here is to make his heart pound, not his eyes water. It's all about yummy.