I gave Mark that look and coyly said, "I love you, baby."

I was one "green card" away from winning a game of Apples to Apples at my aunt's house, and it was Mark's turn to determine the round's winning card.

(If you're not familiar with the game, it goes a little like this.)

The green card, or adjective, was "American." Mark had to select from the group of nouns, or red cards, the card that he thought was the most "American" out of the bunch. I played my "Bart Simpson" card, sure that Mark's love of the long-time animated series would give me the win. He, instead, selected "Divorce."

I took back my "I love you, baby."

In all fairness to Mark, it's true. It's widely known that up to 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. Even more bothersome, if we're still married, many of us aren't happy. According to a Business Week article:

Marital health—based on indicators such as the percentage of couples who say they're "very happy" and the number of couples whose first marriages have stayed intact—has dropped from an index of 76.2 in 1970 to 60.3 in 2008. On a 0 to 100 grading scale, that's a D-.

No wonder half of couples end up in divorce - we're not happy. Seeing as I don't fail (raise your hand if you're a perfectionist!), a 60.3 percent of happiness doesn't work for me - and it didn't work for the author, either. Louis Upkins Jr. suggested taking a "success in business" approach to your marriage.

1. Know your customer. Readers are advised to stay abreast of their spouses' needs, interests and desires. Note to self: Ask Mark what he likes.

2. Earn their business every day. You impress clients with attention, and there's no doubt a spouse will respond positively to being the focus of your energy. I must say that this is something I good at. I make breakfast for Mark when he's off on school break, and I make dinner for him even on the nights I work.

3. Don't make excuses. "Marriage offers daily opportunities to fail, but spouses will likely respond more favorably when you acknowledge a mistake and then repair it," Upkins writes. Admit that I'm wrong? What? I'm the girl who famously blamed everything on her brother - it's only natural to begin blaming my husband for things. Like the location of my missing comb. However I have made it a point to say things like, "I shouldn't have used that taboo phrase for 'Leave me alone.' I'm sorry."

4. Plan for win-win success. "It's not all about you," my grandma would tell me. It's not about being super awesome or super successful or super beautiful. I gotta help Mark, too. I should ask him what I can do to be better. I should offer to take the dog on a long walk so he can have some peace and get to writing the next Great American Novel.

5. Mix business with pleasure. "Find ways to inject new life into your relationship via activities that have no purpose other than to say, 'You matter.' " I think that's what my list of fun summer activities was about. I might think it boring to go to the gun range and blow off a few rounds but it would at least show an interest, albeit mild, in his hobbies.

I wonder if I could use that reasoning to get Mark to take me on a spa day. A mani-pedi sure would be nice.