I don't think this was what Cosmo intended us to use the boards for! So tonight was the long awaited Cosmo Blog Awards Night! Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who nominated, and then voted for 30 Dates for Best Sex & Relationships Blog. It really was a marathon affair which went on for weeks, and the voting pages were by no means the easiest to navigate, so thank you so much for all the effort you guys went to. If I'm totally honest, my whole impression of the Awards hasn't been the best, but seeing as right from the start Read More

A few months ago on 30 Dates I interviewed Nikki Sanderson and Jeremy Sheffield – the actors involved in the Hollyoaks domestic abuse storyline and the related Home Office adverts. At the time a blog reader messaged me asking if he could write an article about his experiences as the victim of domestic abuse. Here he tells of his experiences of life after abuse. Huge thanks to ‘Mr 34′ (as he referred to himself in his email to me) for sharing his story on 30 Dates. Miss Twenty-Nine xxx After the Storm Come the Rainbows I have always been a huge believer in romance Read More

Dating writers often talk about the ‘brand of you'. It's a concept which is certainly relevant in online dating, and in the social media-driven world we live in as a whole. We're all accustomed to self-marketing and self-promotion. We understand which sides of ourselves to highlight, and which elements to keep more quiet. Which photos to promote, and which to un-tag. But self branding is more than social media and dating profiles. Every day when we wake up and get dressed we make conscious decisions about the way we package ourselves for the outside world. These days, there Read More

This was a question I was asked a couple of weeks ago by another blogger. And interestingly it was a guy who was asking me the question, not a girl. As I said to the guys at The Male Stylist, this isn't a question I can easily answer, or one I really think about too often. It's something I would normally equate with a very different kind of dating blog. More of a ‘man hater' blog. I like to think the reason as many guys read 30 Dates as women, is because I think we're all just as bad as each other. Read More

I'm not just talking ‘it's raining men' … Think about it. There's the heart-stopping scene in The Notebook, Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy on a deserted London street corner, and Ted Mosby comparing TMs with the girl with the yellow umbrella in the final episode of How I Met Your Mother. And that's just for starters … Precipitation is romantic … But why? You might be forgiven for assuming it's all just a ploy by the British Tourist office to make more couples visit our damp island … But the American seem to love romance in the rain as much as Read More