The GiveAndDate.com Blog
The Official Blog of GiveAndDate.comCh-ch-ch-Changes!!!
Well, in case you haven’t noticed, GiveAndDate officially relaunched on Friday. Over the next week we’ll be migrating data from the old site to the new one and clearing out a bunch of test accounts and so forth… but this is a huge step for the little dating site that could. GiveAndDate is officially operating nationally with outlets in 6 cities: Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Denver, New York, and Washington DC – Baltimore… with a bunch more to come.
We’ve also been featured in a bunch of national media outlets and we’re about to be in a major foreign magazine. Stay tuned for updates about the new additions and features on our website and keep recommending charities and cities for us to expand to. Thank you so much for your support of our idea of combining charity and dating! – Charley of the GiveAndDate team
You Complete Me…Sign Here, by Laura Warrell
Last fall, I had drinks with Kevin, a sensuous though somewhat slippery restaurateur I briefly dated years back in New York. We talked about our latest love interests and while I went on ecstatically about my man’s creativity, his devilish wit, the sexy way his lip curled when he smiled, Kevin was a bit ho hum about his new lady friend.
“She’s pretty,” he said. “We have similar backgrounds, our working lives are compatible.” With a casual shrug of his shoulders, he concluded, “she fits.” Read the rest of this entry »
GiveAndDate in Self Magazine’s February Issue!
We’re proud to be mentioned in this month’s Self Magazine as apart of the “Love Your February” feature. It’s on news stands now…check it out!
In other news, we’re getting closer to our relaunch and couldn’t be more excited to bring you new partner charities, new features, and new cities on GiveAndDate.com. Thank you to everyone who has provided such helpful feedback on the site. We’re working hard to get our new site ready to go and really appreciate your patience.
Wanna bring online dating for charity to your city? Are you passionate about a local charity near you? Tell us! We’re establishing charity partnerships all over the country. It’s so inspiring to hear about what great things are going on in other cities, and we look forward to supporting more charities in 2010!
As we get closer to our relaunch, be sure to follow our updates on Twitter – @GiveAndDate!
Love Problems? Your Bank Has the Answers! by Laura Warrell
If you’d like to figure out what’s wrong with you relationship-wise, don’t read a self-help book. Get an online bank account.
Every time I log into my checking account, I’m asked a “security question,” the answer to which only I’m supposed to know, so the bank can confirm my identity. Thus far, the only question the bank has asked me upon logging in is the name of my first boyfriend. And what a joy it is to be forced to recall that relationship on a regular basis. Read the rest of this entry »
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Give Me Italy or Give Me Death, by Laura Warrell
Winter cramps my style. All I want is to cover every inch of flesh to avoid the elements, which completely trumps being fashionable. I see women in stylish canary yellow coats, in sexy stockings, in cutie-pie knit caps topped with tufts of yarn or those funky Russian jobs old guys wear to go hunting. Despite the icy tundra surrounding us, these gals look like a million bucks.
Meanwhile, I’m dressed in four layers of clothes beneath a down coat hanging to my knees. I’m in a bulbous hat covering my entire head, a chunky scarf and boots heavy enough to pass military inspection. Because of my shortness and round features, the look is far from flattering. I could only describe my winter style as “igloo-esque.” Read the rest of this entry »
Addicted to Love, by Laura Warrell
My friend Kim is an addict.
Pills are not her poison, nor gambling or booze. Emotionally maladjusted men have been her drug of choice. Since her first crush on a sexually confused Cure fan with mommy issues, she has ridden nearly every loop on the roller coaster ride of human psychological dysfunction.
Higher up the chain we have sexy artists and brainy academics with intimacy issues. Further down, we find bad boys. Slackers. Dumbasses.
Kim is smart, successful and easy on the peepers, so finding a suitable mate shouldn’t be such an ordeal. She has tried to rid herself of this addiction, but Lordy, how quickly the rationalizations come: “Just one last postdoc afraid to leave his house during winter,” or, “What’s one more cute fireman who can’t tell time gonna hurt?” Read the rest of this entry »
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The Last Seduction, by Laura Warrell
A man on the street accidentally winked at me. He must have had something in his eye, I know the wink wasn’t for me. But it got me thinking.
I miss flirting. I miss the fine art of seduction. I miss feeling the dizzying chemistry between me and a man linger long enough for the tension to swell. I long for the days when men wanted to work a little harder to get a gal’s attention and women knew how to beguile. Back when the journey to bed was almost as intoxicating as the arrival.
A wink. A light touch on your back as your paths cross. A man watching your lips move when you speak. I’d take up smoking just to have a guy light my cigarette. Those are the most alluring gestures because there’s mystery and eroticism in them. Romantic foreplay, if you will. One of the sexiest moments I’ve had all year was catching the object of my desire staring at me from the other side of a room. The whole world was buzzing around us, but it was just me and him locked in a stare. Read the rest of this entry »
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My Boyfriend the Vampire, by Laura Warrell
I was minding my own beeswax reading a magazine on the subway recently when I noticed all these teenage girls staring at me. They whispered to each other, giggled and pointed. Finally, I caught my reflection in a window and figured out the cause of the hullabaloo.
Robert Pattinson, the vampire dude from Twilight, was on the cover of my Vanity Fair.
What’s the big whoop? Sure, Pattinson is lovely in a James Dean knockoff way. But because of him, legions of adult women and their daughters are fantasizing about waifish boys flying down from the skies to fang them in the craw. Boggles the mind.
Maybe the vampire thing doesn’t do it for me because I have trouble getting turned on by scenarios that could never happen. Or maybe because I actually dated a vampire. Read the rest of this entry »
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I Am Woman, Hear Me…Never Mind by Laura Warrell
I want to be a man. If only so I can feel good about myself when reading magazines.
I’m a smart, confident woman. I subscribe to the Atlantic Monthly and Vanity Fair so I can stay abreast of liberal politics and sit in my “garden-level” apartment pretending to be an elitist, East Coast blueblood. Lately though, I’ve been keeping up with women’s magazines for blog ideas. And I gotta tell you, reading them makes you feel like dog doo. Read the rest of this entry »
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Sex, Scotch and Batman – by Laura Warrell
“You know what your problem is?” asked Dave.
Boy, do I love conversations that begin with this question. Nothing’s more fun than having a know-it-all friend instruct you on the failings of your existence.
Fortunately, I wasn’t on the other end of Dave’s question. My friend Kim was. She was complaining about her romantic life and asking our friend Dave for advice. The issue was sex appeal and how Kim simply oozes with it. Men are drawn to her like she’s a hunk of steel and they’ve got magnets in their pants. She has few limits, no fears and porn star levels of experience. On the outside, she’s a minx.
But on the inside she’s broken-hearted. Kim feels deeply and wants something real. But few men she meets see her as relationship material. Thus, Dave was educating us over a bottle of scotch.
“Your problem,” he said. “Is that men are intimidated by sexually assertive women.”
“How is that my problem?” She asked him and nervously lit a cigarette. “Sounds like their problem.”
“You know what it’s like?” Dave took a sip of scotch. “Batman.”
“I see your point,” Kim said. “Kind of…not at all.”
“You’ve got Batman, right,” he said. “Batman’s strong, he’s successful, he does good in the world, he’s got his life under control. But see, there’s this other side to him, this dark side where all his sensuality and weaknesses are. We all have a dark side, but Batman thinks he has to fight it.”
“Did I ever tell you how much I love Val Kilmer?” asked Kim.
“Then you’ve got Batgirl,” Dave continued. “All she wants is to take direction from Batman, y’know, she looks up to him and never steps on his toes except in cute little sassy ways that really don’t threaten his power. Most men really want Batgirl.”
“But what about Catwoman?” I interjected. “He wants her too, doesn’t he? Catwoman can defend herself. She has her own agenda and doesn’t need any direction from Batman. He wants her because she’s sexy and strong and tempts him to his dark side. He wants her as much as he fears her.”
“Catwoman’s evil,” said Dave.
“Only because no one will let her enjoy her own power,” I told him. “Batman can’t handle Catwoman because she’s sexual in her own way, and if she’s sexual in her way and not his, then he has to satisfy her and he may not be able to. How can he dominate a woman he can’t satisfy sexually? How can he control a person who has her own agenda? How can you tame a wildcat fighting for her own survival?” Read the rest of this entry »
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