jen's top ten: my 10 favorite relationship blogs

Sometimes academia can get a bit too highbrow and ivory tower for me. And for those of you who know me, this probably makes a lot of sense to you. I often find myself searching and searching and searching through what seems like a million journal articles (I'm a bit of an exaggerator) for practical, easy-to-understand advice about how to maintain or improve relationships. Unfortunately, a lot of relationship research is not as translational as I would like it to be. Don't get me wrong, I love this type of research and it definitely plays an important role in the academic world. But sometimes, I just want some clear advice (preferably backed up by social scientific evidence) without any of the mumbo-jumbo that accompanies academic journal articles. My desire for this straight-forward advice coupled with my belief that research should be disseminated to the masses by qualified individuals is why I created this blog. And, it's also why I regularly read a group of other relationship blogs. Just as I continuously search for academic research to use for Jen's Love Lessons, I also scour the Internet for other well-written, insightful, clever blogs (yep, I just complimented myself) to add to my daily blog-reading list. While many of the blogs I read are not supported by research, they are deeply perceptive and most are also exceptionally entertaining.

Well, I thought that it was time to share my daily reads with you. Below are my TOP TEN relationship blogs. I hope that you love them as much as I do.

Simple Marriage- Created by Dr. Corey Allan, Ph.D., Simple Marriage has 9 columnists (including Corey) who write about keeping things simple to save, maintain, and intensify your marriage. In addition to his blog, Corey also offers online marriage courses, e-books, and "marriage jams," among other products and services. Corey's writing has made a couple of appearances in my wise love words series HERE and HERE.

• One of my favorite Simple Marriage posts: 8 Simple Reasons to Move the TV Out of the Bedroom

The Dating Divas- These 11 happily married women write about how to keep your relationship alive and kicking by going on unique dates. And they have a TON of ideas for you! They have dates for just the two of you, four or more people, and all of the theme dates you can think of (and a lot you've never thought of!). They're creative and entertaining.

• One of my favorite Dating Divas posts: Serendipity Date

Good Clean Love's Making Love Sustainable Blog- Wendy Strgar, the Chairwoman and Founder of Good Clean Love (a business which offers all natural love products and educational resources), writes this blog. Let me just say that she's amazing. If you like to read eloquent, vivid, creative writing, then her blog should be part of your life. Wendy is one of the better writers I know (and I'm surrounded by writers). Her intuitiveness about the dynamics of relationships and sex (!) amazes me. In fact, Wendy's writing has appeared in my wise love words series a few times HERE, HERE, and HERE.

• One of my favorite Making Love Sustainable posts: Where Libido Falls Apart

Hot Alpha Female- I really like how honest, blunt, and down-to-earth Hot Alpha Female is when writing about her experiences in the dating world. She's entertaining and says a lot of the stuff that you want to say but decide to bite your lip instead.

• One of my favorite Hot Alpha Female posts: 3 Sure Ways to Freak Any Guy Out

Le Love- Le Love is "dedicated to love. The good, the bad, and the unknown." I love this blog because all of the posts are submitted by readers, so the topics covered run the gamut. And, the photos used on this blog are gorgeous.

• One of my favorite Le Love posts: We Choose the Lives We Live

Marriage Gems- Like myself, Lori Lowe, the creator of Marriage Gems, also uses academic research to back up her writing. I enjoy reading Lori's posts and I'm especially excited about a few of her series for 2011 including her Research-Based Love Tips series on Mondays, her Happy Life, Happy Marriage series on Wednesdays, her Keeping the Spark Alive series on Fridays.

• One of my favorite Marriage Gems posts: We All Married the Wrong Person

Therapy Notes- Creators Esther and Llouana are "just a couple regular gals with a passion for helping others," as explained on their site. These women combine their personal and professional experiences (Llouana is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a National Certified Counselor, while Esther is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) tow rite about the trails, tribulations, and joys that come with love, marriage, and parenting.

• One of my favorite Therapy Notes posts: Designing a Forgiving Marriage

Married Man Sex Life- As he describes himself on his blog, "Athol Kay is an innovative thinker, humorist, and family man with a one track mind." While some of his comments are a teeny bit sexist, his wittiness makes me forget about all that men-and-women-are-from-different-planets-and-therefore-cannot-communicate-with-one-another nonsense. Regardless, he gives some concrete advice and much of it is backed up by psychological and sociological ideas. A good read indeed.

• One of my favorite Married Man Sex Life posts: Sexy Moves: The Ten Second Kiss

52 Love Stories- This blog is for all of you who love to be in love. Stefanie Ellis, the creator of this blog, posts real love stories of others. Some are funny, some are inspirational, and some are just cute.

• One of my favorite 52 Love Stories posts: Carol & Andy

But if I had to pick ONE blog that stands out from the rest, it would have to be Project Happily Ever After, written by Alisa Bowman. Clearly, I absolutely LOVE her book, Project Happily Ever After: Saving Your Marriage When the Fairytale Falters. But, I also think that her blog is just fabulous! I can't seem to get enough of her. And, I know that ALL OF YOU will love her too. That's a pretty big statement for me, but I stand behind it.
 
A few of my favorite posts (I love most of her posts!) by Alisa include:

• Alisa's Nether Grooming Guide
• How to Deal with Control Issues
• 12 Ways to Ruin Sex
• 4 Issues that Block Good Communication
• How to Assume the Blame Part 1 & Part 2

I also adore the her Group Therapy series. Check out Project Happily Ever After and all of the other blogs mention above; you'll be happy that you did!


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So, what's YOUR favorite relationship blog?