Featured Blogger: Laurie

The current featured blogger is Laurie from Your Ill-fitting Overcoat

She's been blogging for 3 years and since the start of her blog, she's

+ moved across the country to a city where I didn't know a single soul
+ took a cross-country road trip with a stranger
+ quit my job and spent two months backpacking around Europe by myself
+ moved to New York
+ started law school at one of the Top 5 law schools in the country
+ quit law school and moved back across the country to start a freelance writing career
+ gone on lots of dates, good and bad
+ learned a ridiculous amount about the world, and about myself

You've got a lot of catching up to do!


(Past Winners) Read rest of these entry>>>

Vlog Day 2 Tomorrow

Don't forget!

Details here.

And then post your links to your videos in the forum tomorrow!

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Vlog Day 2 Topic Announced

Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Create and post a video (no longer than 5 minutes) with your response to the following:

Show us what you love.

It can be people, a person, a recipe, a location, a band, a piece of art, anything you love!

Post the video on your blog on the 18th. There will be a new forum thread (at 20sb) on that day for you to post a link to your entry. Then on Thursday we'll round up all the participants and link to them on the 20SB blog.

When you upload your video, tag it with "20sb".
If you upload with vimeo, add it to the vimeo 20sb group.
If you upload with youtube, add it to the youtube group (which will be created soon)

Alright, see you on the 18th! Read rest of these entry>>>

February Carnival Theme

In honor of Valentine's Day, write a love letter or a break-up letter. The letter can be addressed to anyone or anything-- and from anyone or anything-- past, present, or future.


Submit your story to the Blog Carnival by emailing the URL to your post and the URL to your 20sb page to tipptalk[at]gmail[dot]com.

Deadline is February 28th! Look for winners March 2 right here!
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January Blog Carnival

Marissa Kristal

I sent him a valentine every year and signed each from his "Secret Admirer." I joined the soccer team, even though I was terrified of the ball, because that was his favorite sport. I sent him an invitation to my Bat-Mitzvah and waited every day by the mailbox until his response finally came checked YES. And we were friends, sure, but he'd never given any indication he wanted anything more. He was a boy, an immature boy. And sometimes he teased me, and other times he pulled my hair. On our sixth grade camping trip he played a prank on me with my arch-nemesis, bachelorette rival. I cried and and cried for days. This meant he didn't want me, he wanted her. And I didn't care so much that she'd won, what killed me was that I lost. I lost him. Read the rest here.

Diamond KT

Sometimes a first kiss lives up to your expectations and sometimes it's even better than you expected! Perhaps you don't see rockets and fireworks going off like Bobby Brady, but a good first kiss will leave you feeling a bit woozy. You heart pounds harder. Your palms may start to perspire. You will feel a small flutter in your stomach...and if you're lucky, a tickle in your pants as well. The best kisses leave you speechless after, and breathless during. And then there are fist kisses that leave you with an incredibly creeped out feeling like you just madeout with your own sister! Those are NOT good first kisses. That relationship is doomed before it has even begun. You can be friends with that girl, but do not date her. Trust me. It will not last. Read the rest here.

Sex on the Beach

First kisses. Everyone's had one. Some might have been everything you imagined it would be. Some rather embarrassing. Others, totally unbearable. For me, I never realized how much I'd actually learn from my first kisses. Looking back on it, it makes sense that those lessons would be both about friendship and love. Read the rest here.

A Jumbled Journey

There was a guy, as there so often is.  He was sexy and smooth.   (and a complete sleazeball as I later learned, but hey.   I'm not telling that story today.)  He would walk me to class, and help me "study" for finals, which mainly consisted of him lying in my lap and distracting me madly, guaranteeing that instead of recalling which country pissed off the others the most during the Middle Ages, I would sit in class and doodle with a goofy smile. Read the rest here.

[Mis]Adventures of a Small Town Girl

He was a friend to everyone and didn't have a malicious bone in his body. He was a flirt. As we became good friends, working together and hanging out, the crush part stayed in the background, though the feelings that I had for him (and those that he had for me) were never acted upon. We were never available at the same time, such a dramatic and tragic tale in the world of highschool. Read the rest of the entry here.

Miel Et Cannelle

So certain was I that he was going to kiss me, and so certain was I that the garlic tzatziki making competitions held in my kitchen that I dutifully ate the products of  was going to put him off me and girls forever.. That I began to eat Cepacol lozenges. The medicated ones. The medicated ones that if you are an 11 year old girl waiting to be kissed are the only things in the house that you could use as a breath mint. The medicated ones that make you smell like an alcoholic grandfather. The medicated ones that if you eat enough, completely and utterly destroy your taste buds and leave you unable to taste anything for a week. Read the rest of the entry here.

Princess Pointful

He, being the more experienced one and having kissed a girl before, declares that we should kiss again for longer. We again do the count down, and hold our mouths together for a count of six. Read the rest here.

Confessions of a Jersey Girl

At the end of the day, he followed me to the bus and told me the plan.  the 3 M's.  movies, makeout and mcdonalds.  and he wanted me to know that if my mom didn't want to drive, his mom would. GREAT. as is the standard in eighth grade, my mom picked him up and took us both to the movies.  we were going to see city of angels, which had just come out… and it was PG-13!  man were we ever living.  i remember flipping out the whole time.  (see? i was a total headcase, even at 13.) we got our popcorn and took our rightful seats in the last row of the theater. Read the rest here.

No Ordinary Rollercoaster

In ninth grade, I had a girlfriend. I'll wait for you to stop laughing..............
Yes. A girlfriend. She was cute, blonde, funny, edgy and quick-witted - everything I was looking for in a friend who was a girl. And as it turned out, I was everything she was looking for in a boyfriend. Note the subtle difference. Read ther rest here.

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Meet Your Admin: Maxie

Name: Maxie
Blog Url: http://www.ihatesomuch.com

Where are you from: West Virginia (also known as the better Virginia)
Age: 23
Blogging since: October 2007

Favourite Movie: Wedding Crashers
Single best part of that movie: Every scene between Todd Cleary and
Jeremy Grey... "we had a moment at the dinner table"

When you were a kid, what movie star did you have a crush on:

Mark-Paul Gossellaar. Yes, the one and only Zach from Saved By the
Bell. For the record, the crush is still alive and well. Mario Lopez
is in a close second.

The last time you took an airplane: In 6th Grade-- I participated in
the National Pre-Teen America Scholarship Pagaent and it was held in
Arizona. If anyone would like to see some "fancy pageant walking" I
would be glad to show you.

Favourite book: The Washingtonienne-- it's Chick Lit with a dash of smut.

Favourite class in high school: Genetics-- it made me want to be a
doctor, but then I found out that requires something known as
"studying" and I crossed that idea off the list.

Fictional character you most resemble: Monica Lewinsky. I know she's
not fictional, but she's kind of my idol.

Favourite beverage: non-alcoholic- Diet Coke with Splenda. alcoholic:
whiskey sour with jack daniels or zombie
(http://www.drinknation.com/drink/Zombie)

Most delicious meal you can cook: Chicken Madeira-- I found the recipe
online, but first had the meal at The Cheesecake Factory and it's my
favorite to eat and cook.

What do you wear to bed: Usually the exact same thing I wore to work--
jeans and all. I'm super lazy.

Favourite scent: Gardenia

Favourite breakfast cereal: Frosted Flakes!

 Favorite TV theme song: It's a tie between Flava of Love and Facts of Life

Favorite TV Show: The Office. I'm in love with all of the characters
and I like to think my office is almost as interesting.

Pets: I have FOUR! cats and a dog.

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