Excuses

April 20th, 2015

I know it’s been over a week, guys. I know I usually blog more often. I really want to. I’m just so.freaking.exhausted.

2015 — and it’s like a quarter done already! — has been so busy. I’m not sure with what, but I feel like I never really get a chance to just sit down and breath. I’m not getting enough sleep and I’m still dealing with my broken heart on top of it.

I don’t mean to sound negative. For the most part, it’s been a ton of fun. I’ve been in high demand, and that makes me feel great. But as much as I intended to post a review before I went to sleep, I think I’m going to lie down on my couch and watch Friends and probably fall asleep.

 

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Happy 5th Birthday oSaL! Have a giveaway!

July 17th, 2013

Birthday candles

Usually, the anniversary here at Of Sex and Love comes and passes and I miss it. I don’t mean to, I just don’t have it memorized, and I obviously spend less time in this corner of the Internet than I used to. It’s not that I don’t love you, because I do. However, the landscape of things has changed, and it doesn’t take a genius to see this. Still, I’m here, and I think there’s something to be said for that.

I’m still learning. I’m still making friends. I’m still finding new toys that I love and trying to help other bloggers and reviewers by giving them information and steering them away from awful companies.  I’ve made a few changes in the past year. I joined Tumblr, and have been trying to be active on it. You can follow me here or see my highlights every Thursday-ish. Additionally, I’ve been trying to sc0ur the Web for more content that I think my readers would enjoy.

I’ve been running giveaways with widgets instead of through comments. For the most part, it makes everything easier for me. The rest of the Internet is ahead of this trend, so I hope you guys are getting the hang of it. I’ve been making more of an effort to include photos in my reviews, which I think is something that other people like more than I do, so I never noticed before.

I couldn’t begin to guess how many toys or posts I’ve made since last July — there are about 50 reviews and 10 giveaways — but I can give you the rundown since I started this blog:

  • 723 posts
  • 32 categories
  • 1360 tags — wow!
  • 3922 comments
  • 247 Tumblr posts
  • 92 Facebook followers

One of the things that I cannot quite quantify is how I’ve become more of a feminist after hanging out with this crowd. It started as Adriana clicking links, reading posts and leaving comments, but now I’m a vocal feminist in my real life. This is one of the reasons I am quieter on OSAL: I’m spending less time hiding behind anonymity.

Looking back, not everything is grand. I debated adding these thoughts at all but they’re important because they’re me. So many of the people that I’ve loved have now become people that I’ve lost. None of the communities feel the same anymore, and I feel an increasing sense of disconnect. Now, more than even when I started this blog, I feel like an outsider looking in. I feel invisible more often than I’d care to admit. It reminds me of times as a child that still evoke negative emotions. I don’t quite know how to reconcile that.

But I’d like to change that, so perhaps my next year with this blog will be one where I focus on making friendships that extend past Twitter or Facebook. Beyond forums. Into the land of the person behind Adriana rather than just the persona I’ve developed. In that vein, I don’t just want to reward you as my readers and commenters. I’d like to use this soapbox to engage with and get to know you. Maybe this will be a little more fun, or maybe you’re just here for the giveaway prize.

And to the point of this post: a giveaway! $100 from PinkCherry to residents of the con US and Canada. Shipping’s on PinkCherry so you can spend every last penny! Use the form below to enter.

Good luck!

$100 to PinkCherry

Click here to load the form if it doesn’t show up on page.

Ends August 17.

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Touch your partner online with KIIROO

I’m Over Here

December 23rd, 2009

I’ve been a little slow with reviews lately. Mostly I’m just lazy. But you can also find my writing over at EdenCafe. Some of my recent posts include:

Okay, so some of them aren’t exactly “recent” per se. I’m just a slacker in all things but it’s great to have been writing different kinds of posts on EdenCafe and the gift cards aren’t half bad either. As I understand it, Carrie Ann is always looking for more writers so drop her a line if you’re interested!

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Thank You

November 21st, 2009

A few months ago – and it does seem longer than that – I was blogging about the frustrations of, well, blogging. I was burned out and bummed out and entirely unsure of whether or not I would continue with this whole sex blog thing. A few of you commented, and I felt a bit better, and then I went back to life as usual, which, at the time, included looking forward to yet another anniversary without my husband. Thank you, deployment.

In the months since then, I feel like things have turned around. I kept working with some pretty awesome sex toy stores who have provided me with countless products to test (many of which I have bashed on this here blog). I am posting this because I just checked my website stats and my daily unique visitor count has crossed 600. I don’t know when I passed 500 but it’s great to see the continuous rise.

And I guess you like reading those scathing comments and ridiculous praises (sometimes) because I was named number 16 on the Top Sex Bloggers of 2009. I hadn’t even realized and deleted the e-mail when I got it because I figured I got maybe one nomination, and no one would even put me on the list, but to be 16? Number sixteen? Sweet sixteen? I would never have known had I not been peeking at someone else’s blog. I’m sure I looked like a total bitch because I didn’t reply. But now I did click, I did see, I did reply. My jaw did drop, of course.

Thank you to whoever nominated me and to the judges. I am listed with and even above some amazing people and awesome writers and I’m grateful to even be on the list, let alone so high.

But that’s not all. I was recently accepted as a Sexpert in California Exotic’s new review program and have been contacted directly by other companies to do some reviews. In fact, I received a comment directly from Nomi Tang herself on my Better Than Chocolate review. Wow. Just wow. So thank you to all the manufacturers who appreciate my honesty, whether tactful or not!

I am not a humble person. I am all too guilty of being quite ego-centric. I am always right, damn it. The world ought to revolve around me. But I know when it’s time to say thank you. So, thank you! (Perhaps this is the perfect prelude to Thanksgiving.)

And as much as I appreciate the visitors and their comments and the opportunities provided to me by stores and manufacturers who send me products in return for my opinions, there is something that means so much more. Although he may not really be into sex toys, my husband is always supportive and as excited as I am when I tell him my most recent “good news” – sometimes more so. Whether it’s numbers or new opportunities, he is just awesome about appreciating what it means to me. In fact, when I told him about making the best sex bloggers list, he asked me when I found out. When he realized I’d known for almost a day, he demanded to know why I didn’t tell him sooner.

But, really, what I should have told him sooner is, “Thank You.”

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Here we are.. again

July 20th, 2009

1 year and 3 days ago I introduced myself to the world as Adriana Ravenlust. I had big plans, big ideas – like I always do. I don’t dream small. I dreamt of being the biggest and the best. I wanted to explore my sexuality, to let you journey with me. I wanted to talk about love more frankly than I have been able to for years. I wanted an identity through anonymity.

And I have achieved some of that. Yet, I cannot help but see how I fallen flat on my face as well. In so many ways I am not where I was. In so many ways, I am still.

I’ve traveled by plane from my home abroad to return to the states where I feel, perhaps even more-so, a stranger. And not even because I spent 2 years living across the world. I went from reviewing items and blogging about it in my spare time to nearly making it a career after saying good bye to my husband as he departed for his second deployment (he returns home in a few “short” weeks). I have spent those months in almost complete isolation, without a single friend to break the silence – except for you, dear reader, commenter, Tweeter, e-mailer. For a while, I felt a connection with a community in a way I had not connected for months, even years. I felt hopeful at the prospects. E-mails and comments and Tweets caused laughter, made it easier to survive the day.

Perhaps most surprising was the way that this blog actually helped to bring my husband and I closer together, maybe even lending a hand to mend a rift,the worrying about which would keep me awake at night.

I could not have expected those changes but even stranger, I could not have predicted what would stay the same.

Despite the fact that I wanted to reinvent myself in some ways, I have only succeeded in being me even more. I have resisted changed, disagreed with policies and argued vehemently over opinions, as I am wont to do. I am sure that I have made more than one enemy.

I have also been unable to prevent or stop feelings from bleeding over into this aspect of my life as well. Most importantly and relative to this blog is my dependence and desire in regards to recognition. While I enjoy reviewing and blogging and Tweeting more than I ever realized I would, I do not enjoy it nearly as much as I could on those days when I get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps it’s simply hard to stand out among the seemingly endless sea of sex toy reviewers. I am no Epiphora, no Sleeping Dreamer.

Maybe I have failed to cement myself as more than a sex toy reviewer as personalities such as Essin’ Em have done; although, I have tried and will likely continue to do so with articles, features and even a bit of erotica. It is entirely possible that no matter how I try, I just do not have what it takes, that I lack the edge to stand out in the crowd. It could be even more likely that in my zeal to be someone else, I forgot to be me and isn’t that, after all, the only absolutely unique thing I have to offer the world?

I probably just expect too much, in this, as I do all else, setting myself up for disappointment. It was folly to set my expectations so high (yet I did, do, will). I find it more appealing commiserate than to congratulate myself on this hallmark. I could be misguided, even in that.

Happy birthday, blog.

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Hey Sex Bloggers

December 20th, 2008

Just curious – do you find your sex blogs are plagued with more spam or weirder spam than regular blogs? Mine sure seems to be.

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Bijoux Indiscrets cosmetics for better sex

So Here We Are

July 17th, 2008

A sex blog? Really.

Really, a sex blog. Not that surprising consider how interested I have been in sexuality these past few years. Not that it’s a recent interest, either, just an exponentially growing one.

I remember when I was younger, in middle school, I would spend the night at my best friend’s house. I wold tell stories of a teenaged girl with her skirt too short who snuck out of her bedroom window at night to meet in something of a fort with her older boyfriend. After, she’d boast of her sexual adventures to her friends, showing them the physical signs of her escapades: bruised, scratched and inflamed skin.

Th stories were largely inspired by the movie Fear, a sort of sexual thriller/horror schlocky piece starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. The male character was based on an older male friend, with whom we both were taken for a short while. I assume we bought imagined the female character to be an extension of ourselves.

At the time, neither of us were sexually active and although we may have thought about it and wondered what it was like – I know I did – I don’t think either of us actually wanted to participate in it, yet.

I spent many of those years and even my younger ones obsessing about sex or, rather, what I thought sex meant and entailed. My assumptions were based on the images and ideas forced on my by the media: television movies and books. Music didn’t seem to hold all the innuendos that it currently does.

Although I understood the mechanics of sex, I don’t think I understood what a complex issue it was. I still felt that my interest was something shameful and although I had been masturbating since before I was a tween, I wasn’t comfortable discussing it. Sex was, simultaneously, something slightly unnatural and shameful as well as something I greatly yearned to be having so that I could join that special club.

My younger self viewed sex as something teenagers were having who were in highschool. It was a social status, something that set them apart. I envisioned my own sexuality as a way to be accepted; if I could prove myself attractive and appealing perhaps I would not have so many issues as I had with my body and appearance, especially my weight. Maybe this would give me an edge over those who would otherwise beat me in every other way.

Could sex really do that for me? Perhaps. I suspect that the thoughts I were entertaining would eventually have led to some sort of downfall and ultimately and even poorer self image than the one I had, as is normal for those who try to validate themselves by being sexually active.

Although erroneous, my thought pattern is typical, I think, especially for young teenaged girls. Sex is a complex and confusing activity about which we’re rarely given the right information at the right time (younger, really is better).

Unfortunately, the realities of sex and the extremes portrayed in the media are often not one in the same. Sex is rarely perfect, often messy and sometimes a disappointment. It’s not always the most wonderful thing in the world nor is it awful, traumatic and debilitating. Sex doesn’t always involve months of romantic planning nor is it always spontaneous (and still perfect!). I think sex is often somewhere in the middle, something Hollywood would never want to admit to.

The reality is that the scope of human sexuality is something far grander than I ever could have imagined at that point and sex is never “always” something. Every time is different and every time offers a new opportunity to learn, to experience and to grow.

Sure, some people will boat their exploits as a way of showing status but, when it comes down to it, there are not the type of people I would choose to associate with and that is not the type of attitude that will get me anywhere.

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