There is a blog from a Japanese teacher MINAKO OKAMOTO that is a nice reading for beginners. It comes in 2 versions:

Easy, with English translation:
http://nihongo.blogzine.jp/blog/

With kanji and no translation:
http://nihongodaybyday.blogspot.com/

I have prepared a sample of some posts in parallel text:

http://rapidshare.com/files/401807599/mi...g.zip.html

It is best to use firefox and rikaichan.

I found the children's manga series ペンギンの問題 （A Penguin's Troubles) to be a great way to ease into reading after RTK; grammar/vocab is pretty basic, furigana for all kanji, and most importantly, it's really really fun to read! Sort of like a non-boring Doraemon.. Highly recommended!

sboss, that sounds wonderful, got a download link to it or anything?

Afraid not, but the series is widely available at most bookstores in Japan (both online and off). If you get a chance, definitely check it out!

Thanks for the link, usis35. It looks interesting to me!

The 日本語 w/ translation blog is the perfect level for a beginning reader with a little kanji under their belt. Neither intimidating nor discouraging. Thanks!