Favorites from around the web...

1. This is a beautiful space. I have loft envy.

2. Interesting article about how ideology can conflict with humor.

3. I am getting so excited!!

4. Gorgeous dessert idea. Would love this for a birthday or engagement party.

5. Gotta love bears.

6. I so would love the Pepper to have one of these near by.

7. Fascinating. Those chickens knwo how to work it.

8. I hope this is real.

9. Love these portraits of the first man to reach the North Pole. They show what an intense and determined man he must have been.

10. After being in a friends wedding last weekend I realize I need to practice being photogenic. Thanks Emily for the tips!

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Engagement Rings: I'm with Johnny Depp

So Johnny Deep is engaged and his "man-gagement" ring is getting a lot of press. I think it's interesting that people are so fascinated by this twist on the tradition. One of the things I love most about weddings and the events that go along with them is that people feel free to adjust traditions to create really personal experiences. And besides, my husband wore an engagement ring...so maybe I'm biased.

First off, I'm all for people following traditions if that is what they want and enjoy. But personally, I am not comfortable with the "typical" engagement traditions. I have trouble with the idea of the man being expected to be the one to propose. It creates a picture of a woman waiting around for the man to dictate the relationship. I think it is becoming more and more common for woman to propose, and I like that trend. D and I talked about getting married before we got engaged, and it was something we decided together. Since a marriage is supposed to be a partnership, I felt that was a good way to start out.

I also told D I did not want an engagement ring. I don't wear much jewelry, and the jewelry I do wear is small and subtle so the idea of a special fancy ring just didn't feel natural to me. Additionally, since D and I would soon be sharing finances it felt fiscally irresponsible to spend money on something I wouldn't really appreciate. Then the question of a modest ring came up, and I decided that also didn't feel natural. Much like the concept of the traditional proposal, I didn't like that just a woman is supposed to wear an engagement ring. Why did I need to advertize that I was "taken" but my future-husband didn't? It felt too lopsided. But we did want to acknowledge our engage somehow, so we decided to both get simple engagement bands.

If other people out there did something different let me know! It would nice to know that I'm not the only one resisting the traditional :)

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To heel or not to heel?

This history the of the high heel is fascinating! First off, high heels were originally worn by Western culture by men as a way to look more masculine(!!), something they got from the Persian army. The heels allowed the Persian cavalry to be more secure when they stood up while riding, not unlike the purpose of the heel on cowboy boots. So, to look like warriors men in Europe wore heels.

Women started following the trend so for awhile, both sexes were sporting fabulous (and impractical) footwear. I say impractical because of course this fashion trend was limited to the privileged who didn't have to do manual labor. But, as usual, trends changed and men stopped wearing heels during the Enlightenment when society started embracing education and rationality over opulence. I imagine women continued wearing heels because they do enhance what is generally associated with the feminine and beautiful. They lengthen legs, they accentuate the leg muscles, they push out the butt and the chest, and straighten posture. They may be impractical, but they do have an effect.

I have a mixed relationship to high heels. Like most women I love them because they make me feel sexy. But, I also don't have much reason to wear them. I work at home so I don't need to dress-up to go into an office. And maybe it's just LA (or my LA), but not a lot of people I know really even wear heels to social events. So, outside of special occasions I don't really wear them. I have what I consider a great collection of shoes, that sit idle.

And speaking of men in heels, have you seen the work of choreographer Yanis Marshall? I would love to be able to move like that in 6-inch heels.

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The beauty of Islamic patterns

Have you seen these pictures of the beautiful details and stunning light effects of the Nasir al-Mulk Mosque in Iran? What an amazing space, and the ambiance seems wonderful for celebrating one's faith, or just taking some time to be introspective. It reminded me of a mosque I visited over a decade ago now while on a cruise. We were lucky enough to have a stop in Casablanca where I got to visit the Hassan II Mosque, the largest mosque in the country! The top picture was taken of me in the courtyard. The scale was very impressive, as you can see from this picture:

What is harder to see in this picture is the beautiful and intricate designs found all over this building, both inside and out. You can see some of the tile work better here (that was a group of school boys we found taking a break on their way to school in the morning).

Typically, Islamic art focuses on the depiction of patterns and Arabic calligraphy, rather than on depictions of people. Apparently many Muslims feel that depictions of humans is a form of idolatry and therefore forbidden by God. I actually studied Medieval Art in college so I love my strange, flat, stylized depictions of people in religious art from that period. But in Casablanca I fell in love with both the simplicity and the complexity of Islamic religious art and it's lack of people. The patterns are mesmerizing on their own but when you put them together in a room the beauty is exponential. There is something about the effect that does allow you to become absorbed, like it creates a different world to inhabit. In this way the designs are well-suited to a religious space where I assume people want to take time to reflect and look inward.

All the parenting studies are not helping

I recently saw this and so appreciated it! There are so many studies out there and with this modern age of access to everything we get constant headlines with new information about how we might be failing as parents. And you just can't keep up. One study says kids who breastfeed are smarter, then another one comes out that says there is no difference, and then another one comes out that discredits the second study, and so on and so forth. D's mom recently visited and we were talking about the differences in parenting now vs parenting 40 years ago. In my mother-in-laws words: "We just didn't know as much back then". But she wasn't saying it's all good. It's good, for example, that we know now how helpful seat belts are. But sometimes having information isn't so helpful. Sometimes it's just a lot of noise to sift through and to try to figure out.

We all can't be experts on everything. We all can't go to medical school and become pediatricians, and child psychologists, and education specialists. But we all have access to these studies and information, but without the education to know if we really have all the info. Nobody has time to know everything! Yet we try to make sense of it all and the challenge is not to trust a headline as a truth.

I've chosen to trust my pediatrician about what's best for my daughter, but of course I also have to trust my instincts. I'm also always working to tune out all the noise so that I can trust. I didn't breastfeed as long as I would have liked, but I have to turn off the part of me that thinks about that study I read that the longer you breastfeed the smarter your baby. If I look at the Pepper, I think she's amazing and plenty smart (already running circles around me)! And playing the "what-if" game on if she would be an IQ point or 2 smarter if I had different priories is futile. Or the new study that kids of stay-at-home moms are healthier. There is no reason for me to worry that my completely healthy daughter (who has not yet even had a fever) isn't as healthy as maybe she would be if I didn't work. But it still takes effort to not worry. Its the nature of modern parenting.

Let's all try to tune out the noise and trust our chosen circle of support, and ourselves!

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Favorites from around the web...

1. Loved these but didn't understand as many as I had hoped.

2. This was interesting. It always helps to have some world perspective.

3. Now I understand why my brother hated working in retail.

4. Great insight into the fashion world and the changing trends.

5. I would almost plan a whole trip around visiting this.

6. Love this idea for bringing things at home up a notch.

7. As loft dwellers I always appreciate good design that helps save space.

8. Hysterical, and seems accurate.

9. Wow. Nature continues to impress.

10. Hm, this debunked something I've always believed. Though it's a good reminder that things are often not as straightforward as we think.

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Christopher Walken Dancing!

I love Christopher Walken. He's strange and scary and funny and mysterious and endearing and I just love watching him in films. But one of the things I love about him is that he's a dancer! He studied dance before becoming an actor and even though I don't think "graceful dancer" when I think of Christopher Walken, the above video showcases the many times his dancing skills have been slipped into his films. Other fun Christopher Walken facts: his real name is Ronald, and as a teenager he worked as a lion tamer in a circus.

And of course, Walken's dance skills have never been better showcased than in the Weapon of Choice music video seen below. This is one of my all-time favorite music videos. Plus it looks like he's having so much fun!

Another of my favorite sneaky dancers is Dule Hill, and if you watch Psych you can see it pop into the story every so often. Do you have any favorite actors who have other "hidden" skills?