June 12, 2008
I brought a pair of black Crocs with me to London, and I haven’t worn them once. While they are rivaling flip flops as the standard casual footwear in my corner of the world, the Brits appear to eschew them. The only Crocs I’ve seen on the street have been on children and German tourists. Darn. I find them incredibly comfortable and versatile, and I’ve seen a lot of cute sandal and slipper-type variations of the original style. They even have a style with medium-high heels! How cute is that? And all those colors! I wonder, how environmentally friendly are they?
Update: Just found a pair of these on sale at Von Maur in Columbus. Hooray!
Posted in London, Shoes | 2 Comments »
Tags: Fashion, London, Shoes
June 10, 2008
To celebrate my 100th post on Ye Olde Blogge Syte — thank you, thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you — may I offer a few observations about life online?
1. SEX SELLS. Paris Hilton. Victoria and David Beckham. Madonna. Sex and the City. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Tyra Banks. Gossip Girl. There. Just by mentioning those names, I have guaranteed that this will be a record-setting post for me. My popular culture posts have been among the most viewed, and I, for a brief, giddy moment, considered changing the whole outlook of my site. But reason prevailed. I’m not fascinated by celebrity, and blogging continually about it just for readership would certainly turn me into some sort of Blog Whore. Celebrity blogs are fine, but not for me.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogging, Personal, The Web | 6 Comments »
Tags: Blogging
June 9, 2008
I’ve been thinking dark, brooding thoughts about the dwindling availability of natural resources (like, you know, gasoline) and the attendant rise in prices of just about everything. In light of my recent post on making the best of the recession, I’ve decided to make a list of my green — and not-so-green — behaviors:
My good deeds:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Money, Thrifting | 4 Comments »
Tags: Being green
June 9, 2008
One of the delightful things about reading other peoples’ blogs is discovering the blogs that they’re reading. The very idea that WordPress, my home sweet home, is supporting millions of blogs and blogposts daily* by people from all over the world would be daunting if it weren’t for the fact that bloggers have a knack for seeking out like-minded friends. I feel like a bee flying from flower to flower, sipping a bouquet of nectars.
Jan’s Sushi Bar is the latest midlifer site to kindly include my humble offering in a list of her new-found favorites, and I have happily reciprocated. (Thanks!) Blogs are as individual as their creators’ fingerprints, and I enjoy the visual and literary feast that is always available out there, day and night.
But I am tired of being at the mercy of the available blog designs. HTML for Dummies, anyone? If you have any experience on breaking out of the box design-wise, or could direct me to some instructional sites, I’d love to hear from you. Right now, I only know enough HTML to make me dangerous!
Keep on bloggin’!
*Is is just me, or do the most popular blogsites on the WordPress list always seem to be about soccer?
Posted in Blogging, The Web | 6 Comments »
Tags: Blogging
June 8, 2008
ByJane, the Godmother of MidLifeBloggers, whacked tapped me gently with her magic wand, and I am called to do her bidding. Says she, of the film debut of Sex and the City: The Movie, “I keep coming across all these comments about how Carrie’s in her ’40s and Samantha’s in her ’50s — and I’m thinking, is 40 the new 20, 50 the new 30, and 60 the new 40?” From a midlife perspective, she challenged me, what’s up with this film?
Let me start out by declaring that I have not seen the entire television opus, and I have not yet seen the movie. (I’m still in London for another week or two, and I’m planning a Girls Night Out with my friends when I get home, complete with feather boas, little black dresses and ridiculous shoes.) But I’ve read enough reviews and discussions and seen enough trailers of the film that I am willing to take a stab at it.
For me, from the very beginning, SATC has been a complete fairy tale. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Adventures at midlife, Fashion, Image, Personal, The media, Women | 2 Comments »
Tags: midlife, Sex and the City, Women
June 6, 2008
I just returned from three days in Stratford and Oxford to find that the American political landscape had significantly shifted. (Funny, I didn’t see any headlines about it in the English countryside.) Most of the Brits I’ve talked to have certainly heard of Hillary (and more so her husband) but they’re not sure who this Obama character is. “I’m not sure, either,” I tell them. “But I expect we’ll find out.”
As I cruised the Web, I found myself nodding at what media blogger Nancy Nall said in her summary of the campaign:
I’m thinking what happened to Hillary is what happens to people who live in a human cocoon, surrounded by ass-kissers and pillow-plumpers who either a) spend all their time covering their own; or b) telling you what you want to hear.
But I was especially interested — and saddened — by NYTimes columnist Judith Warner’s commentary juxtaposing Hillary’s decline with the ascendancy of “Sex and the City”: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in London, Politics, The media, Women | 1 Comment »
Tags: Hillary, Politics
June 1, 2008
The Washington Post has a disturbing story on an aspect of British life that I wasn’t aware of: “According to government statistics, only 5.7 percent of rapes officially recorded by police in England and Wales end in a conviction.”
Solicitor General Vera Baird, who oversees criminal prosecutions in England, estimated that [only] 10 to 20 percent of rapes are brought to authorities’ attention. According to government figures, 14,000 cases a year are reported and 19 out of 20 defendants walk free…
Thousands of victims each year once chose not to go to police because of shame, women’s advocates say. Now, the advocates say, the bigger reason is that rape victims feel the system is stacked against them.
Why the low conviction rate? Surveys commissioned by the police forces found a “‘culture of skepticism’ in the justice system when it came to rape cases, and recommended shifting the focus from seeking reasons not to believe the accuser to gathering evidence to support the charge.” (For a U.S. comparison, see this Wall Street Journal response.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in London, Politics, Women | 1 Comment »
Tags: Crime, London, Rape, Women
June 1, 2008
Some genius has come up with a novel thesis: blogging may make you feel better. No kidding. According to Jessica Wapner, writing in Scientific American Online:
Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery.
I haven’t had any surgery lately, but I do know I like putting my thoughts down on paper. I had a shrink once who called it “yellow pad therapy” in honor of the legal pads her patients used to try to pull their lives and thoughts together. I filled up a few yellow pads myself.* Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogging, Mental health, Personal, friends | 4 Comments »
Tags: Blogging
May 30, 2008
It’s true: The Spouse and I will be celebrating three decades of wedded bliss — or mutual tolerance — on June 1. Included in that number are one grandchild, two kids, three sets of washers and dryers, four homes, five refrigerators, nine surgeries, about ten cars, at least a dozen job changes between us and I’ve lost track of how many mortgages and refinances.
We’ve gone from a king-sized water bed to twin beds back to a king-sized mattress (he can’t sleep with or without me). Other than a three-year stint in Chicago, we’ve lived in the same little town we grew up in that, thanks to urban sprawl, isn’t a little town anymore.
We’ve married off one son and will leave London in two weeks to fly to Columbus to marry off the other. I spend Christmas Eve every year with his close-knit family, he goes out to dinner occasionally with my rather dysfunctional siblings. We’ve buried his father and my mother, and if he turns into his father, or if I turn out like my mother, we’ve both vowed to divorce each other. So far, so good.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Adventures at midlife, Family, Personal | 3 Comments »
Tags: Marriage
May 30, 2008
The excellent Ask Allison is featuring my blog this week on Women Bloom, her online community and resource for women in their 40s and beyond. Thanks, Allison! I have been most fortunate to fall in with a group of very supporting and colorful midlife bloggers. Keep on posting, divas!
Update: Oh, dear! It’s a real embarrassment of riches! The always-witty ByJane has included one of my posts on MidLifeBloggers as well. The stars must be in perfect alignment! Thanks, Jane!
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
