I am a 1st Amendment zealot, but I have to say the decision by Tumblr to ban self harm sites is a good one. First of all, Tumblr is a private entity, so the 1st Amendment doesn’t really apply. I am not that familiar with Tumblr, but if there has been a rash of self harm sites on there, it is good they took action. Some of these sites can only make such things as anorexia, bulimia, and cutting worse. I say bravo to them.
Here is an interesting article that talks about some recent studies on relationships. Some of the findings are
There are a few more good tidbits in there. I always enjoy reading about these kinds of studies. Must be fun to carry them out too!
I found this interesting article online today. It is about what not to say to a divorced mom. Things like, what happened to the dad?, how are the kids adjusting?, does he help out financially? You know, things that aren’t anyone else’s business, unless you really, really are BFFs.
It is kind of like the things you shouldn’t say to a never married person. Like, what happened?, why have you never married?, Are you too picky etc., etc. Again no one else’s business. It assumes that there is something wrong with being never married. While many of us, including me, used to pine over our single status, most of the time, I rejoice in it now. Not that I wouldn’t love to meet my soulmate, but I am not going to pine about it anymore. And I am just glad I am not one of the 50% who married when I shouldn’t have and am now thus divorced.
Botttom line: just don’t ask rude and inappropriate questions. Even if they are well intentioned. Join this century!
Some of my friends and I are taking a girl’s trip to Orlando soon. I am so excited–the weather at home is dreary, and I am ready for a sunnier clime. I am also looking forward to having fun and relaxing. I just can’t seem to do that at home–too many responsibilities keep hitting me in the face, and all I see is the housework that needs to be done. Get me out of here!
We have started looking for affordable airfares and hotel rates. We may not all be able to fly together, but hopefully we can agree on a hotel. Something nice but that won’t break the bank.
I am very excited about going to Orlando–I haven’t been there since shortly after college. and so much has changed. One thing I really like to do is go out to eat. I don’t have to eat at a fancy restaurant every night, but I do like to do fine dining at least a couple of times while on vacation. I have been researching Orlando Restaurants and have found a number I would like to try. I might want to go to Tommy Bahama’s and have their coconut shrimp again, also the award winning Emeril’s restaurant, the Bull & Bear Steakhouse (sounds yummy!) or enjoying some good music at the House of Blues Orlando. And who could resist going to Bubba Gump Shrimp at Universal Orlando?
Eating out is an important part of a trip for me. You get to try new dishes, soak up the restaurant’s atmosphere, and relax and talk with friends. I know we will have a lot of fun dining in Orlando.
I mentioned in the previous post that Jenna Burke is no Carrie Bradshaw. I can say that based on the quality of her blog and her actions on the Bachelor.
So that begs the question–how would Carrie Bradshaw behave on the Bachelor? There are two possibilities that I see. One scenario would be that she would get emotional like Jenna and be a trainwreck just like Jenna. Like the dating/relatonship blogger who fails miserably when put on the spot. But I think Carrie would have handled it with more humor and there would have been some upside. There didn’t seem to be an upside with Jenna.
Or, Carrie would have excelled on the show, either to be eliminated right at the end or to be proposed to, only to decline. Carrie, after all, is complicated. But she would have handled the show with humor, grace, vulnerability, but in the end she would have acted like the journalism professional.
So, that begs the question–how would the other characters have fared on the show?
Well, Miranda probably wouldn’t have been chosen. Sorry hon, but you were just not sexy enough.
Samantha wouldn’t have made it very far either. She is sexy and attractive, but she would not have been able to make the emotional connection, and she would have pissed the other women off.
Charlotte is the one person who could have pulled it off. She has just enough of the good looks, feminine wiles, and good strategy to know when to hold them and when to fold them.
It would have made a good episode of SATC.
This is a little after the fact, but I wanted to comment on Jenna Burke, the contestant on a Bachelor show who is a blogger. There has been a lot said about the fact that she is a blogger, and also that her blog is not that hot. Did ABC choose a blogger just so there would be buzz among the blogworld? Or did they want their own Carrie Bradshaw/?
I have to admit, that being a blogger, I was excited to see how she would play out. Her blog is titled The Over-Analyst, which I thought was cute. I too over-analyze, particularly when it comes to love. So what could be more fun than to see a blogger who blogs about love put it all in action.
Except….it wasn’t very pretty. Another contestant, Monica, seemed to glom onto her and want to terrorize her. (How mature is that?) For some reason, Jenna let Monica get to her. Monica would cackle like a witch, and was kind of scary to be honest. . She gave me the creeps. But I would hope that it wouldn’t bother me so much that I would sabotage myself on the Bachelor. But that is what Jenna did. She was crying all the time, and seemed to act like Monica was a stalker. Monica was sort of like a stalker to her, but still…Jenna should have found a better way to handle it. Walk away….jeez.
Jenna only lasted a couple of episodes before she got the boot. She was just having meltdown after meltdown. Monica herself eventually didn’t do much better, and she is off the show now. She mellowed some with time, but you couldn’t forget her first frightening behavior.
As to her blog, it is passable. It seems a little unfocused and trying to be all things to all people. I can criticize, because not only am I a blogger, but I have been a magazine writer and editor for years. There is also not much personality in the posts. It takes a writer a while to development a voice, and maybe she is not there yet.
But she is no Carrie Bradshaw.
I now have a dependent–a relative who is a minor moved in with me. I am thrilled and am enjoyig the life we are creating together. But I am also nervous about finances, since I have trouble paying for myself, and now I have to pay for two. So, I am looking for ways to save and ramping up again to cut coupons (haven’t used them in years, but now have a reason to start again). I am also looking for other ways to save money.
I am not wanting to buy a lot of things right now, but am searching for websites where you can find good deals on products when you do need to get something. There are websites out there to find deals on everything from skincare to dishes to collectibles to western saddles (not that I would ever need that–I don’t ride horses!) But you know what I mean. Sites that are aggregators of sorts and list sales prices.
But for the time being, I want to be in frugal mode. Now, if I can just get my niece in that mode too.
I had a little VW bug that I totaled last summer. It was so upsetting. First, I felt that I did not take care of it well enough. (This was not my first wreck in the car.) I rear-ended someone on the interstate. It is not as bad as it sounds, as the traffic was backed up and cars were only going about 15 MPH. But that was enough to total my car. Good grief! Then, the traffic became backed up even more, because I had to stop and so did the car I hit, and we had to wait until the highway patrol showed up. I hated getting looks from the other drivers, like “What were you thinking? Look at that stupid person who had a wreck.” But I was asking myself the same question.
I didn’t have anything like Good Sam Roadside Assistance, but the highway patrolman was so nice and helpful. He made the tow truck driver stay with me and help me clean out my car. He then asked the driver to take me to get a rental car. The patrolman was so nice–just unbelievable. The best part of the bad story is that I did not get a ticket. I guess he realized it was a hard section of driving, even though the wreck was my fault. That is good, because my insurance hardly went up at all.