As someone who teaches year-round, I don't get "breaks," which I've often thought to be a good thing. Not only do I love what I do, but I think breaks would throw off my groove and make me just want more breaks! All kidding aside, many parents find themselves exhausted after a summer of no school, looking forward to their kids going back and even traveling to Disneyland alone!
80s nostalgia is running high right now, and we're totally here for it. Along with the nostalgia is a resurgence of popularity of many things 80s, including notable artist Patrick Nagel, who was known for many iconic 80s works, such as the album art for Duran Duran's Rio album. Nagel has since passed away, but many people are coming back to his art now that the 80s are getting big again.
There have been so many negative news stories about women lately, from more perverts arrested or called out for violating women to police attacking a young woman in Mexico to restrictions on everything from abortion and healthcare to a woman's right to wear PANTS at work, for Pete's sake... I'm not saying that we stop fighting against this ridiculousness but I am saying that we take a breath to acknowledge the good. If we don't, what are we even fighting for?
If a cake looked hand-sewn, would you want to eat it? This incredible cake artist makes cakes with different textures to appear as if they are needlepoint masterpieces rather than actual desserts you can eat--which they are! The artist also creates cool plants, like succulents, that you can eat on the cakes as well. The end project looks more like a garden or a stitched design rather than an actual cake!
According to John Fogerty, the Grateful Dead "sabotaged" Creedence Clearwater Revival's chances at Woodstock. He says the band was only supposed to perform for 45 minutes, but they did an entire extra set, doubling their time and leaving CCR to perform after 2 AM, when audiences were tired and no longer interested. He says it was a great set, but people were beyond caring at that point.
Intuitive eating are buzzwords right now, but should they really be all that new to us? To me, it seems as if the concept is the one we're really born with, and it doesn't change until we start to internalize thoughts and beliefs surrounding food and health that we get from other people.
Sometimes animal behaviors that seem odd really aren't. Take the fact that we thought the "alpha wolf" mentality was a real thing, when it turns out that wolves only behave that way when thrown together in captivity and not in the wild with their families. But this new behavior exhibited by Florida panthers and bobcats is pretty weird.
Recently I watched a documentary about Cuba, and one of its main focuses centered around how healthy the coral reef systems of the country are compared with the bleached coral reefs around the world. It turns out that it's because Cuba turned to more sustainable agriculture without the harmful runoff of pesticide, which much of the world continues to utilize. We could learn a lot from Cuba, and the corals seeking out new homes would definitely appreciate it if we did.
For those of you who have played games like Would You Rather and enjoyed it, the party game If You Had To is in the same vein but to the next, much more innapropriate and hila
If scientists devloped some sort of diet or eating guide that would help us preserve this planet for human life, would you implement it into your life?
If you're like Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation, you think that the only good food is breafast food--or more specifically, waffles! While many of us don't ONLY love breakfast, good breakfast food is certainly worth raving about, and one of the best places you'll find pancakes and French toast at in Seattle is Portage Bay Cafe.
Let's face it: there's no such thing as a completely, 100% original idea. All artists steal from other artists, and any good artist will admit it. Even George RR Martin's epic fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) is basically the retelling of the actual War of the Roses with a bunch of Tolkien and other authors' fantasy elements thrown in.
Human beings can be the greatest disappointment as well as the best hope for a species. Consider the Loa Water Frog: researchers believe they've found and rescued the last 14 frogs of the species from a dried-up stream in Chile where humans were illegally extracting water, causing them to run out of habitat and die.
When it comes to cocktails, the garnish isn't what makes the drink. Your ingredients have to be good in order to pull of a tasty libation. But garnishes can definitely add some extra appeal, especiall when you want to take it up a notch. That might mean something non-edible that fits your theme, like tiny aliens for a sci-fi party or even a broom-shaped stir stick for a Harry Potter adult party. Edible garnishes, however, are usually appreciated by many guests, particularly when they are delicious to boot.
If you're like me and you wish you could have more plants inside your house, you might be interested in this Kickstarter that I just ran across. Called a Blooming Table, it allows you to grow plants beneath your tabletop, which not only looks incredible but blends your plants with your home decor. I am so in love with this concept.
Cat owners (and those owned by cats, if that is the case), how on Earth do you get your kittehs to sit still for a nice family portrait or kitty selfie? If your cat is like any of mine, it's absolutely out of the question. They are certainly too fabulous to have their photos taken by mere mortals, amirite? It turns out there are a few tricks you can try, like this cat attachment for your phone.
Photography enthusiasts, professional photographers and hobbyists: do any of you have your own studio at home or elswhere to work on your photography? Did you DIY the studio with your own materials and ideas? I ran across this article about someone who did and thought it was so cool it had to be shared. She actually made a studio in a storage shed in her backyard!
If you've never heard of Girls Leadership and their super cool lists of curated books about strong female characters, you need to go check it out. There are great books for every age group and I have enjoyed many of them, both on my own as well as with my family. Our favorite so far has been Bayou Magic, but there have been many wonderful books over the months we've been getting the newsletter.
All laws, no matter how ridiculous or outdated, have their place and purpose. Some are to help keep order, some are to protect people and places, and some are so heinously racist or otherwise unfair that they need to be broken and repealed yesterday. Parking violations, for example, are sometimes silly, but those laws sometimes do need to be enforced to assist with things like city trash pick-up schedules.
Fans of a classical education support the idea that memorizing poetry will always be an important academic pursuit. Even homeschoolers who follow a Charlotte Mason approach make this argument. Some argue that poety is part of the human connection, in the same way that music and other forms of art are, and that by memorizing it, we make connections, stimulate conversation and delve deeper into the human experience.
