Beautiful.(Photo by Jake Chessum)
Have a fun weekend.
Have a lovely weekend! What are you up to? Here are a few fun posts from around the web...Pianos all around Sydney.
Shhh...a behind-the-scenes museum tour.
A wedding rainbow and a rainbow website (via Lara).
Built by Wendy, I'd like to wear your dresses this spring, pretty please.
A love song to Trader Joe's.
Now, that's wallpaper!
Liking this pottery and these bike photos.
A smart idea for bridesmaid dresses.
Inspired by this Atlanta camera project, I did a New York camera project. Also, Sarah did it in Australia, and Anton did it in Vienna! This anonymous photo project is also awesome.
Have a wonderful weekend! xoxo
(Photo by Bjornar Bjornar)
Clumsy best man knocks bride into pool.
Oh my god, I can barely watch this wedding video. I love the guests' reactions, including the bridesmaids whimpering. As my mom said, the groom should jump in the pool and kiss her!
(Via Smitten)
Stranger photos
Inspired by this Atlanta camera project, we left two disposable cameras on park benches--one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. That night, when we came back, the cameras were there and the full rolls had been shot. Check out the photos here....
Simon Evans
London-born, Berlin-based artist Simon Evans has the raddest exhibition right now at James Cohen Gallery in New York. The show's title is "Island Time," which is a nod to Robinson Crusoe and the handmade objects he needed to survive on a desert island. Evans implicitly compares being shipwrecked, to the role of the artist as an outsider, to his own experience living in a foreign city. He's also obsessed with counting and charting, "an activity key to survival as a castaway," says the gallery. Don't you love his work? (Above: Everything I Have. Below: One Hundred Mix CDs for New York.)
(Via Black Eiffel)
Wednesday Giveaway!
Today's giveaway is from artist Kate Neckel. She's offering the print she created for the book "Love, curated by Samantha Hahn. Wouldn't it look pretty framed in an entryway?For a chance to win, visit Kate's website and leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random tomorrow. Good luck!
Update: The lucky winner is Aimee. Thanks for playing.
My sister just drove through a rainbow.
This morning, I got the coolest call from my sister. "I just drove through a rainbow!" she said, freaking out. She was driving to work in San Francisco and felt like she was almost passing under the arch. The rainbow was on her side, almost moving with her. "It was crazy!" she told me. "I was like, Oh my God! I was looking around to the other people in cars and thinking, Are you seeing this?!" Then the rainbow faded away over a lake. "I felt like I was going to see a bunch of Care Bears or something," she said. Awesome, right? Have you ever seen a giant rainbow?P.S. An awesome rainbow wedding photo!
(Photos from Pennsylvania and Missouri)
The Death of Female Education - Documentary
Class Dismissed in Swat Valley
A short documentary profiling an 11-year-old Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban close down her school.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/22/world/asia/1194838044017/class-dismissed-in-swat-valley.htmlWatch it and weep
Permanent Vacation
Permanent Vacation is a group of designers from Sweden. Wouldn't you love to live in their clothes? Thumbs up to the stripes, and I like that some of their fabrics look like wallpaper.Speaking of vacations, I'm going to take a blogging break while visiting my mom. Feel free to look through the archives, and I'll be back on Wednesday. Have a nice few days!
(Via Chelsea)
Have a happy weekend.
Have a wonderful weekend, my dears! I'm heading to Florida today to visit my mom and her husband. I can't wait to swim in the pool and eat home-cooked meals. In the meantime, here are a few cute things...Rachel Papo, one of my favorite photographers, has a print on 20x200.
A (very) secret treehouse.
Overheard at New York Fashion Week.
Vanessa has a gorgeous new portfolio.
Pretty cards, if you still do the snail-mail thing.
Bill Cunningham's slideshow about how longer skirts reflect money woes.
Paris in the sixties. Good times.
Puppy love.
Loving Abbey's Daily Dose of Green.
Foundation for dudes? Well, at least it has nice packaging.
This He's Just Not That Into You skit make me laugh!
I am in love with the New York Times article skimmer.
Have a happy weekend. xoxo
(Photo by Vanessa)
Home Inspiration: Wallpaper
Oooh, I love wallpaper. It can make such a huge statement, don't you think? When we move into a real place (not a rental), I am going to plaster the walls.(Photo by Wai Lin Tse, via Design*Sponge)
Feeling Smitten...
My dears, here's a weekly round-up from Smitten, my Glamour Magazine relationships blog...We made a video of sexy bedroom makeovers! Take a look...
The words "naughty" and "panties" make me feel weird.
How do you greet people? With a kiss? Hug? Handshake?
Reader's dilemma: "Help! I'm feeling sad this winter."
Three little kids try to elope for an African wedding! This story is too cute...
Which of these four spring dresses would you wear on a date?
Do you swear in front of your parents?
A romantic proposal...on the Brooklyn Bridge.
How one reader met her boyfriend: "We were extras on the Sopranos."
Poll: Which woman should the Bachelor choose?
The perfect French kiss.
True reader confession: "My boyfriend's mom sent me lingerie."
Would you drink during pregnancy?
Guy's perspective: "I thought my friend was skinny until she convinced me she was fat."
My wildest sexual experience: "I wrote him a crazy letter..."
As always, find much more on Smitten. Thank you so much. xoxo
(Photo via Le Love)
Brooklyn Bridge Proposal
Speaking of pink balloons, check out the ridiculously cute proposal story on Smitten today...
Our save the date
We decided to create a wedding save-the-date with one of our engagement photos. We wrote the text on the balloon and turned them into postcards. Yippee! I cannot wait until August 29th, which feels like a lifetime away.(Photo by Max Wanger)
Breathing space
These photos are both calming and refreshing--like taking a deep breath. They remind me of taking walks in rainy England.(By Linn Photography, via Abbey Nova's guest blog on Design*Sponge this week.)
Travel Fantasy: Sailing in Maine
How's this for a vacation fantasy: Hopping aboard the Windjammer in Maine, where you can take anywhere from two-day to two-week trips. You tell ghost stories and eat homecooked meals and keep an eye out for birds, seals and whales. "It's so completely different from anything resembling 'real life,'" says Lisa, whose brother runs the boat. "Being in a big schooner, kerosene lamps, games, rowing, swimming if you're brave, lots of wool, cute boys, excellent food, and pretty, pretty Maine."
Doesn't it sound amazing?
Karlie Kloss - Bvlgari Omnia Jade Fragrance
Karlie Kloss in Bvlgari's newest fragrance advertisement... Shot by Mario Sorrenti in NYC in April 2008.
Saudi King appoints first woman to council
(CNN) -- Saudi King Abdullah has appointed a woman to the council of ministers for the first time as part of a Cabinet reshuffle, networks including Saudi state-run Channel One reported Saturday.
Saudi King Abdullah has appointed a woman to his council of ministers for the first time.
King Abdullah announced a new supreme court chief, minister of health, justice minister and information minister as part of the reshuffling, according to Channel One.
King Abdullah appointed Noor Al-Fayez to the Saudi Council of Ministers. She will serve in a new position as deputy minister for women's education.
"People are very excited about this," said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News, an English-language daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia. "This sends a clear signal that the King means business. Instead of appointing some bureaucrat, he appointed a woman."
Jamal Khashoggi, editor-in-chief of Al-Watan Daily newspaper, told CNN the reshuffle signals a major change in his country.
"This is a huge step forward, in education, women's place in society," said Khashoggi.
The new appointments are the largest council shakeup since King Abdullah took power in 2005.
Maeena also said the other new appointments by King Abdullah were very "progressive" moves.
Some other new appointments were:
-- Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, new minister of education
-- Faisal Al-Moammar, new deputy minister of education
-- Sheikh Mohammed Al-Isa, new minister of justice
-- Abdulaziz Al-Khowja, new minster of culture and information
-- Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, new minister of health
-- Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Humain, new head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of ViceView source article
Have a wonderful weekend.
Happy Valentine's Day, my lovelies! What are you up to this weekend? I hope you have a wonderful time. Here are a few posts from around the web this week...Do it yourself: Heart-shaped paper clips.
Krisatomic makes winter look not-that-bad.
What to pack when you're going on a trip.
Lovely packaging and beautiful cups.
Mini Valentine's presents...on matchboxes!
Things-I-love-about-you boxes.
Off-beat engagement rings.
Red balloon stills.
A Valentine's Day interview on Sweet Nothings.
Finally, all the Cup of Jo Valentine's Day posts from 2007 and 2008.
Big kiss to all of you! xoxo
(Photos by Nerijuskio and Love Letter and Skypaints.)
Bike love
Do you ever see a sweet bike on the street and wish you could tell the owner how much you like it? (Alex and I are constantly oohing-and-ahhing over Danish numbers; and I bike-stalked this tandem for ages until I finally met the adorable owners.)So how genius are these bike tags? You can stick them on your favorite bikes all over town and share your bike love!
(Thanks, Megan)
Bow Bracelet
I don't wear jewelry (except for my engagement ring, of course), but I love this bow bracelet. Isn't it sweet?
Starting at Home, Iran's Women Fight for Rights
Sima Sayyah Protesters last month outside the Palestinian Embassy in Tehran denounced the killing of women and children in Gaza.
By NAZILA FATHI, NY TimesTEHRAN — In a year of marriage, Razieh Qassemi, 19, says she was beaten repeatedly by her husband and his father. Her husband, she says, is addicted to methamphetamine and has threatened to marry another woman to “torture” her.
Rather than endure the abuse, Ms. Qassemi took a step that might never have occurred to an earlier generation of Iranian women: she filed for divorce.
Women’s rights advocates say Iranian women are displaying a growing determination to achieve equal status in this conservative Muslim theocracy, where male supremacy is still enscribed in the legal code. One in five marriages now end in divorce, according to government data, a fourfold increase in the past 15 years.
And it is not just women from the wealthy, Westernized elites. The family court building in Vanak Square here is filled with women, like Ms. Qassemi, who are not privileged. Women from lower classes and even the religious are among those marching up and down the stairs to fight for divorces and custody of their children.
Increasing educational levels and the information revolution have contributed to creating a generation of women determined to gain more control over their lives, rights advocates say.
Confronted with new cultural and legal restrictions after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, some young women turned to higher education as a way to get away from home, postpone marriage and earn social respect, advocates say. Religious women, who had refused to sit in classes with men, returned to universities after they were resegregated.
Today, more than 60 percent of university students are women, compared with just over 30 percent in 1982, even though classes are no longer segregated.
Even for those women for whom college is not an option, the Internet and satellite television have opened windows into the lives of women in the West. “Satellite has shown an alternative way of being,” said Syma Sayah, a feminist involved in social work in Tehran. “Women see that it is possible to be treated equally with men.”
Another sign of changing attitudes is the increasing popularity of books, movies and documentaries that explore sex discrimination, rights advocates say.
“Women do not have a proper status in society,” said Mahnaz Mohammadi, a filmmaker. “Films are supposed to be a mirror of reality, and we make films to change the status quo.”
In a recent movie, “All Women Are Angels,” a comedy that was at the top of the box office for weeks, a judge rejects the divorce plea of a woman who walked out on her husband when she found him with another woman.
Even men are taking up women’s issues and are critical of traditional marriage arrangements. Mehrdad Oskouei, another filmmaker, has won more than a dozen international awards for “The Other Side of Burka,” a documentary about women on the impoverished and traditional southern island of Qeshm who are committing suicide in increasing numbers because they have no other way out of their marriages.
“How can divorce help a woman in southern parts of the country when she has to return after divorce to her father’s home who will make her even more miserable than her husband?” said Fatimeh Sadeghi, a former political science professor fired for her writing on women’s rights.
Janet Afary, a professor of Middle East and women’s studies at Purdue University and the author of “Sexual Politics in Modern Iran,” says the country is moving inexorably toward a “sexual revolution.”
“The laws have denied women many basic rights in marriage and divorce,” she wrote in the book. “But they have also contributed to numerous state initiatives promoting literacy, health and infrastructural improvements that benefited the urban and rural poor.”
To separate the sexes, the state built schools and universities expressly for women, and improved basic transportation, enabling poor women to travel more easily to big cities, where they were exposed to more modern ideas.
Ms. Afary says that mandatory premarital programs to teach about sex and birth control, instituted in 1993 to control population growth, helped women delay pregnancy and changed their views toward marriage. By the late 1990s, she says, young people were looking for psychological and social compatibility and mutual intimacy in marriage.
Despite the gains they have made, women still face extraordinary obstacles. Girls can legally be forced into marriage at the age of 13. Men have the right to divorce their wives whenever they wish, and are granted custody of any children over the age of 7. Men can ban their wives from working outside the home, and can engage in polygamy.
By law, women may inherit from their parents only half the shares of their brothers. Their court testimony is worth half that of a man. Although the state has taken steps to discourage stoning, it remains in the penal code as the punishment for women who commit adultery. A woman who refuses to cover her hair faces jail and up to 80 lashes.
Women also face fierce resistance when they organize to change the law. The Campaign for One Million Signatures was founded in 2005, inspired by a movement in Morocco that led to a loosening of misogynist laws. The idea was to collect one million signatures for a petition calling on authorities to give women more equal footing in the laws on marriage, divorce, adultery and polygamy.
But Iran’s government has come down hard on the group, charging many of its founders with trying to overthrow it; 47 members have been jailed so far, including 3 who were arrested late last month. Many still face charges, and six members are forbidden to leave the country. One member, Alieh Eghdamdoust, began a three-year jail sentence last month for participating in a women’s demonstration in 2006. The group’s Web site, www.we-change.org, has been blocked by the authorities 18 times.
“We feel we achieved a great deal even though we are faced with security charges,” said Sussan Tahmasebi, one of the founding members of the campaign, who is now forbidden to leave Iran. “No one is accusing us of talking against Islam. No one is afraid to talk about more rights for women anymore. This is a big achievement.”
Women’s advocates say that the differences between religious and secular women have narrowed and that both now chafe at the legal discrimination against women. Zahra Eshraghi, for example, the granddaughter of the revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, signed the One Million Signatures petition.
“Many of these religious women changed throughout the years,” said Ms. Sayah, the feminist in Tehran. “They became educated, they traveled abroad and attended conferences on women’s rights, and they learned.”
Because of the government’s campaign of suppression, the process of collecting signatures has slowed recently, and many women do not want to be seen in the presence of a campaigner, let alone sign a petition. Most feminist groups limit their canvassing now to the Internet.
But while the million signatures campaign may have stalled, women have scored some notable successes. A group that calls itself Meydaan has earned international recognition for pressing the government to stop stonings.
The group’s reporting on executions by stoning in 2002 on its Web site, www.meydaan.net — including a video of the execution of a prostitute — embarrassed the government and led the head of the judiciary to issue a motion urging judges to refrain from ordering stonings. (The stonings have continued anyway, but at a lower rate, because only Parliament has the power to ban them.)
View source article
Feeling Smitten...
My dears, here's a weekly round-up from Smitten, my Glamour relationships blog...Found: The most gorgeous wedding ever.
What's your relationship status?
Prom photos! Did you kiss your prom date?
Two cute Valentine's Day ideas.
Romantic tip: Sheets that make you look good naked.
How long do you usually wait to say "I love you"?
Which wedding first dance songs do you like? (All our favorites have depressing lyrics!)
Gorgeous lingerie.
Fantasy vacation: Which three people would you bring?
Which woman do you think the Bachelor should choose?
True dating confession: "I hide my clothing purchases from my boyfriend."
Guy pretty vs. girl pretty: Mini skirts.
Help! Which of these three outfits should I wear on Valentine's Day?
As always, find much more on Smitten. Thank you! xoxo
(Photo by Joana)
New humans
French photographer Thierry Bouët takes photographs of babies in their first hours after being born. I love their very specific expressions: scared, goofy, mad, sleepy and worried. They look like little old men.
Men's pajama pants
When I was in college at University of Michigan, we used to wear plaid pajama pants to class. This chic Parisian reminds me of those days--but is obviously way cooler.(Photo, cropped, by The Sartorialist)