“The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his old wife.” — Will Durant
Carrie says: Not essential, but a powerful way to grow, stretch and open your heart. My first year of marriage was painfully difficult; adjusting to being with another, letting go, and at the same time learning to stand my ground. Now, I love being married, having a life partner…we are expanding together.
Jessica says: I think it’s an individual thing. Some will tell you they don’t need another to be complete, some think they can’t be fulfilled without a partner. All I know for certain is that personally, right now, a life partner sounds pretty awesome.
[Today's C&D Guest Blogger is Ursula Bamnolker, the editor of Candy Colored Buddha, a design blog that celebrates all things chic, fun, modern, colorful and green]
When you think of the Midwest, what comes to mind? Corn fields? Cows? Beer? How about Jonathan Adler? Chic, sexy design? Lacquered furniture and fun, fabulous colors?
I’m guessing you chose the former…unless you’ve come within 50 feet of St. Louis designer Amie Dupre Corley. Bringing a fresh viewpoint and a wonderfully creative approach to the table, Dupre Corley is a designer who knows how to mix high with low, transform a space that’s feckless into fabulous…all the while staying on a minimal budget.
I sat down recently with her to delve more deeply into her treasure trove of knowledge. Here’s what she had to say:
1) First of all, tell me a bit about your background. You didn’t start out in the design field. What did you study in school?
I am actually a big science nerd at heart. I was pre med all the way through college and while I was getting my master’s degree in tropical medicine at Tulane, I decided that I needed a little creativity in my life and signed up for photography classes. It was then that I realized I was probably more talented in the creative arts than the scientific ones! When my husband and I purchased a one hundred year old home in the Central West End of St. Louis in 2004, I was faced with the challenge of restoring and decorating a 6,000 square foot home on a very limited budget. That was when the decorator in me was born and I have been obsessed ever since.
[Today's C&D Guest Blogger is Melinda Lewis, the founder of The Get Togetha company; a daily lifestyle blog that features ideas on living quality, spirit musings, home décor, and entertaining from the heart. She lives in Harlem, New York with her husband Regg and their Beta Fish Seymore]
The L word is such an overly used, frustratingly narrow utterance. But like all things American, we learn how to make things user friendly and Valentine’s Day is no exception: Roses at mind-boggling markup prices, kitschy note cards,”who can afford filet mignon” dinners, “I look fat in this” lingerie, and an insanely ginormous amount of drugstore snuggle bears and heart shaped chocolates. It’s all too much. So much so that we want the commercialism of the Red Love Day to fall into the bottom of a Volcano already.
But this could just be me.
Five years into my marriage I was once the “uuugh!” and the “arrrrrrgh!” cynic of commercialized love. But I am now happy to say that my rough edges have softened. My narrow perspective of how I thought love should be acknowledged and celebrated has since been blown out of the water. From the second grader who laboriously Crayola’s hearts for Mommy and Daddy to the career driven long distance couple that divides time between Coasts to the soldier in Iraq who wants to be with his family to appreciating the wisdom in the crow’s feet of your Grandmother’s eyes. Love is omnipresent; it’s everywhere.
Not only do actions speak louder than words, they also tell us practically everything we need to know when it comes to dating. An “I love you” doesn’t mean squat if your guy rarely makes time for you or if the only form of communication he seems to know is text messaging. Forget what he says–focus on what he does. Should the words and the actions sync better than Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass, then you’ve got a real winner.
1. He Calls For No Reason
When he’s really into you, he calls just for the sake of calling. He likes hearing your voice. He wants to hold a conversation with you about anything and everything. Sometimes he’ll call just to say hi, and at other times he’ll call for a specific purpose. Either way, he wants to be as close to you as humanly possible when he can’t be in your presence. Also, if he calls, you actually get to hear his voice. Text messaging can be incredibly impersonal, especially if he never calls at all. Someone who’s truly into you won’t reduce your interactions to characters on a cell-phone screen.
It’s the first thing out of people’s mouths, and I never know what to say. In fact, usually I make things up. I don’t lie and tell them I’m a neurosurgeon — it’s not like that. It’s just that I’ve spent the better part of the last decade searching for my life’s work, and I have found it. The trouble is, I’ve found it several times, in several different things.
They Call Me A Dabbler
It’s a tough word, with more than a few bad connotations. A dabbler is defined as someone who works at something in an “irregular or superficial manner.” It suggests indecision, and uncertainty. It makes me seem unfocused, or undisciplined, even flaky. It sounds like I don’t know what I’m doing when really, that isn’t the case.
More than a year ago, there was a huge exposé of the harmful levels of lead in many toys manufactured throughout the world. This was mainly due to poor factory practices in China and other eastern countries. After this information was made public, parents everywhere began switching to American-made or wooden toys for their children. Although that was a good move for many, there’s still a culprit lurking beneath the surface of those toys–plastic. Almost every toy on the market is made with cheap plastics that are full of harmful chemicals. Most bottles, nipples, and other baby products are also made of these plastics.
The Plastic Problem
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), children ingest more than 120 chemicals on a daily basis. Most of these toxic chemicals are absorbed through the skin or mouth. Although the issue has been brought to the FDA’s attention many times, the organization still hasn’t advanced research or increased regulation.
There are currently no restrictions on the various plastics used in everyday products marketed to children. These plastics contain many harmful chemicals that are categorized as carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals). Many also contain phthalate (an additive to make plastic flexible and durable), which can cause reproductive disorders in males.
The Risk Factor
Babies and children develop at a much faster rate than adults, which leads to greater vulnerability and risk concerning these chemicals. An adult’s body is able to resist and overcome many of the toxins found in everyday plastic products, but a baby’s body is a blank canvas, open to everything it ingests. A child’s development can also be directly linked to the toxins in toys. Links have been found between these chemicals and colds, ear infections, allergies, and behavioral changes in children.
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