Archives for July 2009

Blogroll craziness

July 31, 2009 filed under: about me, blog stuff

It’s ridiculous. The list of blogs I read, that is.
Sometimes, when I just blog-hop around, subsequently my blogroll starts growing. It doesn’t mean that these blogs will remain on my blogroll forever, but at least until I have figured out if I go back often enough to justify it.

There are two categories of blogs on my blogroll:

– the blogs that I read and whose owners read my blog in return, and
– the blogs that I read.

Simple, right? I am sure your blogroll consists of the same mix of blogs.
Sometimes though, I feel a little “left out” of the blogger community. I only get an average of maybe 5-10 comments per post (on a good day even 15!), and I pretty much know most of my readers, but I know that there are still more people that read (I can read my stats!). Why don’t people comment? Is it that they only click on your blog once, accidentally, and never come back? (I am sure that’s true for some.) Or is it that they have nothing to say in response to your posts? Does it mean you’re a ‘bad blogger’?

On the other hand, what if your blog attracts a few tens, if not hundreds of commentators? (How the hell did you manage to get that many readers anyways?)
Do you want to find out who those people are? Do you click over to their blogs and read their stories? Or do you feel rather indifferent about a large percentage of those people? I can imagine, if you have a few tens of readers, it’s difficult to keep track of all of them.
However, I do want to know who the people are that find and read my blog.
I do want to know how they found me (ah, hold it right there for a a minute! I think that explains it! I don’t advertise my blog, hence the small number of commentators, I suppose) and why they keep coming back. In most cases, if they have a blog themselves, I do click over there to read more about them.

I am aware that not every “blog acquaintance” turns into a mutual thing.
Still, sometimes it bugs me if I leave comment after comment, trying to connect to someone who successfully ignores me. I am frustrated and tempted to quit reading, but then I realize that I love reading the blog nonetheless and that sometimes it’s obviously doomed to be a one-sided thing.
I do understand that I don’t have any right to expect anything in return, because after all, nobody asked me to come and read their blog, let alone promised anything that would resemble some sort of friendship. I suppose my comment is appreciated on some level, because everybody writes a public blog to receive some feedback, no? But it still feels like a dead-end street sometimes. It’s just nice to get some sort of feedback every once in a while (even when it’s a two sentence-email. Hi, you know who you are! ;)), knowing that your comments have been read and appreciated. It makes you feel connected to this person and you remember why you blog and why you comment on other people’s blogs.

Make no mistake, I’ve made some incredible friends over the Internet. Close friends. It constantly amazes me how close you can feel to a person that you haven’t even met, just by getting to know someone through their writing. I know, a blog only allows you a glimpse into someone’s life and personality, but the connection can be still pretty amazing.

So, what do you blog for? Just for you? For your friends? For strangers? Is your goal to attract as many readers as possible, or would you rather cut back on the comment count and get to know every one of your readers?

In which I have to seriously ask you to keep me away from the thrift stores, or I refuse to take responsibility for my actions

July 27, 2009 filed under: love, shopping

Jeez, thrift stores are addicting. You should be kind of glad if you don’t have them anywhere near you (for me, it honestly doesn’t help that one of them is literally two blocks from where I live). As I am trying to be more money-conscious these days, thrift stores have become my sweet little guilty pleasure.
You don’t have to spend a whole lot of money, but you often find some really nice things… and I’ve been in a “treat yourself”-mode lately.
Retail therapy definitely works for me, and the good thing is that it really doesn’t matter how much something costs. It totally makes my day if I find a book, that I’ve wanted to read for the longest time, for $0.50 at the thrift store.

I found this beautiful skirt at Crossroads Trading Co. (which is more of a second-hand-store, where you can also go and sell your unwanted clothes) for only $8. (It was originally from Target.) I just LOVE the colors and patterns.

Then there were these awesome designer jeans by Citizens of Humanity, pocket-less mind you!, which are usually well over $100.

This cute little Vera Bradley bag (which originally retailed for over $50) was being sold at a thrift store for ridiculous $3.50. What a bargain!

Last but not least, I got something for our apartment, as I had contemplated on Facebook (and it was NOT from the thrift stores!) … I just felt like I had to put some more color into our home. I found those beautiful place-mats at World Market. They kind of match our Kazakh rug.

And another new addition to our living room: a bookcase. Remember how I talked about needing some more storage space? Well, I know, this bookcase doesn’t really provide a whole lotta storage space, but some… at least for my books :) And I just LOVE the color. To be fair, I didn’t find this gem piece of furniture myself, but saw it on someone else’s blog, but I just had to go and buy one. After all, it was 35% off and fits so well in our apartment :)

Ok, so after scrolling up and then down again, I can totally see how that might look like a spending binge to you, but let me tell you that I only spent just about $100 for all those treasures… and if you could see the big smile on my face, you’d know that it was worth every penny :)

What’s your stand on kids running around naked?

July 16, 2009 filed under: cracks me up, I can't make this shit up

I came across this article in the New York Times this morning and I wondered: Why is nudity, even of children, such a big deal in the US?

Let’s all remember Janet Jackson’s little “wardrobe malfunction” (or whatever it was) at the 2004 Superbowl Halftime Show and the public outcry that followed, shall we? I am thinking: RIDICULOUS. Don’t have people more important things to do and talk about than a little boob flash on TV?
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell commented following the incident “We all as a society have a responsibility as to what the images and messages our children hear when they’re likely to be watching television.”
But I seriously ask you, what harm do you think could this 9/16th of a second of breast exposure have done to a child? I am not even sure a kid would have necessarily noticed or thought much of it, if it hadn’t been for the parents and/or media that completely freaked the *eff* out.
I honestly believe that the hype that surrounded this incident had a much bigger impact on children than the incident itself. I for one found the whole story slightly amusing and not at all “outrageous” or “a sign of decreasing morality in the national culture”. Why is nudity in public such a HUGE issue? Or was it the sexual implication that went along with the boob flash? I mean, come on. What about the suggestive moves and the very explicit lyrics? Isn’t that much worse than a little bit of extra skin?

Comparing nudity and sexuality is like comparing apples and oranges. They are two completely different things. To come full circle, I know, you might be wondering what the boob flash incident has to do with kids running around naked.
It has nothing and everything to do with it.
To kids things are only a “big deal” if adults make them a big deal. If someone has a problem with seeing young children running around naked, it makes me think that they have a hang-up of some sort. There is nothing wrong with kids being naked and for God’s sake, please don’t make it anything sexual. It is not. Even when kids touch themselves or other kids, it’s totally natural up to a certain age (it’s called natural development)… unless adults make it out to be something else (and that’s where all the distorted sexual ideas in children and teens come from, IMHO).

In Germany, nudity is not a big issue. My parents let me run around naked at the beach, in the backyard and at home until I was maybe 4-5 years old, topless until I was maybe 10. After all, I didn’t have any breasts back then. And, at the risk of making your jaws drop, I’ve always got to see my parents naked as well. I mean, to heck with it, I still see them naked occasionally. In case you fear my family is a bunch of hippies and we all hang out naked when we get together, that is not the case :)
But when I visit home and they happen to get out of the shower in the morning – well, let’s just say they don’t wear bathing suits or shorts to shower.
Also, there is nothing “immoral” about seeing you parents naked after the age of 5 or being seen by them.
It is also very normal that women (and guys, respectively) shower in a communal shower area after working out. After all, there is nothing to see that one hasn’t seen before ;)

I know that I can only speak for myself and about how things were done in my family, but I do believe that kids that grow up accepting nudity as something natural, which you don’t have to be ashamed about, are much more relaxed and comfortable with themselves and others. And Janet Jackson’s boob flash wouldn’t raise much more than an amused eyebrow with them (as it did with most Europeans when the incident was broadcasted a day after it happened).

Most people were actually thinking “‘What’s all the fuss about over there”?

In case you haven’t noticed: Some things changed around here.

July 13, 2009 filed under: blog stuff, FYI, this and that

Hey you guys, what’s going on? None of you (ok, besides Steffi yesterday) has commented on my new blog layout. I assume either a) you don’t like it or b) you need me to tell a little story behind the reason to change the layout, before you can make a proper comment.
Which one is it? :)

You’re sneaky, what did I expect? So here’s the story:

Well, it’s actually really simple: I needed a change. You know, it’s similar to the bangs that I got a few weeks ago. I needed a change, but not too much of a change. So the layout concept stayed the same – three columns, Verdana font – but I added some more color to my blog. It’s summer, after all.
I already kind of miss my “Santa Monica Ferris Wheel” header, but I had the layout for almost two years, I think, and it was time to get something different. Spring cleaning, so to speak. Only that it’s July, but who cares? Not you, I hope.

I know this is a fairly minor detail of this cute layout by scribblescratch.com, but I just love the multi-color line below the header and the cute ladybug in the upper right corner. It just makes me smile and if it does the same thing for you, I’ve already made a positive contribution to your day :)

Feedback ( honest!) would be very much appreciated since I really would like you to come here not only because you care about what I have to say, even though that is, I agree, the most important reason, but also because you enjoy coming here and looking at my blog layout.
Call me nostalgic, or whatevs, but I am not one of those people who read blog entries in some sort of feed reader. I actually love clicking over to everyone’s blog and enjoy the effort that everyone put into their sites. To me, it is some kind of personal art and your blog layout tells me so much about you, it really does!

Ha! Now I scared some of you, haven’t I?
But it’s true – I do think that your blog layout reflects your personality, somewhat. As you can tell: I like it neat and organized. :) Guess that makes me, according to my own little theory here, a neat and organized person. (Mostly, I would say that is, in fact, true!)
What do you want your blog layout to say about you?

Summer goodness

July 7, 2009 filed under: food

You know what I seriously love about the summer?

It’s all the yummy fruits that are available. In the summer, I could practically live off fruit. Even though California has a huge selection of fruit all year around, there are definitely “seasonal fruits” that are only available for a certain time, like cherries. Oh my gosh!
They are sweet, juicy, and just so delicious!! I haven’t had cherries in forever and therefore I had close to two pounds over the weekend. But hey, how much healthier can a snack get, right?