Marrying Edward Cullen: A How-To For the Mega-Obsessed

I found this site while exploring my frequent blog reads.  Now, I will admit I have read the Twilight series.  And I will admit I use to LOVE it... at first.  Then the series progressed and the horror that is Breaking Dawn hit bookshelves.  And I was over it.

I am one of the few to feel this way, however.  And Stephanie Meyer is making the big bucks marketing the crap out of her creation.  So I guess it only makes sense that she would create, and then replicate and sell the engagement ring Edward gives Bella in Eclipse.  (More ahead...)

My Summer Projects!

This summer I'll be super busy. Between working, my internship, and preparing for my Master's program and thesis I have a lot on my plate. However, summer is the season for projects. Therefore there are three things I want to complete by the end of the summer:

Painting My Kitchen

I only moved into this apartment a few months ago. My landlord was nice enough to put in new carpets, add a fresh coat of paint, and redo the kitchen's cabinets. The place looks great. However, there is some unattractive wallpaper hanging in my kitchen. I would love to take it down, and repaint the entire room. I've been browsing the Sherwin-Williams website and I like the color on these walls the best.  It's called Knockout Orange.  The bottom half of my kitchen is an off-white wood paneling so I think the bright orange will really pop.  I think that'll be a nice weekend project sometime when I can recruit the boy and get some work done!

Growing an Herb Garden

Like I said, I live in an apartment and don't have a garden.  However, I would love to grow a small pot of herbs to use in cooking and just to smell nice.  Something like the picture wouldn't be too hard to maintain.  I'm still in the researching phase of this little project but I feel like it wouldn't be too hard and ultimately would be quite rewarding.  Of course, there are those wonderful As Seen On TV marvels that claim to grow an herb garden in a tiny little micro-greenhouse.  ALL FOR ONLY $19.99!  Not sure the success of those but since I'm interested in the basic basil, parsley, oregano, and rosemary it may be a worthwhile investment.

Learn to Drive Stick

Someday I would LOVE to own this car. The new Camaros are just too sexy to resist.  Granted this does have much to do with god-awful Transformers movie (the second one, the first wasn't too bad) but I'm willing to forgive Michael Bay when that car looks like that!  Anyways, if I'm going to drive a car like I'm going to do it right.  And knowing how to drive stick is a big part of that.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually a good driver.  But I've never learned stick.  Sad, but true.  So, my final summer project will be to have my boyfriend teach me to drive stick.  Luckily, since his car is stick I have a perfect opportunity to learn.  I've been promising myself I'd learn for years and this is finally the time!

Are there any summer projects you've established for yourself?  What are they?

A Little Chivalry Never Killed Anyone...

I found this post on one of the blogs I read. I have mixed emotions. On the one hand I believe it's important to teach respect, especially in high school where now a days teachers are afraid to even give a student detention because they may be sued. On the other hand the over-the-top enforcement of these rules implies that, women deserve special (aka inferior) treatment. That was the implication when these types of rules first were implemented. I'm not sure. I feel a basic repertoire of respect to all would be more appropriate than "men! don't step on women's toes... they may cry!"

A high school Latin teacher in Arizona has created mandatory chivalry rules for his students in order to force the male students to behave like "gentlemen" with the young women.

Here's the rulebook:

• Boys would hold doors for girls.

• They would ask girls if they would like to be seated, and offer to take their backpacks before they sit down.

• Boys would stand if a girl leaves the room.

• They would allow girls to be served first if food is in the classroom.

• And, girls always had the right of refusal.

Why did he do it? As the teacher, Cord Ivanyi, told ABC News: "This year after watching a mass of boys literally push through a line of girls who were waiting to get food for a class party, I was bothered by the lack of respect either sex seemed to have for the other. The next day, I sat down with them at the beginning of the class and asked them if they considered what decency was."

Some might say Ivanyi's forced chivalry is sexist, because instead of encouraging good manners for all, he's teaching the young men that women deserve special treatment because of their special (inferior?) status. But others would say that there's nothing bad about teaching men to be courteous and respectful and that chivalry is just an expression of good manners.

Is it bad to FORCE men to be chivalrous?