{happy st. patrick's day & spring things}

May you have warm words
on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill
all the way to your door.

~ irish blessing

. . . a little wish for this stunningly beautiful, warm and sunny day, and whether you're traipsing about in quaint and charming pubs or have plans for a quiet and cozy night, wishing you a happy st. patrick's day, and hope you're having a lovely week so far xo

......................................................................................................

{images: 1 - country living via french by design; 2 - saipua for sunday suppers; 3 - scan by this is glamorous, ad campaign: claudia schiffer for jones new york; 4 - photography by katie quinn davies; 5 - lopp; 6 - mixr; 7 - a glamorous little side project; 8 - bloom magazine; 9 - lappen; 10 - zara; 11 - house & garden may 2006 via habitually chic; 12 - a glamorous little side project}

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copyright © 2007-2011 {this is glamorous} all rights reserved

Ideals of Beauty

Tonight I wrote an article about the history of GI (Government Issue) eyeglasses, horn-rimmed glasses, and geek glasses. I've never written a "fashion" article before. Since I like geeketry (I is one, by the way), I found the research interesting and the article great fun to write.

It made me wonder (once again) about fashion. And then I saw this photo in my Flickr photo file. It's a photo from the Women's Rights National Park in Seneca Falls, NY (click the link to read my post on my blog New York Traveler.net).

As a historian and travel blogger, I've addressed the issues of women's fashion before, albeit as a sidenote. For example, I researched and wrote about the Chinese practice of foot binding. And I've long lamented the corset and bustle in women's history.

Why do (mostly) women contort and maltreat their bodies like they do? Today we don't have foot binding or corsets, but there are the fashionable starvation diets and the hideous streetwalker clothing. What drives this?

When I think of fashion out of control, I always think of 18th century France. They led the way in some of the silliest fashions known to mankind. I mean, who would think this was attractive and something that you'd want to do??

SO I don't know exactly what drives people to do such extremes. Then again, I empathize more with the geeks, the social misfits, the countercultural kooks. Yeah, sure, I get a cheap auto insurance rate and don't eat my peas like anyone else... but gee-- I can't imagine EVER wanting to wear 10-foot-high hair or starving myself just so I can look like anyone else. Yet I do recognize the peer pressure to conform to the social group of choice. But I'd much rather be a slave to duct-taped geek glasses than corsets or poofy wigs. That's just me, I guess.

What do you think about fashion? Do you think fashion has more or less sway over us in our modern age?

Making maple syrup

Time Out Chicago magazine visits the earliest producer of maple syrup in the U.S. - Burton's Maplewood Farm in Medora, Indiana.

Maple syrup season ("the sugar season") begins in Medora, Indiana, earlier than anywhere else in the world. "What we're looking for is cold [below freezing] nights and warm [above freezing] days." Those nights can begin as early as the third week in January.

Taps are attached to the 700 trees on the farm ("sugarbush"). Taps are entered only an inch and a half into the tree, since sap runs only in the trees' cambium layer, between the bark and the hardwood.

Each bucket will collect 10 gallons of sap in one season.

The sap is nothing like maple syrup—it's thin and clear as water, and only vaguely sweet (2% sugar). Ir is fed into the Volcano 2000—the evaporating machine - reducing the sap to 1/40 of its density — it takes 40 gallons of sap to make a single gallon of syrup.

References:
Making maple syrup - Eating - Time Out Chicago Kids.

Posted at Hit the Road - See America and the World. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Favorite Sign (in the World)

Sunday afternoon in Muswell Hill in North London. I went to a wine shop to get a gift bottle for the next day -- never did find one -- and found this sign outside an unexpectedly closed wine shop. It is the best sign of all time. Or should I say, 'the best sign of aPP time'?

More Looks...from Citizen Couture

Jason-CitizenCouture has featured me again on his blog. This photo is from his new post, and it is one of the looks. My readers! Please, check out Jason's current post to see the rest of my looks. However, it's more important to see his amazing photography and his impressive blog.

Thank you Jason for the feature!!! Your photos are always beautiful, and your blog is like my daily vitamins.

Thank you everyone for visiting!! Have a wonderful day ahead!!xo...Hanh :)

Luis Fabini: Horsemen of the Americas

Photo © Luis Fabini- All Rights Reserved

Born in Uruguay and currently based in New York city, Luis Fabini is a photographer who spends his time between South America, the United States and Europe.

Having had a camera thrust in his hands as a child, Luis hasn't felt the need formal training in photography, and initially worked as a travel guide/photographer in South America. He produced documentary films and is now a fashion and travel photographer.

He has been working on his project "Horsemen of the Americas" since 2004, which is on his website.

In the United States and Canada, these horsemen are known as cowboys; in Mexico they are called charros, in Ecuador as chagras, in Colombia and Venezuela as llaneros, in Peru as chalanes and qorilazos, in Chile they are called the huasos, Brazil has its pantaneiros and vaqueiros, and Uruguay and Argentina's they're known as gauchos.

The above photograph is of Brazilian vaqueiros dressed in handmade protective leather clothing. Such clothing is necessary for roping cows amidst the bush's sharp thorns.

via PDN Photo of the Day.

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