Grown-ups longing for playhouses of their own have started transforming utilitarian garden sheds into delightful hideaways that serve as offices, craft rooms, dining spaces, guesthouses, and even reading retreats. Here are a few of our favorites from the recent designer exhibition at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Inside this whimsical shed by designer Michael Devine is a luxurious miniature office. Decorated with pink accents, an upholstered side chair, and a candelabra on the desk — for working late into the night — elegance has been brought to the outdoors.
Unbelievable Garden Sheds You Won't Believe
Great Turkish Food
These mouth-watering dishes are sure to set your taste buds tingling
The varied and delicious cuisine of Turkey is a major draw for tourists from all over the world. Thanks to the richness of Turkey’s cultural heritage, including Ottoman, Balkan and Turkic influences, a huge variety of exciting dishes are available for travellers to sample.
Cheap flights to Turkey are available to book right now. Food prices are also low at the moment, making Turkey the perfect place for a culinary adventure when you are watching the pennies. Check out these 10 Turkish deshes below.
Mezes
Turkish appetizers, or Mezes are a great way to get the taste buds going, and restaurants will serve a large amount of them. Cold Mezes inlcude stuffed mussels, aubergine salad and stuffed vine leaves. Hot mezes will usually involve Borek – lovely flaky pastry stuffed with spinach, cheese meat.
Main Dishes
Main meals in Turkey will often include meat with sauce and spices varying depending on the region. Fish is a very popular main course, and it is also very fresh. Fish includes Fresh turbot, swordfish, lobster and many many more different kinds.Barbecued bread is spread with minced lamb, coriander and other spices then salad and lemon juice is added, this is a delicious lunchtime snack.
The four keys to a longer, healthier life
Here's a “Well, duh!” statement for you: if you don’t smoke, eat healthfully, exercise lots, and take it easy on the booze, you’ll live longer. This is according to a new study from the Center for Disease Control, published in the American Journal of Public Health.I guess I shouldn’t be too sarcastic, but this really just confirms a bunch of stuff that we should already know. First off, this is not the only study to make pretty much exactly the same statement. Three years ago this study of over 20,000 men and women found that precisely these same four behaviours could help you live about 14 years longer.
People want to believe that they can lose weight without exercise (or with just a little bit of time on some “miracle” machine), or that high-protein diets are key to burning fat, or that drinking alcohol is good for you, but if you used your common sense for a moment, you’d engage in those behaviours that you know – and that science proves – are beneficial:
Best Costumes For Halloween: Colonial Girl Costume for Halloween
How to make a colonial girl costume
The colonial era displayed an important period in history where people were essentially dressed in plain and simple clothing. Hats were basically worn by both males and females to establish specific fashion statements. Hats were also used to keep their heads warm against the cold weather. The type of environment that prevailed during this era was particularly harsh, and an indoor heating system was simply limited to a fireplace and a hot bed warmer.Click the picture for details
Great idea to make your own Colonial Girl costume for Halloween and not too difficult if you have a sewing skills.
Where Celebrities Go to Escape It All
(Celebrity getaways are often in luxe locales, such as Seinfeld's mansion in Telluride, CO. Photo: Realtor …
(Celebrity getaways are often in luxe locales, such as Seinfeld's mansion in Telluride, CO. Photo: Realtor …
In this paparazzi age, celebrities aren’t even close to safe when they leave Hollywood for vacations. Anyone with an Internet connection or anyone who has waited on a supermarket checkout line is bombarded with images of stars romping in the waves on tropical shores, with captions judging their levels of fitness... or lack thereof.Once in a while there is an actual noteworthy event to mention, other than “so and so tried to enjoy a beach vacation with his loved ones while photographers took grainy photos with long lenses.” When one prominent figure’s private island retreat recently made international headlines, it was time to take a closer look at these getaways with a good old-fashioned celebrity real-estate slideshow.
Canada’s women will disappear in the year 4400
Don't worry about any pending apocalypse, Canada is due to become extinct in a few thousand years.The Economist reports this week falling fertility rates around the world spell doom for many countries as the single life appeals to more women than replacing themselves through children.
Women in the wealthier parts of Asia, for example, are literally on a "marriage strike" leading to a drop in birth rates.
The United Nations reports women in 83 countries and territories around the globe won't have enough daughters to replace themselves unless fertility rates suddenly rise.
Using Hong Kong as an example, 1,000 women there are expected to give birth to 547 daughters. Those daughters would in turn be succeeded by only 299 daughters and so on.
At that rate, Hong Kong's female population would shrink from 3.75 million to just one in 25 generations. The last female would be born in 2798.
World's sexiest cities
What makes a city sexy? It's a quality that transcends the mere physical beauty of its inhabitants. We are talking about those special places that make you feel incredibly alive, where you shrug off the drab clothes of everyday experience almost as soon as you touch down.
That lightness of being does, it is true, often lead to thoughts about romance, and our sexy cities certainly have, shall we say, something of a reputation. Paris (in the springtime, of course) seems particularly good at macaroon-like affairs that are forgotten almost as soon as they are over; Sydney, bursting with buffed beach bodies, is just the spot for a bit of narcissistic nookie; Istanbul is all about the thrilling coming together of east and west.
How many species on Earth? 8.7 million give or take
A bug crawls on a leaf at Sundarijal Nagarjun National Park, northeast of Nepal's …
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Scientists have yet to discover, or classify, about 90 percent of the plant and animal species on Earth, which is estimated to be home to just under 9 million species, a study says.
The study, published in the open-access journal PLoS Biology on Wednesday, vastly increases the estimated richness of life on the planet. More than 1.2 million species have been formally described and named so far.
Scientists have long tried to classify life on Earth and to finally figure out how many species there are but estimates have varied wildly from 3 million to 100 million.
The quest is no mere scientific fancy. Humans derive huge benefits from the richness of life on the planet, from foods to medicines, to clean air and water. Knowing how many species there are and taking steps to ramp up the search and description could lead to more discoveries that benefit mankind.
The recent surge in extinction rates only made the quest more urgent, the scientists said.
10 Questions You Should Ask a Potential Roommate
Having a roommate is a lot like living with someone when you’re in a committed relationship with them; like it or not, you’re stuck sharing walls, food, and limited space. That’s why you should ask potential roommates the following 10 questions whether you’re filling an empty room in your building or looking for a partner to seek a new pad with. Their answers will tell you whether or not they are the right ‘mate for you and protect yourself from Jersey Shore-esque roommates and real-life Single White Female horror stories.
1. How stable is your work situation?
The key to protecting yourself against unwanted surprises and financial squabbles is discovering how financially reliable your potential roommate is going to be. While requesting a credit report and pay stubs might be going too far, spend some time discussing employment with your potential roommate to make sure you're not left fronting rent and other payments in the future.
Would You Go Shampoo-Free?
Shampoo is a relatively new invention. In the early 20th century, when water supplies in cities became more alkaline, shampoo was developed to work better than soap, which people had heretofore used to wash their hair, with mineralized water. However, in order to make an effective product, shampoo wound up being a fairly harsh cleanser that strips all the natural oils from hair. That’s why conditioner was invented—to replenish the natural oils stripped by shampoo. Of late, more and more women have decided to eschew the potentially damaging ingredients in commercial hair products and gone “’poo free,” meaning they no longer use shampoo to wash their hair.
Women Aren’t Choosing Math and Science...Because They’re Boy-Crazy?
Women now outnumber men in college and in many grad programs, yet females continue to be very underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. And researchers just discovered what might be to blame: romance.By Zoe Ruderman
The study, out of the University at Buffalo, found that when women are trying to be romantically desirable to guys, they report less interest in math and science. "One reason why this might be is that pursuing intelligence goals in masculine fields [like math and science] conflicts with pursuing romantic goals associated with traditional romantic scripts and gender norms," explained lead author of the study, Lora E. Park, PhD.
Related: How To Be A Good Girlfriend
Park, who observed 350 participants for this study, added, "Studies show that women who deviate from traditional gender norms, such as succeeding in male-typed jobs, experience backlash for violating societal expectations."
Best Costumes For Halloween: Teenager Halloween Costumes
When choosing your costume, here are some tips to help you pick the perfect one for you.
Determine your Theme
Teenager halloween costumes come in a variety of themes. When choosing the theme, you can make things easier by asking for the overall theme of the Halloween party. If the motif is fairyland, your choices will be in the characters found in the magical world. If the organizer tells you to come in your most creative outfit, you can choose the theme that you wish. You can be as imaginative as you can. There is no limit to your imagination, so better to make your teenager halloween costumes unique.
The hot jobs of the future
Have you ever wondered what you want to be when you grow up?
With baby boomers retiring en masse over the next twenty years, the work force will shrink as well, according to a study from Statistics Canada. But the nature of the world of work is going to change as well.A report from the Business Council of BC says the most in-demand jobs over the next twenty years will be mostly service jobs that are being vacated by those retiring boomers:
-Retail Sales (34,635 openings)
-Clerical/office (32,289)
-Cleaners: (32,010)
-Drivers: (29,241)
-Nursing: (29,182)While those service roles will need to be filled after they're vacated by retiring boomers, we can expect to see an uptick on a wide variety of positions. Those jobs will include current staples like skilled trades and police officers, but other roles will see a big bump. Anything to do with technology will be in demand, as will the health care and pharmaceutical space as the boomer population ages, And as managers retire, they'll need to be replaced, so keep an eye out for training jobs to grow as well.
8 Flat-Belly Foods to Beat the Bloat
More than 10 million Americans regularly complain about being bloated. That uncomfortable sensation — the result of air passing through your intestines — is often caused by a tempting culprit: salty and fatty foods. So, what's safe to eat to keep women from unbuttoning those skinny jeans? We researched the top fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices that will save any stomach from an uncomfortable expansion.Photo Credit: Image Source
Photo Credit: Image Source
Oranges and Watermelons
Because water flushes waste and excess water out of your system, enjoying water-rich foods is ideal. Watermelons, as their name suggests, are almost all water — 92 percent. Oranges too are approximately 80 to 90 percent water.
Lady Gaga Goes Under the Top
Let's face it, over the past year or two we've seen Lady Gaga sport so many crazy outfits -- from leather masks to a dress made of real meat -- that the shock value is now officially lost on us and her wacky wardrobe isn't exactly breaking news anymore. But what does catch our attention? When the 25-year-old was caught out and about in a, well, normal dress.Broadimage / Rex Features
Related Link: Lady Gaga's Racy Look
Gaga was snapped leaving a Los Angeles recording studio wearing a one-shoulder black Versace frock with a yellow-and-purple graphic print on it paired with some basic black Christian Louboutin pumps. Even her hair was done in a sleek and simple straight 'do.
Related Link: Lady Gaga's MMVA Costumes
Check out the photo of her lovely get-up here ...
Lady Gaga toned down her look on Thursday with a little black dress and pumps. MAB/Splash News
What's next? Jeans and sneakers? OK, OK, so that might be pushing it ...
Shall I rent or shall I own?
Donnie Wahlberg may have been a New Kid on The Block, but his cutie-boy brother Mark Wahlberg, (Marky Mark to those who remember the 90s) has become a new kid on a block in Toronto…in the form of a $12 million penthouse condo. The posh bachelor pad is close to Wahlberg's usual digs at The Hazelton Hotel, where rooms run between $500 to $2400 a night. Given that the star of Boogie Nights, The Fighter and former leader of hip-hop group The Funky Bunch spends an increasing amount of time filming movies in the city and hanging out at the Toronto International Film Festival, it seems he's decided to quit forking over money in hotel room rentals and instead buy his own place.
Wahlberg probably has the advantage of owning his new condo outright, giving him full equity ownership. For the rest of us mortgage-carrying mortals, however, now is not an ideal time to be investing in a condo in Toronto. According to Ben Rabidoux, financial adviser, real estate expert and author of the website The Economic Analyst (www.TheEconomicAnalyst.com), in most Canadian cities right now (but certainly not all), the house price versus rent ratio and the house price versus income ratio are at or near their all-time highs. This suggests that, overwhelmingly, it makes better financial sense to rent in these markets and invest your equity elsewhere.
4 Billionaires That Were In The Right Place At The Right Time
While the argument could be made that nobody gets to be a billionaire by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, there are instances where individuals have serendipitously stepped up to the rank of billionaire - transitions facilitated by being in the right place at the right time.
Some of this luck is purely a function of when one is born - how successful would Bill Gates have been if he had been born ten years earlier or ten years later? (There's no way to tell, but we do know that Gates was able to perfectly take advantage of the newly developing world of computer technology because he was born at the right time and he happened to be at the right place - one of only two schools that had mainframe computers). The planets aligned for these four billionaires who had the creativity, drive, foresight and the luck of good timing to turn their ideas into profitable realities.
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg's father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s and went on to develop additional programming skills with the assistance of a private tutor. Zuckerberg had the reputation of being a programming prodigy by the time he started classes at Harvard.The 2010 movie The Social Network depicts the story of how Zuckerberg developed Facebook, a company that earned him the distinction of becoming the world's youngest billionaire in 2008, four years after co-founding Facebook. Zuckerberg and co-founders developed Facebook at a time when millions of internet users were hungry for social media opportunities. Zuckerberg was able to develop his natural talent for computer programming and came up with an idea that would connect people all over the world - at precisely the right time.
‘Dirty Dancing’ Remake Causes Controversy on the Web | Movie Talk
The dance movie from 1987 starred the late Patrick Swayze as dance instructor Johnny Castle, and a very young Jennifer Grey who played Baby, a guest at a summer resort who falls for teacher.Photo: Everett Collection
The story was set in the Catskills in the 1960s. But the movie has since become a timeless classic: The cheesy dance numbers, Patrick Swayze's smooth moves -- on and off the dance floor -- and his unforgettable line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" cemented the film in the memories of a generation of kids from the 1980s.
So it's not surprising that a storm of controversy would quickly follow plans to remake the movie. Searches on the Web immediately spiked on "dirty dancing remake" and "dirty dancing remake cast."
Fans of the original bemoaned the newson Yahoo!. Typical comments: "Please do not remake this movie!" And this: "There is no one that could replace Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey and I mean no one." And a third: "There will never be another 'Dirty Dancing' as good as the original. I think it will do a great dis-service to Patrick Swayze by remaking this film. You can't improve on perfection." Another called the original an "American icon of romance."
via movies.yahoo.com
5 Dos and Don’ts of Teeth Whitening
With choices including toothpastes, gels, rinses, strips, and in-office professional whitening methods, it’s hard to know which teeth-whitening system is right for you. From how to choose the best plan for pearly whites to no-nos as you go through the process, here are simple dos and don’ts to help you improve the sparkle in your smile.
1. Do consult with your dentist before choosing a treatment plan.
Not all tooth stains are created equal. Different stains must be treated differently, and not one whitening system can attack all forms. Talk to your dentist about your dental history and eating and drinking habits before you explore at-home or dentist-office treatments.
Japan Tsunami Broke Huge Icebergs Off Antarctica
To sum up the dynamics of the event: An earthquake off the coast of Japan caused massive waves to explode out from its epicenter. Swells of water swarmed toward an ice shelf in Antarctica, 8,000 miles (13,600 kilometers) away, and about 18 hours after the earthquake occurred, those waves broke off several chunks of ice that together equaled about two times the surface area of Manhattan. According to historical records, this particular piece of ice hadn't budged in at least 46 years before the tsunami came along.
In what could be one of the more lasting observations from this whole event, the bay in front of the Sulzberger shelf was largely lacking sea ice at the time of the tsunami. Sea ice is thought to help dampen swells that might cause this kind of calving. At the time of the Sumatra tsunami in 2004, the potentially vulnerable Antarctic fronts were buffered by a lot of sea ice, Brunt said, and scientists observed no calving events that they could tie to that tsunami.
Amy Winehouse's goddaughter performs tribute to late star in top-notch set at UK music fest
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, Dionne Bromfield, a British singer and Amy …
EASTNOR CASTLE DEER PARK, England - Amy Winehouse's 15-year-old goddaughter performed an outstanding set at the Big Chill music festival, mirroring her late mentor by closing her show with a cover of Winehouse's "Love Is a Losing Game."
Dionne Bromfield got teary-eyed when she performed the song, barely able to sing its last few words, though the crowd cheered her on.
"She was an amazing singer," Bromfield said. "She was not only my godmother, but she was my mentor and my boss as well."
The big-voiced singer sang with ease during her 30-minute performance on Saturday, the second day of the U.K. music festival.
Bromfield was a reminder of Winehouse: She stood close to the mic while belting lyrics, with her big hair and tiny build.
She was backed by a 5-piece band and dancers, performing songs from her two albums and singing mainly about boys and relationship troubles.
Top 10 Annoying Kid Habits (And Why They're Not So Bad)
Every morning at our house begins the exact same way: the great shoe hunt.
Despite having perfectly adorable little shoe cubbies with each child's name hand-lettered on their box and despite many, many admonitions from me to put away their shoes, the cubbies remain empty and we've hit the grocery store in mismatched shoes more times than I count.
Related: Easy Ways to Sock Away More Money this Year
Why? Because, like my friend Melissa says, "Once you have kids you can never again use the logic 'well it didn't just sprout legs and walk off did it?' when talking about a missing item." Kids have legs. And hands. And a serious penchant for "reorganizing" everything you own. But when a stranger complimented my "quirky cute" shoe choice the other day it made me realize that maybe I'm not fully appreciating my kids.
1. Nothing is ever where you set it down. Including the children.
Silver Lining: Treasure hunt! You might even find those earrings you lost last year too.
Swatting away those mosquito myths
Those warm summer evenings may be lovely in theory, but they’re also often crashed by the most unwelcome of guests.
Mosquitoes are the thorn in the side of summer fun. Here are a few myth-busting — and myth-confirming — things to know about the swat-worthy bugs before you try repelling them next.
No, an iPhone app is not the solution.
Read the entire list of mosquito myths over at Yahoo! Green.False: Lemon dish soap and Listerine repel mosquitoes.
4 Common Health Myths, Busted
Most of the health advice you get on a daily basis is wrong. Here, we debunk the most common health rumors.Consider the plethora of people who give you wellness advice: your friends, your mom, that buff lady at the gym. Not surprisingly, a good amount of that info is wrong, says Aaron Carroll, M.D., coauthor of the new book Don't Cross Your Eyes… They'll Get Stuck That Way! And 75 Other Health Myths Debunked. He got to the bottom of some strange but popular beliefs.
Related: Brighten Up Back-to-School
MYTH #1: You should tilt your head back to stop a nosebleed. "This will keep your clothes, the couch, and the rug clean, but it's terrible advice, because it directs blood down your throat, which can make you gag or throw up," Carroll says. Instead, sit up, lean forward, and pinch your nose below the bony bridge to slow (and eventually stop) the bleeding.
Live within your means!
You've found the perfect sofa for your living room. You need a sofa, right? A person has to sit somewhere. But can you afford the new sofa? For many people, 'afford' means having room on the credit card. Unfortunately, there is a big difference between having the means to pay for something and being able to truly afford it.
In today's consumerist society, living within one's means can seem like a quaint, old-fashioned notion, like paying cash for everything. However, knowing your financial limits and living within them remains the primary secret to attaining wealth and financial security.
You can probably justify any purchase to yourself — if you really want it. By denying the limits of your income and expenses however, you can quickly find yourself in serious financial trouble, on the basis of just a few too many purchases that you erroneously thought you could afford.
Your TDS ratio
There is a simple way to calculate what you can afford - or how much you have available to spend — on a monthly basis. It's called the Total Debt Service ratio or TDS, as those in the financial-know like to say.
10 health-boosting spices
Forget diamonds, spices are a girl's real best friend. Not only will adding them to most of your meals help stave off disease, they can also prevent aging (the wrinkles, weight gain!) and age-related conditions. Of all the spices out there, here are 10 you should add to your diet immediately.Cardamom: Use this ground-up spice to add flavour to exotic Asian dishes -- it's known to detoxify the liver and boost the immune system.
Cayenne or Dried Chili Flakes: These fiery spices may enhance your metabolism while also making you feel fuller longer. Use them in salsa, guacamole, pasta sauces, etc.
Cinnamon: This sweet spice is loaded with antioxidants and may regulate blood sugar and lower cholesterol. Add a pinch to your yogurt or baked goods.
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