Real Simple Chart Creator: How Do You Spend Your Day?

When my workweek begins, it’s like a marathon, no a SPRINT, to the finish line of Friday. The folks at Real Simple Magazine have created a fancy little chart creator to illustrate where your time actually goes. [They actually call it "Women & Work" which I think is a little sexist - I mean, aren't we all just people by now? My husband has many more childcare duties than I do,....doesn't that qualify him for some fantasy chart-making of his own?]

It illustrates in painful detail how it is not an exciting life I lead and how the time is actually spent. Notice how cleaning or household chores don’t really factor onto my list at all. (See yesterday’s chart for more rationalization on my part) But it’s a colorful little tool (with great icons), that may remind you where your priorities are, and where your time actually goes. Although, to be fair, I do a lot of multi-tasking like exercising while watching TV, or eating and commuting.

For some stats on how specifically women spend their time, they compiled a slide show with some real eye-openers,….like:

Real Simple Slide on Work/Personal Life Balance

So hurray! We’re realizing priorities,…but the bummer is that women still see a gender divide in chores and household duties. This totally amazes me, but then I’m not a particularly neat person either. I am looking forward to the day when women can say that they are happy with their amount of time their spouse pitches in on the chores and are fine with the quality of the job done.

Like my mom always said, “Make sure your house is clean enough to be healthy, but messy enough to be fun.”

It’s a little hard for me to see this as an ad from 1959, when some elements of this design look so current. Okay,…so maybe the fur coat casually draped is a tip-off,…or using a selling feature of “thrifty vinyl asbestos tile”,  dates it a bit. But I love the persimmon couches (paging Pantone’s new color of the year!) and even the birch logs staged in the firebox. I want to hang some stockings with care.

With that, I’m going to leave you for the next few days while I spend some time catching up on the holiday. Gardner Glass Products and the Dreamwalls family is closed December 22nd, 23rd, and 26th. But I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I’ll be tweeting all through the holiday. Please have a great holiday, and I hope you get all your heart desires.

See more amazing vintage ads from Jon Williamson’s blog.

Our hearts go out to the families of the weekend outbreak of tornadoes across the US. Our home state of North Carolina was hit hard, and I was glad to hear from my friends in the Piedmont this morning.

According to the MSNBC, “The spring storm, North Carolina’s deadliest in two decades, spun off 62 tornadoes in that state alone Saturday night. Eleven people were confirmed dead in rural Bertie County, county manager Zee Lamb said. Another four were confirmed dead in Bladen County, bringing the state’s death toll to at least 21. NBC News was reporting at least 22 dead in North Carolina. Deaths reported by officials in five other states brought the U.S. toll to at least 45.”

Visit the Red Cross to learn more about this tragedy and to find out how you can help.

More hotel inspiration from China. This was the Renaissance Shanhai Yu Garden Hotel. It was really an amazing hotel and I enjoyed my time there immensely.

Notice how this backpainted white glass is slightly greenish? It is because they used regular glass instead of low-iron glass. Perhaps it was intentional.

Laminated glass stairs in the hotel health club help show off an amazing view of the city.

This etched repeating motif was found on mirrored lobby walls...

...and onto glass panels of lighting, as shown here.

While here in China, I’m not all about glass and mirror 24/7. Nope. Sometimes I’m all about food. Yes, while I was warned to pack a few “nabs” in my suitcase, I’ve not needed them. I’ve eaten some exquisite meals here in the southern Canton area. Cantonese cuisine usually involves lots of steamed fish since it is so close to the coast. Hunan and Szechuan cooking are more about the hotter spices, so this was pleasantly mild. We all should eat like the Chinese. I’ve yet to see anyone obese walking around the areas I’ve been to. So I wrote some quick bits on how to eat authentically Chinese:

1) Eat “family style”. Everything is served on a large glass lazy susan for an enjoyable, interactive experience. It’s like dinner and a show!

2) Go easy on the carbs. Contrary to popular belief, rice isn’t a big part of the meal. A small bowl, at most the size of an ice cream scoop, was served an only a few meals.

3) Steam your fish. It enhances the freshness and allows you to really enjoy the tastes.

4) Have soup at every meal. And make it broth style (like a chicken or mushroom broth), not a “cream of” anything.

5) Eat an orange for dessert. It’s light and refreshing, and wedges are easy to share around the table.

A perfect end to any meal