Holla from San Salvador! - Guest Blogger, Save the World Sister

Magnet #1013 - Las Tortugas Marinas

How exciting! I've got a guest blogger from El Salvador!

Ok, technically she's by way of DC, and by way of my sister being there on a work trip. And technically, the magnet's not quite in my grubby little hands yet, but by way of Christmas, it's coming!

So, yeah, here's STWSis, blogging all the way from El Salvador, where she's off, well, saving the world...

By way of sea turtles!

- joy

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Hola desde San Salvador, El Salvador. El clima es soleado y cálido! Estoy aquí para trabajar, pero tienes que venir para la diversíon. (Hi from San Salvador, El Salvador. The weather is sunny and warm. I’m here for work, but you should come for fun.)

That about sums up my Spanish…or I cheated and used Google translate (is there anything Google can’t do for us!?). For reals, though, I’m here in San Salvador for the week to help start the closedown processes for my project. What does that mean? I’m motivating staff and training them in how to pack boxes and organize files. Yes, folks, this is what my job entails. But the upside - I get to work with a great local staff and see a new country.

I’ve been here a few days and I think I like El Salvador. It is my first time in Latin America and I can only compare it to the other foreign countries I’ve been to. It’s a bit like the Philippines, which if you ask Joy or either of her sisters, will give you probably very different opinions. It’s warm when my DC-based mind tells me it should be freezing - though not as disgustingly hot as the PI. It’s traffic-y, though not as jam-y as Kathmandu, Nepal. And it’s nothing like Uzbekistan, though, no other place seems to be like that.

The people are super nice. I love my project staff. They are really patient with me (if you know me, my mom would say this is key) and helpful considering my Espanol consists of whatever Senora Adams taught me in elementary school and the two semesters of elective Spanish I took at Carolina.

This project has done so many great things and everyone on staff is sad to see it close. One of the project’s main activities has been the conservation of sea turtles (explains the magnet, the translation is “I Protect Sea Turtles”). We (I say we, but really, I just push the papers of the people that actually do the stuff) have been changing the people’s thinking on sea turtles.

Before, people would eat sea turtle eggs – it’s what you do at the bar with friends without even thinking about it. Now, we are raising awareness that sea turtles are an important part of the sea and the aquatic life cycle. We offer money to people who collect sea turtle eggs and give them to us rather than putting them on the market for consumption. We take the eggs and keep them safe in hatcheries so that the little baby sea turtles can make it to the ocean to live.

To raise awareness, our project made a documentary about the important role that sea turtles have and why we should protect them. The film just won best Spanish language film at the Blue Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, CA, out of a field of 349 films!

If you’re a Spanish speaker (and everyone these days seems to be except for me and my knowledge of odd languages), you can watch the documentary here:

Part I:

Part II:

While I only have a few days here in San Salvador (just one week!), I’m really glad that I got to come out and work with such great people. Also, I’m going to a turtle release on Friday! So I’ll get to see the kids and adults enjoying the little baby turtles crawling to the sea.

And that, my friends, is why I chose this career.

No comen huevos de tortuga marina! (Don’t eat sea turtle eggs!)

Adios!

Inhale Courage, Exhale Fear III: The Flowers of Adversity - Guest blogger, Sasha Muradali, Little Pink Book

Magnet #1000 - Experience

Whoa. One thousand magnets. I look around my studio and think, well, at the very least, I have a thousand magnets sitting in this room. Remember, I pegged this blog to last only a couple of years. Next February makes three. Whoa.

And I still don't know how long this journey will continue. (Especially not if I keep shopping at Cafe Press. Oiy.)

Anyway, it's been a great experience writing joy magnetism day after day, as it's slowly become part memoir, part journal, part art guide, part entertainment, mostly kooky, and almost 100% me. Almost, because as you know from time to time, I pass the baton over to a guest blogger.

Today's guest blogger is Sasha Muradali, a former colleague of mine, who has graciously cross-posted today's entry with her Little Pink Book.

And now for something a little different.

- joy

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There is this funny thing about life that happens -- it gets in the way of itself.

There is no rhyme, no reason, no logic and no sense of sense.

Blaise Pascal, the famous French mathematician said,

"Le cœur a ses raisons, que la raison ne connaît point."

In other words,

"The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know."

In 1989, Bruce Hornsby wrote "The End of the Innocence" where he said,

via WeHeartIt

"Remember when the days were long and rolled beneath a deep blue sky,
Didn't have a care in the world with mommy and daddy standing by,
When "happily ever after" fails and we've been poisoned by these fairy tales..."

... and dreams of Disney, The Grimm Brothers fairy tales and Barbie dolls came to mind, slightly behind the cursing of Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell shortly thereafter.

It's an interesting dynamic how the world works: the fine line between what we are taught to believe, forced upon us by society, and what truly exists.

In work, in relationships, with friends, lovers, foes and friends - it's that loathsome, self-depreciating torturous loophole in the human psyche where we contribute to the deterioration of our own control.

In 1949, Walt Disney said

Take a look, it's Dinosaur Land - Guest blogger, Save the World BIL

Magnet #997 - Dinosaur Land

I have a confession to make:

I've never seen an episode of Reading Rainbow. I know! It was on from 1983-2006! How could I have missed 155 episodes of the show!

So when STW BIL sent me his guest blogger post below, and said it was written a la Reading Rainbow, the reference totally went over my head. Sure, I've seen bits and pieces of it over the years, and heard my sisters rave about Levar Burton, but I've never sat down for a full-blown episode. Of course, I had to go look up the wiki.

Still, the below's written in voice so well, that it's not hard to imagine hearing Levar in your head, reading the below magnetpost aloud to you.

I'll see you next time!

- joy

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Hi, I’m a guest blogger.

Do you enjoy stories of giants, epic battles, and wild exotic lands? Well, then this magnet is for you. Dinosaurs may have lived millions of years ago, but there’s one place in Virginia where you can relive their glory days. What would you call this intriguing land of dinosaurs?

Dinosaur Land, of course!

Dinosaur Land takes us back to a simpler pre-Spielbergian time when plastic replicas represented these giants and roadside attractions brought people from miles around on the weekends. You can see the dinosaur battle reenacted by the titans on the magnet, and if you squint hard enough you’ll swear that they really moved. They have all the dinosaurs you’ve come to love and know like stegosaurus, triceratops, and brontosaurus; and a few you may not really know such as the oviraptor and iguanadon. Each one has a written description of where it lived and what it ate.

If you wanted something a little more than just dinosaurs, then you too are in luck. They also have a giant spider, sabertooth tiger (really a smilodon), and King Kong. Once you finish your self-guided tour, make sure get to the gift shops where you not only find dinosaur-themed gifts, but Native American and patriotic fare. [Clearly, this guy was meant to be in our family, if he's mentioning the gift shop! Yay! -joy]

If you find yourself near Winchester, VA, Dinosaur Land makes for a fun afternoon. But don’t take my word for it…..find out for yourself!

Bundump dump.

I’m not a tourist. No, really, I’m not. - Guest blogger, Save the World Sister

Magnet #895 - Patan Durbar Square

Whether it's me missing stuff in Dublin, or my mom not feeling like seeing that David thing, it seems that the "visit somewhere and miss a big thing" thing is hereditary.

In this case, it's STWsister being in Nepal for eight months, and not visiting their big museum. Sigh. It was only a dollar!

- joy

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I lived in Nepal for eight months. Was I trekking the whole time? No (though I’m sure my parents thought I was). I was there to do research for my master’s thesis. But really… I was just living in Nepal. And it was fun.

I lived down the road from Patan Durbar Square. There are three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu area – Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan. These were the three main cities in the old days. Each of the squares are surrounded by old temples and filled with tons of people – Nepalis and tourists. And because they are big tourist attractions, you have to pay to enter the square… if you’re a tourist.

When I was in Nepal, I tried learning the language if only to talk to taxi drivers and shopkeepers. I found that being Asian (read: brown), I was often confused for being Nepali. It was nice. Throw on a kurta (a longish tunic) over pants and all of a sudden I’m Nepali.

Since I lived close to Patan Durbar Square, I liked to visit it a lot – just to sit and people watch and because my favorite supplier of bangles (I developed an addiction to the shiny bracelets - [note: this is true, we all benefited from this addiction, as she unearthed box upon box of bangles from her suitcases - joy]) had her shop in the square. Getting to the square was always an adventure because I managed to get lost ALL the time no matter how many times I went. The streets are just THAT small and twisty.

Once I got to the square, however, I would just walk past the tourist ticket booths and ignore the ticket takers. Sometimes they would stop me and ask for my ticket and I would look at them, laugh and say “Nepali ho” (I’m Nepali). And they’d believe me! HA! I don’t feel bad about it either because TONS of tourists come through and do pay the entrance fee (at one of the other Durbar Squares, it’s almost $10!).

I really love Patan Durbar Square, though. Like all places in Nepal, this square is constantly crawling with young people all looking for a quiet spot. You’d think they’d find less public places to go hold hands, but they don’t.

Along one side of it is the Patan Museum (which apparently has an intriguing collection). Now, I never really went to look in the museum, but I did go to a benefit concert there in which Kutumba did an awesome show and won me over as a fan.

Patan Durbar Square is where things happen. I’d say it is the best of the three Durbar Squares.

Kathmandu Durbar Square is overcrowded, though the night market is cool. Too many demonstrations happen around there. And sometimes the Kumari Devi (living goddess) shows up there and causes massive crowds and confusion.

The Bhaktapur Durbar Square is more geared for tourists, so it’s in better shape. It’s quieter and cleaner, but doesn’t seem as alive as the other two.

Patan Durbar Square is more real to me, I guess, because that’s where my Nepal was. I miss that Nepal… all the people, all the food...and all the bangles.

By a Lady - Guest blogger, DC Sister

Magnet #855 - Winchester Cathedral

I've been deemed inhuman in some circles because of my non-fluency in the Jane Austen oeuvre.

I know. I can't help it - even after my seventh grade English teacher reco'd Jane to me, I just couldn't get into her. I skipped Jane and jumped right into Loveswepts.

But, my middle sister has a thing for Jane Austen. So I figured since she brought this back for me from Winchester, she'd be the best person to magnetblog it out.

- joy

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Joy's off having quality BFF time, so she asked some of us to pick from a selection of magnets to blog about.

Well, of course I chose this one. I gave it to her!

I've been to Jolly Olde England about five times now, starting with a high school band trip. I wonder if my parents had some kind of 19th-century "all girls must take a grand tour of Europe" philosophy because we all went to the Continent in high school. Anyway. Back then I had only a slight interest in Jane Austen. We'd seen the 1980 Pride & Prejudice adaptation in English class, I loved the chemistry between Elizabeth and Darcy, and I muddled my way through the book (still my fave ever). So you'd think I'd have known that Jane Austen was buried at Winchester Cathedral when I was, you know, at Winchester Cathedral way back in 1995 on that high school trip.

But no. I was kind of distracted at the time (cute boys will do that to you), and so I totally missed that fact. So ever since then I've wanted to go back to Winchester.

And since those halcyon days of high school, my love for Jane Austen has grown exponentially. A few years ago I re-read all her books in order of least familiar to most familiar (if you must know: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense & Sensibility, then finally P&P).

Right afterward, I went on a Great Great Britain tour: two weeks of traveling through the country via train. LOVE. When planning the trip, I asked my friend: Do you want to see or do anything in particular? His reply: Not really.

Wheee!

Left to my own devices, I scheduled us tons o' Jane Austen stuff! We went to Chawton Cottage, where she spent several years and saw the little table where she revised P&P and Sense & Sensibility and wrote Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Emma. Imagine: this woman all hunched over this tiny table laboring over these books that, during her lifetime, were published anonymously, described as being written "By a Lady."

Today those same books are a veritable industry. Crazy!

We went to Bath, where I succeeded in suppressing my squees at seeing the Pump Room and Milsom Street and Queen's Square (all associated with her books) and the Assembly Rooms (closed for a private event -- boo!). Then we got to the gravel walk where Anne and Capt. Wentworth reunited in Persuasion -- my second fave book -- and I couldn't hold it in anymore. Squeeee! People looked at me funny.

An we went to Chatsworth, the Peak District home of the Duke/Duchess of Devonshire and the supposed inspiration for Darcy's Pemberley estate, though a few estates are said to have that same distinction. Chatsworth, y'all? Amazing. I mean, damn.

It actually was Pemberley in the 2005 P&P movie with Keira Knightley, who incidentally returned to the home again to film scenes for The Duchess [as in Devonshire]. In a nod to Austenites like me, the estate's sculpture gallery still has the bust of Matthew Macfadyen that played a part in the P&P movie. Of course I have a picture with it. So go if you can. The ride on the bus there was cool too - lots of barren peaks and moors.

Very Heeeeathcliffffff!

So with all those Austen-y adventures planned, you'd think I went to Winchester on that trip, right? Wrong. I was at Winchester a few months ago on my woman-on-her-own trip to London. Finally.

We just couldn't fit the town into the Great Great Britain Tour or on any other visit to the U.K. I've taken in the past, oh, 15 years. It took an hour to get there and I spent about 30 minutes total in the cathedral and about 45 minutes at the gift shop, buying this magnet and a book examining the social context of Austen's novels.

They have a few of her letters on display in the church and she has a memorial window, a marker inlaid in the floor plus a plaque on the wall. All in all it was very cool. Still, though, I think of all the places I visited, I still love Chawton the most, with its whole OMG-she-lived-in-this-very-house vibe.

Anyway, I was going to include links and interesting facts about Jane Austen, such as she moved to Winchester in 1817, the year she died.

But you know what? You only need to know one thing: Jane Austen kinda rules.

You got a Pisa my heart - Guest Bloggers, Save the World Couple

Magnet #670 - Pisa

I know! I have not one, but two (!) Pisa magnets! So I figured that I'd give Guest Bloggers newly wedded Save the World Couple a chance to write about their Pisa trip. I mean, hello, they totally got to visit and climb the 294 (or 296) steps of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Also, this magnetpost finally answers the question that ALL inquiring minds kept asking me: why STWcouple decided to marry in Italy. Finally.

- joy

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While Joy was training it down to DC for the holidays, she asked us to guest blog for her about Pisa, Italy. The first time we went to Italy together, we used the train to get from Rome to Florence, Florence to Rome to Naples, and then Naples to Rome. We also did a lot of daytrips, including one to Pisa a quick hour train ride from Florence.

When we went to Pisa, we totally took advantage of the sweet ticket deal they’ve got where you get one ticket and you can see several of the museums and attractions. Now… Pisa is NOT big and all of the attractions and museums that tourists want to see are close by. We went New Year’s Eve day along with several hundred of our not close friends. All of whom wanted to take THAT photo. You know, the photo of a person looking like they are holding the tower.

Being December, we were surprised by how warm the day was (apparently, Gordon says it was “very pleasant day”) and how green the grass was. The area around the tower and baptistery is like big quad – nice, green grass (which we totally saw people making out on). On our trip into the tower, we were accompanied by a big group of Japanese schoolgirls (uniforms and all – very harajuku but with no Gwen). They were all excited about the tower and the huge bells at the top. We were too, but they were SO excited – like little Pokemons.

What we weren’t excited about was the gelato in Pisa. Gordon and I were on our first venture back into the western world (as we were in Uzbekistan for Peace Corps) and we were SO excited to have pizza and gelato every day (not kidding…every. day.). However, we were extremely disappointed in the gelato that we had in Pisa. So much so, that we still talk about it today whenever someone asks us about how we liked Pisa. We CAN, however, tell you of a GREAT gelato place outside of the Vatican (we went back for more after our first round!).

We were just in Pisa a few weeks ago after the wedding (the wedding of the century, in case you missed it). We took the train, again, from Florence to Pisa. And then flew from Pisa to Malta. (PS: There’s a very convenient bus right outside of the train station in Pisa that takes you directly to the airport). We intended to revisit the sites when we got back from Malta, but the weather was crap and we were still on our Mediterranean high.

That first trip to Italy, however, was what made us decide to get married there five years later. It definitely has a Pisa our hearts!

Forever love - Guest blogger, Vampire Lover

Magnet #615 - Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake

Remember when I said that I was superdupertired of the whole vampire craze? Yeah, well, even though I can totally see the attraction to vampires, and I'm totally watching Vampire Diaries, I'm still thinking they're pretty much around every corner.

But, that's good! Especially since I was fortunate enough to meet Jocelynn Drake at NY ComicCon this year, and she was kind enough to give me magnets from her series. Woot!

Anyway, I'm in the middle of Nightwalker, and thought that maybe it was time for you guys to hear from a vampire-loving friend of mine who is responsible for a lot of that stuff being out there.

Ready, set..stake?

- joy

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I love the paranormal. Vampires? Let me see those fangs. Shape shifters? Please. Manimal was one of my all time favorite TV shows.

Between the Twilight series, True Blood and Vampire Diaries, there seems to be no escaping these vampires. And even more books are being published that feature otherworldly creatures.

Jocelynn Drake, for instance, has her Dark Days series, featuring a vampire (also known as a Nightwalker) enforcer. Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress novels has a half-vampire battling evil. And let's not forget those sexy shapeshifters in Pamela Palmer's Feral Warrior series.

I have to say, though, vampires still remain my favorite species. A taste for blood aside, they have super strength, can see in the dark, and will love you forever. Forever!

Don't judge.

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eta:
So. Weird. A Vampire Weekend. No, not the band.

The Paley's doing a whole weekend of screenings and panels: Dark Shadows at Twilight: A Paley Center Vampire Weekend, from Friday, Nov 13 to Sunday, Nov 15 - all around vampires.

Who is going. Me. And the chick who wrote this post.

I think she has to go for work. I just want to go because you know I loves me some panels. And this one's gonna be cool. Check it out. It's on their site.

Saturday Event, 2:30 to 4:00 pm
TV Vampire (s)Takedown

Our panel of expert fans will debate the relative merits of different vampires across media in an appropriately spirited and irreverent fashion. Special attention will be paid to the rankings of TV vamps determined by the Paley Center's TV Vampire Poll (vote through November 2). Come argue for your vamp of choice. Trivia, special gifts, and a bloody good time for all!

Panel:
Angel Cohn, Senior Editor, Television Without Pity
Sammy Buck, Blogger, tvland.com
Chelsea Doyle, Freelance Writer, Starpulse.com
Jim Pierson, Author/Producer, Dark Shadows DVD releases
Moderator: Ken Tucker, Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly

Free to Members and $10 (general admission) for nonmembers. Reservations are recommended. The first 200 ticket holders will receive fang-tastic vampire giveaways!

Damn Stanley! - Guest blogger, Gloriana

Magnet #588 - Richard III (r. 1483-1485)

When I started this blog, I worried about being able to do justice to this set of the Kings and Queens of England. Especially for a monarch as pivotal as Richard III.

When I started inviting guest bloggers, I realized I knew only one person who could do the job - my friend, Gloriana.

Enjoy! And thanks, glor!

- joy

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As a card-carrying member of the Richard III Society, I was overjoyed when joy asked me to guest blog on this magnet in honor of Richard III's 557th birthday.

Meet Richard.

Or at least meet what we think Richard III might have looked like. Though this is the "official" portrait hanging in National Portrait Gallery and the one that adorns countless book covers (and magnets), no one's entirely sure that it's actually right.

The only surviving portraits of Richard III were painted long after his death, and subsequently altered by later generations. X-rays show us that his shoulders have been thrown off-kilter to suggest a hunchback, his eyes have been narrowed, his mouth made thinner. It's the Tudor version of evil Photoshop.

We're all told that history is written by the winners, and the changes to Richard's portrait would seem to be the perfect example. In the years after Lord Stanley changed sides to crown Henry Tudor at Bosworth (damn Stanley!), the Tudors executed a smear campaign, paying off historians and painting over portraits to systematically craft an image of a dead rival deformed both in body and character. Thanks to William Shakespeare - backed by the sainted Thomas More - Richard seemed doomed to be remembered forever as the ultimate wicked uncle, a deranged, murdering hunchback screaming for a horse. Winter of discontent, indeed.

And yet, from beyond the grave, Richard struck back. Fueled in part by Josephine Tey's 1951 detective novel, The Daughter of Time, the Fellowship of White Boar has grown by leaps and bounds over the last century. The Richard III Society now claims more than three thousand members in more than twenty countries. (General meeting of the U.S. branch scheduled for October 10th in Las Vegas, and, yes, I do have an invitation.)

That's more than three thousand people worldwide devoted to clearing a man's name 500 years after the fact. As the current Duke of Gloucester, the Society's patron, explains, "The purpose and indeed the strength of the Richard III Society derive from the belief that the truth is more powerful than lies - a faith that even after all these centuries the truth is important."

Today the battle for Richard's reputation rages on. Depending on the current historical vogue and your historian of choice, Richard may be depicted as the perfect Plantagenet prince cut down tragically in battle (damn Stanley!), an able yet ruthlessly ambitious man of his time, or the embodiment of all evil. Posthumously, Richard's been put on trial for the murder of his nephews, the fabled Princes in the Tower, multiple times in multiple settings. He's been acquitted by no less a personage than the Chief Justice of the United States. Twice.

Despite these victories, the truth of Richard remains much like his portrait. Five hundred years, some expertly coordinated mud slinging, and many fervent Ricardians later, we can never really be sure what Richard even looked like, let alone the kind of man he was. The available historical sources tend to be hopelessly biased and somewhat less than credible. (Would you choose to believe a guy who thinks women can be pregnant for two years?) It's a little like someone in 2509 trying to reconstruct today's events using nothing but TMZ's twitter and three or four blogs with widely divergent viewpoints.

Hopeless, in other words.

Which means that it becomes up to the individual to decide who Richard is to them. What kind of man do you see staring out from his portrait? And how far do you think he would go for power?

For my own part, I'll say only this: Damn Stanley.

Cute, Cuter, Cutest - Guest blogger, DC Sister

Magnet #547 - NC Seal, or Sea Lion?

Still new (still possibly monthly) feature: This magnet came from my BFF, out of that NC Aquariums set.

But, as anyone who knows all three sisters will attest to - this magnet probably matches my middle sister best. She's arguably the "cute-cute" sister.

Well, cute is, as cute...magnetblogs, I guess. Enjoy the cute-cuteness!

- joy

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My sisters and I talk pretty much every day. Huzzah, the wonders of Skype. We can talk, talk, talk so long it's like we're just hanging out at home having a grand old time. But. The one thing Joy hates is when I force her - yes, force her - to look at a cute animal photo online. This is our usual exchange:

Me [voice slowly reaching supersonic pitch] (indeed, no human can hear it - joy):
Awwwww, Joy-joy, lookit the cute puppy/bunny/giraffe/otter/ insertbabyanimalhere.

Joy:
*eye-roll (and yes, you can see eye-rolls on Skype - joy).

Apparently I'm just a sucker for anything cute. That's why I am happy to guest-blog on this magnet. Lookit how cute the little sea lion is!

Cute animals make me happy. And these days - with frustrations at work and a new condo (and all the stress that comes with that) - I'll take what I can get. So when it's one of those I'm-so-annoyed-I-can't-believe-this-crap kind of days, I always go to my Google Reader for little rays of sunshine.

What's there? Well, filed under "Cuteness" are only four of my favorite awww-inducing blogs ever.

1. Cute Overload.
This blog has been around for a while, but it never fails to make me squee. It's where I found otters holding hands. Best. Video. Ever. Of course now I can't find it on the site, but here it is on YouTube. It would take the hardest of hearts to resist its powers.

2. The Daily Puppy.
A puppy a day keeps the grumpies away. That is all.

3. My Milk Toof.
A recent find. Thanks, Joy! The photos and the words work so well together and the entries are so adorable I can barely stand it. It must take quite some time to get each frame of the blog just so. Thank you, Inhae Renee Lee, for helping to fill my cuteness quota.

4. ZooBorns.
This might be the best blog ever, at least in my mind. Poor Joy. She has had to view many posts from this blog because I send her links from the site all the time. I can't help it though! Who doesn't want to see baby animals from around the world?

Cuteness is the stuff of rainbows and unicorns and sugar and spice, and it isn't for everyone. Joy would have you believe she's not into it. But I know her Achilles heel: Bears. Extra points if they're falling asleep. (Ok, that one is cute. Supercute. - joy)

Hmm. I wonder if there's a career in cuteness. I'd like to get in on that.

Happy Birthday, Tai Shan! - Guest blogger, Save the World Sister

Magnet #503 - Beijing Pandas

New (possibly monthly) feature: I was a little wary of inviting guest bloggers, but so many of my magnets have been gifts that it would be a shame not to hear their magnet stories as well.

This one didn't come from my Save the World Sister, but since a ton of people overheard me yell at her "NO, we're NOT buying you a panda for Christmas!" at Concord Mall in NC, I thought she'd be perfect for this magnet. Enjoy!

- joy

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So because I love (no seriously, it could be my obsession) pandas, Joy asked me to guest blog about this magnet. I'm excited to start joy magnetism's guest blog feature.

Four years ago, the National Zoo's pair of pandas finally gave birth to the *cutest* baby panda ever. Tai Shan (the baby panda formerly known as Butterstick) is almost like my pet. I love him and used to watch the webcam in the panda enclosure all the time back when he was only as big as stick of butter.

He's my pet that I don't ever have to take care of - thanks National Zookeepers! I used to visit the zoo ALL the time just to go see Butterstick. I went to his 1st birthday party just to celebrate with all the little kids that love Butterstick too. I've watched him grow up over the past 4 years... he's grown so much I've even had to give up my dreams of breaking him out of the zoo and hiding him in my closet!

I don't know who gave Joy this magnet, but I'm jealous. Did you go to China and see the pandas? My love of pandas gives me a soft spot toward China (and being the Save the World Sister, China's got a lot of things I DO NOT agree with) because I REALLY want to go to the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center and Reserve and play with all the baby pandas. Could you imagine??? Playing with over a dozen baby pandas at once? I would seriously go crazy.

I've known a few people that have gotten to visit the breeding center, but I haven't been able to raise enough funds to get me there. It's on the top of my list of places to go especially now that Nepal is checked off. Sometimes the documentary on the breeding center is on PBS or Discovery Channel and when it is I try to watch it... even if I've already seen it. Sadly, though, because of the earthquake in China last year, the reserve and breeding centre was closed to the public and some pandas even escaped and went missing. (Oh, noes! - joy)

But today, let's focus on the happy stuff. I don't want my post to bring you down. Pandas are meant to bring happiness! They give me such a happy that Save the World Boyfriend asked me to marry him in front of the pandas at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee. He did good, by the way, with the pandas on his side, of course I said yes. :) I'm still holding out hope that someone can genetically create a pygmy panda that I can keep as a pet... like a take it home and actually get to take care of it kind of pet.

So on Tai Shan's b-day today, go out and celebrate! Maybe go eat some Panda Express (I love it even if it is seriously Americanized Chinese food) or buy a panda plush toy (I have MANY and you can get one for free I think if you join WWF or donate over $25) or wear a panda ears headband (thanks to Save the World Fiance for buying me my pair!). Or go get engaged (if you feel like copying Gordon and me).

Pandas in America are located at the National Zoo in DC, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, the Atlanta Zoo in Georgia, and the San Diego Zoo in California.