Yes, once again GQ interviews the style-obsessed Arlo Weiner for his sartorial tips on warm weather dressing.

Let it also be known that my six year old has begun taking a fledgling interest in clothing, insisting that every time he wears a polo shirt that the collar must be popped. This ususally prompts someone other than myself to tell him his collar should be down, but this has yet to deter him.

One of Arlo’s suggestions is that shorts are to be avoided, unless it’s really, really hot. Like, in his words “Palm Springs” hot in the summer, which places the average temperature around 110F.

I may have to disagree with Arlo on this one. I can’t imagine the Munchkin running around in the summer in anything but shorts. Anything else would invite heat stroke.

Arlo also advocates wearing black pants with a classic white or blue button down shirt “with the top button open. You still look good but it lets the air in.”

Arlo, bless his heart, must have a very high heat tolerance.

“A seersucker suit is great in summer. It’s a way to be fancy without being hot. ”

Finally, something I agree with! I am a big fan of seersucker, an often tragically overlooked fabric. Anyone who has ever worn seersucker knows how cool it keeps you. And while most boys I know may or may not wear a fabulous seersucker suit, they can certainly wear a cute button-down as a compromise.

I’m a child of the Eighties, and as such, doomed to use that for a title any darn time it’s even slightly appropriate. And my friends, it has never been more appropriate than it is today.

Normally I have an eternal tomboy’s visceral resistance to Pinkness, both as a colour scheme and as the bizarre cult which has seemingly seized control of every female under the age of ten, at least if the mall is anything to go on and I think it is. I am, it must be admitted, rather fond of the singer; I enjoy her voice very much although I confess I cannot understand a single word she is singing, something which surely influences why all those songs about her husband don’t seem to affect him very much, and that’s probably all to the better.

But Pinkness has its time and its place, and as its time appears to be now, so its place is here, at the flagship Barbie store in Shanghai. It is nothing short of the Superfantastic!

A piercingly-pink exterior:

A spiral staircase with 800 pink-clad Barbies:

And, should the sight of that much overwhelming Barbitude and Pinkitude prove too much for one, one can restore or perhaps lose (your choice) one’s equilibrium at the bar (all stores should have these, with a daycare next door; it makes shopping so much more civilized), and then take the pinkest escalator on Earth back down to harsh reality.

via JayPiddy

Well, besides the fact that we are both blondes and I am half German?

We are both due with our babies in the fall!

And uh, other than that, not a whole lot.

Now, let me tell you that when I saw the two lines on the stick, I about fell over. I had pretty much resigned myself to not having another child, even though we had been trying. I had miscarried in June 2007, and with my advancing age and other factors, I figured that had been my last chance. So, I did my best being the mother of an only child. I made plans to possibly go back to work part-time this fall while the Munchkin was in school.

You know what happens when you make plans…

I am officially three months along this week, so I finally feel safe to announce the good news.

And, I’m telling you guys right now that due to pregnancy hormones, I refuse to be held liable for whatever I might write in the next six months.

Oh, and I promise not to be smug.

For everyone who ever fell for that old “found it under a cabbage leaf” tale, we have here visual proof that that is NOT where babies come from. No indeedy.

THIS is where babies come from!

via Neatorama.

Easter. It happened at Easter. While we at the Manolosphere blog have no pretense of divinity (despite Plumcake‘s having the hots for the Archbishop of Canturbury) we do find it somewhat fitting that the story of our death and resurrection should happen at this time of year. Some of you may be curious as to the cause and even moreso to the solution of the dreadful outage. Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and god knows the Manolo’s not paying me for a thousand words, so here goes.

It was all very simple, really:

What say you all: poor-role-modeling, licentious hussy or wholesome growing girl?

Untitled by Q U i N N Y&C 0 U T U R e =L U V on Polyvore.com

As word got out that a makeover was coming to show Dora exploring growing up, fears that the wholesome little force of nature would turn into some kind of animated Paris Hilton Bratz doll escalated. I can’t see what all the fuss was about; yes, those are leggings, but they’re not from the Lindsay Lohan line. Yes, the top is too short for a dress, but it’s got the leggings so it’s okay. Yes, the clothes are a little tight in places, but there not House of Dereon trashy. Yes, her ears are pierced, but where I grew up all the Catholic girls got it done at 6 and all the Protestants spent the next ten years begging their mothers to let them, before being solemnly driven to the mall for the ceremony at the age of 16 (and not before, young lady!).

In fact, the only quibble I have (and it is a large one) is that neither in this universe nor in any animated alternative does turquoise go with royal purple.

In times of economic uncertainty, people tend to gravitate towards color. Colors are a quick, easy, and cheap way to get a psychological pick-me up. This spring is no exception, with coral being one of the season’s most popular color choices.

One of the newer colors in Benefit’s arsenal is Coralista, which is an all-over powder for your face that will give you a sun-kissed glow wherever you choose to put it.

Fresh Sugar Lipgloss in Sugar Glory is another lovely coral, which will give you a pop of color, but is nice and sheer. For colors like coral, I prefer gloss to lipstick, as coral can be a whole lotta color.

Yves Saint Laurent GLOSS is another coral, this one being a bit brighter than the one by Fresh Sugar. A bit more “coral-ly” if you will.

*note: the pictures of the two glosses are not representative of the color suggestions. I couldn’t find any! You’ll have to go to the site to see the actual colors.

Could anything be more suitable to our crazy, mixed-up, yet always wryly knowing yet nevertheless optimistic for whatever kooky reason world than these, the sayings of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, presented in motivational poster form. Hang one in your disaffected teen’s room today!

So much more effective than yet another red, white and blue “There’s no ‘I’ in Team America!“