How to Plan Your First Home | Work & Life | iDiva.com - Women

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The first home is a dream come true; it's not just a space to be designed. It usually is a mix of years of aspirations and desires that one wishes to turn into reality all at one go.

The functional and aesthetic demands from a first home are usually high. We want the best use of space and yet incorporate some ideas that are not practical.

To begin with, you must list your needs in a tabular form as per Functional Needs and Aesthetic Demands. Following this, on a scale of 1 to 5, you can prioritise your needs.

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Prioritise your needs as per functional & aesthetic demands

This could take a couple of days, but take time as this is the foundation for your first home. You could keep evolving and working on this list on a regular basis.

We must keep in mind basic factors that are vital to planning the space and aesthetic of your first home:

• Always keep in mind the dynamics of the space, the size of the rooms and the amount of natural light to be experienced.
• Avoid interrupting the passage of natural light as much as possible, unless it's a home theatre, where you may need to block light completely for optimum experience.
• In compact spaces, be particularly careful about not over crowding the space; steer clear of dark colours that may make an already closely-packed space feel even tighter.
• Use simple forms of furniture, so as to make the place feel bigger. The use of large mirrors can make a space feel much larger than it really is.

The essence is not in the square feet of the space to be used, but is in the enhancement of the experience of living in that space.

When designing spaces, I always drape the curtains from the ceiling of the room; this gives the space visual length, thus magnifying the volume in the room. The cost may be negligibly higher for a few extra metres of fabric, but the enhancement of volume and feeling is incomparable.

In a living room, use sheers, transparent fabrics that make a place look lighter and brighter.

Your colour schemes are vital to the aesthetics of your home. Define your colour scheme and then finalise your furniture, curtains and upholstery. Don?t work the other way around. To add a zing to the space, play with the use of accent furniture and cushions to add the ?wow? touch.

Start dreaming already! :-)

Source: http://idiva.com/opinion-work-life/how-to-plan-your-first-home/21188

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BAA: Support after attacks at race overwhelming

BOSTON (AP) ? Boston Marathon organizers say they've been overwhelmed by public support after bombs killed three people and injured hundreds more at the finish line of their race.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the April 15 attacks, Boston Athletic Association executive director Tom Grilk said Wednesday the tragedy has spawned a massive outpouring of assistance. Grilk and Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray say the tight-knit running community has come together even more since the bombing at the world's most prestigious marathon.

Grilk says the B.A.A. has not yet decided how to accommodate all the people who say they want to run or volunteer next year to show their support.

Grilk also says the organization has donated $250,000 to The One Fund Boston, the charity set up to help victims of the bombing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/baa-support-attacks-race-overwhelming-175045383.html

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The 5 Steps to Having a Successful (and Happy!) Long Distance ...

Maybe you?re separated by jobs that keep you in different cities. Or a war that brings him across the globe in dangerous places. Perhaps you?re both pursuing different dreams in different states but your love the mutual, binding part that keeps you meeting in the middle. Having a long distance relationship is not only a brave decision but it?s one that can cause a lot of anxiety in a courtship. The plain ? and yes, sad ? truth is that most LDR do ultimately fail because the time apart just becomes big enough to pull you and your guy in opposite directions. The good news? Many LDR do end in a beautiful, healthy and happy marriage. It?s just going to take a little work on both ends. Here are five steps to making sure your relationship that?s across the miles ? go the extra mile.

Have a Threesome With Technology

Though technology can be a menace to some relationships (Facebook stalking!), for LDR, having multiple ways to connect virtually is a blessing. No matter how busy you are with school or your full-time job, to keep your relationship thriving, make sure to set up at least three times a week to see each other via Skype or Google Hangout. Being able to see his facial expressions, the cute dimples you fell in love with and those eyes that get you every time will help you remember why you?re putting in the effort to make it work.

Go Old Fashioned

You may not be a wordsmith, but we bet you can write at least two sentences about why you love your guy so much. Or if you?re really out of sentiments (we know he leaves you speechless sometimes) ? pick up a card the next time you go to the drugstore. Send him an actual piece of mail every other week but never tell him about it. That way, one day, when he?s in a bad mood or you got into a fight because you miss one another, he?ll see your name in his mailbox and it?ll raise his spirits. We bet you may get a note in return ? or maybe even flowers!

Save Your Money

Even if you?re a student and with limited funds, it?s important for both of you to remember the importance of actually seeing one another. No amount of emails or Skyping sessions can replace being able to hug the person you love. As a couple, talk about the amount of cash you each need to save weekly to be able to see each other once a month or once every other month. This may mean a few less cocktails or take out orders, but it?ll be worth it to spend a weekend with a guy you hope you?ll marry.

Do Something Together Virtually

Set up your laptop in your kitchen and pick a recipe that you?ll both make at the same time. Instead of talking about the same boring daily things (?How was work?? ?Do you miss me?? ?What are you doing tomorrow??) ? doing an activity will keep your relationship and your conversations fun and interesting. If you?re not exactly a cook, you can also watch a movie together on Netflix or play a game like Catch Phrase. It?s like hanging out in person, but through a computer screen instead.

Keep it Sexy!

Even if you can?t touch each other as often as you?d like, remember to keep the spark alive by sending a few dirty text messages throughout the week and putting on some lingerie for one of your Skyping sessions. He?ll not only appreciate it (and we?re sure, get excited), but it?ll make him that much more determined to see you sooner.

By Aurora Brown

Source: http://www.yourengagement101.com/relationships/2013/04/the-5-steps-to-having-a-successful-and-happy-long-distance-relationship/

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Frosty start for upstate NY ice cream truck season

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) ? The chilly relationship between rival upstate New York ice cream truck operators got out of hand this season, with Sno Cone Joe trying to chase Mr. Ding-A-Ling out of the market, authorities said Wednesday.

Gloversville police told local media outlets two Sno Cone Joe operators face harassment and stalking charges after heated confrontations last month that included one of them yelling "This is my town!" at a Mr. Ding-A-Ling driver.

The driver told police that Sno Cone Joe owners Joshua Malatino and Amanda Scott followed his truck, playing their music at high volume and trying to lure away customers with promises of free ice cream.

Police said Malatino also called the suburban Albany headquarters of Mr. Ding-A-Ling and said "I own this town!" while claiming Sno Cone Joe controls the frozen treats market in Gloversville, a former manufacturing city about 35 miles northwest of Albany.

Capt. John Sira said Malatino was warned this spring about similar behavior last year and police stepped in after an officer saw some of the activity while on patrol.

Malatino, 34, and Scott, 21, both of Gloversville, were charged Tuesday with second-degree harassment, a violation, and fourth-degree stalking, a misdemeanor. A message left for their lawyer wasn't initially returned Wednesday afternoon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-05-01-Ice%20Cream%20Truck%20Rivals/id-e58ca99e462741aa9f2edfe025fc41a6

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Security casts shadow over Obama's Mexico trip

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is seeking to refocus economic relations between the U.S. and Mexico, even as fresh questions about security cooperation threaten to cast a shadow over the president's visit to the southern neighbor.

Obama also will use his three-day trip, which begins Thursday and includes a stop in Costa Rica, to highlight the immigration overhaul moving through Capitol Hill, both for an audience in Latin America and for those back home in the U.S.

The president is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon in Mexico City for meetings with President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Since taking office in December, Pena Nieto has moved to end Mexico's widespread access it gave U.S. security agencies helping fight drug trafficking and organized crime. The changes mark a dramatic shift from the policies of Pena Nieto's predecessor, Felipe Calderon, who was lauded by the U.S. for boosting cooperation between the two countries as he led an aggressive attack on Mexico's drug cartels. Calderon's war on the cartels was unpopular in Mexico and left much of the country's north close to a state of war.

The White House has tried to downplay a potential rift, with officials emphasizing Mexico has kept the U.S. informed about the changes. Obama on Tuesday said he would wait to hear directly from his Mexican counterpart before assessing the changes.

Despite the intense focus on security issues, Obama advisers say the president will try to show that the ties between the two countries are broader than the drug wars that defined the relationship in recent years.

"Security has been so front-and-center in the public discussion of the U.S.-Mexico relationship that lost in that is the enormous commercial relationship between the two countries," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

Obama is expected to call for the U.S. and Mexico to deepen trade ties to promote job creation on both sides of the border. However, he is not expected to announce any major new economic initiatives.

Mexico was the second-largest export market for U.S. goods in 2011, according to the office of the U.S. trade representative. U.S. trade with Mexico totaled $500 billion in 2011.

White House aides say they also see strengthening Mexico's economy as a way to address one of the root causes of much of the illegal immigration to the U.S.

Rhodes said the U.S. expects Pena Nieto and other regional leaders to be largely supportive of the immigration overhaul being debated on Capitol Hill, which includes provisions to strengthen security at the 2,000-mile long border with Mexico.

However, Carl Meacham, a former senior Latin America adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. immigration effort is viewed with "skepticism and confusion" in the region.

"They've been brought to the altar so many times by different American administrations that there's a bit of a lack of trust," said Meacham, who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Getting Mexico's buy-in, particularly on border security, could help Obama sell the immigration overhaul in the U.S., particularly to wary Republicans. GOP lawmakers have long insisted the U.S. must focus its efforts on securing the border before addressing the legal status of the more than 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

The immigration bill being debated in the Senate would strengthen border security, allow tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country, require all employers to check their workers' legal status and provide an eventual path to citizenship for most of the immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

More than half of the immigrants in the U.S. illegally are from Mexico, according to the Pew Research Center.

Following a speech Friday to Mexican entrepreneurs, Obama will travel to Costa Rica, his first visit as president to the Central American nation. In addition to meetings with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, Obama will attend a gathering of leaders from the Central American Integration system. The regional network also includes the leaders of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

On Saturday, Obama will attend a business conference aimed at fostering economic cooperation between the U.S. and Central American nations. The president is due back in Washington Saturday night.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/security-casts-shadow-over-obamas-211650126.html

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With 1 week to go, Sanford subject of attacks

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford can't seem to escape attacks on the extramarital affair that derailed his political career, which he hopes to revive in the special congressional election that is now a week away.

For months, his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, refused to criticize Sanford's affair ? which was uncovered when he visited his mistress in Argentina under the guise of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Sanford seldom found himself on the defensive, instead focusing on a message of redemption and seeking voters' forgiveness.

But his opponent's campaign in recent days has been airing an ad blasting him for that lie, and Colbert Busch criticized him Monday for using taxpayer funds for some of those travels. The attacks came even as Sanford picked up the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a tea party favorite who has said he is mulling a presidential run.

Furthermore, a new television ad from the House Majority PAC that went up on Wednesday tells voters not to cast their ballot for a man whose "betrayal of South Carolinians is more than a mile long."

And a billboard erected on an interstate near Columbia ? outside the 1st Congressional District where Sanford is running ? brings further attention to his past, using Sanford's photo to advertise a website where people can meet partners for extramarital affairs.

Colbert Busch's campaign ad says she worked to provide trained workers for the Boeing plant in North Charleston and that Sanford knew it. The ad came after an earlier Sanford ad questioned her claim she "worked with Boeing."

"It's the same Mark Sanford who used tax dollars to visit his mistress in Argentina," the Colbert Busch ad says. "He disappeared for a week leaving no one in charge. He betrayed all who trusted in him and then lied to cover it up."

Colbert Busch's campaign did not immediately respond to a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment on the change in strategy, given her longtime insistence on running a positive campaign. Sanford did not respond directly to the attacks or the billboard.

The ad from the House Majority PAC takes a similar tack. In it, a woman who claims she is a lifelong Republican says she could not vote for Sanford because "his betrayal of South Carolinians is more than a mile long."

"The bottom line is that after abandoning the Palmetto State, using taxpayer funds to travel in luxury and for personal purposes and even trespassing in his ex-wife's home, South Carolina deserves better than Mark Sanford," says the woman, Jennifer Stark of Mount Pleasant.

Even with the attacks heating up, Sanford has benefited from name recognition in the mostly conservative district: He held the same congressional seat for three terms in the 1990s, and has touted his conservative credentials as a budget-cutter.

Paul praised those credentials Tuesday in issuing his endorsement, saying that during his career, Sanford has been an advocate for limited government and cutting spending.

"Mark has proven during his time in office that watching out for the taxpayers and holding the line on spending are his top priorities," Paul said.

"I think in looking at my own record there's been a consistent theme of looking out for the taxpayers and the bottom line," Sanford said in thanking Paul for the endorsement. "Unfortunately, with respect to my opponent, it simply isn't believable she would be an independent voice given who has been funding her campaign."

Sanford has been hammering at Colbert Busch saying political out-of-state interests are funding her campaign. She has said she will be an independent voice answerable only to the people of the district.

Later Tuesday, Sanford and Colbert Busch both had campaign appearances before a Chamber of Commerce group and an NAACP chapter, although both were to give comments, not formally debate.

On Wednesday, Sanford will get a boost from his successor, fellow Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. She will make her first campaign appearance on behalf of her former mentor in Charleston to help raise money for Sanford during a fundraiser at a home on the city's famous Battery.

"Nikki believes it is critical that South Carolina speak with as much unity as possible on key federal issues facing our state, such as labor union powers, Obamacare, and deficit spending," said spokesman Tim Pearson. "Mark Sanford is clearly the candidate who will stand with our Congressional delegation in fighting Washington's overreach."

Colbert Busch ? the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert ? Sanford and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt are on the ballot May 7 in a special election to fill the vacant congressional seat vacated when Tim Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-week-sanford-subject-attacks-203107373.html

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Yahoo announces six original shows, WWE streaming partnership

It's been just under a week since Yahoo scored exclusive rights to stream Saturday Night Live clips, but the old guard of search has just divulged more of its video plans at its Digital Content NewFront event. Taking a page from Netflix's playbook, the firm announced its original comedy lineup will be released in a "binge-viewing" style á la House of Cards this fall, and added Tiny Commando, We Need Help and Losing Your Virginity with John Stamos to its humor roster. Mayer and Co. also revealed a trio of lifestyle programs called Fashion Recipe, Cinema & Spice and Grill Girls, which are headed online at some point later this year.

In addition to its in-house programming, Yahoo's partnered with the WWE to create an online wrestling hub starting this summer, which will include clips, a 30-minute Monday Night Raw pre-show, two original weekly shows with 50 episodes per year, an archive of full historic matches and more. The folks in Sunnyvale are also set to stream video content from Conde Nast Entertainment, and expand their relationship with ABC News thanks to World News Behind the Headlines, Nightline: Online and GMA Live. News junkies will also be able to tune into the CNBC's Talking Numbers. For descriptions of the outfit's original shows -- and how it'd like to catch your attention with ads -- hit the jump for the full press release.

[Image credit: Yodel Anecdotal, Flickr]

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Source: Yahoo

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