Monday 18 February 2008

Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History

Guess I’m going down in those history books, because I am scandalous!

What fun! I love the fact that Matt (the fellow whose shirt I unbuttoned the top two buttons of) used to “smuggle” my books into class. In the sixth form, no less! Oh, the irony.

Filed under:   humor, blogging, pop culture, web design and development, travel, blog slut, food and drink, society, conferences
Posted by:   Molly | 7:25 pm | Comments (19)

Sunday 17 February 2008

Happiness is Sexy

As a depressive, I’ve always found the people I get involved with during the dark times end up being my worst mistakes.

But happiness, I’m sure, is sexy. I see a plain person frown, and that’s just a plain person frowning. I see any person, no matter their physical being, alive with happiness, and that is very appealing.

Happiness is sexy. I may not always be able to be happy, or sexy, but damned if I don’t love being both.

What do you think?

Filed under:   blogging, pop culture, blog slut, society, molly asks you, community
Posted by:   Molly | 3:23 am | Comments (40)

Sunday 30 December 2007

Murder Tales

Have you taken the Death Test? I have. I am apparently meant to be murdered. Here’s how I see it:

I’m falling to sleep, so deep and sweet. I stretch and turn, pull the pillow over my head. I’m ready for serious rest.

Not more than ten minutes after I fall to sleep, I begin to dream. My dream colors are very noir, black, grey, lots of shadows.

Think of dramatic violins and long dark hallways.

Next step is the squeaky one. The one you step on and it squeaks and you hold your breath.

Your Mom or Dad or wife or whoever hears that squeak. They can count it. As you can. One, two, eleven.

What do you do now? Do you fall to sleep, so deep and sweet? Will you stretch and turn and pull the pillow over your head?

I am convinced I will die by murder.

Please don’t blame the poor guy.

I’d have killed me too.

Filed under:   humor, blog slut, society, creativity
Posted by:   Molly | 2:29 am | Comments (38)

Wednesday 31 October 2007

Self Portrait: Witchy Woman

How about yours?

Filed under:   pop culture, photos, blog slut, creativity, molly asks you, nmby, costume play
Posted by:   Molly | 1:11 am | Comments (12)

Tuesday 25 July 2006

Transcendent CSS: Creating the Aesthetic Web

For those folks working with Web standards, particularly CSS, the road’s been a bit of a difficult one. We’ve faced a lot of challenges and continue to face them. But there’s hope on the horizon, lots of hope. This hope has emerged from the hard work of many people who are attempting to transcend the technical problems and create great Web sites. Our joint goal is to create sites that are structurally sound, accessible, usable, and designed with aesthetic appeal for multiple platform use including screen, print, and wherever possible, mobile devices.

Understanding the Challenges

The first challenge we face is that we have to learn CSS, which isn’t particularly easy for most people, especially visual designers accustomed to working in visual design tools such as Photoshop, Fireworks, and so on. There’s a reason for this: CSS was developed by technologists for designers, and it’s only been recently that the W3C’s CSS Working Group has even had input from a visual designer.

This has extended a gap that’s long existed between “creatives” and “techies” and has left us all at a disadvantage. Designers are expected to learn programmatic concepts found in CSS such as conflict resolution, application hierarchies, and the specificity algorithm. Conversely, developers tend to find these concepts familiar, but struggle with aesthetics.

In a typical work environment, these seemingly separate factions are, in fact, separated. Designers sit in their area, developers in theirs. But this is a critical mistake. Because technologists tend to grasp CSS as a technical language, while designers are trained in aesthetics, separating them does nothing to advance our understanding, education, and progress. My first recommendation is that we use the buddy system to solve this problem, and get developers and designers working together. It’s a great divide in some ways, but one that must be breached in order to progress beyond our current state of affairs.

Please, Can’t We All Just Get Along?

We’ve also had to deal with browser compatibility issues. Fortunately, with better CSS in the upcoming IE7, most of us are now in a place where we can design with CSS confidently. Where we cannot, there are good practices to follow, such as using surgical correction techniques and hack strategies; grading browsers and supporting them accordingly; and for some, implementing proprietary techniques such as conditional comments to correct IE-specific concerns. So, at least for the desktop, we’re seeing great strides in this area and out of that will come the opportunity to do progressive work.

So Now What?

We know we’ve got a major learning curve and transition on our hands, and while the software products we use as Web designers and developers are getting better all the time, we still have to know the code. I like to compare using a WYSIWYG tool without understanding markup or CSS as allowing Word to correct your spelling and grammar. If you don’t know that something’s correct or incorrect and allow Word to do all the work, you can end up with a document that is downright unintelligible! So we have to accept that designers must learn as much CSS as we can, and developers must look to designers for help with esthetics. Again, not necessarily an easy task, but one that I believe is fully necessary.

As our skills grow, and our tools become more mature, it becomes imperative that we begin thinking not only about retrofit solutions for existing Web sites, backward compatibility, and how to make something work today, but that we look toward a progressive future where the technology isn’t the focus - the entire quality of the project is.

Principles of Transcendent CSS

The principles of Transcendent CSS are very straightforward:

• Use CSS that is currently available
• Deliver better CSS to those browsers able to manage it
• Use CSS that might not be currently available in such a way that it anticipates a feature. Such features might include attribute, child and adjacent sibling selectors as well as bits of CSS 3.0
• Embrace a philosophy that combines the value of the designer with the value of the developer to achieve results that literally transcend the limitations of current technologies
• Look for inspiration off of the Web, not just from other Web sites
• Collaborate and share your work with the world, don’t keep techniques and solutions private

The interesting reality is that we can do all of these things today, at least theoretically. The problems we’ve faced in the past can be worked around or resolved. What remains for us to manage is accepting and dealing with the learning curve, creating more effective workflows and processes, and getting designers and developers working together.

Changing an ingrained infrastructure and finding the resources to do these things is no doubt a daunting task, but again, one that I feel is absolutely necessary. We need to change in order to move above and beyond the limitations we’re dealing with today and face tomorrow with strong, agile skills; better communication and organization; and ultimately, better Web sites for all.

Filed under:   professional, policies, standards, blogging, software, web design and development, WaSP, blog slut, society
Posted by:   Molly | 4:57 pm | Comments (37)

Friday 22 July 2005

Why We Blog

THRICE BITTEN THRICE SHY. Three times, that’s 3 times this week my blogging style has been challenged, commented on or praised.

It makes me wonder why we blog. I only know this: We’re all different, and a blog can only be what we as the individuals or groups behind the blog want it to be.

When you come to this site, it clearly states this is the place where I share my web development work and personal thoughts.

Why the confusion?

Just Be Happy

So this man walks up to me at Web Design World after I’ve just spoken for an hour on blogs and the different genres of blogs that exist. I consider my blog to be a hybrid blog in which both the personal and professional are combined. This gentle(?) man told me I shouldn’t post anything to my blog that wasn’t “happy.”

Now I don’t mind criticism. In fact, I would have never made a success out of my oft-questionable skills had I been too sensitive. But I really lost it on this poor man. He stepped on a few last nerves. First, I hate being told what I should or shouldn’t do, especially from a guy who has a New York accent and vaguely reminds me of my father. Bad combo platter. All that aside, I have these points: My blog is me. I don’t need to be liked, nor can I always express happiness.

Hippie Esthetic

I was told by a lovely reporter from National Public Radio (NPR) that my blog has a “hippie esthetic.” I think this might have been some kind of praise for the free nature of my posting. On the other hand, she seemed confused as to why my blog wasn’t “corporate.”

She’s not far off though. I come from the generation that immediately post-dated the hippies and therefore has been very influenced by that mindset. Do you think her comment rings true for my site?

Personal and Professional Splits

Many bloggers find they have or want to keep the personal and professional separate. A reader just wrote to me earlier today asking how I worked that out. Well, I’ve never really been able to split myself up that way. I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work for me. I figure I’m a whole person. If you don’t like me, you don’t like me. At SXSW this year, Jason Fried expressed something that frightened me only because it could have been articulated word-for-word by me.

Basically, he said that your blog is you. If a potential client is turned off by you, they probably aren’t a good fit anyway.

I find that to be really true.

Why Do You?

Why do you (or don’t you) blog? Perhaps more importantly, do you think it’s better to split professional and personal?

Filed under:   professional, faith(less), blogging, blog slut, society
Posted by:   Molly | 9:25 pm | Comments (66)

Tuesday 19 July 2005

Blogging the Stratosphere

I’m blogging from the sky!

We just flew around Mt. Rainier - I’ve got some excellent images and video from that seriously awesome experience - I’ll upload them to Flickr in just a bit.

Along with using the WiFi in the sky, we are the first journalists in the United States to view the live television offerings. Another interesting demo they’re about to show us is VOIP (voice IP) telephones.

The world, my dear readers, is changing. It’s the most exciting time to be alive, I hope you all agree.

Filed under:   blogging, travel, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 4:08 pm | Comments (30)

Sky Blogging

Today I’m going to be blogging from the sky! It’s the Blogging the Stratosphere event, in which a group of journalists including some high-profile bloggers, newspaper writers (Wall Street Journal, Associated Press and Seattle Times), magazine and media reps (Macworld, Microsoft), radio personalities and podcasters get on a private jet from Boeing and have fun while blogging, podcasting and Flickr’ing from the sky.

Folks joining in on the fun include: Steve Broback, Buzz Bruggeman, DL Byron, Bryan Corliss, Kevin Ebi, Dominic Gates, Brian Gregory, Cathy Lu, Larry Hryb, Chris Pirillo, Eric Rice, Robert Scoble, Bob Sullivan, and Nick Wingfield and of course,yours truly.

Our flight takes us over Mt. Rainier, shown here in a photo I took last night as the moon rose over Seattle. We’ll then be whisked away to a winery for dinner, and then back up for more sky blogging.

I’ve set up a special AIM name so molly.com readers can IM with me while I’m in flight. The name is skyblogger1 and the flight schedule is available (Pacific Time) so you can check in and say hello. I’ll be blogging the experience here, and posting photos to Flickr as well.

Hope to chat with you from above the clouds!

Filed under:   blogging, photos, travel, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 8:23 am | Comments (21)

Friday 18 February 2005

marqui: examining the cost of ethics

ETHICAL LINES ARE being drawn and redrawn in the blogging community. Marqui has been at the forefront of the debate.

In an excellent and detailed article, The cost of ethics: Influence peddling in the blogosphere, Marqui’s paid-to-post efforts lead the question about how we’re redefining the meaning of ethics in the context of journalism.

This is an issue that came up for me big-time, because I’m both of an independent spirit and interested in shaking up old models. Marqui suited me, because I felt I could work within my own ethics and maintain authenticity with my audiences under the guidelines of my contract with them.

So, while I’ve questioned the ethics of the general approach, and of how others might use this model less transparently than a person with my rather open style, I do think I got a bit of a surprise in the process. I did end up having to re-evaluate aspects of how I behave with my blog. Working through the program has helped me as an individual revisit what my sense of ethics are as a writer, educator, and public persona.

It wasn’t only until recently that I even saw what was a blatant request for leads for Marqui. I do have to say that had something like that happened early on, I would have bailed on the program. As it winds down, I’m finding it was an experience I’m glad to have undertaken.

Filed under:   blogging, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 6:59 am | Comments (21)

Wednesday 9 February 2005

marqui: charity begins at home

CHARITY BEGINS AT home, so it is said, and while this month wraps up my last as a paid-to-blog blogger for Marqui, a few words about charitable acts are in order.

A recent white paper from Marqui describes some of their clients. Among them are a number of charitable organizations, including Shriners of North America and the David Suzuki Foundation, which Marqui uses as a client case study.

We are already aware that web sites can really help donation campaigns. BlogAid, started by U.K. web designer Andy Budd, has closed pledging now, but has tracked 225 bloggers who have pledged upwards of $8,500.00 from their sites to the Asian Tsunami Relief effort. I contributed $250.00 from my last month check from Marqui (check total: $600.00) to the American Jewish World Service’s Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Fund. It’s a pleasure to be able to spread the love around.

Something we don’t talk too much about, however, is how the inclusion of charitable activities on a corporate and/or organizational web site can be helpful to promote the positive nature of that organization. I first saw this years ago on the 7-up web site, where they had organized summer activities for underprivileged youth. I occasionally run across some sites that do this sort of thing really well. One of my favorite women’s clothing shops is J. Jill, whose Compassion Fund is an excellent example of the kind of thing web sites can do to raise their karma score. It’s nice to see Marqui taking this tack, too.

I’ve always believed the Web offers many opportunities to raise up the human spirit and condition of living for people worldwide. More of this sort of thing is needed, and I commend my colleagues and fellow bloggers for putting their money and resources where our oft perceived self-indulgent mouths are.

Filed under:   blogging, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 8:57 am | Comments (22)

Sunday 30 January 2005

Marqui and advertising: decision made

GOING BACK AND forth about paid-to-blog, advertisements and how to get some revenue from my site has surprisingly paid off into a quick decision.

That decision? I’m not going to accept ads at this time, and while I will honor the remainder of my contract with the good folks at Marqui for the rest of its term (one month remaining) and do it well, I’m not going to continue to accept any paid-to blog opportunities after that time either.

The reason? I’ve found myself spending too much time thinking about marketing now than ever before, and I don’t like the way it feels or influences the topics I write about on my blog. Especially when I’m traveling, I have precious little time to write, and I don’t want to force a post rather than feel a post.

It’s that simple.

If I were a marketing person, perhaps it would be more appropriate to continue with this discussion. It’s been a good experience asking myself and you, dear readers, some tough questions about ethics and appropriate revenue generation, and your feedback has been invaluable.

It’s also been a fascinating journey watching Marqui in particular break through a lot of boundaries and shake up conventions (I’m all over shaking up conventions!). I think their model can work over time and remain ethical. I’ll have more thoughts on that in the coming month.

I will continue to review other revenue options (sponsorships, membership, direct book and tutorial sales via the site, t-shirts and other fun stuff, and maybe even a donation option) but for the time being, no ads. And after next month, as much as I’ve enjoyed working with the Marqui folks, whom I respect a great deal, I think the fact that this site remains only semi-professional is because it is ultimately and truly a personality site and therefore must be comfortable for me as much as anyone. Otherwise, why do it?

If people enjoy my blog, that is great reward in and of itself. If readers go on to be supportive by buying my books and coming to conferences where I speak, that’s even more helpful. But I don’t want to become something I’m not. Ever seen me in a T-shirt that advertises some brand? Unlikely. You won’t even see me carrying name-brand handbags or wearing designer this or that. I suppose maybe I just prefer to be a maverick. Of course, this doesn’t mean I won’t at some point change my mind, but if that happens, you’ll hear about it from me first.

So thank you all for the insightful discussions on this issue, and especially to Marqui for the ongoing opportunity to explore the possibilities. Next month I intend to write more about the product itself rather than the product about the product. But after that, and for the forseeable future, Molly.Com will remain advertisement and advertorial-free.

Filed under:   blogging, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 7:44 am | Comments (27)

Friday 28 January 2005

marqui: challenging the model

A HIGHLIGHT OF the Blog Business Summit was meeting the folks from Marqui and being able to talk to them face to face about their marketing goals.

Much of the discussion surrounding Marqui’s approach to paying bloggers as a means for marketing a product have been profoundly controversial. A major argument against Marqui’s approach has been the concern that despite their desire to be “transparent” doesn’t necessarily represent other companies that might try to do the same thing. That, along with the fact that some bloggers might not fully disclose what they are doing and why.

Certainly, we should always question new approaches. I question the entire approach myself, for numerous reasons which I’ll go into over time. But tonight I want to point out that sometimes there is no better way to measure the integrity of how a company works than by its people. This week, I had the good fortune to meet some Marqui folks face to face. And I have to tell the naysayers out there: If you haven’t met this group, you need to.

Most people have good bullshit detectors. I like to think mine is, at this point in my life, pretty well refined. Every interaction I had with Marqui during the Blog Business Summit was honest, fun, genuine. These folks aren’t out to take anything away, if anything, they’ve been putting their own product out there in a way that challenges our beliefs about what marketing on the web is, and what is should be.

Interestingly, when I returned home, there was a call from Google (a company I also respect greatly) wanting to talk to me about adding Google ad options to molly.com. It’s getting difficult in light of the popularity of this blog to not begin thinking in terms of how to support the hours I spend on maintaining it. I have extremely mixed feelings about this, and yet contrary to popular opinion, writing books does not typically make one rich. Or even able to make the mortgage payment.

So, advertising has a place. Whether its place is here on my site, I’m not entirely convinced. But I also can’t help but be interested in improving my own financial circumstances. I want to do it with integrity, and with companies that have integrity, such as Marqui or Google. If I do it at all over the long term.

Let me ask you, dear readers, which you would prefer:

• Clearly marked advertorials from Marqui no more than four times a month
• Google ad options
• Conventional web advertising
• All of the above
• None of the above

Have a different opinion, or a concern or question? Sound it out here.

Filed under:   professional, blogging, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 11:19 pm | Comments (91)

Thursday 20 January 2005

marqui: don’t read this post

DON’T READ THIS post. If you disagree with blogging for dollars that is. Since the whole Marqui blog-for-money campaign has started, more than a few people have pushed back.

So the big question is: Why does being paid to blog seem so offensive to some? Quite a few critics of the Marqui program sport Google Adwords or big ol’ Flash ads or affiliate programs on their blogs. I want to understand the difference. Maybe if we were taking money on the QT and then writing cheerleading posts about the product on our own blogs without informing you there’d be room for questioning the ethical nature of the program.

But the Marqui program is definitely unique in that it clearly states we, as paid bloggers, can write about anything we want so long as we mention the product, link to the site, and place a graphic somewhere on our blog. Marqui cannot influence us as writers, and I’ve actually been one of the least enthusiastic bloggers on the team - mostly because I’m just not that wow’d by the product. And I’m still getting my check. So maybe the ethical question is with me, not Marqui.

If you’re watching TV in real-time, you might hit mute during the commercials, or go take a pee break, or grab a fresh one from the fridge. If you’re surfing web sites - I mean c’mon kids - how many of us even take notice of ads anymore? We’ve gotten so used to them being there we only object to them when they are particuarly obtrusive, such as in interstitial ads, pop-up ads, or ads that result from adware.

Some of you might remember the wonderful Web Techniques Magazine, available in print for nearly five years of the web’s early life. Some of you might even remember that I wrote a regular column there and eventually became the Executive Editor of sister publication WebReview. In that role, I had to face a fact that years of a very liberal, very high-priced M.A. in Media Studies couldn’t deny: Money drives the market, and money for publications very often derives from advertising. It didn’t matter how many times I yelled about journalistic integrity - the fact was that our sales team made deals with advertisers that definitely bordered on the questionable, at least in my then less-cynical experience.

So what happened to our beloved Web Techniques? Where’s WebReview? How about the related WEB shows that were at one time the most exciting events in the web design world? They are all gone now, casualties based on a primary truth: They couldn’t sell enough advertising and trade opportunities to sustain themselves.

Follow the logic: A blog is a publication. Therefore, many blogs will require some means of support, and advertising is a perfectly reasonable approach - especially when it’s on the up and up. When you open a computing magazine and see an ad for Microsoft in one spread, and ad for Sun in another, an ad for AOL in another and so on, what part of “these guys are paying for this space” isn’t understood? Marqui is even bolder - they let us tell you: “This is an ad.” They even let me tell you not to read this post. Or criticize their take on things. Or blabber on about whatever I want, so long as I follow the basic agreement.

As with a commercial, you can change the channel. And like a commercial, you never have to read anything on this site that is keyworded with Marqui, under the category of blog slut, with a link to the site and an image that is no larger and certainly far less offensive than the myriad ad images we ignore every single day.

Ethical problem? I don’t see it. Bothersome? That I can see - I don’t like ads either. But if that’s what it takes to keep something else that’s valuable alive, I’m willing to make that compromise. If I can make a few dollars by experimenting with an initiative and opportunity that a company such as Marqui can provide and still maintain my own sense of integrity of what is written on this blog, why would anyone want to get in the way of that?

These are honest questions, born of my own experience and logic behind why I said “yes” to Marqui in the first place. Part experiment, part economics, all with full disclosure and you with the complete right to skip a post at any time. Surely that’s not so hard, and surely most readers don’t read all posts on a blog anyway.

And for the record, when my first Marqui payment arrives, a generous portion of that will be going to Asian relief efforts as I pledged via BlogAid.

I just can’t see the bad in that.

Filed under:   blogging, software, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 7:15 am | Comments (34)

Saturday 8 January 2005

marqui: alphabet soup

THINK YOU KNOW what a CMS is? According to Marqui, you don’t. Because Marqui thinks it’s a “communication” management system rather than a “content” management system. I think trying to change the alphabet is a big PR mistake.

I spent some time this week digging into the Marqui system and trying to figure out exactly why the generous folks at Marqui prefer to promote their product as “communications management” rather than “content management.”

Sure, Marqui allows you to do some communicating. You can create workflow groups and send out direct email notifications to those groups. You can keep an interactive calendar of events. And, perhaps the real reason Marqui is touting itself as communications management is because it has a release system that you can set up to automatically release press information, articles or email updates. Nice!

As helpful as the communications tools in Marqui might be for its users, I don’t find the tools robust enough to place such an emphasis on communication. Especially so much so as to toy with a hot topic acronym like CMS. It is, in this reviewer’s opinion, a very dangerous thing to mess with popular terminology. Marqui will always have to explain their rationale, and there’s nothing so exciting - at least at this time - within the software service to make me believe it’s really a communications system.

To get right down to it, content is communication, and effective content management must include effective communications management.

So serve me up some alphabet soup, piping hot for this chilly winter day, and don’t try to convince me that CMS means anything other than “Content Management System” in today’s Web technology jargon.

Filed under:   blogging, software, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 4:20 am | Comments (24)

Thursday 30 December 2004

marquis: seo for cms

CMS PROBLEMS AREN’T just related to non-standard markup. According to a white paper provided by Marquis: The Marketer’s Guide to Optimizing Your Web Content for Search Engines CMSs can be doing a lot more to help with your search engine optimization. The advice is mostly good, with a few head-scratchers along the way.

I can recommend the white paper as an easy read with mostly solid information. It’s a practical guide as to what should be included in a CMS to assist with better search engine optimization (SEO) practices. Here’s a sample of some of the advice provided, along with my thoughts on that advice:

• Link quality is more important than quantity. This is in reference to inbound links specifically - the more highly trafficked sites that are linking to you, the better.
• meta elements. While not as weighted as they once were (and in some cases not part of a search algorithm at all), it’s still important to use meta descriptions and keywords.
• Dynamic pages have difficulty with certain URL strings, particularly those that contain a “?”. Well here’s one I didn’t know! Cool, and according to the white paper, a good CMS is one that will create friendlier URLs, which can’t be anything but positive.
• alt text. Okay, Marquis bothers me here. First they used the term “Alt Tag.” Gack! One more time for the masses: There’s no such thing as an “Alt Tag.” It is an attribute. Moving on from that, the advice Marquis provides is to add alternative text to all images other than those that are purely visual. Well, you can’t leave the alt attribute out of any inline image and pass muster validation-wise, much less accessibility-wise. The alternative is obvious to me: Design with CSS so your design-centric images are in backgrounds anyway. Otherwise, you must have the alt attribute in your img elements, even if you choose not to include any descriptive text.
• Place JavaScripts in external files. Excellent advice for numerous reasons: Better document management (you can create shared libraries for common scripts); you reduce page weight; and you please the search engines, who don’t like lots of data before actual content.
• Use large font sizing or headers for important text, and emphasis important keywords with bold and italics. How about we adjust that to simply this: Use headers semantically, and you can’t go wrong. Ditch the inline font sizing - there’s just no excuse to be using inline font elements anymore. Emphasize only those items that really are emphatic, otherwise it begins to affect readability.
• A good CMS will allow the use of CSS without restriction on design or layout. Well of course.
• Avoid negative values to shift text off the visible page or hidden text of any kind. I didn’t know about the negative values concern, but apparently these techniques can cause a spam alert to many search engines. The problem here in terms of progressive design has to do with image replacement - a complex issue in and of itself and sadly, the accessibility and SEO concerns do conflict with what is, at least conceptually, a very useful CSS technique.

This line regarding tables just jumped out and gave me a heart attack:

“Find a CMS that allows you to pull your tables directly in from Microsoft Word”

So while my faith might be undergoing some challenges, I can say I recognize evil when I see it! Fortunately, the rest of the paper is mostly lucid and will serve anyone looking to evaluate a CMS for SEO support.

Filed under:   standards, software, blog slut
Posted by:   Molly | 10:42 am | Comments (33)