I’ve been involved in 3 home purchases and 2 sales. I’ve loved my realtors and would use them again. But the real estate business does need to evolve with the Internet. However the holders of the traditional business model refuse to budge. Online brokerage Redfin has had the heart & soul ripped out of its “Sweet Digs” blogs after Northwest Multiple Listings Service threatened to cut off its lifeblood of for-sale listings unless Redfin stopped publishing its reviews of houses on the market. Written by freelancers, these fun, chatty postings detailed their personal reactions and observations of houses they toured. But NWMLS rules prohibit advertising of another broker’s listing so they slapped Redfin with a $50,000 fine. Redfin says it has also received complaints about how they add extra information like Zillow‘s Zestimates alongside listings (think about the real estate listing mash-ups that may never happen!). NWMLS maintains that it is important for listing agents to maintain control over the marketing of their property. As Redfin puts it: “The question at the center of almost every skirmish in the modernization of real estate is who controls the information.”

The emerging popularity of the old-fashioned kitchen apron has been noted in many newspapers recently. Most mention the influence of “Desperate Housewives” character Bree Van De Kamp and EllynAnne Geisel’s apron book. Collectors are gathering up the old styles, many frilly, meant to be worn over dresses. Some collectors actually wear their aprons. Boutiques are stocking retro-chic aprons and there are affordable vintage models to seek out at antique stores. But of course the best ones are those that hold the memories of the women in your family. (and don’t forget “tie one on“, the apron blog)

Online diamond retailer Blue Nile is adding fancy-colored diamonds to its repertoire. The company reports that it is doing well with high-end buyers. Seven items with price tags over $100,000 were sold in Q1 this year. Blue Nile’s current selection of fancy-colored diamonds include a range of yellows, a couple pinks, and a few light greens. At the very top of the price chart is a 0.55 carat purplish-red for $350,000.

For the second year, Can’t Stop the Serenity is showing Joss Whedon’s Serenity all around the world to raise money for the women’s rights advocacy group Equality Now. Screenings are held around Joss’ birthday, June 23rd. Last years’s event raised $65,000.

Steinway & Sons is certainly a recognizable brand, but will it carry weight beyond the piano bench? The company has decided to “expand the Steinway & Sons brand into the high performance digital sound system market” by partnering with Denmark’s Lyngdorf Audio on a Steinway branded music system. The corporate identity is carried over in imposing black lacquer, finished at the Steinway factory in Hamburg. And at $150,000, the system costs more than a D-model concert grand (but at least you don’t need to pay for lessons). Stereophile has more luxurious details. (via Luxist)

In December 2003 I posted about “the cheese nun” (here), Mother Noëlla Marcellino, who “travels the world promoting biodiversity in cheesemaking and lending her knowledge to fellow cheesemakers.” She’s planning to be in Seattle later in the week for the Seattle Cheese Festival.

At Mission Pie in San Francisco, the teen serving up your pie slice and cappucino may have picked the pie’s berries and perhaps fed the chicken that laid the eggs for another pie’s custard. Only a few months old, the pie cafe is part of the mission of the owners of Pie Ranch, a pie-slice shaped farm in Pescadero. Inner-city students regularly visit Pie Ranch to help with chores, see where food comes (or should come) from, and, of course, learn to make pie. At Mission Pie they learn to serve customers, make cappucino, and, when a new kitchen opens, they’ll make more pie. The teens are also learning about nutrition and the benefits of using local food suppliers.

I don’t want to discourage our son from having creative thoughts and nonconformist behavior, but although I’ve been well prepared by friends (you know who you are) to allow him to wear two different colored socks when he wants to, I’ve drawn the line at two different shoes. One blue sneaker and one brown shoe just doesn’t feel right. Especially since the brown shoe is one size smaller and was meant to be replaced by a blue sneaker. You’ll wear matching shoes while you’re under my roof, kid, unless Stacy & Clinton say it’s OK!

I enjoy flavored water, but I’m having trouble getting used to this idea. PUR Water Filtration System has a new product called “PUR Flavor Options” that lets you add fruit flavor to your filtered water. You stick a flavor cartridge into either a faucet-mount or pitcher filter system and, with the push of a button, the water that flows out is fruit-flavored to your liking. It’s an interesting differentiator from plain ol’ water filters, but their first three flavors are strawberry, peach and raspberry — hello, no citrus???, and you have to live with people who like the same flavors — switching out cartridges can’t be as convenient as just adding a splash of juice to the glass yourself.

My cell phone contract expires this summer so I’ll soon have to decide whether to buy a new phone. I use my phone, a Motorola E815, primarily to call my husband when one of us is away from a computer, and so I know I can be reached for emergencies. I pay for a data plan which I use to check traffic and sometimes the news, but the web browsing experience isn’t great. Once in a while I send a photo to flickr. So I’m paying for the capability of being easily connected to people and the Internet, but I don’t really take advantage of it.

There is such a thing as being too connected. I tend to think about work too often. After I became a mom and went back to work full-time, I made an effort to mentally detach when I wasn’t at the office. I figured that a smartphone with email access would work against that goal. But after reading a friend’s thoughts on being a “Blackberry Dad”, I think I could be wrong. You Mon is an old co-worker of mine and his wife is a college friend. So I know he’s not that dad who nods mindlessly, staring at his phone, while his kid is prattling on. When it’s family time, it’s family time. But he’s got the same (overboard) work ethic as I do. He says his Treo helps make him a better dad. He knows he’s connected and, opposite of what you may expect, that helps him focus on other things when he’s not at work. If something critical escalates at the office, he could quickly decide if he needs to handle it and save time later. I know I can be just as distracted wondering what may be going on as I can be by having email and Internet available. If I manage it properly, I can be an even more available mom.