Domes, Arches and Minarets: Islamic Architecture in America
Acclaimed photo-journalist Phil Pasquini has examined 200 years of inspired Islamic architecture in America.
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Hampton Inn - Hendersonville, NC
Hotel and Resort photography & video by PhotoWeb (photowebusa.com)
Welcome to Hampton Inn Hendersonville, less than half an hour from the Blue Ridge Mountains and the legendary Biltmore Estate in the heart of western North Carolina. Whether you're planning a night at Flat Rock Playhouse or dropping off the kids at a Western Carolina summer overnight camp, enjoy the comforts of home in our Hendersonville hotel. Explore historic downtown Hendersonville, listed on the National Historic Registry. Browse antique stores and boutiques or try a variety of cuisine in one of our charming restaurants.
Visit the Biltmore Estate, the country's largest private home built by George Washington Vanderbilt II during the Gilded Age. Wander through the 250 rooms and extensive gardens. Experience the North Carolina outdoors with a hike in the DuPont State Forest in the Little River Valley. Take a scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway or enjoy the views at Chimney Rock State Park and Lake Lure. The Hendersonville area is a mecca for golfers.
After a busy day exploring western North Carolina, unwind in one of our spacious guest rooms or suites. Choose a guest room with a king-, queen- or two queen-sized beds. King study guest rooms include an additional sleeper sofa. If you're traveling with the family or would like extra space, reserve a king bed suite. Stay connected with free high-speed internet access. Our guest rooms and suites provide the comforts of home with 32-inch LCD TVs, mini-fridges, microwaves, and coffeemakers.
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Hotel and Resort still photography, video and YouTube videos by PhotoWeb (photowebusa.com). PhotoWeb's Virtual Tours, videos, YouTube videos, Digital Stills & Worldwide Distribution allow clients to put their most powerful media where the booking decisions are made. Photo Web has been providing cutting edge imaging services since 1996. With offices in the US, UK, Australia, Japan, India, and Colombia, PhotoWeb provides services worldwide. For further information, please contact sales@photowebusa.com or telephone: +1-614-882-3499.
Video © 2011, Photoweb Pure Digital Photography Inc.
Auburn Coach Wife Kristi Malzahn Agrees with Match & eHarmony: Men are Jerks
My advice is this: Settle! That's right. Don't worry about passion or intense connection. Don't nix a guy based on his annoying habit of yelling Bravo! in movie theaters. Overlook his halitosis or abysmal sense of aesthetics. Because if you want to have the infrastructure in place to have a family, settling is the way to go. Based on my observations, in fact, settling will probably make you happier in the long run, since many of those who marry with great expectations become more disillusioned with each passing year. (It's hard to maintain that level of zing when the conversation morphs into discussions about who's changing the diapers or balancing the checkbook.)
Obviously, I wasn't always an advocate of settling. In fact, it took not settling to make me realize that settling is the better option, and even though settling is a rampant phenomenon, talking about it in a positive light makes people profoundly uncomfortable. Whenever I make the case for settling, people look at me with creased brows of disapproval or frowns of disappointment, the way a child might look at an older sibling who just informed her that Jerry's Kids aren't going to walk, even if you send them money. It's not only politically incorrect to get behind settling, it's downright un-American. Our culture tells us to keep our eyes on the prize (while our mothers, who know better, tell us not to be so picky), and the theme of holding out for true love (whatever that is—look at the divorce rate) permeates our collective mentality.
Even situation comedies, starting in the 1970s with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and going all the way to Friends, feature endearing single women in the dating trenches, and there's supposed to be something romantic and even heroic about their search for true love. Of course, the crucial difference is that, whereas the earlier series begins after Mary has been jilted by her fiancé, the more modern-day Friends opens as Rachel Green leaves her nice-guy orthodontist fiancé at the altar simply because she isn't feeling it. But either way, in episode after episode, as both women continue to be unlucky in love, settling starts to look pretty darn appealing. Mary is supposed to be contentedly independent and fulfilled by her newsroom family, but in fact her life seems lonely. Are we to assume that at the end of the series, Mary, by then in her late 30s, found her soul mate after the lights in the newsroom went out and her work family was disbanded? If her experience was anything like mine or that of my single friends, it's unlikely.
And while Rachel and her supposed soul mate, Ross, finally get together (for the umpteenth time) in the finale of Friends, do we feel confident that she'll be happier with Ross than she would have been had she settled down with Barry, the orthodontist, 10 years earlier? She and Ross have passion but have never had long-term stability, and the fireworks she experiences with him but not with Barry might actually turn out to be a liability, given how many times their relationship has already gone up in flames. It's equally questionable whether Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw, who cheated on her kindhearted and generous boyfriend, Aidan, only to end up with the more exciting but self-absorbed Mr. Big, will be better off in the framework of marriage and family. (Some time after the breakup, when Carrie ran into Aidan on the street, he was carrying his infant in a Baby Björn. Can anyone imagine Mr. Big walking around with a Björn?)