Babies + Weddings + Facebook = My new happy place

• Feast countdown = 44
• Sunday's craving = Figo's Salmone con piselli
• Sunday's craving distraction = Elle Macpherson's 1990s workout video (no joke)

Given last week's post, I thought there couldn't be a more fitting opportunity to concede my latest hobby: browsing half-friends/half-strangers' wedding and baby albums on Facebook.  Welcome to my life of contradictions, or at least those involving gender stereotypes.

At a party several weeks back, I remember sitting around chatting with a group of friends, both guys and girls, and the topic of an old college administrator came up who had recently had a baby.  I'm thinking to myself, I probably know everything there is to know about this little kid even though I haven't met him, because I've opened nearly every newly-posted baby photo album on Facebook.  This is the creepy information that I plan keeping to myself... at least until a girl across from me blurts out, "I follow his baby blog religiously -- my favorite post is about his love of shoes!"

And just like that, the creepiness barrier vanished and I was free to admit my own habits: "I know!  I especially love his obsession with a tiny basketball that he sleeps with every night... and have you seen his latest tuxedo outfit?"

For all my time on Facebook, I'd guess that I spend at least 75% of it looking solely at updates about pregnancies, newborns, weddings, bachelorette parties, baby/wedding showers, honeymoons, a couple's first house, home decorating, and just about anything else remotely domestic.  It's especially worth noting that none of these things are prevalent in my life, yet I'm still strangely drawn to them, even if it means browsing through my old high school classmate's sister's wedding album (this is no exaggeration).

There's no big insight to draw from this, really -- just like anyone enjoys flipping through a good US Weekly once in a while, I kick back to the happy, fluffy stuff of other people's lives.  Specifically, I love watching from afar those people that I halfway know, because there's no personal drama to distract me, no pressure to get involved, and I get to be a truly passive observer.  Call it pure escapism from the everyday grind...

Did the bridesmaids look hotter than the bride?
How many times did Junior lose it during the Easter Egg hunt?
Where do they find the time to cook gourmet duck every night?
Why did he propose right in front of her whole family?

The juicier the details, the better.

So for all the proud moms, newlyweds, and cutesy couples out there in cyberspace, thank you for providing diversions during the afternoon workday slump.  Also, fair warning that I may copy your trendy style someday.