Wear a pin to show your dating status

One of the hardest things about dating is figuring out who is available and who isn't. Two single California guys got fed up with the uncertainty and came up with a novel idea: A tiny, heart-shaped pin worn to signal the wearer's status.

Clayton Olson and Dennis Nelson are marketing their idea to stores and on their website: www.jps.net/bittersweet/californiadatingpins.html. The Original California Dating Pins are three-eighths of an inch in size, gold-plated, and cost $5.99 each. A color coding system helps telegraph the gender you're looking for. Wear blue if you want to date a man, pink if you want to date a woman, or white if you're married or already taken.

The two entrepreneurs hope the pins will become cultural icons, "like a wedding ring," Mr. Olson told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Hotel luxury inspires bathroom design

As people travel more, visiting swank resorts and relaxing in well-appointed rooms, they're taking notes for their own bathroom redesign projects.

Since 1990, the size of master bathrooms has tripled, according to Moen, the faucet manufacturer. Consumers are also buying and installing more of their own fixtures. Homeowners are staying in their homes for an average of 13 years, prompting more bathroom renovations that also tend to increase property values.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor