Reader Sarah snapped this photo on a recent trip to Louisiana. “I saw this on one many (still) abandoned houses on a recent trip to New Orleans,” she wrote us. “It’s a bit hard to make out, but it reads, “Even the wounded heart can soar.” The orange line is part of a mark left by the search and rescue team that entered the house following Hurricane Katrina.

Have you seen graffiti that’s kind of sweet (even if it is against the law)? Send your pic to tips@thefrisky.com.

It was Miley Cyrus’ 17th birthday on Wednesday, and she threw a rockin’ ‘80s themed party to celebrate. She came dressed as Julia Roberts’ character from “Pretty Woman,” which was obviously super tasteful and kept in line with her pole-dancing antics from the summer. And when the Broadway cast of “Rock of Ages” showed up for a surprise performance, Miley danced with cast member Constantine Maroulis. [NY Post]

While most of us gave up theme parties circa age 7, when Strawberry Shortcake herself didn’t show up to deliver our cake, celebrities still love to throw ‘em. In May, we brought you a whole slideshow of celeb’s themed birthday parties, but because there have been so many good ones since, we’re bringing you part deux.

You probably don’t think a lot about how your shoes are made ... until, that is, you’ve been standing in them for two hours and you’re thinking in dire agony, What the eff kinda person thought these heels would carry me through the day ... or the next two blocks?! Despite the painful downfalls of the high heel’s structure, there’s quite a bit of science that goes into the design just in order to make the shoe work. Balance must be achieved, and a reinforced shank must be perfectly placed and angled in order to evenly distribute weight.

Ask Christian Louboutin or Manolo Blahnik about their wares, and you might get the impression that they’re physics experts more than they are fashion designers. Blahnik tells the New York Times, “‘Balance is the most important aspect of creating a 115-millimeter heel. To achieve it, I use a compass, a ruler, my eyes and my hands.’ Some designers now use a CAD, or computer-assisted design, system in their work but Mr. Blahnik said he would rather do everything himself — ‘I am a traditionalist,’ he said.”

Personally I can’t online shop. I’m probably one of the few girls in the world who actually goes to a store each and every time I want to buy anything. There’s just something in the decision process for me that needs to include actually trying on clothes. Tobi boutique in San Francisco is trying to accommodate people like me, who really need to see just how a piece of clothing will look on before they buy with the launch of their new virtual dressing room. This isn’t the first kind of virtual dressing room—H&M has avatars, while Macys worked with My Virtual Model to create a likeness for shoppers. But this option uses the webcam to make it appear as if the shopper has tried on the clothing. Note that sizes don’t change, which is a huge, if not the most important, part of shopping. But the really fun part is you can basically go shopping with your friends, send pics back and forth, and soon the site will show off your screen and your friends, side by side.

What do you think? For all you non-confirmed online shoppers out there, does this make the process seem more appealing? [WWD]

Despite the fact that I live in a teeny apartment, I had houseguests this past weekend. And seeing that it’s getting to be the holidays, I’m sure to have more before the year’s done. Oh, and don’t forget about having people over for holiday drinks—I’m totally throwing some sort of mini-bash.

Whenever someone who doesn’t live with me comes over, I spend serious amounts of time doing a big bathroom clean and prep. I figure, it’s the one place that guests are by themselves and able to really look around at their surroundings uninterrupted. Now, my bathroom is a rental apartment bathroom (that there photo above? clearly not my WC), meaning I don’t even have a single pretty marble tile or the hope that my grout is anywhere near a white color—but that doesn’t mean I can’t upgrade the space a little bit so friends and guests feel “at home” during their time in there. (Apartment Therapy feels the same, today, they got into the little bathroom upgrades, too!) Here’s the plan of attack…

“I’d love to get married again. I have to find a really rich woman so I can home and read books all day.”

—Alec Baldwin explains his great idea while promoting “It’s Complicated,” with Meryl Streep. [Entertainment Weekly]

In need of some morning makeup routine guidance? Normally, I wouldn’t look to the likes of Whitney Port for my makeup tips, but, hey, the girl’s got a pretty, five-minute easy and everyday appropriate look! (I suspect she spent a wee more than five minutes in the above photo, but you get the point…) And according to Whitney, on “The Hills” they all did their own makeup, so she taught herself what to do and how to do it quickly. So, without further ado, here’s how it goes (complete with the exact brand name products she uses)....

“These guys, they’re just never gonna learn. Well, there’s this funny one. People might think this is a bit racist, but it’s funny. I was in Atlanta, I’m at the bar, and there’s a white gentleman there and he says to me, ‘How you doin’, baby girl, how you doin’? And you know, he’s aggressive, so I laughed a little bit. So he keeps going, and I had to say eventually that I wasn’t interested. And he goes, ‘Well, you know what they say. Once you go white, your credit goes right.’ He said it and I made him say it all night to the rest of the bar. But thank God my credit is already right, honey. I don’t need a man at all to do that.”

—Selita Ebanks on how a guy once tried to pick her up. Read other quotes from the Victoria’s Secret Angels here.