DISQUS

Wow -- Bangkok!! I was so struck by the orchids when I visited. What is it like to live there??

I forget where I read this but it really works. To look pulled together, repeat a color from the bottom of your outfit near your face. You can do this really subtly or in larger color blocks. Some examples:
* black loafers, khaki pants, black shirt (as seen on my husband!)
* red sneakers, jeans, gray sweater, scarf with flecks of red in it
* brown sandals, green jeans, white T-shirt, navy blazer, brown sunglass frames

It would be cooler if I could speak decent Italian! But that's nobody's fault but mine (as Led Zeppelin once remarked.)

I should say that I'm not entirely convinced this quote isn't bogus.

I originally found it in the comments section of a blog I read but it was later taken down. You can find it on this page:
http://www.itwillpass.com/quotes_bank_quotes.shtml

I was just as scared reading Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, actually.

No, I don't mind you asking -- I'm in Italy.

I don't watch TV because we live in a non-English speaking country and all that's on satellite always seems to be CSI re-runs.

Instead I read and come across quotes like this:
“Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When through the process of law the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance. It is thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished." - 1924 US Banker’s Association Magazine

Drifting back to sleep on a lazy morning with a warm, bunny-soft purring cat cuddled up right next to me.

no, we are in Italy and it's not such a common thing here to go to acupuncture. I ordered some Chinese herbs online; hopefully I have made the right choice of formula but there's a reason people go to school for years to learn this stuff!

Danielle -- depends what you want, but try the Panasonic DMC-FX150K. I'll ask the professional photographer in the family (my husband) too but I bet it will be on his list.

Personally, I would like an acupuncturist/ Chinese herbalist on call . . . I can't seem to shake this crap flu virus thing I got a few weeks ago and I'm SO over it. I wish I could find someone as qualified as my former acupuncturist!

What is your SS? I swear I have looked at every bag in the online universe this season. Maybe I can help??

Elemental Treasure
(always want to say Specific Gravity for some reason) :-))

Yaaaaaay!!! I'm so happy you like it!

Angela -- you know what happens when you get bigger pants, right? Overnight all your healthy eating/ exercise efforts pay off and suddenly you lose five pounds, so the new pants are loose! (And no, there is no way to trick fate on this one!) :-))

Brora has gorgeous cashmere stuff including leggings
http://www.brora.co.uk/Product/Product.aspx?Web...
but the pound is so high against the dollar(s) right now . . . still, they have GREAT sales.

You can't go too much by what you see in stores, I find. It's better to go by what the stylistas are wearing on the streets -- after all, that's where the designers are getting a lot of *their* ideas! I just found this great site today
http://lookbook.nu/
with cool, individual looks from all over the world. Lots of bigger, longer blazers. And how cool is this girl?!?!?
http://lookbook.nu/look/20972-hazelnut?c=46

I love Frye boots; they last forever. What about this style?? http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/33152014/c/325.html

I just saw the Burberry Prorsum spring 2009 show online (http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/S2009R...) and think a vintage coat is a great idea -- something brocade-y and late fifties/ early sixties in feeling. Maybe try eBay?

I heart clothes so I usually make a list every season. (I also like to look at NEXT season's clothes at the same time, via the runway coverage on style.com.) This season the list is: leather messenger bag, boyfriend jeans, flat boots, patterned full knee-length skirt, skinny cardi, skinny belt, lightweight plaid scarf. Got the jeans (Levi's 501s; the cool Parisian girls are wearing them!), boots and scarf already. It's also time to start checking thrift and vintage stores for a big, long, eighties-style blazer, possibly with gold buttons, possibly double-breasted. (see http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/S2009R... for inspiration!!)

1) like Liz, I have some travel writing to do!
2) get caught up on backlog of extra laundry resulting from two sets of house guests followed by a humid spell in which things were taking extra time to dry! (We don't have a dryer.)
3) get mostly finished with late-summer changeover in patio garden; replace tomato plants, which are finito, and haul containers and dirt around when it's not too hot out . . . .

Oh wow -- so glad some good might come of this! What I think happens is the mineral molecules in the hard water blend with skin oils, dead cells and soap to block pores -- the same thing that causes soap scum in the shower. However, although we have a water softener I still get the rash when it's really hot and humid.

I thought this one over: coping with hard water? Getting heat rash on my hands and feet? (Right now my LITTLE TOE is covered in itchy blisters.) No, boringly it remains what it's always been: whenever I put on weight it goes right to my stomach and I lose all waist definition instantly. Bleargh.

My husband is the professional photographer (although now that I've had photos published too maybe I'm semi-pro??) and no, we don't have any photos on the walls! It's actually an ongoing joke between us: I want him to make prints of some of his images and he (partly from misplaced modesty and partly because he says it's a pain to have good prints made from his digital files) doesn't do it . . . I'm going to tell him you asked!

Ours says, "Somebody here is a photographer," because there are lenses and camera bodies, gear bags, spare cables, battery chargers and card readers forever on the coffee table and other horizontal surfaces . . . it also says, "Indulged cat on premises."

http://aestheteslament.blogspot.com/
http://thethoughtfuldresser.blogspot.com/
http://stockholmstreetstyle.feber.se/
http://back40feet.blogspot.com/
and for comic relief
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

It's always interesting to see how celebrities put themselves together -- or, more accurately, how their stylists put them together -- but frankly, it's hard to get excited about the current crop's personal style; they tend to be rather homogenous. One consistently interesting source for celebrity-generated styling ideas is: http://frugal-fashionista.blogspot.com/
The web is great to troll for ideas. A more contextual take, one that will likely resonate more with Carrie and Danielle readers, is Linda Grant's fashion blog:
http://thethoughtfuldresser.blogspot.com/

Let me be the one to toss in a weird fact (because I adore accumulating weird facts): kerosene and jet fuel are basically the same thing. Helicopters use it too. I always thought jet fuel was dangerously flammable but apparently, in comparison to ordinary gasoline, it's not. I am not sure when this information will come in handy . . . but you never know, right?

Fire Your Boss. It will give you a kick in the pants if you're over-identifying with your employer; it will also motivate you to think of yourself as a free agent. I think it's a very good book for women to read; every time you catch yourself thinking the authors' advice is too cynical or mercenary, it will help you do a reality check and remember that the company for which you work is *not* your family.