Shea Butter

100% pure Shea Butter. There is no better moisturizer, this from someone with very dry, sensitive skin. All natural, so it doesn't irritate. Great for lips, too, and as a hair gel.

Zagat

A Zagat guide is indispensable for urban dining, so it's really not surprising that the good people who created the Zagat guides, the Zagats (in the photo above- photos by Nathaniel Brooks for the New York Times) have a really cool house.

It was featured in the New York Times on October 9, 2008.



Just look at this kitchen. First, there is a gas stove. Enameled cast iron pots and a lovely tea kettle sit on the stovetop. The butcher-block counter has a warmth to it. And then there is the cupboard full of cookbooks, and a counter full of wooden salt and pepper grinders and miscellaneous cooking supplies. All the ingredients one needs for the good life.

Norma Kamali Swimwear

If this isn't the most gorgeous swimsuit ever made then I don't know what is. It has that old-time glamour thing going for it, is slimming, and covers up the important stuff while still managing to be sexy. Apparently Miranda wore a red version in the "Sex and the City" movie (but I so love it in black!). At $350 I'll be saving my pennies to buy this one.

Ballroom Dancing

Music and dance bring beauty into people's everyday lives.

When I was twelve I went to my great- great- aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party. My cousins and I served coffee and were the only people under the age of 60 there. I will never forget watching those people dance.

If you live in Seattle, or near enough to come here every week, you should sign up for classes at Century Ballroom, IMHO one of the most beautiful spaces in Seattle. You can take Salsa, Tango, Swing, etc. (The photo is from their website.)

Twyla Tharp at PNB

Friday night I saw "All Tharp" at McCaw Hall. Twyla Tharp is a genius.

On the right is a photo of her with a dancer from PNB (photo by Marc Von Borstel, from the PNB Uleashed Blog).

The show was pure bliss. On the cover of the program was a photo of Ms. Tharp. She is lovely in her faded Levis, white shirt, with her hair casually swept up.

A great ballet can make you fall in love with a piece of music. And so, right now I am deeply in love with Frank Sinatra. (Last year it was Philip Glass, Glassworks).

The Ten Best Games of All Time

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Croquet. You need a really big lawn.
2. Cribbage. You need a really cute wooden thing, and I think some cards. I obviously haven't played it in a long time.
3. Yahtzee. Super fun, you can play it all afternoon.
4. Monopoly. The best board game ever.
5. Scrabble. The second-best board game ever.
6. Card games- I have to throw in a few- war and go fish are clearly the winners here, but any card game is great cause you only need a deck of cards. THE game for minimalists.
7. Chess. I don't know how to play it. Very important to have a cool set made of marble or something, not some cheesy Simpsons set or something.
8. Checkers. Way better and way easier than chess.
9. Candyland. My sister ate the Plumpy card from our set. And people say there's nothing to learn playing this game.
10. Twister.

Recuerdo, by Edna St. Vincent Millay

WE were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.

We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.

We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.