VIV Says: Blog

Whenever we listen to lounge orchestra Pink Martini, we conjure a mental image in which we’re hosting a sophisticated dinner party, with fascinating, worldly guests who eventually clear a space for dancing. In our fantasy, we’re wearing vintage Chanel or a cocktail dress from Betty Draper’s Mad Men closet, and, of course, the 12-piece ensemble is playing in the background. Bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale has said, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, hopefully we’d be that band,” which makes sense of our daydream.

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When we saw a recent World Freerunning & Parkour Federation (WFPF) promo on YouTube, it sparked our curiosity: Is scaling walls like Spider-Man really the next trend in fitness? And not just for skinny teen boys, but for women our age? Developed in France, parkour is fairly new as a recognized international sport. In parkour, athletes use the cityscape as an urban jungle gym to free-climb walls, swing from scaffolding, jump over banisters and balance on barriers. Now Equinox in New York City is bringing the sport indoors, offering its members a taste of the action with Parkour Power Play.

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Earlier this year, we told you about Gilt.com, an invitation-only online shopping site that offers sample-sale prices on luxury brands such as Badgley Mischka, Cynthia Rowley, Versace and Vera Wang Lavender Label, to name a few. The 36-hour sales have been so successful that Gilt has expanded with three new sites — Gilt Fuse, Gilt Man and Jetsetter — and has a new iPhone app and desktop widget as well.

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Nothing makes our lives feel more balanced and full of positive energy than when we support worthy causes, whether it’s spending our Saturday afternoons mentoring high school students or participating in sports leagues that help raise money for charity. If you’re interested in volunteering, finding the right opportunity is just a mouse-click away.

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Like many interested in healthful eating, we’ve been trying to skew our diet toward more seasonal and local ingredients, but we haven’t always been sure where to turn for delicious, simple recipes. Many locavores in the know have already bookmarked HarvestEating.com, where chef Keith Snow has shared his tips, recipes and video instructions for finding and preparing seasonal foods for the past three years. Now, Snow has compiled The Harvest Eating Cookbook (Running Press, 2009) with more than 200 recipes for appetizers, sandwiches, breads, soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, drinks and more.

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Though our days of trick-or-treating are long gone, we still love Halloween for the chill in the air, jack-o’-lanterns and, of course, the occasional spooky story. Following are three of our favorite reads of the season — an atypical ghost story, a vampire’s tale and a mystery surrounding a grand English manor — perfect for curling up with this time of year.

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We’ve noticed grocery stores and farm stands are now brimming with apples — and not just your basic Red Delicious and Granny Smith. American fruit farmers grow more than 2,500 of the 7,500 apple varieties in the world, according to the U.S. Apple Association, including Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp (our favorite). But with so many apples to choose from, how do you know which ones to bake and which ones to simply eat out of hand?

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If we could trade places with any TV host, we’d want to be 39-year-old Padma Lakshmi. A co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, she’s smart, gorgeous and, as the host of Bravo’s Top Chef, she gets to eat fabulous food for a living. “I’m an omnivore. I have a great curiosity about food,” she tells us. “Food makes me happy, which is why I’m very well equipped to do the job that I do.”

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We recently filled you in on some of our favorite beauty products benefiting breast-cancer charities. To kick off the week, we’re highlighting fitness companies that have pledged to do their part. Here are eight more ways to shop pink — and contribute to finding a cure!

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We associate L’Occitane with our sense of smell, since the retailer specializes in fragrances, as well as natural beauty products. Preventing vision loss, however, is at the heart of the company’s United to Save Sight campaign. Every year since 2006, L’Occitane has created a limited-edition product and donated 100 percent of the proceeds to charity. This year, profits from the Moments in Africa Soaps ($8), a set of three depicting scenes from African life, go to ORBIS, a
nonprofit dedicated to preventing and treating avoidable blindness around the globe.

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