Practicing yoga and eating good food rank high among our favorite activities. (Thankfully, yoga burns calories.) David Romanelli’s Jam Sessions: Yoga for Foodies combines the two with an hour-long Vinyasa flow class, followed by a meal from a local chef who uses sustainable, eco-friendly practices and fresh, locally farmed ingredients.
We’re always on the search for perfumes that can become “the one” — our signature scent that meshes with our personality. But, like that perfect pair of jeans or little black dress, we have to try quite a few to find just the right fit. So we were intrigued when we heard of Aromachology, a Toronto-based fragrance line that not only offers five scents to match various moods, but also has a create-your-own fragrance option based on a personality questionnaire.
Growing up in an area frequently barraged with lake-effect snow, we always believed that mayors should have salt concerns at the top of their priorities — after all, no one wants icy roads. However, it’s the salt on our tables that concerns New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is leading the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a nationwide effort to lower sodium in restaurants and packaged foods by 25 percent over the next five years.
The recent dawn of a new year is as good as time as any to resolve to eat better, but what does “better” really mean? (After all, isn’t one piece of crack pie better than two pieces?) Luckily, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (Penguin, 2009) by Michael Pollan provides 64 simple, common-sense rules for healthy eating. Pollan notes in the introduction that eating has become needlessly complicated: “But for all the scientific and pseudoscientific food baggage we’ve taken on in recent years, we still don’t know what we should be eating.” The answer, according to Pollan, is fairly simple, boiled down to seven words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
As we struggle to stave off the winter doldrums, we’re searching for new ways to unwind. According to the American Institute of Stress, too much stress can lead to depression, heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, immune-system dysfunction and a variety of other health issues. So the National Wellness Giveaway from Spa Week Daily — with prize packages from 28 participating spas from coast to coast — sounds like just the prescription.
Like everyone else, we were saddened and horrified by Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12. Though we wanted to help immediately, we also wanted to make sure our donation would be put to good use. Following are a few ways you can contribute to relief efforts, as well as tips from philanthropy groups to ensure responsible donations.
The rain may have ruined a hem or two, but dark skies couldn’t dim the megawatt star power on the Golden Globes’ red carpet, where our favorite actresses sported a mix of not-so-basic black, daring nudes and brilliant color under the umbrellas. In the latter category, we loved Cameron Diaz in a red satin Alexander McQueen, Globe winners Sandra Bullock in a purple Bottega Veneta and Toni Collette in a glittery golden Elie Saab, and Glee’s Jane Lynch, trading her gym-teacher track suits for a gorgeous green Ali Rahimi gown.
Lingerie is among the most intimate luxuries. Given the choice, we prefer to shop for lacy underwear and handpainted nightgowns in shops that are as unique and personal as the delicates they sell. That’s why we were thrilled to find Birdies Lingerie and Swim Boutique in Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District — the boutique offers designer lingerie and handmade ornaments with a commitment to customer service and courtesy. But what really caught our attention is the shop’s panty-of-the-month club, with subscribers as far away as London and the Middle East. For a cost of $200 for six months and $300 for a full year, you get one panty per month, delivered to your door.
Unless our two cats choose to drape themselves on us, we don’t believe in wearing fur. (The fur choice is an ethical and environmental concern; some estimates put animal agriculture at a 40 percent greater contribution to global warming than transportation.) We decided to take further steps to green our wardrobe this year, seeking more natural fabrics and garments made by people paid fair wages and by companies that try to lessen their carbon impact, such as Vaute Couture (left).
We attended Discovery’s new season preview at the lovely old Langham hotel in Pasadena, CA, and were thrilled to get some words of advice from Clinton Kelly and Stacy London, whose seventh season (250th episode!) of What Not to Wear debuts today on TLC.
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