While star-studded galas are an everyday event in Hollywood, the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual Night at Sardi’s benefit is something special: Celebs don’t just donate their time and money, they literally sing for their supper. This year, the fundraiser’s 18th, was a tribute to the music of Kander and Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret), and featured some spectacular performances.
While on a recent cosmetics-counter mission to Saks Fifth Avenue, we found ourselves at the NARS Cosmetics counter, where we discovered the new Orgasm Illuminator ($29). We sat down for a makeover, and were given a fresh eye look by the makeup artist, who then applied the sheer fluid Illuminator to our cheeks and under our brow line. When used on the highest points of the face, such as the cheekbones and forehead, the product creates a healthy glow with flecks of gold, peach and pink shimmer.
We’ve been cutting down our meat consumption since we told you about reading Michael Pollan’s Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (Penguin, 2009) and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals (Little, Brown and Co., 2009). Once we really started to make more vegetarian meal choices, we were surprised by how much meat we had been consuming. We’re not alone — according to the USDA, American women typically consume 135 percent of the recommended daily allowance for meat. So we were sure we had the right idea when we heard about Meatless Monday, a nonprofit initiative aimed at helping reduce meat consumption by 15 percent to encourage health and environmental benefits.
One of our favorite ways to spend 90 minutes is on a heated massage table under layers of cashmere and 300-count Egyptian cotton, our skin being purged of debris, but mostly pampered, plumped, kneaded and stroked by the talented fingers of a devoted esthetician. Sadly, that kind of spa experience has fallen victim to our line-item veto in these budget-conscious times. Still, while we’re willing to forgo having our feet dipped in paraffin while triple masks of pumpkin, pineapple and pomegranate harden on our face, what we won’t give up is skin that looks its absolute best. It turns out we don’t have to, as we discovered after chatting with Annet King, director of Global Education for Dermalogica.
We can’t even count the times we’ve tried on an item of clothing and wished it had a different hemline, sleeve or strap option. So when someone told us eShakti.com offered dresses, skirts, pants and tops that could be customized, we were pleasantly surprised to find the clothes to be reasonably priced (about $29.95 to $89.95) as well as cute and stylish! Simply select the item that you would like and purchase as is, in sizes 0 to 26W — or customize the size and other details (such as sleeve, length or neckline) from a drop-down menu for an additional $15, a fee that encompasses all changes. Shoppers must enter height, which is taken into consideration when the item is being made in relation to bust, waist and hip, as well as pants inseam — something that we’re sure the short and the tall alike will appreciate!
After reading the introduction to Secrets of a Skinny Chef: 100 Decadent, Guilt-Free Recipes (Rodale, 2010), titled “Ditch the Diets and Enjoy Food Again,” we knew author Jennifer Iserloh would offer some commonsense healthy eating advice. Like her, we grew up in the Midwest, so we related to her description of coming to terms with her meat-and-potatoes upbringing, which includes always cleaning your plate. A trained chef, Iserloh shares her six, easy-to-follow principles for healthy eating, prefaced with the following advice, “In a nutshell, it all boils down to this: Use healthy recipes; make small, manageable changes; and cook delicious, tasty meals at home for yourself as much as possible.”
We admire actor Edie Falco’s smooth transition from high-maintenance Carmela Soprano to compassionate but highly flawed caregiver Jackie Peyton on Nurse Jackie, the Showtime medical drama that premiered its second season last night. Though Falco says she’s having a blast portraying the righteous nurse, she admits she would never be friends with her.
While flipping through the special water issue of National Geographic (now available free on www.natgeofreshwater.com through April 2), we were shocked to learn that an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in regions of severe water scarcity in a mere 15 years. Lack of clean drinking water kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. March 22 is World Water Day, established in 1992 by the United Nations to bring attention to the world’s water crisis through events, discussions and awareness projects.
With movies like The Devil Wears Prada and 13 Going On 30 portraying the catty side of women’s magazines, we’re thankful that our own experiences working on mostly female staffs have been generally positive, filled with smart, strong women who encourage and support us (one of the many reasons why we give back through mentoring today). We were reminded of that camaraderie while watching the premiere of the latest season of The Celebrity Apprentice, when the women’s team, led by Grammy winner Cyndi Lauper, remained stubbornly unified for as long as possible, struggling to lay blame for losing the first challenge.
Whether it’s planting nursery seedlings of peppers and tomatoes in a spacious plot or tending to rosemary and thyme in a windowsill container, gardening always has been one of our favorite, soul-soothing pastimes. And while the grocery store snack aisle wasn’t where we expected to find inspiration for this year’s vegetable harvest, we noticed that Triscuit is giving away basil seeds with its original wheat crackers and dill seeds in its reduced-fat packages. The seeds are part of Triscuit’s Home Farming partnership with Urban Farming, a nonprofit that builds community gardens in unused city spaces.
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