Going, Going, Gray
Filed Under All Posts, Beauty, Carine Fabius, Humor | 7 Comments
God hates me. How else can I explain this going gray business? It’s happening all over my body. My pubic hair is going gray. I’m noticing stray grays in my eyebrows. I swear, my skin is going gray, too. Isn’t gray the color of rats? I am particularly not fond of rats, and He is turning me into one—I’m sure I noticed a whisker the other day. Guess what color it was? I’m telling you, God has it in for me. Recently I looked up at the sky, and it was slate gray, for Pete’s sake! I’m taking it personally. On an otherwise fresh Tuesday morning not long ago, I noticed these headlines on the front page of the Los Angeles Times Business section: Read more
Try Slowing Down
Filed Under All Posts, Cathy Fischer, Health | 6 Comments
“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” —Lily Tomlin
Do you ever feel like the world is moving too fast? I’m reminded of the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons when during the closing credits George would walk the family dog Astro on the outer space treadmill, then a cat would show up making the dog go wild, the leash would break causing George to go round and round the treadmill, defying gravity of course, and hanging on for dear life while yelling to his wife, “Help! Help! Jane. Stop this crazy thing!”
Well, that’s how I’m feeling right now. “Stop this crazy thing!”
The election is behind us and I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted! Read more
Hunting, Gathering and Investing
Filed Under All Posts, Christie Healey, Environment | 6 Comments
Kiva entrepreneur Sony Yoem of Cambodia
Indian Summer has arrived on the great northern plains; the days are golden and warm. There are many hypotheses for the origin of the time of the year known as “Indian Summer.” The one I like best describes the sudden reappearance of warm sunny days after the first frost when native North Americans gathered in their corn and squash for the coming winter.
Fall is a reflective time and this year I am prompted to consider my New Year’s resolution and see how well I have done with my year of secondhand living. I did buy a new top from Target in August. The one I was wearing bore the results of a “missing mouth with coffee cup” accident in my office and I had a client meeting that afternoon. Apart from that I have bought no new clothes, no new shoes, no new things for the house. Read more
Adieu, My Butt Crack Buddy
Filed Under All Posts, Humor, Politics, Prudence Baird | 8 Comments
Ours was an unlikely friendship. Me, a middle-aged, green tea-sipping NPR listener; Him, 30ish, pot-bellied, chain-smoking Dittohead.
I selected Frank from a bevy of contractor types who interviewed to help me remodel two 80-year-old bathrooms. His fingernails were black, but his white tee-shirt crisp and his blue eyes sparkled behind paint-flecked glasses.
As he worked up designs, plans and budgets, sketching with squarish contractor’s pencil, he talked nonstop about the unique challenges of old homes. Every once in a while, he’d stop and sharpen the pencil with a penknife, brows furrowed in concentration. I was smitten. That afternoon, I handed him my house keys and a check for $30,000 vaguely wondering if I’d ever see him again. Read more
Guilty Pleasures
Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Humor, Miscellaneous | 10 Comments
Bollywood Steps, photo by David Ashby via Flickr
Our Fifty is the New contributors were asked to name one guilty pleasure—a way to escape or distract from the hubbub and stress of the election and other things. In this context, a “guilty pleasure” is something you really enjoy, but feel a wee bit embarrassed about admitting.
Read what they have to say, then add your own guilty pleasure!
Prudence: Googling ex-boyfriends to see if they’re dead yet. If only I could remember the name of the one I called “Plaid Shirt Guy.”
Cathy: Watching Showbiz India, a combination of Bollywood excerpts and Entertainment Tonight-type “news” on Saturday mornings. I love the music videos, replete with colorful costumes, bejeweled beauties, hilarious choreography, melodrama and chaste romance.
Melissa: Reading People magazine, cover-to-cover, in one sitting on a Friday evening. Read more
