can't live without: Carolina Herrera

    I am frequently taken in by the "Can't Live Without" segment of the Chicago Tribune Magazine on Sundays. It is a page devoted to a [relatively] famous person musing on a list of his/her favorite things. This week features fashion designer Carolina Herrera--certainly famous, and her fashion is really quite beautiful (if totally inaccessible to the average and even many more-than-middle-class readers of the Trib). The list of her favorite things is less obnoxiously elitist than some, but it is still pretty outrageous. I shall share hers, and then my own...for the day, which is a take-off on hers.

Carolina Herrera's 12 Favorite Things

1. Page Six: I try to read New York Post's Page Six every day. I love it.
2. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen: I have read it more than once.
3. Cartier stationery: Embossed with my family crest.
4. Bobbi Brown's Plum Stain: My favorite lipstick.
5. Green Rockingham china: An old English china pattern, inherited from my family.
6. Fra Angelico: One of my favorite artists.
7. Christofle silver: From 1890, inherited from my family.
8. Miho Kosuda Ltd: The best cut flowers in New York-the best freesias, the best lilacs, the best everything.
9. "Walk the Line": I love Johnny Cash. Joaquin Phoenix played him exactly as he was.
10. Leading men: A cocktail of George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Gary Cooper.
11. Patricia Wexler moisturizer: It's the best I've ever used.
12. Nestle's Crunch: I like simple chocolates like [that] and Kit Kat bars.

My Own 12 Favorite Things, ver. 8.6.06

1. Chicago Tribune Magazine's 'Can't Live Without' feature. I try to read it every Sunday. Oh, wait--I do read it every Sunday.
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I have read it only once, but I will read it again.
3. Crane & Co. stationery: particularly the bordered correspondence cards.
4. Vincent Longo Lip Gel Stain in Liquid Kiss, because it is deep color without looking sticky or obvious. I wear it with Bloom Lip Definer in Lusciously Lined. If appropriate, I top it with Tutti Dolci Lip Gloss in Sugar Wafer.
5. My two Crate & Barrel pasta bowls, which are almost always in use. They are large enough to hold pasta for three, but I luuurve to use them for regular meals. I still can't believe that the ex was willing to part with them. [Incidentally, best wishes to the happy couple.]
6. Mark Rothko: He appeals to my depressed sensibilities.
7. My KitchenAid Epicurean stand mixer. I don't use it as often as I would like (because parts of it are a pain in the ass to wash by hand) but it works like a dream--better than some commercial mixers that I've used.
8. Inexpensive flowers from Ben Franklin (a.k.a. 'The Dime Store'). They don't last forever, but they are pretty, and I like supporting local businesses.
9. My own weirdo mix CDs. Currently listening to: The Duck Mix and Fluffy III. Currently at work on: Cindy I, Heidi I (looong overdue!), and Ze Cat (a.k.a. The ExtravaGANZA Mix) III.
10. Leading Men:
    ~ A new friend, text-message fanatic and spiritual guru who lives 88 minutes away, Thank God
    ~ A globe-trotting confidant, dinner companion and financial (and all other things) advisor whose name shall remain shrouded in mystery, and
    ~ The one with whom I fit, who fits to me. As Leah Stewart wrote in The Myth of You and Me: "We seemed to fit together, in a way that suggested nothing had ever quite fit before."
11. Kiss My Face So Refined organic jojoba & mint facial; it is the only cleanser that balances the weird combination of issues that my skin develops in the summer, particularly when I manage to sunburn on top of the rest of it. I also love their Pore Shrink deep pore cleansing mask.
12. M&M's. I'm too cheap to get the custom-made ones, though I love the idea of them. My favorites are peanut butter and crispy.