- Mr. Bubble: I put a little of the expensive stuff in the bath for fragrance and then add Mr. Bubble to pump up the bubbles.
- Manolo Blahniks: You don't want to know how many pairs I own.
- Sliced cucumbers: On my eyes, my face, in my Evian water. So refreshing.
- Baking soda mixed with Pond's cold cream: It's a great exfoliate, not harsh.
- Rosalind Russell: She had a spark. She had fire and a wicked sense of humor. That was an age when movie stars wore their own clothes, their own jewelry. You really knew who they were.
- Hotel Costes in Paris: I like the decor by Jacques Garcia. It has an incredible pool. I go for a swim, then have salad and wine delivered poolside. A mini-spa moment. I've been staying there since it opened.
- Roger & Gallet towelettes: They look like tea packets. I take them with me to freshen up at the flea markets.
- Small Verdura alarm clock: It's my way of taking "home" wherever I go. And I can't stand those digital things in hotel rooms.
- Cabernets, Bordeaux, Super Tuscans: I love full-bodied red wines.
- Absolut Martini straight up: Of course, you can't have it with the red wine. A girl's gotta make choices.
Copyright ©2007, Chicago Tribune
And now, mine.
- Philosophy's combination Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Baths. My current favorites are "Empower-Mint" and Raspberry Sorbet. Not together. Of course, I would never in a million years actually use the stuff as a shampoo, but it's nice to know that it's not going to make my hair funky if a stray sud somehow makes its way up there.
- Aerosoles. I think I have three pairs of them. They have a lot of styles and colors, and they are more comfortable than any other stylish shoes I've tried. They are also less expensive than most, and pretty widely available. No, they're not "the coolest" or anything I'd wear to a wedding, but if I'm getting ready for work and searching my closet for something that will look good and is not going to leave me in pain, they're a frequent choice.
- Chopped and sliced onions. I live alone and I don't cook as much as I should, so when I buy onions, I either use them all at once or they spoil. I've taken to cutting them as soon as I buy them and storing them in the freezer--one container of rough chopped, one container of sliced--and chipping out as much as I need for each recipe. Some quality is lost, but not enough to make it worthwhile to trudge back and forth to the grocery store for onions each time I cook with them. Très sensible, eh?
- I have utterly abandoned the notion that one needs to manhandle one's health & beauty options. There are chemists making big bucks to do that. My current favorites for my face: Ivory soap and Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin. For the rest of me: whatever soap or body wash is in the tub at the moment (there is a rotation), and Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion.
- Kate Beckinsale. I haven't seen much of what she's done, but I really liked her in The Aviator and, perhaps more important, I've never thought, "Gah, what is she thinking?!"
- There is a bookstore in The Tourist Destination West of Here (The Cat knows the town to which I refer; she heads there regularly) that has become a sort of Mecca for me. I never buy very much, but when I go, a special feeling takes over and stays with me for much longer than the duration of my stay in that town. The store itself is stuffed with inventory, fairly logically arranged. Even if I had a "real job" I couldn't afford to buy everything that interests me. It's a museum to me, really. I love the way it smells and looks. I love to sit on the weirdo little benches and browse, and to breathe in the scent of...thinking and care that pervade such a place. And, best of all, I've never been there without Nick, who feels just the same way that I do. We walk in together, and as soon as we cross the threshold, by a sort of mutual unspoken understanding, he goes one way and I go the other. We spend our own time involved in our own interests and obsessions, occasionally overlapping and sharing our finds--Oh my God, look at this, can you believe this price, I want this so bad, did you see...?--and then continuing on our own way again. In the end, we each will find something that we just have to have, so we will buy some token item, chattering quietly to each other in that strange private language made up of abbreviated sounds and nonsense--Robert Graves set, D'oh!, all but one of the, you have that one, don't you?, and the...!!!--while we pay. And we will walk out together, hand in hand, infinitely closer for that time (how much time? 30 minutes? 3 hours? We will never know, could never say if we had to) spent separately but in unison.
That bookstore—called Pieces of the Past—is a microcosm of all the good things about the happiest part of my very weird, sticky life. - My dentist has a display on his front counter of things that look like credit cards but are really dental floss dispensers to keep in one's wallet. They are the coolest. Totally convenient, but completely discreet. Nothing better for that night when one is out with friends, going to dinner and then a play, and has an unfortunate incident with a tenacious piece of beef (a dental malfunction?). I stockpile them. There is one in each of my wallets and work bags, just in case.
- What is the friggin' fascination that these famous people have with clocks and watches?! I don't give the first white poop what time it is; if I really need to know so badly, someone will tell me. Therefore, I'll use this one as a wildcard....
Monk. A very dear friend gave me the first season on DVD for Christmas (from my Amazon.com wish list). I didn't watch it all in one day, but it really didn't take me very long. I knew I liked the show, but I'd forgotten just how much. What fun. I think I might have to get Season 2 for myself. For Valentine's Day, prehaps? - IBC Root Beer. The stuff in the bottles. Infinitely better than the canned varieties. I also like their black cherry and cream soda flavors, but the root beer is the thing.
- Again, what is it with these famous people and their obsession with all things alcoholic? Another wildcard....
Living in a small town. Nick and I went exploring yesterday in the A/N-ville area, searching for a supposedly fantastic bookstore and some places where he might be able to acquire some aquatic life. He was driving and I navigated. We even got lucky, in that the weather was not the horrible and dangerous version that we might have had.
To make a very long story a little shorter, we did a whole lot of driving and quite a bit of walking with almost no result. I never actually got us "lost", but we did turn the wrong way a couple of times (OK, maybe 4?) and we missed our turn at least that many times. Never on the tollway, though, so that's a good thing. We did find the bookstore, but it was totally missable. There were hordes of people out and it took forever to go 2 blocks when we were anywhere near the mall in A.
As we made our way back to the West, we talked about how nice it was to live "where there are almost no people." Where one can turn left out of a parking lot onto "the main road" without waiting for a half hour and/or divine intervention and/or police escort. Where there are times when there are simply no cars on the road. How much we both like quiet and dark.
Two hermits take a day-trip.
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