POCKET LINT.

LA (AND BEYOND): THE BEST WAY TO PLAY "LADY OF LEISURE"

Sometimes you feel like a robe.  Sometimes you don't.  Unless you're me.  Then you feel like wearing a robe all the time and it has to be ripped from your slovenly clutches.

Still, all robes are not created equal.  Ever since Andre made me throw out my trusty blue "plush" polyester favorite (years ago and yes, I'm still pining), I've been making my way through a bevy of hotel robes of the cozy terry cloth and cotton variety (usually with my initials embroidered across the upper left side).

They are pretty awesome, I admit.  But every once in a while I get a hankering for something pretty and less PRACTICAL.

Recently, I've come across quite a few options in that arena: I could happily hang out all day in the above Plum Pretty Sugar Jardin Bleu robe or Dream Sacks' bamboo Geisha number (out of Ashland, Oregon).

And Andrew would NEVER make me throw those out.  Right?  That's loungerie alright.

xo - N.

 

ONLINE (AND BEYOND): THE BEST CRUMPLED TWENTY

The Best Link Today:

If you're anything like me, you spend significant amounts of time marveling at people's inappropriate Facebook status updates from "Sally is deeply depressed and crying out for help" to "Tom is sleeping on the bathroom floor between puking bouts."

Anyway, I heartily approve of this website's "How To Suck at Facebook" instructions (although maybe he should have added something about the new "post your celebrity doppelganger" trend).  Why does everyone think they look like Kursten Dunst?

Now, I'm off to shamelessly "market" my site.  Become my fan!  Become my fan!  BECOME MY FAN!!!

xo - N.

 

PALM SPRINGS/VA/MT/VT: THE BEST ARTISANAL RESORT PRODUCTS AND THE BEST WAY TO SAY ADIEU TO A YEAR WELL DONE

I know.  I know.  I keep apologizing and then being bad again, but I'm off on yet another jaunt and will not be LINTing Christmas week.  Actually, that's sort of not true.  I'll be LINTing in the sense that I'll be scouting new finds to share (though I still owe some Pittsburgh and NYC stuff), but I won't be posting regularly until January 2, 2010.

Anyway, I thought I'd leave you with a link to my latest little story in Travel & Leisure (see above) about resorts that farm or crush and create their own beauty and food products.  Short and sweet, just like me and my attention span.  And my patience.  And my fuse.  And my family.  And the time it takes me to devour french fries.  And the time it takes me to read a trashy detective novel.  And the time that will pass between now and my next post in 2010.

So, happy holidays of all kinds, folks.  Good tidings to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  (I know I already have my sequined number picked out).  Well, I mean one only has so many sequin dresses from which to choose, right?

Love ya.  Mean it.

xo - N.

LA (AND BEYOND): THE BEST NEW BLACKBERRY

After a very unfortunate incident with my Blackberry Curve (it experienced a quick painless death and never suffered, I am told and I choose to believe), I went to my corner Sprint store and was quickly talked into a brand new Blackberry Tour instead of the inexpensive replacement.  BAD, LINTY!

I felt guilty for like a millisecond (jeez, thank goodness that's over--I almost broke a sweat).  But then I went for it and since then it's been a love affair of epic proportions: I'm talking sweeping music, feeding each other chocolate dipped strawberries, late night phone calls for hours on end, butterflies in my tummy etc. 

Ew.  "Feeding each other chocolate dipped strawberries"--that is so cheesy and molested and Bachelorette.

Anyway, that's all.  I just wanted to tell you all how much I love it.  The icons are cooler, the design is sleeker, the keypad is this great rubbery consistency and has these impressions for your fingers, so typing on a hand-held has NEVER been easier.  (I find an iPhone very tricky in that regard).  Instead of just Brickbreaker, the thing has a word game (love!) and even Texas Hold 'Em.  It's just the bestest Blackberry a girl could ask for . . . Oh, so dreamy.

xo - N.

LA (AND BEYOND): THE BEST NEW SUMMER TREATS TO TRY AND REPORT BACK TO ME ON

So, I'm too hot to be inventive or to change the sizes of all these great other pics I have in my arsenal.  Instead, I'll just tell you that Claudette and I spotted the above ice cream-filled Rice Krispy treats at Whole Foods the other day and Mike & Ike popsicles at the new shmancy Pavilions.  I'm expanding lately, so I'd really appreciate someone ELSE trying these sweet new mofos for me.  Yup, then I'll ask you to pee for me too.  Also, would you mind cleaning my house?

xo - N.

LA (AND BEYOND): THE BEST WAY TO GET JOLLY

Like a regular Coke (for diet soda drinkers), French Onion Dip (maybe on July 4th or at a Super Bowl party) or cherry Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers are delectable old standards that one only eats now and again.  Still, each time I come across one and pop it in my mouth, I remember how damn good they taste.  Ah, the flood of (mostly camp) memories: wanting to go home, hating sports, waking up to a horn at ungodly hours.

Jeez.  It's a wonder I still like them.

One of the main reasons I so seldom come across those Jolly old candies, though, is that they come in separate little individually wrapped situations inside bigger bags.  So, when I spotted this new Jolly Rancher packaging a la Orbit gum for something, I had to grab it.  And, seriously, the whole made me so happy yesterday.  Is that sad?  Don't answer that.

Anyway, what could be more genius? Now that. ladies and gentleman (and lint puffs, ahem), is what we call "PROGRESS."

xo - N.

JAPAN/FRANCE (AND BEYOND): BEST NEW ISSEY SCENT

In 1992, when designer Issey Miyake launched his first fragrance, L'Eau d'Issey, we were still innocents.  We didn't know from a second Bush.  We couldn't give a crap about some chick Monica Lewinsky's soiled dress.  (Not that we really care now either.)  Teenage boys wore Starter jackets (or flannel plaid shirts in Seattle).  Girls wore bamboo earrings and a bad attitude (or at least posed that way).  And the concept of unisex fragrances was just coming into vogue.  CK One was just a dot on the 1994 horizon.

Other Issey scents have followed, but now (for the first time in seven years) the designer is launching a new fragrance simply dubbed: a scent by issey miyake. (That's all lower case folks, like the cool kids on iPhone and Crackberries do).  And, although times have changed, the designer has stripped the fragrance and design down to its core, just as he did the first time around.

Just look at the transparent bottle--how cool, right?  Miyake has conceived the fragrance and packaging concept like he has his newest clothing endeavor, a line called A-POC (A piece of Cloth), which also strives to strip the concept of clothing down to it's most basic level.

Personally, though I experiment more than the average person, the fragrances I love tend to skew "fresh" or "green." That is actually not just a descriptor, but a technical category of fragrance (and is not to be confused with "green" like "eco" cause there ain't no patchouli here).  And, as Miyake's goal seems always to create fragrance that smells like air, we're a sympatico match.  I like scents that smell like clean, if that makes any sense.

This fragrance is in the vein of the first, which is good with me.  I was a devout wearer.  It's described as "green-floral-woods" with notes of verbena, hyacinth and jasmine.  But it has a slightly more herbal, earthy note that recalls this current moment's preoccupation with a return to the land, back to basics, local farms, organic growing, low maintenance bohemian living, dinner parties served to cushion poised guests reclining on the living room floor, jewelry and crafts made by hand.  Miyake seems to project all this and then modernize and sterlize it, underlining the simplicity with the cleanest lines (the fragrance's bottle) and a crispy scent.

a scent by issey miyake actually doesn't launch until September, but I feel fortunate to share the goods with you now.  I know I'll be sporting a new fragrance.

Have a very Zen day.

xo - N.

LA (S.M. & BURBANK): CRUMPLED TWENTY

The Best Link Today:

I know, I know--I'm a hippo.  Not that kind of hippo.  More like a big ass hypocrite; who says one thing and does another.  Here I am, just moments after dissing cupcakes, writing about them once again:

Blame LAist, who blogged today about a super unique St. Patty's day treat: Yummy's Guinness Cupcakes.  How amazing does that sound?  How could I not share?

I think I'm on a major rich beer-as-dessert-course kick, having recently chugged a coffee bean-brewed stout at newly opening resto BoHo, lovingly sampled beer soaked sheep cheese at Joan's On Third and fondly reminisced about Guinness ice cream floats we tasted at Pix Patisserie during a snowy winter road trip last year to Portland, OR.  Sigh. Dreamy.

On a totally separate note, LAist also blogged today about Obama's impending trip to Cali and how to catch a glimpse of history's coolest Pres.

I say, try bringing him a Guinness cupcake.

I know that would win me over.

xo - N.

LA (AND WAY BEYOND): CRUMPLED TWENTY

(From Yahoo! Flickr Images)

The Best Link Today:

Ken Starr is like shoulder pads.  Once every decade, he shows up--all ugly and misshapen and full of false righteousness and vibrato--on a mission to destroy something beautiful and progressive in this world.  The issue is always sex-related (not necessarily true with the pads).  And the timing is always when we've won the kingdom back from the ravagers, bigots and self-interested liars. Not to mince words.

Anyway, I'm not even going to venture to understand from where the deep sexual repression that drives this awful person stems, but I will mention that it's always the most fervent anti-gay or "family values" guys who end up caught (literally) with their pants down in a men's bathroom with a call boy (of some immigrant descent, whose rights to live here they, of course, fervently fought against).

Why else would you care so much how other people live their lives without hurting you?  Why else would you be arrogant enough to believe that you should get to dictate how other people create families?

Now, the topic is Prop 8 and gay marriage rights.  It's continually amazing to me that--though historically bigotry against specific groups has been fought and eventually defeated (at least legally)--that, each time a new group of people fights persecution, Starr-types still try to argue that their prejudice is legitimate.  Guess what, guys: this is the same issue again.  This is the same as civil rights. The same as the women's movement.  You can't be anti-gay marriage and not be a homophobe and, inevitably you're going to LOSE.  AGAIN.

Anyway, here's a link to a website, where you can sign a pro-gay marriage petition and also (okay maybe this is a little bad, but . . .) you can also find lists of Prop 8 supporters, who are putting their hard-earned (ahem, tax-evaded) money towards stifling other people's civil rights.  The idea is just not to put more money is these people's pockets.

When Andrew and I got our marriage license last year, it was right after gay marriage was legalized and there were almost all gay couples getting hitched at the Beverly Hills Courthouse.  The only other straight couple looked to be in their seventies, so they were cuter than us too.  Anyway, it was such an amazing and touching piece of history to witness.

I'm really grateful for that experience.

And, just like shoulder pads, I know Ken Starr and his band of merry lynchers will quickly fade back into the abyss too.  Or at least I hope so.

xo - N.

P.S. We live in a country that's supposed to foster different belief systems, even if those other beliefs sometimes make you want to go ballistic.  But, even if you believe that gay marriage is a sin, I think it's important to remember that one set of religious beliefs is not meant to guide the way our country runs.  What you believe is fine (so don't have a gay marriage), but, as soon as you start stealing rights from others, your own rights are in jeopardy.

OREGON (AND BEYOND): THE BEST NEWS ALL DAY

(The best invention since, well, regular Salt & Vinegar chips . . . or maybe La Loo's Goat Milk Ice Cream . . . or maybe Gary Poppins' Salt & Vinegar Popcorn)

Okay, I know this isn't exactly a lesser known gem found locally in LA, BUT I just went to the bodega on my corner and discovered something genius: my favorite Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips--BUT BAKED!

Like any sane human being, I'm a salt & vinegar fanatic and this is really just a momentous event. Virtuously eating salt & vinegar chips?  I wouldn't have dared to dream.  Only out of Oregon, man. Just wait until I write my "Best Of Oregon" post and you guys all roll your eyes over how much I loved my road trip through that damn state.

And speaking of obsessions, my cat Waldo seems to like them too . . .

Oh, silly Waldo . . . chips are for kids (named NORA).

xo - N.

P.S.  I should have mentioned: I got my chips at St. Regis market on the corner of Third Street & Orlando in LA.