Many of us city dwellers dream of giving up the fast paced life and retreating to the country to bake bread and cultivate a garden, but how many of us really ever do it?

Yes, I fantasize about it, but in the end I am convinced that I need the frenzy of the city to create momentum in my own life and fear without my creature comforts I will expire. That is why I like to live vicariously through my new favorite blog, Glutton for Life. Laura Silverman moved out from the city with her husband to upstate New York and writes about food, cooking, travel, and much more. I met her at my friend Adam's party upstate and she was an instant charmer. Not to mention, that she made the best spanakopita ever. Her blog is well written, funny, thoughtful, and beautifully composed with pictures of the food she is cooking. It certainly brightens my day.

Now that you have actually taken the plunge and gotten the big D, perhaps it is time to make that change you have always dreamed about. Without a style cramper around, you really could make the escape.

Or, if you are a chicken like me then for sure bring Laura’s world into your own and feel like you’ve left the daily grind for a minute or two.

www.gluttonforlife.com

Shopping, cleaning stuff, handyman work or anything your little heart desires can be posted for Rabbits to view and bid on. Operating in many major cities throughout the U.S., it's a site worth checking out.
So go ahead, post your most dreaded task. Just don’t expect your rabbit to appear in a bunny suit, unless of course you included that in your task's description.

www.taskrabbit.com


Does acting slightly infantile ward off wrinkles? I hope so. It sure beats spending a lot of money on creams and elixirs. I know I am way too old for this website that I am introducing to you, but I can’t resist. Maybe my daughter’s obsession with Justin Bieber is starting to get to me, but I find subwaycrush.net totally amusing and infinitely distracting—especially useful when I don’t want to embark on a mundane task. The premise of subwaycrush.net is simple. “See. Snap. Share.” 

Instructions from the site are as follows: After your jaw has been picked up off the floor, discretely snap a photo of him and send to us.  Include the date, subway line, and your name (or alias) and we’ll take care of the rest.  Keep your eye out for your submission and cruise through the subway stunners others have spotted.‘

I like to browse others curated pictures of their subway hotties, read the lewd often moronic comments people post about their crush and if I feel inclined rate the pictures.

At first I thought this was a woman’s only kind of thing. Upon closer inspection I realized many, if not most of the photo contributors are guys. So tell your gay friends about this too, I am sure they will be amused.

Check out www.subwaycrush.net and their London site www.tubecrush.net

This really blew my mind. While American women are desperately trying to straighten their teeth, our friends in Japan are doing quite the opposite. Japanese men have a new fixation—crooked teeth. Yaeba which in Japanese means double tooth is in and women are paying dentists to create crooked teeth by affixing plastic fronts to their real teeth.

What is this really all about? Men not wanting their woman to be perfect looking? Not exactly. The naturally occurring Yaeba is created due to delayed baby teeth, or a mouth that’s too small, so it's really an emphasis on youth. Hmmm....Grown woman having their teeth adjusted to suggest a childlike smile? I thought Botox was weird. This is wacked.

Maybe all that sushi they eat is getting to them.



I don’t know about you but when the weather turns cold I just want to veg inside, read a good book, and eat a lot of carbs. Here is a good book that you can cozy up on your couch with that will make you think long and hard about forgiveness and what moving on really looks like.

Perfection, a memoir, written by Julie Metz tells the story of what unfolds after her husband of 12 years, dies suddenly on the kitchen floor in their bucolic home in upstate New York. Left to care for her 6 six old daughter, Metz begins to unravel the maelstrom of lies and deception her husband left behind for her to sort out— letters, emails and numerous affairs— even one with her good friend and neighbor.

Perfection is a story about how Metz learns to reinvent a new life while carefully and honestly dissecting the one she left behind. She reveals to us her process as she recovers from loss and betrayal and learns to forgive and move on to find love again.

Beautifully written, with a luscious cover designed by the author, this page-turner is hard to put down. You might never look at your happily married friends the same way every again.



I have a lot of stuff going on in my life and in my head. I went to a meditation retreat this weekend, which was blissful and relaxing, but unfortunately the effects  dissipated about two days after. The question is how can one maintain a daily mediation practice?  I realized I might need a little meditation aid. Yes a prop. I found the Joy Of Being Guided Meditations For Work. Offering three choices: beach, forest, or river, I liked the idea that if I can’t find the mediation groove myself then I can trick my brain into relaxing. A few minutes into this and thoughts of why did Kim Kardashian leave Kris and other mental pollution will leave you. And if you have never thought of Kim Kardashian, then you are already on a higher spiritual level than me.

Shawn Achor Harvard professor and The Happiness Advantage author concludes that meditation is ‘one of the most powerful happiness interventions,’ and shares ‘that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, and even improve immune function.’

But Meditation needs to be done daily like brushing our teeth. The leader of my retreat said that even 10 minutes a day could really be helpful.  Make it easy for yourself and download the Joy of Life phone app to your IPhone. You’ll transcend your next drab commuter train ride and feel like you are on a sunny beach in Bali.

 Available in CD and DVD combo, ITunes download and IPhone app.

www.joyofbeing.net

Last Friday night I got together with a group of women at the Ace Hardware store on 3^rd Street to learn about the ins and outs of home repair tools. Susan Lovell, founder of Tools for Living DIY, sponsored the event and is on a mission to empower women to be in charge of their own home repairs.  She offers workshops throughout the city.

Most women depend on men for fixing stuff. Why is this so? Much of it is really not complicated nor requires brute strength. We have been inculcated from a young age to believe that using a hammer isn’t in our domain and to believe that power tools are intimidating. To ease you out of this narrow mindset start with an Essentials Tool Kit. Packaged in a perky brightly colored PINK canvas bag, the kit comes with all the tools you will need to do basic repairs. You don’t want your tool box to look dark and dingy— this will only feed your fixing fears. You want a snappy bag for your new role as Ms. Fixit. Start with a simple project and watch your confidence blossom. You can do it. It just takes one nail at a time.

Contact Susan at www.toolsforlivingdiy.com to find out about her next workshop.

To order a cool tool bag go to Essentials Tool Kit 

Saw this in the window of a store today.

www.omega-cure.com

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could answer 10 questions about yourself, hide them in a vault on the web and then have them sent back for your review 365 days later? Sounds like something out of a Harry Potter novel. It is the website 10Q. 10 days to answer 10 of life’s biggest questions. Inspired by the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, where we take stock of our past year and figure out where we screwed up and what we want to work on, 10Q offers an opportunity for everyone to take an online inner inventory with free storage included.

10 Q started on September 28, 2011 so hurry up and get started (today is day 3, but you can easily back track and answer question 1 and 2.) Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year?” “How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year?”  “What is a fear that you have and how has it limited you? “Write a sassy answer, a pithy one, or write your next novella. There is no judgment here. Submit your answers and have 10Q vault them until September 28, 2012. If you have a little of the exhibitionist in you, then opt to have 10Q share your answers with their online community. Although it feels like your self growth is moving at glacier speed, things really do shift and change. Sign up now for 10Q and see what progress you will really have made over the next year.

www.doyou10q.com