How to Beat Sweaty Hat Forehead

Have you been working up a sweat every morning, slogging through the snow to get to the subway? No? That's only people in the Northeast? Well, for all those living in cities that have been repeatedly covered in blizzards, meet your new best friend. If you wear a hat on your way to work, or have bangs, your forehead can be a tricky place to keep the shine away. Enter Palladio Rice Paper Tissues. They're the Prom Queen to traditional oil absorbing sheets red headed step sister. Not only do they absorb a little  glisten from anywhere you blot them, if you flip them to the other side, they will leave a light layer of powder everywhere they touch. Voila! It's like you never sweat to begin with. Not that girls do that anyhow.

These papers stood the test of hot Tennessee days during a music festival and won. Re-purpose this warm weather tool to keep your face looking fab when the winter weather works against you. They're available at Ulta and Sally Hansen beauty supplies, and come in warm beige or natural. For those of you who aren't lucky enough to live near either of these stores, amazon's got em too!

Lease a Piece of Nature

January birthdays are tough. You’re a little strapped for cash, and gift ideas after Christmas, and well, you just might not be in the giving spirit. Ok scrooge. That doesn’t stop people from being born. What to do? Get creative. I recently came across this lovely site called Rent Mother Nature.

Basically the deal is that you pick something natural that you like (think fruits, veggies, lobster), spend around 50 bucks and get an awesome present (for yourself or someone else). After you pick your pleasure, the network of farmers sends out a lease document to the gift recipient stating their limited time ownership of a share of the farm’s harvest products. The “lessee” gets a series of progress reports on how their crop is doing—usually 2-3, sometimes accompanied by photos.

Then, when the product you selected has matured, it’s delivered to your lucky Aquarius. You’ve solved your gifting dilemma, because really, who doesn’t like food? And you’ve helped to make the world a better place. Rent Mother Nature supports small independent (often family run) farms who are committed to natural, organic agriculture.  Now don’t you feel better? Check out the awesome pieces of mother nature available for lease, and the product it turns into below.

• Maple tree: 50 oz. maple syrup
• Cow: three, 8oz wheels of Brie or Cheddar
• Goat: three 5oz logs of fresh Chevre (one each of plain, herb, and peppercorn)
• Lobster: 7.5 lbs of fresh, live lobsters
• Sheep: a 100% natural wool blanket
• Coffee Tree: 4 trees=2 pounds of coffee, 2 trees=2 pounds of coffee
• Honey Hives: 30oz of flavored honey (flavor based on the region you select)
• Pistachio Tree: 3 lbs of nuts
• Honeybell tree: 18lbs of juicy honeybell grapefruits
• Pecan Tree: 3 pounds in-shell nuts
• Wild Rice Bed: 3 lbs wild rice
• Peach Tree: 13 peaches
• Date Palm Tree: 4lbs of dates
• Berry Patch: Three 10 oz jars one each of blueberry jam, cranberry marmalade, and beach plum jelly
• Cocoa Tree: 5 pounds of 100% organic cocoa
• Apple Tree: 8 pounds of McIntosh apples
• Oyster: 4 dozen oysters from Washington’s Pacific coast
• Wheat field: 5lbs of stone ground flour or bread mix
• Grapefruit tree: 14lbs of ruby red grapefruit
• Tangerine Tree: 14 lbs of honey tangerines

My stomach's growling just thinking about it. How about yours?

Lanvin Reversible Dress

 The trend lately is not shopping in excess, but shopping to buy classics that will run for miles. It's about quality and longevity rather than simple quantity and flash. In his latest resort collection, Alber Elbaz takes this reusability to a whole new level. He offered skirts with changeable lengths, and even a reversible dress give you a two for the price of one hit. At $3055, it's nice to get a little more bang for your buck.

One side is a classic black sheath with just a hint of tulle at the bottom. A great LBD to accessorize differently, and wear again and again. But then, you flip it inside out, to reveal a tulle party dress. The same shift shape, but with a tulle overlay, and exposed back zipper that give the dress a little more sass. It's a dream for a lady travelling, saving space in your suitcase, and providing two totally different looks.

Images courtesy of Neiman Marcus.

Fashion Invention

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There's a little fashion invention that I would like to see on the market by the time spring hits. A cross between leggings and stockings for warmer weather. Legging on the top, gradual fade to stocking starting just above the knee to the ankle. Think the ombre effect, but rather than changing colors, changing thickness and translucency. Start with full coverage, opaque legging from the waist, fade to beautifully sheer stocking starting mid thigh all the way down. That way, if you want to wear a shorty short dress, you're not flashing vahjay, but you're not sweating either because the stocking bottom lets the breeze through. We already have every other possible variation on the legging from jegging to sparkle. We already have every other possible variation on the stocking: fishnet, thigh high, patterned, solid, colored. It's time we brought the two together. Even with this combo if you're feeling daring.

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Can I get a hallelujah? Will someone design these for me please?

State of the Union

Did you miss the State of the Union address a couple nights ago like I did? I blame Netflix for sending me The Wire on DVD and making me totally lose touch with the world. Well, never fear! Thanks to the wonders of the interwebz, you can watch the video, or read the official transcript at the White House website here. It's pretty interesting to see what Mr. President has to say, minus the over use of the phrase "Win the Future" and a couple typos (I'm just saying--proofread White House!). Read it, so at the very least, you know what everyone is talking about.

Best Burger

Everyone has a particular way they like a hamburger. Unless you're a vegetarian, and then you probably have a special way you like your veggie patty. It's one of those American cuisines where the toppings can really make the meal. Some like to fancy it up with cheddar and bacon, others with mushrooms and bleu cheese, or caramelized onions and Swiss. Then there's the purists who are all about simple, quality meat. You know who you are.

 And it's not just the toppings, it's the order that you put them on. It makes a difference. My ideal burger is on a nice crusty hard roll, with mayo on the bottom roll, a thick slice of tomato, then the medium-well meat topped with American cheese, sliced dill pickles and ketchup and mustard mixed together spread on the top bun. The classic.

Now an inventive jewelry designer has allowed you to take your condiment layering creativity to another realm, fashion. Tadaaki Wakamatsu designed these delectable little charms. You pick your toppings, and layer the charms to build your perfect (AND ADORABLE) burger necklace.

 Featured in the January 2011 issue of W magazine here. What's your ideal burger?

Hilarious blog ALERT

A witty lady came up with a pretty hilarious idea. A blog devoted to notes for her future husband. It ranges from how he should behave (no baby talk, ever, even to babies), to things she wants (vip tickets to Coachella), things that are and are not cool during their life long marriage. It's a little bit raunchy, and a lotta bit funny. Check it out here.