Working From Home ...

Posted Dec 4, 2006 by Patty Kim

Updated Dec 4, 2006 at 08:47 PM

isn’t as fun as it sounds when it hurts to sit.

In fact, I spent most of the day lying on my stomach on the couch as I worked on my laptop or standing at a counter, which is how I ate lunch. It brought me the least discomfort.

If I’m feeling worse tomorrow, it might be time to call the doc.

Tender tailbone = no good.

Ouch.

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Our Imaginary Gift List

Posted Dec 4, 2006 by Sandy Hughes

Updated Dec 4, 2006 at 03:47 PM

We’ve always loved reading the December style magazines for their holiday gift guides. Not that we’ve ever found them to be very useful for our own situation—it’s just that we so want to believe there’s a world out there where sophisticated people of unlimited means actually buy this stuff for one another.

In fact, we often picture ourselves in this world, sitting in our mahogany paneled study, sipping our Fortnum & Mason green Earl Grey tea from a lavender William Yeoward cup, as we watch our personal assistant (and gosh, what would we do without her?) wrap the gifts we’ve so thoughtfully selected.

You know, gifts like the $1900 set of Tod’s leather dominoes (featured in this Sunday’s Holiday 2006 New York Time’s Style Magazine), for Grandfather, who, bless his heart, still loves to play the game down at the Club with his cronies. And won’t Grandmummy adore her $940 Hermes blanket — so perfect for those chilly nights on the penthouse terrace!

Mother-In-Law was always a bit difficult because she’s been a Chanel No. 5 girl since she was allowed her first dab of perfume as a debutante in 1959—she refuses to wear anything else, and really, how many times can you give the same bottle of perfume? But, thanks again to the NYT magazine gift guide, we found the special edition collectible bottle for $1850 that should keep her swimming in the stuff for at least another year.

The children (naturally, at the Family Dinner, there will be several running running around in their overpriced Marie Chantal outfits), will all get the $115 hand-crocheted cotton globes we spotted in InStyle magazine because, no where else could we find something so pricey and so NOT what any child that we know (of any age) would ever want. But they’re so chic in a rustic, politically correct sort of way, and, in our imaginary world—where there are no video games or licensed action figures—the children will be thrilled.

The prep school and college kids, who will be home on break, looking all tousled and J.Crew-ish, will all get scarves from J.Press in their school colors, which we found in the “Gifts, Great and Small” section of this month’s Vogue magazine. At $52 apiece (on sale), this may seem a bit stingy, but of course at this age we musn’t overindulge, lest we over-inflate their sense of entitlement.

As for our imaginary Staff, we had to turn to Vogue’s “Mrs. Exeter”, (a fictional, upper-crust advice columnist that Vogue cooked up in the late ‘40’s and has recently revived) who, in the December issue, has some fabulous ideas for what to give. For instance, she suggests, for one’s personal assistant, the $80 Tiffany’s purse pen “for all those endless lists we make her write!” which is brilliant—we don’t want her to forget that her entire life revolves around working for us! And we know that the nanny would much prefer that gift certificate Mrs. X mentions for an hour and a half spa massage instead of an extra $185 cash in her Christmas envelope. And the bonus for us is that she can get a glimpse, just this once, of what we get to do all the time!  How fun!

But our favorite Mrs. Exeter recommendation has to be the gift for the children’s teachers: “…why not”, she says, “a wonderful ski jacket or nylon car coat from Prada to help them elegantly endure the chill winds of recess?” Indeed, why not? (Everyone who suddenly wants to be the Exeter children’s teacher, raise their hand.)
And if the $1300 teacher’s gift seems a bit out proportion to the other gifts, well, we’re guessing that Mrs. Exeter’s logic is that neither the assistant nor the nanny hands out the grades that could be crucial to getting our little darlings into prep school—in other words, a little Prada could go a long way at report card time, right?.

Hmm, maybe we’re not liking our imaginary world so much anymore.

No, we think we’ll stick with our usual boring gifts—you know, the ones that the people we love actually want: gift cards, cashmere sweaters, electronics, and, of course, something useless from Brookstone or Sharper Image.

And for the service professionals in our lives, whether it’s the nanny, the hairstylist, the lawn care person or the person who delivers our newspapers, we believe the only appropriate gift is cash. After all, to presume that we know them well enough to give them a personal gift—or even something generic like a tree ornament or food gift—is always risky, while a nice Christmas tip will never disappoint.

Of course, if they want to buy a $360 pocket corkscrew with it, that’s their business.

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The Cheese Of One Goat

Posted Dec 4, 2006 by Janine Dorsey

Updated Dec 4, 2006 at 12:02 PM

I am utterly exhausted today.

The reason for my wrecked body is the Scout camping weekend: too much fun for this old girl.

I am sore in places that I never knew I had muscles, like in my armpits! That’s from scooping 188 servings of ice cream and pushing dozens of 2nd graders down the toboggan run.

My throat is sore from yelling at them to slow down and wait for the group on the hiking trails.

My thumb is burnt from a flaming marshmallow.

And I have ant bites on my ankles and mosquito bites on my back.

Luckily all the kids were returned to their parents safe and sound and that’s what matters.

But, there was no way I was going to make dinner last night. And no way I could pack anything elaborate for lunch today.

So goat cheese and Wheat Thins  it is!

Wonder what Marty’s excuse is?

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ONCE AGAIN IN THE RACE .....

Posted Dec 4, 2006 by jriley

Updated Dec 5, 2006 at 11:47 AM

After a couple of weeks of slacking off, I’m back in the race….... Thursday I went to a Weight Mgt Clinic. After a series of tests(EKG, blood, body fat, etc),

I was given a MIC/vitamin b12/b-6 injection. The doctor gave me some pills to take home (phendimetrazine, calcium pyruvate and multivitamins) and

a diet to follow….. so far I’ve lost 2 pounds (in 4 days), but I must confess I did not work out this weekend….. I have a feeling I would have lost at least

one more pound if I had. Once again I’m motivated and very positive and know that by Christmas I’ll be at least 6 pounds lighter….. what happens

during the all the Christmas parties/dinners is your guess as well as mine….. but then there’s always January and the New Year resolution…....!

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BCS With Bite

Posted Dec 3, 2006 by Patty Kim

Updated Dec 3, 2006 at 10:46 PM

The one thing I have to console myself: Florida beat Michigan on Sunday in the only game that mattered.

GO GATORS!!

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