Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa series of cookbooks are by far the most delicious hardcovers I've ever seen. I may be personally missing one of the latest editions. But thanks to the www, I can most likely find the missing ingredients online. A few of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes courtesy of the Food Network... Cranberry Orange Scones 
Manhattan Milk is a modern take on old-fashioned dairy delivery. You can have glass bottles of fresh, cold, organic (without the use of antibiotics, added hormones or danger or pesticides) dropped off and picked up weekly. They offer skim, 1 percent, whole, and chocolate varieties, as well as organic eggs, butter, cheese, and yogurt. And, soon enough, produce boxes from upstate. For just a $5 charge anywhere on the island, they’re determined to deliver in time for your morning coffee.
I love Slim Aarons! His work appeared in Life, Town & Country in the 1950s, and he has photographed many celebrities, check out his gallery of photos stocked with pool scenes and socialites.
This Croquet Set is perfect for summer lawn games! And for the rules visit the US Croquet Association, they'll show you how to play 5 and 9 wicket games.
Domino Magazine's gallery of affordable bathroom accessories from rugs, to apothecary jars, hardware and towels, all priced under $100.
Help the environment and charities, by donating your old, unwanted cell phone, PDA or digital camera. Everyone benefits when landfills and ecosystems stay free of electronic waste and help the cause of your choice at Recycling for Charities.
Gaslight Brasserie in Boston is the brainchild of the Aquitaine Group, who also run the Armani Cafe. Gaslight serves classic brasserie fare in a classic brasserie setting. Tuck into onion soup, steak tartare and platters of shellfish. Going beyond the norm, there is also Cuban sandwiches and Gaslight also serves brunch- with lots of omelettes and a tasty vanilla French toast. Gaslight, 560 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA, Phone: (617) 422-0224
Paisley patterns can sometimes be hard to pull off, but the trend is definitely on it's upswing. A few dresses with the prominent pattern - ready to wear:
Urban obsessions, globe trotting, shopping, concierge services and specialized maps is what Superfuture is all about. Check out the online specialty maps for Tokyo, NY, Sydney, SF, Amsterdam, Paris, London, LA, Shanghai, Singapore and more.
Williams Sonoma Home indoor and outdoor pillows inspire for summer settings and just everyday accents. Here are my favorites:
Strawberry Shortcake
From Paris' Left Bank to online Le Cherche Midi home fragrances and candles, are favorites. Each of custom designed in recycled pine boxes boxes and hand blown glass.
Visit the National Portrait Gallery in London to view an extrodinary exhibition which showcases 150 portraits including classic images from Vanity Fair's early period, displayed for the first time alongside photographs featured in the magazine since its re-launch in 1983. Admission is £10 and the exhibit runs through 26 May 2008.
Adored A16, San Francisco's italian restaurant in the heart of the Marina on Chestnut street, just a stones throw from my old stomping grounds, is known for their delicious meatballs. 
= Nirvino, is a site that uses to technology to collect wine reviews and ratings from print, online, and broadcast wine critics into their own database and rating system, which is a normalized average translated into 1-5 stars. Making it brilliantly easy to find your next best wine purchase. They'll even suggest food pairings and you can get it to-go on your iphone!
Hank Azaria's apartment in soho is a beautiful space with contemporary and european charm. Visit Elle Decor to walk through and see for yourself.
In New York Magazine, Adam Gordon talks about renovating (gutting) his $3M West Village property into a $10M townhouse gem.
The lineup is official for September's Austin City Limits, tickets go for $170. A few headliners include Foo Fighters, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne, The Raconteurs, The Mars Volta, Gnarls Barkley, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, N.E.R.D., Erykah Badu, Robert Earl Keen, Patty Griffin, Tegan and Sara, Iron & Wine, G. Love & Special Sauce, Neko Case, Band of Horses, The Swell Season, Silversun Pickups, Gogel Bordello, Gillian Welch, Eli Young Band, The Black Keys. Not the best group of musicians in my opinion - but I hear it's a very fun few days!
Domino Magazine's favorite artisanal American varieties:
This week, April 14th through the 20th, more than 100 New York spas offer $50 treatments. Visit SpaWeek.org or CitySearch to find out more and book your appointment!
Ruby Beets shop combines decorative antiques, vintage and contemporary furniture, lighting, accessories, art and photography. 
Join Kielh's Open Road challenge for a chance to win a year's supply of Kiehl's! Upload a photo, where you're from, and refer your friends to accumulate points and move closer to the Grand Prize. 
Caiparinha De Ipanima:
Lille a shop is a chic haven for home & personal accessories. The collections from a long list of designers are a passionate portrayal of modern and classic aesthetics. A few of my favorites:
Diane Elson Bankoff started Elson & Company over 10 years ago in San Francisco. She was a close friend to one of mine, so I've been following her new lines for years. The company was founded with the vision of fusing custom-designed, hand-knotted Tibetan rugs with the 'endless possibilities of sophisticated modern design'. Narciso Rodriguez, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta and other high- profile fashionistas helped devise the company's "Fashion Underfoot" line, which gives 10 percent of the profits from each piece sold to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer initiative of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Prices range from $30 per square foot to $100 per square foot depending on knot count and the type of rug and are available at retail locations through the US or directly from Elson.
Dream analyses and interpretation is fascinating. Real Simple explores 7 questions answered that scientists have discovered about the personal truths our dreams reveal.
Yes please. Less than a month away the Kentucky Derby is slated for its 2008 debut. Plum Party has all the festive supplies you could need and here are a few recipes:
Bellasugar has three things you should do today to save your skin tomorrow:Which also reminds me of the infamous 'Wear Sunscreen' speech published over a decade ago by Chicago Tribune write Mary Schmich.
Wear Sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded.But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year- olds I know still don't.Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them. Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.Accept certain inalienable truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth. But trust me on the sunscreen.
Wait! A travelmate mobile fireplace?
A little brit whose traded up life on the mainland for surfing the coasts of Australia sent a few more places to add to London Calling Francie...
Part project, forum and food, Open Restaurant in San Francisco is a trend. The first seating was about a week ago and people are talking. 'OPEN is a place to sit down and have a basic meal for a reasonable price but as it exists at the intersection of performance and everyday life, it turns an ordinary business proposition into a social sculpture.'
Exploring architecture, green living spaces, furniture, fancy gadgets, the web, fashion and more, Time Magazine ranks the top 100 objects, places and ideas that marked 2007.
History is by definition 'all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing; a body of knowledge' or 'An academic study of the past or the product of our attempts to understand the past, rather than the past itself'. In The New Yorker, literary critic Jill Lepore writes an article about fake memoirs, factual fictions, and the history of history. She discusses how the boundary between history and fiction have changed since the 18th century and comments on books, novels and the space between. Quoting Godwin, Austen, Defoe and Kagan among others it's an interesting debate.
