Happy Earth Day

Frankly, the planet puts up with a lot, and as my mother always says about Mother's Day, "Why should I just get one day? I'm your mother." To that end, this planet is the only parent we have (that we know of), so let's make every day Earth Day! My plug is for water conservation, so here goes:

Water is the single most important resource we have. You can live up to a month without eating, but you won't make it more than a week without water. (The average is three days.) Fresh water is increasingly scarce, as the majority of it is locked up in ice.

When you flush the toilet, dump stuff down the sink, or run the tap, you're wasting fresh water. So, here are a few things you can do to help:

Decrease the nitrogen load on our fresh water supply.
Nitrogen has a systemic impact on the planet. Once introduced, it sucks oxygen out of the water, choking off the ability for phyotplankton to absorb sunlight, and in turn, that throws the food chain out of whack. So, try to buy phosphate-free everything (automatic dish detergent, sink soap, laundry detergent, etc.) There are plenty of products on the market that do just as good a job cleaning without phosphates, so make a point of purchasing them if you can.

Install low-flow showerheads and a low-flow, high-efficiency toilet.

Don't run the tap while brushing your teeth.

Don't flush if you only do number 1. (Water-based waste disposal systems have a ratio of approximatley 97% water to 3% waste.)

Try to keep your shower to four minutes or under.(Oddly, this is a long time. Try it. Put a timer in your shower. You'll be amazed.

Do not throw everything down the sink, particularly fats and oils. Either sell them off to your veggie-diesel car driving neighbors, or recycle them.

Only run your diswasher when it's really full.

If you have a garden, install a cistern so that you can use it on the plants. It doesn't have to be fancy. Just go to Home Depot, get a huge bucket, stick it under your gutter, and voila! To prevent it from turning into a mosquito pond, buy a tight-fitting cover.

If you are renovating a home, install a gray water collection system.

The Earth is a nice place. It's pretty and blue, like sapphires or those fabulous silk-satin Manolos that Big gave Carrie for their engagement.

And honestly, for a 4 billion year old, she's looking pretty good. So let's not let her go all Grey Gardens, shall we?

Do what you can to keep the Earth looking fabulous!

The One Good Makeover Show

I admit it: I love a good makeover. I won't call myself a raging beauty, but I have come a distance from my ugly duckling past. I always inserted myself into the "And then s/he turned into a swan and lived happily ever after" story. So, that's why I love What Not to Wear, because each week, I get my ugly duckling fix.

And the best part? Well, check out this in the WaPo...she says it as well as I could have: Stacy and Clinton, as snarky as they are, harsh on the clothes not the person.

It's true....never have Stacy and Clinton ever told someone they were fat, chubby, needed to lose a few, etc. They just acknowledge someone's curves, ask what that person is not happy with, and then they get to it.

I can imagine that the hardest part about the WNTW transformation is that if you've spent the majority of your life being ignored, you grow up wanting to be ignored. So, you dress like crap and hope no one notices, because typically, what happens when someone does notice is not good.

But sadly, we are visual beings and we notice appearance. But that said, it doesn't mean that appearance has to be cookie-cutter or trendy. Most former ugly ducklings I know want to maintain some kind of individualism and sense of personal style. When you've been "other" for so long, it's comforting. But as Stacy and Clinton (and Diana Vreeland, and Carrie Donovan, and Grace Coddington and many, many others) have repeatedly shown, a sense of style, when fully embraced is the ultimate method of personal expression.

The MAC Daddy of Galaxy Clusters

So, I'm sitting here, at 10 minutes to 5PM on a lovely spring day, feeling sorry for myself, and then I stumble across this, and feel stupid, small, irrelevant, and yet strangely...optimistic.....and I smiled. You can enjoy more here.

Today's 9 to 5 Image

Yep. For most of us, this is life in Corporate America.

But sometimes, if you're lucky, you get off the wheel, and a soft, kind hand picks you up, takes you out of the cage, lets you run around the lawn, then gives you a fresh piece of lettuce.

And while you're running around the lawn, the hand changes your shavings and fills your water bottle!

But most of the time, it's on the wheel, running off to nowhere.

WaPo's Givhan on "What Exit?" Housewives

I've always loved the delightful Ms. Robin Givhan's sartorial coverage for the Washington Post, and I'm sorry that she's giving it up to cover The Family O, but in the interim, we have a lovely piece by her about my newest favorite horror show.

I thought RHOC was bad, but this is just, oh, this is like watching aliens land on your front lawn, get out, and start talking to you. You're slack-jawed, frightened, yet intrigued and incredulous that something so other really exists.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Kicks Serious Tushie

This woman is amazing. Jezebel said it best: the Justice is on a "give cancer the finger" tour. (I can relate. There is only one answer to cancer: F.U. I'm not done yet.)

Read the full scoop here.

Michelle O. Rocks, and My Mom Should Thank Her!

First, let's just say that to all the hypercritical comments made about Michelle Obama's personal style, I say, "BOOOOOO". Yes, "BOOOOO". Damnit, I LOVE HER STYLE.

Michelle Obama represents something that I completely understand: She has the personal style of a smart, well-educated, tall, curvy 40-something woman who had a professional career before becoming First Lady. She is clearly a thoughtful, creative woman who loves to express herself, and is interested in looking cool and hip, but age- and situation-appropriate. She has had to dress for herself, not for a role as "political" wife, like Nancy Reagan or the Bush women.

I think Michelle Obama's personal style reflects a generation that, while not second-wave feminism, is also not Hillary Clinton's late 60's Wellesley feminism, either. To a degree, Hillary's generation had the luxury of not really caring that much about how they looked--it was important to break the stereotype in order to further women's goals. I understand that, and I applaud it. I think that's why Hill had such culture shock in the 90s when the media was attacking her style (or what the media perceived as a lack of style). Hillary is old enough that she was on the further side of the "what you wear doesn't matter" curve.

Michelle, on the other hand, is a year younger than me, and hence, is on the backside of the "What you wear doesn't matter" curve. She was clearly raised by a mom who took pains to say to her daughter, "There is a way you look, and there is a way that looking good says something to the outside world....that you want to be taken seriously." (I won't delve into the race issue, but I can only imagine that it was twice as important for Michelle to present an exterior that was perceived as professional and competent.) Further, I suspect that her mother also raised to her make the most of what you have. I don't know Michelle or her mother, but I get the feeling that Michelle never thought to herself, "Oh, well Barack has become President. I think I'll throw out all my old clothes, and buy new, American designer togs that are boring, cookie-cutter over-the-top pieces of crap which don't reflect my style at at all."

Which brings me back to my initial comment: I loooooove her look. If I were 30 pounds lighter, I'd be buying half the stuff she wears. I love it. Alaia, Thakoon, J. Crew, Talbot's....what a great blend of funky and classic. She has high-low style down pat. It rocks. Screw all of you who say, "You don't wear a cardigan to meet the Queen!" Did you see the crap-ass, poorly-fitted dress that Mrs. Brown wore? And she wore black tights with it! Mother of god!

Donatella Versace has been quoted as saying, "Wear what you like, and wear what looks good on your figure...that's style." And I agree. Michelle is controversial in the fashion press precisely because she wears what she likes.

I also credit her with the resurgence in day dresses, of which I bought two this weekend. My mother is thrilled. For all the time when I as young, and she tried to get me to wear dresses I say: Mom, patience is a virtue. I think she thought I'd spend the rest of my life playing in the mud, wearing oversized flannel shirts and cords.

So Mommy and Michelle, these are for you!