Kristin van Ogtrop's Blog, page 413

Would you like to play a game?

Recently, as I waited for my lunch order and fiddled with my iPhone, I was asked what I was doing. A bit embarrassed, I responded "playing Zombie Farm."



The look on the store owner's face was priceless.



While it may look like I'm busy doing something semi-important, looks can be deceiving, because most of the time I'm probably playing a game. And judging from the number of free and low cost games available through the iTunes store, I'm guessing I'm not alone. Here are some of my current...

Five Reasons To Let Go of Clutter

We can all think of excuses for holding onto our clutter ("I might need it someday," "I paid good money for it"), but excuses don't even hold up in these circumstances:You hate it. If you don't like it, don't keep it. Life is too short to hold onto things you loathe.You never fixed it. If something has been sitting in your home for more than a year without being fixed, you're never going to fix it. Time to dispose, sell, or recycle the item.You forgot you owned it. When uncluttering, if you...

Please, Don't Call me Ma'am!

 

In last Sunday's New York Times, there was a great article about women's strong—and mostly negative—response to being called "Ma'am." You can check it out at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/weekinreview/29angier.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Ma%27am&st=cse

 I definitely related to the many women who said they recoiled in horror whenever addressed as "Ma'am," mostly because it made them feel old, dowdy, or generally misunderstood. But it made me realize I'm often addressed with monikers that make...

Hi, Everyone, and Welcome to September!

I'm Heidi Schoembs, formerly Real Simple's executive producer and now the social media director for Time Inc.'s Lifestyle Group.

 

 

I'm so excited to be leading this month's book club. First, a confession: I was privately hoping 97 Orchard would win! As the daughter of immigrant parents (who happen to be dynamite cooks), I've always been fascinated by the role food plays in defining a culture and how food traditions evolve over time. And I love the idea that a secret family recipe or guarded...

DIY Project from Sweet Paul: Easy Hanging Bench

My apartment has a roof deck that we share with our neighbors in the building, and while there are some assorted chairs and tables out there, they aren't really comfortable enough to spend a lot of time in them. Essentially I just want something that's comfortable enough that I can spend some time in it reading.

 

We do have a tree that hangs over the deck, so for a while I considered a hammock, but I came across this DIY project on Sweet Paul's blog, and it might just be my Labor Day weekend p...

I Tried It: New Season, New Workout

When I first moved to New York about 6 years ago I immediately started nosing around for a good yoga class. After some fits and starts, I stumbled upon a class at a studio not far from my apartment and became a regular at this one particular teacher's classes. At the time she boasted that she hadn't found any other teachers in New York who taught the kind of fast-paced, über-challenging yoga that she loved to practice and loved to teach. We're talking an hour-and-a-half wherein you lose count...

''Lemon Cake'' Author Aimee Bender Answers Your Questions

Hello, Bookies:

We've heard back from Aimee Bender, the author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, who has provided wonderfully thoughtful answers to your questions. Her comments appear throughout in italics.

First off, just a big thank you to all of you for your thoughtful commentary and questions—it was a pleasure reading your comments online.

From discussion leader Jennifer Mirsky:

I'm eager to hear more from author Aimee Bender and I'll start off our round of questioning with this...

Small Talk Studio

There is a shop that I mentioned in a piece for Etsy (here) that I wrote but I wasn't able to go into detail about it since I had so many other sellers in that article to talk about. Now that I have a little more time, I'd like to focus in on the work of Small Talk Studio. The work of illustrator Alyssa Nassner, this studio is based in Baltimore and specializes mainly in screen prints and cards (remember, you can also frame cards too!) along with product design.

Like you, I go through phases w...

Canine Heroics and Other Everyday Miracles

Not that I don't love my kids, but perhaps the most starry-eyed, worshipful section of my book is devoted to our dog Uki. Uki is a 7-year-old yellow lab, a reject from Guiding Eyes for the Blind who is the most perfect pet I have ever had and possibly ever will have. And he is constantly raising the bar of perfect petdom, making it now nearly impossible for any other canine to ever fill his shoes (or paws, as it were).

 

 

The most recent example: On Friday night, I hatched a plan for the...

An Expense You Can't Skip If You Have Kids

How much would you pay to protect your family from a devastating financial blow? How about less than the cost of a soda from the vending machine at work? And yet according to a new survey featured in The Wall Street Journal, some 35 million households have no life insurance -- up from 24 million in 2004, according to research firm Limra. That one in every three households.

One reason for the decline: Many employees lost the life insurance coverage provided by employers when they lost their...