Upgrade your travel experience without flying first class

Maryl discovers local tour guides that can personalize your next trip.

Laurence Minard-Amalou, of Provence Exclusive

Leave the tour groups behind and your travel books at home and hire a personal tour guide for your next vacation or adventure. Slogging along with a pack of camera laden tourists and straining to listen to the leader with the silly hat or pinwheel isn’t ideal. You can try the guide book route if you’re good at reading and walking at the same time. If not, consider hiring a personal tour guide for your next trip to an unknown or foreign location.

HOW I FINALLY MADE IT TO CANNES AND IT WASN'T A DREAM

A Short Film and A Red Carpet Screening are Maryl's Ticket to the Cannes Film Festival

Susan, Exec. Director-Eurica and Maryl

When I was starting out in the film and video business, one of my first productions was selected for a women’s festival at the Mercer Arts Center in New York. I was excited but still a novice and just wanted to make videos. Years after one of my documentaries was entered as a possible Academy Award nominee. That’s what you dream about when you’re in this industry….an Oscar or a screening at Cannes. Sometimes you get there much later and not the way you thought.

The Rainbow After the Rain

Hillary Clinton Suits Up 

It's been raining forever it seems. It rained last week, it rained Memorial Day weekend, and now it's raining again. But we can't let the weather dampen our spirits. This rainbow of Hillary Clinton's pantsuits has been circling the web all this week (originating from Reddit) leaving smiles in its wake. Do you have a favorite? I'm loving the gray one (second from the right) but maybe it's been gray so long outside, I've just acclimatized.

Five Post-minivan, Style-conscious Cars for the Mid-life woman

Maryl reveals her car picks based on performance, style, color and nostalgia

I’ve owned a yellow Mustang with a white roof (you have to own one at least once), two Alfa Romeo Spiders: baby blue and cream (loved those cars!), white Mercedes Benz C Class (nice but a bit boring), gold Turbo charged Gran Prix (unbelievable power and maneuverability), a silver Saab (most fuel efficient at that time), a burgundy Cutlass diesel (mistake) and my first car was an orange Datsun (economical until I totaled it). I currently drive a 2005 mint green Jaguar S Class, which I really enjoy. Of course I barely drive it since I mostly blog from home but I know I’ll need to turn it in soon for something new. That’s why I took my family off to the NY Auto Show last month. 

There’s an endless list of criteria on which to base a car buying decision. Mine are simple. I have to like the shape and lines of the model and I favor a more classic design with a unique feature or two. The color is important because the right combination can really make a car stand out from the rest. My husband will take whatever car is on the lot; I will wait a month for the right interior and exterior. 

 But the car has got to perform too. I’m not a speedster but I like getting away from pokey people and maybe peeling off at a green light once or twice. Of course the gas mileage should be reasonable, minimum safety requirements met and the sticker price has to be within my price range. Here’s the five cars I liked the best between $20K to $35K:

SLLinky Sunday: Gatsby, Punk & Feminist Dress-Up

Caryl and Maryl troll the internet for the best Second Lives links

A shiba inu and Leo Di Capario put on the glitz

The Luxe Life: Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby opened the Cannes Film Festival this week with all its opulent excess: The parties, the clothes, the jewelry, the mansions!  You may remember  the l974  Gatsby when costume designer and Oscar winner Theoni Aldridge and  faux-WASP Ralph Lauren fought over who really designed the clothes. These days everyone from Prada to Tiffany to Brooks Brothers has tied-in with Gatsby--even  blogs like Menswear Dog (you gotta love this site) but if you’re yearning for a  little jazz era glamour for your own wardrobe, look no further than Moda Operandi.

Women and War and Freedom of the Press

Caryl remembers Marie Colvin and the fallen journalists who died reporting the news

Marie Colvin 1956--2012

She liked parties and pearls, sailing the open seas and drinking to dawn. She loved her friends--and she loved her work. It was said she wore a La Perla bra under her flak jacket. She was a complicated woman for complicated times. And, she was a rare breed: a war correspondent, rarer still because she was a woman. This week, 88 journalists from 25 countries who died last year while covering the news were honored at the Newsmuseum in Washington, D.C. Among them was Marie Colvin, who died at 56, in Syria in 2012. Over her 30-year-long career, she had covered conflicts in several countries, losing her eye in Sri Lanka’s civil war. Accepting the Courage in Journalism Award from the Internal Women’s Media Foundation in 2000, Colvin said: “What’s important is trying to bear witness. The pain of war is beyond telling.”

Porcelain Bones--and Remembrance of Mothers Past

“ELIZABETH COHEN’S STUDIO—1″ © JUDITH ROSS

In a potter's studio, Judith Ross finds a fragile reminder of loss and love

Last winter, I hung up the phone after a brief chat with my stepmother and burst into tears. “Why so sad?” I wondered.

Plagued by Parkinson’s Disease, she was about to turn 89. The sadness I felt after hearing her faint voice leak across the wires made sense. But since then, I’ve also realized that my grief went much, much deeper.

What Kind of Eater Are You? Diet Solutions For Every Type

Photo:  Fashion Gal blog

Ruth explains when you need protein and when you need carbs. 

Ever wonder why birthdays translate into cake?  It turns out that carbohydrates stimulate serotonin, which makes you feel good. Think about it. Selected Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs),  a class of antidepressants, work naturally through the foods we eat.

Traditionally, we use food to elevate the mood. Hence, birthdays get celebrated with cake. When you are depressed, and you are looking for comfort food, do you reach for a cookie? Bowl of pasta maybe? Your body may be telling you that you need some mood enhancing foods. Are you an emotional eater? And if you are, which type are you? 

SLlinky* Weekend: ART - Live it. Wear it. Laugh about it.

Maira Kalman’s Dream Palace:  Can you find the artist's self portrait

Maryl and Carly troll the internet for the best Second Life links* this week

Maira Kalman's Dream Palace:  

American illustrator and author Maira Kalman was interviewed by long time friend, neighbor and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.  He got her talking about her two homes, their decor, her upbringing and, as a lead up to next Sunday, what else but sweet thoughts of her mother. She drew her dream room above for New York Magazine.  See who and what she imagined would share  her perfect living room: 

The World's Most Poetic Wallpaper:  

"Sunlight in an Empty Room" 

Featured on one of our favorite blogs A Bloombury Life is this unique wallpaper that records the path of light as it falls across the wall in Emily Dickinson's Amherst bedroom.  That would be the bedroom where the woman who lived a solitary life composed nearly 1,800 poems. Lisa Boignes Giramonti named her blog after the compound and lifestyle of a group of writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant who chose to live as Bohemians away from Victorian conventions.  They created their own idiosyncratic style, which is on view (and some items for sale) in East Sussex, England.

Ellsworth Kelly Dress Redux:

Ellsworth & Francisco Costa

You wouldn't think of famed artist Ellsworth Kelly and Calvin Klein creative director Francisco Costa teaming up to design a dress.  Actually Kelly, who turns 90 later this month, instructed a friend to make a dress "connecting bands of color" from material leftover from a five panel painting 50 years ago. 

Original Kelly dress

 You can view the newly refreshed design  in a handful of museums where exhibitions of Kelly's works will open throughout the year. Or, for the moment, the dress is on display at the Calvin Klein--Madison Avenue store.  Of course, leave it to a seller on Etsy to interpret the design and custom make it for you.  Actually her version looks a little closer to the original dress Kelly commissioned.


  

Ha! World Laughter Day:

I'm not kidding.  Did you know that this Sunday is World Laughter Day?  The goal is to laugh our way to global brotherhood and peace.  Here's a joke to get you started:  

                      Why couldn't the art dealer pay her rent?

                              Answer:   Because she ran out of Monet.

                                                                       Ba Dum!

The Mother Figure

Manuel Pardo's lifetime devotion to a single subject

Mother’s Day is still a Sunday away but a recent visit to Manuel Pardo’s joyful exhibit at a Chelsea gallery makes one think about the influence mothers have on their children. Manuel Pardo, who died last November at age 60, devoted most of his artistic career to honoring his roots, in particular his mother Gladys. In l962, at age 10, Pardo was airlifted with his sister from Havana to Miami during Operation Peter Pan, a collaboration between the U.S. government and the Catholic Church that heartbreakingly separated children from their parents. Pardo struggled in foster homes until reunited with his mother four years later. Recalling their reunion, he said: "God arrived, in the form of a woman with a very long braid." (His mother, had refused to cut her hair until she rejoined her family.) 

In Pardo's 30-plus year career, in hundreds of paintings and drawings, he consistently depicted his mother as “self-possessed, cat-eyed, stylish” in fancy clothes and lavish interiors--luxuries she could never afford in America.  On Thursday, May 2,  friends and patrons, art-lovers and gallery-goers will come together to celebrate Pardo's life--and his life's work--at an opening reception and unofficial memorial at the Highline Loft. The reoccurrence of the female figure allowed Pardo to revisit and refurbish the life he left behind as a child. Said one reviewer: “Like the soothing repetition of a chant or a prayer, his work tries to will an alternate reality into existence." 

SLLinky: Mothers & Daughters & Birthdays. Oh My!

Caryl and Maryl troll the net for the best Second Life Links this week.

Who says there aren't roles for older women? 

Gisele Casadesus won’t be 99 until June 14 but the French actress who's been working for more than seven decades  stars in the just-released French film Sous Le Figuier (Under the Fig Tree).  Her co-star is Ann Consigney  (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly) but she's a mere 50. The two women discussed life, death--and the movie—in the March/April issue of Femme Majuscule:  '"De regarder devant, vers le soleil! Les regrets ne servent a rien." ("To look ahead towards the sun, regrets do not help anything.") Of course, we only know what they're saying because one of our favorite bloggers translated it for us. Josephine Lalwin has been blogging from London and St. Tropez since 2009. Her aim is to “inspire women of all ages to have fun with fashion and to create a chic lifestyle”.  Check out the amazing photograph of Casadesus and Consigny at Chic At Any Age.

Zodiac Birthday Shoes: 

We really want these even if we can’t afford them. London designer Charlotte Olympia Dellal has come up with stylish flats decorated with each sign of the zodiac. You can buy them for yourself—or put them on your future birthday list. Each pair comes with a book about your astrological sign.

John Waters

Salty Sayings from John Waters: 

Movie director, writer and all-around raconteur John Waters turned 67 on April 22. The man who made Hairspray 25 years ago is always quotable--and frequently bleepable. Flavorwire put together 67 memorable remarks to honor his natal anniversary. Here’s one on the subject of style that’s rated PG: “I always say to kids, with fashion, that they shouldn’t be wearing designer clothing — they should copy it. Go to the thrift shop and buy the worst thing that the coolest kid in school would never wear. It’ll be the thing that’s the most ‘out.’ Buy it and turn it into something that’s funny and witty. Fashion is confidence. If you can get away with wearing it, it’s a new style.” 

Meet the Matriarch, Barbara Bush: 

From left to right:Barbara Bush,  daughter-in-law Laura Bush and granddaughters  Jenna Hager, and Barbara Bush

Caryl interviewed Barbara Bush when her husband ("41") was president  and the White House had just turned 200 in 1986 for a special issue of Life Magazine celebrating the Bicentennial. The former First Lady spoke her mind even then. This week she and family members joined "43" for the opening of his presidential library in Dallas, Texas. Hear what the matriarch had to say about the family dynasty. And, say hello to the fourth generation of Bush women-- Margaret Laura Hager (Mila) born April 13, 2013.

Happy Milestone Birthday: One Hundred Years Young!

The beautiful woman on the left is the birthday girl.  The beautiful woman on the right is her daughter and Second Lives Club member.  Her advice for throwing a centenarian's birthday party:  "You can't go wrong with a sing-along banjo player."

What is Dropbox? Does it really make file sharing easier?

Maryl stops downloading files and starts sharing them on the cloud

That’s not a picture of a moving box. I'm not relocating but I am packing up my photos, Word docs, spreadsheets, PDF’s, slides and videos and taking them on the road. That’s essentially what Dropbox does. It’s a free and simple service that saves all your larger, more conventional files on the cloud. And it saves you time in two important ways: 1) you don’t have to email attachments to anyone, including yourself, ever again and 2) you can work from any location, computer, tablet or smart phone. I can get you up and running in two easy steps!