I worked at Peck & Peck in the DC area through high school and college vacations, so I did most of my shopping there.  Since I knew the stock so well, I also shopped for my mother and all our neighbor ladies…guess I was a personal shopper!  I liked The Tweed Shop (at Friendship Circle), Best & Co., B. Altmans and Lord and Taylor.  I’ve never loved shopping, but working in a store made it easy.  After I graduated from college, I became a huge catalog shopper…so morphing to Internet shopping came naturally to me.

It always comes down to money.  If the economy is good or growing, he’ll get a second term.  If we’re still in trouble…he’s outta’ here!

Fabulous interview Cynthia.  Thanks so much for posting it here.  I’m a huge Martha fan, despite her personality gliches;-)  I envy her sense of style; her drive; her fearlessness; her energy and organizational skills.  She seems to be missing a bit in the "class" department.  Dissing Rachael Ray was not a good thing.

I bet on Silver Star for the trifecta.

I loved old books, probably because of the illustrations.  The one I remember vividly is my grandparents copy of Tanglewood Tales by Nathanial Hawthorne.  Sadly, I lost it in a house fire some years ago.

Since the rich are still spending, I would invest in what they buy and use.

It really bothers me when a politician or person in high office shows a complete lack of moral center or judgement.  I never trust them again.  It has nothing to do with forgiving or condemning.  It has everything to do with demonstrating arrogance and bad judgement.  I don’t care if an entertainer has bad judgement.

Liz,

I totally agree with you about Martha.  She was convicted and sent to prison for lying about a crime she was never charged with!

NY,

Your description of your former politico bf reminds me of a line from My Fair Lady:  "Oozing charm from every poor, he oiled his way across the floor."

Thanks Steve,

You obviously are more up to date on this than I.  I heard tonight that the plane did not have WiFi, so the pilots could not have been on their laptops…unless they were playing solitaire!  I’m glad to know the military was on top of this.

The reference desk at your public library has a publication that evaluates charities and reveals how their money is spent.  There are also on-line ways to check up on "worthy" causes.  http://www.charityguide.org/volunteer/charityratings.htm or http://www.charitynavigator.org/

I agree with Liz’s method of donating to local causes, so you really can see the results of their work.

You know you can "hide" the posts of your "friends" who post the detritus of their daily lives that you find annoying.  Look to the right of those posts and you’ll see a little button to push.  You can still see what they’re up to, but you have to go to their pages…they don’t show up on yours.

If memory serves, one of our founding fathers said something about democracy not working once Congress realizes they can get their mits on all the money simply by voting.  These guys are supposed to work for us, but in truth, we work to pay them all they’ve voted to themselves…and all they help themselves to.

This story just doesn’t make sense to me.  Either the entire crew is totally irresponsible or they were being held hostage.  I fly quite often and always know approximately when we should start our initial descent.  Certainly the flight attendants know exactly when that should happen.  Were they sleeping too?

How scary for the air traffic controllers.  In this environment they could have easily assumed the plane had been hijacked.  I wonder why they didn’t call in the military?

My grandparents, many of their kids and spouses, as well as several servants who came over from the old country are buried in the same plot in Brooklyn, one on top of another.  Back in the day they didn’t use vaults and you literally did the ashes to ashes, dust to dust thing.  Makes sense.