Holiday Gift Guide: The World of Ornament

A splurge gift for the designer, art lover, or book lover in your life. Featuring the most beautiful patterns in history, this book is a feast for the eyes. Maybe the best coffee table book gift out there.

$200 at Taschen

Holiday Gift Guide: Organic Wood bowls

These dramatic and rustic wooden bowls are technically serving bowls, but they can function as centerpieces or pure sculpture.

$39-69 at Pottery Barn

Holiday Gift Guide: Sound blocks

These ingenius wooden picture blocks only make their sounds when they're matched correctly. A great gift for that little someone in your life.

$18 on warmbiscuit.com

Holiday Gift Guide: Gold necklaces

Erica Weiner Handcuff Necklace

This necklace doesn't inspire the same fuzzy feelings as interlocking hearts, but it does have a little something extra. A gift for a loved one, a partner in crime, or an edgy fashionista. Also the perfect gift if your loved one is in law enforcement.

$65 at Erica Weiner Jewelry


Shell necklace

This gold-plated shell necklace is studded with onyx gems and pearls.

$260 at Max and Chloe

Fall River necklace

Stunning, interesting, elegant, and unbelievably affordable.

$37 at Madame Bijoux

Holiday Gift Guide: USB gifts

Great for the cubicle dweller, the young myspacer/facebooker, or the constant websurfer- these gifts take advantage of of the power source at your fingertips.

USB cup warmer and chiller
If you need a gift for someone who spends way too much time in their cubicle or office and are not blessed to have their own coffee-fetcher or are just too far from the communal kitchen, then this USB powered device will solve all beverage problems. Great gift that I would have loved in my corporate days. Keeps cold things cold and hot things hot. Chills and warms.

$24.99 at Thinkgeek

USB Basketball hoop



A present for basketball lovers when they need a break from the small screen. Plug into the USB port and play. A gift for the basketball fan or athlete.

$24.99 at perpetualkid

USB George Foreman igrill


For the snacking websurfer, this George Foreman igrill can cook up hamburgers or steaks without a trip to the kitchen. A gag gift for the overworked, perpetually hungry, or just plain lazy computer user.

$99 at thinkgeek

USB Heated slippers

These heated slippers provide cold feet comfort for drafty offices, cold bedrooms, and the winter blues. The perfect gift for the perpetually cold. Gloves are also available.

$25 at usbgeek

USB Desktop Aquarium

Adds a little (in)human touch to the workspace or the desk of an always connected student or teen, the USB Desktop Aquarium is the perfect gift for a coworker, friend, child, or parent.

$9.95 at x-treme geek

Holiday Gift Guide: Flipbooks

These ingenious flipbooks are great gifts for grandparents who haven't yet mastered youtube or even the world wide net. But it's not just for kid's videos, it's also perfect for wedding video footage, surprise parties, and any other moment you want to convert to print. All you have to do is upload a video, choose a book size, and you're done- the people at flipclips do all the rest.

$8.99 at flipclips.com

Holiday Gift Guide 2007

The best gifts for the season. Gifts for her, gifts for him, gifts for kids, gifts for friends, gifts for everyone one on your list. Stocking stuffers, gifts that break the bank, and unique presents for all. Suggestions for gadget gifts, home décor gifts, clothing gifts, jewelry gifts, food gifts, wine gifts, gag gifts, novelty gifts, paper presents, beauty product gifts, charity gifts, green gifts, and gifts and toys for kids. Avoid the madness of the malls- all these gifts can be purchased online.

Nightstalker watch

Soft leather band watch with the LED display built into the band.

$157.95 at Zappos even though they suggest it for "those who creep at night". Ignore that part, because it's slightly alarming as far as product descriptions go.

A portrait you can hold in your hand

... or set on a pedestal. Turn Your Head makes wooden statues that fill the space between two opposing views of a profile. Next to a wall, the shadow cast is a clear silhouette of the face.

$149.95 at Turn Your Head

Porn for Women

I googled this title to find a better image for this book, and whoa, it's a world WIDE web out there. Anyway, one of the images in this book has this caption: "Look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we'll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair."

$10.36 on amazon

Rear view computer mirror

It's always good to know who's peeking over your shoulder, whether you're at work or at the coffeeshop. then alt tab away......

$13.95 at the Spoon Sisters

Little Joseph Candle

Don't wait for Halloween to freak out your guests.

$79 at Gnr8 (generate)

Sodafine shoes

Seriously SO FINE, these sodafine shoes.

On sale for $202

Bowl of stones

Natural stone is always popular for its beauty in the home, but polished marble and granite don't exactly channel the great outdoors. This river stones bowl actually looks like rocks in nature- the pebbles in resin replicate their "native underwater appearance".

Only $155 for a bunch of rocks

Alexander McQueen tulle dress

The dress I would wear to my wedding, if I was getting married in 2007. My time has already come and gone, but this McQueen tulle confection is frothy, delicate, and glamorous.

Now only $3,312 on net-a-porter.

Floating Round Settee

Inflatable paradise.

Now $79.50 on Frontgate

Louis Vuitton bubble ring

I try to avoid most logo gear so most LV accessories are out, but this cute bubble ring only has a discreet "Louis Vuitton" inscribed into the base. The two balls sit on the hand like floating bubbles, one topped with a flower and the other with a crystal.

$125 at eluxury

Loft couch

I don't think it's available for sale yet, but the design is sadly perfect for our couch potato culture. I'm always the one hanging off the couch angling for more cushion space, so I appreciate the non-cuddle room to spread out.

as seen at the coroflot show

Staple-free stapler

Huh? That's what I said. But I'd like to believe that we've found a way to put it all together without refills. Paper joinery, if you will. It's en route to my house of empty staplers, so I'll let you know how it turns out.

$6.95 at cb2

Flash drive bracelet

Minimalist, clean accessory and flash drive rolled up in rubber bracelet. Smart jewelry.


$24.99 at shopimation

Couch to 5k in 8 weeks

Get off yer arse and enjoy this gorgeous Spring weather. If you live in a place that has this type of weather year-round, then you're probably one of those pilates, yoga, jogging, smoothie-drinking, and health conscious people that carries 2 gallons of water with you at all times. This guide is not for you.

For the rest of you, THIS GUIDE is an EASY way to run a 5k (3.1 miles) in 2 short months. The hardest part is lifting up those cheeks.

Flip flops with pockets!

Yes, this title deserved an exclamation point. I'm one of the last people to give up open-toe shoes in the fall, and one of the first to pedicure for them in the spring. And I love flip flops. And by now you all know that I love hidden drawers, pockets, passageways.

These Reef flip flops with stash pocket are perfect for the beach and other carefree summer days. I don't like to lug around my bulging shoulderbag in the summer, because it adds heat and takes away from that fresh free summer feeling. So that means sometimes I'm left carrying my wallet around (annoying, unsafe) or tucking it into a friend's bag (annoying for them, guilt-inducing). So when I saw these flip flops on Popgadget for the first time, I fell a bit in love.

$46 at EMS

Stormglass Weather Forecaster

My husband is always complaining about the poor track record of our weather forecasters. His running commentary seems to suggest that these meteorologists are merely guessing. So this weather predictor, used since the 18th century, will be his next gift. Supposedly in tune with the electromagnetic changes in the atmosphere, there are 5 crystal formations which predict whether changes.

$155 at the Monticello store

Layover in Philadelphia? What to do....

I have very little tolerance for long layovers. It seems that I hardly ever have to stop over in an interesting place and if I do, I don't have long enough to make the long trek from the airport to the good stuff.

Philadelphia is the perfect city to enjoy a long layover. It's vibrant, interesting, fun, and accessible. The airport is extremely close to the downtown area and the grid is easy to navigate. There's something for everyone in Philly.

stash card- the secret drawer for your laptop

I love hidden things- secret drawers, camouflaged safes, and anything slightly mysterious. My dream house would not be complete without a secret passageway.

Now you can make use of that unused PC card slot on your laptop with this secret stash drawer- it seems like it'd be a good place to store money when you're traveling. Unless your whole laptop gets stolen, but let's hope that doesn't happen.

On sale for $7.95 at wireless garden

Still life bowl

You no longer have to be an artist to create a still life for your room. A bit tongue-in-cheek, the still life bowl designed by Barnaby Barford and Andre Klauser frames your fruit and other produce into an immediate work of art.

$79 at generate

J. Peterman Victorian lace camisole and pantaloons

Perhaps more than any other catalog, I love when my J. Peterman arrives in the mail. Filled with hard-to-find and specialty items of clothing and accessories, the catalog is full of elaborate and sometimes random stories to describe each piece. This camisole and the pantaloons paired with it live on a page that describes a fictional "Miss Lillian" who: "became an outspoken suffragette, eventually... collected four husbands along the way, plus squads of admirers like Diamond Jim Brady, who gave her that extravagant bicycle and kept his fingers crossed." Everything in it has a romantic past, full of Gatsby and Hepburn references and swanky cocktail parties. Like the olden days, all the items are illustrated in watercolor and pen. Nothing is photographed, even on their website.

$68 for the camisole

Saggy balls

Catchy blog titles aside, these ceramic bowls look like deflated basketball and soccer balls in need of a good pump. Ahem. Fruitballs are a great buy for the sports lover in need of a new chip bowl or for cubicle dwellers in need of a catchall for their desk.

$59.95 at firebox

5 best weekend brunch spots in Greenwich Village and eating tours in NYC

I've been writing NYC guidebook copy for a long time, so I've never had the chance to take an official tour of Manhattan. I'm used to seeing the double-decker tour buses around town, and have always wanted to take a ride. But I'm constantly pounding the pavement for the real deal, so it has always seemed a little too time-consuming and ridiculous to pay for the bus ride.

But I have purchased this Big Onion multi-ethnic eating and walking tour before as a gift, because an eating tour sounds like the best way to do it. The tour is done on the Lower east side, which is where I often find myself these days, as it's now 'the neighborhood'. But alongside the newest restaurants and shops, this neighborhood is still home to some of the best food from Italy, China, Eastern Europe, and the Dominican Republic.

If you want to hit the pavement yourself and you find yourself in need of sustenance (solid and liquid), then here are my picks for the 5 best weekend brunch spots in Greenwich Village.

accessories of war

The tank U bud vase comes in white, silver, gold, and a particularly precious floral. A little statement for peace to dress up your home.

$90 at A + R store


This necklace brings together a floral garland and brass gun for a little jewelry juxtaposition. A small dagger hangs off the delicate chain for good measure.

$36 at Chocosho