Image: cwtv.com
A good reason to catch up on must-see TV while on the treadmill instead of the couch: every hour in front of the TV (or I suppose sitting in front of a computer, too, not that the study addressed this…) increases your risk of dying from heart disease by 7 percent according to research from the Medical Research Council in the UK. So if you’re typically watching two hours a night, say Vampire Diaries and Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights, your risk is up by 14 percent.
(OK, so maybe I kinda just wanted another reason to post a pic of the Salvatores…)
June 24, 2010
I love me some good television. Some of my all-time favourite shows? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicity, Six Feet Under, Damages, Dexter, Oz and Beverly Hills, 90210 (yes, one can love both Oz and the adventures of Brandon, Brenda and Kelly equally). Anyhow, reading this post 17 Things I Learned about Life from Watching Movies and TV from Paxton Holley’s blog Cavalcade of Awesome over breakfast today was a fun way to start off the weekend.
Speaking of Buffy, about two years ago I was having dinner with a girlfriend in NYC at Gemma in the Bowery Hotel (fried zucchini blossoms — yum!) and Sarah Michelle Gellar was having drinks at a table nearby. “I HAVE to go talk to her,” I blurted out to the friend I was dining with. I mean, it’s not every day I am in the presence of the star of, like, only the best TV show ever. But the look of fear on my friend’s face of potentially being with the uncool, starcrazed fan, and the girlfriends flanking Gellar at their banquette (making it difficult to discreetly profess my love for Buffy) kept me from getting up to talk to SMG.
– sigh -
March 6, 2010
I’m dreaming of getting away from this dreary grey weather and the daily grind. And so I was particularly intrigued by a new study published in Applied Research in Quality of Life that found that it’s in the time leading up to a vacation that those going away are happier than non-vacationers. Once you’re back home from vacation, your happiness isn’t boosted — although there is a slight rise in your happiness levels for the first two weeks your back home if your vacation was particularly relaxing.
And so I’m throwing myself into planning a vacation in the next month or so. The pic above is now the wallpaper on my computer, and here are just some of the travel essentials I will be packing.
1. Sennheiser‘s brand new PXC-250 II improves on its patented NoiseGard technology to cancel out ambient noise, helping you drown out that crying baby seated behind you on your four-hour flight. (Plus, I think these headphones would be mighty handy escaping the surroundings on public transit every day, too — dude next to me on the streetcar yesterday was drinking a 40-oz beer. For real).
2. And what will I be listening to on my PXC-250 II’s? The new This American Life iPhone app is just $3 and you get access to all of their archived episodes (dating back to 1995!), not to mention view sample clips of the TAL TV show. A girlfriend and I were chatting about how we are both majorly crushing on host Ira Glass, he’s just so everything — funny, intelligent, witty…sigh.
3. I often don’t pack beauty tools like tweezers when I go away…and then inevitably find myself with a broken nail or that one errant brow hair that glares out at me whenever I look in the mirror. My Tagalongs Handywoman’s Kit ($12) solves both of these problems. It comes complete with scissors, knife, tweezers, nail file, toothpick and pen, all packed into a kit barely bigger than a credit card.
4. Somehow tweezers seem too fussy to bring with me on a trip, and yet I do make space in my luggage for a candle — just makes the hotel room a little homier. My new favourite? The Citrus Verveine travel candle ($20) from San Fran-based company Elizabeth W. Could be because I’m a little Vampire Diaries-obsessed lately…although the verveine would keep Damon Salvatore out of my room — maybe I should consider a different scented candle. 
February 22, 2010
