Archive for May 2009


The Kindness of a Stranger

May 27th, 2009 — 7:57pm

Just a few weeks ago, my good friend Kaitlin’s 19 year old nephew Gabe was riding his motorcycle on some back road in PA, and was hit head on by a truck. The man driving in the car behind him happened to be an EMT. He got out of the car, ran to Gabe, and kept him stable until an ambulance arrived.

Gabe had both legs amputated that day. Shortly after, the man who saved him came back to the hospital and left a letter, that said something like this: You were meant to survive. I never drive that road, yet something told me to take it that day. If I hadn’t been behind you, you probably would have died. Someone is looking out for you. Believe that you will get better, and that you will go on to live a happy life.

This from a total stranger. And guardian angel.

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Anna and Oprah

May 20th, 2009 — 8:24am

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, recently told Oprah to lose weight. I hope Oprah told her to jump in a lake.

Wintour’s magazine tells readers how to look to be accepted, Oprah’s magazines tells readers how to live a happier life. I know which one I would choose.

Oprah is the most powerful woman in show business. She doesn’t have to follow the rules — she makes them.

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New York, In No Particular Order

May 18th, 2009 — 2:47pm

1. I walked miles in the city and never got tired.
2. The GM Building on 59th and 5th, where I worked 25 years ago, is still as hard and cold as I remember.
3. As I walked down 5th Avenue from 86th to 55th, peering into the huge windows of grand old building with their old, wood paneled libraries, I felt like a character from an Edith Wharton novel.
4. I bought two giant bouquets of lilacs for my editor and agent, and walked with my nose stuck in them for many happy blocks before I delived them.
5. A lot more people smoke in New York than in San Francisco.
6. There are a lot more gyro vendors today then when I lived there two decades ago.
7. It’s possible to do wonderful yoga in a stuffy hotel.
8. You can get a great haircut in NY but equally great haircuts in San Francisco.
9. Springtime in NY is often sublime.
10. You can strike up a conversation with someone at the next table and it can turn out he is a director/writer/producer of a terrific movie.
11. Whenever I travel, my home turns into a frat house except instead of booze (two of my three boys, after all, are only nine), they turn to Lucky Charms.

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A Hair Story

May 9th, 2009 — 2:40pm

I am going to NY next week for the Yoga Journal New York Conference. While there, I’ll also be having dinner with my editor and my agent (don’t I feel snappy about that, yes I do!)

A few weeks ago when I was setting up my trip, my editor and I somehow started talking about hair, which is something of an obsession of mine. Hair is like any other artistic medium and I love it when it looks alive, moves, and suits the person well.

Patty, my editor, told me her boyfriend cuts hair and would I like him to cut mine? I did a little sleuthing and turns out her boyfriend, Yves Durif, is one of the top hair cutters in New York.

So already, as if my book wasn’t a big enough adventure, now I am going to NY and getting my hair cut by a famous NY hairdresser. I am very excited! His muse is Juliette Binoche, so we shall see if by this time next week, I look just a wee bit plus Francaise.

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