mb palaver

ShoppingPalaver: May the Fitbit Force Be With You

If anyone on your Christmas list is a fitness fanatic or wishes he or she were, the Fitbit Force is a great gift.  It tracks steps taken, miles covered, calories burned, stairs climbed, and active minutes. All these data, along with the current time, can be displayed on the wristband device itself with the touch of a button, as well as on a smart phone app (synced via Bluetooth) or Fitbit's website.  You can input other info -- such as calories eaten and activities that are harder to track via wrist movement -- via the app or website.  I've been wearing one for just over a month and anyone who's been around me (some much to their annoyance) can attest to the fact I am obsessed.  I will park farther away from my destination, or climb 8 flights of stairs rather than take the elevator, just to increase my stats.  I particularly like the way it's made me more aware of the correlation between my level of activity and my diet.  I lost about 5 pounds in the first 3 weeks of wearing it, which is particularly impressive since Thanksgiving fell within that period.  The app interface is clean and easy to use, and I am a sucker for the smiley face feedback when I hit a goal.  Another optional source of inspiration is the ability to compete with friends (you can control what information any friends you link to can see).

The Force costs $130, which is $30 more than the Flex, Fitbit's previous wristband tracker, and the One, their non-wristband tracker that clips to your clothes.  The Force is a bit bulkier than the Flex, but it is still pretty unobtrusive, and the added bulk allows you to view more information on the display.  Some reviews complain about the difficulty of closing the strap, and they should -- it is very hard to close, and easy to pop off.  Fortunately, if you are obsessed enough about it you will quickly notice if it falls off.  It may be too late to order it online in time for Christmas, but you can buy it at lots of places, including Best Buy, sporting goods stores, and phone stores.  It comes in large or small, and the two colors shown above (black and slate).  (Unlike the Flex, you cannot swap out different color wristbands.)  It does not include a heart rate monitor, which evidently some other brands include.  Supposedly they will be adding a caller id feature (showing calls coming in to a synced iPhone), though I'm not sure why I would want that.  I do love the silent alarm, which wakes me with a gentle buzz rather than the screech of an alarm clock, and the sleep-tracker is eye-opening.  You can find a detailed review of the Force at cnet.  One word of advice:  know your potential giftee's interest in using a pedometer.  No one wants to be told they should step up their exercise.

ShoppingPalaver: Cheers!

If you want to class up your small New Year's celebration "Mad Men" style, check out The Hour in Old Town, Alexandria.  Most -- approximately 70% -- of the store's stock is vintage glassware.  For those of us of a certain age, a walk through the store is like a walk through one's childhood.  I could swear we had that chip 'n' dip behind the red and white clutch, above left.  (It's a glass bowl with an inset bowl for dip and an attached toothpick holder.)  It's the perfect thing to serve when Pete and Trudy drop by.

I say "small" New Year's celebration because the vintage items don't come cheap.  The Hour closes tomorrow at 3, so if your celebration is tomorrow night this is awfully late notice.  But it's good to know about anyway.  Unlike a typical second-hand store, everything here is pristine and shiny and beckons to be taken home.  Check out the collection in more detail here.  And happy New Year!

The Hour
1015 King Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
703-224-4687

ShoppingPalaver: Free Overnight Shipping on Shoes and More

If you have to send something last minute to arrive by Christmas and don't want to pay last minute shipping rates, you might want to check out endless.com and zappos.com. Both offer free shipping (both ways, in the event of a return).  The official policy at endless, an amazon.com company, is free overnight shipping.  Zappos doesn't promise that it's overnight, but whenever I've ordered from them they have sent it overnight.  The catch is that both sites sell mostly shoes, not a big Christmas wish list item.  But endless also sells slippers, purses, travel bags, luggage tags, and other small accessories, and Zappos now also sells clothing and accessories.

One advantage of endless is that if you are an amazon customer you can use your amazon password and stored information, making the purchase as quick as the delivery.  I've often found Zappos' prices for shoes to be about $5 more than they charge at, say, Nordstrom, so it's a bit of a wash if you're not in a hurry, but if you need it overnight that $5 is a bargain.

Zappos guarantees delivery by Christmas if you order by 1:00 pm on Tuesday December 23.  Endless gives you to 5:15 pm on the 23rd.  These are policies even the white rabbit can appreciate.

BookPalaver: Holiday Books (with Optional Pizza)

If you've got books on your holiday shopping list, or need to buy Christmas cards, you can get 20% off most everything in the store at the Politics and Prose holiday member sale this weekend, December 5-7. An annual membership costs $20 (it's $50 for three years), and in addition to three member sales a year includes 20% off all books mentioned in the events calendar for that month and 20% off books on the P&P hardcover fiction and nonfiction bestseller lists.  You can pick up some gift ideas from their holiday newsletter, and most titles in it are 20% off for members through the end of the year.  For more book ideas, check out The New York Times for their 2008 lists of 100 Notable Books, 10 Best Books, and Notable Children's Books of 2008.

If you make it up to Politics and Prose, you can grab a pizza, a beer, and a paddle at Comet Ping Pong just up the block.  Here's an excerpt from Tom's review:

My vote for the most entertaining pizza parlor in the city goes to this spinoff of (and neighbor to) Buck's Fishing & Camping in upper Northwest Washington, which fuses its name from an old liquor store sign and a table tennis theme. Inside is a maze of green tables painted to look like Ping-Pong surfaces; Comet's white globes could pass for giant Ping-Pong balls. And way in the back, past the igloo-shaped pizza oven, await a jukebox and actual Ping-Pong tables for playing between sips of beer and bites of pizza. . . . . But the pies are what drive me here, particularly those topped with crunchy greens, fresh ricotta and black olives; mushrooms, gouda, bacon and soft onions (a.k.a. "The Smoky"); or, this being the mid-Atlantic, soft-shell crabs, leeks and fresh thyme. Whatever your pick, the base is thin, crisp, a little chewy and, like all good crusts, good enough to eat on its own.

Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919
(800) 722-0790

Comet Ping Pong
5037 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
(202) 364-0404

ShoppingPalaver: Food & Friends at Crate & Barrel Thursday, Nov. 6

Food & Friends is holding it's annual private food and shopping party at the Spring Valley Crate & Barrel early this year, just in time for the post-election what-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-all-my-time-now blahs.

Crate and Barrel's DC store will close its doors to the public on Thursday, November 6th, and host an exclusive evening of shopping, hors d'oeuvres and raffle prizes just for Food & Friends' best supporters. Culinary bites will be provided by local restaurants and, when you shop, Crate and Barrel will donate a percentage of their proceeds to support our services to those in the community facing some of life's most difficult challenges.

Sponsorships are available beginning at $175 and include tickets to the event, as well as additional promotional opportunities, and Individual tickets are $35.

We look forward to seeing you there!

An Evening of Food & Friends at Crate and Barrel

Thursday, November 6, 2008
7:00 - 9:30pm
4820 Massachusetts Ave, NW

You can purchase your tickets online here.  For those who can't make it on the 6th or don't live nearby:

Never fear, you can shop online with Crate and Barrel and still make a difference in the lives of our clients facing life-challenging illnesses.

From November 7th through midnight on November 13th, when you shop online with Crate and Barrel, 10% of your purchases will be donated to Food & Friends.

It's easy! For your purchases to count, all you need to do is originate from the link we'll provide for you.

Food & Friends provides nutrition counseling and prepares, packages, and delivers meals and groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-challenging illnesses throughout the Washington, DC area.  It's a great cause, and this is a fun event.  If it's too early to start your Christmas shopping, it's a good time to outfit your Thanksgiving table.

 

Crate and Barrel
4820 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20016
(202) 364-6100

Photo from 2006 event photo gallery

RandomPalaver: Jeepers

One sure sign of advancing middle age is having to wear reading glasses just to read a mystery on the beach.  What's worse is peering over the tops of your glasses to see what's going on around you.  You're one step away from yelling at sonny to go get you a packet of Benson and Hedges Light 100s.  Fortunately, peeperspecs.com has a solution:  bifocal solar reading glasses.  Admittedly, "bifocal" doesn't exactly scream "youth," and frankly, the ones I got aren't particularly stylish, but the bifocal part isn't that noticeable, and it's worth it to be able to read (above) and check out the lifeguard (below), without squinting.

Peepers also carries regular reading glasses and non-bifocal sunglasses, in scores of different styles (most in the $13 to $17 range).  Their service was very quick -- I ordered a pair on a Thursday morning and they arrived at our beach house before I did two days later.  (These photos were taken on an unusually chilly July day on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.)

BookPalaver: Politics and Prose Member Sale This Weekend

Does Mom have a book on her Mother's Day wish list?  Politics and Prose is holding one of its member sales this weekend, May 2 to 4.  Members will get 20% off all books, cards, and gifts, 15% off CDs, and 10% off DVDs.  Spend $50 or more and receive a complimentary recycled plastic tote bag.  It doesn't get more PC than that.

A one-year membership costs $20.

Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919

ShoppingPalaver: 2008 Smithsonian Craft Show

If the crowds at the Newseum are too overwhelming this weekend, you can head north a few blocks to the beautiful National Building Museum and browse crafts by 120 select exhibitors at the Smithsonian Craft Show.  General admission is $15, and the hours are 10 to 6 on Friday and Saturday, 11 to 5 on Sunday.   The National Building Museum is at 401 F Street, NW, just at the top of at the north (F Street) exit at Judiciary Square.

The pictured ceramic bowls are by Emily Rossheim and Thomas Marrinson, of Starksboro, Vermont.

RestaurantPalaver: Easter Goodies at ACKC

If you're looking for special treats for someone's Easter basket, Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections, the chocolate shop/cafe/art gallery on 14th Street, has a tableful of dark and milk chocolate bunnies, ducks, eggs and other delights, wrapped up with Eastery ribbons.  An advantage of a chocolate shop that is also a cafe is that it opens early and closes late, making it easy to swing by on the way to or from work to pick up some goodies.  (ACKC isn't having a seasonal identity crisis; I took the above photo right after posting about the new shop in December.)

Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections
1529c 14th Street, NW (at Church Street)
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 387-COCO

ShoppingPalaver: Baltimore Craft Show This Weekend

I'm a bit tardy with this post, but given my semi-ambulatory state I automatically chucked the postcards for the annual Baltimore craft show and forgot all about it.  But it's not too late for you to head to Baltimore to see the wares of more than 700 American craft artists.  This show is big.  Ridiculously big.  Either go early and plan to spend all day (or two), or review the catalog and come up with a plan, such as checking out the New Wave Craft artists:

The Council invited 300 artists of the national New Wave Craft community to apply to a special section of the show: out of 100 applications, 15 have been juried in. Their handmade items are varied and include: lampshades made out of cocktail umbrellas; colorful adult and children’s clothing made out of vintage and reclaimed fabrics such as sheets, drapes, table linens, and lace; and jewelry incorporating Barbie parts; among others.

And while you're there, please pick me up a nice bowl. I once imposed a craft show bowl moratorium on myself, but I recently had a mishap involving the long fronds of a palm tree I wanted to carry to the kitchen to water and a tall vase holding some holly branches arranged in a devil-may-care fashion and placed next to some stacked ceramic and glass bowls, proving once again that I am more Ann Marie than Martha Stewart.  I live in fear that there are still glass shards around my home waiting to get my one walking foot.  I would also accept a lampshade made out of cocktail umbrellas.

WHERE
Baltimore Convention Center
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

WHEN
Friday, February 22 (10 am - 9 pm)
Saturday, February 23 (10 am - 6 pm)
Sunday, February 24 (10 am - 5 pm)

HOW MUCH
$14 per person
$20 for a two-day pass
$25 introductory new membership at the Show only
Children 12 and under free
American Craft Council members admitted free.
JOIN NOW

Show Information: (800) 836-3470