Sarah Kate Newsletter
Spring 2007 Issue

It’s the spring edition of Sarah Kate, style bites for practical fashionistas who know a thing or two about turquoise bumping off pink for brown.
 

If the Jeans Fit …
This just in: www.zafu.com. The peeps behind this site have “measured, tried on and reviewed hundreds of jeans on thousands of women.” Take the step-by-step test to figure out which brands will fit you best. My favorite part of the test is the question, “What does a great jean do for you?” I checked all but one answer, which leads me to believe that any jeans that can fulfill my surplus of bodily needs will have to be constructed by Edna Mode, seamstress to the supers.

Oh-MEE-roo
I recently stumbled across an interesting style/fashion Web site, www.omiru.com. What caught my attention was the phrase, “personal architecture” in one of the core belief statements posted on the site: “First and foremost, we believe in style for all. That is, style should be accessible to all people, regardless of budget, age, or personal architecture.” To me, personal architecture is nice, new way to describe my personal saddlebags. So for that, I’m grateful for this site. Amen.

My Core Issue
I recently joined XSport Fitness, a small health club in a local strip mall for $19.95 per month. It’s my kind of club: I can quit anytime and I don’t know a soul. On top of that, it’s located next to a Target with a Starbucks, so I’ve got built-in incentive. OK, so now that I’ve been going to the “club” for three months, I’m finding that the word “core” is a hot button in exercise today. My PT (sounds fancy, doesn’t it?) has me doing “core” exercises, which, from what I understand, work my abs and back to better support my spine and keep my body balanced. You, dear reader, probably already know this core stuff, but since I’m new to the circuit, I’m just noticing my spine. Cutting to the chase, all of this core exercise is forcing me to take a hard look at my lackluster exercise gear. As luck would have it, www.Lucy.com has arrived. It’s workout wear that actually works at home, at the gym, in the garden, on a plane and (might be a stretch) at a casual work meeting. For Gen Xers such as myself who work from home, aren’t big on public tankinis, but are trying to workout in a public gym, this apparel is perfect!

Daily Dose of Calm
Now that I’m turning 40 (really just 18 with 22 years experience), I’m growing out of www.dailycandy.com and into www.dailyom.com. It’s an incredibly thoughtful site with free daily e-mails that gently remind me about mind, body and spirit. These DailyOM e-mails magically appear in my in-box right about the time I feel like crawling out of my skin.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink
A few weeks ago, my husband and I met with a kitchen designer from what we found out was a high-end kitchen and bath shop. Our kitchen is teeny-tiny, and the ballpark quote for rehabbing it was $80,000, not including wall removal, appliances, paint or even a sink. Hmmmm. Let me get this straight: We won’t be sending our kids to college, but we will have a decked-out center island? Obviously we’ve got some price shopping to do, but I found this meeting with the kitchen designer intriguing at first, then a bit disturbing. Is $80,000 for kitchen cabinetry a reasonable investment? I realize it’s relative, subjective, depends on your market—whatever—and if I had $80,000 burning a hole in my pocket, I might burn rubber to the nearest kitchen-and-bath showroom, but this figure seems slightly absurd for a 10-foot by 12-foot space. Of course, this meeting led me (not my level-headed, ridiculously practical husband) to thinking about sticking a for-sale sign in our front lawn to get the house I really want with a smarter layout and dreamy kitchen. After a 30-minute reality search on www.Realtor.com and www.ksgmac.com, it occurred to me that my dream house is just that. A nice little dream, unless I’m willing to move to a remote area minus people and cable. So, the short of my kitchen chaos is that I did end up finding two reputable builders in Chicago’s western suburbs with beautiful custom cabinetry at a fraction of the cost … and my better half is breathing a sigh of relief that I’m not Realtor® shopping.

Eating in the Light of the Moon
Of the thousands of self-help books on the market, I think I’ve read or skimmed most during my own recovery process from an eating disorder, which started in my teen-beat years. I recently came across a book, Eating in the Light of the Moon, by Anita Johnston, which explains this disorder best and is a great read for anyone suffering and/or recovering from an eating disorder or parenting someone with an eating disorder. It’s dramatically different from any other written material out there on the subject. The author’s insights are not only right on the money, but they’re so memorable because she ties them to colorful stories and metaphors. It’s one of the few books I’ve ever reread and actually highlighted. For me, that’s huge!