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The PureFlow Q17 fan is an investment, but at $99 it is about 1/3 less than other bladeless fans. Although compact, it puts out a powerful airflow. In lieu of only 3 fan speeds, there are 12 speeds. You can easily sit it on the floor, or on top of a piece of furniture. And sans blades, no need to worry about curious children or pets getting hurt. The fan is designed to circulate air throughout an entire room. It vertically tilts 90 degrees and has a 90 degree horizontal oscillation. This keeps the air flowing in every direction. Moreover, a heavy smoker lives above me, who oddly enough, smokes at 3:00ish am and 5:30ish am every morning. What a nightmare at such vulnerable hours. The cigarette smoke migrates into my apartment and makes it hard to breathe, so I sleep with the fan sitting on a foot stool, pointed up at the ceiling. It does only some good (and I worry she will burn the place down during hours the rest of us are sleeping.) How I wish this mindless,   nocturnal being ...

As autumn returns, Uniqlo has us covered in "LifeWear" basics. You can't beat the retailer's innovation, style and value. Here are a few articles that caught my eye for our upcoming fall and winter seasons: 1) Merino-blend V-Neck Long-Sleeve Dress (top ↑ ) - The dress has premium Merino wool with a touch of nylon stretch. Elegant, but easy every day wear. Available in several attractive neutral colors. 2) Women 3D Fine Merino Ribbed Long-Sleeve Dress - Designed seamless, as well as, to keep you cozy and ultra warm on frosty days. Comes in 4 colors. I love it in red . Click the dress link to see them. 3) Women Melange Wool Hooded Knitted Coat - Although the 100% wool knit is listed as a coat, it only provides the warmth of a sweater, which is all we need in early fall; and it has the look of a polished jacket. The pockets and a hood come in handy. Available in navy and brown too, but WOW, the wine is stylish! 4) Shoes and boots !👠👢 Now Uniqlo has a small collect...

The Bvlgari emerald suite, including this necklace given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton Circa 1962-1967. The legendary Egyptian Queen Cleopatra reportedly had a deep passion for emeralds , which she presented to foreign dignitaries engraved with her image as a symbol of power. Wouldn't you love to go back in time to get one? Gimme! Since I wrote about the other precious stones, I must cover this one too. Columbia is where the most famous emeralds are mined. It supplies about 70% of the world's emeralds. Other places of origin include: Zambia (the 2nd largest supplier), Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Madagascar, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, the USA and pretty much the rest of the world. All photos of the B vlgari  emerald suite -Time magazine  The most coveted emeralds  are an intense, sometimes bluest green color. A pure green desirable hue is the perfect balance between blue and yellow. Emeralds that are more yellow than blue hold less value. Like diamonds, rubies an...

As mentioned, I'm reading the biographies of Queen Victoria's children. I highly recommend, " Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's Unconventional Daughter" by Jehanne Wake over other books about her. It is by far the best researched, delving into private letters and other primary sources to recall her life. Prince Leopold and Princess Louise on the left. The Duchess of Kent?, Prince Arthur and Princess Alice. Queen Victoria under her umbrella, Prince Albert holding Princess Beatrice's hand and Princess Helena on the right of her father. The better known bio by Lucinda Hawksley is entertaining, yet hugely based on gossip, falling short because it presents unsubstantiated hunches and rumors as truth. In biographies, all conclusions must be backed up with credible sources and solid evidence.  Princesses Helena and Louise Unfortunately after 100 years, the rumors stick to a historical figure as if they were true facts, which is certainly the case here. In my revie...

As we are learning, plastic is an environmental disaster . Often it is not biodegradable and is filling up our landfills and oceans, plus killing our marine life. Moreover, chemicals in plastics can harm people. But now we have plastic alternatives for food storage and organizing our stuff. Meet a plastic baggie alternative with an unsexy name: Platinum Silicone Bags . But, it's not they're called, it's what they do that's so exciting! Replacing plastic, they are very versatile: You can bake; boil; microwave; refrigerate and  freeze food in them after cooking. Or you can reverse the order: Pull frozen food stored in them out of the freezer to pop into your microwave or boiling water. How convenient! Better yet, you don't need to worry about the harmful chemicals in plastic because Platinum Silicone Bags are made of all natural materials -- mostly sand and oxygen. The manufactures claim they are "more like flexible glass than plastic," yet if dropped they...

Photo: Martha Stewart Weddings If I'm not expecting company to help me polish off a whole cake, I do something wacky, I make half of a cake. How you might ask? I cut the ingredients of a cake recipe in half, use a single cake pan, then after baking it, I slice the one round cake layer in half, stacking the two sections and voilà, I have 1/2 of a round, 2-layer cake. Recently I wanted to make a S'mores Cake ... but jeez I didn't relish eating the cake all week long. So here's my 1/2 cake recipe:  S'more Cake - 1/2 (or one round layer) (Of course whenever you have enough people to eat a whole cake, simply double the ingredients for 2 round layers. The recipe came to me via Facebook by Bigger Bolder Baking ... however I tweaked it.) Ingredients for the Cake 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup (1/2 stick butter) 1/2 cup dark brown sugar A little less than 1/2 cup white sugar 3/4 cup butterm...

Photo: moregems   GIMME !!! Let's look at the most fiery gem in the jewelry world: A red, red  ruby . The other precious stones are diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. Of the 4 gems, diamonds are the most common in nature, with sapphires, rubies and emeralds being rarer in the order listed. The name ruby literally means red in Latin (from the word "rubens"). Just like their sapphire brothers, ruby sisters consist of the mineral corundum, except rubies get their vibrant red color from trace amounts of the element chromium. (On the other hand, when titanium and iron are added to corundrum, the resulting blue gem is called a sapphire. Get it?) As corundums, both rubies and sapphires are one of the hardest stones, rating a 9 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness , after diamonds, a 10. The finest rubies in the world from Burma, now known as  Myanmar rubies, were banned in the United States for 5 years. The ban was imposed to fight an oppressive military regime, plus  human ri...