As I go through life with two constant concerns - always being cold AND fear of getting my hair wet - I have a great affinity for cute hoodies.

I just found a bunch of them!

Motor City Legends came to me via Trendy Rags, a West-Coast-based apparel company dedicated to rocker, edgy types. It’s very urban, and yet totally adorable too. (Which is something I myself strive for.)

Trendy Rags also has a Fresh & Famous line, which I’m totally gaga for. Behold the “adorability” of this:

Check out more here.

Fashionista as I may claim to be, I completely lack that girl gene that makes you want to wear beautiful-yet-incredibly-uncomfortable shoes. I honestly don’t get the point. Why spend a fortune on shoes that will end up making you look like a (pained) pretzel???

I recently got sent some samples of Clarks‘ line for fall, and I was enthralled - not only are all the styles totally on-trend and cute, but they are also super-comfortable! Finally, all my worlds are aligned.

(And yes, girls, stop pouting…like it or not, it’s time to stop thinking summer, and start readying-for-fall!)

(The Radiant - it’s black patent leather, and an updated version of my all-time favorite heel style - the Mary Jane!)

(The Wendy - I got it in black leather - making it an awesome everyday shoe - but check out the super sexy metallic brown it also comes in!)

(The December boot, in dark brown leather)

While it’s very sad to see flip-flop season leave, it’s very exciting to update my space with new looks - especially since these shoes will so-well compliment a lot of my new fall dresses!

I came home tonight to be greeted by a dead waterbug under my air conditioner. (I have to assume he somehow crawled in under the vents.) It was the first one I’ve seen in weeks, and at least was dead, so I am not TOO freaked over it…but of course, it did inspire me to break out my fortress of boric acid and bug spray and go wild.

My friend Rob just emailed, and alerted me it could be worse…I could have a CAVE CRICKET.

In case you, like me, do not know what this is, here is a photo:

Rob assured me his cave cricket is dead and gone (as in down the toilet, in a sea of flush), and cannot travel from NJ to NY to kill me as I sleep. However, this seems to be … the most horrifying insect I’ve ever seen (and makes me feel a little guilty for whining about my dead cockroach…) I’ve decided to open the floor - please share what the scariest insect you’ve ever come across in your own home is. (Including pix is even better!) Scariest, most horrifying picture will win a (surprise) prize!

So, this morning found me forced to take the (very aptly named) F train - a line I used to frequent when I lived in (also aptly named) Gravesend, but have avoided like the plague since moving.

I was en route to a press lunch in the Union Square area of the city, and while from my normal train it would take something like 20 minutes, I was in for an hour-plus trek. Truth be told, I started out the voyage just a little testy.

As I waited…and…waited…and…waited…on the subway platform, I leaned against a pole, and felt something sticky. I immediately jumped back and noticed my arm was COVERED in white paint. Apparently, in this part of “civilization”, they have not yet discovered “Wet Paint” signs.

The train, of course, chose this moment to come, and as I got a seat, I frantically attempted to de-paint myself with tissues and bottled water. In the process, I managed to ruin my manicure and get my BlackBerry case covered as well. Oh, and spill water on the passenger at my left, who gave me a vile stare and moved away.

So far, this morning royally blows.

As I FINALLY reached my destination (there just may have been a change in time zone in the interim), I found a Sephora, and cleansed my body (but not soul) with alcohol pads. Thank God for one reliable friend left in this cold, paint-splattered city of evil.

Never take the F train. Never go to Gravesend. And, above all, try to never steer too far away from a Sephora. Perhaps then my pain shall not be in vain.

Now I require a hug. And a cocktail.

Last night, I attended the kick-off event at the Sea Grill at Rockefeller Center for the Peach and Plum Festival…never before have I seen a better argument for fruit over candy!

(Especially when said fruit TASTES LIKE candy.)

Executive chefs from Sea Grill and Brasserie 8 1/2 were on hand, offering sample dishes and desserts made from the fruit offerings (including a to-die for peach pie granita dessert!)

Currently in my purse as a parting gift: peach truffles! Yes please.

This media tasting was actually a kick-off for a festival that will last for the next month at Sea Grill and other parts of the Pantina Restaurant family, and will include several exclusive new peach and plum varietals such as Queen Jewel Yellow Peaches, Snow Magic White Peaches, Candy King Pluots, Mango Tango Pluots, Midnight and Raspberry Jewel Pluots. Def. must-check-out if you are in the NY or LA area.

My new favorite t-shirt. Note, so far, only ONE person has gotten what it means without having it explained to them.

I for one do not find it that complicated, but enjoy keeping my friends guessing! Do the rest of you get it?

The shirt is from a company I’ve loved for a while, Sexy Slang, that sells a whole line of sexy, fun T-shirts and underwear. Apparently, the idea behind their “sexy slang” is to make people laugh AND get conversations started - which has already been successful!

Yesterday I spent the day in a park and the night at a friend’s barbecue. We had a blast - but I woke up today with six mosquito bites! Others had it way worse.

In this season of super duper humidity, it appears we are all meant to be the meat of the insect world. I actually do not have any bitterness about this - it would be hypocritical. I cry and moan when I find bugs in MY home…I cannot complain if i find them in a public park (arguably THEIR home). Still, I’d love to find a way to coexist peacefully. (i.e. I won’t kill them, they won’t eat me.)

So, anyone have any tried-and-true anti-bite tricks of the trade? (Or post-bite relief?) Please share with the class!

Note: This time, no bites were in unmentionable places. It seems I’m dressing more appropriately!

I have a most-curious addictive tendency developing.

While I am the first to admit soap operas are nonsensical and veer toward the insipid, I’ve been addicted to them since the dawn of my development - perhaps it is a love even older than my affection for shopping.

We’ve gone through periods of estrangements - usually set off by extreme fatigue at the absolute suspension of believability. And yet, of late, all that has been out the window…all due to a series called MVP.

Airing on Soap Net, it’s a ridiculously stupid show about a hockey team and their “puck buddies” with brilliant catch phrases such as “He shoots, she scores!” The acting is inferior to any production I ever attended at my high school, and the characters are interchangeably plastic, with untold amounts of gratuitous semi-nudity.

Honestly, it’s the traffic accident of television drama, and yet, I can’t help but watch. And my addiction to it has sent me spiraling out of control. Suddenly, as I sit in bed with iZac and my nightly glass of wine, the entire SoapNet lineup is airing before me. Eventually, I may cease to change the channel altogether, and I”ll never again know the weather, or what is happening on 24. I may even start to get neck strain.

Authorities have speculated that the reason that random car accidents attract such a degree of curious onlookers is that we are all desperate to see that other people’s lives are crazier than ours. It’s why people prefer reading bad news, too. Is that the attraction to soap operas? Is seeing their surreal and ridiculous lives making me feel that my own is more normal? Maybe. But I can’t truly imagine drawing a comparison between my problems and being, say, buried alive while my ex-priest lover who may be my brother attempts to dig me out with his bare hands.

Then again, maybe they are on to something.

Today is NATIONAL GIRLFRIENDS DAY. Celebrate by doing something absolutely decadent with your best gals. And perhaps exchange these!

Or, if you are looking for something a little different - how cute is this?

I just came across a hot new line I’m pretty smitten with, Adina Design. Apparently they are very in with the “A List”, but I love how delicately simple all the pieces are.

Maybe I’m getting older: Goodbye flashy, hello simple elegance. I might soon throw out my super-minis!

Apparently, a MONSTER has washed ashore in Montauk.

Full story here:

http://gawker.com/5030531/dead-monster-washes-ashore-in-montauk

Maybe this means Buffy is real too…