Back in the day, when unusual furs, feathers, and other exotic animal decor were precious commodities, having a tiger-skin rug or an eagle-feather headdress were major status symbols.  If you had the skill or the money necessary to acquire them, then you got respect to go with it.  Nature has given us some of the most beautiful and interesting colors and patterns, which we borrow in order to beautify ourselves and our surroundings.  Fortunately, you don’t have to be a hunter to use the natural world for inspiration anymore.

The most popular animal prints are truly striking; leopard spots, zebra stripes, peacock feathers.  Tigers, cows, giraffes, snakes and more have lent their colors and patterns to apparel and accessories.   (more…)

For the fun of it, I just Googled “hat’ and then “hair” to see if any interesting news stories popped up.  I thought I’d find some fashion reviews, or celebrity mentions, or something like that.  Well, I got two good stories – but they were NOT what I was expecting!

The best hat-related story was funny, in a horrible sort of way.  A woman got mad at her ex-boyfriend, and for revenge, she put 24 of his favorite baseball caps in the bathtub, doused them in gasoline, and lit them on fire.  She was arrested on charges of mischief and arson, (more…)

English is a funny language, full of weird expressions that people use without always knowing why.  My inspiration for this post came when I searched Google News for the word “hat,” to see if there has been anything interesting going on in the world of accessories lately.  But most of the hits that I found had to do with hockey players scoring hat tricks!

So, I got curious, and found a website that explains the meanings of all kinds of strange idioms.   Then I hunted up a whole bunch of hat-related sayings.  How many of these have you actually heard used in conversation?

• Hat trick*: to score three times in one game (especially in hockey or soccer) is called a hat trick. (more…)

When you go outside and feel a nip in the air, you can’t help dreaming of warm sweaters and crackling fires and whatever else it is you do to keep warm.  One of the best parts about cold weather is coming home, taking off your wet socks, and wrapping your hands around a mug of something steamy.  You wouldn’t enjoy that half as much if you didn’t get chilly first!

I’m all about hot drinks.  Coffee, hot cocoa, herbal teas, you name it.  They make great treats, without being too caloriffic (well, unless you want them to be). (more…)

Yesterday was one of those ridiculous days where everything went…not exactly wrong, I guess more like quirky.  The cap to my funky day was walking out with my husband and baby to get some ice cream, and leaving the keys in our apartment.  We had no way to get back in, no way to get the stroller out of the car – and my friend who keeps our spare was at Pilates class.  So we spent about an hour wandering around outside with the baby in arms, laughing at our absurd situation.

It got me thinking about how much certain items become parts of ourselves, so that without them we feel totally lost, like a little kid whose blankie is in the washing machine.  (more…)