Category Archives: Home

Where My Dogs At?

ENTERTAINMENT

You loved Best in Show, right? This is that, but live. An insider’s cue sheet to one of the longest running dog shows in the country.

By Lynne Goldman

14241709_sI love dogs. Small, big, fluffy, skinny, smart and even not so smart. Oh, sure, I may be partial to some breeds, but I scratch the ears of any dog and coo, “Hi, sweetie.” So when I had the opportunity to write about the Bucks County Kennel Club Show, I jumped at it. (Down, girl!)

The show is one of those “It’s-right-in-your-backyard-and-you-don’t-know-about-it” stories. Case in point: Next Saturday’s is the 75th annual edition, making it one of the longest running dog shows in the country. It’s still lagging a few decades behind the 140-year-old Westminster show, but it’s been around way longer than you have.

That first Bucks Kennel Club Show was held May 30, 1942 in Doylestown, and it fielded 477 dogs. Next Saturday’s will be held in Tinicum Park, in Upper Bucks, and it’s expected to draw more than 2,500 entries. They’ll be spread across 16 rings and scored by judges from around the world.

“I love this show,” says Shawne Imler, a professional handler, breeder and owner of schnauzers. “It’s a beautiful location, and the best terriers in the country come to compete, so it’s prestigious to win here.”

Prior to my venture behind the scenes of last year’s show, my knowledge of dog shows comes from two sources: watching the Westminster show on TV, and the movie, Best in Show. From the sublime to the absurd. Or is it the other way around? I was about to find out.

Getting your bearings  The day begins at 8:30 a.m. for many of the breed exhibitors—the people who show the dogs—but don’t feel obliged to get there that early. There are 16 rings, eight on each side, with a wide concourse between. You’ll find the food court there. The tents behind the rings, that’s where the dogs are prepped for their turns in the ring.

Golden retrievers, please  If you’ve got a favorite breed, head to the Club Tent. They’ll be able to tell you where to find it. Ringside, look around for a spectator who’s brought his own chair and looks settled in for the duration. If you want to learn something, casually nestle in next to him and start picking his brain. These enthusiasts are walking encyclopedias, and most are happy to play color commentator for a bit.

What am I watching for?  That’s a good place to start. The dog needs to be healthy and meticulously groomed. And then there are a whole slew of standards set for each breed by the American Kennel Club. Your new friend can tell you more about those.

It’s not entirely clinical. Personality comes into play, too.

“They have to show they want it,” says Ken Kaufman, the Best in Show judge at last year’s show. (As far as Kaufman’s own personality, he doesn’t ooze aloofness or sarcasm. Not even a hint of it.) “If they do, you can see it—they shine. The tail is wagging, the dog is paying attention to the surroundings, the handler, the audience clapping.”

“If they don’t want to do it, they won’t win. They have to enjoy it,” says Larry Cornelius, a pro dog handler. His skye terrier, Charlie, won Best in Show at the AKC/Eukanuba 2014 National Championship and Reserve (runner-up) at the 2015 Westminster Kennel Club Show. “ ‘Great ones are born and great ones are made,’ is the saying, because both are true.”

As I watched Imler groom her schnauzers, one of them, Valentine, was whining and restless. “She loves to show,” Imler said at the time. “She is now a champion and she’s going for the big win today.” Valentine, in fact, won Best of Breed that day, and went on to compete for Best of Terrier Group.

Learning the lingo  As with any sport, showing has its own language—breeders, owners, handlers, classes. Breeders breed (obviously), but they may also own and show (handle) dogs. But all owners are not necessarily breeders or handlers.

Class refers to a group of dogs within a breed, and each class has its own requirements. One may be dedicated to puppies, another to American-bred dogs. (“Open” typically encompasses mature dogs of any nationality.)

No matter the class, in the end, “every dog competes for the best of breed,” says Bill Burland, the Bucks Kennel Club Show chairman. “And every dog but one gets beat.”

After a dog wins Best of Breed, it’ll compete for Best of Group. At that point, the dog’s being measured against other breeds, but they’re all similar in some way. They may be herding dogs, for example, or sporting dogs.

The Best of Group winners advance to the ultimate smackdown, Best in Show.

The main event  How, you’re probably going to wonder at some point after you’ve been roaming from ring to ring all afternoon, gradually getting sucked in, can you judge a terrier against a doberman?

“You have to have a general knowledge of dog anatomy,” says Kaufman, who’s been judging for 30 years, “and 90 percent of that is the same across breeds.”

What it comes down to, the judge is comparing one beautiful—immaculate, really—dog to another, and sizing up which is the best example of the breed standard. At that point, it’s almost literally a matter of splitting hairs. It’s then that you can sit back and be grateful that you’re not in his position or one of the handler’s. You’re there simply to marvel at the lack of slobber—and the realization that you haven’t seen a single squirrel all day.

 

My Morning Soundtrack

SCAVENGING

Before I plug in, I meditate on the wonders of the natural world. All I need to do is stand at the kitchen window.

By Susan Forker

I’ve developed a slight obsession. With birds.

Between a feeder we installed last spring outside our kitchen window (last year’s Mother’s Day gift) and another, larger one that went up this spring (this year’s Mother’s Day gift), we seem to have created a thriving haven on our patio. Every morning, no matter the time of year, there’s a constant flurry of activity and birdsong. I’ve come to start my days watching for a while from the other side of the window, coffee in hand.

I’ve managed to start identifying some of them: the tufted titmouse, catbirds and Carolina chickadees, all uniquely fascinating in their mannerisms and singing. The tiny downy woodpecker, with the graphic black-and-white pattern of his feathers punctuated by a bright slash of red down the back of his head, used to drill at the delicious seasoned wood of our barn siding with a loud rat-a-tat-tat. He now appears favor the fancy suet cakes that we put out for him. That may just be wishful thinking, though. And there’s a red-breasted house finch who we nicknamed “Bullybird” because he scares away every other bird that lands on the feeder while he’s eating.

My favorite guests, though, have to be the cardinal couple, which I’ve never seen apart. It’s the male, I’ve come to learn, who boasts the iconic deep red and the beardlike markings around the beak. The female’s more of a tawny, pinkish-brown. I often find the pair perched in the shrubs for many minutes at a time, seemingly content to watch the world go by like an old, married couple. Once, I convinced myself that I even saw them kissing. I did a little research and found out that the males will feed their partners seeds beak to beak during courtship and mating, and most cardinals will stay together for life. How sweet!

The detritus of seeds and sunflower hulls litter our patio, and the squirrels are usually lurking in nearby bushes for a chance to steal from the feeder. No matter. It’s all worth it for the songbirds. I’m getting a little better at distinguishing their calls, but, for the most part, they still blur into one sprawling composition. Or what I’ve come to consider my morning soundtrack.

Susan Forker is the owner and designer of the Doylestown-based joeyfivecents, a line of one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories.

 

The Awakening

SCAVENGING

Premature as last week’s heat wave was, it was enough for now.

Text and photography by Susan Forker

The winter can be long and tedious. Unless everything is covered with a fresh blanket of snow, which is generally spectacular, the leafless trees and the crackled and brownish land casts an overall dullness over everything, including our moods. Never is that feeling more acute than during these waning days of March—especially when there’s a nor’easter in the forecast.

I enjoy the change of seasons, but like most around here, I go into a mental hibernation until I see that first glimmer of spring. Amid the lovely, unseasonable warmth last week, there it was. Speckled among the dead grass were patches of bright green, spotted with the lone crocus. A purple hellebore peeked out from petrified leaves. The branches of forsythia held buds that promised of yellow blooms to come. And hundreds of straight and tall daffodil stems were suddenly ubiquitous, with the occasional bulb barely able to contain itself.

Those first warm breezes and the surprise sighting of snowdrops clustered in the woods never fail to stir something in me—hope, excitement, impatience—even after a (mostly) mild winter.

 

Susan Forker is the owner and designer of the Doylestown-based joeyfivecents, a line of one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories.

Where the Cool Kids Hang Out

THE SCENE

[Read: A place so effortlessly cool that weary, middle-age adults can convince themselves that they still have a beat on what all the hype’s about.]

Call it middle age, but I’m exhausted by the mere thought of the drive to Philly for a night out. Or maybe it’s all the logistics that go into the planning anymore. Ten years ago, the destination(s) was almost always inconsequential. As long as we were all together and the booze flowed freely, it was a party. Now, dates need to be reserved a month, sometimes two, in advance. Babysitters need to be hired, budgets and ground rules established—don’t mention baby weight, job searches or house hunting. Every nuance only adds to the weight of expectation, to the point that it starts to feel like a burden. Which makes Xlounge, the new bar at Parx, a godsend. The drive’s cut in half, parking’s a nonstarter, and once inside, we’re back to being the savvy twentysomethings we always imagined ourselves as (and never actually were), entering a room with all the swagger of the “Entourage” crew (seasons one and two). Settling into a nook of velvet-and-leather lounge chairs and sofas, a round of craft cocktails and beers slipped into our hands like it was choreographed, it looks effortlessly cool, we look so effortlessly cool. Not like we’re a bunch of homebodies masquerading as cool kids who will be crippled with hangovers and responsibilities come the morning light. —Scott Edwards

Xlounge,  Parx Casino, 2999 Street Road, Bensalem

Photo courtesy Parx Casino

A Place for Everything (Which was No Small Feat)

HOME DESIGN

The husband-and-wife owners of Wayne’s Cornerstone Cheese & Charcuterie share their Society Hill kitchen, a modest space that packs a surprising punch. Not unlike their surging shop.
By Scott Edwards  ·  Photography by Brandon Wyche

Down a steep, narrow spiral staircase, in the basement of a brick townhome in Philadelphia’s Society Hill neighborhood, sits Christine Doherty Kondra and Nick Kondra’s kitchen. For all of its colonial-era charm—the brick and stone wall, the exposed, original floor joists overhead—the space is, foremost, a model of efficiency. Because it has to be. Two people of average height standing shoulder to shoulder, arms outstretched, could probably cover the full length of the room. When they moved in, the sum of the storage was a couple of floor-level cabinets and a shallow pantry. The only source of natural light, the contemporary door that opens to the sidewalk, which doubles as a sort of skylight.
     But there was a gas stove, and that was every bit the priority that location was to them. This was two years ago, and Doherty Kondra was working as a private chef. “So every single day I was cooking. And not a little. A lot,” she says. The Berwyn native met Kondra, who’s from Syracuse, at a party their first summer working on Nantucket as chefs. They were engaged three years later. In November 2014, they moved back here to be closer to Doherty Kondra’s family. Coming from Boston, they gravitated to Philly. Kondra became the pasta chef at Amis. Within the next two years, they’d open Cornerstone Cheese & Charcuterie in Wayne. But, for now, Doherty Kondra was left to piece together a functioning kitchen in order to make a living.
     So, there was the gas stove, at least. It didn’t vent, though. “The woman who had been here I guess for like 15 years prior used the microwave to cook,” Doherty Kondra says. “So she had never actually turned the stove on.” That was corrected in short order. The unique (read: wildly inconsistent) dimensions of the kitchen added to the challenge of outfitting it. They landed on a compact island from Crate & Barrel with a stainless steel top and a wooden bottom that doubles as their dining table. There’s also a shin-high shelf hidden underneath. They installed a trio of eye-level cabinets from Ikea. And Doherty Kondra, with the help of her uncle, built the simple shelving that spans the length of the opposite wall, since nothing she found could accommodate the limited space and the varying heights of their pressure canner, crockpots, blenders and pasta machine.
     A pegboard that runs the full height of the door that opens to the next-door laundry room holds most of their hand tool arsenal. And their copper pots and pans hang in neat rows on the wall immediately on the other side of that door. Look closer and you’ll notice that the spices housed in the lower cabinets and the pantry’s contents are even alphabetized.

“Everything’s organized according to how I cook, and to be able to just easily grab and go,” Doherty Kondra says. “When we’re cooking down here, I have to remind Nick we don’t have a dishwasher.” A person, not the machine. There is a dishwasher. “That’s a common problem with guys that are used to the [commercial] kitchen; they start cooking at home and they’re using every single pan. You don’t do that as a private chef. You use like one, or two, or three, and you clean as you go.”
Since Cornerstone has taken off, they’re cooking less for themselves and using this home more as a pied-à-terre. They spend most nights during the week in a second home near the restaurant.
“I’m ready to take the plunge and just stay out in the suburbs,” Kondra admits.
His wife, however, is reluctant to let go of the city. “If we had all the money in the world, I would raise our kids in Philadelphia and buy a beautiful brownstone a block from here,” she says. “But we didn’t win the Powerball. It’s not going to go that way.”
Kondra planted another seed, and now he seems to be winning her over. “It sort of dawned on me,” Doherty Kondra says, “if we have a place in Wayne full-time, then we’ll come into the city—”
“And,” her husband jumps in, “stay at the Four Seasons.” Well played.

 

Not to gloss over the 60 kinds of handpicked cheese for sale or the house-made sausage, but it’s the deftly edited restaurant at Cornerstone Cheese & Charcuterie that shot it into orbit. Weekends are booking at least a week out. Impressive for what was supposed to be a gradual introduction. The original concept was a gourmet-bent shop that staged the occasional cooking class. And then, a couple months in, dinner service.
At the heart of the uniquely intimate atmosphere is a U-shaped, 14-seat chef’s counter—those are, by the way, the only seats in the restaurant—that encircles an open kitchen. Watch your meal come together or turn your undivided attention to your dinner companion. There’s no in-between. This is not a communal table. And beyond the Van Morrison bellowing softly in the background, there are no distractions. Even the wait staff seems to make itself invisible, plates appearing magically before you.
This is not dining out as you’re used to it, especially in Wayne. With the volume turned down on the white noise, the food and the conversation go 4K HD. —SE

You’re Due for a Bypass

ORGANIZED HOME

The kitchen is the heart of the modern home. But we’re clogging our arteries. A simple plan to get it—and your family—ticking like new.

By Laurie Palau

It’s where dinner parties find their identities. It’s where families find safe harbor following overloaded days. It’s also where the homework’s done, the bills are paid and, of course, the meals are made.

We ask a lot of our kitchens, and we give very little in return. Drawers designed for Japanese-forged knives are handed over to flashlights without batteries and half-used lint rollers. Large chunks of granite countertop are lost to a rat’s nest of charging phones and tablets.

That kind of scene goes from cozy to suffocating overnight. Before long, your family’s bound to start avoiding it—and each other. But it’s easily remedied by streamlining a few pulse points.

The Pantry

Everything that’s expired gets tossed in the garbage, even if you believe that those dates are merely suggestions. And don’t look past the spices. They’re only good for a year. Then, approach the pantry like it’s your personal market. Labels should face forward and foodstuffs grouped by kind. Corralling the bagged things—potatoes, onions, sugar—in a bin or two like the Sterilite Ultra Basket  ($6 for the medium) will spare you shelf space and headaches.

 

The Pots and Pans Cabinet

Anything you haven’t used in the last year, donate. Anything that’s scratched or burned beyond recognition, trash. Nest the remaining pots and pans within each other. (Largest on the bottom, smallest on the top.) As for those always-uncooperative lids, they’ve finally met their match in the Organized Living Lid Organizer ($7). Now, start plotting what to do with all that extra real estate.

 

The Storage Shelf

Every container that doesn’t have a lid, and vice versa, goes. Holding out hope doesn’t make it any more likely to surface. If that really narrows the field, or if your set is less a set and more a collection of old takeout containers, invest in the Rubbermaid 40-piece Easy Find Lid set  ($21). And prepare to have your mind blown: interchangeable lids, easy-peasy stacking.

 

The Tool Drawer

How many meals have gone up in flames while you dug (and dug) for the peeler or the small wooden spoon? And don’t forget those supposed friends of yours who very obviously rolled their eyes while you lost your patience (and theirs) chasing a corkscrew. Cut your arsenal down to no more than three of any one tool. You’re not employing line cooks, so you’ll never miss them. Then, insert these bamboo drawer dividers by Lipper  ($20 for a set of two) to create a very basic order. As with everything else here, like with like.

 

The Junk Drawer

If you must have one, and I’ve come to accept that every kitchen does, at least pare it down to the useful stuff. Holding on to a Whole Foods receipt from seven months ago is hoarding. Get a drawer organizer  like this adjustable one by Lipper ($16). But what about the things that don’t fit, you ask? They probably don’t belong anyway.

Laurie Palau is the owner of the New Hope-based simply B organized, a home and life organization service.

 

 

[divider]Get this app:[/divider]

Yummly 

As if having a seemingly endless stream of recipes at your disposal (for free!) wasn’t enough (it sources from all over the webiverse), you can filter by allergies and ingredients. And that’s not even the most impressive feature. This is: Plug in what’s in your fridge, leftovers included, and Yummly will tell you what’s for dinner. Or late-night snacking. —LP

A Study in Contrasts

TRENDING

For Isabella Sparrow’s Hillary O’Carroll, cozy comes from many different walks.
Photography by Matthew J. Rhein

You have to really love nature to see the beauty in it right now. Hillary O’Carroll does and can. But, then, she seems to find allure in all kinds of unlikely places: stuffy estate sales, backcountry flea markets, under dusty sheets in attics and barns. If you don’t know her Chestnut Hill home goods shop, Isabella Sparrow, you’re probably still familiar with the name by way of Clover Market. Isabella Sparrow has become the standard-bearer of farmhouse chic around here. But its wares don’t simply fit the fashion, they fill a function, too. Rural life, after all, is utilitarian. Here, O’Carroll shares a few pieces she’ll be settling in with for the frigid days ahead, some repurposed, some as they were always intended. —Scott Edwards

All the pieces featured here are available at:
Isabella Sparrow
8511 Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill
isabellasparrow.com

Salvaged bottles | $2 to $40
Load up a windowsill and filter the pastel wintertime skies through them for a kaleidoscopic light show. Or line them up along a mantle with a bare branch sticking out of each.

Glass cloche | $32 Fill it with bulbs and dried botanicals or hydrangea heads and mushroom caps to bring a piece of the outside in while it’s still too cold to stand actually being outside.

Vintage factory cart
$649
Just a pop of extraordinary color, like the patina from this old factory cart, is enough to brighten a room’s stagnant palette.

Repurposed storage | $16 to $150
Old caddies and suitcases, antique grain boxes, it all comes in handy as we begin to gradually sort and organize ahead of the spring clean.

Dishware and accessories | $4 to $99
It’s a great time to simplify your dishware. I like to stick with white porcelain, whether it’s antique ironstone or new china, because it creates consistency, even when the collection’s piecemeal.

 

 

Max, Isabella Sparrow’s resident Bernese Mountain Dog.

Wool and wovens | $49 to $199
These hand-loomed and handcrafted quilts in traditional textures pair perfectly with a mug of
Earl Grey on a cold, gray Sunday afternoon.

 

 

Alternative, Sure, But Effective

THE LIFE STYLIST

A few outside-the-mainstream treatments to help fight off that cold or even the seasonal affective disorder that always seems to lay you out right about now.

By David J. Witchell

It was like clockwork. Every year, as soon as it turned dark and frigid, I caught a debilitating cold that seemed to stay with me until the spring. I’ve always been a workaholic, and I was even more of one in my early twenties, so I wasn’t paying nearly enough attention to my wellbeing. Once I made the connection, the colds lessened in severity then disappeared almost entirely. The basic preventative measures I started adhering to religiously all those years ago sparked a deep passion for holistic treatments. Today, I credit them with keeping me above the fray when everyone else is struggling to stay upright.

Some stuff I do year-round, others are seasonal. The one ritual in my arsenal that I consider to be the most critical is nasal irrigation with a Neti Pot. I’ve been doing it almost daily for the last 20 years, and it’s significantly reduced or even eliminated nosebleeds, nasal congestion, headaches and sore throats.

I go back and forth between the traditional pot and saline solution and the more convenient spray. Both are equally effective. I use a pot and a spray by NeilMed, but the spray can be a bit harsh for first-timers. Arm & Hammer Simply Saline Nasal Relief is milder. Still, the sensation will take some getting used to.

If you think tipping a pot of warm saline up your nose sounds awkward, ear candling is going to blow your mind. Laying there, the first time, with a burning candle sticking out of my ear, the skepticism I felt was far outweighed by the fear that something seriously bad was about to happen. When it didn’t, I slowly relaxed and actually started to enjoy it.

Ear candling’s credited with everything from safely cleaning up the ear canal to sharpening the senses. I tried it because I was suffering from mild vertigo and non-sinus head congestion. The candle was lit—I could hear it crackling—but I didn’t hear or feel much after that. When it was done, I felt calm and lighter. These days, the moment I feel lightheaded, dizzy or congested, I arrange a session.

Essential oils comprise another part of my year-round regimen. Whenever I begin to feel rundown, I’ll draw a hot bath and add five to eight drops each of thyme, rosemary, tea tree, lemon, eucalyptus and lavender essential oils. Their essence can stay with you for a few days, and it’s not just a physical effect. I’ve worked alongside master aromatherapists whose blends have pulled me to a different place and time. Aside from adding them to a bath, the oils can be diffused or applied directly to the skin.

When I don’t act fast enough at the onset of an illness, my go-to remedy blend is called Thieves. It’s a mixture of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus and rosemary. I’ll add four of five drops to a basin of boiling water, cover my head with a towel, lean in and inhale the steam. The blend was developed in the 15th century to treat the plague. It’s antiviral, antiseptic and antibacterial. I also use it as a sore-throat spray, and I’ll add a few drops to a warm, damp washcloth to help with head and chest congestion.

Essential oils are my magic bullet. But be sure to use them according to the proper dilutions, and pay close attention to contraindications with certain conditions.

Shirodhara is an Ayurveda practice that’s believed to stimulate the third-eye chakra. A thin, steady stream of warm liquid—it can be an herbal oil blend, milk or buttermilk—spills onto the forehead for about 25 minutes, but it can feel like much longer.

Afterward, I find that my concentration is sharper, my anxiety is diminished and my conscience expands to profound dimensions. The only sensation I can equate it to is the endorphin rush following an epic achievement, like finishing a marathon.

I learned of shirodhara 21 years ago during a week spent training with some of the icons of holistic medicine, Deepak Chopra, Bernie S. Siegel and Ram Dass. The version we offer at the spa features herbal oils, and it’s incorporated into a massage.

I’m 48 now, and it becomes more apparent to me with every birthday that my health—physical, mental and emotional—hinges on staying proactive with my care. I’m not discounting the merits of eating unprocessed foods and exercising consistently, but, in my experience, there’s more to it than that. And these treatments, however far outside the mainstream some of them may seem, fill that void in me.

David J. Witchell is the co-owner of David J. Witchell at 25 South and The Boutiques at 25 South, both in Newtown.

Photos by David J. Witchell / Model: Catie Whalen

11th-Hour Valentines

1 Reply

SHOPPING

How to look like you’ve been eyeing up the perfect gift for weeks.

Guys, Valentine’s Day is just a few days away. If that’s news, you clearly haven’t thought through the devastation that’s going to follow when you show up empty-handed. Don’t panic. Help is on the way. We asked Laura Anne and Lisa Lamprou, the Bryn Mawr-based sisters behind our new favorite shopping site, LILA Fashion International, to pull a few of their best gift ideas. Feel free to pass them off as your own. We’ll never tell. (And ladies, you now have a fallback.) —Scott Edwards

 

Cyprus Bracelet | LILA Luxe Jewelry Collection | $45

The gemstones, Swarovski crystals, charms and accents are handpicked at a small artisans studio in Athens.

 

Santorini Scarf | Grecian Chic | $180

Greece-based, London-schooled designer Elena Zournatzi depicts her country from amusing and arresting perspectives with these 100-percent silk scarves.

 

 

My Passport Barrel Bag | Vice Versa | $80

Spring’s already blooming in shades of warm burgundy (pictured), rose quartz and nude at Vice Versa, a Greek outfit that’s been making leather goods for decades. We love the full range of the Barrel Bag’s playful styles, but the classic-looking My Passport is our favorite.

 

Ella Chemise | Daddy & Fox | $248

Forget the Ambien; this is what dreams are made of. Crafted from Indian silk, this fox print chemise is as easy on the skin as it is on the eyes.

 

Aphrodite Love Knot Sandal | Love from Cyprus | $70

Inspired by the goddess of love, made entirely from raw leather (which means it’s only going to improve with age) and stitched by hand.

 

 

The World at their Fingertips

Life as a teenager already feels like being a stranger in a strange land. Imagine compounding that by actually being one. Laura Anne and Lisa Lamprou spent a good chunk of their formative years living on what may as well have been other planets—14 years in Saudi Arabia, followed by Greece. Later on, there was a stint in England, less exotic, but still distinct in its own right. While you and I were wandering the mall, trying desperately to stay safely nestled within the pack, Laura Anne and Lisa were beginning to define themselves through the kind of artisanal fashions we’ve all come to adore but could never imagine pulling off then.

The full potential of their unique access occurred to them about a year-and-a-half ago: They’d uncover small-batch designers from all over the world, but especially the countries where they’d lived, and introduce them to a savvy, mainstream audience. (Read: the Internet.) LILA’s now home to 10 collections (and counting) that hail from Greece, Cyprus, Scotland, Australia and South Africa, all of them new to the States. It’s the globalization of indie fashion. Only, unlike the contents of your bento box lunch, this stuff has lost none of its authenticity in the translation. —SE

Spring Starts Now

SOUL FOOD

Think of the person you want to be come Memorial Day weekend—healthy, energetic, happy. The gap’s not as wide as it may feel, but the hibernation needs to end today. A guide to how to go about just that.

By Rose Nyad Orrell

With spring on the horizon—we may touch 70 next week—you may be feeling the urge to hit refresh on yourself. It’s a natural instinct as the weather becomes more conducive to a healthy lifestyle. The first steps are usually the hardest. I know they’ve been mine since spending a dozen lovely winters in the southwest. This was my third winter back in the northeast, and it’s not getting any easier.

I’ve come to adopt a mantra to get me through winter’s homestretch: Fake it till you make it. There’s quite a gap between hibernation and the active lifestyle we’re striving for. Don’t be daunted by it. Aim to do something, anything, each day. And do it every day. Gradually, a walk will become a run. But if you start with the run, you set yourself up for disappointment.

For the next month, my exercise regimen will focus on developing my stamina. My first sessions will start at 15 minutes and gradually ramp up to a half-hour of some kind of movement, whether it be jogging, dancing, yoga, even gardening. And I’ll do it four to five days a week. Some days may feel better than others, but it’s critical to remember that keeping the pace slow and steady will lay the foundation for everything to come. Press too hard and you’ll make yourself vulnerable to injury, or even discourage yourself entirely.

Once I start feeling as though the exercise is becoming easier—my breathing isn’t too labored, my form is sound—I’ll begin either increasing the duration of the sessions by, say, a few minutes a week (10 percent is a good rule of thumb) or their intensity. That’s when I usually begin incorporating weight training, which will help develop lean muscle mass, a key component to boosting metabolism. It’s also the framework that’ll enable you to begin pushing yourself harder.

The most important muscle not to neglect in this process is the heart. More specifically, your resting heart rate. It’s a good indicator of where your endurance stands. The faster your heart rate returns to a calm level after a hard workout—55 to 65 beats per minute for men, low sixties for women—the better your conditioning.

With a solid base beneath you, begin incorporating a couple of high-intensity interval sessions into your weekly regimen. They’re meant to be short in duration—anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes—but they’ve proven to be far more effective at burning calories and boosting your aerobic capacity than drawn-out, low-intensity exercise. Because it’s so demanding, don’t jump in until you’re ready, and even then, space out the workouts. You’ll want to give to yourself at least a couple days between them. You can exercise during that period, but keep it relatively low in intensity.

The concept behind high-intensity training is pretty simple: Go all out for a brief burst, then give yourself enough time to catch your breath but not fully recover. Repeat. Try this one: Warm up with a five-minute jog. Then, sprint for 20 seconds, jog or walk for the next 40. Aim for five rounds to start. Work your way up to 10. Once you’ve got a high-intensity workout behind you, it’s safe to say you’re back in the game and well on your way to the best shape of your life.

Rose Nyad Orrell is a New Hope-based certified holistic health practitioner (rosenyad.com).