Ladies who get their hot beverages on the go are probably familiar with coffee cup sleeves-those nifty devices that prevent scalding drinks from hurting your hands. Everyone from Starbucks to your local coffee shop offers them up to patrons for free, but Jimmy Choo would never be seen with something so pedestrian. That's why he created Rika, "a luxurious mock croc leather cup holder."Available in fuchsia or orange, this reusable leather sleeve costs $165 and there's a buying cap of five per shade. So Jimmy Choo thinks someone out there wants to buy more than 10 of these? If you skipped your ...

It’s that special time of year—when school teachers, grannies, and “ugly Christmas sweater party” guests break out the blingiest, silliest, most over-the-top sweaters they can find. But, while holidays sweaters aren’t the most fashionable things to wear, there’s something fantastic about

I know the evolved woman's answer to this yearly question is world peace, a cure for cancer and the end of global poverty and hunger, so let's skip that. Like every other woman my age, I know only too well the stresses of finances, health, family obligations, career transitions and a looming sense that it's impossible for this country to solve all its issues quickly and efficiently. My list of Christmas would-love-to-gets is kind of superficial, and I'm not apologizing for it! I need a break and so do we all. Wishing all THIRD AGERS a happy and healthy holiday. Here's what I have my eye on:

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By Bianca Schlotterbeck, CNBC.comLuxe Fashion for LessThis holiday season, with uncertainty prevailing in the global economy, shoppers may be searching for cheaper alternatives to the high-end fashion houses, while still wanting to retain a feel for their favorite brands.Luxury fashion houses are tapping into this sentiment through less expensive, secondary lines that allow them to reach out to a younger consumer, without compromising their reputation. The "main line" or "first line," which establishes the brand, is usually much pricier than the second line or even third line. ...

It is sweater weather and nothing feels happier or better in the world to me than sweater weather. Since it is finally beginning to feel like winter in NYC, I have major sweater brain. I've been noticing all of these adorable polka dot sweaters on all of these darling girls dashing about the city, and so I went on a massive hunt to find THE polka dot sweater. (You know what they say, polka dot is the new stripe, and I do love me a good stripe ... or something. ...

The trusty, closet basics comes in all sorts of iterations. See which works best for your bod, and start layering!If You Have a Small Chest...Shop for a style with embellishments on the chest. Ruffles can do the job, but we love the panache of this pick's faux fur gilet. The extra bulk adds desired size to your bust-line and won't cling to your non-existent curves, like cotton or cashmere might.Worthington Faux Fur Cardigan, $27.99; jcpenney.comRead more: Little black dresses for every size and budget.If You Want to Hide Your Arms...Look for a cocoon shape. ...

Think you know what bra size you wear? Linda Becker of Manhattan shop Linda's Bra Salon would probably tell you you're insane. We chatted with the expert on how to know if your fit is right, what to look for in a bra, and other useful tips. "I tell people all the time, 'You only think you're comfortable. You're not comfortable. You have no idea what comfort is. Wait until I get you in a bra that fits.' When you wear a bra that fits, it's like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe it.'" Yup, she's that serious about bras. ...

The other morning while I was making my way to the subway station, I passed a mom, who, if she didn't have a child in tow, looked a lot like me.

Lions and tigers and bears … oh my! No, we're not taking a trip to the zoo, we're just looking through the furry closets of Hollywood moms. While some celebrities won't let PETA … or any animal (sorry, Bambi) … stand in their way of rocking the latest furry fashions, others hold strong to their anti-fur activism.We've compiled a hairy-ed list of five celebrities who aren't afraid to get their fur on … and five who prefer petting animals to wearing them.Pro-Fur Ladies:1. Jennifer LopezJenny from the block may have Marc Anthony off her back … but sadly we can't say the same for her and PETA. J. ...

Miley showed boobage, Shay Mitchell was daring and we have a bonus round with Brooklyn Decker at CNN's annual event for outstanding volunteers.-PJ Gach, BettyConfidential.com The annual CNN Heroes Awards honor remarkable people who selflessly work day and night to change the world, one moment at a time. Anderson Cooper hosted the event and celebrities from across the world came to help honor the top ten CNN Heroes and find out who the top Hero of the Year was (it was Robin Lim). To find out more about CNN Heroes or to donate, visit theirsite. ...

Cory Hardrict may not be a household name yet, but he’s married to one: Tia Mowry of Sister, Sister fame. He’s not riding on her coattails by any means, though—he has worked with Clint Eastwood, is on Jamie Foxx’s basketball e-league team, boasts a slew of TV credits, and he’s got a more than one buzzworthy film slated for release in 2011.

The Chicago native’s first big project is March’s Battle: Los Angeles, an alien action-adventure flick costarring Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez and directed by Jonathan Liebesman (The Killing Room and 2012’s Clash of the Titans II). Hardrict landed the role of Corporal Lockett, a Marine who “deals with a lot of emotional pain from past deaths in his family,” Hardrict says. “He only wants to be accepted by the Corps and be embraced by guys who will lose their lives for another Marine in a minute.”

Despite the sci-fi bent of Battle, Hardrict promises that the story line is firmly grounded with doses of reality. “We are at war while filming this movie,” he says. “Everybody gave it all they had, so hopefully it resonates with audiences. We were also trained by Sergeant James Dever and Sergeant Tom Minder, who were trained Marines and experts in their field. They whipped us into shape and turned us into warriors.”

Hardrict is a city boy at heart whose mother introduced him to the world of acting as a kid.  “My mother took my brother and me to be extras in a film,” he recalls. “They picked us to stand in the rain for a month full of non-stop 12-hour days—I loved it and was sold.” His “no pain, no gain” attitude was further inspired by Eastwood, with whom he worked on the critically acclaimed Gran Torino. “His words to me were, ‘never worry about what you’re gonna get, kid, just show them what you got,’” Hardrict says. “I will never forget that.”

His post-Battle films include Mud Dog Blues, an exploration of the cultural importance of blues music in the South costarring Mowry and Gregory Alan Williams, and 4chosen, a still-in-development project with Laurence Fishburne attached. Hardrict is anything but concerned about his future prospects. “Just know this, he proclaims. “I will win an Oscar for the next role I will be playing—coming soon!”

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Pump You Up

Hardrict shares the tunes that get him amped up for action.

• Eminem, “Not Afraid”

• Kanye West, “Power"
• 
Nas, “You’re da Man”

• 2pac, “Me Against the World”

• Wiz Kalifah, “Black and Yellow”

• Drake, “Forever”
• 
Lil Wayne, “I’m Me”

• Anything by Linkin Park

• Jay-Z, The Blueprint (the album)

Brooklyn’s Zs have been making sometimes-droning, often-atonal, always-challenging noise collages for over a decade. But New Slaves Part II: Essence Implosion! —which, depending on your perspective, is either a sequel, a companion piece, or  a re-imagining of their early 2010 release New Slaves—has them going somewhere they have never before ventured: dance music.

Lest you get the wrong idea: Zs have not gone pop. But they have handed over the reigns to a coterie of friends, who transform several New Slaves tracks into everything from tense techno to something that just might make you want to shake your ass.

The album opens with mini-epic “MMWIV: Essence Implosion!,” which finds primary band member Sam Hillmer spraying his abstract tenor sax fire across noise peaks and shuddering drone valleys. It’s a track crafted solely from the remixes that comprise the rest of the album--but it works beyond its novel origins, and sets the stage for the alchemy to come.

“Concert Black” gets reworked by Genesis P-Orridge’s Thee Majesty and Weasel Walter (previously of Flying Luttenbachers, currently a member of Zs), respectively. Walter compresses the original twenty minutes of No Wave skronk into five intense, aggressive minutes that sound like a No Wave marching band. Thee Majesty goes for atmosphere, singling out the sharpest and most nerve-wracking elements of the original song, and adding rumbling crackles, electronic squeals, and ominous techno beats until the music descends into a sexy nightmare.

“Acres of Skin” is also re-imagined twice: in the hands of Cex, it becomes a burbling piece of dark electronica, while the Rapture’s Gabe Andruzzi works it into honest-to-goodness dance music, with a club-ready beat that you can sink your teeth into—proof positive that Zs are not just polished experimentalists, but at the creative epicenter of modern avant-garde music.

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Zs official site

Zs MySpace page

The Social Registry Records

Tennis’s first long player, Cape Dory, is a collection of songs inspired by sailing. Though the duo, Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, hail from land-locked Denver, the idea for Tennis while the couple cruised along the eastern seaboard for several months aboard a sailboat named Cape Dory. Nautical ideas pervade throughout the album. For example, on the title track Moore begs to be taken “out sailing” and dreams of “listening to the sound of the ocean swells.”

Like many of their contemporaries such as Best Coast to Summer Camp, Riley and Moore mine the melodic back catalog of early ‘60s pop, such as the doo-wops accompany cautionary tale “Marathon.” Cape Dory is an overtly feminine creation. The album brims with songs that Betty Draper might have enjoyed back when she was still gallivanting around Manhattan as the ingenue model, Betty Hofstadt. Yet it is not a period piece. The prominent bass lines on “Baltimore” and “Marathon,” as well as the depth of Moore’s vocals on “Pigeon” prevent Cape Dory from feeling like a preserved sound specimen accidentally captured in audio resin.

Don’t expect Tennis to adhere to its tony, aquatic motif forever either. With its nod to schlocky 70’s glam, the album jacket for Cape Dory already puts a chink in its upper crust armor. The cover photo features Moore provocatively posed in a blue lace jump suit and heels, in a homage to Knots Landing star Lisa Hartman’s 1979 album, Hold On. The photo couldn’t be farther from Cape Dory’s twin set pop, yet, both are playful and fun-loving, an M.O. that should serve the duo well regardless of the cultural milieu Tennis chooses to recreate on any future releases.

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Tennis MySpace page

Fat Possum Records

After three years with indie-garage queens the Vivian Girls, vocalist and bassist Katy “Kickball Katy” Goodman has struck out on her own with side project La Sera. The band’s debut finds Goodman trading in the Girls’ trademark freewheeling noise-pop to experiment with something more ethereal (but every bit as lo-fi).

Album opener “Beating Heart” sets the tone for what’s to come with minimal guitar and percussion, a chorus of love-doomed girls, and Goodman chant-singing directives to “aim for the heart.” From there, much of the album treads heavily in traditional girl-group territory, right down to the chiming “Earth Angel” guitars and heartbeat percussion.  “Never Come Around” could pass for a Crystals outtake, but with the soul swapped out for girlish and ghostly cooing.

Minimalist indie pop dominates the second half of the album.“Been Here Before” is a slice of jangly sunshine that it’s hard not to clap along to and “Devils Hearts Grow Gold” riffs on a guitar part straight out of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” to create one of the record’s catchiest moments.

The  musical playfulness helps balance the album’s frequent morbid lyrics. La Sera may or may not be a break-up album—the lyrics aren’t always clear, but when they are, they seem to deal primarily with heartbreak, desperation, death, and being “so sorry.” “La Sera” roughly translates to “the will be,” and, by the record’s end, it feels like that name could very well refer to the future and to moving on with life.

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La Sera MySpace page

Hardly Art Records

Not Yet is Monotonix’s third release at Drag City. Since appearing on the US scene in 2008 with it’s debut EP, following it with full length Where Were You When It Happened in 2009, the Tel Aviv-based rock trio has arguably become even known it’s half-naked, half-insane, fully-physical stage antics even more than it is for it’s records.

The intensity of Monotonix’s live show is not lost in its recordings, but from the first notes of Not Yet, it is obvious that the band is still better heard in a hot, packed venue than through one’s headphones.. Frontman Ami Shalev’s vocals are a fast mixture of spoken screaming and punk chanting, backed by Haggai Fershtman’s ferocious drums and Yonatan Gat’s guitar at a heart-blasting, cardiac arrest paces, with the potential to elicit strong desires in its listeners to whip out an air guitar or bang on random items while jumping around. David Lee Roth doesn’t have shit Monotonix.

While all songs are definitive rock and roll, there is still a spectrum from the dark and sinister, such as “Late Night” to energizing acid rock anthems like “Fun Fun Fun.” With most of the songs lasting less than three minutes, Not Yet is a quick riot, bringing chaos wherever it is heard.

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Monotonix official site

Monotonix MySpace page

Drag City Records

For Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, there is no place like home. I’m speaking with Wasner on the phone from her bedroom in Baltimore, and we both find the idea somewhat novel. It’s rare to catch a musician in a moment of downtime tranquility, and that happiness is palpable over the line.

Wasner is gregarious and sunny from the moment she picks up, and I can almost picture her bedroom: acoustic guitar resting against a bedpost, incense smoke wafting lazily across a Liz Phair Exile in Guyville poster. Wasner relishes her downtime, which is understandable as the twenty four year old lyricist/guitarist doesn’t get many of these moments anymore. Perpetual road warriors, Wasner and bandmate/multi-instrumentalist Andy Stack have been touring the country econo in a 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan for the past few years. With a recent two date opening slot with Spoon in London and Leeds, and an upcoming 2011 Spring tour with The Decemberists in support of new album Civilian (Merge), Wye Oak is on the cusp of breaking big in the new year. In an ever-changing industry, Wasner remains an eternal optimist, eager to embrace the possibilities of changing technology.

Accessible without pandering, moody yet never morose, Civilian is a collection of songs that Wasner says “as a whole, [are] about aloneness (the positive kind), loneliness (the horrible kind), moving on and letting go of people, places and things.” The lyrics are a perfect summation of the woman who penned them: self deprecating, biting, incisive and a tad cynical. Belying conventional structure, Civilian turns folk inside out and finds Wye Oak exploring new territory, sonically and thematically. Their strongest effort, Civilian showcases a band transitioning comfortably into maturity without losing their edge, and in the case of Jenn Wasner, an artist truly discovering her voice and inner strength.

How did you creatively approach Civilian? Did it feel like a departure from your 2009 release, The Knot?

The biggest difference between Civilian and everything else we’ve ever worked on is that this record happened really, really quickly. The writing, the recording, the mixing and every aspect of this record happened in an extremely short amount of time. For our previous recordings, the process would be that we would write the songs, and then we’d have a lot of time to play them and kick them around. We’d have time to see what works and see what sticks. We’d solidify the arrangements in a live setting and then go into the studio. With Civilian, every song on the record, with the exception of title track "Civilian," was pretty much untouched. I wrote them almost entirely over the summer, and we recorded them in a really brief stint in less than a month in July and August. Then we went on tour for a few weeks, came back and immediately mixed it with John Congleton (St. Vincent / Shearwater) in Dallas.

The record, start to finish, happened over the summer. We really didn’t stop to think too much about live arrangements, and I had a really strange and unusual period of prolificness this summer, which very rarely happens to me.  I kinda holed myself up and came out with a lot of songs, way more than I’ve ever written in any small amount of time. We had a lot of material to choose from, and we acted with a “go with your gut” mentality on which songs would be on the record. We picked the ten strongest that we felt would make a cohesive record. I really like the spontaneous feel of the record. It didn’t feel rushed, but it did feel fast. We recorded them before we had the chance to get sick of the songs. Everything was really new and it felt really exciting to be working on this material.

The rush wasn’t due to necessity? It wasn’t due to studio availability or other constraints?

No, it was pretty much self imposed and fun. No one was breathing down our necks looking for another record. In the past three years we’ve put out two full lengths and an E.P. so I think that’s a pretty good track record. I’ve been proud of our ability to tour as much as we have and still put out quality records. The immediacy had nothing to do with people asking us to hurry. It was because we wanted to do it. I think for both Andy and I, the recording process is our favorite part of the deal. I had been writing a lot, and I was trying to resist what seems to happen to every band, which is an inevitable delay between music from us to the people, so what’s new to you is not new to me. It’s inevitable, and even though we made it really fast, it’s not going to come out until March, and then it’ll be our new record that we’ve had for eight months.

When you mentioned your burst of creative spontaneity, was that new to you? Are you a cocktail napkin writer or do you sit down every morning and try and get lyrics down?

Honestly, I think the iPhone is the new cocktail napkin (laughs). I’m serious. The iPhone can definitely be attributed to my increase in productivity. I always have it on me, and I’ve kind of abandoned my little lyric notebook. I know a lot of artists and songwriters who work this way now. Any time I have a melodic idea or lyric, I basically just pick up my phone, access the voicemail function wherever I am and hum a melody or sing a few bars.

Whenever I do get private time to sit down with a guitar or at the piano, which is rare, I’m not staring at a blank page. I open the voicemail and have all my ideas from the past two weeks. It totally has blown my world wide open. So many ideas were lost in the ether before I had the ability to document them so consistently. Not every idea is a keeper obviously. For every goofy idea, maybe 10 out of 100 are keepers. But it works. When I sit down now, I have a starting point and things move much more quickly. If I was born earlier, I’d probably be a cocktail napkin writer. But, I’m an iPhone writer.

I’m 28, and I fear technology and still reluctant to adjust. How do you feel about the state of the industry? They’re disappearing, but do you still find time to hit indie record stores?

I think there are still many amazing independent record stores. Touring around the country, there are stores that I still get really excited to hit. Guestroom Records in Norman, OK is great. Slowtrain in Salt Lake City. In every city, there seems to be at least one great record store, and a community that seems to exist around them. The number of records that are being sold is smaller, but I still think that the people who really care, and especially the niche market that we operate in, the industry is changing beyond the level that encapsulates us.

Merge Records is a big level, but still technically independent. I think it’s remarkable that they are able to do what they do and release so many big records that have achieved great amounts of mainstream success. I really respect them for that. As far as the state of the industry, I think it’s always been changing since I’ve been a part of it. I am very young, so I didn’t really have a chance to experience what the pre-digital era was like. Bands don’t really make money selling records now. They make money touring. It’s kind of a new era but it’s always been this way for me. I have a lot of friends who are older and who have been performing and recording for a long time who lament the current state of affairs. I’m young enough that it doesn’t bother me. It’s better to think forward and try and adapt, because there’s really no sense in fighting something that is inevitable.

This is the state of the music business. Get used to it. It doesn’t scare me because for every downside, there’s something that can be seen as a positive. I’m sure that we would not even be a performing band making money if it wasn’t for the internet. Merge found out about us through a blog, and there’s a network that exists for artists to kickstart careers that wasn’t available before. I’m thrilled about that. It’s opened up the music world to so many more people and I’m all in favor of that.

There really isn’t much difference from sending Mac and Laura a demo tape in the 90s or them hearing about you from a blog. They know great music when they hear it.
Yeah! Exactly. It’s a good feeling to feel like you have control over your own destiny in a way, and that’s what the internet did for a lot of artists.

Tell me about growing up in Baltimore. It seems strangely conducive  to creativity.

I was born in West Baltimore and grew up just outside the city limits. I’ve been here my whole life, but basically wanted to escape the entire time. I went to school in upstate New York and quickly realized that I hated it and Baltimore was where I really wanted to be. I hadn’t really become super involved in the Baltimore music scene as a teenager. When I left, I don’t think I realized how unique it was so I immediately moved back after a semester of college when I was 18. I’ve been living pretty much in the same Baltimore neighborhood ever since, working and playing music. It’s a pretty special place to be for a creative person. I always forget when I leave that not everywhere is like Baltimore, for better and worse. It’s a flawed city, and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it, but when it comes down to it, the people, music , art and the genuineness of the city keeps me coming back time and time again.

Are you a Ravens fan?

I’m a huge Ravens fan. It’ s a constant battle, being on tour in the fall, because I miss a lot of Ravens games. We found a Ravens bar in San Diego that we went to, and Chris McCallister was there (former Ravens cornerback) so that was amazing. We also watched a Ravens / Steelers game at a Hooters in rural Illinois, so you gotta do what you gotta do. We’re pretty passionate Ravens fans.

Who did you grow up idolizing? Madonna or Liz Phair?

Oh man, totally Liz Phair!  I had an interesting Liz Phair-related experience recently. I just loved the shit out of Exile in Guyville growing up. There’s a part of me that will always love that record. During my brief stint in college, I even wrote a women’s studies paper on that record. I was a total geek. I hadn’t listened to it in years, but I had a growing up moment recently. I was staying at my friend’s house on tour, and she was streaming the Matador 21st Anniversary shows in Vegas. Liz Phair came on, and I got all excited. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy or respect her performance…I had to ask myself ‘who was that person who used to relate so deeply to this music, and where did she go?’ I had one of those moments where I realized I was different and older now.

Listening to a record from your youth that you haven’t touched in a while and coming back to it years later when you’re at a different place in your life is a really striking moment. I have moved on and I have grown.  That record is a document of a very specific feeling and time and place, and I love that. I love to have these totems from my past to point to and be like, ‘that’s what I was like when I was 16 years old and learning to play the guitar.’ It’s not good to feel like you did when you were 16. It was a funny moment because it sought me out. I wasn’t looking for some realization of maturity.

As a frontwoman, were you always comfortable in front of a crowd? Were you outgoing in high school?

I’ve never been particularly shy onstage. I was never the frontwoman in high school. I was always kind of the girl who played the instruments for the people who sang. I was in the jazz band and never in the spotlight. I’ve been playing music in front of people since I was really young. I’ve never been really shy about singing. A lot of people have issues about sharing their singing voice with people.

Since I was really young, my mom would sing with me, from basically since I was a baby. No one in my family was ever shy about singing around the house or to records or whatever. She taught me to play guitar, and I played piano. So public performing was never really a hurdle that I had to get over. It definitely has changed for me. When we first started the band, I didn’t think of myself as a frontwoman at all. When Andy and I started the band, we both kind of played a little bit of everything. He would sing or I would sing. I would play guitar or vice versa.

At a certain point, we realized that we needed some focus. There was never really a moment when it was decided that I would be the frontwoman. I’m really self- deprecating and I have a hard time projecting confidence even if I do feel confident. It’s my tendency to project humility. One of the things that I’ve been learning is to look and feel confident on stage and enjoy myself and relax. I’m trying to not worry so much about how I look anymore. My goal is to be as forthright and genuine as possible in front of people. I love performing, and similar to a lot of performers that I know, I pretty much hate everything before and after (laughs).

Are you cut out for life on the road?

I think I handle it very well. The first year we toured I hated it. But you get better at it. You meet more people and find more places to stay.  You understand the routine, and it’s a skill that you can learn. It’s so much easier now, and we have friends and people we’re excited to see in pretty much every city. You wake up in the morning on somebody’s floor and you’re dirty and grouchy, but then you realize that you get to drive to a new city and hang out with friends you haven’t seen in awhile. A big part of it for me was learning how to eat right and take care of myself on tour. I had to learn how to simulate privacy even when I don’t have it. I am a really insular person and I crave my alone time. There are ways to simulate privacy. For example, disappearing into a green room or going into the backseat of the van and putting on my headphones creates the illusion of isolation.

So, there are little psychological and logistical tricks that I’ve learned to help me adapt. I feel happy and productive when I’m moving and working towards a goal. When I’m on tour, there’s always at least one part during the day when I feel like I’m accomplishing something. Traveling feels good, and I love seeing different places. It’s something very new to me. I didn’t get to do a lot of traveling growing up. I do think I’m cut out for it. It’s hard, but definitely worth it.

Do females have to fight anymore for acceptance in the indie rock scene these days?

I don’t think it’s equal, but I also don’t think you can really complain. I think there are certain people who really enjoy seeing a female in control. It gets them excited, and they can relate to it. There are a lot of bands for whom that is a major point. Our band included.

At the same time, it is frustrating. After the amount of time we’ve spent touring, I feel like I can operate on a professional level pretty successfully. Sometimes there are people who just assume certain things. I constantly get “Oh, you’re the merch girl. You’re the girlfriend or you’re the tour manager.” I almost always hear from someone, “I can’t believe you can play guitar like that!” Which is strange, but also kinda fascinating. It’s satisfying to prove people’s preconceived notions incorrect. I think that it’s a major part of why our band has done well, because people are surprised when their expectations are defied. I can’t complain. I’m sure it’s one of the reasons why our band has any sort of success. There are a lot of unbelievably talented women in music obviously, but I think they will always have to be defying expectations.

What’s a perfect day for you?

That’s a really good question! You have to understand this is coming from the perspective of just getting off tour. Ok, a perfect day involves waking up around 9:00 am. Exercise. Eat a delicious brunch. Hang out by the fireplace and write songs. Then I’d go out in the evening, play music or maybe see some friends. Maybe find time to ride a rollercoaster and hang out with puppies. Also smoke a lot of weed throughout the day. That’s a perfect day for me.

It’s hard not to be jealous of a renaissance woman like Felicia Day: She succeeds at everything she tackles, from mathematics (she was a National Merit Scholar) to music to producing to writing to acting. But Day is such a genuine, hard-working artist that she makes it nearly impossible to hate her—and her million-plus followers on Twitter would probably agree.

Chances are you’ve spotted Day somewhere over the past few years: in any number of television guest appearances, as Neil Patrick Harris’s crush Penny in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, or on her uber-successful web series The Guild. It was a leap of faith that inspired Day, who graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree in math, to pick up and make the move to LA to pursue acting. “Part of it was because of all the theater I did as a teen—how much I enjoyed the process of rehearsing, acting, and creating with a group,” she says. “And the other part was just a bit of sheer blind enthusiasm—a feeling of fate. Not the best thing to base a big life decision on, I admit.”

All those roles weren’t waiting patiently for her upon her arrival in LA, so in 2007 she cofounded the Knights of Good Production with friend Kim Avey so they could have creative control over projects in which they could have fun and become emotionally invested. “I created The Guild out of frustration with acting,” Day says. “I was being pigeonholed in a way [where] I didn't see a lot of long-term growth. I made a good living but wasn't fulfilled, so I sat down to write a TV pilot featuring a role for myself.”

The Guild features a hilarious ensemble cast of gamers struggling with real life versus role-playing-game life—and all the social awkwardness that comes with it. “After it was clear no one would pick such a niche show up for TV, Kim had the idea of doing it as a web series,” Day explains. It was a wise choice: The Guild won the YouTube Award for best series after its first season, and in 2009 it captured three Streamy Awards. The Guild’s success has even allowed the Knights of Good Production to branch out, going into pre-production on a new web series last fall. And that’s not all Day’s got her eye on as far as future projects are concerned. “I'd also like to create something fantasy-based to star in, but I’m not sure if it can be accomplished on a web budget so it might be a TV pilot or even a novel,” she says. “I’m definitely looking to grow while maintaining The Guild. More multitasking—yay!”

Instead of following the stereotypical trajectory of a Hollywood ingénue, Day has managed to create a niche for herself as an adorably relatable whip-smart woman. “[The] bottom line is that hokey but universal phrase: Be true to yourself. If you love something, there's no reason to abandon that out of shame, or hoping to fit in. Don't betray yourself.”

Jill Rizzo & Alethea Harampolis

Flower arrangers + tiny shop owners + bloggers

Job Title:  Owners of Studio Choo, contributors to Design*Sponge
Location:  262 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Website:  www.StudioChoo.com

If you like it green, you must like it wild.

If you’ve heard the rumor, it’s true.  Young and with-it ladies are canceling their oh-so-2009 stitch ‘n bitch circles and closeting their sewing machines to make way for the newest and hottest trend in the amplified DIY repertoire:  floral design.  Shocking to some because prime real estate might mean sharing elbow room with the moth balled & blue haired ladies who glare at your skinny jeans over their bifocals, rest assured that the faction of newer schools popping up across the country are rejecting traditional arranging and re-embracing this ancient craft much in the way Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching re-created embroidery.

The break with traditional symmetrical presentation called to mind when uttering the term floral arrangement is definitely a welcome one and after the boom of last summer’s trend of growing your own, this announcement comes at a perfect time to scoot your veggie path to the left and plant some flowers that will be worth picking and arranging.

Jill Rizzo and Alethea Harampolis of Studio Choo in San Francisco’s Western Addition are two ladies at the forefront of this new wave of floral design.  They specialize in arranging by hand, flowers that are a little bit wild and harnessing the beauty of local, fresh and seasonal.  They are also regular contributors to the ever-popular blog Design*Sponge where they showcase their talents of creating simple and affordable decorations where the first step is always a quick stroll through your own back yard or a local farmer’s market.  Venus Zine couldn’t help tracking down these ladies to ask a couple questions about the lives of floral designers that have been burning in our minds since these wild blooms first caught our eye.

Venus Zine:  Where do you get your flowers to create your arrangements?
Studio Choo:  We get most of our flowers from the San Francisco flower mart and from markets and farms in the Bay area.

VZ:  You have a knack for creating arrangements that are wild and free.  What are you going for?  
SC:  We love natural looking arrangements- like they are growing out of the vase.

VZ:  What are the best blooms for spring?
SC:  There are so many!  Lilac and dogwood are just a couple.

VZ:  What is your favorite season?  What are your favorite flowers that bloom then?
SC:  Spring is definitely a favorite for the petite blooms like muscari and lily of the valley.  Honeysuckle in summer and tree peonies are the new late fall fave.  They are coming in colors this year that we have never seen!

VZ:  How did you come up with the name Studio Choo?
SC:  Choo is our nickname for each other – as in when we call on the phone we way, hi choo, it’s choo.  We wanted a name that wasn’t floral and fancy and it just seemed right.

VZ:  Best and worst thing about working with flowers?
SC:  The best and worst thing is their fleeting lifespan!  We love seeing the opening and aging process that blossoms grow through, but dealing with perishable goods can be tricky for cash flow.

VZ:  Can you talk about your love of seasonal flowers?
SC:  We love working with seasonal flowers because they are usually inexpensive and great quality.  The time from the farm to our shop is much shorter for local flowers and fresh is best!
 
VZ:  How important is the internet to a floral business that is brick & mortar?
SC:  The internet has been immensely helpful in growing out business – we have been really lucky to get early support from many design blogs.  Lots of people have found us through our design*sponge column which has led to tons of great projects in other media.  We never dreamed that when we started the business out of Jill’s kitchen less than two years ago we would be where we are today!

VZ:  Can you give any tips for a budding floral designer?
SC:  Be prepared to work very, very hard.  Being a florist is no 9-5.  Sometimes we get up super early to get flowers from the market and stay up too late making bouquets for the next day’s wedding.  Time management might be the most important floral skill we ever learned.

Links:

Studio Choo
Design*Sponge

You’ve heard the saying “music to my ears,” but as a listener rather than a musician, how can you make the experience your own? Luckily for you, we’re taking a look at some of the newest music gadgets created specifically for your rocking-out pleasure.

chicBuds chicBoom speakers ($24.95; chicbuds.com)
The biggest advantage of today’s music-related technology the ability to make music portable—but what if you want to share your tunes with friends while out and about? Enter the chicBoom keychain speaker: This little powerhouse was created by women-owned chicBuds and gives you the chance to blast your music from your keychain. Plus, it’s rechargeable and universal, so you never have to guess if your MP3 player of choice is compatible.

Uncommon Cases ($39.95; getuncommon.com)
Customizing your musical gadget with your own style could not be any easier than it is with cases from Uncommon. Choose from one among hundreds of their artwork collections—or upload your own photo and create a one-of-a-kind case. It’s the best of both worlds: styles that are all your own and great protection for your iPod Touch, the iPhone 3G/3GS, and the iPhone 4.

Monster Cable Heartbeats ($119.95; monstercable.com)
You can’t listen to music at full volume all the time—or can you? Monster Cable makes some of the best ear buds on the market, including the stylish Heartbeats by Lady Gaga. All Monster Cable headphones are made with their super-durable and tangle-free cords to ensure that you’re never stuck unraveling when you should be listening.

Griffin AirCurve ($19.99; griffintechnology.com)
Music was made to be played loud, so turn it up without needing power. The Griffin AirCurve is a gadget designed to amplify sound for your iPhone 3G/3GS and the iPhone 4 without batteries or an outlet. Its size and design make it both environmentally friendly and easy to take with you just about anywhere you need a little extra amp.

There is an overwhelming allure to the adorable obsessions that Springfield, Missouri-based blogger and boutique owner, Elsie Flannigan, publishes throughout her lifestyle blog, A Beautiful Mess.

Poised and pretty, creative and confident, Flannigan—multiple times a day—premieres fun-loving posts proclaiming her current rendezvous with arts and crafts, vintage dresses, bubble tea, falafel, in-home teepees and her costume-wearing pug, Suki.

Hitting the internet waves in 2007, A Beautiful Mess has documented the now-full-time designer, fashion fiend, self-taught painter and eager entrepreneur as she sought-out to jumpstart her daring dream of operating her own business, which, as of November 2010, reopened in her home town in a space that was once a classic vintage shop she frequented since junior high.

Revealing that the blog's title was conceptualized from what she finds comforting—a messy studio, the dedicated updater suggests that at any time you may find attractive piles of her messes everywhere, whether it is clothes or it is art. “I post pictures of my messes,” she laughs.

Working independently for the last 3 years, Flannigan adores blogging about her business and her creative life. “It has helped me stay goal-oriented and develop a network of people who are always sharing and encouraging,” she says.

Recently celebrating her 28th birthday, the celebrator of homemade couture first began her handmade adventure, now continued under her marvelous moniker, Red Velvet, almost ten years prior, with her sister, Emma, and close friend, Rachel Denbow.

Exploring experiments in fashion-forward trends, the small collective inspired the artsy crusader that she was capable of setting up her own shop, stitching together her love for combing vintage shops for handpicked pleasures, designing outfit-enhancing accessories, and zesting up an interior space with pizazz and originality.

Bred in the Mid-West, which she suggests is the perfect place for antique finds, A Beautiful Mess has encouraged motivated readers to seek out their own success stories like the driven and darling blogger, as well as take trips to her fairly new space, even from out-of-state.

“Every few days people come from other states to Red Velvet,” she says. “It is really special meeting these people, actually some of my bridesmaids are people I have met through blogging.”

As a brand-new bride-to-be (plans are in the works for a May or June wedding) to singer/songwriter Jeremy Larson (and, yes—the tear-jerking details are on the web), A Beautiful Mess has spread to new dewy depths, even spinning off into a second blog, Le Wedding Party, which steeps in similar do-it-yourself mentalities, this time featuring the gifted gal's new wedding collection, both vintage and handmade.

The tempting step-back-in-time wardrobe wonders, both seen on the A Beautiful Mess and Le Wedding Party blogs, can quickly be fetched in from the Mad Men-inspired set-up of Elsie Flannigan's Red Velvet, and she wouldn't trot such a name without nestling a heavenly baked good haven, too, inside its interior.

“I wanted to open a store that was a place where people could sit down and have a girls' date,” she says. “I've been blogging through the years that my business developed and I am really pleased that in just my first month, we have been busy all the time.”

Link: A Beautiful Mess

Blame It On the Tetons Modest Mouse

Fake Empire The National

Our Swords Band of Horses

Tear the Room Apart Favourite Sons

My Only Friend Deadsy

Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down Interpol

All This Time Heartless Bastards

She's a Jar Wilco

Have an awesome playlist? Send it to us at
playlists@womenshealthmag.com.

Even if you love your job, spending 40-plus hours at a desk every week can sometimes lead to more than just a headache; it can also be a pain in the neck, shoulders, back, feet, and eyes. Being chained to your desk starves your extremities of blood, oxygen, and other fluids, resulting in tight muscles and stiff joints. But before reaching for the industrial-size bottle of ibuprofen, try these poses from Karin Wiedemann, yoga instructor and director of Urban Yoga in Washington, D.C. She suggests spending 3 minutes every 2 hours doing the following moves to relieve some tension.

The pain: Wrists and hands

The cause: "Typing is a very repetitive motion, and we do it for hours," Wiedemann says. On top of that, we hold our hands in a very tense position, so the muscles get stiff and blood doesn't circulate as well (as evidenced by how chilly your hands can get even in summer.)

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Carnitas or fish tacos? Choices are hard—especially if hard is how you want your abs. And while there's no doubt that yoga has some serious abs strengtheners in its arsenal, we have to concede that Pilates picks up the point for variety and depth in the core category.

Fret no longer, ab-envying yoginis.You can now have your six pack abs and eat up your sweet savasana, too. "One time I went to a yoga session after Pilates—and everything was so much easier," says Jonathan Urla, instructor at The Sports Club/LA in New York City. "That's when a lightbulb went off in my head. I needed to put the two together."

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Want to get your horn dog into a down dog? Unfortunately it seems a lot of guys aren't any more enthused about going to yoga than they are about going to the latest Paul Rudd movie. "You won't see many guys in yoga because they don't feel comfortable letting go of control," says Charles Matkin, who owns Matkin Yoga in New York City. "They want to be macho and punch things." But he explains that even—or perhaps especially—macho men can learn a thing or two on the mat that they can use on the mattress.

"Sex is primal," Matkin says. "You have to be okay with being dominant and submissive." He says that men's abilities in bed are also limited by back pain and overall muscle tension—two other problems yoga addresses. Men of the obviously-I'm-a-sex-god mindset may not realize just how tight their lower back and hips are from sports and sitting, or that that stiffness could possibly impact their performance. A mat quickie can correct it.

Why He'll Be Interested

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Workout Playlist plan Up-tempo tunes

Why it works It's not because all spin instructors are ecstasy-loving club kids in disguise. It's because fast music inspires you to move. A 2007 study at Brunel University in London found that runners on a treadmill were more productive when they matched their stride to music with a tempo of 120 to 140 beats per minute (aka bpm--for the average music buff, that's the number of times you tap your foot to a song in one minute).

How does this translate to spin class? According to a study by Costas Karageorghis, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in sports psychology at Brunel, you'll work up to 7 percent harder while grooving to music synched to your pedal stroke and not feel any more fatigued. To get the most pedal power from your playlist, Karageorghis recommends songs around 120 bpm for medium to high levels of exertion (when you can speak in spurts of three or four words). When it's time to raise the intensity, bump up your soundtrack to 140.

People Are People Depeche Mode

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Make the Women's Health Personal Trainer the last trainer you'll ever need. Our all-new, genius free online diet tool will create a daily plan based on your profile--calculate your BMI, current fitness level, goals, and other personal info.

We’ll map out your ideal fat-burning strategy with recipes, nutrition info, and a kick-ass, customized workout plan.

It's as easy as 1-2-3...

1. Customized Workouts:
Choose workouts created specifically for your weight loss and fitness
goals and lifestyle. Lots of alternate exercises let you mix it up. Work
out smarter as the system learns more about you and tailors workouts
for maximum effectiveness.

2. Personalized Diet Plans
Pick the meal plan that fits your personality and lifestyle. Personal
Trainer will create daily menus customized just for you. Hate broccoli?
Easily tailor the menus to your personal tastes.

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We've put together 40 recipes that use 10 main ingredients. Meals just got a whole lot easier!

These foods are easy to find: just about every grocery store keeps them on hand all year long; they're easy to use--in fact, they're as close to ready-to-eat as you can get without ordering takeout; and they're easy to love because they taste delicious together.

The best part? You can print the entire list to take wherever you go.

Learn more about the list.

Everyone has had an experience like this one: You're running late for an important meeting, frantically tearing apart the house on a desperate search for the car keys you just put down...somewhere. Or at the other extreme, you spent weeks freaking out over an upcoming presentation only to deliver all the key points with Oscar-accepting eloquence when the day arrives.

So what is it that makes a person either go completely blank or perform brilliantly on simple tasks involving memory when feeling stressed?

The answer is complicated, and the best doctors out there are finally teasing out some of the bigger mysteries behind how that three-pound mass of electrochemical soup remembers, or forgets, where the damn keys are. An old adage says a little stress is good for memory, and a lot is bad—but it turns out to be true only for men. New research suggests that gender matters when it comes to memory and stress, whether that stress is acute, chronic, or traumatic.

Acute Stress

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The following plan isn’t merely a weight-loss program designed to help you peel off any extra pounds that are standing between the now-you and the new-you (though it will absolutely accomplish that).

No, this plan will do much, much more by changing how you even think about food. It’s the brainchild of Women’s Health nutrition advisor Keri Glassman, MS,RD. Glassman, who’s my own nutrition guru, is all about treating the body to things that are good for it. To that end, the LBN diet is healthfully hedonistic.

Because Glassman has incorporated all sorts of dietary luxuries, your tastebuds should do a little happy dance at every meal. You’ll eat cheese, nuts, waffles, pork, avocado, and peanut butter—and you’ll even have a go-to signature cocktail for when you’re out with friends!

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Misty Gauthier, 26
Bank-teller supervisor, Hudson Falls, NY

Before: 236 lbs
After: 146 lbs

Despite a family history of type 2 diabetes, Misty Gauthier, 5'5", ignored her growing waistline for most of her life. Exercise seemed like torture, and it was easier to grab takeout than cook for herself. In fact, it wasn't unusual for her to eat out at every meal—a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on her morning commute, junky catered work lunches, and slices of pizza for dinner. She gained 60 pounds over the course of four years, reaching a high of 236.

The Change
When Misty visited her ob-gyn in February 2009, the doctor suggested testing her blood sugar levels—and the test revealed she was prediabetic. "I didn't want to have to take pills or give myself a shot every day for the rest of my life. I was only 23. It scared me and made me kind of mad at myself," she says. Determined to avoid diabetes and its complications, she took control of the scale.

The Lifestyle

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