Stacy Horn

I read this article in the Times and immediately laid in a supply of B12. “A B12 deficiency can creep up without warning and cause a host of confusing symptoms that are likely to be misdiagnosed or ascribed to aging … [such as] muscle weakness, fatigue, shakiness, unsteady gait, incontinence, low blood pressure, depression and other mood disorders, and cognitive problems like poor memory.”

Anything having to do with memory always gets my attention. For instance, I don’t know how many times I’ve consulted my camera manual to learn how to do something and then I forget. The other night I was trying to get a picture of Grace Church and a Christmas tree and I couldn’t remember how to do this manually to get the shot I wanted. Resulting in this. I couldn’t figure out how to retain the sparkling lights on the tree.

I have to go back to the manual and re-read a section I have probably already read a billion times. I retain nothing!

NO. Can’t we just, well, make them stay? I read the bad news that the actress who plays Amy Pond, Karen Gillan, is leaving Dr. Who, and that Arthur Darvill, who plays her husband Rory, will also be written out. Why oh why must the things I love change?? Oh, Darvill is also a composer I see. Interesting. Anyway, I loved the chemistry between the three characters, this is killing me. Sob.

I was walking around, enjoying the Christmas decorations, when I saw this very simple and original display in a window on 11th Street. To me it says: “Here I am! Hurry up, Santa! Don’t forget me! Here’s a candle so you don’t get lost, because I’m totally afraid that happens!”

Or, more concisely: “Mine, mine, mine!”

Of course I’d need an occasion to wear a gown, which has never come up in my life ever, but still. It would be nice. The silver gown is Alexander McQueen, the black one is … oh Jesus, I didn’t get the name of the shop. Someone well known I’m sure, it’s beautiful. It’s also the one I think would be more flattering on.

Both of these are in windows on 14th Street, a few blocks away from where I live. This is what I have to contend with. The truth is I love looking in the windows and don’t actually long to own what I see (except for some of the things I see in Cynthia Rowley’s window) so it’s not like I’m walking by like the Little Match Girl.

I was just asked for feedback about the Bumble & Bumble University Model Project, and what is there to say really? You get your hair either colored or cut or styled for free. It’s as win/win as it gets. The “students” are actually all working stylists who go there to learn a new technique, (as far as I was able to tell) and every move they make is watched.

Well, I just learned that for everyone I refer to the Model Project I get $10 off a product and so does the person I referred and there is no limit to how much credit you can rack up.

If you live in New York there is no earthly reason not to do this. I’ve tried everything, getting my hair cut, I recently got it colored, and last week I got it styled, and each time I walked out of there happy as hell. You can keep going back all year, (I’ve already booked my next coloring appointment) and they estimate people like me save $800 a year in salon costs.

So if you’re in New York, email the Model Project and say Stacy Horn sent you!

Santa Girl up by Lincoln Center.

This article at The Nation freaked me out. There is a big plan (called the CLP, Central Library Plan) to change the 42nd Street research library, one of my favorite places in New York. From the article:

“The centerpiece of the CLP … is the construction of a state-of-the-art, computer-oriented library designed by British architect Norman Foster, in the vast interior of the Schwarzman Building. To make space for this library within the library, the seven levels of original stacks beneath the third-floor Rose Reading Room—stacks that hold 3 million books and tens of thousands of adjustable and fixed shelves—will be demolished (the exterior of the building is landmarked; the stacks are not). When the new library is completed, patrons will be able to leave the building with borrowed books and other materials; for decades, those materials had to be used inside the library.”

I agree libraries need to change and the more materials that are digitized and made available online the better, but this plan is all over the place. For instance, I don’t quite understand why this needs to be both a research and lending library. Why can’t it be made an even better research library? They’re closing some collections down, moving a lot of books offsite, which I can live with, but there’s not a lot of specifics about what we’re getting in return.

I decorated! As usual I decorated the bookshelf next to my desk and that’s probably it for me.