http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/ All Lifestyle en-us Copyright 2009, post-gazette.com. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 16:58:20 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011689-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml IN 2002, Doug Smith was bored. Korakia Pensione, his Mediterranean-style boutique hotel in Palm Springs, Calif., that attracted a celebrity crowd like Annie Leibovitz, Gore Vidal and Brice Marden, pretty much ran itself. Mr. Smith was looking for a new project -- a grand fixer-upper in an exotic locale -- where he could show off his well-honed style and settle into a life of rustic ease with his new wife, Josie. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011690-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml NASHVILLE isn't nicknamed Music City for nothing. Singers, songwriters and pickers -- not to mention their toe-tapping admirers -- have been pouring into the Tennessee capital for decades. Yes, the city's rhinestone-studded past still glimmers, especially downtown, where you'll find Hatch Show Print, the legendary poster shop, Ryman Auditorium, home to the original Grand Ole Opry stage, and a slew of honky-tonk joints. But there's more to Nashville than country music, especially in the once-sleepy neighborh Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011691-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml FOR many Americans, the fear of swine flu has made everyday acts like going to work, going to school or getting on a plane feel fraught with danger -- even more so since President Obama recently declared swine flu a national emergency. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011692-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml BY now, most high school dress codes have just about done away with the guesswork. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011693-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml SEVERAL years ago, as Labor Day approached and parents nationwide began that end-of-summer ritual I know all too well -- packing the children off to college -- I found myself facing a new and particularly fraught task: preparing to return my son not to college but to war, to the mountain passes northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011694-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml FIVE days a week, Michael Kiernan, 50, a computer network administrator, makes the 90-minute commute home from the Bronx County Courthouse, where he works, to suburban Long Beach on Long Island. Like a lot of New Yorkers, he has it down to a science. He leaves work at 4:45, walk-jogs across 161st Street, then hurries into the subway, where he gets into the first car on the D train. He stands by the door, riding two stops to 145th Street, then races up the stairs for the A train, a downtown express. Again he Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011695-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml RAPUNZEL has nothing on Avery, a 10-inch injection-molded mall princess whose flaxen hair cascades to her knees. Rapunzel might also have envied Avery's smart wardrobe and her arsenal of styling tools, from thumb-size lip gloss to a tiny curling iron. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011696-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml JAY-Z started spreadin' the news in September, and since then he has taken every prominent opportunity to remind us: he has a candidate for a new New York anthem, and he wants our votes. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1003472-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml We motored the Zodiac into Kealakekua Bay around noon, the sun shining off what I'd been looking for: The Captain Cook monument, its ivory surface and vertical shape sharply contrasting the green foliage background. ... Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1010492-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml McLEAN, Va. -- Winter Trails will celebrate its 15th year Jan. 9 at locations throughout the U.S. with free snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. ... Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1010962-30.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml No one knows what the future holds for you, your family, your job or your finances. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011116-30.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Built around 1910, this Tudor-style stone house at 509 Clearview Ave. in Crafton boasts five bedrooms and two baths. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011120-28.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Real estate news in brief. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011400-62.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Have you ever lost money playing slot machines at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino? A small percentage of your losses are going to help homeless dogs and cats, if that makes you feel any better. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011401-113.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Holy pumpkins, it's almost time to turn the rain barrel cylinder from "collect" to "bypass." Such a simple act, yet so difficult -- another acquiescence to the cold. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011403-30.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml When home is where the view is, the heart will surely follow. That's how it happened for Judith and Steve Thomas. Leaving the land of sun and celebrity, Los Angeles, for Pittsburgh's variable weather and rabid Steeler fans wasn't as difficult as some might imagine. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011423-30.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Home & Garden notes: A free seminar on "green" initiatives in home building is scheduled today from 9:45 a.m. to noon at the Crown Plaza Hotel on Fort Couch Road in Bethel Park, by South Hills Village. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09311/1011443-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Q. We have a rather large pampas grass plant. What is the best way to reduce its size? In the past I have split it and given pieces away to be replanted by others. Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011391-407.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law today, giving tax incentives to prospective home buyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:19:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011328-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Marietta, Ohio -- A DEEP current of history runs through this quiet town of 15,000 nestled in the arms of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. Indians first left their mark here, in great earthen burial mounds. Then, as the first chartered city in the Northwest Territory, Marietta felt the nation's initial footprints as it strode west. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011329-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WESTPORT, Mass. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1001709-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml I'm in my seat in a dim Amtrak car, beside an aromatic guy and in front of a woman who speaks so loudly into her cell phone that she must assume everyone is interested in her conversation. ... Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1004251-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml BERLIN -- The modern skyscrapers of Potsdamer Platz glisten in the sun. Stylish Berliners sip coffee in swanky sidewalk cafes. ... Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1010491-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A new walking tour is being offered in Charleston based on places featured in the new Pat Conroy best-seller "South of Broad." ... Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011186-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml If you haven't visited or driven by the Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore lately, you might be surprised to see a large red building going up right next to it. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011299-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml For fans in the stands, the circus is two popcorn-scented hours of acrobats and animal acts, clowns and contortionists and trapeze artists and trick ponies. Fri, 6 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011123-407.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WASHINGTON -- The White House says President Barack Obama tomorrow morning will sign a bill that expands a popular home buyers tax credit and extends unemployment benefits. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:11:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1011121-68.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WASHINGTON -- Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced today. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:08:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010828-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml ? Where: 100 Settlers Ridge Drive, off the Parkway West. ? Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:31:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1001707-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml MARRAKECH, Morocco -- Winston Churchill invited Franklin Roosevelt here to relax following strategic talks during World War II, and Alfred Hitchcock shot some of "The Man Who Knew Too Much " in the hotel's lobby -- which has also been a haunt of the Rolling Stones, Charlie Chaplin, Sharon Stone and many other Hollywood stars for nearly a century. ... Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010490-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml DENVER -- Ski.com has come up with a list of what it calls the '10 most affordable ski resorts', including Whistler-Blackcomb, site of the Winter Olympics. ... Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010813-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Video game reviews. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010831-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml As Pittsburgh celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1908, Hall of Famer and former Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss bought land to build Forbes Field, the world's first triple-tiered steel and Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010832-115.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml NASA spacecraft are measuring record-high levels of cosmic rays, a side effect of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010684-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml YEARS ago, my clique habituated a Lower East Side restaurant called Hat (translated from El Sombrero for N.Y.C. natives). The enchiladas were O.K.; the main attractions were the cheap margaritas, the salsa jukebox and the nervy, unreasonable mood of the place, largely delivered by the indifferent goth waitress who always wore an enormous black turban. Hat was an oasis of counterculture that soothed feelings of general alienation and dismay by ramping them up a bit, into a pleasingly marginal sense of being Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010685-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml A FEW months ago, my daughter Zoe came home from college and showed me a little word game she was playing on her iPhone. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010686-314.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml EVEN on a bike, Mark-Paul Gosselaar can't always ride away from his résumé. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010688-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml COOLER temperatures often drive people indoors, but not everyone is disappointed by the change of seasons. Douglas Wright, an architect with Hart Howerton, a firm based in New York and San Francisco, said many of his male clients look forward to hibernating in "man caves" -- cozy, masculine dens where they can pursue interests like spectator sports, woodworking or billiards. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1001698-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml NEW ORLEANS -- With the glow from nine crystal chandeliers reflected in the gleaming marble-and-mosaic floor of its block-long lobby, the reopening of the historic Roosevelt Hotel puts a glittering exclamation mark on the comeback of New Orleans. ... Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010488-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml ORLANDO, Fla. -- Why does Orlando make you smile? Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010532-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml The Post-Gazette each year spotlights charity holiday cards offered by local organizations to raise money for good causes. The Magazine section will run that collection on Nov. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500