Debra Pickett

It's still there: beliefnet.com's Belief-o-Matic, an easy online quiz that can point you in the right spiritual direction.

When I tried it last year, I came out Buddhist. This year, oddly, I seem to be leaning Unitarian.

Posted by Debra Pickett at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Next time you're West Loop-ish, check out the Chicago Chocolate Cafe at 847 W. Randolph.

You can, of course, buy candies there.

But there's also a lovely selection of sandwiches, soups, salads and super-fancy coffee drinks and desserts.

My suggestion: the half sandwich / cup of soup combo (grilled cheese on peppercorn bread; black bean soup), with a Mexican hot chocolate afterwards. Grab the comfy seats by the fireplace if you can, but go easy on the complimentary chocolate covered espresso beans.

Posted by Debra Pickett at 10:52 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

1.) Altoids Chewing Gum - cinnamon flavor. It's sugar free, about 2.5 calories per piece, and pleasantly spicy with just a hint of sweetness. If I could find a use for the cute little tins (which do seem sort of wasteful), I'd be over the moon.

2.) Delphi's MyFi portable satellite radio. Maybe it's a little arrogant to endorse a gift that I, nominally, gave to someone else. (OK, I gave it to my husband, but largely because I really wanted to be able to listen to the BBC. The other channels are for him.) But this little thing totally rocks. You get like a million radio channels with no commercials. Or even pledge breaks. You can use it like a walkman or in the car. And with the docking station/speaker deal you can get at Sharper Image, you can listen to it like a stereo. Last night, we listened to stand up comedy routines while cleaning up our shared home office. (Note: this is the network that has Bob Edwards, not Howard Stern.)

Posted by Debra Pickett at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

1. Silk Nog.

I know the concept of fake, soy-based egg nog is a hard one to embrace. But, seriously, people, this stuff is ridiculously good. It takes exactly like egg nog, but without that strange, heart attack-y feeling you sometimes get when you drink too much of the real stuff.

2. Hipster tights by Hue.

I bought them at Nordstrom, but they might be available at other department stores as well. These are tights that are cut to be wearable under low rise waists and it's amazing it took this long for someone to invent them. I'm wearing them under jeans as a sort of almost long underwear layer and they're keeping me quite cozy. Not terribly useful for guys, I know, but oh well.

Posted by Debra Pickett at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)