Savvy Saving Bytes

Yes, I know, my apartment ceiling in this 100-year-old brownstone exploded one night and crashed to the floor in a thunderous cloud of gray plaster dust. And yes, it was scary. And yes, it was a pain setting up camp in a nearby hotel for nine days while the joint was repaired. BUT the fact remains [...]

When it come to Christmas sparkle, New York City is top star. Up and down the avenues trees are sheathed in blue, gold and silver lights. Fifth Avenue blazes with fabulously conceived store windows and decorations. Pictured here from top to bottom: Normally a conservative player on the Christmas scene,  jeweler Harry Winston illuminated his building [...]

Every time I turned around last week, there was another bride sailing into Central Park trailed by one, two or even three wedding photographers. Here, the bridal party poses in front of Bethesda Fountain with its brilliant backdrop of autumn foliage. This practical bride is wearing a warm jacket, unlike all the others I saw [...]

In a few days NYC residents will start piling out of their apartments, heading for beaches, mountains and country shindigs for the last long weekend of summer. The Streets will soon be blissfully quiet. On Labor Day you’ll be able to look up and down the Avenues and count the cars on a single hand. [...]

This is an updated repost from early blog days when my biggest readers were frequently bots. When I was an illustrator, one of my models, looking as usual like a million bucks, told me that she usually shopped for clothes in thrift shops. With that knockout recommendation, I finally ventured into a Goodwill thrift store [...]

Like many New Yorkers, I’ll stand in long lines patiently waiting to buy food in only one food market and that’s Trader Joe’s. Why? What does Trader Joe’s have that countless other food stores don’t have? And what can that master food merchant teach us about presenting our own products, services or even ourselves to [...]