The Three Tomatoes Book Club Blog

Water for Elephants Week One Discussion

2008-01-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

Did the chapters about the nursing home change how you think about older people? In what ways are the doctors and nurses condescending? How is Rosemary different? How do you treat older people?

A Bus Tale and the Bronx Zoo

2007-06-27T14:17:00.000-04:00

On a recent Friday morning, The Three Tomatoes hopped on the bus at Madison and 54th Street where we were heading for a rendezvous at the Bronx Zoo with three very special little people. We got on the empty bus, which stayed empty all the way to the zoo, and in a New York minute we were soon deep into a conversation with our Irish bus driver from the Bronx, who’s been driving professionally for twenty-seven years.

The Pulse of the City

Our conversation started with our bus driver explaining Bloomberg’s plan to charge people who drive in the City in prime time hours. A plan which he agrees with and actually helped us understand for the first time, we might add. We then asked him if he thought the Mayor would run for president, which led to us into a conversation about our former Mayor Rudy, as a candidate. His take was any Mayor who wanted to shut down the food cart vendors because he once got diarrhea from a hot dog stand, and then went after the cab companies because he once sat on gum in the back seat of a cab, doesn’t have the temperament to become president. He did like the fact that when Rudy was being questioned by the press about his then girlfriend, and now wife ( who was his girlfriend when there was a previous wife), he basically told them it was none of their business. And he went on to defend Clinton and the Monica mess too. As he said, who wouldn’t have lied with their wife and daughter standing there? And if he, Mr. Bus Driver, had an affair, would that mean he couldn’t drive a bus? And then he said, “I’m going to vote for the Democrats”, and when we asked which one, he said Hillary because “she’s for the people.” And how so we asked? At which point his story began to unfold.

Marrying an “Illegal”

You see, in 2004 Mr. Bus Driver married a lovely woman from Guatemala whom he met and fell in love with a year or so before, fully aware of her background. In 1994, at the age of 18, she got to the U.S. via a canoe to Mexico, and from Mexico across desert and other travails before she found her way to New York in search of a better life. She spoke not a word of English, but did manage to obtain a three year work visa. She worked menial jobs while learning the language. In 1997, the U.S. government would not renew her visa, so rather than return to her dangerous country, where it was impossible to eek out a living, she did what so many aliens before her have done, she just stayed. She went on to get honors in English as a second language from Hunter College, and then got her GED, which she passed with flying colors in English and then learned word processing and other computer skills. She supported herself and ultimately met Mr. Bus driver. They fell in love, and were married by a New York State Judge in a courthouse ceremony.

The Deportation

A year later, in 2005, immigration authorities showed up at Mr. Bus Driver’s place of work and hauled him into court on charges of “harboring an illegal.” A charge that was quickly dismissed by the judge who said, he was harboring his wife. To which immigration argued that his marriage should be nullified because he knew he was marrying an “overstay.” To which the Judge explained that another NY State judge had married them, and that was that. However, his wife was immediately deported to Guatemala. Mr. Bus Driver bought her a house there so she’d be somewhat safe and he makes trips there as often as he can afford them. He has been robbed at machine gun point of all his money and his wedding ring while visiting, by the way. In the meantime, he paid her “overstay fine” which was $8,000, taxes on her wages, and $12,000 to an attorney to help him with the paper work to attempt to get her back. And only because as he said later to a judge, the paperwork might as well have been in Japanese.

A Happy Ending

His attempts to get her back in the U.S. were going no where. He even attempted to find the Homeland Security office at their P.O. Box in Vermont, hoping to plead his case in person -- driving there to find out there is no building or office. Then one day he sat down and wrote a letter which, in his words “would make the devil cry”, to Hillary Clinton and sent along all the paper work showing his efforts to get his wife back. Two months went by and he heard nothing. He then walked into her Third Avenue office and told the receptionist he was opening a new deli and could he have the fax machine number to send the menus. He then proceeded to fax all 780 pages of documentation to Hillary’s office. Very shortly after that he received notification from Homeland Security for an interview. He brought all the numerous items they asked for, but was unable to comply with one key request -- he was supposed to bring his wife along to the interview. Is this sounding like Catch 22? He finally got before a judge to plead his case, and just as we got to the parking lot of the Bronx Zoo, he told us his wife is getting her green card, and “they” will be flying her back to the U.S., first class, on October 2nd , two years after her deportation. While neither Hillary, nor her office has ever contacted him directly, he credits her with getting his wife back.

We wished him well, and headed to the zoo

We left the bus, realizing we didn’t even know this man’s name. And all through the day, as we walked through the beautiful wooded pathways of the Bronx Zoo, visited the Gorillas who are now free, while we people are caged in a glass room looking out on them, explored the fantastic Butterfly Gardens, and laughed and giggled with the three precious ones, his story stayed with us.

Here’s to happy endings.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved

A mighty night with Angie and Brad

2007-06-24T12:47:00.001-04:00

The Three Tomatoes meet the Red Carpet

We know there are some of you who do not live in New York City, who think those of us who do, have these glamour-filled evenings of art, museum, theater, and new restaurant openings. And we’re sure there are those among us who do have those glam evenings routinely, but a typical week night for The Three Tomatoes will often find us ordering up dinner from our favorite Chinese or other neighborhood food establishment, watching a little Law & Order, and asleep by 10 PM. But not last week! Thanks to a tomato with lots of juice, The Three Tomatoes attended the red carpet premier of A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie and produced by Brad Pitt. And we attended the star-studded after party too! So, for those of you who aren’t routinely hanging out on the red carpet, here’s the inside scoop which we’re bursting to share.

The Red Carpet and Brad’s Mom

We arrived at the magnificent Ziegfield Theater last Wednesday evening to a paparazzi and fan frenzy with police barricades everywhere. But our magic tickets got us through the police barricades and into the action where celebrities and such (we would be “the such”), were walking the red carpet, congratulating Brad and Angie and moving on into the theater. Now The Three Tomatoes were totally ready to strut our stuff down the red carpet, but our tomato pal with juice, was somewhat reticent (next time we’ll ply her with martinis first) . So we entered at the end of the red carpet where we stood trying to get a glimpse of “Brangelina”, but there was a woman blocking our view. She turned slightly, which was when we realized it was Brad’s Mom, (don’t ask us how we know this stuff, we just do), which was confirmed a few minutes later when Brad approached to give Mom a big hug and we found ourselves two feet from Adonis himself. It should be illegal to be that good looking. And unlike a lot of these great looking screen idols who are short in real life, Brad is not one of them. He is 6’ of total, take your breath away good looks. (Yes, we know we’re sounding like teenage girls, but we can’t help it.) Then we moved into the lobby where we waited to see Brad and Angie come through, and then out of the range of photographers they took each others hands and walked into the theater. (Everybody say ah!) Yes, she is painfully thin (we didn’t have arms that small when we were five), but she is ethereally beautiful. We then preceded upstairs to get our popcorn, finding ourselves right behind Brad’s Mom once again. She is very attractive (Brad looks like her), but not in an LA way, but in an attractive mid-west “tomato” way, dressed inconspicuously in black slacks (a double digit size), low heels, and a silk patterned jacket. Which brings us to what we wore that night, which was of course, your basic black, wear it anywhere dress. But as we said to everyone else who asked, trust us, no one was looking at us!

The Movie

Yes we know the evening was supposed to be all about the movie, A Mighty Heart, which is based on the book of the kidnapping and murder of Wall St. Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl by his wife, Mariane Pearl, but in terms of the entire evening, it was kind of the appetizer. That said, it is actually a very gripping movie. Angelina literally morphed herself into Mariane Pearl and you live through her terror of the five days starting with her husband’s kidnapping. And in spite of knowing the outcome, you find yourself wishing for his safe return. It’s high suspense, but at times moves so quickly that it’s difficult to follow, but then we might have been a tad distracted. Powerful movie, powerful message. But enough about the movie, onto the after party.

We’re just so uncool

Okay, so on our way out of the theater, we paused to gawk at Edie Falco who was waiting for her limo in the front of the theater. She’s smaller, and much younger looking in person. And no, we didn’t discuss the Soparanos’ ending with her, but we were tempted to tell her most tomatoes picked her character to share a pasta dinner. But instead we went onto the fabulous Metropolitan Club on 60th and Fifth, a premiere New York City landmark. Commissioned by JP Morgan and designed by Stanford White, it was built in 1894 when Fifth Avenue was populated with enormous private mansions. It was built at a cost of almost $2 million on property purchased from an American Duchess of Marlborough. In today’s dollars that translates to about $40 million, assuming you could find artisan’s to replicate it. The perfect venue for Hollywood’s hottest couple.

So, in we waltzed (or should we say floated nearly) into the marbled main foyer where ever third or fourth person was a face you know from the big screen or the TV screen. We made our way into the main dining room, which had tables reserved for the super VIP’s, although everyone could stroll through and help themselves to the bars and buffets. And there at a large reserved table in the center of the room, all alone, was Brad’s Mom, yet again. We resisted the urge to ask her about all those grand kids and sign her up for The Three Tomatoes (too few martinis, at least at that point). Which by the way were great, as we assume was the food, but we were just too busy star gazing to eat. And then we roamed into the third room that had red velvet couches, draped with starlets and aging actors, more bars, and more food and then back to the center foyer. And there, standing in the middle of the grand staircase was Brad, in all his Adonis- ness. And Angie was surrounded in the main foyer by crowds of well wishers.

So we strolled from room to room, trying to act oh so cool, while whispering and nudging each other every time we saw a new sighting - like, oh my gosh, it’s Ed Norton, it’s Brian Williams, oh there’s Judd Hirsch, and that Jeremy guy from Entourage, oh and what’s her name. We were definitely 16 all over again until the next morning when we were reminded by our foggy brains, and slow moving bodies how late 1PM and late night martinis really feel at this age.

So, tomatoes that was our little Cinderella moment. We’re back to Chinese take out, Law & Order reruns, and 10 PM bedtimes, at least for this week.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Is that all there is? The Sopranos Finale

2007-06-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

The Sopranos, Peggy Lee, Gone with the Wind, and Casablanca

The Three Tomatoes have always hated that Peggy Lee song, “Is that all there is?” It’s always seemed depressing and dismissive which sums up fairly well how we felt about the series ending episode of the Sopranos. Is that all there is? Well maybe it is -- you whack your competitor, meet with your lawyer, wait for the other Feds shoe to drop, blame your mother, and then meet your dysfunctional family for pizza with “ Believe” playing in the background. “And how was your day dear?” We hated the ending almost as much as the Peggy Lee song. Now we know that not all of you tomatoes out there were Sopranos fans, and some of you actually never saw an episode, so please indulge us in our little tirade here. We promise to never speak of this again.

The thing about endings

Now it’s not that we needed a neat little ending all tied up in a bow or bullets, as the case may be. And we’ve never been those kind of Sopranos fans who espoused on all the “layers” of the show. Like, the meaning of the ducks in Tony’s pool; or the bear that kept appearing on his property; or those who compared the human drama to Shakespeare and the like. If we had wanted to go that deep we’d be reading Shakespeare on Sunday nights instead of watching to see who’d get it next. But it wasn’t even one of those open-ended endings that made you glad you didn’t have all the answers. Like in Gone with the Wind ( one of our all time favorite movies ever) when Scarlet finally realizes she loves Rhett and he says “Frankly, my dear I don’t give a damn” and walks out the door, leaving you forever wondering if they get back together. Or the way the end of Casablanca left you wondering who Ilsa really loved, was it Rick or Laszlo and would she ever see Rick again? Those movies had the kind of unresolved endings that left you to your imagination and not wishing for a sequel to ruin it. That would have been a nice feeling on which to end the Sopranos too.

Then there are the resolved endings that made us feel good and satisfied. Like when Carrie finally got her man at the end of Sex and the City. And when Six Feet Under ended the show with a here’s what happened to them all twenty years later. And even the last Seinfeld episode, which at the time seemed kinda dumb, but when we watched it again recently, we thought it was quite clever really.

Our Fantasy Endings

Okay, so here are some other ways the Sopranos could have ended. The obvious of course, the bad guys (or should we say, the other bad guys) go to hit Tony in the diner and hit Meadow instead, and the scene closes with Tony, Carm, and AJ standing over her and you don’t know if she’s dead or not. Or, it’s a year later…AJ returns from Iraq as a war hero, Meadow is defending her father at his racketering trial, and Carm is pleading with Tony to go into a witness protection program, but only if she doesn’t have to give up her Prada handbags. But our favorite ending would have been something like this. Tony gets the call that Phil is done (talk about a really bad hair day). And in the next scene he’s rushing through the door of Dr. Melfi’s office shouting, it’s over, it’s finally over, and they rush into each other’s arms in unbridled passion. Now that would have been an ending.

But as the song goes, “Is that all there is, is that all there is, if that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing, let's break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all there is.” Hmmm….not a bad idea after all.

Well here’s to this week’s ending.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who's the fairest of them all?

2007-06-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Plus other interesting questions to ponder like babies at sixty, hormones, and public bathrooms

Who’s the fairest of them all? Well apparently all of us, because according to last week’s The Three Tomatoes’ Poll, nearly 91% of us think we look younger than our peers. Which is interesting, because for sure some of our peers who know us, took the poll too, which means they actually think they look younger than us! To which we say, “Let Sleeping Beauties Lie.”

Which kind of brings us to an interesting thought to ponder on that whole aging “naturally” thing. If everyone around you is getting Botox and fillers, or plastic surgery (not that there’s anything wrong with that) would you feel pressured to do likewise? And with all the advancements in cosmeceuticals, what will an aging face look like in ten years, if in fact there will be such a thing as an “aging” face? It reminds us of a woman we once met who had the face of a forty year old, but scarily it was on the body of an 80 year old. Maybe there's something to that old less is more adage.

Fooling Mother-Nature

And while we’re on the topic of “fooling mother-nature”, The Three Tomatoes did find it ironic that in the same week a sixty year old woman gave birth to twins, a new drug was announced that will keep younger women from ever having to experience “that time of the month” unless and until they want to procreate (which hopefully will be before they’re sixty.)

Okay, so we know this is going to sound like “if men were supposed to fly, we would have had wings”, but seriously, sixty? Now of course, babies are just adorable, especially when you can hand them back to Mom or Dad. But don’t forget, they grow up into those horrible creatures called teenagers. Can you imagine dealing with teenage kids when you’re in your mid-seventies? Well at least you wouldn’t be able to hear the loud music, or the kids sneaking in and out of the house at all hours. And on the plus side, you’d have someone who could drive you to all your doctor’s appointments – but only of course when they’re not too busy doing other things.

Now, a word to you younger tomatoes about giving up “that time of the month”. Let’s face it, inconvenience aside, this is one of the greatest all time excuses ever. Like, “not tonight honey, it’s that time of the month”. Or, after a major meltdown “yes I know I might have overreacted just a tad, but it was that time of the month.” Or, when you really don’t want to do something, “sorry I can’t make it tonight, I’m feeling a bit off, it’s that time of the month.” Trust us, we older tomatoes know what we’re talking about and these days we just blame those evil twin moments on our hormones, or lack thereof.

And speaking of hormones, the next time we’re complaining that it’s hot, and want to turn on the air conditioner and a tomato husband says “It’s not hot, your thermostat is off”, we will shoot him. Okay, so sometimes we’ve said that in the middle of winter, but just humor us and bundle up! See what we mean about the evil twin thing?

Nature’s Call

Okay, we’ve got a kind of a theme going here, so hopefully this won’t seem like a total non sequitur , but we’ve been meaning to talk about public bathrooms for awhile now. The Three Tomatoes admit it, we have a bit of a phobia about public bathrooms and we’ve developed certain camel like traits to avoid the use of certain bathrooms altogether. Like, we have never used an outside portable—never. We once ran the Revlon Run Walk which ends in Central Park and rather than use the portables, we headed down Fifth in search of a more suitable public restroom which we found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but only after paying the entrance fee first. (It was worth it.) And we’ve actually flown cross country without ever venturing into the airplane bathroom. And don’t you always feel like you’ll be sucked out of the plane when you flush? Oh, and whose idea was unisex bathrooms? We don’t even like sharing bathrooms with our husbands, never mind stranger’s husbands. So imagine our excitement when we found out about TheBathroomDiaries, a web site that rates public bathrooms in cities around the world. Seriously. In fact they even have the “Golden Toilet” awards for the best bathrooms.

Last year for example, Bar 89, in New York City won the “Best Bathroom for Extroverts” award. “The glass doors on the unisex cubicles offer as much privacy as a float at the Macy’s parade. But hook the latch, and the glass becomes opaque. Best of all, these bathrooms are immaculate”, according to their description. We’ll take their word. The Three Tomatoes personal favorites in New York City are the Waldorf lobby bathrooms, Henri Bendel and Bloomingdales.

Well that’s our ponderings for this week.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

The Marriage/Single Survey

2007-05-23T10:55:00.000-04:00

What tomatoes (and guys too) think about marriage, being single, having affairs, PLUS politicos we’d go shoe shopping with

The results are in for The Three Tomatoes first Juice Monitor which reports the results of the surveys and polls that we’ve asked you to participate in, so sit back and read what tomatoes think about various topics -- fun, silly, and sometimes serious. So let’s start with the really important stuff, like who in the political arena you’d rather go shoe shopping with? Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Guiliani, or Judith Nathan Guiliani? Well according to our web site poll last week, Bill’s the one by a long shot with 62% of the votes. Judith got 24% of your votes, and lagging way behind both spouses, was Rudy with 10% of your votes, leaving only 5% of you who’d go shoe shopping with Hillary.
Now here’s a question to ponder: could you vote for a president you wouldn’t shoe shop with? Well like most of you, The Three Tomatoes would definitely shoe shop with Bill Clinton, and of course JFK, and Ronald Regan would have been fun too. And maybe George, Sr. -- he has that cute twinkle in his eyes. Nixon, Johnson, and Carter would have been definite no’s and our current President is too busy vetoing to think about shoes. So maybe we’re on to something?

Married or single, we’re a happy bunch of tomatoes

An amazing 250 tomatoes (and a few tomato guys too) responded to our recent Marriage/Single/Relationship Survey. Here are the highlights:

Only slightly more of us are married: 54% are currently married; 46% are single (and of the singles, 44% have never married)
We’ve divorced more than the national average: 35% of us have been divorced at least once, versus a recent USA Today item that puts the average rate of divorces among every 1000 women at about 17.7%.
We’re a happy bunch, married or single: 79% of marrieds are happy or very happy being married; and 78% of singles are happy or very happy.
We don’t need to be married: While the marrieds are happy, 90% said if we found ourselves single, getting married again would not be that important; and 62% of singles said while being married would be nice if it happened, we’re just fine single.
We’d do it again: 69% of us would marry our spouses again; 22% said maybe; and only 10% said no way. Which correlates with the longevity of our marriages: 55% of us have been married for over 20 years and 20% have been married for 10 to 20 years.
But we’ve thought of undoing it too: 51% of us have considered divorcing our spouses at one time or another.
Is the grass greener? 47% of singles admitted to some times feeling envious of our married friends, versus 20% of marrieds who some times feel envious of our single friends.
Who’s more faithful? 84% of us say we’ve never cheated on our spouses, and 16% have cheated. Yet only 67% could say with certainty that our spouse has never cheated - 13% said yes he has, and 20% aren’t sure .
Would we divorce a cheating spouse? 26% said yes, and 54% said maybe.
If you cheat, don’t tell: 73% say don’t tell your spouse you cheated if you want to stay married.
Other peoples affairs: If our best friend was having an affair 36% of us would warn her of the perils, and 48% would just stay neutral. But if her spouse was cheating on her, 31% would tell her, 39% would not, and then several people were ambivalent. And some shared true stores….like some of you who told your best friend and then she never spoke to you again. Others said you’d confront the cheating spouse.
It’s difficult meeting people: 84% of singles said it is somewhat or very difficult to meet people we’d like to date which is probably why 58% date infrequently.
Where do you meet people? Those who date, meet people through friends (54%), at work or social activities (41%) , and online (40%).
We’re not dating boy toys: 43% date in our age range and 28% usually date people who are older.
What’s the right age to marry? While 70% of us married for the first (or only time) when we were in our twenties, only 18% of us think that’s the ideal age to get married -- majority said thirties or beyond.
Yes, gay marriages should be legalized: at least that’s what 76% of us think.
Sex in the City: While 50% said it’s less important to us now than when we were in our twenties, 32% said it’s actually better now, and 46% said it’s about the same. So if was good then, it’s still good now. And 70% of us think it’s important or very important in having a good relationship.
What would we change? 33% of us said looking back, we would have spent more time and energy on us; 30% said on our marriage/family/relationships; 20% said our career, and the rest have no regrets and felt our balance was just right.

What did the guys say?

Well, honestly our number of male respondents was statistically too small a group to be projectable, but in general they responded the way tomatoes did, with a few interesting differences:

Only 25% of single guys said they meet women on line (vs. 40% of tomatoes.)
40% said being married is more important to them now than when they were in their twenties vs. 20% of tomatoes.
67% said they need a significant other to be happy (vs. only 30% of tomatoes.)
43% said gay marriages should be legalized (vs. 76% of tomatoes)
53% said looking back they would have spent more time on their marriage/family/relationships (vs. 30% of tomatoes.)

If you’d like to see the full survey results, click here.

Thanks to all of you who responded to our survey and keep answering our polls. Now you can find past polls and survey results at the Juice Monitor. And make sure to vote in this week’s poll at our home page. Now aren’t they fun?

So there you have it, ‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Netiquette: What every tomato needs to know but was afraid to ask

2007-05-02T09:45:00.000-04:00

Does this sound familiar? You open up your inbox and are delighted to see emails from friends and family-- until you start opening them. There are several emails sent to you and at least twenty other “best friends” of the sender. You hit delete. Then you start to open more of your emails and find they have been forwarded so many times that it would take a zillion clicks to actually get to the message. You hit delete. Or you get an email for about the 100th time warning you of some dire danger that turns out to be pure myth. You hit delete.

Well if you’re like The Three Tomatoes, you would really like to say something to these well intentioned folks who you know are just trying to keep in touch, and you don’t want to offend them, so you just keep deleting. Well last week, a Three Tomatoes daughter finally had enough and sent the following email to the worst offenders. We think you’ll enjoy it as much we did!

Dear Friends

I am going to sound cranky writing this, but I often times get hundreds of emails a day and try to weed through junk mail vs. real communication, and I’m hoping you can help me out. I really enjoy being able to stay in touch with friends and family and, although impersonal, it is sometime the easiest, fastest way to get in touch. I’m also sure I am not the only one thinking this, but I am going to take advantage of full fledged pregnancy hormones to speak openly here.

Please do not send me emails that ask me to forward on to 5 “special people in my life.” If you do, I’ll send it back to you 5 times to show you how much you mean to me.

Please do not send me emails that have “IMPORTANT” product information on why I should get rid of X because it will cause some hideous disease and turns out via a quick Google search that it’s a hoax. Prior to sending these, please check out Urban Legends , otherwise your insides may rot-out from specified “banned” product: Please do not send me forwards-of-forwards: prayers, smiley faces, email petitions, etc. They are well meaning, but I’d rather have you send me a quick “Hi—how ya’ doing?”

Do you know Make-a-Wish has had to establish a special toll free hotline in response to the large number of Internet hoaxes abusing their good name and reputation? I’m sure they would like to spend their time doing other things. Also, email petitions aren’t valid. And, big companies don't do business via chain letters--Disney is not giving you a free vacation, you will not receive a free case of M&Ms, and neither Old Navy nor the GAP will send you a coupon. Sorry. I wish I can say it is true. This is the online equivalent of “I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”

It is all about Netiquette. I’ll enjoy jokes, an invite for a night out, a recommendation on something you saw online at a discount, a real product recall substantiated by a reliable source (not just because it says so in the email) and anything other than the above.
BTW (“by-the-way”, for those of you who don’t know), COPY and PASTE this email and send on to 10 people you know and you: will receive $1,000 from Google, receive a night out because your husband will actually watch the children, will look 10 years younger, get hit on by hot-young guys in sports cars trying to pick you up when you are stopped at a traffic light (regardless of the mini-van or car seats in the back), get proofed when buying cigarettes/ liquor, and anything else your little heart desires. :)

Wow, those pregnancy hormones are as powerful as the menopausal ones!

Three Simple Tips to better email etiquette.

So, here are a few simple little tips that will make all our inboxes a little happier every day.

1. Sending Group Emails: When you send a group* email (unless the group needs to respond as a group), use the “Bcc” (blind carbon copy) line for your email recipients instead of the “To” line. That way, each individual will feel special that you’ve only sent this to her. If you don’t see the bcc line, hit the “cc” line and the bcc line should appear. That’s where you type in your email addresses.
*A group is more than five people.

2. Replying to Group Emails. If you receive a group email and want to reply, use the “reply to sender”, not the “reply to all” (unless of course there’s a need for the entire group to read your reply.) This will help minimize all our inboxes.

3. About Forward. We know it’s so easy to just forward on something you think we’ll all enjoy, but there are times we’ve received emails that have been forwarded so many times that it takes 4 to 5 times of opening the forwards before we get the message. So, usually we just delete any email that says Forward. Here’s what to do if you receive something you really want to pass along. Highlight the body of the email, then use your edit button and click copy. Then open a new email, and go to edit and hit paste. Then send that to your list of friends (preferably using the Bcc) line. (Another way is to hit forward, but then delete the forward line in the subject, and delete all the addresses in the original email until you get the actual message.)

If you’d like some more info on this topic, here’s an article we found that covers a lot of the basics.

Okay, now forward this email (once only please) to any friends you think need to read this (just make sure you put their addresses in the bcc line.) Better, yet just use the send button on the top right of this email.

Here’s to happy inboxes,

‘til next week

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved

Murray Hill Gems

2007-04-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

The Morgan Library, the Church of the Incarnation, the New York Public Library

If you're from out of town and visiting New York City museums, chances are you have strolled up Fifth Avenue or Madison heading to MoMa, the Met, and the Guggenheim. All wonderful museums. But off the beaten Fifth Avenue path and all around New York City, are wonderful gems for art and literary lovers. Three favorites of The Three Tomatoes are right in the heart of Murray Hill - The Morgan Library and Museum, the Church of the Incarnation, and the New York City Public Library. So whether you're from out of town, or like so many of us who live in New York City and have become a little too nonchalant about all our wonderful cultural attractions, take a day or two and check these out. You'll fall in love with NYC all over again.

The Morgan

For well over a year, we strolled past The Morgan Library & Museum on Madison between 36th and 37th streets watching its major renovation unfolding, but with some chagrin at the steel and glass pavilion being erected in between the three landmark buildings that housed the old Library & Museum. But when it finally reopened last spring and we went in through the new Madison Avenue entrance, we were enthralled with what the award winning architect, Renzo Piano, had done to bring the old buildings together with this towering pavilion that catches glimpses of the New York City skyline, like the Empire State Building, and houses a wonderful 280 seat performance hall on the lower level.

The library was originally built in 1906 by J.P. Morgan to house his collection of artistic objects. In 1924, his son, J.P. Morgan, Jr. turned the library into a public institution and the collections grew.
Today you will find original manuscripts by Mozart and Beethoven, drawings by Rembrandt and Rubens, and a Guttenberg Bible among other rarities. One of the highlights is JP's magnificent study that is adorned with some amazing works of art.

There is a delightful café in the pavilion for a quick lunch. but our favorite place is the Morgan Dining room which is a small intimate room with a wonderful lunch, brunch, and dinner menu (on Friday nights), highlighted with a very fun retro cocktails menu that includes drinks like the Knickerbocker Gimlet made with currant vodka and lime (circa 1857), and the Pierpont Champagne Cocktail made with gin, lemon and champagne (circa 1918.) Drink one of these cocktails and you'll feel like a robber baron. (Now who else but The Three Tomatoes would give you the reviews of the cocktails at a museum?)

The Landmark Church of Murray Hill

Walk down a block on Madison to 35th Street, and you will be at the Church of the Incarnation, also known as "the Landmark Church of Murray Hill which laid its cornerstone in 1864. This beautiful neo-gothic gem houses some of the finest ecclesiastical artwork in America. The marble altar incorporates many types of marble from around the world, including Vermont, Georgia, Belgium, Africa, Italy, and France. The altar cross is bronze covered with a dull rose gold, and is richly ornamented in Gothic style with grapevine motifs, studded with garnets and amethysts. The cross and candlesticks were made by Gorham & Company. The magnificent stain glass windows include designs by Louis Comfort Tiffany, William Morris Company of London, and John La Farge, a noted New York glassmaker and painter, among others. In the first half of the century many prominent New York families like the Morgans and Delanos were members of the church, and the funeral service of FDR's mother was held there. Other interesting factoids include the third rector, Arthur Brooks who founded Barnard College because he believed in higher education for women. His brother, Phillips Brooks is the author of the hymn "O Little Town of Bethlehem." The church is open to the public and they welcome visitors.

The Greatest Library on Earth

Now head West to Fifth Avenue and up to 40th Street and you will be at the magnificent steps of the New York City Public Library where you will be greeted by its famous lion statues. But first, how much of a New Yorker are you? What are the names of the two lions? (The answers are at the bottom of the email, but don't cheat!)

Okay, so technically the Library is not in the heart of Murray Hill, but it's still in the hood. The idea of a public library in New York City took root in the mid 1800's. New York's population had by-passed Paris and was catching up with London, and yet it did not have a great library. Several prominent residents at the time realized that if New York City was to become a great urban culture, it needed a great library. The initial funding for the library came from one-time governor Samuel J. Tilden, who upon his death in 1886 bequeathed the bulk of his fortune -- about $2.4 million -- to "establish and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New York." Today The New York Public Library is internationally recognized as one of the greatest institutions of its kind with world-acclaimed research centers and one of the largest branch systems in the world. The Library's collections include the Gutenberg Bible and Jefferson's manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence.

About those lions

The lions have greeted visitors at the entrance since the Library's opening in 1911. The sculptor Edward Clark Potter was reportedly paid $8,000 for the modelling, and Piccirilli Brothers executed the carving for $5,000, using pink Tennessee marble.
The two male lions were originally called Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after The New York Public Library founders John Jacob Astor and James Lenox, and then later were known as Lady Astor and Lord Lenox. (Hey, it's New York.) But since the 1930's they have been known as Patience and Fortitude, names given to them by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia because he felt those were qualities New Yorkers would need to get through the Great Depression. Patience guards the south side of the Library's steps and Fortitude sits to the north.
Well fortitude is certainly one of those qualities that still distinguishes New Yorkers today. The patience part is a different story, although we don't think New Yorkers had a lot of that in the 1930's either.

Here's to the little gems in life, including retro cocktails.

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

The Puppy Palace dog, the custody dog, and the dog with issues

2007-04-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

The Three Tomatoes are dog people. We love our dogs, other peoples dogs, dogs we see on TV, in the movies, and on the streets of New York (well most of them.) And as it happens, most of our friends are also dog people -- seems we attract one another. And we realized recently, that we haven't devoted a column to dogs in quite a while. It's high time that we correct this oversight. So we thought we'd start with one of The Three Tomatoes' story on acquiring her dogs.

A little bit of history

One day shortly after this tomato married her second (and we should add current) husband, they were sitting around the dining room table on a Sunday morning, with the extended family which included the tomato's daughter and mother, when someone said, "You know what we need? We need a dog." But before we tell you what happened next, we need to go back in time a bit.

The tomato and Mr. Tomato, both had dogs as children. The difference was that in the tomato's case, no dog ever stayed past puppy hood. You see while her mother always liked the idea of dogs, the reality was after the "isn't he adorable" phase set in, and before you could say Spot, he was whisked away to some other home to grow into adulthood. So, when the tomato grew up and married hubby #1, one of the first things she wanted was a dog of her very own to raise into adulthood.

Well she found an adorable little puppy but sadly his time was short-lived as well. You see, he had an unfortunate "accident" inside hubby # 1's dress shoe. So off he went to a new home. In retrospect, the dog should have stayed and hubby #1 should have been shooed away, but that would have required more wisdom than the tomato had at the time. Mr. Tomato's experience was the polar opposite. He grew up with two dogs (sequentially), Penny One and Penny Two (both beagles) each of whom were raised as puppies and stayed with him until their time was up.

Acquiring Tiffany

We tell this earlier tale, only because it sheds a bit of light on the tomato's dog acquiring philosophy, which is "get the dog now before anyone says no." So back to the breakfast table. No sooner had the breakfast dishes been cleared, when they headed off to the nearest dog shelter in search of the perfect dog. Now to this day, Mr. Tomato still regrets his decision to stay home and watch football. You see they did go to the animal shelter, as discussed at breakfast, with all good intentions of finding the perfect homeless dog. But the reality was they were too old, too big, or too growly. In short, they just weren't falling in love. As they headed back to the car, dejected and disappointed, they suddenly remember "Puppy Palace". So off they headed to the mall. Okay, so they figured they'd have to pay a "few bucks", but it would be worth it.

When we tell you they named the adorable cocker spaniel they bought ,"Tiffany", you'll have a clue about the "few bucks" she cost. They just couldn't help themselves. You see Puppy Palace had a place called "The Love Room" which was where they let you take the adorable puppy you've been eyeing while they go off to check out the "price." Of course, they make sure this takes a long time, and when they return you have, of course, fallen in love and price is no object. It's that classic passion and lust thing.

So before they knew it, Tiffany was in the car, and then reality started to set in -- Mr. Tomato would kill them! So they devised a "love room" strategy. We'll just put cute adorable puppy in his lap, he'll fall in love, and then he too will say price is no object. Well, it didn't quite go that way. After the "you paid what" rant, Tiffany eventually wooed him, and lived to a ripe old age of 17, in their home -- despite the fact that she was the most hyper dog you have ever seen until she was about seven -- and despite the fact that she never really got perfectly housebroken -- and truth be told, wasn't really all that bright. But she was cute.

Along came Fur

So while the tomato finally got her wish for a dog to live out its life with her, she never had a desire for two dogs at one time. Well several years later when Tiffany was about 10, along came Fur Face. You see, afore mentioned daughter was now all grown up and dating a guy who happened to own a four year black lab named Fur Face. (Yes, we thought it was a rather dumb name too, but he was named after a dog in a book who had a super IQ.) As it happened the boyfriend was traveling to Europe all the time on business, and needed a "temporary " home for Fur Face. Well the tomato wasn't kean on big dogs, and this one weighed 100 pounds, and wasn't especially kean on two dogs, but apparently Mr. Tomato and daughter were plotting a "love room" strategy. Turns out it worked, because within days after Fur Face's arrival, he had been nick named "Fur" and all 100 pounds of him was sleeping at the foot of the bed on the tomato's feet. Then of course the inevitable happened and tomato daughter ditched the boyfriend, and after a "brief" custody discussion, Mr. and Mrs. Tomato got full custody of Fur who was the most amazing dog we have ever known, who also lived to a ripe old age of 14.

The Dog with "issues"

So, a few more years go by, and tomato daughter finally meets a guy she doesn't ditch, and gets married. (And yes, he has a dog too, but that's a whole other story.) So the weekend after the wedding, the tomato and Mr. Tomato head up to Vermont with Fur to spend a weekend with one of the other The Three Tomatoes . As it happened, she and her husband had recently lost their old lab, and decided that this was the weekend to find a new puppy. As it also happened, a local breeder was advertising a litter of chocolate labs. And yes, by now you've guessed where this story is going too. How could you not fall in love with these adorable little guys? And how could you not take one home? And of course the tomato didn't "not fall in love", or "not take one home". And tomato daughter to this day still feels she was replaced by the dog.

His name is Buck. His brother is Willy. The tomatoes should have realized that very first night in Vermont what they might be looking forward to when they both managed to "break out" of the laundry room where they thought the pups were nestled in for the night. Let's put it this way. These dogs loved to chew everything. And we do mean everything. Like the time Buck opened up and chewed the contents of about a dozen Christmas presents that were wrapped and under the tree.

Buck and Willy are now seven years old and while they've fortunately outgrown their chewing phase, Buck has, shall we say, "issues" which are stories we will share with you another day. But he's ours, and he's not going anywhere!

What are your dog tales? Email us at tomato@thethreetomatoes.com

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved

Hot tomatoes, Cupid’s arrow, and be your own valentine

2007-04-25T11:14:00.000-04:00

February 8, 2007

This is a special Valentine's Day greeting to all you fabulous tomatoes out there, with love from The Three Tomatoes. And we tomatoes are hot, hot, hot! In case you hadn’t noticed “women who aren’t kids” are being talked about in the media these days with headlines like this from the Daily News, “60 is the new sexy”-- thanks in large measure to amazing and still great looking actresses like Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Diane Keaton and Sally Field who are back in the limelight. In fact, in last week’s The Three Tomatoes Poll, Meryl Streep got 43% of your votes as your favorite actress, followed by Diane Keaton with 30%. We think they’re all terrific actresses, especially Helen Mirren who’s getting so much Oscar buzz with The Queen. But we think her best role, which has been barely mentioned, was as police superintendent Jane Tennison in the BBC series “Prime Suspect,” which makes Law & Order seem like kids play. Helen, like so many actors in BBC series, always looks like real people, not like the Hollywood people in most of our series. And what we really admire about all of these actresses is that they’re making 60 look great, naturally (or close to it) just like the real tomatoes we know who are approaching or have even passed that number that used to seem well, really old. So take heart younger tomatoes – the best is yet to come.

This is not your mother’s sixty

With no offense meant to any of our mothers, our generation does look younger. And not just thanks to the “miracles” of pharmaceuticals. Personally, we think it’s attitude. We’re confident in a way many of our mothers weren’t, and darn it, we just down right refuse to think of ourselves as old. So those “unwritten rules” our mothers had, like no long hair after forty, covering up bare skin, and the notion that divorced or widowed women over 50 were doomed to loneliness, just don’t apply to us -- which brings us to three great stories of new love past the age of 50.

Cupid’s Arrow

Here are three great Valentine’s Day stories, all true.

Story # 1 is about two people, who were both in their late fifties and divorced for several years. Both had experienced long term relationships after their divorces which in the end, just didn’t work out, and they found themselves in the often dreaded category of single at age 50+. And while we never asked them, we suspect that both had probably given up on the idea of being in a serious relationship again. And then one evening about four years ago, at a local restaurant (turns out they both lived about ½ mile from each other) they were introduced by a mutual friend (in fact, an ex-boyfriend of the tomato). He asked her to dance, and then to dinner the next night, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. In fact so inseparable that last August they tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in the park where they often met, surrounded by their friends, family, children and grandchildren. The bride was beautiful, the groom was nervous, and we all cried, and then laughed.

Story #2 also features two similarly aged couples, both also divorced for years. The tomato in this story spent a lot of years dating. And because she happens to be an especially hot tomato, she dated a steady stream of boy toys to the envy of the rest of us. But apparently even dating boy toys can grow old after a while. And then one day her company announced it had been acquired and jobs would be cut, and those who stayed would have to reapply for their jobs. So she and her group, lead by their boss, took appropriate action --- they headed to the nearest bar to console themselves. Well hot tomato and the boss, who had always liked each other, but in the most professional of ways, somehow saw each other in a different light that night. And before you can say hot tomato, they too became inseparable. They got engaged (ring and all) last fall. Her daughter threw them an engagement party; and we’re going to their May wedding. We’re not sure what color the bride is wearing (her daughter went with her to buy the gown), but we know the bride will be beautiful, the groom will be nervous and we’ll cry and laugh.

Now Story #3 does not end at the alter (yet, anyway), but on Sutton Place. Same start as couples 1 and 2, except in this case each one had been living in the burbs and decided when they became single, they’d move into New York City. Now tomato #3 has a great job, great apartment, and was loving living in New York where there’s always something to do, even if it’s by yourself. She regaled us one afternoon with a string of stories on disastrous dates, including men she met on the Internet. When her first Internet date showed up and turned out to be about 80 (not the 60 he said), she thought to herself, is this my life? Then one day, her daughter who was dating a really nice guy, who happened to have a divorced dad, suggested since they all lived in the City, they should get together for dinner one night. With absolutely no thoughts other than having a pleasant night out, kabam! They hit it off, and have been inseparable ever since. In fact, about a year ago, they each sub-leased their apartments to the kids (who have long since gone their separate ways) and bought a spectacular apartment on Sutton Place overlooking the River.

Be your own Valentine

Our last little story is about a couple of dear tomatoes who both lost their husbands about five years or so ago. Great guys whom we still miss, so we can only image their heartbreak. But not once, have either of them ever made us feel sorry for them. Tomato # 1 has a big family and tons of friends and realized early on that she’d never be a “fifth wheel” and is usually off skiing somewhere, or staying in Villas here and there.

Tomato #2 and her husband loved to travel. And when he died, she decided that rather than waiting for someone to go with, she’d just travel herself-- which she does often, and has made great new friends around the world. But here’s the best happy ending. She recently went through the horror of cancer, has been pronounced cancer-free, and called us last week to say she’s spending April in Paris-- a present to herself for being alive. Now that’s what we call a tomato!

Have a great one,

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

A Special Thanksgiving Tale

2006-11-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

One Day at a Time

A while back, one of The Three Tomatoes weekly topics was on living to be 100. And in our poll that week, most of you said you’d like to get to that distinguished age assuming you had your health and your wits about you. Well last week, The Three Tomatoes had the unique privilege of interviewing the most wonderful, almost 100 year old woman and we’d like to share that experience with you. In fact, it’s our Thanksgiving present to all of you dear tomatoes.

Meet Anna

We showed up at Anna’s apartment and were greeted at the door by Anna . She lives by herself and still cooks her own meals by the way. She is a tiny woman and still beautiful, with a great smile and curious, intelligent blue eyes. She was beautifully dressed in a turquoise satin blouse and wool skirt. Except for her diminishing eyesight and hearing, Anna is in good health (age considered) and her mind and spirit would put women half her age to shame.

Her wonderful family, all 103 of them, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, will gather over Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate her impending milestone. As it happened, we were her third interview of the week, so she was quite the pro at answering all our questions.

New York City in the early 1900’s…

Anna Barthelenghi was born on December 24, 1906 right here in New York City. She recalled the days of horse and buggies and trolley cars. Al Smith was her neighbor, as were several mafia types whom she said kept the neighborhood very safe. Her earliest movie recollections were of seeing Al Jolsen and she loved all the great MGM musicals. We asked her what it was like living in New York City during the depression, and we loved her unexpected answer which was, “Well, for us not much changed. I think it was the “upper-class” who suffered, because they were the ones who had something to lose.” She does recall that people really reached out and helped each other in those days. She also recalled when her brothers went off to WWI, which she said was a very difficult time, but fortunately they came back safe and sound.

Advice on Marriage

The thing that really strikes you about Anna is her upbeat attitude. She’s always been an optimistic person and considers herself a happy person, which you feel just by being in her presence. Her optimism, spirit, and faith surely helped her get through the death of her husband when she was only 58, and helped her survive breast cancer and chemo for a year when she was 75 years old. Her eyes sparkled when she told us about fun and adventurous times with her husband, like riding on the back of his motorcycle all the way from New York City to Canada. “Well, it was cheaper than traveling by car”, she said. When we asked her if she ever dated after her husband died, she said, well not really because I always had “all these kids” around me. We think however, that she has no regrets in that area. Her advice on marriage was “people are always on their best behavior until you live with them.”

The greatest inventions?

The telephone and the computer. But she also warned us of the evils of the computer too and young girls being snatched. Even in her day, she said there were “snatchers.” We asked her what she thought was wrong in the world today, and she reminded us it’s not “the world” it’s the people. And we all need to learn to be nicer to each other and help one another. You know, she makes it sound really simple.

What does she worry about these days?

Her “kids.” Still. And she always reminds all the girls to stick together when they go out. One of our favorite stories is when she found out that her widowed daughter was dating someone, which she thought was fine until she found out her daughter met him in a bar. She called her daughter at 7:30 in the morning , and said “You know, I’ve been thinking all night, and I really don’t think that’s the best way to meet people.” Once a Mom, always a Mom.

How do you get to be 100?

“You get there one day at a time” she answered. And she does acknowledge great genes. Her father lived to be 102 and her sister was 105. But she honestly, never thinks about her age. (We love that attitude!) She’s always been physically active (lots of walking), she eats lots of veggies, very few starches, and never drank much more than a glass of wine. (Well, maybe it’s time we introduce her to those martinis.)

Her beauty routine?

One of the things that strikes you immediately about Anna, is her beautiful skin and great hair. Her beauty products? Vaseline (“you smear it on and leave on your face til you can’t stand it any more”), a little corn starch which you brush on your face, and VO5 for your hair. No fancy dandy, pricey products in her cabinets! Oh, and she thinks plastic surgery is silly and “eventually you’ll just look your age anyway.”

What would she still like to do?

Travel. “I love adventure and I’d love to see new places.”

Well here’s to you dear Anna. You are an inspiration to all of us and we wish you a wonderful birthday.

And that dear tomatoes, is our Happy Thanksgiving gift to you. Here’s to optimism, a great spirit, faith, forgetting your age, being nicer, helping other people, and loving the adventure. Oh, and we’d add those martinis too.

Our best to you and yours.

If you'd like to comment on this week's email, visit our blog or email us, tomato@thethreetomatoes.com.

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Sick days, day time TV, husbands, air brushing and sprucing up your image

2006-11-16T17:46:00.000-05:00

Remember when you were a kid and you got sick on a school day? It was the best. Mom would cater to your every need while you sat cuddled up on a couch eating trans-fatty Twinkies and watching re-runs of “I Love Lucy.” And to be honest, every once in a while The Three Tomatoes admit to sort of hoping for one of those “old fashioned” sick days. But as they say, be careful what you wish for. The Three Tomatoes (well not all of us course, so forgive the “tomato we” language here, it’s just easier), were felled by a really yucky virus thing which did us in for several days. Our biggest exertion was moving from the bed to the couch for a venue change and hitting the remote control buttons. And let us just say this, grown up sick is not fun.

Let’s start with TV

We use to think of daytime TV as one of those rare little luxuries where you get to watch all of the Today Show and Oprah. But after several days of TV watching from our sick bed, we have concluded that day time TV should basically be blown up. Now, day one of our illness occurred on Election Day, so the only thing on that day was the talking head pundits and the last wave of really bad political ads. In fact, the political ads are so bad that we actually starting looking forward to all the holiday ads. Then day two was all the post election talking heads. So it really wasn’t until day three, that the real horror of daytime TV set-in. So here are our reviews.

The last hour of the Today Show. Just put it out of its misery. The only good thing is that it delays getting to Martha.
Martha Stewart. She gets our vote for the most boring human being on the planet. She even managed to make Russel Crowe boring when he appeared on her show.
Megan Mullally. We loved her on Will & Grace, where her whiny voice was funny. But now that she’s “sans martinis”, she’s just irritating. Which proves once again, why martinis rule.
Soap Operas. Hey, even at our sickest, we didn’t sink that low.
Oprah. A little goes a long way.
Ellen DeGeneres. The best of the lot. And whose brilliant idea was it to put her on head to head with Oprah? Anyway, Ellen gets our vote.

But all in all, we were really wishing for those “I Love Lucy” re-runs. And the Twinkies too. Now we know why God invented day time jobs.

Well-meaning husbands

Now we all know that men are just pathetic when they get sick. And we become their mothers. And well-intentioned as they are when we get sick, what men don’t understand is that basically we just want to be left alone. Like, just as we’ve finally nodded off for a much deserved nap after a night of no sleep, please do not call us on the phone to see how we’re doing. Oh, and telling us we’re cranky doesn’t score any points either. And don’t compete with us on the who is sicker front. Yes, tomatoes, right in the middle of our sickness, our tomato husband up and got food poisoning. Honestly, we have our suspicions.

Lips2Hips to the rescue.

Well by about day seven, cabin fever had set in and we were actually excited about attending a black tie event we had our calendar for that evening. And while we were feeling a bit human again, we didn’t look it. We were desperate to get ourselves together, or at least looking a little less Morticia-like. Off we went to the nail salon and the hair salon, but the circles under our eyes and our pastey looking skin were a different story. It was time to bring in the big guns, or in this case the air brush gun.

So, we made a desperate phone call to Keren Bechor, founder of Lips2Hips, a make up artist and image consultant who makes house calls in New York City. She showed up at our apartment with her bag of tricks and her nifty make up airbrush tool, and an hour later we were renewed! This was our first experience with airbrushing and we loved it. While we didn’t quite look like a magazine cover, the results are terrific. Keren has been a makeup artist in the fashion industry for years, but what she really likes most is helping “real women”, especially those of us who aren’t kids, look great.

Her mission, and one of the reasons she started Lips2Hips is to make women look great naturally without resorting to plastic surgery. When we asked her the biggest make-up mistakes that “older woman” make she said a) too much makeup; and b) the wrong colors. So maybe it’s time to rethink those colors you’ve been wearing since 1974? Karen is also an image consultant. Que pasa? Well, basically Karen will come to your home and into your closet. Scary as that may sound, she will go through your wardrobe with you and help you determine your “colors” and basically what styles work for you and what styles don’t. In as little as an hour and half, she will whittle down your closet to the essentials. Out with those size 6’s that you still delusionally think will fit one day; out with those “whatever was I thinking when I bought this thing”; out with colors that are just not you. And at the end of the process, Karen says you will have simplified your wardrobe and future clothes shopping will become so much easier because now you’ll know what colors and styles to buy and what to avoid so that you will always look like one of those perfectly turned out women we all admire. You can reach Karen at 917-757-6688 or via email kerenbechor@hotmail.com. Her fees are $70 for makeup application and $75 an hour for image consulting. And if you tell her you were sent by The Three Tomatoes, you’ll get a 10% discount. Oh, and watch the clowns in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade - Keren did their makeup.

Well here’s to less is more, and no more sick days.

Dressing for whomever; Ugly Betty’s, and why we love the new Gramercy Park Hotel

2006-10-18T17:35:00.000-04:00

The Three Tomatoes are in a little bit of a “ this and that” kind of mood. So we’ll try to string a thread through today’s missive, but don’t count on it.

Who do we really dress for?

Let’s start with The Three Tomatoes poll results from last week -- you know those silly little questions we ask you to vote on every week. Well up until last week, we were really taking your poll answers as the gospel. But who knew you’re just responding as good little politically correct girls. When we asked you last week “who do you dress for” (men, other women, or yourself) the overwhelming majority of you said, you dress for yourself. But then again, it was one of the questions that should have had an “all of the above” with qualifiers option. Like, when The Three Tomatoes dress for “ourselves” we’re usually wearing sweat pants with really comfy stretch waist bands, baggy tee shirts, and shoes we can walk in. Then there’s dressing for guys, which is kind of an oxymoron since it’s really the “un” part that most interests them, or the “what did you pay for that” part. And when we really wear that knock ‘em dead, wow kind of outfit, it’s other women’s comments we appreciate most. Like, “wherever did you get those fabulous shoes”. But we do aspire to that “dressing for ourselves” kind of confidence. Martini cheers to those of you who do.

Our new TV Heroines

Which brings us to refreshing new images of women on TV. (See, there is a thread of sorts here.) We love Ugly Betty, and the fantastic young actress with the great name who plays her, America Ferrara. Betty is the “anti-Paris Hilton/Lindsey Lohan”. She’s plump. She wears braces. She’s from an ethnic family in Queens. She wears all the wrong clothes and she’s the assistant to the editor of a Vogue type fashion magazine. In a world of shallow, superficial, insecure people, Betty has brains, great values, a good heart, and the confidence to stand up for what’s right. We love her. We love the show. Wouldn’t it be great if young girls aspired to be “Ugly Betty’s” instead of trashy bubble heads? And that brings us to another favorite this season and that is Callie on Grey’s Anatomy. (She’s kind of an Ugly Betty who grows up and goes to medical school.) While anorexic-looking, whiny, indecisive Meredith is dumping the really good guys like Finn (Dr. McVet, who by the way, she does not deserve), Callie stands out from the self-absorbed crowd. She knows who she is, and she knows what she wants. And this week, it was Dr. McSteamy. Way to go Callie. And of course, we’ve saved the best for last, Candice Bergen’s “Shirley Schmidt” on Boston Legal. Classy, smart, sassy and definitely a woman who is not a kid. And every guy on the show wants her! Now that’s a tomato.

Three Reasons to love the new Gramercy Park Hotel

What we love most about the new Gramercy Park Hotel is the story circulating that Paris Hilton was banned and quoted unnamed parties as saying "the likes of Paris Hilton and her ilk are not welcome here." What we loved second is that they didn’t ban us from the beautiful new Rose Bar just off the lobby. (Although in the name of full-disclosure, we were with some people who had some “juice” so to speak.) And the third thing we loved is the ambiance of this brilliantly renovated legendary New York City hotel. GHP is the latest endeavor of Ian Schrager, Studio 54 fame and creator of the concept of “boutique” hotels. He has created an amazing experience in the Gramercy Park Hotel, which he calls the antithesis of hip (maybe that’s why we got past the door.) It’s plush, lush, glamorous, and welcoming (as long as you’re not named Paris). The lobby and Rose Bar each have wood burning fire places, old world, but comfortable furnishings (including a pool table in the Rose Bar) and incredible art. The hotel interior was designed by Julian Schnabel, a contemporary painter whose canvases grace the walls along with those of Jean-Michael Basquiat, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. Oh, and did we mention the great cocktails? Like the Long Berry we had in the Jade Bar, a great concoction with way too many ingredients to remember and the perfect after dinner drink. So put on your glam clothes, call for a reservation in the Rose Bar, and revel in the experience.

So here’s to dressing up for whomever, smart sassy women, and glamorous cocktails. (And you thought we couldn’t tie all together.)

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

2006-10-11T15:45:00.000-04:00

Clothes are the best revenge and other tales

“Clothes are the best revenge” is just one of our favorite stories we heard from the fabulous Gabrielle Carlson, a fashion designer who’s on a mission to create clothes for real women and to make every woman, no matter what age, shape or size, feel beautiful. To put it in Gab’s words, if more designers created clothes for real women instead of stick thin models, you’d see very different clothes. The Three Tomatoes had the most wonderful time recently visiting Gabrielle and her glorious creations in her second floor studio in an unpretentious building on a quiet side street in the East Village. We heard about Gab the way most of her clients do -- through word of mouth. We were told about this amazing woman who designs fabulous clothes and makes you feel beautiful the second you are in her presence. And she didn’t disappoint.

An Audrey Hepburn-like gamine, who is beautiful inside and out, is how we would describe the fab Gab. You enter her studio and she greets you as an old friend would and invites you to explore the sample racks of beautiful dresses, blouses, jackets, coats and slacks in beautiful silks, cashmeres, linens , velvets, chiffons, wools and fabrics we can’t even pronounce much less spell. And while you’re looking and chatting with Gabrielle she is getting a sense of who you are and a vision of what you should look like. And before you know it, she’s draping you in one glorious creation after another while she is deciding what works or doesn’t work for you. As you’re playing “grown-up dress-up”, Gabrielle delights you with her stories and her mission.

After years in the high powered, crazy world of fashion, doing the Bryant Park and other runway shows, and trying to please buyers, Gabrielle realized that her joy came from pleasing the women who ultimately wear the clothes. And that’s who she designs for today and sells to directly. While her clients include celebrities and her clothes have been featured in photo spreads in all the major fashion mags gracing the bodies of people like Meryl Streep and Sharon Stone, Gab would much rather talk about her “real” women clients. Her oldest client is 93 years old, and wears beautiful clothes for herself, because they make her feel good. Her largest client is two tape measures around.

Her stories are great. Like the woman who was going to an event and knew she’d have to face her ex-husband and the 20 year old he left her for. “Clothes are the best revenge”, said Gab and she created a knock ‘em dead outfit for this woman that had her ex wondering why he had left her. And then there’s the woman who endured breast cancer and chemo whom Gab dressed in a beautiful flowing creation as tears streamed down the woman’s face because it was the first time she had felt whole in a year. She dresses business women, mothers of the bride, young women, older women, tiny and large, with one caveat. If you walk through Gabrielle’s door you must rid yourself of your pre-conceived notions of what works for you and let Gabrielle do her magic.

And magic it is. One of The Three Tomatoes happened to have a special event on the horizon and now has a spectacular Gab creation that created several “wow” moments when she wore it.

So right about now you’re thinking, this sounds wonderful but will I have to mortgage the ranch to own a Gab creation? Well here’s the best part. Most of Gabrielle’s creations are under $1,000 (and many are well under). She also has the most beautiful silk and pashmina shawls from China and she’ll help you accessorize any outfit with Subversive Jewelry, a line she carries in her studio that’s also sold in Barneys. So if you have a special occasion coming up, or just want to treat yourself to something really special, call Gabrielle today and make an appointment. You can reach her at (212) 995-8063 or email her mailto:gabriellecarson@verizon.net. To view some of her beautiful creations, click here.

Here's to the wow,

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright©2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Deal or No Deal

2006-10-04T09:07:00.000-04:00

Special offers for special people

Just when you were thinking The Three Tomatoes sit around all day drinking martinis, we actually do a little work, just for you dear tomatoes. If you’ve been reading us for a while you know that we like to share our “finds” -- like web sites or brick and mortar stores with unique products, things and places we enjoy, and in general stuff we think you might like too. Often after we write about something we like, we send it along to the object of our affections. Sometimes they even write back and thank us and say “what can we do for you?” And since no one has offered us enough money to wile away our golden years in a villa in Tuscany, we say, “why don’t you offer a discount or special offer to our subscribers?” Then from time to time, some one out of the blue will contact us because they really want to reach you and we say, “Well offer us a special discount or special offer”. And guess what? Several of them have said "sure". So here we go with special offers and discounts just for you because you read us. Think of it as The Three Tomatoes version of Deal or No Deal.

The Bene VIP Club

Created by Bene, the only magazine in the United States completely dedicated to all things Italian, membership in the Bene VIP Club will give you discounts on Italian food, wines, fashions, villas, and other great things Italian. Your very first “bene-fit” will be a gift from buon Italia, master importer of the best authentic Italian foods. Its exclusive sauces, oils, pastas, sweets and more are shipped with care in small numbers, so the gift will be different for each member. Now here’s the deal. Membership is normally $60 a year, but The Three Tomatoes subscribers will receive a special rate of $50. Just log onto http://www.benemag/beneclub and enter promotional code 11700. Please note that the promotion will not be active until 10/10. We’re counting the days to join. And what a great gift idea.

Wrapables

We recently mentioned this unique gift web site. With items ranging from home décor, to fashion accessories, and very fun pet items, it's got just enough interesting and unique items to peruse without feeling overwhelmed. We love the very fun martini glasses (surprise, surprise), like the Wicked Witch martini glass. Please note, however, they do not gift wrap, but all items come in nice wrapable gift boxes. Here’s the offer. Use the promotion code TOMATOES at checkout and you will get 10% off any merchandise with the exception of sale items.

Satinbox

This is another unique gift site we just love. They carry creatively designed and fashion forward products featuring everything from home accents, clothes & accessories to beauty products, travel gear and more. We think the “designer” rubber gloves are a hoot for those moments when you actually have to approach the kitchen sink. Use the promotion code TOMATOES at the checkout and you will get a 15% discount anytime you like.
The Facial Magic System

We got an email about this product and its creator, “facial fitness guru”, Cynthia Rowland. It was the first we heard of the Facial Magic System, an exercise system for your face that promises to help you create a new you to look and feel younger and healthier in an all natural way. The starter kit retails for $99.95, but as a Three Tomatoes subscriber you can enjoy a 20% discount. Go to http://www.rejenuve.com/ to get more information about the system and to order the starter kit. The discount code is TTSK. Hey, anything that avoids a surgical face lift sounds good to us. We’d love feedback from any tomatoes who try it.

Other special offers available at The Three Tomatoes web site

You’ll find all the above deals posted at our web site in the Discounts section. And while you’re there, don’t forget to check out the Rick and June Wicking PJ’s (10% discount) and 25% off your first order of Arbonne Skin Care products. This all natural line of skin care products has a huge base of loyal customers who rave about the products.

If you'd like to comment on this week's email, visit our blog.

So lift your martini glass high and say hear, hear to the deal.

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

No wonder dancers look like that

2006-09-28T07:04:00.000-04:00

The beginner’s class at Physique 57; and the “new” Chorus Line

The Three Tomatoes had a great exercise experience last week. Yes we know the words “great” and “exercise” sounds mutually exclusive, so let us explain. A few weeks ago, Dr. Loretta Friedman ( who seems to be New York City’s favorite chiropractor and a contributor to The Three Tomatoes “Ask the Experts”) suggested we contact Jennifer Maanavi, the owner of Physique 57, a re-emerged exercise studio right here in New York City, based on The Lotte Berk Method of exercise.

What’s the Lotte Berk Method?

So glad you asked, because for a while we were feeling like the only women in New York City who couldn’t answer that question. So that was of course, our first question to Jennifer. Lotte Berk was a world-famous ballerina in the sixties who created a method of exercise to keep dancers fit that eventually led to an almost cult like following of dancers, celebrities (like Sarah Jessica Parker) and everyday people who wanted to look like them. So last year when word got out that the studio was going to close, Jennifer and scores of other devotees were bereft.

Jennifer to the Rescue

So Jennifer, a lovely young woman and mom to a two year old, who also happens to hold an MBA from Columbia and spent 11 years on Wall Street, came to the rescue. In January she launched Physique 57 with many of the original instructors, all of whom are professional dancers, and most of the clientele (including SJP).

What is the Physique 57 experience?

Well in their words “it’s a focused and proven cardiovascular program of isometric exercises and orthopedic stretches that tones your seat, abs, thighs and arms; strengthens your legs and back; and improves posture to produce a beautiful sexy body.” So, when Jennifer suggested we try the group “beginner’s class” we were there.

So here are our words – “No wonder dancers look like they do. What a workout!” You wear yoga type clothing and socks and step into a carpeted studio with mirrors and ballet barres around the room. There were about 10 other women in the class (and yes, we were the oldest, so there was no way we were going to slack off.) Not to mention that we were greeted by our charming and gorgeous instructor, Alexander, a Broadway dancer with an Adonis body. (We sucked in our stomachs.) From the moment he hit the music, we moved our bodies and didn’t stop until the hour was up, with everything from lifting weights to exercising our butts off with one leg on the barre, doing lunges with the other leg (tippy- toed). Now keep in mind that we work out a lot and consider ourselves in fairly good shape, and this class was definitely a challenge.

Would we go again? You bet your booty. (Oh, and did we mention, not to be name droppers, SJP was there too that day -- in the private studio of course. No wonder she has a body like that.)

Need the beginners’ beginners class?

Well here’s the good news. Jennifer would love to set up a group class for “women who aren’t kids” who may or may not have exercised in a while and would like to get into a fun exercise program that’s good for old bones like ours. So grab some pals and give her a call. Oh, and ask Jennifer for Alexander. 212-339-0570. Or sign up for a class online. http://www.physique57.com/.

About the “new” Chorus Line

One of our favorite all time shows is back on Broadway and we got a chance to see it on the first night of previews. Well we know this is going to start to sound like one of those “well in the good old days” kind of comments, but while we liked the show (love the music still) it seems to be missing the poignancy and energy of the original. Maybe that’s because most of the cast wasn’t even born when the original opened in 1975 and that world has changed. And at 2 ½ hours with NO intermission we were praying for One Singular Sensation. Anyway, we do hope it’s a hit.

If you'd like to comment on this week's email, visit our blog.

Dancing the night away,

''til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights

Join us in a Celebration of Italy

2006-09-20T21:34:00.000-04:00

“Fill your glass when it is empty, empty it when it is full, never leave it empty, never leave it full"
--- An old Italian proverb

No wonder we love the Italians! Last year at just about this time, The Three Tomatoes were drinking Chianti in the hills of Tuscany, savoring the most wonderful of all cuisines, reveling in the joy of life that the Italians seem to have mastered, and of course buying Italian made everything from shoes to handbags, and more. So our longing and wistfulness for all things Italian inspired our upcoming event on October 24th, "A Celebration of Italy, New York City Style.”
And since New York is considered the largest Italian city outside of Italy, and October just happens to be Italian Heritage Month, a celebration of Italy right here in New York City presents the perfect opportunity to gather all you “tomatoes”. Come share an Italian feast, sample great Italian wines, and of course, shop at our “Italian market place”. Don't miss the fun. Bring your friends, bring your spouse, bring some one else's spouse, and most importantly bring you. Tickets are on sale now. Here are some of the details.

A Celebration of Italy, New York City Style
A Two Sides of a Coin Production

When: Tuesday October 24, 2006
6 to 9 PM
Where: Tony DiNapoli’s
In Times Square At the Casablanca Hotel on 43rd Street between 6th and 7th

Enjoy:
A full course, sit down Italian feast
Wines from Italy
Great shopping featuring jewelry, leather goods, ceramics, and more
Italian recipes and cooking demos
Fun speakers
A silent auction for charity (charity to be announced shortly)
A chance to meet with other great tomatoes just like you.

Ticket Price: $75.00 in advance. To buy tickets online click here . To order by phone, call
Two Sides of a Coin at 212.704.4012.

(Note: $5.00 of each ticket sale will be donated to
our selected charity along with 100% of the silent
auction proceeds.)

Bring your friends, bring your spouses, bring someone else's spouse, but most importantly, bring yourself.

Our maximum capacity is 100 people, so this is sure to be a sold out event. Buy your tickets early.
We will continue to provide updates on the event, so check out the 3T events page.

Event sponsorships

If you are interested in vendor or event sponsorship opportunities please email mailto:tomato@thethreetomatoes.com?subject=sponsorships.

If you'd like to comment on today's column, visit our blog and post your thoughts.

Arrivederci ''til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.
click to edit

An exclusive offer for tomatoes

2006-09-13T21:55:00.000-04:00

20% off at Sigrid Olsen's new SoHo Store; a great gift web site; designer rentals

Last week The Three Tomatoes told you all about Sigrid Olsen's beautiful new flagship store in SoHo. Well tomatoes, here's a special offer just for you. Print out this email and head downtown to 411 West Broadway and you will get a 20% discount on anything you purchase from Sigrid Olsen's beautifully designed and elegant casual sportswear line, fun jewelry, and great handbags, like the leather hobo bag featured in the sidebar. The offer starts the second you receive this email and is good through Sunday September 24, 2006. Spruce up that Fall wardrobe today.

A great gift web site

We love it when we happen to stumble on a really fun web site with unique products that also make great gifts -- and not just for us, but for actually giving to other people too. Well Wrapables is this week's find. With items ranging from home décor, to fashion asscessories, and very fun pet items, it's got just enough interesting and unique items to peruse without feeling overwhelmed. We love the very fun martini glasses (surprise, surprise), like the Wicked Witch martini glass. We'll be all set for Halloween.

And then there's the "I'm sorry" jigsaw card which hopefully by
the time the recipient has pieced together the puzzle you'll be forgiven. And there's the new puppy welcome kit -- very cute. Well, we could go on and on, but just check it out yourself -- http://www.wrapables.com/.

Speaking of handbags

We confess. We have this thing for handbags. And shoes too, but we'll save that obsession for another day. Now we know there are those who buy one handbag a season and use it every day. And then there are those who buy lots of handbags every year and still use the same one every day. And then there are those who buy lots of handbags in search for the "perfect" one, which trust us, does not exist. And then there are those who buy handbags, well, just because. Well, we pretty much fall into the later category and we do change our handbags depending on what we're wearing, or the mood of the day, or the occasion. So here are a couple of web sites that recently caught our attention. So if you're a "bag" person read on.

At annawilliam.com, you can choose from one of several handbag styles, and then customize it with the fabric of your choice. And you can even accessorize with a matching belt. They're cute, reasonably priced and it's fun.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum. If you're one of those tomatoes who really lusts over the season's "it" bags, you know the ones with the price tags that redefine the term "guilty pleasures", you should check at Bag Borrow or Steal. You may have read about it in this past Sunday's New York Times "Style" section in an article about "renting" the lastest designer bag, jewelry, and fashion. At bagborroworsteal.com, you pay a $999 membership fee for the privilege of renting a designer bag for a week or year Rentals range from $8.00 to $800.

Kind of makes you long for those politically incorrect knock off's doesn't it?

If you'd like to comment on today's column, visit our blog and post your thoughts.

Well happy shopping.

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

A Store for Us in SoHO, Fashion Week and more

2006-09-06T17:50:00.000-04:00

Just as The Three Tomatoes are packing away our white summer linens and everything “peasant looking” (maybe for good this time), and thinking about cozy sweaters and soft corduroys, the fashion industry is setting up their tents in Bryant Park to unveil the Spring ’07 collections!

Yes, Fashion Week is here and alas, every anorexic, twenty something “A list” celebrity will be here too, sitting front row and attending all the parties, as will that select clientele who actually buy from the top designers. That of course rules out The Three Tomatoes who once again, did not receive an invite to this mecca fashion event. But we actually received a much better invitation, and that was to visit the newly opened Sigrid Olsen flagship store in SoHo.

Finally, a store in SoHo for us

Now as you may know, The Three Tomatoes do not typically hang out in SoHo -- the land of size zeros, trendy boutiques, celebrity sightings, and model watching at restaurants like Balthazar’s. Well that was before Sigrid Olsen moved into the hood at 411 West Broadway with her first New York City flagship store. Walking in the door is like a breath of fresh air. It’s light, it’s airy. There is no jarring music blaring from a speaker system. Much more of a gallery feel than a retail store, which totally fits the brand since Sigrid Olsen is an artist who brought her art to fashion.

The store uses a "residential metaphor". Taking cues from Olsen’s own seaside residence in Massachusetts as well as SoHo’s artistic roots, the store is divided into intimate areas resembling a gallery-like living room/lounge area, artist’s studio and a central space that, like a kitchen, is at the heart of the action. The “lounge area” is adorned with personal touches, such as Ms. Olsen’s artwork and framed vacation photos. The “artist’s studio” features architectural lamps and flat painter’s files displaying “basics”, such as t-shirts. The “kitchen”, which functions as the cash-wrap area, has handmade tiles, stenciled wood armoires and even an under-counter refrigerator to store bottled water for customers. And Ms. Olsen personally hand- stamped the walls of the dressing rooms with colorful decorative images that have become her trademark. We could live there.

And then there are the clothes, handbags, and jewelry. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And, here’s the best part. Affordable, affordable, affordable. Chances are you’re familiar with the brand – it’s been sold in major department stores for years . But the scope has evolved from casual resort wear to year round casual and dressy sportswear and accessories. The designs are casually elegant, but not in an uptight “meet you at the club” way. There’s great attention to details, colors, and wonderful casual fabrics -- like washable suedes. You won’t find micro minis, those new bouffant skirts, or pants with waistbands that stop at your hips. What you will find are great slacks that fit well, wonderful jackets that you can dress up, or dress down, the softest corduroy slacks, and sweaters and blouses with beautiful details. And we loved the handbags; all with the big satchel styles you’re seeing everywhere this year. There is nothing in the store we would not wear.

A little catering to the women with the money is a good idea

Sigrid Olsen clearly gets that there is a huge group of women with money who really don’t want to dress like teenagers. And actually, there are a lot of teenagers who shouldn’t dress like teenagers either, but that’s another topic. And by the way, women over forty spend more money on clothes than younger women -- over $27 billion dollars annually according to some market researchers. Saks Fifth Avenue learned its lesson when it tried to revamp itself into a luxury retailer for young fashionistas, alienating its core 35+ year old consumers in the process.

So, here’s to Sigrid Olsen and other designers who get that we still want to look great even if we’re not size zeros, or 22 years old. And here’s a little factoid, (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal), the average adult American woman is 5’4” tall, weights 155 pounds and wears a size 14 dress.

Coming next week

A special discount from Sigrid Olsen. Stay tuned.

See you at the tents,

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

The patron saint of weight loss

2006-08-30T16:04:00.000-04:00

Who knew there was a patron saint for weight loss?

Last January, The Three Tomatoes resolved to lose those rolls of flab that suddenly appeared out of no where one day, not to mention those widening hips that do not even come close to ever being described as “booty luscious” -- the “blob” would be more like it. In fact, we actually blogged about our blob weight loss adventures for a few pathetic weeks before boring ourselves, not to mention most of you. And our adventure continues since we have shown a decided lack of willpower of late. But the good news was that we did capture the attention of one tomato reader, Janice Taylor, who wrote to introduce us to her terrific weekly newsletter called “Our Lady of Weight Loss’s Kick in the Tush Club.” And, overachiever that she is, Janice who is a talented artist, has just published a wonderfully funny and motivational book , Our Lady of Weight Loss, inspired by the patron saint of “permanent fat removal. Who knew there was a patron saint?

Well last week we finally caught up with Janice Taylor in person, who had just returned from a whirlwind media tour promoting her book (she’s been featured on Good Morning American, and in Good Housekeeping, The New York Post and The New York Daily News) . We met at her “office, The Harlem Tea Room, a charming little uptown café. Our first impression upon meeting Janice was “what a tiny lady”. It’s hard to believe she yo yo’d most of her life and actually weighed 50 pounds more than she does now. But she has the photos to prove it in her book and on her web site. So here’s her story.

About five years ago, she was standing in line at a weight loss center waiting to be weighed in, knowing she was at her highest weight ever and she started to cry, thinking to herself that she’d never be able to do this. Then she heard a voice say (and no she is not a looney tune who hears "voices") “If you say you’re never going to make it, you never will. You’re an artist. Make weight loss an art project-and have some fun.” Well she knew this had to be the patron saint of permanent fat removal whom she has dubbed “Our Lady of Weight Loss.” Seems when Janice was a little kid the only people who never mentioned her weight, and were always nice to her were the nuns.

Well she went home, quit her job, and started to use her art to create projects about food, instead of consuming food, with the help of miraculous motivation from her patron saint. And along the way, she learned a lot about self-esteem, motivation, healthy eating, and having fun, all of which she shares in her weekly emails and her book. The art in her book (some of which you can see on her web site and in her weekly emails) is delightful. Each chapter has a pious art project (if you are so inclined) like a jewel box made out of a Laughing Cow light cheese box, and some wonderful recipes complete with nutritional values, like a low fat macaroni and cheese that only has a 360 calories per serving.

Our Lady of Weight Loss, is not a diet book per se, but a fun read with great tips and recipes and lots of inspiration that can help anyone struggling to lose a few pounds. The book is getting rave reviews, not just from The Three Tomatoes, but from real critics like Publishers Weekly.

So if you need a “Kick in the Tush” and a little “Saintly” help, sign up for Our Lady of Weight Loss weekly email and buy the book.

If you'd like to comment on today's column, visit our blog and post your thoughts.

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Hey, we're really not that old

2006-08-24T07:45:00.000-04:00

Real Age, Living to be a 100, and The Three Tomatoes Anti-Aging Experts

If you're like The Three Tomatoes, you love those dopey "self-help" tests in women's magazines. You know, the ones, like "What's your food type" (all of them)," "How stressed are you" (totally), and "What's your shopping style" (buy, buy, buy). Okay, so here are a couple of "self-help' tests that will do more than just help you wile away a few idle moments while you're sitting in a doctor's waiting room, but could actually help get you focused on feeling good (the natural way, we might add) and not just looking good.

What's Your Real Age?

We first fell in love with Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz when they appeared on Oprah after the publication of their best seller "You the Owners Manual" which is an amazingly informative book about the human body that's actually entertaining and fun to read. Now they have two other "you" books, "You the Diet" and "You the Smart Patient" the latter of which which should be mandatory reading for everyone.

Well, they also have a great web site , Real Age , where you can take the "Real Age" test which uses various lifestyles, genetic and medical factors to calculate your biological-rather than chronological-age. The test takes about 20 minutes to complete and then they email you your "biological" age and give you suggestions on what you can do to lower that age. Age reversal! We love this concept. And you can even sign up for the Real Age Tips of the Week email which has all kinds of healthy advice.

Who wants to be 100?

Well now, that's always an interesting question to ask people. Usually the answers range from "who'd want to live that long" (to which we always say, well if you're 99 you might) to the "well, if I had all my marbles and my health was good, why not?" So here's another interesting little web site you can visit, http://www.livingto100.com/. They too have a test but this one gives your life expectancy based on your answers. And then, like Real Age gives advice on changes you can make to your life style to live longer. Sounds good to us, as long as we don't have to give up those martinis.

The Three Tomatoes Anti-Aging Experts

Which brings us to our very own anti-aging experts who have graciously agreed to contribute information to us for all our tomato readers. So we are launching a special section on our web site, called ‘Ask the anti-aging experts". You'll be able to submit questions, or read some great advice from our contributors.

In previous newsletters, we've introduced you to Laura Kauffmann, licensed herbalist and acupuncturist (remember our accu-facial?), and Carrie Taylor, CEO of Taylor Techniques which specializes in personal training, fitness, massage and pain management.

And last week, we met Dr. Loretta Friedman a clinical nutritionist and "directional non-force" chiropractor. Yes, we asked what you're now thinking, what the heck is directional, non-force? Well the way Dr. Friedman explained it to us is, it's not the "bone crunching" type of chiropractic treatment, but a much more gentle treatment that produces the same results. And she is one of only 150 chiropractors in the country who are trained and licensed in this form of treatment. Dr. Friedman has a very impressive CV. She spent several years as an operating room nurse before attending medical school and becoming a chiropractor and nutritionist.

Check out our new section "Ask the anti-aging experts"

Find the answers to these questions:

To Vitamin or Not to Vitamin - that is the question. Dr. Loretta Friedman offers some great advice.

Should I exercise my face? You bet. Try out Laura Kauffmann's Saving Face exercises to reduce or keep away those wrinkles.

Does massage offer health benefits? Carrie Taylor explains the principals of myofascial massage and the benefits.

If you'd like to submit a question for our experts on exercise, nutrition, pain management, or whatever, email us. tomato@thethreetomatoes.com.

What do you think? Post your thoughts.

Here's to living to a 100, or at least until next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

A movie you don't want to miss

2006-08-16T15:57:00.000-04:00

The Boynton Beach Club proves there's still life after sixty; plus PJ's that wick

Last week we got a phone call from a tomato in training who told us about a movie preview she had just attended at the Paris Theater in New York City. "It's a movie about a group of people who live in a retirement area of Florida who are over 60 and still thinking about love, romance and dating", said our young friend to whom sixty must no doubt seem ancient, but she continued with "I loved this movie." And the director, Susan Seidelman, was at the screening and talked about how she had so much trouble originally getting the film distributed because the prevailing wisdom was who wants to see a movie about 60 something's dating and more. Well earlier this week, The Three Tomatoes with husbands in tow, headed over to the Paris Theater (which is across the street from the Plaza on 58th Street just West of Fifth Avenue) and one of the last of the wonderful old art film movie theaters left in the City to check out The Boynton Beach Club for ourselves.

We laughed and we cried

Including our cranky husbands whom we had dragged away from "baseball on the tube" and who were laughing out loud in spite of themselves. This is an absolutely delightful romantic and poignant comedy that just happens to be about people over sixty. The story revolves around five people living in an active adult community in Boynton Beach, Florida. They meet at a bereavement group and soon find themselves, after many decades of married life in the "dating game". And what a cast. Joe Bologna, who's been a long time favorite of ours is hysterical as the "seasoned" widower, and then there's the still incredibly handsome and attractive Michael Nouri (remember Flash Dance?). Dyan Cannon and Sally Kellerman who are both almost 70 and still look amazing although clearly both have had some "surgical help" and no longer have a lot of facial expressions, are very fun. And kudos to Sally for flashing her great looking assets. But our favorites were Brenda Vaccaro and Len Cariou (Tony award winner for Sweeny Todd). Brenda, who has had no "work" done and is about fifty pounds overweight is so real, and absolutely fabulous in this movie. And Len, in a "romantic" lead role is funny, delightful and well, very romantic.

The story behind the story

Boynton Beach Club was inspired by the many encounters that first time producer, Florence Seidelman had after moving to an "active adult community" in South Florida and is directed by her daughter, Susan Seidelman, whose credits include Desperately Seeking Susan.

"I was interested in making a film that portrayed older people in a more real and contemporary way", says Susan. "I wanted characters that were vibrant . Times are changing and as the head end of the original Baby Boomer generation now approaches retirement age, the concept of what it means to be older needs to be updated."

To which The Three Tomatoes say hold your martini glass up high and shout hooray to Susan and Florence,

Go see it today

The movie, now in screenings at theaters like the Paris, will start nationwide in "select" theaters on August 18th. To see a clip of the film and to get a listing of theaters go to http://www.boyntonbeachclubthemovie.com/. Tell your friends, take your friends and go and see this very, very funny movie.

Speaking of Hot

Hey even, Dyan and Sally have probably had those nights where you kick the covers off, pull the covers up. Open the window. Close the window. Wake up in a pool of sweat. You may know this routine, which is why you are going to love Wicking J Sleepwear from Rick and June. These adorable PJ's, which definitely do not look like Mama's old flannels were featured just this week on Good Morning America. This special sleepwear wicks moisture away from your body and dries quickly, allowing you to sleep better and feel better! They also sell wicking pillowcases and sheets, hot flash gift sets, and a quirky selection of books. Their web site is a hoot.
And here's the best part, we have a special 10% discount for tomatoes. Go to Rick and June today Just enter this coupon code at checkout: tomato.
If you want to comment on this week's column, post your thoughts on our blog, or email us at tomato@thethreetomatoes.com.

Sweet dreams,

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved

The Acupuncture Facial

2006-08-09T13:23:00.000-04:00

The Acupuncture Facial - A first hand account

Up until two weeks ago, our only personal experience with acupuncture was with our dog. Yes, our dog. There is practically nothing The Three Tomatoes will not do for our pampered pooches. So one day one of The Three Tomatoes was walking her beloved old black lab down Park Avenue. The dog was having a bad day with his aging hips and hind legs (we can relate) and a stranger stopped and suggested we find a veterinarian "acupuncturist" whom she swore did wonders for her old dog. It's amazing the advice you can get on the streets of New York, and sometimes from people who are actually sane and normal. Well believe it not, we actually found an acupuncturist/veterinarian who makes house calls to boot, and despite our initial skepticism, the results were amazing. It certainly improved the quality of the old guy's life in his last year.

But as we mentioned, we had never personally experienced acupuncture on our own bodies. Truth be told, our mental image of acupuncture was walking down some alley way off Canal Street and heading upstairs over the knock off handbags where we'd be met by an "ancient" wielding needles. So, when we met and heard Laura Kauffamn, a licensed accpuncturist and Chinese herbalist, at The Three Tomatoes event in June, speaking about acupuncture facial rejuvenation as a great alternative to surgery, botox and other invasive treatments, we knew we had to try this. Hey, it worked for the dog, right?

The procedure

So the "tomato in chief" (that would be this writer), also known as The Three Tomatoes' guinea pig, headed off to Laura's very professional office in the heart of Union Square. And yes, I confess, I was nervous. But Laura has a wonderful calming presence and explains the five step process to you before you proceed to the treatment room.

You lie down on a massage table, with tranquil music playing in the background, while Laura examines your skin and then, based on your skin's needs, prepares the most delightful hot compress using Chinese herbs and essential oils.

Then she explained that she would insert the acupuncture needles and leave me to "relax" for about 15-20 minutes. In fact she said, some people get so relaxed they actually fall asleep. Yeah, right! My heart was pounding, and my palms were sweating as she inserted the first of the needles into the tops of my feet, before heading to my face. All in all, she inserted only 14 needles (because I was a newbie), only two of which I felt -- the one on my right foot and one in the furrow of my brow, but it was only a mild pinching sensation. Then Laura lowered the lights and left. After about a minute or so of anxiety, I actually started to relax.

And then, in what seemed like five minutes and was actually 20, Laura returned and painlessly removed the needles. Next, comes the electrical current. Yes, we know this is starting to sound a little scary right now, but honestly, it's just a gentle stimulation of the facial muscles focused around the eyes, checks and jaw.

Next, Laura applies a wonderful facial mask with natural ingredients based on your skin types, like honey, seaweed, and essential oils.

And last, but best, is a facial massage using natural oils and aloe that lifts muscles and brings energy to the face.

The Results?

Honestly, my skin looked great, which is typical with most facials. But I also felt incredibly relaxed too. And two weeks later I still think my face looks smoother and more refreshed. According to Laura, while the treatment is subtle, the effects are lasting and it also offers a wide range of immune enhancing benefits at the same time. Laura recommends monthly treatments and you bet I'll be back. Hey, a few little painless needles and mild electrical current sure beats the old surgical knife.

A couple of other skin care tips from Laura

One of the keys to better looking skin is more blood and energy flow (Qi) to the face, both of which improve muscle tone which is one of the things the accu-facial does. But Laura also suggests slapping your face every morning --- yes, we know what you're thinking -- needles, electrical currents, and now slapping -- but this actually does help the blood flow and is one of the best things you can do for you face every day. Who knew? And Laura also suggests applying pure honey to your face occasionally for about five minutes -- it's filled with nutrients that are great for you skin and also makes it soft. Laura is also developing a line of wonderful, all natural, handmade skin care products , the "She: Essential Beauty" line.

Happy slapping.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Yes it's hot in here

2006-08-04T10:16:00.000-04:00

August 4, 2006

If you can't get to the Rivera this summer, try visiting these cool spots.

Yes tomatoes, those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are here. These are the days we were dreaming of last winter when we were trudging through the City in a foot of snow in our Uggs, shivering even while wearing our politically incorrect fur coats, and warming up with cognac. (Hey, at our ages, cognac is the best we can do.) So what are we doing now? Hanging out in our air-conditioned abodes or offices, complaining about the heat and waiting for the weekend to get out of the City. We whine so much that there are days when we can’t even stand ourselves! So, to take your mind off the heat and humidity, The Three Tomatoes suggest these five cool places to visit online, right there in the comfort of your air-conditioned room.

1. Lord and Taylor coupons delivered to your inbox: Go to www.lordandtaylor.com and sign up to get their coupons and sales notices via email. We love this store and the one on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street in Manhattan is the best! It now rivals Saks and Bloomingdales and is light years ahead of Macy’s any day.

2. Customized U.S. Postage Stamps from Stamps.com. Looking for a really unique (and inexpensive) gift? This is the place. PhotoStamps are an exciting new product that lets you take your own photographs and turn them into real U.S. postage! To create PhotoStamps all you need to do is upload a photo, customize it using their fun, easy-to-use interface, then place your order. It's that simple.

3. Restaurants.com - A guide to restaurants around the world and a great place to buy gift certificates and get discounts for restaurants just about anywhere.

4. Redecorating? Benjamin Moore has a terrific web site that let’s you upload photos of any room or house you want to paint and then play around with all their colors. Sure beats the “but it didn’t look like that on the chart”, or the total redo.

5. If you love antique jewelry you’ll love The Antique Jewelry Mall with hundreds of beautiful pieces of antique and estate jewelry from the Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Mid-Century Retro Moderne, and contemporary periods.
So make yourself a Tom Collins, and start clicking!

'til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved

New York City Web Sites We Love

2006-07-26T17:31:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful town

We fully admit our totally unabashed, shout it from the rooftops, love of New York City. (Just in case you haven't figured that out by now.) New York is quite simply the greatest City in the world. Why? Because it's all here, rolled up in one incredibly complex, microcosm, cosmic, life altering, orgasmic kaleidoscope. Yes, we know, it sounds like The Three Tomatoes have been hitting the martinis again. And poets, and artists, and singers, and writers, and movie makers have all said it and sung it and visualized it far better than our simplistic little prose could ever do. But the thing is, even the best of those never really quite capture what it is that makes this place so great. It's the feeling, it's the energy, and it's the vibes. New York is a living breathing entity that changes minute by minute.

Now New Yorkers love discovering New York on our own. We pride ourselves on the great little restaurant find, the fun little out of the way boutique, the off-off-off Broadway Show that our doorman's sister's husband's boyfriend who's an actor has the lead role in. But there's just so much to uncover that even those of us who live here need some help staying in the know. Sure we read the New York Times, and The New Yorker, and New York Magazine and Time Out, just like everyone else. Yes, just like everyone else. Which is the point of today's email. Here are a few of our favorite New York City web sites that aren't like everyone else with things and stuff about all things NYC.

Out of the mouths of New Yorkers themselves

One of our absolutely favorites is AskaNewYorker. This site is fun, wacky, useful, and irreverent. Just like New Yorkers, which is the point. AskaNewYorker.com is New York's only website where you can find out just about everything there is to know about New York City from the people who know it best: New Yorkers themselves. Like, why is New York called the "big apple". The "A" list of restaurants and other establishments most often recommended by other New Yorkers, not those stuffy critics from, well you know. The top 10 books real New Yorkers are reading. And no, DaVinci Code is not one of them. And fun articles like how to tell a Mets fan from a Yankees fan. So bookmark it today.

amNewYork, more than just a free newspaper

Now here's one that surprised us. You know the street hawkers at all the major subway and train stations who practically assault you with that free newspaper amNewYork? Which, truth be told, is a fun easy subway read even standing up. And we have to confess we have never mastered the fine NYC art of folding a paper in just the right way to read in transit. Well anyway, turns out that amNewYork has a terrific web site which includes a terrific guide to going out in New York City with everything from sights to see, museums, restaurants and more. You'll find great videos that will give you a terrific tour of Central Park and off the beaten path attractions like the Museum of Tibetan Art in Staten Island. So if you're looking for something a little different to do, or let's say have all your relatives descending on you, check it out.

A New York travel guide New Yorkers love

NewYorkology has made several best travel blog lists, including Forbes and the Washington Post. You'll find all the latest on what's new at the museums, like "Gardens of Eternal Spring: Two Mughal Carpets in The Frick Collection" which just opened at the Frick Collection. And you'd know that on Thursday, Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet will play their new score to accompany the 1931 version of the film "Dracula" at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brookyln, for free. And you'd know the 10 best things to do in New York this summer.

What subway should I take?

New Yorker's and tourists alike, are always asking what subway or bus will get me there? Well now there's HopStop to the rescue. This amazing web site is a city transit guide that provides door-to-door subway and bus directions and maps for New York City and other cities as well. You can even send directions by e-mail or text message to a cell phone directly from the website. Or get directions or the locations of nearby subway and bus stops remotely on your cell phone or PDA with the HopStop Mobile service.

What's the Cross Street?

We mentioned this one a while back, but it's worth a mentioning again. Just go to http://www.ny.com/locator/ if you have a Manhattan address and need the cross
street. Enter the address and voila!
Well that's this week's love poem to New York City, Three Tomatoes style.

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

The Age Thing

2006-07-18T12:48:00.000-04:00

Well it's birthday time for two of The Three Tomatoes and we have one thing to say -- how the hell did we get this old? Yes, we know we should be saying hooray and hallelujah because it sure beats the alternative, and for that we are mightily grateful everyday. And yes, we know it's just a "number". And 40 is the new 20, and 50 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40, and before you know it we'll all be embryos. Well you know the blah, blah, blah and all those other pandering "old people" platitudes. So indulge us today in our little musings on growing older. Hey, it's our birthday.

Now the thing is, we don't mind celebrating our birth "day" -- it's the age thing we'd rather not focus on . And hey, they don't call it a birth year celebration now do they? Here's the point. We don't feel old. In fact most of the time we don't actually think about our age. And honestly there are times when we have actually forgotten how old we really are, which no doubt is denial. But then again, there are lots of things we forget these days. Like, walking into a room and wondering why we're there. Like forgetting names of people. And we're not talking casual acquaintances here, but names like say our kids, for example. And even more scarily forgetting names of things which sends us into that whole charades kind of game. You know, where you describe what the thing does and looks like when you can't remember the things name.

And of course nowadays, we moan about the "youth" obsessed culture we live it. Which is kinda of ironic since our generation more or less created this obsession now didn't we? Remember when thirty was old and you couldn't trust anyone over that age? Of course that was in the days when cops, doctors, and presidents were way older than you too.

Okay, so we don't feel "old". And in our little world of denial, we don't actually look "old". Unless we say the "number" out loud and then the evil age fairy descends on us and suddenly we have wrinkles, sagging jaw lines, and body parts that jiggle (and not the ones that should). So, as a general rule, we simply do not utter the number.

We do think however, that our birth "day" is a good time to review where we are in our lives and more importantly where we're going. And no, we're not talking in an existential sort of way -- hey we're just not that deep. We mean in a more tangible "so what do we want to do next" sort of a way. So every year for the past few years, we set some new challenges for ourselves.

Like one year we finally figured out that we couldn't do much about getting older but we sure as heck didn't have to get older and fatter and more out of shape. So we took care of two out of three. Another year we learned to scuba dive at the urging of a pal, and despite our sheer terror at the thought, we actually did it! Another year, we discovered the thrill of grabbing the microphone at a piano bar and warbling a country tune or two -- off key of course and to the chagrin of relatives in ear shot . But here's, the best part. We didn't care. Another year we launched The Three Tomatoes, just for the fun of it.

And this year? Well, we're thinking maybe we'll actually take some singing lessons (those same two Patsy Cline numbers are getting a little stale), and get up the courage to sky dive, and finally go on that African Safari and who knows what else.

So here's the deal. We're not going to be old until we say we're old. And today we're feeling decidedly "un old". So it is hooray and hallelujah, pass the martinis and Happy Birthday to us after all.

So here's to all the "un old" tomatoes out there -- ripe is better than green and we sure as heck aren't withering on the vine.

Happy Birthday to us,

‘til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.

Memories

2006-07-12T16:26:00.000-04:00

Photos, photos everywhere

It's the time of the year that's ripe with special memories -- vacations, family reunions, graduations, weddings, and all other manner and matter of great photo ops. The Three Tomatoes love our digital cameras, and yes we actually know how to upload our pictures to our computers too. Although we do have friends (you know who you are) who have digital cameras with images that have yet to see the light of day. But with the exception of those hopeless few, if you're like The Three Tomatoes you love taking digital photos. But now instead of dusty shoe boxes filled with photos that go back to the days when Jimmy Carter was President that you still have every intention of organizing into lovely albums - some day - you now have a computer filled with digital images that you will "organize some day." Well your some day is here. Sit back and enjoy our little guide to some of the best digital photo storage, sharing, printing and editing web sites out there.

Let's get organized

About a year or so ago, we were introduced to Google's Picassa, by our chimney sweep guy, which just proves it pays to chat up everyone because hey, you never know. Picassa is a free software download that installs quickly and simply and then immediately goes through your entire computer searching for any photos you have stored and neatly organizes them by year and previously named folders. Now this is important to understand -- it copies these into Picassa, so do not fear that it has screwed up any other filing and storage system you have. We love Picassa and think it is far superior to Microsoft's "my pictures" and software programs that come with your digital camera. You can easily upload your images to any one of half a dozen popular photo sites (more about those in a minute), and send photos via email. You can also create collage images, and view your photos with their very cool timeline tool. But best are their very easy to use photo editing tools that include all the basics most amateur photographers would want or use -- cropping, color correction, conversion to B&W, sepia, and other special effects like "soft focus" and "glow" which we especially love because they soften any imperfections (like our lines and wrinkles.) The only thing better than editing your photo so that you look 10 pounds thinner and 10 years younger would be a real life "editing" tool that worked in minutes and didn't involve pain.

Photo sharing and printing web sites

We have long been partial to Kodak EasyShare Gallery. It's an easy way to share photos and order prints. And now of course they offer all kinds of products that you can imprint your photos onto -- everything from greeting cards to mugs. And as long as you occasionally order from them, they will continue to store all your albums for free which is a real plus if your computer crashes and you didn't make CD backups, or if you buy a new computer and don't want the hassle of copying all of your zillions of photos. But one of our favorite things is creating photo books, which are coffee table type photo books. Kodak has offered this product for over three years now and they have definitely simplified the process of creating a book since then. Photo books are a great way to relive cherished vacation memories (and you add the captions in as you go along, so no more saying where the heck was this?) We also like creating "year in review" books with a selection of our favorite photos.

Loyal as we have been to Kodak, we recently checked out Shutterfly's options for photo books and were wowed! Lots more options than Kodak so we will definitely be giving them a try.

Want a professional photo printing site?

If you're ready to move to the next phase of digital photo printing, check out mpix.com an online digital imaging lab designed for professionals and advanced amateurs. While not as user friendly or intuitive as Kodak and Shutterfly, mpix.com lets you upload "raw" images if you like (and no, raw does not mean photos in your birthday suit). You can choose from Kodak professional photo papers (including True digital B&W and more.) If you're a purist, you should definitely check out this site.

Want to email really large files?

Then check out Pando.com. We read about this new application just this week in the Wall Street Journal and gave it a whirl. This free software program let's you send attachments that are up to one gigabyte, a term that is relatively meaningless to The Three Tomatoes. So in real people talk that means you can email someone a ton of pictures, or a video, of even a huge music file. We tried it out and it works. But keep in mind, the recipient has to download the software too.

Looking for a Digital Camera?

Before you buy or upgrade, check the reviews from PC Magazine.

Happy shooting.

‘til next week

2006-03-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

Vanity Pounds

This week we read about the ten pounds we're trying to lose referred to as "vanity pounds." So that made us feel better that we haven't gone to Weight Watchers for two weeks and are afraid to get on the scale because we have made so little progress. So those love handles and slightly tight clothes that we're still wearing because we refuse to move to the next size is really only about "vanity." Right. You see how good we are at justifying?

Hopefully you're doing better.

Post a comment and visit us www.thethreetomatoes.com .

Guilty

2006-03-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

Well last week we gained a half a pound and this week we didn't weigh in because we're sure we didn't do much better. We're struggling the past couple of weeks and definitely have not exercised any serious willpower. Phew, we confessed, we feel better, we'll do better next week. Our other Three Tomatoes pal fared better, so hopefully she'll post this week.

How was your week?

We'll post next week.

Excuses, Excuses

2006-02-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

We were still sick this week. We had a major snow storm. We needed lots of comfort food. Blah, blah, blah. Our up and down and down and up is just pathetic. After we lost our five pound holiday bloat gain and our clothes fit again, we're really having a hard time motivating ourselves to lose those 10 pounds we'd really like to lose. But the thought of a family wedding in a month in Miami and spaghetti strap dresses and bathing suits (ugh!) will hopefully help in the motivation field.

How are you doing this week?

And if you're not familar with The Three Tomatoes visit our web site and sign up for our weekly emails (we only dwell about weight here!).

Back on track

2006-02-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

Yeah! We lost the pound we gained last week and (almost) an additional pound. Phew. Not bad for a week that included a super bowl party at which we exhibited NO will power. When your downfall is snacks, it's pretty tough to resist natchos and all those cheesey, gooing dips and stuff. We couldn't count high enough to keep track of all the points we consumed that day. So this week, we're going to get much more serious and try to lose at 2 pounds. One of our favorite breakfast foods these days is Puffers, a really nice crispy organic cereal that only has 1 point for 2/3rds cup. Put fruit on top and a little low fat milk, and it's yummy and satisfies until lunch.

How are you all doing?

The Three Tomatoes

Down and Up

2006-02-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

Yikes. Last week we were a little bummed that we only lost one pound. So what we did we do? We gained a pound this week. Well we were sick -- you know, feed a cold (or is it starve a cold). And we didn't get to exercise because we were sick. Yes, we know these are pretty pathetic excuses. These are the toughest 10 pounds we've ever tried to lose! Oh, and we think the seaweed is a joke. We never got to the three a day in hot water, because the 1/4 tsp. in hot water once a day made us so bloaty and uncomfortable, we couldn't stand it. Alas, no miracle weight loss aid. Okay, it's another week and we're really going to try to be good. Or at least better. Tomato #2 faired better and she'll post her progress and thoughts too.

So how did you do this week?

The Three Tomatoes

Are we having fun yet?

2006-01-25T17:51:00.000-05:00

Weigh in day at Weight Watchers. This was one of those kind of frustrating weeks for The Three Tomatoes' Tomato #1. With the exception of one bad night (see last week's blog) she was good all week - stayed within the points ranged and upped her exercise. The results? One little pound down. Well actually she was pleased because by her scale she was dead even. And a pound is a pound, and at least it was one down not one up. And as we learned in our last go round at WW, those kinds of week happen and then the next week, you start losing again. Tomato #2 is doing great and lost nearly another 3 pounds! We're really proud of her but admit to being a teensy weensy jealous. (It's that ugly competitive side of us.) We're trying the seaweed thing...so far we don't think it's doing anything to make us feel fuller -- basically we're just feeling bloated and hungry. Not a great thing. But we'll give it few more days and then let you know if you should just go with the good old will power.

So let us know how you did this week and post a comment.

'Til next week,

The Three Tomatoes

Week 2 - We lost weight!!

2006-01-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was weigh in and The Three Tomatoes efforts in the past week really paid off. Tomato #1 lost 4.2 pounds and Tomato #2 lost 2 (and she had lost 6 the week before.) We stayed for some of the meeting too. (Yes, we know what you're thinking, but honest we had meetings to get back too.) So how was the first week? Not bad actually. We made a concerted effort to give up alcohol for the week, and except for a couple of glasses of Chianti (which really is good for you), we succeeded. So what did we do last night to celebrate? Well, we went out to dinner of course. Our food consumption was not a problem -- we stuck with salad and roasted scallops. But we think consuming 20 points in alcohol (our whole days points allowance) was probably not a wise move. Our heads told us that too this morning. Okay...Today's another day.

How are you doing out there?

Week One - The Lapsed Members Return

2006-01-15T19:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so last week The Three Tomatoes returned to Weight Watchers. The first step was having to admit to the weigh in lady that we were lapsed life time members (a status you achieve when you reach and maintain your goal weight, which we successfully did for a couple of years.) So here we were for the dreaded weigh-in knowing that were we over and close to being over our original starting weight from our first go-round at WW. But, we consoled ourselves with the "at least we've taken control" again. Now, if you've never been to Weight Watchers, the weigh in ritual is quite interesting. First, everyone takes their shoes off. And then, depending on how desperate you are to show a weight loss from the previous week, the strip tease begins -- but since this was week one, we only went with the shoes. Next week, we can remove the shoes, belts, watches, etc., which probably weight less a half a pound but every ounce counts.

So then we proceeded to the lecture, which was a novelty for us since at our last go around we only stayed as punishment if someone had gained weight. So somewhat reluctently, and glancing at our watches, we sat down. So you wouldn't you know that right off the bat, the leader calls on us with the, so, talk to the group deal. So we had to fess up that we were lapsed life timers. Then, as we were sort of whispering snide little remarks to ourselves, we got snagged again. Seems she was explaining how many fruits, veggies and dairy portions to include each day and we were supposed to be writing this down. "Did we need pencils," she asked? We then tried to explain to her why we thought wine should really be considered a fruit portion (hey it is made out of grapes.) She was not amused. We then realized that we really did need to adjust our attitudes. It's not her fault that we gained weight. And she has successful lost and kept it off for years, so we might actually learn something.

So here we are counting points again and obsessing about every bite of food we put in our mouths. Maybe bulimia isn't so bad. Maybe a stomach virus would be a good thing.

More next week.

Our New Year's Resolution

2006-01-12T17:49:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog. The Three Tomatoes have a love/hate thing with New Year’s resolutions. We love the part that starts off the New Year with great enthusiasm, conjuring up new beginnings, new opportunities, visions of lost tonnage, cellulite free bodies, bad habits banished, and all those other self-improvement things we’re going to accomplish this year. And since we have lots of areas that could use self-improvement, our typical resolution list looks like this: lose weight, exercise more, eat healthy, consume more calcium and less alcohol, get all those “age” related yucky medical tests you’ve put off, read more of the classics, visit museums, be kind and nice to everyone even the ones who don’t deserve it, and in our spare time, learn something new, like speaking Mandarin Chinese. Oh my. So many resolutions, too little will power. That’s where the hate part comes in. We make all those resolutions on January 1 and by about mid-January we’re feeling deprived, then angry, then the heck with this, pass the martinis! And there we are, back to the same old, same old. In fact, there were years when we just skipped right past the resolution phase and just stayed in the same old, same old mode.

Weight Watchers and Seaweed

Well, it’s a New Year again and we’re going to try a new strategy. We’re going with one resolution at a time. If we’re successful at that one, then we’ll move onto another. So at the top of this year’s list, and therefore resolution #1, is our perennial -- LOSE WEIGHT! We’re not sure how this happens, because we’re “relatively” good all year long – exercising, watching what we eat, and then somehow Thanksgiving arrives and we spiral out of control. Then we’re shocked when we step on the scale on January lst and discover to our horror that we have somehow consumed the equivalent of Brooklyn. So we’re heading back to Weight Watchers, a program that really does work for us. We like it because it’s easy to count points, and no foods are forbidden .If you want to consume your dinner points in martinis, that’s your business, but usually it forces you to make healthy eating choices. We’ve found it works best if you enlist a pal, or several of them. In fact, a few years ago, we enlisted some other tomatoes who wanted to shed some tonnage, and formed our own little highly competitive and unorthodox Weight Watchers group. We all went for weigh-ins once a week and our rule was we only stayed for the meeting if someone had gained weight -- then every one had to sit through the meeting. Talk about pressure! We all reached our goal weight, but I’m sure our lifetime memberships would be revoked if the WW people knew our approach. So, this year, we’re actually going to sit through the meetings. Of course, we’re not starting until next week, because we’re too embarrassed to step on the scales this week and somehow think losing a pound or two first will make a difference. And we’re going to try the Japanese seaweed plan. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on “kanten”, a gelatin made from ground-up seaweed that tricks the body into thinking it is full. Apparently, it has become the rage in Japan and has been endorsed by several leading Japanese physicians and nutritionists. It is supposedly safe, because it is basically a flavorless thickening agent that has no calories, lots of dietary fiber and is rich in calcium and iron. The kantan (also know as agar) expands after it has been eaten, tripling in mass as it absorbs liquids in the stomach so you feel full. Of course they caution that it’s also important to eat a balanced diet, exercise, and eat less. (Well duh!) Cost is less than $5 for a two-ounce bottle of agar and is available online at iHerb.com and StandardVitanet.com. It’s suggested that you consume two grams thoroughly dissolved in hot liquid three times a day.

We've set up our blog so that you follow the ups and downs (hopefully the later) of our weight loss resolution.