No corsets. No hatpins. And no crying.

The first rule of Fight Club is always the same, no matter what century it is.

with thanks to Mrs. SOC for first posting it on The Book of Face.

Que syrah shiraz

{flights of wine and cheese at Bin36 in Chicago}

I'm in Chicago this week for one of my company's conferences and last night took the fab assistant Kelly and our VP of sales to one of my favorite restaurants, Bin 36. They have a great wine selection and offer it by the flight, glass or bottle, as well as in their retail shop (unlike CT, where our blue laws prohibit retail sales and consumption sales under the same roof). They also have an amazing cheese bar that makes me so glad I'm not lactose intolerant. The wine flights all have clever, pun-y names and the restaurant's Wine 101 & 102 classes have converted hundreds of wine neophytes into oenophiles. The decor is very urban loft contemporary and the menu is eclectic and planned with wine pairings in mind. If you are ever in Chicago I urge you to make time to visit.

On a related note, the owner of my favorite wine shop in CT doesn't know my name and always refers to me by the name of a wine I asked him about when I first visited his shop last year. "Hi Carmenere!". I guess there are worse things than being mistaken for a delicious Chilean red.

Form and function

Me, to neighbor, while digging through cabinet next to stove and moving utilitarian red fire extinguisher out of the way:


"Why are these things so ugly? Why can't they be prettier? Then I wouldn't feel compelled to hide it in the cabinet."

Well, the smart folks at Sweden's FireInvent have come up with a stylish alternative to the ugly red (but necessary) safety tool:

{form AND function. What a novel idea! by FireInvent Design}

Wish I thought of it first....