What Would Leenya Do?

Housing Works in Hell's Kitchen

2011-01-15T01:05:00.000-08:00

Shop for bargains and donate to a good cause on 9th Ave. in Midtown (730-732 9th Ave. between 49th and 50th). Today I walked past in a hurry, even though was a sign reading %50 off all clothing! Quel damage!

If you've never been to one of the many locations all over the city, Housing Works comprise seven upscale resale stores that not only provide steady funding to address the needs of people living with AIDS, but they also ensure a supply of clothing and essentials to people that other organizations have deemed too difficult to serve.

It's a wonderful place for the novice thrifter because of it's large selection of upscale clothing and furniture and often sells new items that stores have donated from overstock.

On a previous visit to the Chelsea location, I found an amazing fragrance pour homme that I gave to Ted for a birthday gift. $15 instead of $45. And all going to a good cause.

Eight Dollar Coats!

2011-01-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

Better late than never.

Some of you know that I have just started rehearsals for a new play at Lincoln Center called War Horse so blogging time is scarce, but I woke up in the middle of the night tonight realizing that I had neglected to post about the Salvation Army Coat Sale that is tomorrow, or actually, later this morning!

46th Street between 10th and 11th in Manhattan
9am to 5pm (Get there at 8:45am to get a cart to shop with and the best selection!)

I wasn't going to attend the last one in December because it fell on my husband's birthday, but to my surprise, we woke up in the morning and he actually said (and I almost fainted), "Shouldn't we go and see what we can find for my birthday at the coat sale?"

What? My HUSBAND wanted to go THRIFTING? On his BIRTHDAY?

Well, I didn't need convincing so of course we were out the door and in less than 2 hours, we came home with 2 large bags of new (used) clothes for his wardrobe (we HAD to go upstairs to shop for other things, too!) including a black toasty warm down coat (pictured above) that he has been wearing almost every day since.

And the best news of all is that their prices for coats this year are even lower: Eight dollars for non-leather, non-fur regular length coats. EIGHT DOLLARS ! Can't beat that.

Later that evening, at his Birthday Party, our friend Todd (who is a fellow reader of What Would Leenya Do) showed up in his new/used coat, almost identical to Ted's and he had bought it... (wait for it) FROM THE SALVATION ARMY COAT SALE! Eight dollars!

Now I'm going back to sleep to rest up for another eight hour day of puppetry, but go! Shop! Be warm! And let me know what you find...

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

Here's my Holiday Gift to all you Renaissance People out there!

"Comfort and Joy"

Arrangement and instruments by yours trully, all on Garage Band...

I Played My Drum For Him

2010-12-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

Ask the Little Drummer Boy. He gave of what he had, and never gave up when he couldn't afford to go to the mall and spend hundreds of dollars for brand new gifts for the baby Jesus.

Ted and I looked around to see what we had this fall and saw things we've collected: Champagne and wine corks (no surprise there), leather scraps, and feathers from the birds in our neighborhood: wild turkeys, bluejays, Canadian geese, and tufted titmouse. After experimenting with a few different prototypes, little Christmas Tree ornaments emerged from our combinations and the Pocono Angel was born.

The next challenge was sending them in the mail without ruining the feathers and by using only recycled brown paper bags and cardboard.

Soon, we had over 30 made and our family and friends now had little personalized ornaments to hang on their tree.

Pa rum pa pum pum!

Reuse your T's

2010-12-29T10:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays, readers!

For your gift this year, I'm linking you to Huffington Post's list of reuse ideas, mostly for t-shirts. I want the book called 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt by Megan Nicolay!

Here's to a creative and eco-friendly 2011!

Thankful for Coats

2010-11-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for you, my faithful readers.

AND for my faux leopard swing coat and Ted's charcoal wool dress coat that I bought at last year's Salvation Army Coat Sale, both worn to the recent opening of the play Elling (starring Denis O'Hare and Brandan Fraser) on Broadway at the Soho House! (paired here with a winter white lace mini dress that I found for $15 at H & M and a long gold chain and pendant I bought at a flea market for $8)

AND for our friend Kelly (pictured here) who accompanied us to the opening.

AND for the coat sale that is coming up at 9:30am on Saturday, December 4th at the Salvation Army between 10th and 11th.

It's good to be Ren!

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #4: An Apple a Day

2010-11-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

At first, it was a saving money thing. Big surprise, right?

But then, eating a large apple plus a handful of raw almonds made a fabulous start to a lunch. Or was a wonderful way to curb hunger between meals.

And eventually, old snack standards like tortilla or potato chips and candy didn't seem like food anymore. In fact, I finally believed that excessive salt and sugar shut off my ability to notice I'm full and actually cause me to overeat.

Now, I start off each meal by filling up on the good stuff: Green vegetables, whole grains, fruit, and water so by the time I get to meat and dessert, I'm too full to ask for seconds.

Reward? Shopping spree (at thrift stores, of course) for a whole new smaller wardrobe!

Pictured right:

Leenya as Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina 2010

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #3: Fall in Love

2010-11-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

In the final scene of Man of La Mancha, Aldonza assumes Don Quixote's name for her, Dulcinea, partly because he is the first man to ever fall in love with her, but also because after his death, she learns that it is up to her to love herself.

In Hilton Head, I got in the best shape of my life partly because of the intense fight choreography, partly because of 4 hour volleyball matches on the beach, but mostly because I fell in love... with running.

The best way to get in shape and then stay in shape is to find a physical activity that you will do every other day not only because you know it's good for you, but that you can't stand to NOT do it, that when you have to skip a day you miss it. And even better, is to fall in love with an activity that is FREE and that you can do anywhere you are, summer or winter.

Every other day, I would run out of the girl's cast housing and down the street, over the white sand dunes sprouting with tall grasses, and out onto the beach. With Dixie Chicks (Taking the Long Way Home) or Melissa Etheridge playing in my iPod, I'd challenge myself to go farther and farther each day, finding the perfect strip of sand that wasn't too hard packed by the receding tide nor too dry and loose to get my footing. Even with inclement weather threatening, the beach was the best setting for inspiring intervals of jogging and full out sprints. I raced dolphins and watched pelicans and ospreys hunt in the waves. A number of times, I even ran barefoot (inspired by an interview on NPR about running shoes being uncessary) and found it even more exhilerating (though my toes ended up with blisters between them from the sand).

Before long, my clothes were looser and I felt stronger and stronger and then my days between runs I found myself missing the beach.

Back in New York, 80 degree days are in the past, but I've held to my regimen and pretend that the New York sidewalks are the packed down sand of the beach. On cold or rainy days, I walk stairs, taking the elevator down and repeating the climb until I've climbed at least as high as the Empire State Building.

And it's wonderful to be back to my first true love: my husband.

What have you fallen in love with?

Fall Bitch and Swap

2010-11-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

Have you thrown your Bitch and Swap yet? What did you get?

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #2: Once a Week

2010-11-10T11:25:00.001-08:00

This is a photo of me with dirty hair.

And it's so much more manageable than just-washed hair!

I've been told not to wash my hair more than once a week before, but I never believed. I mean, what's a girl to do if she sweats when she works out? And what about product buildup?

As Aldonza, I didn't wear a wig and I wanted it to look like it hadn't been brushed or washed in years. DJ, our director, even suggested that I clip pieces of straw into the back of it, as if I had been dragged through the stables, but in the end, sometimes more is not, well... So I began to wash it once a week, on my day off.

And I liked my hair better! Even with sweat from running, salt from swimming in the ocean, gel and mousse that I put in it every day, my hair had better texture and felt thicker and smoother and healther and much more manageable. So why go back to washing every day?

The secret is I do get it wet as if I'm going to wash it in the shower but then I add conditioner and leave that on for the remainder of my shower, rinsing before I turn the water off.

Then, whether I leave it wavy or blow it straight, it feels as though I have twice the hair than I would if I had just shampooed it.

Fewer washes=fewer dollars spent on shampoo, not to mention fewer dollars spent on hair color, if that should apply to you...

Thanks, Aldonza!

Dulcinea Beauty Tip #1: The Aldonza Manicure

2010-11-06T10:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is not really a "beauty tip" and this post would have been better timed before Halloween, but I came up with this idea when I was looking for details to make myself really dirty at the beginning of the show, Man of La Mancha. To become "a creature who'll never do better than crawl", I wanted to be covered in years of gutter grime so my transformation would be more dramatic. I knew we would be "getting dirty" by covering ourselves with burned cork before each show (see upper right photo with Lauren Ford, "Antonia"), but would it stay in the cracks of fingernails and toenails?

For about a year now, black has been back as the trendiest nail polish color, and not just for Emo, Goth or Alt Rockers. During rehearsals, I was wearing black on my nails and as it wore off between manicures, I wondered if I could wipe it off in a way that it looked like residual dirt. I must admit, I was inspired by the makeup in the Lord of the Rings movies (so many closeups of Frodo and the ring couldn't reveal clean hands) and was happy to know that this effect wouldn't require frequent applications of black shoe polish or something worse.

Apply one layer of black nail polish all over nails (and toenails if feet are bare).
Allow to dry.
Soak paper towel or toilet paper in nail polish remover and wipe nails down, avoiding the cuticles, leaving polish on edges only.

Soon, other cast members wanted this "Aldonza Manicure" to add details to their dirtiness. (Pictured here are Sal Sabella, "the Padre", and me out after a show, showing off our gnarly nails)

Who knows? Maybe we'll start a whole new fad!

The Dulcinea Project

2010-11-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

It's no secret. I've been away.

And I haven't been blogging.

And I'm sorry.

But sometimes a Renaissance Girl has to take some Me-time, some away time, and get some perspective.

And this time, I got it while playing the filthy, lowest of the low woman-for-sale Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (pictured at right).

I realized that for the past 6 months, though I find pleasure in the creativity and imagination it takes to live well on an artist's budget, I have grown weary of making ends meet, of making just enough to squeak by. And I admit this, knowing that a lot of you are feeling the same way. And it's okay. It's the recession, baby.

But I regret that I stopped writing...

In the next few posts, I will write some beauty tips I discovered and utilized while making my transformation, onstage and off, from cheap jack- of- all trades Aldonza to beautiful superstar Dulcinea, including a dramatic body image change. It took diving into one of the most difficult roles I've ever performed to find myself and to know I've been here all along; I just needed to figure out where to dig and what to shed.

And it still didn't cost a cent, just a gamble.

Maybe I'll call it, The Dulcinea Project.

Three Coat Sales!

2010-11-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't posted in a while, but yes, I want you to know about the upcoming Salvation Army Coat Sales!

Saturday, November 6th 9:30am to 5pm
Saturday, December 4th 9:30am to 5pm
Saturday, January 8th 9:30am to 5pm

Check back to my first Coat Sale posting for my tips to navigating these hectic and hilarious events.

And I promise to post again soon!

The OTHER Shakespeare in the Park

2010-08-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare in the Park, brought to you by the Public Theater, went back to a wonderful and often unattainable conquest: Rep. Most of the actors perform in both Winters Tale and A Merchant's Tale. Ted and I saw both shows at the Delacorte Theater this summer: Beautiful, ethereal, clever, starstudded...

...and sanitary.

Call me crazy, but I like my Shakespeare (and most theater, for that matter) more hands on, more about human contact and imperfection. So when I went to see New York Classical Theater's production of Much Ado About Nothing (starring my longtime friend and onstage husband, Company, Fred Rose) Saturday night, I was, at long last, sated.

And yes, I am blogging about both because they are free to the public (with a suggested donation, of course) and they are at the top of my list of New York summer adventures, but I have to admit, when I heard that I'd have to sit on the pavement to see Much Ado and then get up and move around to various locations all around Battery Park with a hundred other various strangers, I anticipated the grumpiness that only a long time New Yorker who avoids events like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting and Macy's Thanksgiving Parade trully knows.

But at least until the word gets out, there is no standing in line starting at 6am for a New York Classical Theater Shakespeare play. Once you know where to meet for the initial scene, you just jump in with the crowd and don't get too comfortable. Which I found to be, unexpectedly, the beauty of this concept.

I joined Benedick, Beatrice, Hero and their friends in Castle Clinton, along with 150 other people of all ages, shapes, colors, and species (Duffy the dog was mezmerized by the fight scenes). Each theatergoer was respectful and eager to find out what happened at the next location (kids ended up in a race), all of which served as a great background for the 1940's seafaring concept.

When the sun went behind the horizon (Battery Park sunsets over Jersey City and the statue of liberty are pretty spectacular) the same assistants that ushered the crowd to the next location held flashlights as spotlights. Occasionally, ambient noise competed with the dialogue, but the actor's vocal work was impressive and the audience seemed to hang on every word of the abbreviated script. The acting and directing was strong and the story prevailed. And I never had a chance to sit and tune out. We were all a part of the experience.

As of next week, Much Ado moves to Central Park at 103rd Street, the exact location is listed on the website. Bring comfortable shoes, shorts/pants that you don't mind getting dirty, something to sit on that you can easily carry from place to place, and friends.

Trees Are Cool

2010-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Check out this The Lower East Side Ecology Center's website for instructions on how to safely recycle and for a money saving tip that we should all remember:

"The net cooling effect of one young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-sized air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

How's that for free?

And true. I just returned from the O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut where I was in a 12 day workshop reading of an amazing new musical called "Clear" written by Paul Stovall and the best place to cool off was under one of the amazing huge trees on the grounds. There are photos of famous actors and playwrights and directors (Woody Allen, August Wilson, etc.) under what was known as the Conference Tree. What an amazing creative meeting place! Holy Ground, as our musical director/cast member Brad Simmons said.

Yay trees!

And yay Lower East Side Ecology Center!

More Divawear...

2010-06-09T16:22:00.000-07:00

Another performance at Symphony Space with some amazing celebrities (I performed between a video of Stephen Colbert and Leonard Nimoy!), another reason to create another "Divawear" design.

This was a top I made from 2 identical silk scarves that I found in a ten cent bin at a thrift store in California (I bought 10 of them, stay tuned for the gown...) and then sewed together. I added a draw string and my Divawear tag... et voila! "Wow" comments from Jane Curtin, Carmen de Vavallade, and Eugenia Zukerman!

p.s. Strappy sandals from Payless, dark wash skinny jeans from H & M...

All because of a Blog

2010-06-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Donna Lynn Champlin is my newest Ren Girl Hero.

For under $1,000 she recorded and released her debut album, Old Friends.

Mine, with the amazing discounted and free help of dozens of musician friends cost $10,000. In this Broadway World article, Champlin relates her story of how simply blogging about her adventure, she assembled her team and emerged with a record winning album!

Guess what my next project is?

Target Women

2010-06-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Watching Target Women will definitely save you money.

I ran across this hilarious off-hand cable TV show between Tosh.O and the Daily Show and recommend it for a healthy dose of perspective.

Second Annual Bitch and Swap

2010-05-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

It's a small world in this big city.

I was doing a reading of a new musical and met two marvelous new actors who had just come from a hike upstate: first clue that we probably had tons in common... But then I found out that Anna (who has a blog, too!) is also from Missoula Montana! Next (drumroll ladies and gentlemen) I invited her to my Bitch and Swap.... and she couldn't come because she was already having one that week! What?

But we did compare notes afterwards on Facebook. Seems more people are into purging than acquiring and we both had huge piles to bring to Sally's (thank you Renee for filling up your car the next morning!) and varying sizes of donated clothes are inevitable and everyone has more fun if none of that matters.

How was your Bitch and Swap Potluck?

$99 Headshots!

2010-05-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

How can you beat that?

Ben Strothmann offers a 20 minute "Quickie" session for an affordable alternative.

Let's face it. When you've had several headshots in your life you know how to a)do your own hair and makeup and b) choose one outfit that you know will work. This short session requires that pre-planned focus (time for only one look/background color), and it forces you to do your homework: Check out other headshots on line, see what you like and don't like in backgrounds, poses, outfits, makeup and show up with ideas. Ben is great at taking those ideas and setting up the right lighting and background.

He recently moved to a new studio with a great big bathroom down the hall, complete with full length mirror, and mine was the first shot taken in this new studio! His clear instructions on his website made it very easy and fast to view my proofs online.

Thanks Ben! Now to get my new headshots to the casting directors...

Check out more photos by Ben of The Chalks in a previous post:

Practially Free!

For the Love of Boots

2010-04-12T10:27:00.001-07:00

Okay, who else has a little crush on their Shoe Repair Guy?

I think my husband has accepted it and is okay with it so I'll just sing his praises a bit here.

$70 dollars just revived 6 pairs of fantastic boots, some of which I've re-heeled 3 times already! I mean, these boots have miles on them. And he not only re-heeled them, he gave them each a beautiful polish. That's love, isn't it?

And it's good for the environment.

And it's good for our pocket book.

Yay, Shoe Repair Guy!

Window Shopping

2010-04-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Am I crazy? Okay, don't answer that too quickly.

But I do wonder why, when I feel like I can finally afford to shop for new items, I walk into department stores and retail shops, get bored, and walk out empty handed.

I mean, where's the hunt? Where's the creativity?

My friend Chad does think I'm crazy, because instead of looking at a fabulous sundress and thinking, wow, that would go great with the cute pair of slides I bought last season, I think, how can I make that out of something I already own or something that I know I can find for two dollars at a thrift store, like a tablecloth, for example? Or curtains? How do you solve a problem like Leenya?

Take Gap and Urban Outfitters. It's gotten to where I just walk in and browse (a salesperson's nightmare, I know) and each price tag is $40 and above for items that all appear as if they're vintage or lovingly worn anyway. Instead, my brain starts to calculate: Hmmm...

70's peasant blouses with sleeves cut off

Men's vests with darts sewn in the back lining to make them more fitted

80's print full skirts, shortened to a mini

Early 90's cuff boots or 70's shortened cowboy booties

Loose-fitting khaki's (even pleats can be reworked in the newest trends) to roll up to capris

And I have my list!

Then I head to Sally's, Conway's, or to my new favorite treasure chests, the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market on 39th Street between 9th and 10th Ave. and Outcasts, benefitting St. Clement's Church on 10th Ave. between 46th and 47th Street and look for fabrics that I'm drawn to, colors that I need in my wardrobe.

$33 dollars later, I leave with 2 huge bags of new summer items and I know it's going to be a fun new season.

Swapapalooza!

2010-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

You may need an NYU i.d. to get in, but why not try? Come next weekend to the grandDaddy of all Bitch and Swaps!

Swap-A-Palooza
Sunday, April 25, 1pm-7pm
Kimmel Center, 8th Floor
Swap-a-Palooza is a clothing swap and celebration that lets you reduce your environmental impact by exchanging gently used clothes and accessories. Take advantage of the ultra-stylish NYU community's fashion sense and harvest a new look without putting pressure on your wallet - or the planet. Admission price is one bag of clothes. The Swap will feature do-it-yourself design stations to make your new wardrobe one-of-a-kind.

Bitch and Swap Time

2010-03-31T02:06:00.000-07:00

Okay Ren People! It's that time of year again.

Spring, though little more than a tease right now, is truly around the corner and it's time to trade out winter clothes for warmer togs. Re-read my posts about purging in Lady Godiva for tips on what to get rid of during this transition.

Also, start organizing a Bitch and Swap now! Not only is it a good excuse to gather your stylish-but-bargain-savvy friends together for a party, but you'll get new stuff for the price of snacks and beverages! And with all those around the world who are newly suffering lately, why not make it a fundraiser for a Charity? Multitask, I say...

Live-Laughs.com

2010-03-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

Last month, I went on a retreat with my sisters Mary Brienza and Kathryn Markey.

Okay, it wasn't really a retreat and I don't really have real sisters. The venue was the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor Long Island and Mary an Kathryn are my stage "sisters" in the Country Western Comedy trio "The Chalks". We were on a quest to finally write the script that has been the result of years of fun on stage and Tom Caruso, our new director, was going to take us there!

In one week, we finished writing, changed, changed again, and then performed memorized our new musical, The Chalks: A Family in Three Chords! It was a huge challenge, but with an audience that barely stopped laughing enough to catch their breaths, well worth the trip!

Back in December, Live-Laughs.com came and filmed our unscripted live show at the Laurie Beechman Theater and you can still watch it (for free!) along with many other New York Comedians. They do a great job of making videos of live shows.

Check us out because seeing a Chalks show isn't going to be a bargain forever!

Fancy Shmancy

2010-03-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll write later about where the *&$#^%&@ I've been the last 3 months and why I haven't written recently. There is a post I need to write!

A fellow singer/actor wrote me recently and I wanted to share. I'm honored to have her as a follower!

Oh Financially Savvy Fashionista!

Dear Leenya,

I never did update you on the results of my formal wear foraging! Your recommendations were wonderful- the first place I stopped was the Goodwill on 25th street where I found a two piece outfit with a wonderful full black satin skirt. The top half didn't fit, but for $35 I was happy for it to come along for the ride! So with my workable separates in hand I continued thru your list of venues, just to see what was out there. Most of the other locations on 25th and Housing works had a better supply of everyday clothes. Finally I arrived at the massive Salvation Army on 46th street where I found a bronze strapless gown I actually didn't need at the moment but will probably end up using it next month. And for $40 I figured it was worth taking home as well. It was quite a successful voyage!

Thank you again for your guidance!

I say, Sally Forth, oh fellow Ren Girl! A lot of people shy away from looking for formal wear at Thrift Stores when it's one of the first things that people purge, as they see it as a "wear one time only" clothing item and therefore, but you didn't let this stop you!

I just competed in the American Traditions Vocal Competition and for each round of the competition (I won the Bronze Medal!) I wore an outfit that was purchased entirely at a resale shop! In the quarterfinals, I wore my newest favorite grey pinstripe suit with a flea market sequined tank and the semi-finals featured me in an empire-waist flower knee length cocktail dress with a velvet blazer on top. Pictured here is me backstage in the final round at the gorgeous Lucas Theater in downtown Savannah with my amazing accompanist, Keith Burton, wearing the gown (complete with train!) that I found at "Sally's" for the opening night of Cyrano de Bergerac with Jennifer Garner. I was so happy to have an event for which I could wear this unique dress again!

To those who are reading for the first time because you heard about my blog in my introduction at the finals, Welcome! And I meant what I said about Savannah audiences...

Travel Zoo.com

2009-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

No, no animals involved.

My cousin Kim tipped me off to this website last year and yesterday I cashed in!

It takes seconds to go to travelzoo.com and sign up and immediately, you begin receiving update emails about travel discount deals that have just been announced. There are hotels and theater tickets as well as true cheap airline tickets (January round trip to San Diego: $275 including all fees and taxes!).

Who says you can't afford to get away? Go to the Zoo!

Sample Sale 2!

2009-12-07T08:40:00.001-08:00

Please Join us for the annual Ananda Design & Jenny Yoo Christmas sample sale!

Invite Your family & friends...

What: 50-80% off luxurious cashmere sweaters, scarves and jackets. Embellished and embroidered wraps perfect for the holidays....Evening dresses for holiday parties...

When: This Monday & Tuesday Dec. 7th & 8th

From 11:00-7:00 pm

Where: 132 West 36th Street (between Broadway & 7th), 9th Floor

Woot

2009-11-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

Wow. What?

Woot.com, that's what!

Leave it to my brother to fill me in about this website that is the originator of One Day, One Deal. Every midnight (central) they post one product for a drastically discounted price until it sells out or until the next Midnight. Today features a refurbished Cuisinart SmartPower Duet blender and Food Processor for $32.99 dollars.

Woa.

But the best part? All Shipping and Handling = $5.

Well, why not Woot?

Actor Crafts

2009-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

ActorCrafts is here, just in time to start your holiday shopping!

Shop for jewelry, clothing, and gifts this Saturday November 21st at the Holy Cross School (332 W. 43rd St. between 8th and 9th Ave.). It's all designed and created by New York City actors (it's good to multi-task!) and the festive sale never disappoints!

Shop between the hours of 10:00am and 6:00pm.

T-Shirts Re-Mix

2009-11-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

T-Shirts. One symbol we'll leave behind as our legacy, punctuating our lives with events and eventually fill up the bottom of our drawers in faded piles of our history.

According to the PBS documentary, T-Shirt Travels, literally tons of our discarded clothing is shipped overseas to Africa where their sale has put the local clothing manufacturing out of business. In this striking documentary, African children were shown wearing oversized t-shirts depicting M-TV and brands of beer. It made me think that there must be a way to reuse and recycle our T-Shirts in a less destructive way.

In my previous post, Your Own Gypsy Robe, I wrote about a way that I can still wear my Show T-Shirts.

But now, new (and often overpriced) t-shirts have the look of old, worn favorites so why not make your old, worn favorites into wearable fashion? Or take your husband's/boyfriend's/brother's old white t-shirts and dye them to the color you want? (See you earlier post, Do or Dye)

The first example pictured is a North Shore Animal Shelter t-shirt that we got when we adopted Maya. This was the easiest fix as it was a size Medium and I shortened the sleeves (cut at an angle with the longest part at the top of the shoulder), cut out the neck, and then cut off the hem and turned it into a belt. One of the best things about t-shirt material is that it doesn't fray, even when washed. This means hems are optional.

To make an oversized shirt into a more form fitting tee, cut off the sleeves right at the hem. Leave the bottom hem, neck, and sleeve hems intact. Then take a shirt that you like the fit of and lay it over your favorite. (see photo below) Fold the sleeves in along their hem and cut along one side of the old t-shirt about an inch outside of the line of the t-shirt on top. Fold it in half and cut the other side to match. Shorten the sleeves by cutting parallel to and in from the cut that was the seam. Make the bottom part of the sleeve the shortest. Pin the newest sleeve cut right sides together to the shoulders (over the shoulder seam) and sew (the most difficult step). Then turn the bodice right sides together and stitch up the new side seams, making sure that hems match.

Now you have remaining fabric that can be used to create your very own design. Shown here is a leaf design that I hand sewed diagonally across a purple tee, a t-shirt that my husband was getting rid of that I dyed yellow, used the above process to make it more fitted, and created a long wrap-tie from the remaining material, and my favorite, a self-dyed tee (red) that I made into a fitted tank, skipping the sleeve step, and then machine-sewed the remaining material in a design on the front and shoulders. (rock and roll under a black pinstripe sportscoat)

Now cutting up your old t-shirts isn't reserved to the fringed and beaded looks of the early 90's (Yikes! What were we thinking?). With a little imagination and minor abilities with a needle and thread, the sky's the limit.

Coat Sale Question

2009-11-06T06:38:00.001-08:00

Leenya -

Would it be possible for me to navigate the salvation army coat sale
with a bambino strapped to my chest in a carrier?

Signed,
Seriously-in-need-of-a-"new"-warm-coat

Dear Seriously-in-need-of-a-"new"-warm-coat,

I have seen kids at the Salvation Army Coat Sale, though never strapped to a shopper, though as long as you don't have any other accoutrements (ie. purse, coat, other shopping bags) and if you bring a foldable grocery cart (aka Granny Cart), you should be okay. I'm guessing there's a smaller window of time for you to hunt for treasures and a bigger challenge in trying on the coats, but I'd say try it anyway! Then head upstairs to find kids/baby clothes...

Leenya

Get your own!

2009-11-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

Just letting you know that I'm LOVING my new fur/suede reversible vest and swing faux leopard! Don't be jealous, get your own!

Go this Saturday, November 7th at 9:30 am to the next Salvation Army Coat Sale of the season (check out my previous posts...)

Coat Sale Redux

2009-10-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

BAD NEWS: You may have missed a great coat sale at the Salvation Army this last Saturday.

But two close friends, hundreds of New Yorkers, and I didn't!

Kevin and Sarah of We Click Photography and Kevin Fox Photography are spending more time in the Great White North and wanted to stock up on winter coats so they met me there early, following all of my advice (Except for bringing their own cart. Difficult on a motorcycle...).

I knew I was only looking for a fur vest (to pair with skinny jeans and a blousy top with long necklaces and high boots) so my pile of coats at checkout paled in comparison to theirs. But how could Sarah resist 2 long embroidered suede jackets, a hooded shearling, a thoroughly hip skin colored short fitted car coat with a long collar, an adorable shearling vest, and two coats for Kevin to replace decade-old favorites? She couldn't. And she didn't!

Some highlights of the morning:

Leenya: Wow! This is a gorgeous coat, but with purple and green embroidery, I don't know if Sarah will go for it.

Kevin: You never know. Some people's "loud" are a belly dancer's "blah". (Sarah is a fabulicious belly dancer)

Kooky Mirror Hogging Lady: Oh, you again! Just buy the coat! How much can it be? $25? Just buy it!

Leenya: I know, but do you think it actually works on me? I mean, do I really need a medium length fake leopard swing coat? (answer: yes, I did.)

GOOD NEWS: There's another one Saturday November 7th at 9am!

Recession Special Wine Club

2009-10-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here it is, folks! A wine club for those of us who keep going back to the wine store and grabbing the same affordable favorites. And they deliver!

Ted discovered Bacchus, a wine store on the upper West Side, that for $17.99 (plus tax) a month will deliver two different bottles of wine to your door! (check how far they will deliver...)

Last night, they delivered a bottle of Indaba Merlot (already a favorite!) and a 2006 Rock River Zinfadel, which we have yet to try.

So good to know we can branch out with out cashing out!

2 NY Night Out for Two: Less than $80 Each

2009-10-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

We are all on tight budgets right now, but we still have to go out on the town every once in a while.

My husband and I recently dined at two New York restaurants, one old and one new, and we didn't spend over $80 for either.

After one appetizer (split) and two entrees and a glass and a half of wine each, we hadn't felt we'd splurged, but we still felt spoiled!

The first was Trattoria Spaghetto in the West Village (232 Bleecker St. near the W. 4th Street ACE stop). It's cash only at this New York staple that has been at this corner location at least since I was doing a show at the Minetta Lane Theater 13 years ago. There is outdoor seating in good weather, the pasta tastes homemade, and there is a lobster entree for $20!

The second is Pio Pio. Though the location we went to is their newest (43rd St. and 10th), there are other places where you can taste this Peruvian Cuisine in a fun atmosphere with good service. Specializing in grilled chicken (surprisingly mild in spiciness), entrees come in generous portions and are meant to be shared. With large potent pitchers of delicious sangria, it is a fabulous place to bring your next group or family gathering.

Bon appetite!

FIRST COAT SALE (of the season)!

2009-09-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yes! It's coming! Just in time for you to replace coats that you've purged during your Fall Clothes trade out!

The Salvation Army Coat Sale! Dum Dum da Dum! (It should have a theme song...)

On Saturday, October 10th, at 9am, head to the Salvation Army on 46th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues in New York City and read my previous post about tips and suggestions to make your shopping spree the most successful.

Coats to look for this fall:

short leather car coats
fur or faux fur vests
oversized black 80's trenches to belt
fitted blazers to wear with jeans

See you at 8:30am!

(pictured here: me staying somewhat warm and dry in the freezing rain of Boston, all because of my Salvation Army puffy coat that I bought 3 seasons ago!)

Yay! Fall Clothes!

2009-09-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else love fall? Or am I the only one who catches the "Back To School" bug and look for any opportunity to lay out your clothes for the next day?

Well, nerd or not, it is time (or perhaps past time) to put away your summer clothes and get out your yummy sweaters and boots.

And, it's the perfect time to take stock of what you should keep and what you should throw away. In 2008, I wrote to a follower that we know as On The Verge Of Being Lady Godiva with tips about updating your wardrobe the Ren Girl way (of course). Check it out toe help you get motivated (and focused). Let me emphasize to that post that before you store your tank tops and short shorts, make sure they've been washed/cleaned to avoid any yellowing or odors.

It can all seem overwhelming at first, but before you know it, you're honing your style, focusing your identity, and finding excuses to go thrifting (with your list of needs, of course!).

Happy Fall!

Block Sale Rain Date

2009-09-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

DUE TO THE WEATHER, THE MPTA BLOCK SALE IS CANCELED FOR TOMORROW

RAIN DATE NEXT SATURDAY SEPT. 19

SAME TIME

SAME PLACE

Sorry for any inconvenience.

BLOCK SALE HOTLINE 212-560-0995

Martini Madness

2009-09-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life calls for martinis.

Our close friend, Penny, needed a party and it was time to step up!

But who can afford expensive vodka these days? And who wants to suffer through the bite of the cheap stuff?

Luckily, Penny did her homework. Several sites on line claimed that by filtering inexpensive vodka (Smirnoff, Svedka) through a Brita water filter, it would taste like the upscale vodkas. But somebody had to test it and Penny, her friends Ken and Barry, and I were willing to do the dirty work. You have to sacrifice for science.

First, we tried a bit of the cheaper Vodka before filtering. Though not completely unpleasant, faces puckered. Then, we filtered it through the Brita filter (takes a bit longer than water) and took more sips. We all agreed it was smoother, had less bite, and tasted more "expensive" than the unfiltered!

Eureka!

We guessed that it would be worth it to keep a separate Brita filter for just that purpose.

Then I enlisted my husband (the martini master) to make them (note: shower heavily with kisses and praises all night.)

Pictured Above: Three Kit Kat Girls (Vykky, Heather, and me) celebrating Penny's Birthday with martinis!

Block Long Garage Sale!

2009-09-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, September 12th, between 9am and 5pm!

43rd Street between 9th and 10th Ave.!

Dozens of different stoop sales in one block all at the same time! Treasures galore!

See you there!

(Can you tell I'm a bit excited?)

Recycling in Urbanopolis

2009-08-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

If Suspended Cirque can create an entire costume plot for their Aerial multi-media Circus at Galapagos out of reused, recycled, and found items, we can all find ways to incorporate such creativity into our own daily lives.

I'm playing violin as the character of the dying Phoenix in their spectacle Urbanopolis this weekend (to sold out shows!) and I am amazed each days at the attention to detail that Joshua Dean has put into his costume design (FYI he is also the co-creater, director and a lead performer/aerialist/dancer). Using newspaper, feathers, toille over exaggerated hoop skirts, Suspended Cirque incorporates leotards and mixes and matches from previous shows to create new looks. They bring renaissance living to a new level!

I just play the violin...

Brokelyn

2009-07-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

The name of this blog says it all!

I heard about it on NY1 and it's all about having fun while spending less. Sound familiar?

Check it out (brokelyn.com) and me know what you find...

What Would Leenya Sell on iTunes?

2009-07-17T07:02:00.001-07:00

Why, her own album of original songs entitled "phoenix", of course!

Get Your Feet Wet

2009-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

Chad's in town!

So I had an excuse to go shopping!

It was a Sunday, so Salvation Army Stores were all closed, but that didn't stop us. We headed to Chelsea to visit some great thrift and resale shops, both raising money for some amazing charities.

And, I kept thinking, though the prices are slightly higher than at Sally's and the Good Will, they would be great places for those who are intimidated by thrift shopping but want to get their feet wet.

Our first stop was Housing Works at 173 W. 17th St. (note various locations all over the city) and the clothes and shoes are in excellent condition in general but the star here is the furniture. If you're furnishing your first apartment (or want to replace your worn-out Ikea starters with unique stylish pieces), start here! Couches, bureaus, prints, dishes, all in excellent condition and often designer. The money raised from

donations and sales go to help victims of HIV and AIDS.

Our next stop was right across the street at the Angel Street Thrift Shop, also raising money to fight HIV/AIDS as well as substance abuse and mental illness. Their collection of clothing was much more extensive and also organized in a way that would seem much less overwhelming to a thrifting novice. Again, some designer clothes and shoes, all in excellent condition. I found an amazing black Zara dress shirt for Ted for $11.00. In general, prices were similar to Housing Works.

Since we were so close, we headed too 6th Ave. and upstairs to T.J. Maxx and Filene's Basement where I found some wardrobe staples for my hubby and as we made our way back uptown, we happened on two sample sales, one was even Dolce and Gabbana! Prices cut by 85 % sounded amazing, until we couldn't find a price tag for less than $490.00! Some gowns were still priced at $8,900.00, the price of a good used car. We quickly realized that we knew something that the sample sale shoppers didn't know, that true bargain treasure is found only in our resale shops!

As we walked, we talked about the value of reusing and recycling and how it is the future of our economy.

What a day! Quality time with my best friend, saving the world, and shopping, all at the same time!

Free Summer Fun

2009-06-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

If you find yourself hanging around New York this summer, never fear! Free events are here... especially along the Hudson River! Music, Dance, and even Movies are happening on the piers along the Westside of Manhattan. Go to www.hudsonriverpark.org for a complete guide to your summer schedule.

Poor Man's Pate

2009-06-12T15:53:00.001-07:00

If any of you are lucky enough to have a killer recipe for meat-loaf (or have a husband who has a killer recipe and sorry, mine won't give his up!), make one up the day before the party and refrigerate it. Before the party, slice it thin and serve with gourmet mustard and tiny gherkins. It's as good as pate, I think, and ends up being the most popular hors d'oeuvre at the party!

Good Ass Jeans

2009-06-12T15:16:00.001-07:00

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

You finally complete your wardrobe with the perfect ass jeans (you know, the ones that make your ass look great) and the style changes, ie. boot cut to skinny jeans 3 years ago. Now you have all these jeans that fit great, but are out of style (see the explanation of perceived obscelescence in thestoryofstuff.com).

Don't throw them away! I've converted at least three pairs into skinny jeans myself, some hand sewing and some on a machine. Follow these easy steps to update your favorite jeans to the fun summer skinny must have (rips in the knees and worn out thigh fronts are back, fyi).

Turn your jeans inside out and try them on. Using pins, straight or safety, pin along the seam that is the simplest (usually the one along the outside of the leg), making sure that the flap that is created is as flat as you can make it. Usually, start about mid-thigh. Don't pin them too tight. The fit all the way down the leg should mimic the fit around the hips.

Take them off and lay them flat on the floor. Repin, adding more pins to complete and straighten out the line that you will sew. Make sure that the seam is as flat as it can be.
Sew along your this line, either by hand (a backstitch can work) or by machine.
You can trim the jeans close to the seam, but you'd never have the option to go back to the way they were and why not stay ahead of planned obscelecence? It doesn't make that much difference to cut off your options, so to speak...
Turn your jeans right side out and wear with your favorite thongs or stacked heels and tank tops!

For more photos and instructions, check out Wickepedia on this subject or cutoutandkeep.net a website full of craft tutorials.

Shhhhh, Don't Tell Anyone!

2009-05-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

I've just always wanted to write that in a public forum! How could it not get your attention?

But seriously, don't tell anyone...

..who doesn't read this blog!

I'm talking Chili Thai, the tiny little hole in the wall on 9th Ave. between 48th and 49th!

I've blogged about it before in a previous post entitled Poll, but my husband and I just had a date there tonight and I had to write about it again!

I mean, who doesn't want delicious, fresh tasting, creatively presented fusion food at an amazingly low price? If you didn't, you probably wouldn't be reading this.

For a grand total of $29.95 (not incluuding tip), Ted and I ordered the appetizer sampler (included the best chicken satay we'd tasted in a long while as well as magical melt in your mouth shrimp dumplings) and then our favorite salad (which would make the perfect lunch, I tell you!) called Yum Neua that has marinated beef thinly sliced atop mint and crisp lettuce, and then split the chicken Green Curry (humongous portions) served with sticky white rice.

You can order Thai beer from them now, but without a liquor license (a thing to look for in a restaurant, if you're a Renaissance Girl!) they allow you to go next door and buy your own bottle of wine for $10 or less (see my post about wines for under $10) and they bring you glasses and an opener. So okay, it was $46 at the end of the experience, but if you know how to get more for your value in New York City, you'd better email me now!

Tips before you go:

It's often crowded, and I haven't had much luck with reservations in the past so have patience.
The bathrooms are in the back, THROUGH the kitchen. But it is always very clean, once you get there.
Go hungry.

Other favorites:

Duck Empanadas (their signature creation)
Massaman Curry (all curries come with a choice of chicken, pork, beef, tofu, or seafood
Pad Thai
Delicious desserts including Mango Dumplings, Mango with Sticky Rice, and you'll never believe that I haven't yet ventured to try the Bananas in Golden Pouch, but that's next on my list!

Go. Eat.

And don't tell anyone!

Headshots: Practically Free!

2009-05-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dilemma: You got a new haircut but can't afford new headshots.

Solution: Go to Ben Strothmann for a $75 quickie!

Friends of mine have taken advantage of this amazing NYC bargain and walked away with some great results!

(pictured above: portrait above of The Chalks by Ben Strothmann)

The Story of Stuff

2009-05-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Go ahead, call me the Queen of Cheap, but I'm not too stubborn to constantly reevaluate my methods of saving money.

This video has a heavy message but one that is urgent, I feel and it just might mean that some of my suggestions about inexpensive shopping (ie. 99Cent stores, Conway, etc.) should be obsolete. It might mean spending a bit more money on something that was produced locally and that isn't disposable in nature. It means that buying second hand (reusing as well as recycling) and repairing rather than disposing are still key.

Go to The Story of Stuff for some pretty amazing myth busting.

An "I'll Always Remember This" Moment

2009-05-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Who says moving, history making entertainment is only for the rich?

It's been a crazy month, with travel and some amazing performances, hence my long hiatus from blogging. But this last Saturday was an "I'll Always Remember This" moment.

I performed at Symphony Space in Wall to Wall Broadway with the likes of Donna Murphy, Rebecca Luker, Martha Plympton, Liz Calloway, , Michael Cerveris, Terrence Mann, Raul Esparza, Julie Wilson, and many more, all with an orchestra conduced by Paul Gemignani.

Now I perform regularly at Symphony Space with the Thalia Follies, a Political Satire group, so I'd heard of Isaiah Sheffer's Wall to Wall concerts (Wall to Wall Sondheim, Wall to Wall Stravinsky, Wall to Wall Mozart, etc.). They last 12 hours and are completely FREE to the public and feature educational interviews as well as dozens of amazing performers. But when Isaiah asked me to sing the duet, "If I Loved You" from Carousel with Gregg Edelman to end the first half of the orchestra section in the evening and then to sing Cunegonde in "Make Your Garden Grow" from Candide with Alex Gemignani as Candide, I couldn't have been more honored.

What is wonderful about this free concert is that you can come and go as your schedule (and saturation point) allows and the program is varied, with obscure works as well as favorites, old and new. Even Sheldon Harnick (who signed my sheet music of "Tell Me I Look Nice"!) wrote and PERFORMED a rap with Lin-Manuel Miranda (composer of "In the Heights")!

Pictured above are Kathryn Markey & Mary Brienza (aka The Chalks!) who performed some obscure but hilarious comic songs with me earlier in the evening so while I should have been posting about this last week so that everyone could experience this wonderful New York bargain, I was literally downloading and memorizing three songs I'd never heard before in a matter of days. It's also worth mentioning that Kathryn and I both found these dresses at The Salvation Army and my shoes were Payless (This season! Go! Now!). I wore a dress and shoes in the earlier segment (I was there for eleven hours. Whew!) that I had bought last week with my friend Chad in a resale shop in Seattle (Crossroads in Capitol Hill. Very cool!). Always the Renaissance Girls...

When you hear about a Wall to Wall Symphony Space concert again, go! You just might have an "I'll Always Remember This" moment.

Unscripted

2009-04-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

In my line of work, I often find myself swimming in scrap paper. Scripts, sides (portions of scripts you print out to prepare for an audition), sheet music, old resumes, and even pads of understudy inserts seem to pile up quickly.

But there's another side... Literally! Don't just throw it into the recycle bin. Yet.

First, create a place to drop these documents of communications past. Then use it to print up your next mapquest directions, etc. We're talking a lot of dollars saved each years.

We're talking a lot of trees (and energy) saved each year.

Then, of course, when both sides have been used, RECYCLE!

Leenya's Secret

2009-04-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I don't mean to keep bringing up Conway, but they have the cutest lingerie right now! Matching bras and panties for so much less than Vickie's Secrets and about the same quality (Sorry, Vicky!).

While you're at the one on Broadway just above 34th Street and Macy's (West Side), keep going around corners and up and down stairs for bargains on bedding, kids and babies clothes, beauty products, and cute tops for under $10.

Tips before you go:

There are no dressing rooms. Know your size and when in doubt, buy a size larger. Unlike Gap and Banana Republic, sizes run SMALL in this store.
Don't go when you're in a hurry. Lines are long.
With the exception of lingerie, you CAN exchange and return if you keep the receipt.
Stay Zen. This is not the palace of pleasant customer service. By any stretch.
Look for inexpensive T-Shirts for design and painting projects. Buy two so you can mess up.

Maya and Leenya's Potluck Bitch and Swap

2009-04-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

In a cozy New York apartment, combine a dozen great friends and coworkers,

...delicious homemade baked goods and nosh, a great mix of wines under $10 (see earlier post),

...bags and bags of gently used clothes, shoes, and accessories,

...one kooky host who LOVES putting together new outfits for no money,

...one fuzzy cohost,

...and mix!

RESULTS:

closet purged of never-worn-clothes
fabulous new items to spruce up wardrobe
new friends
donations to the Salvation Army or Goodwill
lots and lots of fun and laughs

money spent: $10 for the wine + a few dollars for snacks

Write about yours!

No Foolin!

2009-04-01T07:51:00.001-07:00

No straps!

Just in time for spring and summer backless styles, Conway has a version of the backless silicone adhesive bra on sale right now (Secret Style brand) for $6.99! I was prepared to spend upwards of $30 to be able to wear the cute backless tops my cousin gave me for my birthday and found this bra on a recent trip to one of my favorite midtown bargain stores. Simply buy the letter that corresponds to your cup size and follow the instructions to stick it on!

I admit I did spend $30, but it included three cute ruffle tops and a pair of leggings as well!

Stay tuned for a new post about my recent Bitch and Swap...

HopStop.com

2009-03-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Some people take their alternative forms of transportation very seriously.

Like my Dad for instance.

But has anyone else noticed how Mapquest directions favor automobile drivers? You can attain directions for trips via mass transportation, but as I found out, many details are omitted that can leave you stranded waiting for buses with limited schedules or underestimated walking times.

For those of us who spend most of our commuting time on mass transportation, walking, or biking (or biking and canoeing), HopStop.com is the answer!

Click on your city and like in Mapquest, enter your starting and destination address or intersection, time of travel, and walking/transfer preference. It gives you estimated travel time as well as information you didn't think you'd need!

Though so far, your canoeing destination still might be "off the map".

Mea Culpa?

2009-03-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

I have heard nervous news anchors and economists cite cuts in consumerism as a possible downfall for the worldwide economy. Should we feel guilty for being thrifty?

I just left a comment (in response to some fear mongering comments) on beingfrugal.net that I wanted to share here:

It makes me feel safer that we are all talking about economy and politics now! Discourse is good for all of us.
For what it's worth, my thoughts about the recent economic downturn are this: We shouldn't feel guilty for being frugal.
American hasn't always had an economy that was based on oil and product consumption. There was even a time it was based on slavery and tobacco and rum trading and thank God, we eventually, slowly changed. Change is possible, especially if we are all willing to dive into what we're afraid of.
And let's face it: Less consumption, and responsible consumption, is probably a Hell of a lot better for the environment as well.
My two cents (and that's still a bargain!)
Our ability to fill up our lives with unnecessary products shouldn't make up our worth as human beings. There, I said it! Let's forgive and move forward.

Extreme Cheapskates

2009-03-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Not that we needed it, but a recent article featured on Yahoo News is giving us thrifty folk some affirmation.

"If you can't make money, then you can spend less-- and that's the equivalent of making more money."

Other blogs about saving money were listed, including neverpayretailagain.net and beingfrugal.net. You don't have to be extreme, but it's good to know that in our search to live well on a budget, we're not alone.

National Bitch and Swap Month

2009-03-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

You read it first here.

I'm declaring March a national Bitch and Swap Month.

So the economy is bad and our incomes seem smaller in comparison with our outgoes. We can't go shopping at every whim but let's face it: Sprucing up and changing our our wardrobes could help lift our spirits.

Here's your job:

Pull everything out of your closet and do a purge (read the first part of my post to Lady Godiva about purging)
Fill a bag with clothes, shoes, purses, accessories, jewelry that you would otherwise donate to a thrift store.
Invite your girl friends over and have them bring a favorite snack and drink (remember to refer to my favorite wine under ten dollars post).
When they arrive, everyone piles their clothes in the middle of the room and dives in. Have a space for trying things on, mirrors.
Have a blast!
Take the leftovers to the thrift store in the morning.
Leave your comments after this post and tell me how yours went! Can't wait to hear what amazing one-of-a-kind items you've been looking for your whole life that you added to your wardrobe!

P.S. Thanks to my friend Garrett for inspiring this fabulous idea!

It's in the Bag

2009-03-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

We need some new habits.

We need to save money.

We need to save money by not buying plastic bags.

There are too many plastic bags in the world. We have grown to expect them, count on them, but they are made of petroleum and are filling up land fills around our country.

Now it's about making a new habit of carrying cloth bags or reused bags when we shop.

It's about not buying bags if at all if possible. We get them free everywhere anyway, sometimes even if we ask to NOT get one. Grocery bags can hold our trash. If we need a zip reclosable bag, we can reuse bags that saved from products we've already consumed (tortillas, etc.).

The only person in my household who gets brand new bags is my dog and they are the bio degradable kind, for cleaning up after her on the street. That's right, she's spoiled!

We can save money AND save the world at the same time!

Wedding Wildflowers

2009-03-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

If you have started your wedding planning, then you've already discovered that there is a magic word that will automatically quadruple any price quote: "Wedding"

But if you're like me, you don't feel comfortable lying. Or at least you're just really bad at it.

Either way, there are ways to cut costs and you can choose all of them or just some. No doubt, you've started to prioritize about what you don't want to skimp on.

Now I love flowers and greens, but with our limited budget, I decided early on that I was not going to hire a florist. At all. With a July wedding in the Poconos, I knew that there would be enough foliage in the natural setting that we had chosen.

First, I obsessed. Every time we were driving around near our location, I noted flowers: Where they grew wild, which ones fit our color palate (cranberry and butter yellow) and kept a look out for interesting textures, all growing in fields and along roadsides (never someone's garden! Hello!). There were so many varieties, some I'd never noticed before.

Next, I gathered some and made my first practice bouquet. It was not only beautiful and simple, but seemed to reflect the setting we'd chosen much more than store bought roses.

Then, I gathered my Renaissance Girls.

When shopping for other decor, I found the perfect cranberry velvet ribbon and my magical sister-in-law Marie (who also decorated the arbor, pictured here) bought artificial berries that represented the wild blueberries that Ted and I often pick together (We decided real blueberries could stain...).

The day before the wedding, I put three oversized vases with water, two pairs of garden shears, and my friend Elizabeth (now on tour in Xanadu. Hi, Elizabeth!) into the car and drove around the countryside to the places I'd remembered had the flowers I liked. We spent about an hour filling the vases with ferns, tiny daisies, and

beautiful wild flowers. Then we put them in the cool basement where they stayed fresh overnight.

The next day, Marie arranged most of the flowers into vases for the reception and Elizabeth and I created the bouquet that I would carry down the aisle and tied it with the ribbon. It was a perfect compliment for my antique home-made linen wedding dress and Ted's pinstripe grey suit.

Now, some people want to hire a florist and avoid this extra work, but in the end, picking and arranging flowers with my girls was an incredibly wonderful way to spend the morning before my wedding.

And let's face it. So was knowing that I saved thousands of dollars.

(Wedding Photography by WeClick.com)

Framed

2009-03-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Do you have stacks of interesting prints, artwork, or old photos and sad, empty walls?

You're not alone. Frames are expensive! And who knows how to make mats and cut frames to size? Not me. But you can get creative (and get rid of the stacks).

When you're at a yard sale, antique shop, or thrift shop, look for fabulous worn old frames with or without paintings or prints. They don't have to be the exact right size or have glass intact. I had a stack of amazing black and white photographs that my Grandfather took on his travels in the 1950's. I found this amazing collection of old frames at a yard sale (all for about $20) and added them to a few I had already acquired over the years. I don't recommend cutting the photos to fit the frames, but in this photo, you can tell I got creative with how they stay in the frames (strings, even leaving the backing visible). Notice they are all different, but have a similar color palate (gold, earth tones, and terra cotta). The black and white travel theme helps make them a unified collection as well.

Once you get your prints in the frames, lay them out on the floor first and experiment with different arrangements. Put the most striking pieces at eye level and in the center of your wall and then think creative cluster, not spreading out to fill the wall.

Don't let your walls be sad! It's time to frame.

Little Money, Big Joy

2009-03-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

One of my photographers, Sarah Sloboda, has a blog about Optimism called The University of Sarah. Check out her post, Little Money, Big Joy that is all about living well on less.

Who couldn't use a little optimism right now?

First Renaissance Lady

2009-02-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

My husband and I recently visited the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and were re-inspired by all the policies he put into effect and the way he motivated people to do good in many different ways. His early writings contemplating justice and questioning the status quo were the most moving to me.

But as I walked the halls and saw video footage that I'd never seen before, I was equally enthralled by Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who has always seemed to me overshadowed by her husband's charisma, acting out the role of the perfect wife. It was a room in the library dedicated to her that I first learned that she was an artist and cartoonist and a few samples of her scrapbooks and diaries showed her adorable caricatures expressing such joy. One even depicted how her husband had to wash his socks in the sink of the hotel he was staying at while he was on the campaign trail! Looking at her drawings, I felt like I knew her, suddenly, in a way I hadn't before.

Though she most likely never had to scrape together an income in the same way as those who make their living in art, she expressed, created, and treated life as an adventure.

And looked great doing it.

Here's to you, Jackie!

Do... or Dye!

2009-02-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Sick of your clothes?

Or did you find the perfect blouse but it comes in only white or off-white?

Here's the answer.

Don't pass them over. Dye them!

A box of RIT Dye or Tintex Fabric Dye (available at most drug stores, grocery stores, or everything stores like Target), costs less than three dollars. The only tricky thing is finding a large enough pot in which to dye your clothes without dying your kitchen at the same time! Once you've tackled that obstacle, you will be surprised by the possibilities!

The dress pictured here (bought at a thrift store in Washington State) was a strange 80's bright blue that I knew I'd never wear. After dying it in a vat of Wine colored Tintex (and adding a beaded belt high up on the natural waist), it became this amazing purple that had a wonderful sheen to it. At the same time in the same batch, I dipped dingy slips that I've since worn to weddings, for performances, and as a raspberry sundress on a summer day. Great tip: Favorite used-to-be-white t-shirts can be salvaged and given a new life by dying them.

For the truly adventurous, try mixing and matching colors. In general, it works like water colors and the color wheel: blue and yellow make green, red and blue make purple, yellow and red make orange etc. but it's definitely not an exact science, which I sort of love!

When it comes to dying, fabrics are like men. If they're synthetic and fake (polyester and spandex) the love won't stick (color will be light and inconsistent). Natural weaves (cotton, wool, nylon, silk, rayon), however, fall quickly and deeply and a tumble in high heat (the dryer) will set them forever.

Follow directions on the box and go ahead and choose a bunch of stuff in your house to dye at one time. Why not see how color can spruce up your life... and for a mere three dollars?

My Ikea Hack

2009-02-07T00:52:00.000-08:00

Most people don't guess it, but about fifty percent of the furniture in our New York apartment is from Ikea.

The reason people don't guess it is that our style isn't ultra-modern with geographic shapes and bright solid colors, typical to the European apartment look.

One of my favorite pieces of furniture is our computer desk, which I fondly call "the office" because it can be closed off to hide our computer and files when we don't want to be reminded of work.

Now, Ikea makes a desk that fits this description (ALVE), but it angles out from a corner and in our apartment, it would reduce the amount of room for our dining room chairs. Plus, we wanted to customize it in our own way.

My husband and I bought the LEKSVIK armoir instead for $299, $100 less than the computer desk. It only comes with one movable shelf, but he easily cut two other boards down to fit and then attached the rolling computer keyboard shelf that I think is available in the IVAR shelving line (for about $30) under the shelf that was included. Below, we set a drawer unit that I already had that provides two storage drawers and a surface on top on for additional storage.

The computer monitor and speakers are on the main shelf with the printer one shelf above. Any of the magazine files that Ikea sells are better than a file cabinet in my opinion and hanging inside our LEKSVIK armoir door is a basket caddy that I found at a yard sale and attached with screws. It holds our pencils, pens, and other utensils. Phones and lights are easily attached inside and with the doors closed, you can almost forget about the trappings of the twenty-first century.

Until you feel compelled to share your Ikea hack with other like-minded re-mixers and stay up all night posting about it!

Check out ikeahacker for more fabulous ideas...

Ancient Renaissance Girl Secret: Dryel

2009-02-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

Because I'm such a do-it-yourself girl, when I found out there was a way to dryclean-it-yourself, I was singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Okay, I do that a lot anyway.

I could write a little commercial for Dryel, but I'll send you to their site instead. For ten dollars, you get a bag (reusable so you can just buy the refill cleaner sheets next time), stain remover kit, and enough dry cleaner sheets for 16 to 20 articles of clothing. I use it all the time and there really are only a few things you'll still have to save for the professionals:

delicate silks
antique clothing
furs and fake furs

Otherwise, 20 minutes in a low setting of your dryer and then hanging the garment on a hanger gets you clean smelling, relatively wrinkle-free dry clean only clothing.

Hallelujah!

Scent Sense

2009-02-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Are you allowed to bring liquids onto planes yet?
Where in the &%$#@$% did you put those zip lock bags to protect the rest of the content of your carry-on?
How can I take a break from my usual cologne without spending fifty dollars or more?

Easy: When you're flipping through magazines or catalogues, grab the folded paper samples and throw them in with your travel sized toiletries. They barely take up any room and they certainly won't spill. Plus when you CAN afford a new scent, you might already have a new favorite!

Just When You Thought It Was Safe...

2009-02-04T18:11:00.001-08:00

...to call your jean collection complete, there's a new "it" jean.

And you guessed it: It's really a retro jean.

The boyfriend jean has made it's way back into fashion at least two times that I can remember since 1979 and according to Daily Candy, one of my favorite fun fashion blogs, it's back! Note the low pockets and not-really-baggy bagginess. I call it a take on the modern skinny jean.

Because of it's "relaxed" and worn look, complete with rips if you like, you can bet I'm going to try to find a way to find old jeans and wear them in this new way. I'll keep you posted...

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

2009-02-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

Going to Boston, D.C., or Philly from NYC?

Now I'm a Western Girl at heart, but one of the reasons I call the NorthEast my new love (I still love you, Rockies!) is mass transit. You can do a lot of exploring without a car or a lot of cash.

Getting from big city to big city is the easiest. I still haven't heard a convincing reason to spend airline prices on the train (is it really that much cleaner or quieter?) and unless you have to travel more than 500 miles, by the time you get to the airport and through security, flying actually takes up more of your precious time (and dollars). So what would Leenya do?

Leenya would take the bus, of course!

Most people know about buses that transport passengers every hour on the hour from Chinatown to Chinatown (Fung Wah and Lucky Star to name a few) but when I was working at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA last spring, I had a chance to do some research. Now the Megabus travels to more cities, but when it comes to reliability, professionalism, and cleanliness, I think the Bolt Bus is the best. If you buy online, tickets are around $18.50 each way and you're guaranteed a seat. Frequent travel earns you a free trip as well.

After online checkout, you are given a street corner on which to wait but don't let that discourage you. Arrive fifteen minutes ahead of your departure time and you'll join a group of mostly Harvard students and their rolling bags. The driver of the humongous orange and black bus will call your reservation letters and you'll show what you printed up on your computer or a text that they sent to your cell phone and your photo ID. Travel time during non-peak traffic hours is approximately 4.5 hours and you have a choice of departure points in New York. And don't forget your laptop! Free WiFi and even an electrical outlet await you.

Just know that if you want to travel late night, you'll have to check out the Chinatown bus that offers more travel times per day and is easier to just walk up with $20 dollars cash and buy a ticket. Talk about flexibility...

Now I actually called a bus my home when I toured the continent as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. I remember stumbling out of a different hotel at 6:00 am every morning and falling back to sleep on my familiar velour seat until we'd reached a diner somewhere in South Carolina or Saskatchewan. I think there's still something about the winding of the wheels that lulls me to sleep.

Now you have no excuse. Adventure awaits! Hop on the bus!

(Don't have money to hire a filmmaker for your first videos of your band? What Would Leenya Do? Leenya would make her own using iMovie on her Mac! Enjoy the latest tour bus entertainment on the web: The Chalk Talk Express Bus Cam)

Ikea Hacker

2009-01-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

My cousin Kim sent me this blog (Ikea Hacker). People are really seeing things in a new way and exercising their creativity muscles! I'm going to send in Ted's and my armoir/computer desk station, all components bought at Ikea...

Wedding Shopping

2009-01-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

It's not too early.

In fact, it might be the tail end of the end of Holiday Clearances already so get out there!

Things to look for now, 'cause you will wish you'd found them at a bargain price:

Strings of white tiny Christmas Lights (12 strands, depending on the size of the reception hall) Ted's friends Greg and Chris made our hall look that much more festive the day of the wedding. I felt like the stars had come down into our little celebration!
Various Ornaments that relate to your theme (Haven't chosen a theme yet? It's time!). If red, gold, or green is one of your colors, the easier for you!
Plates, cups, napkins, utensils.
Favors.
Faux Greenery, Garlands, and Wreaths.
Table runners and cloths.

Pictured above are the tiny glass love birds I found in bulk in an art store sale. I used them as favors as birds are a theme in Ted's and my love of nature. The sunflowers were made as curtain tye backs and I used them to enclose scrolled ceremony programs. Our colors were cranberry and butter yellow.

All of the items you find at these post Holiday Sales can be used in a wedding without people knowing that they were meant for Christmas Decorations. Use your imagination and the sky's the limit!

Myles of Style

2009-01-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

I never watched Design Star, but one of the winners, Kim Myles, has her own show now on HGTV and she's my new hero.

The show I caught yesterday had her making a very chic chandelier out of clear plastic Christmas balls. She really explains how color and texture work. I say yes.

Check out Myles of Style.

Operation Salon Amie

2009-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

My friend Amy is the newest Renaissance Girl.

She recently posted a message to her friends on Facebook that she had an audition that required an "updo". Amy has had a cute short hairstyle for most of her life and not much experience with hairstyles. In her message, she asked for advice, trying to avoid the cost of a professional stylist. She got a lot of responses but I wrote back saying it would be fun to do her hair myself, just for fun! I don't claim to be a professional, but I was in pageants in college (the Miss America Local and Stage Pageant. Yikes.) and have always loved "playing beauty shop".

So my point is, why not ask? And why shouldn't we all support each other in this crazy business?

Great idea, Amy! Hope you got the job.

The Devil Wears Prada.

2009-01-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

And Angels find more practical, affordable and creative ways to stay stylish.

I'm watching the movie for the first time tonight on TV (I know, as crime!) but can I just say that if Anne Hathaway is a size 6 I'll eat my shorts. I got a bit tired of people telling her she was fat. And if she is, it's only because she's five foot eleven. And can I also say that size 4 is overrated.

Enough said.

Angels are definitely smarter.

Your Own Gypsy Robe

2009-01-09T09:36:00.001-08:00

There is a tradition on Broadway.

Gypsy Robes are made up of scraps and pieces from and representing hundreds of Broadway Shows of yore. The actor/singer/dancer in the chorus of each show that opens who has been in the most Broadway Shows gets to wear the Gypsy Robe with a scrap from her or his show most recently added.

I remember my first show T-Shirt. I wore it with pride, created outfits around it, never dried it in the dryer.

Fast forward __ years and umpteen shows and bands later and I had too many t-shirts crammed in the back of my drawers, most oversized and style-free. What is a Broadway Diva to do?

Why, make his or her own Gypsy Robe, of course!

You can make a quilt, of course, but why not surround yourself with your memories while you're getting ready for your next show?

This project is not for the faint of heart. It takes hours and the guts to cut into your beloved t-shirts. First, find a robe, new, one you own or at a resale shop. Mine was a second hand terry cloth with a nice weight to it. Notice I cut small shapes out of remaining t-shirt fabric to fill out the design. Leave plenty of fabric around each emblem to fold under in a hem and then pin on your robe, rearranging and pinning it until it looks right. Handsew your theater history in place using a slip stitch.

Et voila! Your own Gypsy Robe!

Oh, and also, make sure you leave room for your next show t-shirt...

(pictured here is my gypsy robe on the stage of the Barrymore during warmup with the cast of "Company")

It's a Girl! And another girl!

2009-01-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

My friend is having twins!

And I was invited to the shower and I hadn't shopped yet. I was about to log onto her registry, but then I thought, that's not What Leenya Would Do. See what I've gotten myself into?

If you don't want to sew baby clothes from scratch (pretty fun as it's all in miniature!), find some simple white cotton onesies or p.j.s from a baby store. You can even buy them in packages of multiples so if you mess up, you're okay! Or if your friend is having twins, you can make 2 outfits!

There are so many ways to personalize your friend's baby clothes. One of her friends painted onsies with the Actor's Equity Logo! Fabric paint is pretty easy to use and set with heat. You can make a stencil, sketch with pencil first, or just paint free hand. (see my former post, Inspiration for more details)

I like the look of appliques of colorful t-shirt fabric swatches (shown here), hand-sewn in large visible contrasting thread. Or just use embroidery alone. I made each little shirt slightly different. It was fun to think of them wearing them as I stitched each flower.

Another idea is to give a gift certificate for baby sitting. That's worth a night out for your parents-to-be and could be fun for you, too.

Like a Fox!

2009-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Creating a beauty regimen that you can stick to is important but with 1.5 ounces of overnight moisturizing anti-aging cream costing 16 dollars and counting, it can be expensive!

I'm not a scientist, but consider me your guinea pig. Also, note that though my skin tends to be on the dry side, it falls in the normal category.

But here's the deal: Looking as young as you can with clear skin is really important in my business and doing what I have had to do to make it a lifelong daily ritual has been key.

Here are the steps for two times a day (morning before makeup and before bed):

cleanse
tone
moisturize

Then, exfoliation is great once a week.

Now some of these secrets sound unconventional if not downright weird, but I've tried them all to varying degrees of success. And when I can afford to upgrade, I can usually find some reliable brands (L'Oreal and Oil of Olay anti-aging moisturizers) at Jack's 99c World. But bear with me!

cleanse: Try a generic version of Oil of Olay Daily Facials (available for dry, normal, or oily skin). Make sure they're dry and you just add water. If you cut each cleansing cloth into 4, it's plenty of surface area and they last four times as long! I moisten and then wash, then rinse, then use it to rinse my face and there's minimal waste.
tone: Buy a large bottle of witch hazel which is usually on the bottom shelf of First Aid products in a drug store or even a grocery store. I apply this after the cleansing with cotton balls (make sure they're real cotton). It takes off any remainder oils and closes the pores without drying.
moisturize: Daytime moisturizer, always an SPF of at least 15. Period. I find decent products at Jack's. Or it could be in your foundation, but you can always add color to your face. I know we used to lay out with baby oil slathered all over, but now you know daily SPf will keep the wrinkles away the longest. Next, think olden days Italy. Women still use olive oil on their faces to keep their youthful beauty. I actually read in The World's Best Kept Beauty Secrets by Diane Irons that hospitals have been using Crisco for years as an enexpensive but effective moisturizer. It has a surprising amount of Vitamin E and absorbs better than anything like Vaseline. People have called me crazy (like a fox!), but I have used it on and off for years before bed and it makes my skin so soft in the mornings. I keep a separate tin in the fridge. Buy the smallest one you can find. For lips, elbows, and dry heels I swear by Bag Balm. It was created for chapped teats on cows (I know, hilarious!) but farmers noticed how soft their own hands were after applying it and it has been a skin care secret for almost a century. It contains Petrolatum, which doesn't clog pores like Petroleum (the key ingredient in Vaseline. Bad. No Vaseline.).
exfoliate: Masks are great and you can buy one for any skin type, but they are also very fun to make. There are many listed in The World's Best Kept Beauty Secrets and it feels so good when you finally take one off! The craziest one I've tried is Kitty Litter. You have to buy the cheapest, one with absolutely no additives and when you just add water, it turns into a soft simple grey clay. I'm guessing it's the better for oilier skin types. The downside is that it's very messy in application and in removal. But why not try it in a bathtub? And while you're there, take a couple tea bags with you; real tea, not herbal, and place them moistened over your eyelids. The tannic acid reduces swelling and it feels soothing to the eyes.

As for makeup, there is an ever-changing variety at Jack's World, including expensive department store brands. It's all discounted by at least 50 percent and I've always found it to be just as good as the full priced items. Also, I don't know how long it's been since you've checked Avon out, but there are some cute and innovative new products and colors for very affordable prices. I love their new liquid eyeshadows. Much easier to apply when you're in a hurry. You need to buy with a representative, but you can browse online. My neighbor, Laurie, is a representative and if you note the product numbers, she can place an order for you and send it to you when it arrives. Email me...

It's so easy to spend too much on beauty products. Just walking into a drugstore is asking for trouble. You are bombarded with so much advertising. But stay focused!

And stay foxy!

Last Coat Sale!

2009-01-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've got good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the final Salvation Army Coat Sale of he season is being held Saturday, January 10th from 9am to 5pm (see my former post, Coat Sale, for very helful hints) at the Salvation Army on 46th St. between 10th and 11th Ave in New York City (pictured here is me at a reading of a new musical with Rebecca Luker in a fun fake fur I found at the last Coat Sale).

The good news is that if you are still searching for that perfect item that you didn't get for Christmas and you miss this sale, almost everything everywhere is on sale! My cousin Molly pointed out that though I blogged early about outlet malls being a sort of mirage in the desert of bargain shopping, there are amazing bargains to be had there now. She spent 300 dollars at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets (You can actually take a bus out there!) last weekend and beefed up her work wardrobe with fifteen or so items, including a new winter coat and three suit jackets. Go, Molly!

Let me know what steals you've found in the post holiday sales.

And have fun at the Coat Sale!

New Year's Eve

2009-01-02T12:12:00.001-08:00

My cousin Molly and her husband, Richard, met Ted and I at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to hear my brother, Vale, sing at the New Year's Eve Concert for Peace. I was so proud of Molly when I heard that despite the frigid cold, she still tried to take mass transportation that night. Richard said that she kept saying, "Come on, what would Leenya do?"

Unfortunately, I must confess, the answer to that question was easily answered with "She'd take a cab."

When it was this cold and as we came out of the building, we watched a bus just pulling away from the stop and we were running late and I was wearing high heels, a cab was our unfortunately non-green, non-bargain transportation choice.

But what a concert! As always, I was terribly proud of my brother as he sang "Maria" from "West Side Story" with a 40 piece orchestra and was preceded by Judy Collins. The whole night opened up with Fanfare for the Common Man, it's opening trumpet fanfare and tympani hits transcended the walls of the largest cathedral in the country. It was a call to us all for peace.

Normally, Leenya would try to utilize the many mass transportation available to her. But she did wear a stylish but very warm coat that she bought previously from a Salvation Army Coat Sale! May we all strive for greener living and a peaceful existence in 2009!

To Regift or Not To Regift?

2008-12-31T10:38:00.000-08:00

Few of us has disposable income for brand new expensive gifts and most of us have too much stuff, anyway, so this question has come up in my circle of friends and family more than once in the last few weeks. Some consider regifting to be the height of tacky and insulting and others think it an alternative to unwanted items gathering dust under beds or filling landfills.

Please, discuss:

Advice to a Young Actor-Musician

2008-12-28T21:42:00.001-08:00

Dear Leenya,

My name is Andrew and after seeing a performance of Company last spring on PBS I immediately fell in love with it. After I saw Company I wanted to know more, so I looked it up on the internet and happened to stumble upon your website which then led me to your blog. The reason I'm telling you all this is because I have many questions as to how you've managed to become successful as both a musician and an actress. I myself am a trumpet player and I also enjoy acting, though was unaware that I could find a common ground. Please reply with any advice that you feel would help guide me in the right direction to having a career as enjoyable as yours.

Humbly yours, Andrew

Dear Andrew,

I'm so glad you loved Company! It was one of the most rewarding artistic experiences of my life and am so glad that PBS aired it for all who missed it on Broadway! (I'm pictured here with Raul Esparza as Jenny experimenting with pot for the first time. Check out excerpts on Youtube)

I'll offer some advice I often give that pertains to this blog. Aspiring performers are told that persistence is the answer to success, but they are very rarely taught HOW to persist, how to stick it out during the dry spells that all artists who are trying to make a living at their art inevitably go through.

There are so many paths to "success" in this business, not just doing-it-for-the-love-of-it amateurs (a noble and rewarding motivation, by the way!) or Madonna super-stardom. For those of us who fall somewhere in between, ways to pay the bills vary.

The key is to first find a "day job" or "survival job" that is flexible and doesn't suck the soul out of you (Mine have ranged anywhere from Sunday School Guitar Lady to Department Store Christmas Tree Decorator and Celtic Rock Fiddle Player) and then when you do finally book that fabulous Broadway gig (the actor-musician concept WILL be explored again, either by John Doyle or other daring directors. I did tell Stephen Sondheim that he should write a musical with us crazy quadruple threats in mind. Wouldn't that be cool?!), you must put half of your shiny new paycheck in the bank and continue to live cheaply (definitely a challenge in the most expensive city in the world!) so that when that wonderful show closes or you can't bear performing that show for one more day (It happens! Sad...) you can live off those savings.

The truth is, there is no "making it". It's one in a million actor who escapes having to auditioning for that next job (eventually with the help of an agent or manager, which makes open calls unnecessary, thank God!) and you will always have times of unemployment, especially if you don't want to take work out of town or do shows that don't interest you artistically.

But that's the downside. The upside is that if you prioritize and find ways to live with a small overhead, you get to spend most of the hours of your day doing what you love.

You're right. I am having an enjoyable career! Have a blast and embrace this crazy thing that you've chosen to do. It's an adventure that not everyone has the guts to do. And keep logging in to What Would Leenya Do for more tips on living stylishly and inexpensively at the same time.

Ornaments that Complement

2008-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading my blog from the beginning, then you should feel like you already know my friend Chad. I wanted to include a photo of his living room this Christmas as he not only has a great sense of design and love of all things holidays, but he does it all on a budget with stoop sale finds and antique shops. Pictured here are decorations that caught his eye, but are mostly chosen carefully to fill out a color scheme.

Merry Christmas to you all and here's to a creative and rich-in-spirit 2009!

Don't forget to take my Resolutions poll...

Wrap it Up

2008-12-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Don't be boring!

Anyone can go out and buy expensive wrapping and matchy- smatchy bows and ribbons. If you've saved wrapping from last year, your gifts will all look different and the look under the tree will be more festive, fun, and eclectic.

Obviously, some large gifts will have to be wrapped with new paper (best to buy only paper that is recyclable and/or biodegradable! Jack's 99 Cent World is the best for bargains), but if you have a bag of bows and ribbons that you've kept, you can put together some great combinations. You can even keep brown boxes unwrapped, using ribbons and try multiple bows of different sizes. Experiment with taping tiny stockings or other ornaments that have lost their hanger to gifts. Ribbons with wires can be instantly brought back to life with some reshaping.

And what about Christmas Cards from years gone past? Cut off the tops and use them as gift cards or tape two tops together and create a gift envelope for small gifts.

It's not just for Grandmas! Find one small shopping bag and save the wrapping that wasn't hastily ripped off by children young and old. You'll thank yourself next Christmas.

Ornaments that Document

2008-12-16T12:06:00.001-08:00

The year that Ted and I bought our first little country cottage together, we wanted to give gifts that would also serve as announcements but of course, we didn't have a lot of money left that Holiday season. What I did have, though, was a bag full of leather scraps that I found in the Garment District, a small box full of random jewelry fasteners, and some fabric paint. Ted had a leather punch and some good wood glue. I found some festive ribbon and after about three days of our little assembly line, we had about 45 ornaments to send out, each slightly different. The paint is metallic and quite opaque and worked perfectly on the leather. We ripped paper squares for a rustic look and glued them to the back for documentation. Et Voila! Homemade Christmas Gifts done! And it's fun to go to apartments of friends and family and see little likenesses of our Gingerbread House (that's what we affectionately call it) hanging on the tree.

Show Off!

2008-12-16T12:02:00.000-08:00

Go on, admit it! You're popular! So why not display your Christmas Cards for all to see?

There are probably many ways to make them part of your Holiday decor, but here is one of the simplest: Tack a fun ribbon across a room and hang your cards like they're clothes of love and praise out to dry in the light of the season.

Advent

2008-12-12T06:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we forget Advent. Every year, you might think that Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving and by the time we reach December 24th, we're exhausted and Christmas-ed out. I'll admit I rarely get to church these days for one reason or another, but one thing that keeps me coming back is our Rector, Bill Tully and his fabulous sermons. He sends out a weekly message called Crossroads and I wanted to share this week's, all about the season of Advent. Even if Christmas is just a secular celebration for you of family and the season, I think his message offers a great perspective.

Is Advent taking hold?

Is it my wishful thinking, or is Advent a little less frenzied this year? Is the Spirit taking rueful advantage of recession and touching us all in that place where we self-regulate a little--maybe even get a bit contemplative?

Small and compact, Advent as a season on the sacred calendar has always been counter-cultural. In its earliest form it was six weeks not four, and it deliberately served for Christmas the same penitential purpose as Lent does for Easter. Counter to the theme of "coming" in the sense of Christ coming by birth into the world, its themes focused on last things, the "second coming" agenda of Heaven, Hell, Death, and Judgement.

So if our usual over-indulgence and hurry are muted by the genuinely tough times, is that so bad? That's not the same as asking if God is sending bad things to punish us. Such a theology assumes God is puppeteer pulling every little string of our lives, a surprising way of seeing God that otherwise thoughtful people often fall into. A different but perfectly traditional, even orthodox, way of seeing things is that God does NOT pinpoint every action or occurrence in history or our lives. Instead, God gives us the ability to respond to what happens, and even to work with God to redeem the times.

That's what I think we're seeing this Advent. I'm actually hearing more and more people struggling to find meaning in what we're going through. Some even turn to the riches of our tradition to see how our practice might change lives, ours, and others.

That's more enlightened theology, of course, but it's more than that. You CAN slow down, care for yourself, make loving and proportionate decisions about how to live and celebrate, and reach out in love to at least one other human being.

The New York Times is taking reader comments this week on the question, How do you celebrate the holidays when your loved ones are away? I was struck by one melancholy reply: "I'm usually depressed... I go to church where people say "may peace be with you" and then ignore me."

Wouldn't the world be different-- and a little closer to the love Jesus lived and died for-- if each of us could turn that unhappy moment around, and pay attention to someone who needs that love? If Advent is touching you in this hard year, you'll know what to do.

Bill Tully

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

The Original Renaissance Girl

2008-12-10T10:07:00.001-08:00

I came across these photos of my Great Grandmother, Amber May Fowler Rideout. She was the original Renaissance Girl. My childhood beds were covered in her bonneted-girl quilts and I now have my parents' wedding ring quilt in our bedroom. I've talked to several relatives and each has a quilt from her somewhere. How many quilts must she have hand-sewn? I can't begin to imagine...

My Father reminded me that she also knit amazing thick zip-up sweaters, very stylish in the 50's, for many of her grandchildren, even with matching hats. I remember seeing photos of my Father and his three brothers wearing slightly different but matching sweaters in the snow. I have one of the sweaters now and it is so substantial, I can wear it in place of a coat!

Every birthday for the last 10 years of her life, I'd receive a different doll in the mail. She embroidered a different outfit for each one: One a pink and white 18th Century Lady, one a red and black Senorita, the next year a Princess in blue and white. Each even had undergarments and perhaps a hat or matching tiny purse. They must have taken forever to embroider with a tiny needle and the finest yarn she could find. Her dolls were too small and delicate to live the fast-paced life that my Barbies lived, so they remained admired on upper shelves and I can only really appreciate them now.

My grandmother raised many children on the rural plains of Alberta, Canada and I can imagine that ingenuity and creativity meant actual survival for her. I'm guessing bargain shopping wasn't really an option and my efforts to survive in show business and a big city probably pale in comparison. I remember meeting her once when I was about four, but I wish I could have really talked to her.

Thanks for your hand-made works of art, Great Grandma!

Progress Check

2008-12-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

How's it going? Have you finished your Holiday preparations yet? No? Have you even made a dent?

It's a bit out of character for me to NOT procrastinate, but I made my gifts again this year and am about halfway done already! Just thought I'd celebrate a bit by posting...

Who's making their gifts this year? Share, please...

Packing?

2008-12-09T10:09:00.001-08:00

Holiday travel: Is it bringing out the Grinch in you? I used to love to fly, but shoe removal and liquid restriction (not to mention escalating airfares) are enough to make one wonder if taking the bus would have been a better option after all. And with baggage allowances dwindling monthly, advanced preparation is a must.

I used to be an overpacker. I'd show up at Grandma's local airport with a suitcase that even two people couldn't lift and on top of that, I'd still have a carry-on and a heavy coat. Half the clothing and shoes that I stuffed into my bigger-than-God suitcase went unworn. My reasoning was, I didn't know what I'd feel like wearing once I reached my destination. Better to be prepared. Well, I'll tell you: There is nothing like two months of carrying a 60 pound sea bag all over Europe (Ah, the post college graduation Eurail Pass!) to make even a hearty Renaissance Girl mend her ways.

These days, being prepared means having one carry-on bag that you don't have to worry about losing during flight delays and unexpected travel changes. It means you won't take up too much room where you're staying and that you will actually be able to locate things when you want to wear them! And let's not underestimate the joys of being able to go directly to security without checking a bag. Note: Pack your carry-on WITHOUT unzipping the optional expanding zipper. Save that for shopping that might accidentally (yeah, right!) take place during your travels.

But how to START packing?

a) SCHEDULE, DESTINATION WEATHER FORECAST

I make at least a mental list of what I'll be doing during my stay and what wardrobe requirements there will be.

b) CHOOSE EVENT OUTFIT

I start selecting clothes from my closet by deciding on the nicest outfit first (seeing a performance, going out to dinner with family, etc.).

c) SHOES

I choose 2 pairs of shoes (okay, with my athletic shoes for working out, three), one of them completing the event outfit, the other, perhaps, a boot that is comfortable and stylish and that I can wear on the plane (leaving room for clothes in my carry-on). Don't forget, make sure they're easy to remove for security...

d) LAYOUT FAVORITES ON THE BED

I always choose too much at first, knowing I'll be putting at least half of it back in the closet.

e) UNDERWEAR

Keep it all neutral so it will work with anything you pack. Don't forget hose or tights for skirts, socks for athletic shoes and boots.

f) PACK JAMMIES AND WORKOUT CLOTHES

g) COLOR SCHEME

Hey! I mention this in my advice to On the Verge in the Lady Godiva post! Well, it works for packing, too. If the boots you chose are brown, then that would be a fabulous neutral to match a belt to. Then why not choose more natural and Earth tones? If they're black, find a black belt and choose brighter colors.

h) ELIMINATE

Depending on the length of your stay, you'll only need one pair of jeans (I know, that's a tough one), one skirt, 2 long sleeved tops, 1 sweater, one jacket, maybe one pair of slacks, and a couple camis and a t-shirt. Separates are better than one-piece items (dresses) because everything you brought can be mixed and matched (Yay, color scheme!) to create different outfits.

i) JEWELRIES AND ACCESSORIES (TIES FOR GUYS)

Just bring the earrings, watch, and necklace that you wear all the time. Much less hassle, maybe plus something for the nice outfit... A Pashmena scarf can be worn a couple of different ways.

j) TOILETRIES

Remember the liquids thing, as it applies to carry-ons. You can always buy stuff there.

k) PERSONAL ITEM

Keep it simple. It's winter, you'll have a coat. (Does the coat match your color scheme?) And reading material for when your flight is inevitably delayed.

l) FORGET SOMETHING?

Actually, I'm wondering that for myself about this post, but seriously, that should probably be

your next question.

When the flight finally takes off, I remember how I actually do love to fly. It's a miracle, if you think about it, being that far above the clouds and seeing the world from a wider perspective. See how small all of our problems are in this big universe?

Where are you going this Holiday Season? Have a great time!

Sample Sale!

2008-12-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned Sample Sales as sources for stylish bargains? No? Well here's one this week! Worth has a GORGEOUS fall and winter collection and the website is a great place to see examples of assembling stylish outfits (On the Verge, this one's for you!).

Laura & Saundra of Strategic Image Partners

Invite you to the Fall/Winter Worth Sample Sale

For the first time ever, Worth is marking down it's show room samples at 50% off!

Come in on Friday for the best selection and ask for Saundra or Laura.

Unsold fall & winter inventory from the warehouse

will also be available for special order (by Saundra and Laura) at 35% off.

ALL SALES FINAL

Strategic Image Partners Client Appreciation & Early Bird Shopping

Friday, December 5th, 11am -7pm

Enjoy wine and hor d'oeuvres from 4pm-7pm

@ Worth Showroom: 37 West 57th St. 8th Floor

(continued on Saturday, December 6th from 11am -7pm

and daily Monday, 12/8 to Friday, 12/12 from 11am-7pm

No Appointment necessary

Inspiration

2008-11-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

Where do you get yours?

In this post, I'll be talking about finding ideas for designs for painting Christmas gifts.
With fabric paint, you can personalize just about anything: Napkins, aprons, jeans, t-shirts, things you can buy inexpensively and spruce up in your own way. Metallic paints (available at most arts and craft stores) provide the best color saturation and show up on most fabrics. With such paint brands as Lumiere by Jacquard and Delta Glitter Stuff for fabric, the sky is the limit. Add Aleene's OK to Wash-It Fabric Bond glue and fake jewels and beads can be added to the mix.

So now you're staring at your blank canvas and have no idea where to start. But you can find inspiration for your designs almost everywhere you look. Here is a photo of one of my house plants. Leaves and berries are the basis for so many patterns. I visited a Victorian "castle" this weekend and was overwhelmed by the ornate designs that covered each surface, most with vines and leaves and flowers of some kind. Pictured to the right is wallpaper that I saw in an art deco hotel. It has such an interesting take on paisleys and swirls I had to document it. Below are photos of details of the stone wall surrounding the Bethesda Fountain in New York. Usually, the fountain gets all my attention but for some reason that day, I really studied the other stone work. I realized that I have walked past these amazing designs for years without noticing that though the wall is fairly symmetrical and seemingly repetitive, each of these little stone carvings is slightly different, it's own gorgeous ornate design.

So the best thing to do once you've decided on an inspiration is to find a practice scrap. I like to paint freehand, but stencils and sketching out your design with a washable pencil is a great option. Mistakes are difficult to wipe off. I compare this process with music improvisation, where turning your mistakes into brilliant choices and uniqueness is key.

Finishing requires air drying (read the directions on the bottle for drying time) and then ironing to set. The end result of a painted design is less time consuming than embroidery and can be more striking or more subtle, depending on your color choices.

Pictured here are my own projects and experimentation with this design technique: a jean jacket and jeans. They have held up to machine washing. For my Holiday gifts this year, I am considering sewing some napkins (use 100% cotton fabric)(lots of hemming, but pretty easy once you get used to the first one) and then painting the corners in simple designs, each slightly different like the Central Park Wall stone work above. The thing about cloth napkins, too, is that it cuts down on the amount of paper towels that fill land fills. I love using them every day.

Have fun! Let me know where your design inspiration comes from!

Lady Godiva

2008-11-26T23:24:00.001-08:00

Dear Leenya,

I just visited your blog and understand that you offer advice. Here is my problem:

I don't enjoy shopping, am not a thrift store person, and cannot sew. All of my clothes are old and falling apart. I used to have a personal shopper (a gay male friend you and I share in common) but we have not lived together for 13 years. What should I do?

- Woman on the Verge of Being Lady Godiva

Dear On the Verge,

Wow. Starting from scratch. I love a good challenge! Buckle your seat belts...

First of all, let's look on the bright side. This is an opportunity for a fresh start! It sounds like you have nothing to stubbornly hold onto or cherish for sentimental reasons and therefore, making an entire change is going to be easy! Now, since you're writing to me and not Martha Stewart or Sarah Palin's former personal shoppers, I'm also assuming that your funds are limited. Some might look at these challenges as daunting, even paralyzing, but I see them as a chance to relocate your creativity and imagination bones. Break free! But not in a Lady Godiva kind of way. Save that for the summer season.

I hear you about about losing your Fairy God Roommate. There is nothing like shopping with your bestest gay friend (Hi Chad, I miss you!) but don't despair! Once you are able to commit a bit of time to your personal makeover, you'll get into the spirit. Think of it as a gift to yourself and you deserve it! It sounds like you've been denying yourself for far too long.

Start with PILIBST.

Is her spellcheck on the fritz, you ask?

Why, no! In fact, it stands for:

1. PURGE

2. INVENTORY

3. LIST

4. INSPIRATION

5. BUDGET

5. SHOP

6. TAILOR

PILIBST. It's kind of fun to say!

1. PURGE First, take all of your clothes out of your closet and making a giant mountain in the middle of your room. This could get messy but that's okay. Separate any less-than-flattering and ill-fitting clothes in a DONATE pile (large saved shopping bags come in handy at this point). Actually try things on. There should be clothes flying around the room at this point. Good rules of thumb here are: If you haven't worn it in a year, there's a reason for that. I know, your ex-boyfriend bought it for you or it might fit when you lose five pounds, but consider that after you drop it off at the Salvation Army tomorrow, someone else could be enjoying it or using it to keep warm. Keep thinking, "new start" (and PILIBST) and zap zing ta-da! You have room in your closet for your new wardrobe! That alone should help psych you out for shopping!

2. INVENTORY Look at the pile that is left including shoes and accessories (Sounds like yours is going to be small indeed, On the Verge).

3. LIST Actually grab a notepad and pen and start writing down what is missing from your KEEP pile. Record your present sizes. This will minimize the time you waste shopping and will help focus your search. Here's a list of wardrobe basics that should go on the list if you don't see them (workout clothes are necessary but are not part of this post):

Cute Jeans: Medium rise, either boot cut, straight leg, wide leg or skinny, dark washes are most flattering

Pants Suit that you can split up and wear as separates

Black or Solid Color Turtleneck and Cardigan Sweaters (wrap sweaters are a flattering alternative) and Separates

Tank Tops and Camisoles that are long enough to cover the hips

Button-up White Shirt, at least one, tailored and fitted in the waist, ruffles, anyone?

Modern Print Dresses and Skirts, knee length is best

Tall Leather Boots, black or brown

Pointy Toe Pumps, high or kitten heel

Ballet Flats, metallics or animal prints are fun...

Big Belt that can be cinched tight or loosened to fall across the hips, black or brown

Dress Slacks in a neutral color, should fall from the hip, not tight in the leg

And while we're at it, let's talk color. What's your favorite? What seems to be predominant in the KEEP pile? Find the average and begin a scheme. Since we are building you a starting wardrobe, it would be great to have items that could all mix and match with each other (and not in an 80's way, if you know what I mean...). Is Black your Neutral? Nowadays, you can make anything into a neutral (color is the new black) but that is a bit of an advanced technique. Brown and Black are wonderful places to start. Then, do you prefer muted Earth tones, like cranberry, sage, and purple, or are you more of a pastel girl? Your natural coloring is a good gage, but if you're brunette and love Navy, don't let rules limit you completely. You'll add a splash of red for pop in the accessories.

4. INSPIRATION Though I try to get my current events and interesting reading from almost anything else, I pick up a fashion magazine every once in a while. Vogue can be intimidating and hard to translate into every day fashions, but Elle and Cosmopolitan always have some good "What's New This Season" articles. Fold over the page of what you like. It's a good place to get ideas of how to put together things you already have in a new way as well. Also, I do love a good makeover show and one of the most helpful, I think, is What Not To Wear on TLC (8pm Friday nights with reruns at noon weekdays). The hosts, Stacey and Clinton, are hilarious, but if you watch how they take into account each unique fashion victim's style issues, it's all about packaging, about presenting your best self to the world in a way that is accessible to every size and shape.

5. BUDGET If you have two hundred dollars to commit to updating your wardrobe, that's a good starting point, believe it or not. Just know that the boots, suit, and jeans will take up the most of this amount. I brought my Mom shopping and after just two hours and two hundred dollars, we had started a good collection of staples for her. It was a Mom Makeover!

6. SHOPPING Yes, you can. And you can learn to love it! From now on, there is a treasure out there (your new wardrobe) and you are going to find it. And I won't make you start at Thrift Stores. Thrift Shopping takes technique and practice and you will work up to it, I promise. But in the meantime, Overstock is going to be your friend.

Now some people recommend Outlet Malls but I find them a bit of a trap and not much more "bargain" than a sale at Macy's (which is nothing to shake a stick at but I find department stores exhausting). Going to Old Navy and H & M for basics is great, but then head to Daffy's, TJ Maxx, Century 21, Marshalls, Filene's Basement, and Strawberry and if you're feeling daring, Conway. DSW Shoe Warehouse is good for discounted shoes and for jeans, you should try Blues or OMG on 8th Ave. in the 30's. Oh, that we could shell out the hundreds of dollars it would take to own Sevens and Lucky's, but you won't need those jeans 'cause you can find up-to-date Levi's in the aforementioned stores.

I hate to say it, but try things on. In the dressing room in front of a mirror. Ask fellow shoppers and sales people what they think. It's frustrating and time consuming, but it will save you time in the long run, and if you you can't return, money as well. If you wear low maintenance clothing, changing won't feel so tedious.

Look for easy care. I love silk and cashmere, but if you have to dry clean it every time you wear it it can become expensive.

HOLIDAY TIP: Didn't find the perfect belt or turtleneck? Why not add them to your Christmas List when your Mom or Aunt calls to ask what you need?

7. TAILOR You are not the only one who can't sew. And even if you can sew, sometimes it's better to outsource alterations to the professionals (like shoe repair it can be worth it). Hems and bringing the waist in are easy and inexpensive operations and can make the difference between clothing you'll wear and those that become a permanent fixture on a hanger in the back of your closet.

And that brings us to the end of PILIBST.

WHEW! I feel like Superman after he made the world spin backwards on its axis to save Lois Lane's life! But, On the Verge, you are going to feel and look like a million bucks in your new wardrobe and no one has to know that it cost significantly less than that! I mean, Lady Godiva is so "last millennium". Have fun and let me know how it goes...

NPR backtrack

2008-11-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

National Public Radio featured a fabulous interview this weekend with Tina Seamonster who hosts a website about homemade gifts. She also talks about searching Google for instructions, some including video footage, on hundreds of craft ideas. (Feel free to leave links in comments for your favorites)

I loved all the comments posted on NPR.org about this subject... Apparently, homemade and creative gifts are now all the rage. Who knew?

Oh yeah, we did!

Deck the Halls

2008-11-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going to write about cutting snowflakes out of newspaper or stringing popcorn and cranberries to trim your tree, though those are always cheap, fun ways to start decorating for the holidays. Today I'm posting about your next step: Overstock and 99 Cent Stores.

Okay, who hasn't been to Jack's World?

There are two: One at 110 W. 32nd St. between 6th and 7th and the other at 45 W. 45th St. between 5th and 6th Ave. and if you're looking for unique and practically free Christmas decorations and gifts, run, don't walk! It is also great for beauty products and gourmet food items, believe it or not, but in this post, I'm talking holidays.

Obviously you'll look for tree ornaments (you never know what you'll find), wrapping paper and gift bags (more than half the regular price), gourmet candy and chocolate, and stockings (I found the cutest beaded ones this year for 9.99!) but there is

also a plethora of garlands and faux greenery (pictured here in both photos). Rifle through the linens as well, as table runners (pictured here adorning my living room mirror) can be used creatively. Some years, there is an extra amazing selection of tree skirts in modern designs. I bought three

boxes of Christmas Ball ornaments a couple of years ago that I pile into my large assortment of vases from opening nights gone past and create festive holiday sculptures (an idea I stole from my sister-in-law, Marie). Instead of your standard red and green, I've chosen purple, terra cotta, and gold for my holiday accents. Silver and blue are another creative alternative.

Don't forget to score the aisles of kitchenware and toys

for your Christmas list. With all the bargains, it's easy to forget what you came for, but go any other time besides lunch hour and after work and you won't feel overwhelmed.

While you're there, pick up some clothespins (most likely a packet for 99 cents) and some festive ribbon to string across your apartment (idea courtesy of my friend Elizabeth). Hang your holiday cards from it instead of stuffing them in a drawer this year. The cards add a holiday flair and every day, you'll be reminded how popular you are! My holiday gift to you: I've given you yet another way to multitask!

Water Water Everywhere...

2008-11-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

Caution: What I'm about to post about is a shocking proposal but here goes.

I'm talking water.

Think back, way back to a time long long ago, a time when we would drink water from the tap. We would turn our faucet on and fresh, clean, potable water would just flow freely into our glasses or from drinking fountains and our thirst would be no more. It was a simpler time, a time when we didn't fill our already over-burdened land fills with empty bottles made of petroleum-based plastics that put us deeper and deeper into a dependency on Middle Eastern oil. We brought water bottles and filled them as needed with this life-giving substance and no one ever imagined that we would pay more for bottled water than we would for soda or milk or even gas. Water was free. Remember those days?

Oh, wait. Water is still free, or for those who pay a nominal monthly charge for water use, practically free.

And by some miracle, in most parts of the United States, tap water is completely drinkable and often delicious.

We should never waste it or take it for granted, as fresh unpolluted water is a rare commodity that should be conserved and protected, but while it is still an option, we should not buy bottled water. Ever.

Start now. Invest in a water bottle, or at the very least, refill the bottle that you bought yesterday and bring it with you tomorrow. Now I think that the taste of New York City tap

water rivals even Colorado mountain water, but if you live in a place that provides less-than-perfect water flowing from your pipes, use that Brita Filter (for sale at half the price at Jack's 99 Cent World on 45th St. between 5th and 6th Ave.) in your refrigerator and fill your water bottle up with that. It takes one more extra thought a day, but we could reduce our landfills by a significant amount and yes, use less foreign oil.

I know, it's crazy talk. But we have power as consumers, more than we know. And it's another way to save money. See how I always come back to that?

Okay, is anyone else thirsty for a long tall drink of water?

Tighten Your Belt

2008-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Last night, I was heading to another of Ted's opening night parties and I had nothing to wear!

Okay, I have plenty to wear but I was in one of those moods. You know the feeling. Flipping through my dresses, I didn't feel like wearing something I'd worn before. I mean, who wants to show up on Playbill.com in the same outfit more than once? On the other hand, now is not the time to be spending money on new clothes.

It was obviously time to experiment with putting things together in a new way. So many things have come back in style (the thrifter's dream!) but what items from days of yore can be reworked and what should we let fade into nostalgia?

I worked for a wardrobe supervisor at college one summer and I remember her talking about the 60's retro revival at the time. "If you were able to wear it the first time around, you're too old to wear it when it comes back in style." Doris did teach me how to sew a professional hem, God rest her soul, but I beg to differ on her style advice. You just have to know what you can get away with.

RETRO STYLES TO AVOID:

shoulder pads

too much matchy matchy

pure polyester, unless the print and style are just too hard to resist...

REUSE IF IT FITS:

skinny jeans

cuffed or cropped boots

tall boots (no square heels or toes), high heel or low heel

large geometric earrings

bangs

multiple bracelets

oversized movie star sunglasses

costume jewelry

leggings and legwarmers (not for the faint at heart, and even harder to pull off if you're over thirty)

oversized sweaters

pencil skirts

tab collar or tie sash collar flowing blouses, look for gathers at the yoke and sleeves

layers

oversized belts

Yes, the belt is back! And it's a great way to add a fresh look to wardrobe staples. It's a hard one for me to get used to again, especially since low rise jeans have put the emphasis away from the real waist for so long. It feels strange to have something cinched around my middle and I can't help but feel I'm breaking up the line. You know, the line you try to create, the illusion of the hourglass... But I'm branching out! Patent leather is a great look this fall and sometimes I'll even layer two belts, one over the other. If I don't feel like I have the perfect belt, I'll throw on three at a time and knot them instead of buckle them. It gives a great layered look with boots. Even a scarf can act as a belt, tied on like an obie or a cummerbund. Give it a try. Go ahead tighten your belt!

So the outfit I wore last night (pictured above) consisted of things I already had in my closet:

brown leather boots I found at Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg for 25 dollars

a grey wool and spandex pencil skirt that I took in on the sides for 8 dollars

(try it on inside out and pin, undo the hem and waistband if needed, then sew and re-hem)

a violet 80's blouse that I darted in the waist, front and back, and shortened the long sleeves to the cap sleeves for 5 dollars

vintage necklace and bracelet from Love Saves the Day in the Village for 8 dollars

Grandma's earrings

a long brown wool trench that I found at the, you guessed it, Salvation Army Coat Sale for 30 dollars

a big brown belt, cinched tight, of course, from Salvation Army for 2 dollars

A stylish new outfit to wear to Ted's opening night party: Seventy Eight Dollars.

Getting the chance to be inspired by my husband's acting once again: Priceless.

First Stop Holiday Shop

2008-11-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

If you're able to spend money this season on gifts, a great place to start is by supporting local artists. Here are some suggestions:

JEWELRY AND CRAFTS:

Actorcraft Fair

featuring:

Ana Andricain, "Jewel of Havana"

Tia Zorne

Erin Reiter, "Stem Jewels"

Marie Koch, Jewelry & Visual Art

Sarah Jane Nelson Millan Jewelry Design, Life is Rosey

MUSIC:

Holiday CD's

Helen Russell, "Holly Days"

American Modern Ensemble, Three Holiday CD's

Broadway Cares/Equity Fight's Aids, "Carols for a Cure"

Broadway Inspirational Voices, "Great Joy"

Boyd's for Praise Company, "Joy in the Morning Light"

Original Music

Jack Donahue, "A Small Blue Thing"

Mimi Bessette

Tommy Grasso

Mike Butler

Erin Hill, "Frost as Desired"

Becca Ayers

Neil Scott Johnson Band

Charity Chapman, "Butterflies with Chainsaws"

featuring Leenya:

"phoenix", my cd of original songs

the Chalks, "Three Girls, Three Guitars, Three Chords"

Unidentified Wailing Mammals, "Topology of Love"

Teeter Gray, "Blue Love"

Finn's Fury, "What About Ya?"

the Chillbillies

Please feel free to add to this list in the comments... No self promotion is shameless in this post!

Pass the art around!

It's That Time Again.

2008-11-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

So you've just finished putting away your Hallowe'en Costume (homemade from thrift store finds and recycled items, of course) and we know the election results... Time to start making our holiday gifts!

And why not? If there was ever a time to make your holiday gifts, this is it! Many a Christmas season past, I procrastinated my holiday shopping until well into December and while waiting in some line for an hour and a half I would make a pledge that next year, next year, I would plan ahead and make my gifts again like I used to when I was a kid.

I was just talking with my cousin Molly about this over dinner last night. Our Moms were the ones who got us making our own gifts, partly because money always seemed tight, but also because handmade gifts can mean so much more than something storebought. Making gifts takes time, but it's time spent getting into the Spirit of giving and less time spent waiting in lines shopping. Even diehard shoppers can lose the spirit in holiday shopper crowds.

First, make your list and check it twice. Of course your parents, siblings, and your spouse get something unique from the money you save making gifts for others, but 30 or so of your family, friends and coworkers would be titillated by a small one-of-a-kind gift.

I have so many great family Holiday memories involving glitter, felt, and the occasional applehead doll. Mom and I would set up a little assembly line and an ornament that hangs on a relative's family tree thirty years later would be created. Could the same be said about that click of your mouse at Amazon.com?

The year we purchased our cabin, Ted and I made ornaments out of leather scraps that I had saved. I painted them with fabric paint to look like our little "gingerbread house". Ted bored holes in their tips and red ribbon looped around for tree hang-age. I still see them in friends and relatives' houses during the holiday season! They are such a great reminder of a milestone in our lives and they were extremely inexpensive to ship.

This last year, I recorded a CD of holiday music on Garage Band on my iMac. I was able to make thirty five copies with a festive label and CD case that served as a holiday card of sorts. I also was able to email mp3's from the CD to people as a Holiday E-Card. I can picture that this would be a great gift idea from young parents. Even if you go into a studio, for just a couple hundered dollars you could record your child singing or talking and relatives could cherish it for decades.

How many of you reading have too much stuff? Me. I have too much stuff. My husband and my parents have too much stuff. There's nothing wrong this year with sending a card that indicates that money has been donated in your loved one's name to your favorite charity. Or why not send a homemade gift certificate offering a personal service (tailoring, accounting, balloon tying)? Or a movie night? It's time to get creative, people. No worries. Next season you'll be able to purchase the newest useless expensive gadget from Brookstone or Christie's again. Why not use this season to search your soul?