News from BelleRinger PR

COSTA RICA HERE WE COME! Spring is here and a change of scenery is needed soon. Fortunately for me, the Fairy Godmother of airline ticket contests has granted me a Costa Rican dream come true! After some spur of the moment research and brief consultations with anyone willing to listen, I'm whisking up a trip for two; 8 days of vacation in the north and central Pacific regions of this amazing country. After trekking through Europe last summer I learned that traveling in extremely close quarters can either make or break a trip (or a relationship). Not only do I need to plan what I have to pack and what I may need and what I most definitely cannot forget, I also have to prepare for obstacles we may each encounter, like language barriers (neither of us is fluent in Tico-Spanish or Spanish in general). He wants to rent a car - I think we should take public transportation for the lower cost and hassle. He doesn't want to plan everything to a T and neither do I, but I'm afraid we ...

THE BLACK KEYS HITS THE BIG TIME! Exciting news from the music world! One of my favorite bands, The Black Keys , a duo whose popularity has been cult status at best, has just burst onto the commercial music scene. This morning, during one of my spacing out, simultaneously reading, listening to iTunes on my computer and watching television, I heard the background music on a commercial, looked up, and realized that I was listening to The Black Keys while Adrianna Lima and Giselle Bunchen walked down a runway with wings! I was listening to one of my favorite bands in a Victoria's Secret ad! This has got to be one of the coolest ways to shoot to stardom, especially for these two guys, from Akron, Ohio nonetheless! Two landscaping, basement living, musically inclined white guys who have delta-blue in their souls are now selling out of vinyl and their songs are being chosen for million dollar ad campaigns and major motion pictures! (their song, "When the Lights Go Out," is be...

THE EASTER DRESS Ever since I can remember the women in my family have marked the beginning of Spring with 'The Easter Dress'. Shopping for the dress, buying the dress, wearing the dress - these were all important rituals us. The dress had to meet certain criteria: a style and color the elderly ladies would approve of, dressy enough to be worn to Easter Sunday church service and any wedding we may be invited to that spring or summer and detailed with little flowers, lace, and a sash or bow. Finding a dress that fit all these criteria was always a challenge. As I grew older I rebelled against the little flowers and lace but I still like bows and sashes. (They're good for hiding figure flaws.) I started shopping this morning and found a few options. This Shelli Segal wrap dress is a beautiful blue - and has the requisite bow. I found it at Nordstrom for a very affordable $195. I also found this dress by Pow Wow . I like the criss-cross bodice - it draws the eyes up from m...

GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK Being health conscious and globally aware is part of California’s culture; it only seems right that eco-friendly clothing cost proportionally as much as Bay Area gasoline. But of the ways available to protect our environment, I think ‘green’ fashion is probably the most fun and versatile. We’ve already embraced organically-grown and pesticide-free foods; now it’s time to do the same with our threads! I’ve been looking at ‘green’ fashion; unfortunately the cost of the clothing makes it unattainable for some of us. BTC Elements has amazing styles but $79.00 for a pair of shorts ? It makes more sense for me to buy recycled clothes from thrift stores. Another way to recycle! Great Green Goods features incredibly funky recycled home decor made from materials ranging from used Mardi Gras beads to old pipes. The inspiration and ability of 'green' artists make for some one-of-a-kind pieces, but again, some the costs aren't friendly to my budget. However th...

FALLING GRACEFULLY, WOMBAT STYLE I just finished reading about John Edwards' decision to continue his presidential campaign despite the recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer. For those of you who can't keep track of all of the Democratic candidates out there, John Edwards is the young cutie who is earnestly vowing to wipe out poverty in the US. My first reaction was to shriek 'You loser!' at the charming photo of him. Admittedly, it was the knee-jerk reaction of a married woman. The old, "I would kill my husband if . . ." But then I took a breath and thought about it. It's doubtful the majority of voters will listen to anything John says that doesn't pertain to his wife's illness and his reaction to it. If he stays in the race he's a dog, if he drops out he's a quitter, if he spends too much time thinking about it he's ambivalent . . . And what about Elizabeth? Shoulder on and shake hands with voters? Stay home and cherish every m...

THE LOST POST You're looking at a picture of me searching for the post I spent an hour composing. My tears aren't visible from the back but I'm sure you can visualize them. The beautifully written post disappeared when I tried to publish it. Enough said - no more whining from me today. Rather than rewrite the entry I'll just summarize it for you. It was an eloquent piece about some of the excellent blogs I read daily. A shout-out to some great bloggers. So here's an annotated version. I start my day with a cup of coffee and Dooce , Heather Armstrong's ramblings about her interesting life. I then do some virtual browsing at Design*Sponge , Modish and Cuteable . Then I go to A Girl's Gotta Spa , SheFinds and Cool Mom Picks for savvy product reviews. Trust me, readers, the original post was eloquent, humorous and insightful. All things that this one is not. But the blogs I've named are outstanding. The authors are all great writers and creative thinker...

A WHOLE LOT OF WHINING GOING ON There's been a lot of talk about the recent time change - none of it very positive. It irritated me for some very specific reasons. First, I lost an hour of reading time. I resent anything that cuts into my precious reading time. Right now I'm devouring some of J.D. Robb's brain candy; I missed an hour that should have been spent with Lieutenant Eve Dallas. My Sunday afternoon nap was another casualty. It's a tradition for me to have a snooze late Sunday afternoons and people who know me don't interfere with it. Another casualty was the hour I could have spent at the gym working off the Ben and Jerry's I ate Saturday. (I just learned that they'll deliver ice cream directly to your home. Check out this page for more information.) For those of you who persevered and read this entry - thank you. It feels good to get this off my chest.

PERSONAL ALL-TIME FAVORITE SHOES Isn’t that always the fun discussion? Before telling you about my favorite shoes I have to confess that living in a warm climate and loving regular pedicures has made me a huge fan of flip-flops. And I like pairing fashion and function - blending the two and looking great is a fun challenge. On that note, here are my current faves. 1) Joan & David "Circa" - Cream-colored sling backs with dark heel and toe accents. I paired these shoes with a cream, black and brown colored satin dress for a romantic dinner with a new boyfriend. I was one step out of the car when a woman across the street yelled out, "Great SHOES!" My boyfriend was impressed. 2) ROXY Telluride - Suede-upper/Fleece lined track shoes I ordered these from Zappos . My burgundy pair was so comfortable and lasted so long that I ordered a pair in camel. They kept my feet happy for 3 weeks of walking through Europe! 3) DANSKO Mary Janes - The soles of these shoes kept me c...

THE HOME FOR AGED WOMEN I've been wanting to write about my career stint as a Family Service Consultant at Skylawn Memorial Park , a cemetery in the luscious green mountains south of San Francisco, California. Imagine being recruited (yes, I was recruited) to be 'of service' to a grieving family planning a burial. The sheer goodness of the job was too much for my vanity to reject. So I was shocked when two days into the job I learned that I wasn't hired to counsel the grieving but to sell plots to the living. It's called selling 'pre-need' - talking the purchaser into buying their plot/niche/crypt/whatever before they die. I won't talk about the 'good' work I did by helping families plan services or design site markers. We've almost all experienced some part of that so there's not a whole lot to add. And I won't talk about the challenges of showing a prospective buyer a beautiful piece of 'property' - a burial site - and askin...

MY SPACE OR YOURS? Everyone knows something about myspace . It's one of those sites and trends that you’re either excited to be part of or embarrassed to admit that you aren't. I've had men ask me if I ‘myspace’. When did it become a verb? It's quickly becoming the gray area between the, "Want to go out sometime," and the "I'm too shy to ask," pick up lines and tactics. Some of these guys seem to think that if a girl ‘myspaces’ they can skip conversation (read relationships) and cut straight to the chase. That’s the first reason I won’t open an account. I started browsing the site recently and got caught up for hours. Some of the trends are pretty shallow and cliché. The most obvious is the user photo. When creating a myspace account you’re given the opportunity to post a user photo that’s seen by anyone who may come across your page. I saw three types, 1) Drunk women holding cocktails - usually the one in the middle is the one whose profile you...

MORE ABOUT FOOD Though I don't have an obsession with food I do get almost as excited about it as Frankie (my four-legged officemate) does. New readers - my 1/27/07 post has a picture of his beer-swilling twin. Yesterday I came across this dog feeder made from an actual wine crate. Not only does it look chic, but it's also very practical. Tall dogs don't need to bend too low to eat, uncouth dogs can't push their dishes around so easily, and lazy dogs have both dishes side by side. I know putting two dishes in one stand isn't new but there's probably at least one reader who's dazzled by the concept. Whiner and Diner (appropriate name, yes?) uses crates from US and European (oooh la la) wineries. Though I'm trying to focus on the aesthetics and practicality of the feeder, a little voice in my head says Frankie would look sophisticated if he drank wine from this feeder instead of beer from a bowl.