<p style="margin-bottom: 0.19in">I&rsquo;ve been asked so many times about the things I like - the things I believe are essential for me (and not just mom essentials). Well, here goes&hellip; These are my favorites and some useless trivia about me. Because even <a href="index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=15&amp;Itemid=59">Savvy Mommy</a> has to have a little fun. </p><p><img class="left" src="images/stories/about/gilmore_girls.jpg" border="0" alt="gilmore_girls.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="110" height="153" align="left" /><img class="right" src="images/stories/about/adagiotea.jpg" border="0" alt="adagiotea" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="145" height="131" align="right" />I can&rsquo;t miss an episode of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002CHJL4/islandtravela-20">Dinner for Five</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BBOUVI/islandtravela-20">Gilmore Girls</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000F1IQHS/islandtravela-20">Entourage</a>. (And now that Gilmore Girls is gone, two shows have replaced it - the Riches and Weeds.) My TiVo also works overtime taping Wow Wow Wubzy for Luke. (Santa bought him HBO&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002TSZFQ/islandtravela-20">Harold and the Purple Crayon</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009WPKYA/islandtravela-20">Classical Baby</a> on DVD) And while Natalie is a big&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000CSTKJ2/islandtravela-20">Laurie Berkner</a> fan, she also loves watching The Big Comfy Couch. I drink <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001AU3P6/islandtravela-20">tea</a>. Not coffee (OK, 99.8% of the time, I don&#39;t drink coffee). And I eat <a href="http://www.joyofbaking.com/SconesIntroduction.html#recipes">scones</a> &ndash; preferably berry ones. I hate chocolate but love all things sour. Roses are nice but gerbera daisies are so much nicer.&nbsp; And on some days, so are those $7 a bunch tulips you see at the grocery stores. I secretly wish the main ingredient for Iron Chef America would be <a href="http://www.freshmangos.com/varieties.html">mango</a> one day. (Update: In 2007, my wish came true!) I was this close to trying out for <em>Apprentice Martha Stewart</em>. But Luke was about to arrive. So although I&#39;ve been asked to star in a few reality shows, so far no go.</p><p><img class="left" src="images/stories/about/pointeshoes.jpg" border="0" alt="pointeshoes.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="145" height="107" align="left" /> I&rsquo;m lucky enough to be one of four generations of women alive on my mother&rsquo;s side. And one of five generations alive on my father&rsquo;s side. I&rsquo;m a proud member of the <a href="http://www.hotmomsclub.com/whatshot/">Hot Moms Club</a>. My favorite quote is found in a song by <a href="http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/notaprettygirl/l_notaprettygirl.asp">ani difranco</a>. My hair is seven different shades of brown &ndash; naturally. I still have the <a href="http://www.sansha.com/footwear-pointe-prof-hs.html">Pointe</a> shoes from my first and last performances. I&rsquo;ll never take my children to Las Vegas &ndash; family friendly, yea right! I prefer silly movies to serious. I &ldquo;LOL&rdquo; a lot. Spicy food is not my friend. Neither are spiders. Or people who call me Veronica or Vicky (and that also goes for Vicki and Tori). How hard is it for someone to say Victoria? Seriously, people. If I had a penny for every person who called me Veronica, I&#39;d be able to pay college tuition for a dozen kids.</p><p style="margin-top: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.19in">My birthstone is <a href="http://www.moonriverpearls.com/pc-459-2-white_pearls_and_lapisbr17_inch_necklace.aspx">pearl</a> so I wear them often. I haven&rsquo;t worn yellow gold jewelry in over a decade. The pair of white gold earrings I&nbsp;wear every day were bought in Saint Martin five years ago.&nbsp;The last ten mp3 files played on my laptop before I got an iPod nano and an iPod shuffle were by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008DCQJ/islandtravela-20">B21</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002D2Q/islandtravela-20">C + C Music Factory</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007V5WB4/islandtravela-20">Pavarotti</a>, Better than Ezra, Howie Day, Lucy Pearl, Dave Navarro, John Mayer, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006JIBS/islandtravela-20">Yoko Ono</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006JIBS/islandtravela-20">Sam Phillips</a>. The songs on my iPod shuffle would make anyone laugh.&nbsp;While I am a Cingular customer, I don&#39;t have an iPhone but I do have&nbsp;two old <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000E6MFXA/islandtravela-20">Palm</a> somewhere around here. </p><p><img class="left" src="images/stories/about/cremebrulee.jpg" border="0" alt="cremebrulee" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="115" height="115" align="left" /><img class="right" src="images/stories/about/prideandprejudicefirth.jpg" border="0" alt="prideandprejudicefirth" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="110" height="156" align="right" /><img class="right" src="images/stories/about/womanholleringcreek.jpg" border="0" alt="womanholleringcreek" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="110" height="171" align="right" />My favorite books are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452282195/islandtravela-20">The Bluest Eye</a> by Toni Morrison, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679734775/islandtravela-20">The House on Mango Street</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679738568/islandtravela-20">Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories</a> by Sandra Cisneros and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553213105/islandtravela-20">Pride and Prejudice</a> by Jane Austen.. (And yes, I love the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005MP58/islandtravela-20">movie</a> version &ndash; the five hour one with Colin Firth, of course.) I haven&rsquo;t read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400079179/islandtravela-20">The DaVinci Code</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068987474X/islandtravela-20">He&rsquo;s Just Not That Into You</a>. <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_32756,00.html">Cr&egrave;me brulee</a> and <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_23348,00.html">flan</a> are my favorite desserts but everyone says I make the best oatmeal raisin cookies &ndash; and I&rsquo;ll share if you ask. I eat omelets but only when they are from <a href="http://www.lezincnyc.com/">Le Zinc</a>. (Update: Le Zinc recently closed and I haven&#39;t found a new place for great omelets in Manhattan.) The Coffee Bean &amp; Tea Leaf makes the best <a href="http://coffeebean.com/04_04_02_new_products.asp">Mucho Mango FruTea</a> drinks&hellip; Mmm! </p><p>I used to only wear Clinique makeup but they discontinued Raisin No. 5 and I eventually ran out of it so I now have a case of random MAC make up in even more random colors. Lemon scented Sugar Bath body lotion by <a href="http://fresh.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&amp;Store_Code=F&amp;Product_Code=SUGARBODYLOTION">Fresh</a> is a staple in my daily beauty routine. I feel uncomfortable in flat shoes so I wore 3 inch heels even when my son was a week overdue. I was born on an island (yes, Manhattan does count!) and island travel is my favorite -- recently took the kids to <a href="http://www.hiltonheadisland.org/index.asp" target="_blank">Hilton Head</a> -- now that is a family friendly travel destination! My mother and I get giddy when shopping for <a href="http://surlatable.com/lists/index.cfm">kitchen gadgets</a>. (If I could do one thing for my mother, I would ask <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400054346/islandtravela-20">Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten</a> to cook with her one afternoon. My mom would be tickled pink and I would score amazing brownie points - and probably a bunch of holiday dinners with new recipes!) </p><p><img class="left" src="images/stories/about/supergroverballoon.jpg" border="0" alt="supergroverballoon" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="160" height="106" align="left" />I can crochet, jump rope, drive a truck and swim but I don&rsquo;t know how to ride a bike. I love <a href="http://www.playbill.com/index.php">Broadway shows</a> and foreign film. The utensils given to passengers on the airlines formerly known as <a href="http://www.flysong.com/">Song</a> are one of my daughter&rsquo;s favorite piece of swag. I left my Jimmy Choo shoes in the cab the night before my wedding. I&rsquo;ve worn Essie&nbsp;<a href="http://www.essie.com/colours/">Sheer Bliss</a> (#269) nail polish for as long as I can remember but now wear Vanity Fairest. My daughter loves <a href="http://pbskids.org/sesame/grover/index.html">Grover</a> so much that I have two backup Grover dolls for when one is in the wash. (Yes, even Grover has to take a bath sometimes.) </p><p><img class="right" src="images/stories/about/natvalentinesdaycupcake.jpg" border="0" alt="natvalentinesdaycupcake.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="120" height="177" align="right" /><img class="right" src="images/stories/about/lukecolumbia.jpg" border="0" alt="lukecolumbia" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="168" height="129" align="right" />Natalie&rsquo;s favorite things used to be birds, books, balls, balloons and bubbles and later it was all about cupcakes, silver dollar pancakes, latkes and apple sauce, Stonyfield Farms cheese cake flavored yogurt and birthday cake stickers. (Am I the only one noticing a pattern?) Luke&rsquo;s favorite thing to do&nbsp;right now is to <strike>pretend to be Picasso on my bedroom walls</strike>, eat bagels or English muffins and play with <a href="http://www.melissaanddoug.com/puzzles.shtml" target="_blank" title="Melissa and Doug puzzles">Melissa and Doug</a> puzzles.</p>