The Producers

Today was productive. My friend Rachael and I both got blowouts [at separate Montclair salons], did our makeup and met at her house with Mark Wyville, a gifted photographer who lives right down the block from me.

Rach, a health coach, mother of three [including Figgy's dear friend] and chef with amazing recipes up her hot pink cashmere sleeve, will be launching her website soon. Mark was taking photos for it, and I'm in some shots, cooking with Rach. [I'm one of her clients, too.] Process shots included squeezing a fragrant navel orange for the dressing on a farro dish; holding a bowl of turkey Bolognese served over spaghetti squash; scattering chopped parsley over a lovely big salad; clinking wineglasses.

It was fun, but also work, and the shoot was from about 1 to 3. After that, we dug into the Bolognese [yum], plus roasted cauliflower and Brussels sprouts--and, for dessert, plain Icelandic yogurt with a dollop of lemon curd and fresh raspberries on top.

I made that last treat for my family tonite, fixing Fig a separate parfait with almond-milk "yogurt" and just berries. I filled my mother's shallow crystal bowl [a wedding gift, I think] with yogurt, some lemon curd and ruby-red berries for me, Dan and Punch. But she promptly ate all the berries--like a hungry bear cub in the mountains--and the lemon, leaving most of the plain yogurt behind for us. Do you have any more curd? she asked after.

Book group with my boot camp friends tonite [they call it Book Camp]. We read Becoming by Michelle Obama. We all liked it. Since MB grew up in Chicago, Becky served Windy City-themed foods--tapered triangles of deep-dish Chicago style pizza and rich, chocolate-lover’s squares made from the first brownie recipe--invented in the 1890s for the Chicago World's Fair. Those friends are something special.

Good night.

$ MONEY OUT OF POCKET

• Business expense: Blowout, $35 + tips, $45.
• Business expense: Barbara Eclectic, reading glasses with tortoise-style frames by Peepers [great brand, new to me] with tax, $25.59.
• Beyond the Bagel, turkey and Swiss on everything w lettuce, tomato and a little mayo, $7.94.
• Pink Bungalow, beautiful pink and gold Lilly Pulitzer luggage tag for future getaways, with tax, $12.80.
• Starbucks, energy bar, grande decaf latte, really cute picture frame and four 2-packs of dark chocolate graham crackers because I thought I'd bring them to book group but then Becky said she had it all covered, $23.72.

DAILY DOLLAR TOTAL: $115.05.