We all like stumbling on unexpected treasure. The fun of going to garage sales is sifting through the stuff other people have deemed disposable, in the hope that we (the hopeful shopper with pockets full of change, mind set to haggle) will come...

There's no escaping the upstairs room where Writers & Books holds its readings. Show up on time, or else you'll be caught crossing the room in front of the audience. And once it starts, there's no back door to sneak out of if things get too...

On Friday, April 17, from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., a warehouse in Gates was brought to life by ArtAwake, a University of Rochester-sponsored event that brought together hundreds of works of art, installation pieces, live music, live dance, and...

It was dark and rainy, and the RIT campus threatened to make my head spin when I showed up clutching my little print-out map on Thursday, March 26. I was running late, and scooted my Mary Janes across the football field length of a parking...

I don't get to the theater enough, that's for sure. But I've always had respect for everyone involved with it, and sort of a romantic vision of it as a parallel world where the actors transform into different people, and the audience escapes...

If you've been to the Hungerford Building (it's by the train tracks on East Main, just north of the Village Gate), you know its appeal. It holds studios for all sorts of artists and musicians, houses art galleries and a recording studio, and...

Fat Tuesday is supposed to be the last hurrah before Lent. Prior to entering that season of self-restraint, we get a free pass (of sorts) to engage in as much debauchery as possible. In extreme New Orleans, the party rages all day and night...

Finally! After months of waiting Tyra has released the names and photos of the 13 young (ish) women deluded enough to think they have what it takes to be America's 12th next top model. You can check out the girls here.
My thoughts: this is...

What is up with parking downtown? I arrived at Blue Cross Arena at 6:15 p.m. for the 7 p.m. "Disney on Ice" show. I figured 45 minutes gave me more than enough time to park, get my ticket, and find my seat, but the lines for the Civic Center...

I have always loved chocolate, but it was my first Godiva truffle that spoiled me. Shaped like a shell, the open oyster filled with hazelnut praline dissolved in my mouth in a sense-enhancing glaze. It made me question every chocolate I had...

I've lived in Rochester more years than I can count on both my fingers and toes, and yet had never been to "Live from Hochstein." I'd heard about it for years, as it began way back in 1975. It starts at 12:10 p.m. and ends at 12:50 p.m., giving...

For shame, Rochester! For shame! Only one of you -- besides me -- showed, and even that was a pit stop.

A long time ago, I remember seeing a present wrapped in a common brown paper bag transformed into a reindeer. Then I made the mistake of watching a Martha Stewart Christmas Special where she took pieces of colored tulle and gathered, wrapped, and...

This week was all about the election. I headed down to my local polling place before work on Tuesday to cast my votes. I got a fright when as I walked toward the building that has been my voting place for the last nine years -- with no signs...

The participants (about 40 or 50 of them) gathered in the parking lot by a school-bus yellow car. Balloons were being filled from a helium tank in the trunk. Someone was strumming a guitar while another played on a xylophone. (Which reminds me, next year

Doing the Greater Ithaca Art Trail has become an annual tradition for me. The weather is usually fine and the ride down is beautiful, with the autumnal trees at their peak. This year I wondered if they were going to use my mailbox idea from last...

Stephen Colbert just does not stop. He plays the role of arrogant, selfish, pseudo-journalist with such flair and commitment that I sometimes wonder where his line between satire and actual belief system is drawn. Seeing his lecture Saturday at...

It was raining in the morning with a forecast of steady showers, but the sun began to shine shortly before the gardens tour at the Rochester Civic Garden Center. About a half dozen of us met inside the center to eat our brown bag lunches while...

I love my blog. I love writing it because it's not limited, like a review. It's a firsthand account by me, a regular person, attending events. And, as such, regular things happen to me: venues don't call me back, the event is different than described, or like in this case, my plans change.   I was planning on going to the Historical Barns Tour, but the day before, I was given tickets to the Inside Downtown Tour. No problem. I wanted to do both, so I would. But the night before I hosted a bridal shower

I have an excellent sense of direction, and one of the fun things I like to do is head out of Rochester in my car and try to become lost. I usually have to go pretty far, and I usually only get lost for a short time. However, in that short time I usually find something interesting. Like the time I found Nine Pines Country Store, open on a Sunday afternoon, miles down a dirt road near Newark. Whoddathunk? I bought a beautiful wrought iron chandelier that day. Or I come upon a spaghetti or bar-b-que dinner put