Fans of Chris Simmonds' adamas boutique in Norfolk's Ghent are still reeling from its closure. The uber-hip fashion house took a bow in late January, and Simmonds forged on to pursue a nonfashion-related business interest.
Adamas and its spinoff, Haute inside Wall's Fine Art, were among my favorite spots to buy local or original jewelry at affordable prices. Haute is history, too.

The back-to-back winter wallops we received have cemented my regret at throwing away the rugged snow boots that were a must when I lived in Ohio. And silly me, somewhere along the way, I also let go of my combat boots.

Yewande Sole came to Hampton reluctantly, defiantly. "I was 18. My mom insisted that I come to America to go to Hampton (University)," says Sole, a native of Nigeria. "I cried. The first month my phone bill was $1,000." Culture shock set in.

Donna Speller Turner of Virginia Beach knows how to clean out a closet. Big time.
When she did so in late December, the result filled three double-sided, 10-foot-long clothes racks and six tables. She was selling or giving away everything for charity.

I pick up the phone some weeks ago, and on the line is a frequent caller to this newspaper.
"Jamesetta, have you heard about Body Magic?" Karen Mitchell of Portsmouth asks.
"No, Karen, what is it?"
"Jamesetta, you mean to tell me you haven't heard about Body Magic?"
I'm going crazy. What the heck is Body Magic?

A LOT CAN HAPPEN in four years. You can lose your mind and not even realize it.
A couple of months ago I received a pitch for a fragrance called Ageless. It's marketed as anti-aging. That claim alone made me game to try it. I was skeptical that anyone could just spray something and erase years, but science is amazing these days.

A FEW MONTHS AGO, some co-workers and I got into a raucous discussion about whether anyone still sews. The conversation involved something about Eunice Farmer and the Sew Simple advice column she was penning at the time, before she retired. My colleagues weren't feeling it. Someone asked if it was practical anymore to buy your child a sewing machine.

NEVER should good, unused fabric be tossed, because someone else might want it. 
I am guilty of this misjudgment and have been wallowing in guilt ever since calls and e-mails started coming in after a reader’s inquiry about where she could donate her fabric.

Any store that draws you to drive past it day after day, when it's not on your path and there isn't a thing in there for you, is pretty darn powerful. The storefront display of Stark & Legum men's store in Norfolk speaks. It's the custard-colored fedora tilted just so. The red newsboy hat. And the purple wingtip shoes. Who's wearing that? You wonder.

On one of the coldest day of the year, on a day that wasn't his, President George W. Bush still couldn't mask his charm at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. There you had an exiting, unpopular president dressed in all black – and he still looked chipper and dapper! Go figure. Gotta love it.