Blog Posts by Oprah.com

Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio DBy Adam Glassman

The Look: Contrasting Sleeves

Want to see a great trick? Just slip on a jacket with contrasting sleeves. It draws the eye to your middle and carves out a curvy hourglass. This particular piece works wonders with winter white-but also rocks jeans.

Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio DAt the Office

Darker sleeves jazz up a classic gray suit. Who says you can't be conservative and trendy?

Jacket, $198; AnnTaylor.com; Skirt, Ann Taylor, $118; AnnTaylor.com; Tank, Ann Taylor, $78; AnnTaylor.com; Scarf, Prova, $475; Ikram, Chicago, 312-587-1000; Shoes, Brian Atwood, $1,300; BrianAtwood.com; Bag, Gryson, $1,195; Shop.Gryson.Com

RELATED: Jennifer Lopez's Fall Fashion Picks

Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio DOn

Photo: ThinkstockBy Seth Kugel

What skilled journalists know about getting tough subjects to talk could prove useful in your living room. Seth Kugel, a New York Times contributor who teaches an interviewing class at NYU, offers a few tricks to try on the monosyllabic male of your choice.

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Choose the right time.

A reporter looking for person-on-the-street interviews in, say, New York will have little luck with commuters rushing out of the Times Square subway station at 8:57 on a Monday morning. But those same people sunning themselves in the park during lunch hour will talk your ear off. So even if something has been bothering you, don't slam a man with it when he gets home from work; try a lazy Sunday afternoon (not during football season).

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Pick the right place.

Susan Shapiro, a fellow journalism teacher at New York University and the author of Five Men Who Broke My Heart , told me that she knew to meet

Photo: ThinkstockBy Lynn Andriani

Gojee
How it works: You tell Gojee which ingredients you have on hand and which ones you don't like or are allergic to. It then pulls up recipes that meet your criteria, from food blogs like Not Eating Out in New York and Sassy Radish. Beautiful, screen-wide photographs make every recipe look like a winner.

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Best for: CSA subscribers with specific tastes, who are trying to figure out what to do with seven pounds of zucchini or three huge bunches of kale.

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Food on the Table
How it works: You build a profile, finding your local grocery store on the site's map, selecting which proteins (e.g., pork, beef, fish) you love, and picking which kinds of meals you want to always, sometimes or never make (e.g., heart-healthy, vegan, Italian, kid-friendly). Then, the site creates weekly meal plans with recipes and grocery lists based on that information, and tells you if any of the necessary ingredients

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amber Kallor

I have a friend who religiously packs her Clarisonic face brush alongside her lantern, s'more supplies, and sleeping bag on camping trips. She may not have running water or a toilet, but she definitely has clean pores and smooth skin. It sounds a bit crazy, but who am I to judge? I have a poster hanging in room that says "I love not camping."

RELATED: 7 Common Hiking Mistakes to Avoid

In fact, the last time I spent the night in a tent I was seven, on a family trip in Yellowstone National Park, and I begged my father to take me to a hotel on day two. But for those of you who have plans to head to the great outdoors this weekend, these five beauty must-haves will help you feel a bit more pampered while you get in touch with Mother Nature.

RELATED: Give Yourself a Makeup Facelift

Just because you don't have cell phone reception doesn't mean you can't treat yourself to one of these beauty finds:

• I love La Fresh Eco-Beauty wipes not only because they have a towelette for

Photo: Getty ImagesBest Weekend Ritual
My boys [twins Henry and Nicholas, 13, and Sawyer, 10] and I curl up in bed and watch CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. The show does such great stories: the history of Peeps marshmallows, or a profile of Paula Hayes, an artist who creates spectacular terrariums. That episode inspired me to make one with my kids.

RELATED: Sign up for Oprah's Lifeclass!

Best Wardrobe Staple
I never go out during the day without sunglasses. I have a pair with ombré lenses that fade from purple to olive. And there's nothing like a bold piece of jewelry, like the charm-covered cuff bracelet I often wear. It was a gift from my mother-it means the world to me.

RELATED: 5 Easy Ways to Extend Your Summer Wardrobe into Fall

Best Memory
I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, where my parents raised German shepherds-we had about 30 dogs at any given time. I remember my dad relaxing on a giant tractor out in our fields as I played with all the puppies. I loved that.

Best Meal
I

Photo: ThinkstockBecause hiking isn't quite as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, we asked Mandy Pohja, a wilderness instructor with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), to give us the top mistakes that tend to trip people up.

RELATED: Sign up for Oprah's Lifeclass!

1. Choose the right path.

Pohja sees this time and again. Not only do newbies wander onto trails that are too tough, but people looking for an intense workout accidentally choose an easy amble, get bored and go back to the treadmill at the gym. Hiking trails are usually ranked by difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 and 2 presenting low risks of real danger. "In the third class, you might have to use your hands here and there to balance or scramble," says Pohja. "In the fourth class, you're using both hands to pull yourself up, and class 5 is basically rock climbing"-definitely not for beginners. Keep in mind, for a rough guide to your level of effort, you should add about two additional energy miles per every

Photo: Sara RemingtonBy Lynn Andriani

Pizza with Sausage and Whipped Cream
Nancy Silverton, co-owner of Osteria Mozza, Pizzeria Mozza and Mozza2Go in Los Angeles, was so in love with the sausage and cream pizza she discovered at an Umbrian restaurant that she asked the chef to show her how he made it. When she went back to the kitchen, she saw that the heavy cream had been whipped, so it was spreadable. This is her "number-one favorite" out of all the pizzas she serves, which appears in her new book, The Mozza Cookbook.

RELATED: Sign up for Oprah's Lifeclass!

Apples
Whether you pick your own or buy them at the greenmarket, apples are hitting their stride this month. September varieties include Gala, Paula Red, McIntosh, Ginger Gold, Honeycrisp, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Ultragold, Cortland, Jonalicious, Red Delicious and Jonagold. Find out what to do with these quintessential fall fruits--aside from eat them out of hand, that is--at OrangePippin.com, which catalogs more than 600 varietals, from Aceymac

By Leigh Newman

I have spent far too much time studying the cats in my house and wondering-deeply, for long, embarrassing periods of time-how I could possibly turn into one and spend the rest of my life napping in the pool of sunlight on the warm, beige carpet, not so that I don't have to go to work or don't have to fix the broken water purifier in the kitchen or don't have to beat myself up for not learning Spanish or even taking a self-improving pottery class....but so that I don't have to exercise again. It's not that I am lazy. I am tired. I am busy. Most of all, I am uninspired about slapping on some jiggle-enhancing Lycra pants and lugging myself over to the dreaded giant purple ball over which I am supposed drape myself and engage in stomach-firming crunches.

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Meanwhile, miles and miles away in Brooklyn, a 15-year-old boy is keeping busy watching a different kind of animal. Henry Lim, who, as the New York Times reported won a