Lifestyle

Silly shapes and silhouettes both satisfy and serve. Simply stated, they surprise and spur smiles as we set them to work. - Joy Deangdeelert Cho LifeStyle Joy Deangdeelert Cho is a Philadelphia textile and graphic designer. Visit her design blog, Oh Joy!, at www.ohjoy.blogs.com . Joy Deangdeelert Cho is a Philadelphia textile and graphic designer. Visit her design blog, Oh Joy!, at www.ohjoy.blogs.com .

Barbara Kleger first researched the issue of housing for older adults 10 years ago to "keep an eye on development" down the block from where she and her family live on Martin's Run Road in Broomall. Kleger, who was staying at home at the time to raise three children, said she wanted to ensure "the safety and preservation" of the neighborhood when developer Jerry Frishberg proposed to build the Martin's Run Life Care Community. She set out to learn about senior citizens housing.

Historians are not certain whether the holiday meal we eat today can be traced back to a harvest feast Pilgrims and Indians shared in 1621, let alone whether turkey was involved. "I find it doubtful," says Drew Isenberg, a Temple historian who specializes in American Indian history. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was an imagined-memory exercise. " Is it possible that the settlers and the natives actually sat down together at Plimoth Plantation? "Yeah," replies Susan Klepp, a professor of colonial history at Temple.

Meet the Matchbook Girl. She's a down-to-earth young woman who finds beauty in optimism and elegance in good manners. Meet Jane Lilly Warren, a Chester County resident and a cocreator of the digital lifestyle magazine that features that fictional everywoman. In the girl, the magazine, and its slogan, "Field Guide to a Charmed Life," reside Warren's past and, she hopes, her future. "A charmed life to me is doing what you love and being around the people you love and finding happiness," she says from the 18th-century mill house in East Pikeland Township that she calls home and office.

By no means do you think lacy, cleavage-baring lingerie when you step inside Mary Rhoads' home decor/lifestyle shop in Media. The Simon Pearce glassware is lovely, but not exactly sexy. The handmade floral-print matelasse tablecloths are certainly feminine, but . . . they're tablecloths. And yet this small-business venture - launched with unfortunate timing two years ago, when a good number of Americans seemed more focused on saving their homes than decorating them - is related to apparel of all types, insists Rhoads, a former Victoria's Secret sleepwear designer.

MIAMI - Michael Schwartz devotees know the names by heart, and they're almost all there: the crispy, sweet-and-sour pork belly with kimchi and crushed peanuts; the shrimp and chorizo pizza; the onions stuffed with ground lamb; the milk-chocolate cremoso with espresso parfait. Schwartz - the game-changing, Northeast Philly-raised chef who staked an early claim in Miami's Design District, who helped free South Florida cuisine from the ubiquitous mango, who last year won a James Beard Award and who is putting his notoriety to work on behalf of farmers, schoolchildren and inner-city food shoppers - has shared fan favorites in his first cookbook.

The Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit group nurtured, extravagantly funded and later plundered by former state Sen. Vince Fumo, will play a continuing role in South Philadelphia under a new name, the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC). Paul R. Levy, a conservator appointed by Commonwealth Court 13 months ago to oversee the organization, briefed reporters yesterday on a new structure and more limited role for the nonprofit. It will continue to own and manage 14 properties, using rental income and an endowment of about $2 million to fund sidewalk cleaning and related maintenance in the area bounded by Broad, McKean, Federal and 9th streets.

LIKE MILLIONS of Americans, you have probably made your annual New Year's resolutions, which likely include better eating habits, weight loss and a desire for improved health. Unfortunately, 98 percent of you will fail to stick with those resolutions past a few weeks, at best. So, this year, I am proposing that we make resolutions we can actually achieve - and live with forever. First, embrace yourself and don't diet. Give up this whole notion of deprivation, cutting out carbs, cutting out fat, cutting protein, fruits or whatever your crazy diet plan recommends.

As temperatures drop, home decor turns wild and woolly. - Caroline Tiger Antler hang-ups The Erich Ginder Ghost Antler Coat Rack ($230) finds the great stag to be of great use. Available at designpublic.com. Show your stripes No animals were harmed in the making of Jonathan Adler's hand-loomed llama's wool Zebra Rug ($995). Available at jonathanadler.com. Positively prehistoric Sink into Jason Miller's Woolly Chair (price upon request) whose wool-felt structure is covered with a comfy bison hide.