It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Since the last Bits & Pieces, I mean.

And that’s always the way, isn’t it.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten the acknowledgement apologies out of the way, here are some things I’m recommending for your summer fun:

Lost In Suburbia

Lost In Suburbia is Tracy Beckerman’s “momoir,” subtitled “How I Got Pregnant, Lost Myself, and Got My Cool Back in the New Jersey Suburbs“. It is funny beyond words. Really.

Actually, the focus on motherhood is a tad too narrow I think. I read this book not as a mom, but as a midlife woman, and trust me, it fits. When she talks about “sliding down the uncool abyss,” I sighed in recognition.

Tracy spent a month or so traveling the country as the headliner of the Cool Mom Book and Blow Dry Bar Tour. I got to go to the LA version which was held at Blow Angels where we all–including those of us with short hair–had blow outs like the big girls. And we ate, drank, made merry and went home with a goody bag that included

• a two week sample kit of Theraderm, which is a clinical-grade skin care that focuses on the visible signs of aging
• a pillow case from Living Fresh Collection, which features eucalyptus linens for a cleaner, healthier and more luxurious sleep experience
• and cookies from Love Bites, which bills itself as a “brand-new, teeny-tiny mom bakery” specializing in hand-made, fair-trade, organic cookies and other treats

My friend Tania Reuben of Pure Natural Diva Botanical Perfumes was also there, offering sample spritzes, but that’s a post unto itself coming soon.

Salada Wellness Green Tea

I would like to find the drinking of tea romantic. The images I get when I think of the romance of tea, are Henry Jamesian: ruffled cuffs, the pour from a porcelain tea pot into a bone china cup and saucer, slices of lemon, perhaps a cube or two of sugar, all stirred in the most delicate manner and then sipped gently, quietly. In reality, the drinking of tea in England has nothing to do with Henry James, who was after all an American. Rather, tea in England is bracing. It’s a cuppa to make life right when things have gone wrong or to warm you on a cold rainy night.

However, I’m in America now and our tea is–varied. Green, black, red, herb, flavored…tea is another one of those products that seems to offer endless opportunities for flavor pairing. Red Rose Tea and Salada Tea recently sent me a selection of Salada’s Wellness Green Teas to review. I chose

• Metabolism: a blend of green tea, peppermint, dandelion root, artichoke leaves, green tea extract, nettle and natural apricot flavor
• Digestive Support: a blend of decaf green tea, natural apple flavor, lemongrass, peppermint, inulin, natural honey flavor, ginger and fennel
• Brain Boost: a blend of green tea, ginkgo biloba, rosemary, natural lemon flavor, lemongrass, gotu kola, green tea extract and siberian ginseng

In honor of June being National Iced Tea Month, I tried each of them iced. My favorite was the Metabolism, because of the apricot flavor. As to the effectiveness of any of the three on my body and mind–I’m not sure. As a friend of mine used to say (hear this in a crabby Jewish man’s accent): “It might not help, but it might not hurt either….”

Dear FTC and honored readers: I was given each of the products talked about in this post for the purposes of reviewing them.