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Summers at HI-Rampart Creek are all about unspoiled wilderness, easy hikes out the back door to canyon waterfalls or clifftop vistas and seeing grizzly bears wander about the forested areas that surround our hostel. Winter is about the sounds of jingling of caribiners and ice screws and stories of victory and defeat as ice climbers from around the world come in from, or go out to, some of the 150 ice climbs within 30 minutes drive. This concentration of ice is unparalleled in Canada and quite possibly the world.
Whether you're in the area in summer or winter, get on up to Rampart and check out what the locals have been trying to hide for years!
Our hostel is 'Off-the-Grid' means that the hostel is very simple by nature; No Phone, No Electricity, No Running Water (No Showers or flush toilets) Outhouse toilets are available. You won't be watching rerun episodes of Seinfeld in a TV room - you'll need to hang around the campfire, enjoy the sauna and check out some of the hiking, skiing or snowshoeing in the area.
NOTE - Due to the wilderness location, accessibility for the physically disabled is challenging (call for further details) Credit Card needed when making reservations. Due to lack of direct/reliable communication with the Wildereness Hostels the Central Reservation Office is not able to make same day arrival reservations - walk in basis only. 48 hours individual cancellation - at all wilderness hostels. Book ahead to avoid any disapointment. As these smaller hostels are very popular both winter and summer.
RATES QUOTE FOR MEMBERS OF HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL. All non members will be charged an additional fee when they arrive at the Hostel.
CHECK IN - 5PM TO 10PM
*This hostel is closed during the day!
CHECK OUT - prior to 10am
48 HOUR CANCELLATION REQUIRED!
A word on HI-Wilderness Hostels
Get back to nature with HI's network of wilderness hostels. They're a varied bunch! Some have lights powered by propane, some have rustic wood-burning saunas, at some you'll get electricity, and at others you'll get to pump your own water. But whatever you're after, these hostels with their simple comforts immerse you in the natural splendour of the Rockies.
You'll be able to savour true silence, night skies bursting with stars and the knowledge that some of the world's most magnificent outdoors is, really, just out the door. Dotted along the Icefields Parkway, ad throughout the Parks, these hostels are set into pockets of trees, alongside creeks, or at the base of thousand-foot-high rock faces. Whether you get there by car, bike or on food, your efforts are rewarded with some of the finer, simpler things in life - a warm fire, cozy lounges, and the chance to share food with new friends while you relive the day's adventures.
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Hostel Facilities & Policies
- Breakfast not included
- Common Room
- Free Parking
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 2 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
We are located at : Highway 93
Bus Directions: 95 km north of Lake Louise and 34 km south of the Columbia Icefield Centre on Hwy. 93. |
MORE than ever, every one of us needs a vacation.
There seems no immediate relief from the litany of daily anxieties, macro and micro, that conspires to keep us eternally jittery -- wars, gas prices, bad coffee. Yet I have found a temporary solution: heat. Really intense, desert heat. Call it nature's tranquilizer.
Nobody, not even Type Triple-A personalities, can resist the angst-taming powers of pina-colada sipping in 108-degree shade. I speak from experience.
While others were paying top dollar to flee to cool lakes and oceans, I packed up my son, Eli, and six kinds of sunscreen and headed to the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Villas & Spa in the desert community of Indian Wells, about 15 miles east of Palm Springs. Why? Weekend rates dropped to $149 a night this summer ($182.66 including taxes and resort fees) and even lower with some packages or weekday rates.
By most standards, that's a bargain for a nicely appointed, recently renovated 550-square-foot room that comes with two queen beds, a sitting area, a mini-bar, separate refrigerator, double closet, powerful air conditioning and an enormous bathroom with a tub and glass-walled, marble shower.
Those rates and features lured hundreds of groups and individual guests to the 530-room hotel on an early August weekend. I signed up for the Summer Splash package, which granted 25% discounts at the property's five restaurants, bars and cafes, and services at its Aqua Serena Spa & Salon, and a free day of Camp Hyatt for kids 3 to 12 with each paid day.
Faster than you can say "It's Mommy Time," Eli, 9, was happily braiding lanyards and commanding the pool slide at Camp Hyatt while I checked out the 45-acre property. It was hard to know where to begin.
The $18 daily resort fee covers facilities including three tennis courts, access to the spa's steam room, sauna, locker room and beauty salon, the 24-hour fitness center's exercise equipment and classes, and outdoor games such as croquet and table tennis. The fee also allows all-day use of newish cruiser bicycles in a range of frame sizes.
The resort features seven pools, including several small kiddie ponds, and Oasis, a separate, large, grown-ups-only pool with 16 high-tech cabanas (TVs, fans, Internet), deeply padded lounge chairs, scores of umbrellas and its own bar. Some guests were miffed that on Sundays the Oasis becomes a loud party scene, when, for an admission fee, locals can hear a DJ, see fashion shows, get poolside massages, drink, mingle and, mostly, ogle.
During most days and nights, half of California seemed camped along the various pools, where the heat is noticeable only when you walk barefoot on the sun-hot concrete. Kids pop up in the six clustered pools like gophers escaping Bill Murray, which makes for great entertainment, except for the parents trying to track them.
Avoiding sunburn and flab, I headed to the well-equipped gym, where hotel guests and Indian Wells residents (who are granted free access) occupied every treadmill and cardio device. The free fitness classes attracted not just buff athletes but also those who, what the heck, were just giving exercise another shot.
After a workout, guests can cross the lobby to the adjacent 30,000-square-foot Aqua Serena Spa, where a sauna, steam room and lovely outdoor whirlpool melt muscles and stress. And, pssst -- a little secret: The Medical and Skin Spa, within Aqua Serena, has a separate entrance and waiting area, so you're unlikely to see your friends and neighbors when you come for Botox, injectable fillers and laser treatments.
It was at the spa that I accepted the wisdom of coming to the desert in the peak heat of summer: Though it has 18 treatment rooms and 94 lockers, the spa was practically empty -- unheard of on a Saturday morning at most hotels. Similarly, the hotel restaurants were half-empty, which can bring out the optimist in the crowd-averse. And even though the pools were busy, they still had plenty of vacant lounge chairs and waiters.
Unfortunately, service sometimes sputters, but when waiters, valets or pool attendants arrive drenched in sweat, you kind of want to give them a break: They're hustling. When it's 108 outside, my demands reduce to a steady supply of ice water -- and the pool area has several ice machines.
Despite the heat, golfers hit the links at the adjacent Indian Wells Golf Resort, the city-owned facility that has received a two-year, $80-million renovation, including $35 million in clubhouse redesigns that debuted this month. Through Oct. 5, golfers will be able to play one of two redesigned 18-hole courses for as little as $45 -- rates that encourage weed whackers like me to give the game another try. (From Oct. 5 to Dec. 25, hotel guests pay $70 to $135 to play.)
My expert golfer friends flock to the course's well-regarded Callaway Golf Performance Center, where they can try new equipment, get swings analyzed and clubs custom-fitted to maximize performance. |
Only in the Midwest will you find such an unexpected diamond in the rough. High above the Mississippi, tucked nicely in the hills near historic Galena, Chestnut Mountain is a premier Illinois resort that offers nineteen trails & a 7 acre terrain park "The Farside" featuring over 25 rails & features. Chestnut span over 220 rolling acres with a total vertical drop of 475 feet. Midwesterners love their elbow room and Chestnut Mountain is no exception. Thanks to two quads, four triple chair lifts, and three surface lifts, lines are virtually non-existent.
When darkness falls, great skiing and awesome views continue outside. But that's also just about the time things get exciting inside. Chestnut Mountain has 100 slopeside rooms in close proximity to an indoor pool, sauna and jacuzzi. The Sunset Grille restaurant serves up fine dining favorites and The Summit Food & Spirits offers the area's finest contemporary cuisine with a modern flair. The Summit serves an array of handcrafted beers & wines and is a great place to catch any game on one of it's 12 TVs. If you are just looking for a quick bite to eat. Stop by our Mountain Top Cafe which is conveniently located just off the bunny slope.
During summertime there is no shortage of activities for the young or young at heart. Ride the Alpine Slide or cruise the river on a Mississippi Explorer Cruise. Bike or hike trails showcasing our area's unique geologic beauty. Or test your short game on our 18-hole mini golf course. Whatever it is you want to do on a mountain, chances are you can do it here.
Chestnut Mountain has all the amenities you've come to expect in a resort destination, yet it's midwestern roots and small town charm always keeps folks coming back for more.
Hours Of Operation:
Closed For The Season!
Just the Facts
- Consistently rated as one of the top ten ski resorts in
the Midwest by Ski Magazine
- Beginner: 26%, Intermediate: 47%, Advanced: 21%, Freestyle: 6%
- Lift Capacity: over 10,000 skiers per hour
- Average Base Depth: 25-62 inches
- Longest Descent: 3,500 feet
- The 7-acre Farside Terrain Park features half-pipes, quarter pipes, table tops and over 25 rails.
No personal information gathered will be sold or given to any third parties other than for verification of billing and credit card processing.
CHESTNUT MOUNTAIN RESORT
8700 West Chestnut Road
P.O. Box 6328
Galena, Illinois 61036
Resort Information: (800) 798-0098
Reservations: (800) 397-1320
Ski Conditions: (800) 798-0098
Business: (815) 777-1320
9 a.m.-9 p.m. – Sunday-Thursday
9 a.m.-10 p.m. – Friday & Saturday
9 a.m.-Midnight – Every Friday |
VRBO is part of the HomeAway family, the world leader in vacation rentals with over 1 million listings. We offer the largest selection of properties for any travel occasion and every budget. We’re committed to helping families and friends find a perfect vacation rental to create unforgettable travel experiences together. Learn More
Your very own 3,500 sq. foot updated country farmhouse with 3 wood burning fireplaces, set in a park like setting overlooking the Mountains of Southern Vermont.
We are located just 9 miles from Mt. Snow, 15 minutes to Brattleboro ( named by Smithsonian Magazine's 5/12 issue as one of the 20 Best Small Towns in America), minutes away from rte 100 scenic drives and so much more.
The house is furnished tastefully- without stuffiness and with comfort- and is perfect for week long vacations, weekend get aways, writer's retreats, family gatherings, friend's get togethers, small weddings and holiday celebrations. Our home is perfect for 6-8 people in the 4 bedrooms ( 3 double beds and 1 king size bed) .
There is plenty of privacy and space to gather together. With 3 bathrooms and 1 all cedar sauna- there is room to relax or get ready to go out.
Shoot a game of pool..rest on a picnic blanket in the country air...lose yourself in a good book on the screened in porch....enjoy a quiet sunrise out the kitchen windows....step into your cozy bathrobe....drink wine and enjoy the fireplaces or gas stoves....cook...laugh...dim the lights....get a peaceful night's sleep. dream. rest.
If you enjoy life's small luxuries, nature and privacy- our home is for you.
What says summer more than an outside firepit ?Roast marshmallows and make smores until late into the night while looking for constellations and watching for fireflies.
Kindly treat our lovely home as you would your own. Relax and enjoy. Please smoke only outside the house. Thanks so much!...moreless
100% refund if canceled at least 30 days before arrival date.
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There is a small but upscale market at the bottom of our hill for provisions, beer, wine and deli items. Route 100- one of the most romantic and scenic drives in the NorthEast- is located about 3 miles from our home.
Brattleboro is about 15 minutes away and Wilmington and Mount Snow is about 8-9 miles away. Close enough to get to everything but enough distance to get away for peace and privacy.
Year Purchased: 2011
About the owner: Hi! My husband, Kyle, and I love being in Vermont with our 2 children. We travel a lot and really make it a priority to show our kids the world. We decided to welcome guests to our home to share our corner of Vermont with other people. We also love when people feel at home and welcome in our space. Taking care of the details in a home that make people feel special and pampered with life's little luxuries...bring us great satisfaction.
We look forward to your visit.
Why the Owner Chose Marlboro: Vermont is wonderful each season of the year. The brisk and crisp autumn air combined with stunning views of fall foilage make this time of year a traveller's favorite. Make sure to visit a local farm for apple picking, pumpkins, homemade pie and cider.
Winter brings skiing, sledding, and ice skating fun. Come enjoy having a fire in the firepit and toast marshmallows. Then warm up in the sauna. yum!
Spring shows all the fresh greens that the surrounding hills offer. Big skies. bright stars. nice walks. come and enjoy welcoming the new season.
Summer is time for the Marlboro Music Festival. weddings. Strolling of the Heiffers in Brattleboro. art festivals. swimming. country fairs. river streams. hikes in the mountains. summer at its best!
The Unique Benefits at this Farmhouse: This home has good bones. lots of history and great spaces. The pool room used to be an old barn which was moved and joined years earlier and now makes a wonderful cozy room for playing games, playing darts or pool and gathering around the wood stove.
Our home is spacious and comfortable. When you wake up in the morning- you can appreciate the sound of silence which surrounds you. You can enjoy complete privacy in the middle of the mountains of Vermont.
The kitchen has updated appliances and great places for cooking or pouring a drink and cheering on the cook. The dining room and living room are terrific spots to get together.
The house always has a full array of spices, oils, and other cooking necessitites. Plenty of linens and towels and other things that you might have forgotten to pack. It truly feels like a home. |
A Goldman Sachs guy quits to open a bathhouse in New Jersey, but he’s no Greg Smith
It was windy and cloudy on the weekend of the big Russian-bath opening back in February, with small flurries coming down over Central New Jersey.
"This is perfect banya weather," said Peter Kizenko, as he prepared to receive the first guests at his new Russian-style facility.
The story of Kizenko, 45, is a bit of a novelty, which explains some of the national and international attention that has attended his new venture. He worked in finance, mostly in Russia, and eventually became Goldman Sachs’ chief equity trader in their Moscow offices.
Then he left to open Bear and Birch, a traditional Russian spa in Freehold, New Jersey, with some of the money he made, and invited the media to cover it.
Kizenko's explanation for his unusual career decision boils down to: It wasn't fun anymore.
"The trading has just changed so much over the last six months, with electronic trading and robots," he said. "The business has changed."
Among the changes, as he mentioned in an interview before the opening, were new technologies that inhibited human discretion and more restrictive compensation rules.
“Sometimes years in Moscow can be like dog years,” he said. “It’s a pretty fast-paced environment, especially since 1993.”
Kizenko isn't exactly an angry rebel. In a recent follow-up conversation, when the banya had been up and running for a couple of months, and shortly after a the sensational publication of a resignation letter in the New York Times from ex-Goldmanite Greg Smith, Kizenko told me he didn't actually have anything against the company, or the industry.
Referring to Smith, he said, "He went through the same situation everyone went through. No one got paid, and he got upset and he turned and wrote a letter about it. It's as simple as that. Nothing has changed, you know. He was disappointed. Nobody got paid in this industry in the last couple of years ... I loved working at Goldman Sachs. It's a great group of people."
And notwithstanding his own, much-publicized transition from Goldman Sachs into the bathhouse business, Kizenko has become a new partner in a high-frequency trading venture in Miami, which will entail shuttling from Florida to New Jersey.
Kizenko, who lives in Jackson Township, said that once the banya gets off the ground, he’ll hand off a lot of control to other partners, giving him time for other work, and maybe for expansion of the banya business into other cities.
He said that many of the customers for the location come from Monmouth County’s growing Russian population, who are frequently transplants from Brooklyn and Staten Island and now live in towns like Marlboro and Manalapan, where Russian supermarkets and restaurants have sprung up.
Over the last month-and-a-half, Kizenko told me, about 60 to 80 people had been showing up daily, each paying $30 during the day or $50 at night.
"We're trying to get some more locals, Yankees, so to speak, into the place," he said.
The location isn't quite central to anything; the facility sits among warehouses and old factories, a branch office of the Internal Revenue Service and a substance-abuse treatment center. Through some of the banya’s large windows, customers can see a water tower above a printing plant for Gannett-owned newspapers like the Asbury Park Press.
It was simply a lot cheaper to open there than it would been in New York, Kizenko explained.
Still, there's nothing gritty about the facility itself. In a traditional banya, things are delibrately kept primitive: People sweat in a sauna, often while getting massaged or hit with branches to increase circulation. They then jump in snow or cold water.
Bear and Birch is closer to one of those exurban Jersey mansions.
There are fireplaces and TVs, and there's been talk of opening an on-site microbrewery, if Kizenko gets a liquor license. (Local liquor licenses start at $1.3 million.)
In the meantime, guests bring their own alcohol, which they put into glass decanters with Bear and Birch-branded labels.
Nadia Kizenko, Peter’s sister and an associate professory of history at SUNY Albany, said she initially couldn’t understand why he would open a banya in New Jersey.
“And now I’m thinking, this is actually what New Jersey needs, because it’s slick, it’s new, its nice enough with Russians with money to go,” she said.
“Because a lot of the time when people think of Russia, they think of the east, but I think when we think of Russia, we need to think of the north, like Scandinvians. Because that’s basically who settled Russia, vikings looking for trade routes to Byzantium. So this is getting back in touch with the north.”
Referring to the considerably older facilities still operating in the East Village, where she lives with her husband, she said, "It sure ain't the 10th Street baths." |
Need a bit of a break? Looking to book a short stay somewhere? Forget hotels - take a short break in a holiday home that suits your needs.
Many of the private properties listed on holidaylettings.co.uk are available out of season - or throughout the year for short breaks. Whether you are looking for a long weekend in a vibrant European city, or a couple of days peace and quiet in the countryside there are thousands of cottages, apartments and homes to choose from.
Select a country from the list below then browse through the properties on offer. Set up your own shortlist to can track of the properties you like the look of, then simply contact the owners to make a booking. It couldn't be simpler!
Townhouse in Joyas del Duque. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, American style kitchen with all the appliances, large living room, garage, swimming pool, common garden. For using of jacuzzi the additional payment is needed (100 euros per week) …see more
Beautiful townhouse in a luxury urbanisation in the heart of Puerto Banus, Marbella. TOP RANGE BEDS (carpe diem), AC, WI-FI, BBQ, PLAYSTATION, APPLE TV, SMART TV, CHILDRENS CASTLE, PRIVATE GARDEN etc etc …see more
Townhouse in Rio Real, Marbella for rent. Located right on the Rio Real golf course and still very close to Marbella´s old town and beaches. Sleeps 6 persons, prices per week from 500 euros in low season to 1000 euros in high season. …see more
Visiting London with your family, or a group of friends? If you prefer the comfort and freedom of self-catering accommodation, this contemporary three-bedroomed town house near central London could be just what you're looking for. …see more
SPECIAL PRICE April-May'2015!!!___ 770 Euro/week for 6 adult_______BASIC PRICE: EURO 910/WEEK FOR 6 PEOPLE - should you wish to accommodate up to 16 guests , there is the option with additional cost for 20 EUR/adult/night and 15 Euro/children between 3-12/ night. The apartment is in a very calm and quiet location, a few minutes' walk from the Commercial Center Gran Sur …see more
Close to town
Close to beach
Close to shops
Plenty to do
Conil de la Frontera
Costa de la Luz
No one ever visits Conil de la Frontera without promising to come back again! …see more
Driftwood overlooks the Medway and is close to many places of both historic and recreational interest, there is off road parking and 2 TV's. The Dickensian Christmas Fair, the Sweeps and Fuse Festivals, the famous Castle Garden concerts are annual events in
Close to London and Canterbury (within an hour) and the Hoo Peninsula an area ideal for walking. …see more
located 300 meters away (walking distance) from the most beautiful beach on the island, Eagle Beach. Just 5 minutes away (by car) from the hotel zone with lots of restaurants, night life, casinos, clubs, and shoppings. and 10 minutes away from Downtown …see more
Lakefront historical townhouse in the bay of Gravedona; newly refurbished.
Unique and peaceful location close to all amenities, incl. swimming pools and tennis courts
Large terraces with breathtaking views of Lake Como and its mountains. Ideal for a large family or 3/4 couples who aspire to a high standard of living. …see more
Recently refurbished has off street private parking wifi internet access fridge freezer, washing machine, microwave, bath & hand towels, egyptian cotton bed linen, pillows and quilts. 42" TV with HD free view, Blueray player Ideal for Couples business people & families. …see more
Spacious modern townhouse overlooking the beautiful Sao Martinho bay. Accommodation over 3 storeys, 2 front sun trap balconies, rear patio with barbecue, shared (seasonal) pool. Easy parking in quiet cul d sac, few minutes walk to the beach, restaurants and shops All amenities within easy walking distance so put your car keys away for a truly relaxing holiday in the sun …see more
A luxury, ocean view, modern 4 bedroom house close to all amenities fitted to a high standard for your enjoyment. Golfers, young at heart, families and active adults will find lots to do. Good restaurants 6 mins walk,5 mins drive to golf course/4 beaches,shops/supermarkets, tourist information. …see more
Stunning traditional townhouse,minutes from all Ayrshire attractions.Large master bedroom
with open log fire-place, very romantic.3 more double bedrooms 1 with en-suite .
Large family bathroom with large walk-in shower.Huge character lounge with log fire.
Mezzanine Zoe is a two-floor townhouse located in a peaceful residential Maltese neighborhood in the heart of Valletta. It has many original features such as a traditional Maltese balcony, beautiful, wide stone walls, wooden beams, patterned tiles ... …see more
Our spacious townhouse in the small village of Sao Bernadino boast 3 beds ,3 bathroom , 2 balconies, with a communal swimming pool and play area for kids. 8 minutes from the local beach and restaurants and 10 minute drive from the beautiful village of Peniche . In the lounge we have a 42inch tv with satellite,Full size table Tennis Table in Garage …see more
Our home is on the Regal Palms Resort which has fantastic amenities:
Kids Play Area
Bar & Restaurant
All included for just $11.95 per home per night (payable locally on arrival) The ground floor double bedroom & en suite bathroom has a separate entrance & could be a self contained unit …see more
Nestled in Aberdeen's premier location, Friarsfield Mews is set in an elegant arch around an expansive crescent of informal gardens. Designed in a contemporary style, with high quality furniture, fittings and bedlinen.
A beautiful light and airy 3 bedroom house, within walking distance of the seafront, town centre and station, ideal for families, friends and couples on a romantic break. A home away from home.
Spacious beautiful home with large pool. Sunny upper terrace with ocean and country views. Take a scenic 5-minute walk to the beach at this charming lively village dotted with beachside cafés, restaurants and bars. Perfect for walks. Free 10 hours of Wifi (then top-up). Lush palm trees in the front yard, a sparkling blue pool and white pillars give Villa Oasis an exotic touch. …see more
This very spacious house has all the amenities you need for a great holiday. Idyllically placed, with breathtaking views of the Pyrenees made all the more special by the South of France sunshine, this house offers a cheap bargain break that accommodates everybody. …see more
Tucked away from the busy waterfront where all the pubs, bars, restaurants, ferries, public transport etc is found. Modern and stylish boutique home full of charm and character. Suitable for holiday, business, or just a stopover. …see more
Lovely 4 Bed 3 Bath Townhome on the popular faimly resort of Regal Palms
privately owned and furnished to a high standard, we want you to enjoy our home and have fun with all the resort has to offer …see more
31 Seaside Residence is in a beautiful location. This corner house has a lovely rear garden, stunning sea and mountain views. 50 metres to the beach in a small complex with 3 communal swimming pools & children pool.
New for 2014 Free unlimited wi fi this is our own personal wi fi and LG smart TV 42 inch! …see more
Overlooking the central pool feature, Koh Samui's largest private pool, with contemporary Thai furnishings, this very comfortable and stylish two double bed en suite villa is the ideal home in Choeng Mon, with an easy walk to the beach. Self catering holiday rental Samui- the tropical island where it is always summer!
The location cannot be bettered. …see more
Townhouse Twenty ........ Luxurious , Romantic, and Tranquil for an unforgettable holiday in the Heart of Malta!!! Ideal for those looking for peace and quiet, yet being at the very center of Maltese village life!! …see more
Luxurious townhouse + unique courtyard situated in prime location in the heart of the historic old town.
This charming house is lovingly renovated and tastefully decorated to the very highest standards. Designer kitchen. Air conditioning, and heating throughout.
Tasteful, relaxing and comfortable our townhouse will delight and spoil you. Fully registered
Unique luxuriously appointed townhouse with sauna within walking distance of central Oxford and the Cowley road area. Many highlights of Oxford on the doorstep. Children welcome. Flexible sleeping quarters. Privately accessible studio basement living area. Each sleeping quarter has its own ensuite bathroom. There is also a guest toilet off the family room. …see more
A beautiful spacious Georgian Town House dating back to the mid 1400s in the centre of Alcester's conservation area. With inglenook fireplaces, elegant furnishings, beamed ceilings and wooden flooring throughout.long walled gardens with safe parking for 12 cars.
10 beautiful individual bedrooms large lounge, large sitting room, restaurants, pubs, cafes within 50 Mts. …see more
Townhouse in a gated community 5 minutes from Disney World "Club House" "Cinema" "Park" "BBQ Area" "Tennis Court" " Large Swimming Pool with Water Slide" splash pool for children in the garden. Flat screen TV, wi-fi, free calls.
We offer very low prices. …see more
This well equipped townhouse is situated at Regal Oaks, a fully managed resort, 3 miles from Disney. Ideal for families or groups of up to 10 people. The house has 4 bedrooms, two with en-suite facilities with a further two twin rooms that share a full bathroom. This well equipped lakeside townhouse is situated only 3 miles from Disney. …see more
This property is the ideal place from which to enjoy everything Javea has to offer - A spacious 3 bedroom town house in a seaside location: Comprising Lounge, Diner, Kitchen, WC and 2 Terraces, 1 Twin, 2 Double bedrooms 3 bathrooms.
5 bedroom, 4-bath luxury townhouse located in central St Andrews. 5 mins walk to the Old Course, beaches, historical sites and the charming shops, cinema, bars and restaurants of the town. Ideal base for families or groups of golfers. Large enclosed garden. Pets welcome …see more
Fantastic 3 bedroom townhouse, Saint James, Barbados. Only a few minutes' walk to one of Barbados' most beautiful crystal clear beaches. Private complex of only 4 houses sharing a fantastic large communal pool. Close to Holetown and all amenities.
ONLY 250 METRES FROM THE BEACH …see more
Charming 300 year old townhouse. Great location, rated 'Five Star Gold', lounge, fully equipped kitchen/diner, four bedrooms, modern bathrooms, beautifully furnished,free WiFi, free Netflix, original artworks, central heating, courtyard garden and off site parking. In a nutshell - by York Minster, historic, comfortable, relaxed, stylish, serene, atmospheric and unique. …see more
Contemporary & Spacious townhouse with estuary views. This 5 Star luxury rated property has private parking and is a 5 min flat walk to the centre of Dartmouth. Angelwood is furnished to a high standard and is located near to several blue flag beaches. …see more
Serenity is conveniently located near Disney, golf, shopping, restaurants and a short drive from Universal Studios, Sea World and Lake Louisa State Park. Luxurious and modern 3 bed 3 bath home with splash pool across the street from the club house and community pool.
As well as the close proximity to Orlando you can easily drive to numerous State Parks and the Gulf Coast. …see more
This property is located on one of the highest points of the resort, offering panoramic views across the golf course onto the mountain ranges beyond. Tennis rackets, golf clubs and a travel cot are available for use within the property. DVDs & a playstation free to use. Both bedrooms offer 2 single beds, or these can be bolted & zipped together to offer 2 superking size beds …see more
Located in Bath Somerset available for group bookings of up to 22 guests.
close to Bath city centre
1 minute walk to local shops 100m from amenities at Chelsea Rd. ( Baker, supermarket, restaurants, boutique shops ...) …see more
Luxurious 2 bedroom townhouse on La Cala Golf Resort. The fully air-conditioned front-line property benefits from beautiful views over the golf course and out to sea from its two terraces and garden. …see more
Luxury 5 star self catering cottage set in the World Heritage Ironbridge Gorge site. Overlooking the Iron Bridge & river. Set in a small courtyard. Perfect place to relax or take the opportunity for fascinating days out. Country walks, shops restaurants & pubs nearby.
Beautifully furbished, cosy & well equipped. Excellent views. Free WI FI. Perfect for a romantic break. …see more
If you like socialising, exploring sporting events, theatre, dining out, cinema , shopping, water sports, luxury, relaxing and happy times, then this is the place for you. Fabulous! Very well received property.
.****Book in December 2014 for 2015 and save £500!!***
Dates for 2015 are filling up and to celebrate the festive season we are offering £500 off a weekend at Hillside - the perfect luxury Hen Party Accommodation in Edinburgh's City Centre!
A stylish modern town house with it's own garage parking in a quiet street but just a few minutes level walk to the town centre and river. Perfect for romantic getaways or small families at any time of the year. Newly equipped & furnished to a high standard. 2 bedrooms with king size bed & two singles. Free wifi & internet. Well equipped kitchen and washing machine …see more
Beautifully decorated Victorian house in the cosmopolitan and vibrant Lisburn Road area. The house is close to Queens University, Botanic Gardens and Ulster Museum and is a short walk to the city centre and nightlife of Dublin Road and Botanic Ave. |
Estambul, Turquía— Miembros de un grupo izquierdista ilegalizado tomaron como…
Nothing more dividing in a relationship. God made us all in one there is no colors he love us all the same.
José Laboy I don’t know much about North Korea, but all I can say is this world need to pray more and stay together keep our eyes and ears open. In the futuer we don’t know what is coming our way.
Brian Brown I think North Korea might start a nuclear war with us. The world have been in peace for so long we don’t need to be bother with that!! God love us all.
Yancy Greer I think about North Korea and their threats, I think the president is a power stricken jerk. Who lets his insecurities about his power over North Korea get the best of him.
Chasity Smith I feel that if he wants to bomb us then it would’ve already happened. My guess is that he is scared of retaliation. Those who threaten and never do should not in my opinion be take’n seriously.
José Galarza Show them true love. I mean spend time with them open their eyes to new things in life. Show that people on the street don’t care about anything but themselves. Explain to them what you been through on the streets.
Junior DeJesus I come from a wonderful family and I see how many kids don’t have love from their family. I decide to help kids about life, Church and continue to work with them and spend time.
Tiodado Dela Garza III I love working with kids especially the ones in the street. I want to open up a forum so they can express their ideas and opinion.
Coach Boyd Keeping youth very involved in the things they like to do outside the home. Various sporting events and field trips to meet others throughout the state helps them to develop some goals as to what they want to do or become in life.
Marcus Houston: My winter getaway would be on the beach of Miami, FL with my kids.
Sharon Garcia: My winter getaway is staying in a hotel that has sauna, whirlpool and swimming pool to relax and clear my head along with a massage.
Brianna Williams: Our winter getaway is in the comfort of our home. When we have a snow storm we close the blinds put in a good movie and drink hot coco together as family.
Whitney Hall: I would love to take my parents and sister to Wisconsin Dells, because its the most relaxing place in Wisconsin. My parents work so hard and I would love to give them this great getaway.
Larry Holloway Steroids should be illegal. It should only be distributed to patients with a rare or specific need This isn’t about medicine, this topic is mainly about unregulated, unsupervised abuse of a synthetic drug for the purpose of maximum muscle development and performance enhancement.
Valentín V. García Ya era tiempo que los políticos le entraran al “toro por los cuernos”, porque desde hace mucho tiempo debieron tomar muy en serio el tema migratorio. Hay mucha gente inmigrante que está trabajando honradamente y esa es la que deben resolverles sus problemas de migración…y VIVA MEXICO.
Joel Valdez Creo que el Presidente Obama esta haciendo su trabajo que nos da el derecho sobre todo a la familia que a trabajado tan duro y tan fuerte para nustra familias y que darnos con nustra familiades y quedanos en enesta ciudad. Siento que el nos ha dado la oportunidad de convertinos en ciudadanos.
Armando Valdez I Just make it easier cuz there are people out there that come over here to make a better life and actually help society. Than they’re people get sent back and you have the opposite people who are here not helping and don’t get sent back. The process is just to long and ruining families wit little ones and keeping them apart!
Nate Lopez I believe that everyone that comes in illegally should get their citizenship. If they want to be here then they have the title of being a US citizen. What’s the use of knowing US history, why does it matter that they know that George Washington chopped down the a cherry tree or knowing how many Stars and Stripes are on the US flag.
Carlos Balderas My opinion is that women had done it to me cheating and being disrespectful. If the relationship is toxic leave them along. It’s important to have peace in your life than to be with someone that you can’t trust. Too many cheaters out there.
Nancie Villejas That is why God made two in one. It’s call marriage. It’s so sad that when you put all the love and time to have a family and this person goes out and cheat. That is the devil who always try to destroy our families. This is not about God.
Gabriela Moravec It’s so scary because my parent are very lovable and we are blessed. I would die if one of my parent would do any cheating. I see how my mother gives all the love that she put in this family same as my dad. I hate that word cheating! Beacuse one day I will be married and I want to trust that man.
Jahkeel Robinson I do not want the safety of my family to be reliant on forces I cannot control. Carrying a weapon allows me to protect my family or the people around me if police enforcements cannot get to me in time. It is better to have a gun and not need it, then to need a gun and not have it.
Daniel Saldaña I feel I would be safer carrying a weapon because, now days a lot of people threaten people for money and other things and they might pull out a weapon and if that happened you could pull out your own
weapon for self defense.
Sylvia Moravec The newborns saftey should be the number one concern. It’s always safer for the baby to sleep in a crib than with you in the bed. I also believe that if a baby dies because of co-sleeping this type of carelessness should bring hefty criminal charges.
Lupita Fonseca I think that newborns shouldn’t sleep with their mother because of the accidents that have happened to the babies! Mostly all cases babies been killed by their mother by accident, so I think all mothers should listen and put them in their crib for the better of them.
Luis R. Cotto: ¡Yo si! Soporto porgue yo ha trabajado toda mi vida, y pago mis taxes. Yo no veo ninguna cosa que se a echo. Pero si cortano no pagar presupuesto que espero que sea para lo mejor de Milwaukee.
Javier Marcias: Yes, I would definitely support a plan that showes a good reason for reducing our taxes. If taking away someones livelihood to save expenses we need to revisited the whole my brothers keeper.
Diego Riveria: In order to support such a bill I would have to know what is getting cut. I am opposed to any fines being cut out the budget that deals with education or the safety and well being of our citizens.
I don’t think women are protected by police because there are cops out there that abuse and hit women. Some men think women are no different from guys to them.
Is there women officer’s would they protect their own gender? Yes, I don’t believe gender is really what it’s about. Obviously cops are humans just like anyone else and its just a matter of them deciding to do the right thing.
Sí, están protegidas como cualquier ser humano, para mí que la ley no discrimina a nadie en especial. Toda persona debe ser protegida desde su concepción.
Yes, I believe we came along way with our protection considering the history on women liberation and women rights. We have new laws in place that solidifies their protection such as: amber alerts, rap kits, gun control, and stronger restraining order laws as of today. |
Dockside Guest Quarters Rating: 3.5 Pearls
The Dockside Guest Quarters hotel has large, bright rooms with a lovely (yet basic) seaside-cottage style. Though the decor in each room varies slightly, most rooms feature shades of blues and yellows, stripes and flower prints, and balconies overlooking the sail boat-dotted water. The hotel lacks amenities like a fitness center and a pool, but guests enjoy perks such as free bicycle rentals, free Wi-Fi, and free breakfast in the often-crowded breakfast area.
The Breakwater Inn and Spa Rating: 3.5 Pearls
The 37-room Breakwater Inn & Spa offers travelers a selection of room choices: traditional, classic inn rooms; secluded, nautical cottages; apartments for longer-staying visitors; and modern, contemporary spa rooms and suites. Its tranquil setting on the water of Kennebunk River makes it a great getaway, but the rooms, while charming, are fairly small, but that's almost to be expected of older inns. Some of the inn's strongest assets are its attention to detail, like afternoon tea, the large Adirondack chairs dotting the shoreline, and homemade, free breakfasts. Like many other Maine inns and hotels, it tends to die down during the winter (even the restaurant is closed), so best to stay here between May and August.
The Kennebunk Inn Rating: 3.0 Pearls
The Kennebunk Inn is ideal for travelers who enjoy the quirks of a historic property filled with antique-type furnishings, creaky wood floors, and low ceilings, along with an alleged resident ghost. Rooms do offer free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TVs, but if you want modernized, uniform luxury, this eclectic inn probably isn't the place for you, as rooms are all different shapes and sizes, and some bathrooms are downright tiny. The Acadame restaurant serves renowned New England dishes created by the innkeepers, who are also professional chefs.
The Beachmere Inn Rating: 3.0 Pearls
A waterfront property near Ogunquit, Maine, the Beachmere Inn is a family-run resort with simple, classic rooms spread through several buildings. The location is ideal, with views overlooking the ocean and coastal cliffs. Rooms here vary widely, and guests can choose between ocean-view suites with fireplaces and balconies or simpler options for those sticking to a budget. Beyond the location and views, perks here include a spa with two treatment rooms, a Jacuzzi, sauna, fitness room, and a kids' play room. The Beachmere Inn offers free Wi-Fi and signature cocktails at Bawdy Sally's pub, but some guests complain of loud wedding parties in the summer and some rooms -- specifically in the Bullfrog Cottage -- are in need of renovation. |
National athletic trainers' association position statement: safe weight loss and maintenance practices in sport and exercise.
Objective: To present athletic trainers with recommendations for
safe weight loss and weight maintenance practices for athletes and
active clients and to provide athletes, clients, coaches, and parents
with safe guidelines that will allow athletes and clients to achieve and
maintain weight and body composition goals.
Background: Unsafe weight management practices can compromise athletic performance and negatively affect health. Athletes and clients often attempt to lose weight by not eating, limiting caloric or specific nutrients from the diet, engaging in pathogenic weight control behaviors, and restricting fluids. These people often respond to pressures of the sport or activity, coaches, peers, or parents by adopting negative body images and unsafe practices to maintain an ideal body composition for the activity. We provide athletic trainers with recommendations for safe weight loss and weight maintenance in sport and exercise. Although safe weight gain is also a concern for athletic trainers and their athletes and clients, that topic is outside the scope of this position statement.
Recommendations: Athletic trainers are often the source of nutrition information for athletes and clients; therefore, they must have knowledge of proper nutrition, weight management practices, and methods to change body composition. Body composition assessments should be done in the most scientifically appropriate manner possible. Reasonable and individualized weight and body composition goals should be identified by appropriately trained health care personnel (eg, athletic trainers, registered dietitians, physicians). In keeping with the American Dietetics Association (ADA) preferred nomenclature, this document uses the terms registered dietitian or dietician when referring to a food and nutrition expert who has met the academic and professional requirements specified by the ADA's Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education. In some cases, a registered nutritionist may have equivalent credentials and be the commonly used term. All weight management and exercise protocols used to achieve these goals should be safe and based on the most current evidence. Athletes, clients, parents, and coaches should be educated on how to determine safe weight and body composition so that athletes and clients more safely achieve competitive weights that will meet sport and activity requirements while also allowing them to meet their energy and nutritional needs for optimal health and performance.
Key Words: body composition, body fat, diet, hydration, metabolism, sport performance
Weight loss (Physiological aspects)
Weight loss (Health aspects)
Athletes (Physiological aspects)
Athletes (Health aspects)
Turocy, Paula Sammarone
DePalma, Bernard F.
Horswill, Craig A.
Laquale, Kathleen M.
Martin, Thomas J.
Perry, Arlette C.
Somova, Maria J.
Utter, Alan C.
|Publication:||Name: Journal of Athletic Training Publisher: National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc. Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Sports and fitness Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc. ISSN: 1062-6050|
|Issue:||Date: May-June, 2011 Source Volume: 46 Source Issue: 3|
|Organization:||Organization: National Athletic Trainers Association|
|Geographic:||Geographic Scope: United States Geographic Code: 1USA United States|
Weight classifications in sport (eg, youth football, wrestling,
rowing, boxing) were designed to ensure healthy, safe, and equitable
participation (1); however, not all sports or activities in which weight
might play a role in performance use a weight classification system. In
activities such as dance, distance running, gymnastics, and cycling,
weight and body composition are believed to influence physical
performance and the aesthetics of performance. Yet the governing
organizations of these activities have no mandated weight control
practices. In 2005, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2) published a
general weight control practice guide for children and adolescents
involved in all sports.
In addition to the potential performance benefits of lean body mass and lower levels of body fat, long-term health benefits include decreased cardiovascular risk factors, reduced triglyceride concentration, possible increases in cardioprotective high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, increased fibrinolysis, reduced resting blood pressure, reduced resting glucose and insulin, and increased insulin sensitivity. (3) In females, lower body fat may also protect against breast and other reproductive cancers. (4) Although lean body mass has been associated with positive health benefits, negative health outcomes are associated with excessive loss or gain of body mass. (5)
Based on the current research and literature, the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) suggests the following safe weight loss and weight maintenance strategies for participants in all sports and physical activities. These recommendations are built on the premise that scientific evidence supports safe and effective weight loss and weight management practices and techniques, regardless of the activity or performance goals. The recommendations are categorized using the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy criterion scale proposed by the American Academy of Family Physicians (6) on the basis of the level of scientific data found in the literature. Each recommendation is followed by a letter describing the level of evidence found in the literature supporting the recommendation: A means there are well-designed experimental, clinical, or epidemiologic studies to support the recommendation; B means there are experimental, clinical, or epidemiologic studies that provide a strong theoretical rationale for the recommendation; and C means the recommendation is based largely on anecdotal evidence at this time.
Assessing Body Composition and Weight
1. Body composition assessments should be used to determine safe body weight and body composition goals. Evidence Category: B
2. Body composition data should be collected, managed, and used in the same manner as other personal and confidential medical information. Evidence Category: C
3. The body composition assessor should be appropriately trained and should use a valid and reliable body composition assessment technique (Table 1). Evidence Category: C
4. Body weight should be determined in a hydrated state. Evidence Category: B
5. When determining goal weight, body weight should be assessed relative to body composition. This assessment should occur twice annually for most people, with no less than 2 to 3 months between measurements (Tables 2, 3). Evidence Category: C
6. To track a person's progress toward a weight or body composition goal, private weigh-ins and body composition assessments should be scheduled at intervals that provide information to guide and refine progress, as well as to establish reinforcement and reassessment periods. Evidence Category: C
7. When hydration is a concern, regular or more frequent (or both) assessments of body weight are indicated. Evidence Category: C
8. Active clients and athletes in weight classification sports should not gain or lose excessive amounts of body weight at any point in their training cycles. Evidence Category: C
9. Management of body composition should include both diet and exercise. Evidence Category: B
10. Total caloric intake should be determined by calculating the basal metabolic rate (BMR) and the energy needs for activity. Evidence Category: B
11. Caloric intake should be based on the body weight goal (Table 4). Evidence Category: C
12. A safe and healthy dietary plan that supplies sufficient energy and nutrients should be maintained throughout the year (Table 5). Evidence Category: B
13. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Pyramid Guide is one of the methods that can be used to ensure adequate nutrient intake. Evidence Category: C
14. The metabolic qualities of the activity should be considered when calculating the need for each energy-producing nutrient in the diet (Tables 6-8). Evidence Category: B
15. Safe and appropriate aerobic exercise will facilitate weight and body fat loss. Evidence Category: C
16. Body composition adjustments should be gradual, with no excessive restrictions or use of unsafe behaviors or products. Evidence Category: C
17. Combining weight management and body composition goals with physical conditioning periodization goals will assist athletes or clients in reaching weight goals. Evidence Category: C
18. Education on safe dietary and weight management practices should be communicated on a regular and planned basis. Evidence Category: C
19. Individual body composition or dietary needs should be discussed privately with appropriately trained nutrition and weight management experts. Evidence Category: C
20. Ergogenic and dietary aids should be ingested cautiously and under the advisement of those knowledgeable of the requirements of sports and other governing organizations. Evidence Category: C
Background and Literature Review
Weight management and nutrition is a multibillion-dollar industry that has become pervasive in almost every aspect of modem life. Diet and exercise have always affected sports and physical activity, but with the intensity of competition increasing at all levels has come a renewed interest in controlling the factors that influence performance and health. Diet, exercise, body composition, and weight management now play larger roles in an active person's life and performance. Because athletic trainers (ATs) and other members of the health care team have regular contact and ongoing relationships with athletes and clients
engaged in active lifestyles, they are frequently asked for assistance in achieving personal and performance goals. These goals often include diet, exercise, and weight management. Some AT-client relationships and their shared body composition goals are formalized, as with weight-class sport athletes; others are not.
Weight Management in Weight-Class Sports
Many safe and effective methods are available to achieve and maintain goal weight and body composition. However, although published and widely accepted weight and body composition standards exist, (9) there are few published or mandated weight or body composition management requirements. Even within sports with weight-class systems (eg, boxing, lightweight crew, sprint football, wrestling), only wrestling and sprint football consider the components of an athlete's weight and body composition, as well as the safety considerations for achieving and maintaining that body size. (19,20)
Since 1997, specific rules and guidelines have been implemented to ensure that weight control practices in wrestling are safe, applied early in the competitive season, and conducted on a regular and planned schedule around competitions and do not include dehydration as a means of weight loss. (1) These weight management and dehydration prevention regulations are effective in reducing unhealthy "weight-cutting" behaviors and promoting equitable competition. (21)
In 2006, the National Federation of State High School Associations adopted similar standards (ie, body composition, weigh-in procedures, and hydration status) for determining minimum body weights in high school wrestlers, but the body fat minimums were higher ([greater than or equal to]7% in males, [greater than or equal to]12% in females) than the levels for collegiate athletes determined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). (21) These differences were implemented to address growth needs in adolescents and sex differences. The National Federation of State High School Associations standards have not been accepted or enforced universally in the United States. Therefore, universally safe or effective weight management practices in high school wrestling are not assured.
Sprint football is a collegiate sport sponsored by 6 teams in the Collegiate Sprint Football League: Cornell University, Mansfield University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, U.S. Military Academy at West Point (Army), and U.S. Naval Academy (Navy). Sprint football has the same rules as NCAA football but also has a weight limit for players of 172.0 lb (78 kg), which is far lower than the weights typically seen in NCAA football players. (20) To the previously required minimum body composition of 5% body fat, sprint football in 2008 added compulsory assessment of body composition and playing weight in a hydrated state with a urine specific gravity of < 1.020. (20)
In 1997, collegiate lightweight crew and rowing athletes began using U.S. Rowing weight classifications and a 5% minimum body fat guideline to determine a safe rowing weight. Unlike wrestling, the revised 2007 crew weight requirements did not take into account the athlete's body composition or hydration status in determining minimum body weight. Although some institutions have adopted weight certification guidelines similar to those in wrestling, no formal rules are in place. Today's standards stipulate that male lightweight rowers must not exceed 160 lb (73 kg), and female lightweight rowers must not exceed 130 lb (59 kg). Minimum weights are in place only for coxswains. All crew members must be weighed once a day, between 1 and 2 hours before the scheduled time of the first race, each day that the athlete competes. (22)
Sport Performance and Aesthetics
Practices of weight manipulation and body fat control are not exclusive to sports with weight-class requirements. Participants in other activities requiring speed and aesthetics also use weight manipulation to improve performance. Leaner athletes in sports such as middle-distance and long-distance running, cycling, and speed skating are often perceived by coaches and peers to perform better. (10)
Although body fat contributes to weight, it does not always contribute to energy in the muscular contractions needed for exercise and sport. A disproportionately greater amount of muscle mass and smaller amount of body fat are needed by participants in activities that may be influenced by body size. In sports such as the broad jump or vertical jump, in which the body must be propelled through space, generating power is essential. More power can be achieved by a body with a higher ratio of muscle to fat than one of the same mass with a lower ratio of muscle to fat. In swimming, although body fat allows for greater buoyancy in water, which reduces drag, athletes with a greater proportion of muscle mass to fat can produce more speed.
Similarly, in sports such as ski jumping, a lean, slight build was once thought desirable to reduce air resistance and to al low the athlete to stay airborne as long as possible and to cover a greater distance before landing. (11) This performance standard also holds true for activities such as dance, figure skating, gymnastics, and diving. The aesthetic aspect of performance is also a consideration for weight management practices in these activities. Leaner participants are viewed as more attractive and successful (23,24) and perceived to demonstrate better body symmetry, position, and fluidity of motion.
Because no scientific or health principles support weight management for the purpose of aesthetics in performance, we will address this topic only in its association with body composition and weight management. Many considerations for aesthetic performance activities are related to the body composition of female participants, but research (25,26) also recognizes the effect of similar social pressures on male body images.
Pressures on participants to control weight stem from various sources, including society, family, (25,27-29) peers, (3) and coaches, (30-33) as well as the judging criteria used in some activities. (34) These pressures may place participants at higher risk for developing unrealistic weight goals and problematic weight control behaviors. Most aesthetic performance activities require fit body types for success, and these requirements may trigger an unhealthy preoccupation with weighty. (35) Generally, participants in competitive activities that emphasize leanness for the sake of performance or aesthetic enhancement are at the highest risk for developing dysmorphia, eating disorders, and disordered eating. (36-40)
Because of the need to control all factors that may affect performance, perfectionism is a common psychological trait among athletes. Along with the desire to look thin and the belief that decreased weight enhances performance, perfectionism increases the risk of developing an eating disorder. (41-43) Perfectionism is typically associated with setting high goals and working hard to attain them, which enables athletes to succeed. (40,44) People who are aware of concerns about their weight from coaches, parents, teammates, friends, or significant others are more likely to develop subclinical eating disorders. (45)
In general, women in non-weight-class activities identify their ideal body sizes and shapes as smaller than their actual bodies, whereas men tend to want to be larger (ie, more muscular) and are more concerned with shape than with weight. (46-49) The demands of a male's activity determine whether desirable body size or weight (or both) is smaller (eg, gymnastics) or larger (eg, football). Because the topic of dysmorphia has been addressed more comprehensively in the NATA's position statement on preventing, detecting, and managing disordered eating in athletes, (50) it is addressed here only in the context of weight management practices.
Regardless of the rationale to support weight management practices, goal weights and body compositions for athletes and active clients must be determined and maintained in a safe and effective manner. The purposes of this position statement are to identify safe methods by which goal weight can be determined and maintained and to discuss unsafe weight management practices and the effects of those practices on performance and overall health.
To fully understand the topic of body composition, it is essential to understand how body composition is assessed. Using the most common description of body composition, the 2-compartment (2-C) model is a quantifiable measure that can be divided into 2 structural components: fat and fat-free mass (FFM). Fat-free mass consists primarily of muscle, bone, water, and remainder elements. (9) In the general population, excess body fat is associated with adverse health consequences, which include cardiovascular disease, (51) diabetes, (52) gallstones, (53) orthopaedic problems, (54) and certain types of cancer. (55) Although active people have a lower incidence of these conditions, excess body fat combined with a family history of cardiovascular or metabolic diseases and inactivity can reverse the benefits of acquired health associated with an active, healthy lifestyle.
To develop a method for determining the risks associated with excess body fat, the body mass index (BMI) assessment was created. The original purpose of the BMI assessment was to predict the potential for developing the chronic diseases associated with obesity. (9) Body mass index may be an appropriate method for determining body size in the general population, but this technique does not assess fat mass and FFM. Therefore, BMI assessment is less accurate for athletes and active clients who have higher levels of FFM. (14) Even though a sedentary person and an active person may have the same height and weight, their fat to FFM ratios may be very different. When applied to the BMI formula, the active person's additional FFM skews the assessment of body composition, resulting in a BMI evaluation that is inaccurate as a predictor of increased risk for chronic diseases. More individualized body weight and body composition assessments are needed for active people with high levels of lean body mass to accurately evaluate the effect of body weight on the risk of developing chronic diseases (Table 9).
Body Weight, Fat, and FFM
Fat mass can be categorized as essential fat, sex-specific fat, and storage fat. (9) Essential fat, which averages 3% of total fat, makes up the bone marrow, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, muscles, and lipid-rich tissues of the central nervous system. (9) In women, essential fat also may include sex-specific fat (eg, breasts, hips, pelvis) and averages 12%. (5,8-11) Storage fat, which averages 12% in men and 12% to 15% in women, is layered subcutaneously; it is stored by the body to provide an energy substrate for metabolism.9 When essential fat is added to storage fat, men average 15% total body fat, whereas women average 20% to 27% total body fat. Low-reference body fat composition is 5% in men and 12% in women. (5,8-11) Low-reference body fat composition, which is necessary to maintain normal reproductive health and hormone function, is 7% in adolescent males and 14% in adolescent females. (2,12) Lower levels of fat have been associated with good health and normal body function. (5,8-11) Although no maximum body fat requirements exist, the highest safe weights should not exceed the body fat ranges considered satisfactory for health: 10% to 22% and 20% to 32% in physically mature adolescent males and females, respectively. (13) Body fat is distributed in sex-specific patterns. Typically, women distribute more body fat in the gluteofemoral region in a gynoid fat distribution pattern, sometimes referred to as "pear shaped." Women also store more fat in the extremities than men. In contrast, men distribute more fat in the abdominal region in an android or "apple" pattern and have greater subscapular to triceps skinfold thickness than do women. (56) The android fat distribution has been related to more significant health consequences associated with cardiovascular disease, including diabetes, hypertension, and hypeflipidemia, (7,57) and may contribute more to increased disease risk than does obesity alone. (58)
Assessment of Body Composition
Several methods are available to measure body composition, but most research on assessment in athletes has focused on densitometry, indirect measurement of body density using a 2-C model consisting of fat mass and FFM. Body density is the ratio of body weight to body volume (Table 1).
Total body volume is typically measured by hydrostatic (underwater) weighing (59) with a correction for pulmonary residual lung volume. (60) Most other body composition techniques have been validated in comparison with hydrostatic weighing because of its lower standard error of the estimate. Similar to hydrostatic weighing, air displacement plethysmography is a newer densitometric method that measures mass and volume to calculate body density. (61)
Multicompartment models, in which FFM is divided into 2 or more components, have been validated with hydrostatic weighing methods in athletes. (59-65) Some authors (66-68) suggested that these multicompartment models may be more appropriate for the athletic population; however, these findings are not widely accepted. Two-compartment models demonstrated a significant overestimation for air displacement plethysmography in collegiate football players (69) but close agreement between hydrostatic weighing and air displacement plethysmography in collegiate wrestlers. (70)
Some concerns have been raised about selecting the appropriate conversion formula when using the 2-C model to assess body composition in active people. The Schutte equation (71) is commonly used to estimate fat and FFM from body density in black males, but with multicompartment models, recent researchers (72-74) found that using race-specific equations to estimate percentage of fat from bone density was inappropriate. For adolescent and high school athletes, the adult conversion formulas of Siri (75) and Brozek et al (76) are generally accepted.
Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) has been reported (63,64) to slightly underestimate body fat in some athletic populations when compared with multicompartment models. Other authors (54,56) have noted strong agreement between DXA and multicompartment models in various athletic groups. Athletes generally have greater bone mineral content, bone mineral density, and FFM and a lower percentage of body fat than nonathletes. (77) Considering that DXA also measures bone mineral composition and density, it may be preferable to either hydrostatic or air displacement plethysmography 2-C models as a reference method for assessing body composition in athletes and active people. (78)
Clinical Methods Used to Assess Body Composition
Skinfold thickness, which has been validated with hydrostatic weighing, is the most frequently used and easily accessible clinical method to estimate body composition. Although skinfold measures are easy to obtain, the importance of developing a skillful measuring technique cannot be overstated. Standardized skinfold sites and measurement techniques are described in the Anthropometric Standardization Reference Manual. (79) An extensive number of prediction equations are available for estimating bone density from skinfold measures in different athletic populations (Durnin and Womersley, Katch and McArdle, Jackson-Pollock), but selected equations have been recognized for broad applicability to both male and female athletic populations. In addition to these equations, the generalized Lohman equation (80) is recommended for both high school and collegiate wrestlers. (78) Based on the referenced validity studies, ready availability of equipment, and ease of use, skinfold prediction is highly recommended as a body composition assessment technique for athletes and active clients.
The accuracy of bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), another method used to assess body composition, is highly dependent on testing under controlled conditions. Skin temperature, strenuous exercise, dehydration, and glycogen depletion significantly affect impedance values. (81,82) Population-specific and generalized BIA equations, developed for the average population, do not accurately estimate the FFM of athletic men and women. (83-86) Some researchers (65,87,88) reported that the skinfold method is a better predictor of body fat percentage in athletes than the BIA method, which is a more effective tool for obtaining group data on athletes than for detecting small changes in individual athletes' body fat. (89)
Another body fat measuring technique, near-infrared interactance (NIR), provides optical density values for estimating body fat. The manufacturer's prediction equation systematically underestimated body fat in both active men and collegiate football players. (83,90,91) Limited research is available on the validity of NIR among female athletes in various sports. A few authors (92,93) used optical density values to develop prediction equations in athletic populations. The NIR prediction equations were slightly better than the skinfold method in estimating body composition and minimal wrestling weight in high school-aged wrestlers. (94)
Fat and FFM should be assessed by an AT or other trained body-composition assessor using one of the validated methods available (eg, hydrostatic weighing, air displacement plethysmography, skinfold measures). All manual measurement techniques (eg, skinfold calipers) should follow standardized protocols and be performed at least 3 times by the same assessor to ensure reliability. (79) The body size needs of the activity and the typical body composition of the participants in that activity should be considered, as well as the minimum body composition standards when available.
Body Composition and Hydration Assessment
Body composition and weight assessments should always be conducted on hydrated people. Criterion (ie, total body water and plasma markers) and field methods (ie, acute body mass change, urine and saliva markers, bioelectric impedance) can be used to assess hydration status. The gold standard for determining hydration status is measurement of total body water. Repeated measurements of water content before and after rapid weight reduction reflect the absolute change in fluid content. The FFM of adult bodies contains approximately 72% water, (94) a value slightly less than in children (75%) and adolescents (73%). (94,95)
Plasma markers, or a comparison of blood indices of hydration status with laboratory standards, also may be used to determine hydration status. Plasma osmolality of the blood, sodium content, and hemoglobin and hematocrit levels are typically elevated when the plasma volume is reduced because of dehydration. The plasma osmolality of a hydrated person ranges between 260 and 280 mOsm/kg. A plasma osmolality above 290 mOsm/kg indicates dehydration. (96) Hemoglobin and hematocrit levels can also be used to assess relative changes in plasma volume based on loss of fluid from the vascular space. However, this technique has many limitations and does not always reflect changes in hydration. (97,98)
The acute body-mass change field method is one of the simplest ways to assess changes in hydration. Assessing body weight before and after a period of exercise or heat exposure can provide data reflecting hydration. Immediate weight loss after exercise results from dehydration and should be addressed using the guidelines described in the NATA position statement on hydration. (99) Using weight-tracking charts to evaluate these changes during exercise can help to determine the hydration status of an active person.
Urine markers are another noninvasive method to determine the hydration status of the blood. (100-104) When the body has a fluid deficit, urine production decreases, and the urine becomes more concentrated. The total volume of urine produced during a specified period is lower than expected (normal is approximately 100 mL/h). (96) Simultaneously, urine specific gravity, osmolality, and conductivity increase due to a greater number of solids in the urine and the conservation of body fluid. Urine color also may serve as a gross predictor of hydration state. (102)
Urine specific gravity and osmolality respond to acute changes in hydration status. However, changes in these markers may be delayed or insensitive to low levels of acute dehydration (1% to 3% of body weight), (100) In addition, these markers may be no more effective in detecting dehydration than assessing urine protein content via the dipstick method. (105) Ease of collection and measurement, at least for urine specific gravity and color, make the dipstick method practical for self-assessment of hydration status in most settings. (99)
Similar to those of urine, characteristics of saliva change as the hydration level changes. (106) Because the salivary glands produce saliva using plasma, a decrease in plasma volume due to dehydration affects the concentration of substances found in saliva. Although a saliva sample is easy to obtain, the analysis for osmolality and total protein content requires instrumentation beyond the scope of most practice settings. Saliva flow rate is collected with a dental swab but requires an analytical balance for precise measurement of the change in swab weight after saliva collection.
Recently, BIA and bioelectric impedance spectroscopy have been proposed (104,107) for measuring total body water and the compartments within the total body water, respectively. These methods provide reasonable measurements of body composition and total body water for groups of individuals, but whether they can track changes in hydration status and an individual's hydration level is unknown. Several investigators (108,109) found that bioelectric impedance analysis and bioelectric impedance spectroscopy failed to accurately predict reductions in total body water after rapid dehydration. Some of this inaccuracy may result from other factors (eg, increased core temperature and skin blood flow) that may influence the reactance and resistance measurements on which these techniques rely.
To ensure adequate hydration, an average adult's water intake should be 3.7 L/d for men and 2.7 L/d for women. Athletes, active clients, and those who are exposed to hot environments need higher intakes of total water. (110) To maintain adequate hydration, a person should drink 200 to 300 mL of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise. Pre-exercise and postexercise fluid intake should be consistent with the recommendations provided in the NATA position statement on fluid replacement. (99)
As noted previously, body weight and body composition should be assessed with the person in a hydrated state. Those who fail to meet the minimum hydration levels (urine specific gravity of less than 1.020 or urine color less than or equal to 4) (111) should not be assessed until hydration standards are met and no sooner than 24 hours after the first hydration status failure.
Body Composition and Determining Body Weight
No single source offers normative body composition data for athletes. Therefore, ATs and other health care personnel involved in body composition assessment should become familiar with data sources specific to their athlete or client populations. They should take into consideration the safe ranges and the body composition needs of the sport and then individualize weight and body composition goals.
The lowest safe weight should be calculated at no lower than the weight determined by the low-reference body fat composition delineated by sex and age. The lowest safe weight can be defined operationally as the lowest weight, sanctioned by the governing body, at which a competitor may compete. When no standard exists, participants should be required to remain above a certain minimum body fat. Highest safe weight should be calculated using a value no higher than the highest end of the range considered satisfactory for health: 10% to 22% body fat in males and 20% to 32% in females (Table 2). (13)
The AT should work closely with the team physician or medical supervisor to develop a plan for the collection and management of body composition data and related information. (112) This information should be restricted to those who need it to provide care for the athlete or client. The AT should fully disclose to the athlete or client who will have access to personal body composition information. (113) If the body composition or other nutritional and weight management findings indicate a potentially harmful or high-risk behavior, the AT is responsible for informing the athlete or client of the risk (113) and the team physician or medical supervisor of the medical concern. (114)
Body composition measurements to determine goal weights should be assessed twice annually, (115) with no less than 2 to 3 months between measurements (50) for most people. These regular measurements will allow ATs and other health professionals to alter weight goals based on decreases in body fat and increases in lean muscle mass. Caution should always be taken to ensure that an athlete's or client's body composition never falls below the lowest or rises above the highest safe weight or body fat level. To track an athlete's or client's progress toward a weight or body composition goal, private weight and body composition assessments should be scheduled at more frequent intervals to guide and refine progress and to establish reinforcement and reassessment periods.
Measurement intervals should be identified in consultation with the physician and other members of the health care team involved in the athlete's or client's care. This team should include an AT, licensed mental health care provider, physician, and registered dietitian. (116) If weight control practices are a concern, collaboration and education should occur early and frequently in the process.
Monitoring Body Weight
During preseason activities that involve equipment that could increase sweat loss or prevent adequate cooling in warmer and more humid climates, body weight should be reassessed at least daily because of the increased risk of dehydration and heat-related illness. Daily weigh-ins, before and after exercise, can help identify excessive weight loss due to dehydration.
Active clients and athletes in weight classification sports should not gain or lose excessive amounts of body weight at any point in their training cycles. Athletes and clients should attempt to maintain levels that are close to their weight and body composition goal when not competing and maintain their goal weight and body composition during competition. Excessive fluctuations in body weight or body composition (or both) can negatively affect the body, including but not limited to changes in metabolic activity, fluctuations in blood glucose levels, and muscle wasting. (14) Athletes in weight classification sports should have individual monitoring plans, such as assessments at least once per month in the off-season and at regular intervals, not to exceed once per week, to monitor for weight fluctuations. (115)
Body Composition and Dietary Intake
Caloric and nutrient intake should be based on lean body mass, desired body composition, goal weight, and sport or activity requirements. Intake that is too high or too low to support the desired lean body mass will negatively affect metabolic function and body composition. Metabolic function is more efficient in those with greater amounts of lean body mass. Metabolic function and oxygen utilization can be measured or estimated with predictive equations that take into consideration body size, fat mass, FFM, age, sex, and the expenditure of energy for activity. (12,117) The Harris-Benedict (14) and Mifflin-St. Jeor (15) estimation formulas, which account for height, weight, age, and sex to determine the BMR, are commonly recommended methods for indirectly estimating total caloric need; however, other methods are also appropriate. One drawback to the use of estimation formulas is that muscular tissue uses more energy than does nonmuscular tissue. Therefore, estimation formulas may underestimate the daily caloric needs of athletes or clients who are very muscular (Table 4).
A healthy diet or meal plan should provide adequate calories to achieve body weight goals, supply essential nutrients, and maintain hydration. To ensure effective performance, energy intake must come from an appropriate balance of the 3 essential energy-producing nutrients (ie, protein, carbohydrates, and fats). In addition, appropriate intake of non-energy-producing essential nutrients (eg, vitamins, minerals, water) is needed to facilitate energy creation and maintain other body processes. (8) Carbohydrates should provide 55% to 70% of the total caloric need of athletes and active people and may be as high as 12 g or more per kilogram of body weight. (5,10,16) Muscle glycogen (stored glucose) and blood glucose, derived from carbohydrates, are the primary energy substrates for working muscle, (17,18,118) Therefore, the more aerobic the activity, the greater the carbohydrate need (Tables 6, 7).
To determine needed protein intake, it is important to identify the type of exercise and the intensity level of that exercise. (5,10,17,18) Protein assists with many bodily functions, but most athletes and clients are interested in building and repairing muscle contractile and connective tissue. Protein provides 8% to 10% of the body's total energy needs. In events lasting longer than 60 to 70 minutes, amino acid oxidation increase's, thereby increasing the use of protein to support the greater energy demands. Strength athletes and those whose goals are to build FFM need the most protein in the diet. For those who are not interested in developing a great deal of FFM but want to meet the needs of an aerobic activity, more moderate amounts of protein are desirable. Protein intake in excess of the body's physical requirements increases hydration needs, overburdens the liver and kidneys, and interferes with calcium absorption; in addition, excess protein can be broken down and used as components of other molecules, including stored fat (Table 6). (14)
Finally, dietary fats are essential to a healthy diet because they provide energy, assist in the transport and use of fat-soluble vitamins, and protect the essential elements of cells. (12) Fat metabolism provides a portion of the energy needed for low- to moderate-intensity exercise, and the use of fat for energy metabolism increases as aerobic metabolism increases. Fats can be used to spars both readily available glucose and stored muscle glycogen. Although the average intake of fat in athletes is approximately 30% Of total caloric intake, (10,14) the commonly held consensus is that 20% to 25% of total caloric intake should come from fats. (12) To maximize performance, athletes Should take in no less than 15% of total caloric intake from dietary fats. (12,17) Fat intake should minimize partially ,hydrogenated, unsaturated (trans) fats and saturated fats (17); total fat intake should be equally divided among polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and trans or saturated fats.
Maintaining Body Composition and Weight with Diet and Exercise
Diet. Management of body composition should include both diet and exercise. To maintain good health and stave off disease, a regular exercise program should be combined with a dietary plan. The dietary plan should be developed to address the athlete's or client's specific body composition, body weight, and activity goals. Individual body composition and dietary needs should be discussed privately with appropriately trained nutrition and weight management experts. Athletic trainers and other health professionals; such as registered dietitians, should provide nutritional information to athletes and clients. A Board-Certified Sports Dietitian (CSSD) is a registered dietitian who has earned the premier professional sports nutrition credential from the American Dietetic Association. Coaches, peers, and family members should pot provide information on diet, body composition, weight, or weight management practices and should refrain from making comments on or participating in the monitoring of body composition and weight. (50)
Total caloric intake should be determined by calculating BMR and the energy needs for activity. Many methods are available to determine total caloric need, including assessments of metabolic function and oxygen utilization, but equations that estimate metabolic function are more plausible options for clinicians. These metabolic estimation equations take into consideration body size, fat mass and FFM, age, sex, and the expenditure of energy for activity. (12,117) One drawback to the use of estimation formulas is that muscular tissue uses more energy than does nonmuscular tissue; therefore, estimation formulas that are not adjusted for lean muscle mass may underestimate the dally caloric needs for athletes or clients who are very muscular.
Caloric intake should be based on the body weight goal. A person should consume a total number of calories based on body composition and weight goals. Caloric intake that is too high or too low to support the desired lean body mass will negatively affect metabolic function and body composition. Metabolic function is more efficient in those with greater amounts of lean body mass. When BMR is calculated based on the body composition and weight goals, this formula provides an important estimate of the energy needed to meet activity requirements.
A safe and healthy dietary plan that supplies sufficient energy and nutrients should be maintained throughout the year. A healthy diet or meal plan provides adequate calories to achieve body weight goals, supply essential nutrients, and maintain hydration. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Pyramid Guide is one method that can be used to ensure adequate nutrient intake. Athletes and clients should identify the appropriate Food Guide Pyramid (www.mypyramid.gov) (119) that describes food groups and the recommended number of daily servings per group adults and children need to consume for essential nutrients. The AT or other trained health care professional can also use the appropriate Food Guide Pyramid to calculate the recommended caloric intake level based on the individual's goal weight. The guidelines at www.mypyramid.gov are consistent with recommendations by organizations such as the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society to control diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic and debilitaring diseases. (120) Even though this method may underestimate the protein and carbohydrate needs of athletes or clients, it can be used to correctly guide a person's eating needs for vitamin and mineral intake and overall caloric intake.
The metabolic qualities of the activity should be used to calculate the need for each energy-producing nutrient in the diet. To determine specific dietary needs and adjustments, an analysis of the metabolic characteristics (eg, anaerobic or aerobic) with consideration for the performance, body composition, weight, and personal goals of the athlete or client (eg, build muscle mass, lose fat) must be performed.
Ergogenic and dietary aids shOuld be ingested with caution and under the advice of those knowledgeable about the requirements of sports and other governing organizations. The NCAA, U.S. Olympic Committee, and International Olympic Committee regulate supplements approved for use by athletes. By-law 16.52 g of the NCAA states that an institution may provide only non-muscle-building nutritional supplements to a student-athlete at any time for the purpose of providing additional calories and electrolytes, as long as the supplements do not contain any substances banned by the NCAA. (19) Athletes and clients should be educated against taking any dietary or other nutritional supplements without first checking with the AT or another health care provider who is familiar with the competitive regulations.
Exercise. The exercise program should not only train the person for his or her activity but should also help the person maintain overall physical fitness and wellness. Body weight and composition may be maintained by pursuing an exercise regimen that matches a person's needs. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 minutes of exercise, 5 days per week to remain healthy (7); however, if the goals are to facilitate weight and bodY fat loss, a safe and appropriate aerobic exercise program will facilitate that loss. To maximize the metabolism of excess fat, one must participate in continuous, rhythmic aerobic exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per exercise bout but no longer than 60 to 90 minutes, for at least 150 minutes per week. (118,119,121) Although interval exercise for 30 minutes burns the same number of calories, the metabolism of fat is less. If the person is unfit or has not exercised at this level previously, a graded-progression approach should be used to achieve the exercise goals. (14) Target heart rate for this aerobic activity must be above 50% V[O.sub.2]max to initiate lipolysis, with the most efficient fat metabolism occurring between 60% and 70% V[O.sub.2]max (approximately 55% to 69% of maximum heart rate). (5,118) Caution should be used in those with orthopaedic or other health conditions that may warrant changes in exercise protocols. Non-weight-bearing or limited-weight-bearing aerobic exercises are recommended for those with orthopaedic conditions.
Body composition adjustments should be gradual, with no excessive restrictions or unsafe behaviors or products. On average, weight loss goals should be approximately 1 to 2 lb (0.5 to 0.9 kg) per week but should not exceed 1.5% of body weight loss per week. (1,122) A higher rate of weight loss indicates dehydration or other restrictive or unsafe behaviors that will negatively affect performance and health. One pound (0.5 kg) of fat is equal to 3500 kilocalories of energy; therefore, increases or decreases in calories to the level needed to maintain ideal lean mass will help to achieve body fat goals. Few authors have studied plans for weight gain goals in active people, but a process similar to that for weight loss may be used. The AT should work closely with the other members of the health care team to assist in this determination.
Combining weight management and body composition goals with physical conditioning periodization goals will assist athletes and clients in reaching weight goals. Periodization involves manipulating training intensity and volume to yield specific performance outcomes. The best time for adjustments in weight and body composition is during the preparatory period, which occurs outside competition. (115) The main emphasis of the competitive period should be on performing the sport or activity with the body nearing its highest level of physical fitness. During the competitive period, less time is available for physical conditioning and more time is spent on strength, power, and increased training intensity specifically related to sport performance. During the different phases of the preparatory period, physical conditioning goals can be used to achieve body composition goals. During the hypertrophy or endurance phase, the emphasis is on developing lean body mass, aerobic capacity, and muscular endurance, which can provide a physiologic environment to assist in decreasing body fat. During the basic strength and strength-power phases, the emphasis is on developing strength and speed and involves increasing levels of anaerobic activity. (123) An AT or other trained health care professional should be consulted for assistance in manipulating these phases of the periodization plan to meet training goals.
Education on safe dietary and weight management practices should be conducted on a regular and planned basis. The AT and other health care professionals should be involved in educating athletes or clients and monitoring their diets. The initial team meeting or client interview is an opportune time to communicate information on healthy eating habits and the effect of proper nutrition and hydration on performance.
Common Unsafe Weight Management Practices
Athletes and active people regularly seek methods to maximize performance, and many of the common methods involve managing diet, weight, or body composition (or a combination of these). Although many safe methods exist to achieve goal weight or the lowest safe weight, unsafe practices involve self-deprivation techniques that lead to dehydration, self-starvation, and disordered eating. In field studies and experimental research on weight-class athletes, the most common unsafe methods are a mixture of dehydration and other methods, including food restriction or improper dieting to reduce body fat. Therefore, the results of studies examining the physiologic and performance effects of rapid weight reduction may not reflect only dehydration. Studies selected for this summary are those that focused primarily on dehydration techniques and involved short-term, rapid weight reduction.
Dehydration and Weight Management
Since the late 1930s and as recently as 2003, authors (124,125) have reported that athletes used voluntary dehydration as a method of rapid weight loss to reach a lower body weight for competition. Several rapid weight loss methods involve rapid fluid loss; these methods use active, passive, diet-induced, pharmacologic-induced, and blood reinfusion techniques to achieve a desired weight. The active method involves increasing metabolic rate through exercise to increase the rate of heat production in active skeletal muscle. (126) At least 1 L of fluid may be lost through sweat evaporation during exercise (127) when an active person abstains from drinking fluid during activity. To ensure continued sweating, exercise is often combined with excessive clothing, which diminishes the evaporative effects of sweating and increases insulation and core temperature. (128,129) At one time, dehydration was a common method used by wrestlers, (130-132) but a survey (127) indicated that this method has become less popular because of changes in the weigh-in procedures (ie, assessments of hydration status) of sport governing bodies. These active methods may be enhanced by combining the active technique with environmental changes that increase the passive sweat rate, resulting in higher levels of dehydration, or the training facility may be artificially heated to ensure a higher passive sweat rate with less physical effort. (130-134) Recent changes in sport guidelines appear to have reduced the extent to which collegiate wrestlers use passive dehydration. (125)
Athletes who use passive dehydration methods also may restrict food intake for weight loss or may purposefully consume foods that promote diuresis for fluid loss. A combined high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet may promote dehydration through several mechanisms. Meals high in protein and devoid of carbohydrate may modestly stimulate urine production. As the body is deprived of carbohydrates, fat oxidation is increased, promoting additional fluid loss in the urine. With a high protein intake, the person may further induce diuresis from the increased nitrogen metabolism and urea excreted via the kidneys. (14)
Some researchers (135) suggested that total body water is elevated with the consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet, forcing muscle glycogen to be stored along with water, which can increase body weight. As dietary carbohydrate intake is restricted, glycogen resynthesis may be limited, thereby avoiding the increase in body weight caused by water storage. (135) However, this dietary strategy does not provide optimal energy stores for a competitive athlete, (l36,137) and performance may suffer. (98,138,139)
Ingesting medications that stimulate urine production (eg, diuretics) may have a greater influence on body weight than does altering the diet. Diuretics appropriately prescribed for hypertensive therapy or to reduce edema have been misused by athletes seeking rapid weight loss for competition. Fortunately, the misapplication of pharmacologic agents was uncommon in weight-class athletes who were surveyed (23,132); however, this practice has not been fully eradicated.
Finally, one report (140) and other anecdotal stories from athletes indicate that some athletes at international competitions have had blood removed intravenously before the required weigh-in. The blood is then reinfused after the athlete "makes weight" for competition. Other than the lone report, no formal information is available about this method or the extent to which it has been practiced or is currently used.
Effects of Dehydration on Performance
Dehydration results in suboptimal performance when the dehydration is [greater than or equal to]1% in children and [greater than or equal to]2% in adults. (140,141) In children, 1% dehydration causes a reduction in aerobic performance (142) and an increase in core temperature. (143) In adults, 2% to 3% dehydration causes decreased reflex activity, maximum oxygen consumption, physical work capacity, muscle strength, and muscle endurance and impairs temperature regulation. (144,145) At 4% to 6% dehydration, further deterioration occurs in maximum oxygen consumption, physical work capacity, muscle strength, and endurance time; temperature regulation is severely impaired. (111) These physiologic effects of dehydration are discussed in depth in 2 NATA position statements (99,111) and will not be discussed further here.
Most athletes who participate in weight-class sports need short-duration, high-intensity efforts that demand rates of energy production at or above the peak oxygen uptake. For single efforts, whether performance is affected by dehydration before performance is unclear. Dehydration does not appear to reduce phosphagen energy stores (adenosine triphosphate, creatine phosphate), (137) although some of the weight reduction found in this study occurred with diet manipulation and not dehydration alone. People involved in activities that use weight manipulation to improve performance appear to be more profoundly affected by hydration status. Efforts that are sustained at intensities below peak oxygen uptake are notably affected by prior dehydration. Dehydration induced with the use of pharmacologic diuretics increases frequency of muscle twitches, a potential risk factor for muscle cramps, more so than does exercise- or sauna-induced dehydration. (132)
Dietary Caloric Restriction and Weight Management
Dietary restriction is another common method used to maintain weight. Very low-calorie diets affect the cardiovascular system and can produce myofibrillar damage, orthostatic hypotension, bradycardia, low QRS voltage, QT-interval prolongation, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. (146-149) Sudden death may be caused by the ventricular arrhythmias or hypokalemia associated with caloric restriction. (14) Very low-calorie diets can also result in a marked blunting of the normal heart rate increase and blood pressure response to exercise. (149) In addition to these physiologic changes, dietary restrictions cause deficits in recall, understanding visuospatial information, (150) working-memory capacity, recall on the phonologic loop task, and simple reaction time. (151) They also affect planning time. (152)
Low-calorie diets also affect the endocrine system. Levels of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein 2 are increased. The growth hormone response to growth hormone-releasing hormone is increased; however, levels of IGF I and IGF binding protein 3 are decreased. (153-155) The decrease in IGF I, an anabolic factor, limits growth and muscle development. (153) With improved nutrition, growth "catchup" occurs but is inadequate; children, in particular, will never achieve their potential genetic height. (156,157) Also, lower levels of IGF I are associated with poor muscle development, and thus potential maximum strength is never realized. (153) Lower levels of IGF I are associated with lower bone mineral densities. (153) Urinary excretion of cross-links, a marker of bone absorption, is increased, and serum osteocalcin, a marker for bone formation, is lower than normal in patients with low BMIs. (154) These findings indicate that more bone is being absorbed and less bone is being produced than normal, potentially leading to osteoporosis (154) and stress fractures.
Changes in thyroid function also occur as a result of lowcalorie diets. Total thyroxine ([T.sub.4]) and triiodothyronine (free [T.sub.3]) decrease and reverse triiodothyronine ([rT.sub.3]) increases. (155) The response of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is diminished, (155) and the BMR is lowered. The adrenal glands produce an increased amount of free cortisol, and serum cortisol levels are elevated, without associated changes in adrenocorticotropic hormone. (155) Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from the hypothalamus is reduced, (158) leading to decreased levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from the anterior pituitary. (159) Estrogen production is low, contributing significantly to osteoporosis (159) and menstrual dysfunction. (15)
Dietary restrictions affect the immune system by significantly impairing cell-mediated immunity, phagocyte function, the complement system, secretory immunoglobulin A levels, cytokinase production, (160-163) haptoglobin production, orosomucoid production, (164) T-lymphocyte response, and production of [Th.sub.2] cytokine; [Th.sub.1] cytokinase production increases.162 These immunologic abnormalities may lead to an increased number of infections during the period of inadequate dietary intake. (165)
Eating Disorders, Disordered Eating, and Weight Management
Disordered eating behaviors have been identified in both male and female athletes. (131,166) A total of 10% to 15% of boys who participate in weight-sensitive sports practice unhealthy weight loss behaviors. (131,166) Eleven percent of wrestlers have been found to have eating disorders or disordered eating, (166) and up to 45% of wrestlers were at risk of developing an eating disorder. (129,167,168) Several studies (169-171) revealed a high prevalence of eating disorders in female athletes involved in weight-sensitive sports. Sixty percent of average-weight girls and 18% of underweight girls involved in swimming were attempting to lose weight. (172) Thus, both males and females may develop dysmorphia, disordered eating, and eating disorders as a consequence of their efforts to lose weight for their activities. The female athlete triad is a relationship among disordered eating, altered menstrual function, and abnormal bone mineralization. (160,173,174) Amenorrhea occurs as a result of decreased pulsatile release of GnRH from the hypothalamus, (157) which leads to fewer LH and FSH pulses from the anterior pituitary. (175) Osteoporosis can result from decreased estrogen or IGFI (153,154) and from excess cortisol production. (155)
Athletes competing in aesthetic sports had the highest indicators of eating disorders. (176) Those who participated in weight-matched sports also showed higher levels of disordered eating than did athletes in non-weight-restricted sports. (175-177) Athletes whose bodies differ from the "ideal" physique of the sport may also be at higher risk for developing disordered eating. (20) Some experts have surmised that the demands of the athletic subculture may involve inherent risk for the development of unhealthy weight control behaviors. Subclinical eating disorders in athletes have been associated with dieting to enhance appearance or improve health or dieting because someone (eg, coach, peer) recommended it. (45)
The spectrum of disordered eating behaviors ranges from the very benign and mild to the very severe. (50) In athletes, disordered eating may affect up to 62% of the population and is reportedly highest in weight-class events, such as boxing and wrestling, and aesthetic activities, such as dance and gymnastics, in which low body weight and leanness are emphasized. (178,179)
Disordered eating in the mild and earliest stages may start simply as a dietary plan to achieve a better aesthetic appearance or better performance. A common "diet" involves caloric restrictions, but when these restrictions are taken to the extreme, there is reason for concern. Often, athletes seek weight loss or dieting advice from friends or teammates or simply follow the suggestions of others without fully understanding the importance of maintaining an adequate energy balance. Other times, athletes may adhere to the recommendations made by coaches without understanding the nutritional requirements of the sport. (50) The health care team should be in place to help athletes and active clients address disordered eating behaviors and to assist in providing accurate and appropriate advice. The topics of disordered eating, eating disorders, and dysmorphia are addressed more comprehensively in the NATA position statement on disordered eating. (50)
We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Leslie J. Bonci, MPH, RD, LDN; Matthew Doyle, ATC; Dan Foster, PhD, ATC; Gregory L. Landry, MD; Margot Putukian, MD; James Thornton, MS, ATC; and the Pronouncements Committee in the preparation of this document.
The NATA publishes its position statements as a service to promote the awareness of certain issues to its members. The information contained in the position statement is neither exhaustive not exclusive to all circumstances or individuals. Variables such as institutional human resource guidelines, state or federal statutes, rules, or regulations, as well as regional environmental conditions, may impact the relevance and implementation of these recommendations. The NATA advises its members and others to carefully and independently consider each of the recommendations (including the applicability of same to any particular circumstance or individual). The position statement should not be relied upon as an independent basis for care but rather as a resource available to NATA members or others. Moreover, no opinion is expressed herein regarding the quality of care that adheres to or differs from NATA's position statements. The NATA reserves the right to rescind or modify its position statements at any time.
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(179.) Steen SN, Bernadot D, Englebert-Fenton K, Freeman K, Hartsough C. Roundtable #18: eating disorders in athletes: the dietician's perspective. Gatorade Sports Sci Inst. 1994;5(4):2.
Address correspondence to National Athletic Trainers' Association, Communications Department, 2952 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247.
Paula Sammarone Turocy, EdD, ATC (Chair) *; Bernard F. DePalma, MEd, PT, ATC ([dagger]); Craig A. Horswill, PhD ([double dagger]); Kathleen M. Laquale, PhD, ATC, LDN ([section]); Thomas J. Martin, MD ([parallel]); Arlette C. Perry, PhD ([paragraph]); Maria J. Somova, PhD #; Alan C. Utter, PhD, MPH, FACSM **
* Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA; ([dagger]) Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; ([double dagger]) University of Illinois at Chicago and Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL; ([section]) Bridgewater State University, MA; ([parallel]) Hershey Medical Center, PA; ([paragraph]) University of Miami, FL; # Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA; **Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Table 1. Body Composition Assessment Techniques' Model Assessment Technique Standard Error of Estimate, 2 Compartment Hydrodensitometry [+ or -]2.5 Air displacement plethysmography [+ or -]2.2-3.78 Skinfold measurements [+ or -]3.5 (b) Near-infrared interactance [+ or -]5 (b) 3 Compartment Bioelectric impedance [+ or -]3.5-5 (b) Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry [+ or -]1.88 Multiple Computed tomography or Not fully develope compartment magnetic resonance imaging (a) More research is needed. (b) Differs with each equation. Table 2. Body Fat Standards (%) by Sex and Age Body Fat Standard Males Females Lowest reference body fat (adults) (5,3-11) 5 12 Lowest reference body fat (adolescents) (2,12) 7 14 Healthy body fat ranges (13) 10-22 20-32 Table 3. Determining Goal Weight from Body Composition Current % body fat - Desired % body fat = Nonessential body fat, % -- - -- = -- Current body weight x Nonessential body fat, % = Nonessential fat, Ib (in decimal format) -- x -- = -- Current body weight - Nonessential fat, Ib = Ideal body weight, Ib -- - -- = -- Table 4. Determining Total Caloric Needs Harris-Benedict (14) Female basal metabolic rate=655.1 + (9.6 x weight [kg]) + (1.9 x height [cm])-(4.7 x age [y])+Activity needs Male basal metabolic rate = 66.5 + (13.8 x wt [kg]) + (5 x ht [cm]) - (6.8 x age [y]) + Activity needs Activity needs Sedentary (mostly sitting): add 20%-40% of basal metabolic rate Light activity (sitting, standing, some walking): add 55%-65% of basal metabolic rate Moderate activity (standing and some exercise): add 70%-75% of basal metabolic rate Heavy activity: add 80%-100% of basal metabolic rate Mifflin-St. Jeor (15) Female basal metabolic rate = (10 x wt [kg]) + (6.25 x ht [cm])- (5 x age [y]) - 161 Male basal metabolic rate = (10 x wt [kg]) + (6.25 x ht [cm])-(5 x age [y]) + 5 Table 5. Determining Energy-Producing Nutrient Intake Protein intake a. Calculation of protein needs based on activity levels: BW, kg x g/kg BW = g of protein/kg BW -- x -- = -- b. Convert the g of protein into kcal needed: --g protein x 4 = --kcal from protein c. % Protein needed of total caloric intake: --kcal from protein / --total kcal = % Carbohydrate intake a. Calculation of CHO needs based on activity levels: BW in kg x grams/kg BW = g of CHO/kg BW -- x -- = -- b. Convert the g of CHO into kcal needed: --g CHO x 4 = --kcal from CHO c. Convert % kcal into actual number of calories: --kcal from CHO divided by --total kcal = --% Fat intake a. Based on the remaining number of calories needed, calculate the fat intake needed: CHO, kcal + protein, kcal = kcal from CHO and protein -- + -- = (A)-- b. Total caloric need - value A = fat needed, kcal -- - -- = (B)-- c. Value B+g = fat, g -- / 9 = -- Abbreviations: BW, body weight; CHO, carbohydrate Table 6. Energy-Producing Nutrients Nutrient General Population Requirement Carbohydrates 5-7 g/kg of body weight per d Proteins 0.8-1 g/kg of body weight per d Fats 15%-35% of total caloric intake per d Table 7. Carbohydrate Intake (5,16) Activity Type Recommendation Optimal glycogen 7-10 g/kg of body weight per d storage for single term or single event Carbohydrate for 0.5-1 g/kg of body weight per h (30-60 g/h) moderate-intensity or intermittent exercise >1 h Daily recovery and 7-10 g/kg of body weight per d fuel for aerobic athlete (1-3 h moderate-intensity to high-intensity exercise) Daily recovery and 10-12+ g/kg of body weight per d fuel for extreme exercise program (>4-5 h moderate- intensity to high- intensity exercise) Table 8. Protein Intake (5,8,14,17,18) Athlete Type Recommendation Strength athletes 1.7-1.8 g/kg of body weight (maximum = 2 g) Endurance athletes 1.2-1.4 g/kg of body weight General population 0.8-1 g/kg of body weight Vegetarians 0.9-1 g/kg of body weight Table 9. Body Mass Index (BMI) (a) Classifications (7) BMI Classification <18.5 Underweight 18.5-24.99 Average (normal) 25.0-29.9 Overweight 30.0-34.9 Grade I obesity 35.0-39.9 Grade II obesity [greater than Grade III extreme obesity or equal to] 40 (a) BMI=weight, kg/[height.sup.2], m.
|Gale Copyright:||Copyright 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.| |
Our cabin was built on plans that I had in my head for the 22 years that I served in the Army. It finally became a reality in 2009/2010, when we built our dream cabin in the Wet Mountains overlooking the 14,000'+ Sangre de Cristo mountain range in south-central Colorado. Our cabin was built for our relaxation (my wife is still active duty) and our children's enjoyment. The kitchen is fully stocked with all the latest and greatest appliances and utensils. The bedrooms are set up with log beds that accent the cabin feel. The cabin is heated with in-floor radiant heat on the first and second floor, electric baseboard heat in the basement. The sauna is lined with redwood, and easily seats several adults. The master bedroom has a beautiful east-facing exterior balcony overlooking the Wet Mountains for enjoying a coffee in the morning, while the master bath has a double-slipperfoot tub, glassed in shower, and unique handcrafted vanity with granite countertop and vessel sinks. The main floor bath has a rain shower and heated air jets in the tub. The loft has a 52 inch plasma TV for watching DVDs or the many VHS tapes we have of popular family movies, while the kid's playroom has a 32 inch LCD TV with DVD player. The 650 sq ft of covered porch allows you to sit and watch the wildlife in the morning and evening, take in a passing thunderstorm on a summer afternoon, or relax and watch the red sunsets over the Sangres in the evening.
The nearby cute mining/ranching town of Westcliffe has a grocery store, bowling alley, lots of antique stores, art galleries, restaurants, some nice grassy parks and a great playground. Westcliff is located in the Wet Valley, which is sparsely settled, with very few lights; you will see more stars at night than you had ever thought possible. Of all the places we have lived in the world due to our Army careers, the nights at our cabin were the first time our kids saw the Milky Way galaxy. At the cabin it was easy to teach our kids how to locate the North Star using the Big Dipper, and using a star locator, we have found all the northern constellations, and several of the planets. A short while after sunset it is also possible to see satellites moving overhead, if you know how to distinguish them from aircraft.
We have 15 acres to roam on, with thousands more acres of National Forest and Wilderness Areas just a short drive away. There are valley and mountain lakes for fishing and kayaking, with world famous Arkansas River white water rafting in the Bighorn Sheep Canyon a half-hour's drive to the North, the Wolf Springs Ranch bison herd and Mission Wolf, a wolf sanctuary, a half-hour's drive to the south. Your kids can play on our big treehouse that features a cargo net climb, and monkey bars. Day trips can take you to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, the River Walk in Pueblo, the hot springs at Salida, the ghost towns of St Elmo, Tincup and others, Royal Gorge, Bishop's Castle, the historic mining towns of Rosita, Victor and Leadville (the highest incorporated town in North America) the mining/gambling town of Cripple Creek, the Gold Belt Tour roads, Mount Princeton Hot Springs, Joyful Journey Hot Springs, Garden of the Gods Park, the Air Force Academy and Mission:Wolf, the free wolf study center. For the more adventurous, there are literally thousands of miles of paved and dirt mountain roads, clothing optional hot springs in the San Luis Valley, and hiking trails up 14,000+ foot mountains. But don't let the many activities fool you, the cabin is in a very sparsely populated, but beautiful, valley. Located on a well-maintained dead-end dirt road, there is very little traffic that goes by the cabin.
There is a cell phone tower on the mountain nearby, so that you have some communication with the outside world if that is what you want. But the cabin will make you want to shut off the phone and just sit and relax.
Keywords: Relax at our cabin, with top of the line kitchen, beautiful 360 views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Wet Mountains in South Central Colorado. Sit on the large covered porches as you watch the deer and other wildlife graze on the land, or listen to the coyotes call at night. Play in the treehouse, relax in the sauna, or just let the stress of life disappear in our mountain retreat. Whether using the double slipperfoot tub with a view, watching movies on the plasma TVs in the loft or kid's playroom, cooking in the beautiful new kitchen, using the large sauna, or just relaxing on the porch, there is enough luxury in our cabin to keep everyone in the family satisfied.
We are an Army family. I did 22 years in the Army before retiring, and my wife is still on Active Duty. We have four children, all who love being at the cabin when we can make it. While there, we enjoy hiking, biking, backpacking, fishing, cooking and just plain relaxing.
The Owner purchased this cabin in 2009
We love the Wet Valley for the views we get of both the Wet Mountains (the cabin is at 8600' in the Wet Mts) and the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range to the west. During the spring, the views are of lush green grasses and leaves. The summer brings afternoon thunderstorms over the Sangres and through the valley, and we often sit on the porch and watch the lightning as it passes by. The fall turns the valley golden as the ranches bring in the hay and the aspens that fill the mountainsides turn yellow beneath the snow-capped peaks. In the winter we get snows that only occasionally are heavy at the cabin, but are massive further up the two mountain ranges to the east and west.
The Wet Valley is sparsely populated, and mostly cattle ranches. You will occasionally see the local Amish families taking their horse-drawn buggies into town to purchase items or sell their home-made items at the Farmers Market. The town of Westcliffe has a cute downtown section with lots of specialty stores, mining, railroad and ranching history and a summer rodeo that is a lot of fun to watch. The town still has an Independence Day parade that reminds me of those I saw as a child; where every man takes off his cowboy hat as the flag goes by. We wanted our children, world travelers due to our many overseas postings, to know what small-town America really looks like, and Westcliffe is a perfect example of that.
This area is one of the last remaining parts of Colorado that has not changed very much in the last 100 years. You can look at pictures of Westcliffe from the mining days of the early 1900s, and you'll see the same buildings on Main Street then as you see today. We like that.
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this rental. We stayed in this cabin for 10 days, and every part of it was amazing and enjoyable. The cabin is perfectly situated with spectacular views of the mountains. The view from the front porch is perfect to sit and enjoy all day long! Our family consists of 3 boys and 1 infant. The rooms were perfect for the older boys to stay in and the open plan made it great for our infant who is rolling around. The kitchen was fully stocked with everything that we needed, and it was nice to have the grill on the porch also. We ended up buying water since the refrigerator water did not work, and the tap water tasted like well water. I would recommend all terrain tires when traveling to this property. We ended up getting 2 flat tires during our days there because of the dirt road that you have to take to access the property. As for the house, we couldn't have been happier! I would highly recommend this property to anyone who is looking to stay in Colorado. The town of Westcliffe is the perfect travel destination. It is secluded enough to enjoy the beautiful stars at night on the peaceful balcony, but close enough to Colorado Springs or Pueblo to enjoy a bigger city. The locals also told us that there is skiing only an hour away. We look forward to coming back to this cabin and the town of Westcliffe very soon!
Let me start by saying that the little town of Westcliffe could not be sweeter! We came during the week of the Westcliffe Rodeo and other festivities. Everyone is nice, honest, helpful, and welcoming and the pace is refreshingly slower than our home town near Chicago.
The view of the Sangres from the home is just fantastic. Every morning my husband and I would watch the sunrise and sit there on the beautiful deck as the mountains changed from dark, to purple to pink to fully sunlit, and it was truly amazing. The sunsets are equally captivating and not to be missed.
The wildlife (that we saw) was very diverse - all sorts of birds, mule deer, does, fawns, ground squirrels... we read that there are also black bears and mountain lions, but we never saw any.
Nearby activities include horseback riding trips, white water rafting, hiking (we hiked to Lower Sand Lake one day and it was breathtaking).
The home is well off the beaten path and about 25 minutes from the town. It is fairly secluded, but there are still neighbors in sight... but nothing that would ever interfere with the quiet atmosphere. The home is large and spacious. It is a nicely done log home with appropriately rustic, up to date decor, appliances, bathrooms etc. The only issue some may have is that there is no wifi, or telephone (however, I have Verizon cell service and it worked fine for me, but my husband's ATT did NOT!), and there was also no cable for the beautiful flat screen TV (although it may be there, but it was not connected). This was never an issue for us as we were outside almost all day every day... but it may be for some.
The home is clean and well appointed with anything and everything you could need to take care of the family (there were 5 in our party) and cook whatever your heart desires. Alternatively, a trip to town for lunch or dinner is great as well. We dined at Chappy's, Edwardos and Sangrita (all delicious)... and went to The Stage Stop for icecream - AWESOME!
All in all this was the best vacation that we have taken as a family, and we intend to come back as often as we can.
This home is located in a beautifully, secluded area. It is spacious and nicely decorated. The bathrooms and kitchen are very up to date. Our family enjoyed sitting on the porch and taking in the picturesque views. Don't forget to go outside at night and look at the sky-the stars are amazing!!! It might be helpful to know that the master bedroom and loft area (which has a full size futon) is located upstairs. The main level has two bedrooms (bunk beds in one room and a full/queen size bed in the other room). The other two rooms are located downstairs in the lower level which is somewhat "removed" from the rest of the living area. Groups larger than 8 may want to bring paper plates and cups to supplement the dinnerware that is provided. (The service provided serves 8). The house is conveniently located near the town of Westcliffe (where you can get groceries, ice cream, shop, geocache etc.) |
Friday, June 20, 2014
Looks like I may do a little writing for Deli Magazine. Kansas City Deli Magazine, to be precise.
This review is of the new release by K.C.'s The Blessed Broke. It's called Ladders Out of Purgatory.
Here is the link:
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Blurt (blurtonline.com) just posted my review of Somewhere Else, the latest Bloodshot release from Lydia Loveless. Click the link below to read the review, eh? ...
Thanks for visiting Reverberations, and for clicking through to Blurt.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
The posted capacity of Kansas City’s Riot Room is 240.
In the early days of the new century Portland’s Dandy Warhols looked like the last of the rock stars. Their best record, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia (2000), earned critical plaudits and scored a hit of sorts with “Bohemian Like You,” while its successor, Welcome to the Monkey House, further expanded their audience.
The underground success of the 2004 documentary Dig, an unsparing look at the love/hate relationship between the band and their mentor-antagonists The Brian Jonestown Massacre, narrated by the Warhol’s singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor, also increased the band’s profile.
Since then the band has been marginalized by critics and seen its audience contract some. Earlier trips to the area included stops at larger venues like Lawrence’s Granada Theater and Liberty Hall.
Still, the audience that packed the Riot Room on Friday night was enthusiastic and receptive. Live, the Warhols continue to pack a punch. Their performance on Friday night was tight, at once driving and relaxed. Built from the pieces of 1968’s ultimate jam – equal parts Velvet Underground, “Satanic Majesties” Stones, and early Syd Barrett vintage Pink Floyd, and super modified by jolts of everything from Hawkwind and Spacemen 3 to Chic, the group’s seductive grooves and pop built tunes hold up well.
Most of those in attendance were clearly fans, singing along and dancing, which took commitment since the club felt like a stuffed phone booth inside of a sauna. Front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor made frequent references to “freezing.” The Dandy Warhols have always oozed irony, so go figure.
He also flattered the Kansas City audience as he noted the positive response to their cover of a Desmond Dekker song (“Intensified”), suggesting that previous dates on the tours had featured less astute fans.
Dekker’s “Intensified “ was good fun - not exactly ska, but certainly a nice change of pace from the band’s sparkling drone. Audience favorites from Monkey House, like “We Used to be Friends” kept the energy level high, but the fans saved their full rock out fervor for the trio of songs from Thirteen Tales, that climaxed the show - the band’s best-known song, the Stones-inspired “Bohemian Like You,” drawing the most enthusiastic reaction.
Zia McCabe’s keyboard playing is both bed of drone and chief instrumental voice. Taylor-Taylor and lead guitarist Peter Hellstrom, the band’s founders in 1994, lock in to a distinctive psych-groove with drummer Brent DeBoer, who in addition to driving the band is Taylor-Taylor’s chief harmony foil.
The band’s set list called for more songs than the band ultimately performed, the magisterial “Godless,” and “Boys Better,” an early favorite from the Dandy Warhols Come Down were omitted. I guess Mr. Taylor-Taylor really was freezing. The band played “Get Off” and did not return.
San Francisco’s Warlocks, veterans trafficking in Warhols-complementary garage-psych and bluesy shoegaze, opened the show. The band was tight, assured and well received by the audience.
This review was intended for the Kansas City Star's Back to Rockville blog. Traffic issues intervened. Sad to see good writing go to waste. So, here it is ... Reverberations-ized.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Blurt has recently posted my review of the new album from The War on Drugs. It's called Lost in the Dream, and this link takes you there:
You can hear and see a sample of Adam Granduciel and company's work here:
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Fred, my editor, gave me the green light. The nice folks at ESP Records sent me the disc. I listened, enjoyed, ruminated, and then wrote. I've long been a fan of Ran Blake, and it gives me great pleasure to promote his music. Here's the link:
The video below is not from Plays Solo Piano, but it gives you a taste of Blake's singular work.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Magnetic Fields – Realism (Nonesuch)
By my count, “Realism” is the ninth record from the Magnetic Fields, an ensemble that’s essentially a vehicle for the songwriter Stephin Merritt. Merritt is a busy guy, sitting around in gay bars writing songs all day. Hey, that’s what he says. He sure is prolific. Between Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, the 6ths, and Future Bible Heroes, heck, he barely has time to eat, although he is fond of Scandinavian dairy products. But I digress.
Glad to be unhappy (Rodgers-Hart reference – Merritt would like that), Mr. Merritt lives in a world of melody and wit. And by golly if you relish such qualities Magnetic Fields is for you. Having made his masterpiece, the sprawling “69 Love Songs” in 1999, Merritt amuses himself with varying the sonic textures of his work — he's completely abandoned the synth-pop that established his work. The Magnetic Fields' last record, “Distortion,” lived up to its name, avowedly something of a tribute to the Jesus and Mary Chain (although Merritt is capable of the glibly facetious), the song craft was still pure Merritt. “Realism” dials back the decibels, eschewing electric instrumentation almost entirely and employing diverse instrumentation (how about flugelhorn, Cajon, accordion, banjo, etc.) well beyond the usual folkie palette. Both, the volume dial-back and the acoustic instrumentation are perfect for these hurt, bitter, but oddly blithe songs.
One could spend the day quoting from Merritt’s dour, witty songs. I shan’t. Vaguely comparable: Stuart Murdoch’s writing for Belle & Sebastian and God Help the Girl, although Murdoch is a sad humanist and Merritt is a borderline misanthrope — albeit a lovable one. Neil Hannon’s work with the Divine Comedy has a kinship with Merritt’s, but Hannon is a morally ambivalent European flatterer while Merritt is something of a New England scold for all his love of personal liberty. What else can you call the author of a jolly, but scathing putdown like “You Must Be Out of Your Mind?” It’s hard to imagine any other contemporary songwriter producing a Rudy Valli-like, Twenties homage/parody with the nod and a wink ambivalence of “Seduced and Abandoned” — Randy Newman, maybe?
Finally, Stephin Merritt is a post-rock Stephen Sondheim in search of a new Broadway, perhaps a Broadway for smarter people, indeed smarter people than those who typically support Broadway. Such is his dilemma. He’s too blisteringly direct for polite set. And he’s too literate for ninety-percent of, well, college rockers. The gentleman sure has a way with words and tunes, though, and a lovely, refined recital like “Realism” makes a fine case for his art.
* EXCAVATIONS = I've written forever. Well before Reverberations entered the blogosphere. WithEXCAVATIONS, we'll occasionally feature some of my work from the vaults. Some pieces will be dashed off reviews for use at Kief's Downtown Music, others will have been from periodicals like the Kansas City Star, The Tornado, The Kansas City Free Press, or others. The intent? It's simple, to give Reverberations readers a look at some older writings, and to plug some records that still sound fine to these ears.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Max Richter - 24 Postcards in Full Color
A collection of (mostly) short pieces (the composer jokingly refers to them as 'ringtones'). There are solo piano compositions, compositions for strings, ambient pieces, even the odd guitar thrown in. I first became aware of Richter as the producer of Vashti Bunyan's beautiful 2005 release Lookaftering. Then backtracked to check out Piano Circus who covered the noo-classical canon of work by Arvo Part, Steve Reich, and the like. Postcards is in the same vein. If you enjoy the works of the those guys, or Philip Glass e.g.(although M.R. isn’t sooo repetitive), Richter should please you. The variety of instrumentations, textures and tempi makes for an enjoyable listen. There's something melancholy and autumnal about this record that somehow suits the coming season. Some of these short works give you something to chew on, others are basically thinking man's easy listening, but that's not such a bad thing at all. A perfect record with which to close a busy day.
* EXCAVATIONS = I've written forever. Well before Reverberations entered the blogosphere. With EXCAVATIONS, we'll occasionally feature some of my work from the vaults. Some pieces will be dashed off reviews for use at Kief's Downtown Music, others will have been from periodicals like the Kansas City Star, The Tornado, The Kansas City Free Press, or others. The intent? It's simple, to give Reverberations readers a look at some older writings, and to plug some records that still sound fine to these ears.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
The Black Angels were terrific. But it was Roky's performance that seized my attention, and my heart. Besides, I've given the Angels a lot of ink over the last three years.
I think they'll understand.
Roky's set list
Visit the link to read the story:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Welcome to Reverberations, point of entry for all things Steve Wilson, rock writer. The link takes you to my review of It's Flamin' Groovy by long-time Flamin' Groovies singer-guitarist, Chris Wilson.
Since there are no current "videos" for tracks from It's Flamin' Groovy,
let's time trip; shall we?
Sunday, January 12, 2014
In this case of Frankie Rose's latest release Herein Wild.
This magic link takes you there: http://blurtonline.com/review/frankie-rose-herein-wild/
Entertain yourselves with this: |
2006 Team rosters
Cycling Center announces 2006 roster, growth plans
The Phoenix, USA-based elite amateur team Cycling Center-Bio Racer has announced the 2006 roster for its Belgian-based racing program, targeted primarily toward elite U.S. amateurs.
In addition, team director Bernard Moerman has outlined growth that has occurred in the past year, including the addition of a second Belgian facility for visiting masters riders and international teams, as well as the start of ties with Veloport Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M., as an early-season training facility for Cycling Center athletes.
The race calendar for Cycling Center riders spans the Atlantic with early- and late-season events in North America, including Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Arizona and Vuelta Sonora in Mexico this spring, as well as the Univest Grand Prix in September. The European racing calendar will centre on UCI races and kermesses in Belgium, as well as UCI races in the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany and Luxembourg.
Moerman said his goals for the Cycling Center for 2006 include advancing more young riders to the professional level, building a continental team on both sides of the Atlantic with road, cyclocross and track squads, expanding developmental and educational programs in the United States, and expanding the master's program in Europe.
Moerman also pointed to a number of Cycling Center alumni who have moved to the professional ranks or are leading figures with top amateur teams in the last few years. They include: Bryan Smith, Jake Rytlewski, Dan Bowman, Eric Keim, Jacob Fetty, Tyson Apostol, Austin King, Corey Steinbrecher, Mike Norton, Brian Sheedy, Rudy Robaina, Brian Adams and Jed Schneider.
Support for the Cycling Center and its athletes also comes from various organizations in the United States, including the just-announced Euro-Devo scholarship program for Michigan cyclists, as well as Hotter 'N Hell, a bicycle tour that supports the cycling program at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and the school's athletes at the Cycling Center. Numerous other individuals and clubs also deserve recognition for their financial support of athletes who have been accepted into the program, Moerman said.
With a few spots left open, the main part of the selection for 2006 is known. Here is the 2006 Cycling Center roster with riders' hometown or country. Athletes will be based at the Cycling Center's headquarters in Hertsberge, Belgium, for either all or a portion of the March-through-September season. Espoirs are noted with an asterisk (*):
Matthew Allen (Boulder CO)
European staff: Bernard Moerman, general manager and team director; Ann Dusauchoit, logistic manager and soigneur; Dr. Dag Van Elslande, team physician; Noel Tahon, soigneur; Wouter Van Wettere, mechanic; Geert Van Walleghem, assistant director sportif; Kurt Van Lancker, race advisor; Gert De Mey and Herman Boyden, race support.
U.S. staff: The Cycling Center is also supported in the United States by cycling-related professionals, including coaches Barney King, Gary Achterberg, Dirk Friel and Ben Sharp. Others involved closely include Dr. Andy Pruitt, Ed.D., PA; Dr. L. Jon Porman, D.C., CCSP; and Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach, sport psychologist.
Sponsors: Bio Racer, race clothing; Nike, team clothing; Rudy Project, helmets and glasses; MBK, bicycle frames; Oval Concepts, handlebars, stems, forks and seatposts; Fi'zi:k, saddles; Time, pedals; Maxxis, tires; SRM, power meter; Tacx, ergometers, rollers and bottle cages; Volkswagen, fleet; Sports and Cultural Entertainment, race support and event organization; Sportsbase Online, logistic support; Veloport Corporation Albuquerque, training facilities; Clif Bar, race food; Bional, food supplements; Compex, electro muscle stimulators; Altitude Tech, altitude rooms; Bavo Sauna Bouw, sauna infrared room, steam room; Penta Reizen, travel agent; ING, bank, and Byrne Specialty Gases.
Web site: www.cyclingcenter.com |
I don’t call this success”, said PSY after the unexpectedly world wide famous rise to the charts of his singleGangnam Style, the first video in the history of YouTube to reach the unbelievable records of 1,7 bn clicks. "Gangnam is a phenomenon. This is not made by me. It’s made by people who loved the song”. A lot has been written and said about him, about his passions, his music, his taste for clothes, his honesty and above all his youthful John Belushi-esque look and demeanor... just look into his eyes, he knows what he did. “Gangnam is a rich, posh elegant neighborhood in Seoul, which we compare to Beverly Hills. I describe it as noble and aristocratic during the daytime while it transforms itself at night. It’s like their women, sophisticated by day and wild at night. And the lyrics of my song explain why I am the right guy for that kind of lady”.
Memorable are some of the Gangnam parodies that you can find on the net, amongst them: Inmate Gangnam Style (inmates in Cebu, Philippines, where the prisoners perform dance routines as part of their daily exercise and rehabilitation), El Monte Lifeguard Style and the Gangnam Style Mom, which point out how PSY (real name Park Jae-Sang) is indeed a multicultural generational phenomena. He arrives triumphantly in America when, after posting compliments on Twitter about his song, Scooter Braun - Justin Bieber’s manager - proposes to represent him in the United States, even though PSY is really well known in the ever popular K-Pop (Korean pop) music scene, since 2001, date of the release of Psycho World, his first album. Gangnam Style is a single from PSY 6甲 (Six Rules), Part.1, his sixth album.
With his new hit song Gentleman (released the past april) the 35 year old PSY reveals that he was finally able to overcome the pressure put on him by Gangnam Style. “After Gentleman was out, I was really satisfied with what it had done, because it proved that I was not a one hit wonder, a lucky shot. Nobody can ever label me that now.Gentleman has 500 million views right now, the song also hit number 1 in 81 countries, and I am really relieved by that. Now I can really do what I have to do, comfortably. I don’t have to make another dancing phenomenon, I am just going back to where I came from and it’s really comfortable right now”.
Since he moved to Los Angeles, a few months ago, he has also been working on new material. “I am recording every day, what I am trying to do is make song after song, I am totally out of that stress and pressure right now, so maybe there’s going to be another album, or single or EP but... one thing I know... I am on fire right now. I really can make great songs these days, and I think this is the best period in my life. I feel like Hyun-jin Ryu a baseball player from South Korea who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers. One time he was just trying to swing it while he was closing his eyes, and he accidentally hit a home run, and the next time he was up, the crowd was calling for another home run, but honestly, he went for a bunt instead, so runners could advance to second base. So for me, Gentleman was that bunt, so now runners are on second base, and now it’s my time and I don’t have to hit another home run, and if I just hit one single and you can score because I made a bunt that’s even better. I am making a lot of songs and so many good things are happening to me right now as a creator, I am just enjoying this period and I think maybe by November, people can get my new songs”.
PSY’s creative process doesn’t stop there, but trickles down to every single aspect of his own decision making, including food, dance, choreography and most of all, clothes, which not only he makes and chooses for his performances and videos, but, being a fanatic fashionista that he is, he wears daily on his own time. “I really like formal styles, like jackets, tops, coats, tuxedo especially, all those kind of formal clothes with structured and tailored details. I work with a group of Korean stylists and choreographers. My team is all Koreans. I have been doing this job for twelve years and when we are making songs, videos, choreographs or concerts, you cannot be perfect all the time, but if everything goes well, then it’s really good. So Gangnam Style was like that, it was the result of a perfect concept of ideas, moves and creativity done during all these years. My choreographers literally invented that horsey dance, those moves, and after it shook the world, they cannot even breathe because of the pressure they are under - he laughs - plus, add the international factor of Gangnam Style, we all thought we hit it big in Korea, instead it went all over the world! My staff never thought they were making an international hit”.
Before turning onto a music career as a singer, PSY wanted to be a music producer. “Here’s the thing, I personally have a very kind of extreme personality. When I eat something, I want it either hot or spicy, if I am going in a sauna, afterwards I want the real cold iced water, and when I am drinking, I am drinking like there’s no tomorrow. I am really extreme. So from the very beginning, when I was in college - he attended, without getting degrees, Boston University & the Berkley College of Music - my first dream was not to be a singer, my first dream was to be a composer and a producer. So I made a lot of songs (hundreds of songs)... without selling a single one of them. Two years after, same situation, no buyers... that is why I decided to be the lead singer for my songs. So there I was, the only singer who can sing my songs, that’s how I debuted, kind of a different from other stories. So even if my dream was to be a composer and producer, I personally danced like that (Gangnam) kind of funny dance and I did a lot of private gigs on occasion, because I knew I could do it. Well in Korea, I also composed several of my K-Pop friends’ songs, but my life is totally changed right now, I am doing a lot of recordings in studios here in LA, and I got a lot of transactions and relations with a lot of US artists.
Before Gangnam Style, I was definitively somebody in my country, but I was Mr. Nobody outside of it. So right after the song exploded like that, I suddenly became a singer in your country and in many other ones as well. I don’t regret Gentleman because that was my best at that time but after I am done with it, I am kind of feeling relieved from that pressure now I can just go on in doing what I want to do”.
Here we come to another one of PSY’s passions: food & drinks.Before moving to LA, he fully organized a worldwide talent search for a single professional chef: applicants had to send a cooking video expressing their philosophy for three things: music, dance and food. From a pool of 350 contestants, chef Ricardo Caput of Brazil was chosen by PSY as the winner. The winner would be given yearly salary of $40,000 a month and askedto tour the globe, preparing the singer’s favorite foods: bibimbap, mandoo (dumplings) and barbecue short ribs. The contest was sponsored by Bibigo, a chain of restaurants - mostly based in Korea, but with a few locations in Los Angeles. “Yeah, I was so surprised because he came from Brazil, and he never cooked any Korean food in his life, and after he learned the basic of my country’s cousin in a month, I told him... whoaa, I think you were Korean in another life. He’s amazing”.
In his new Gentleman video, he dances, while pulling a lot of mean pranks on scantily clad women, and eating, another proof that food is part of his life and of this video. “We are eating in a tent, it’s a pojangmacha, and the late-night streets of Seoul are packed with them. The name literally means ‘tented wagon’, and they’re something like a dive bar combined with a street food stall, serving up hearty, spicy, salty food to go with bottles of soju (japanese distilled liqueur) and beer”. Musically speaking, his life role model and hero is Freddie Mercury. “His songwriting skills, I cannot even approach, but his showmanship, everything I know about the stage, I learned it from his videos. I had a huge rock band mania, Queen, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses”.
Half an hour into our interview, PSY decides to drop a bomb, just for L’Uomo Vogue. “So for the first time ever, I will reveal some huge piece of information, because I really appreciate being on the cover, so this is like ‘thank you’;and the big secret is... I just finished recording my next song with a legendary artist, Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. When I was in middle school, I literally cried when they were singing Crazy or Amazing or whatever, they were my lifetime role models, and now I am collaborating with Steven Tyler, what the fuck, man? (laughter) I love my life”.
L'Uomo Vogue, October 2013 ( n. 444)
Manicure Emi Kudo@Opus Beauty using Dior Vernis
Hair Stylist Terry Millet@The Magnet Agency using Leonor Greyl
Makeup artist Kathy Jeung@The Magnet Agnecy using Giorgio Armani Beauty
Groomer Cori Bardo@The Magnet Agency using Leonor Greyl
Fashion Editor Rushka Bergman
Photo by Francesco Carrozzini |
Also see www.phkillscancer.com
Lessons in Cancer and General pH Management
Medical Veritas Association
Most of us are going to be surprised to find out that there is an oncologist in Rome Italy, Doctor Tullio Simoncini, destroying cancer tumors with sodium bicarbonate.[i] Sodium bicarbonate is safe, extremely inexpensive and unstoppably effective when it comes to cancer tissues. It’s an irresistible chemical, cyanide to cancer cells for it hits the cancer cells with a shock wave of alkalinity, which allows much more oxygen into the cancer cells than they can tolerate. Cancer cells cannot survive in the presence of high levels of oxygen. Sodium bicarbonate is, for all intent and purposes, an instant killer of tumors. Full treatment takes only days, as does another cancer treatment that heats the cancer cells with laser generated heat. (At bottom see combining ph shift with heat.)
extracellular (interstitial) pH (pHe) of solid tumours
Case one: A patient diagnosed with pulmonary neoplasm of the lung, underwent treatment with sodium bicarbonate, before submitting to surgery to remove part of the lung. Treatment consisted of sodium bicarbonate administered orally, by aerosol, and IV. After first treatment reduction of nodules and absorption was evident, and after 8 months was no longer visible at all. Treatments also reduced size of the liver and results were confirmed by both X-ray and CAT scan.
Studies have shown how manipulation of tumour pH with sodium bicarbonate enhances some forms of chemotherapy.[iii] Proteins can be modified both in vivo and in vitro by increases in acidity. In fact pH is the regulatory authority that controls most cellular processes. The pH balance of the human bloodstream is recognized by medical physiology texts as one of the most important biochemical balances in all of human body chemistry. pH is the acronym for "Potential Hydrogen". In definition, it is the degree of concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance or solution. It is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 14. Higher numbers mean a substance is more alkaline in nature and there is a greater potential for absorbing more hydrogen ions. Lower numbers indicate more acidity with less potential for absorbing hydrogen ions.
Our body pH is very important because pH controls the speed of our body's biochemical reactions. It does this by controlling the speed of enzyme activity as well as the speed that electricity moves through our body. The higher (more alkaline) the pH of a substance or solution, the more electrical resistance that substance or solution holds. Therefore, electricity travels slower with higher pH. If we say something has an acid pH, we are saying it is hot and fast. Alkaline pH on the other hand, biochemically speaking, is slow and cool.
tissues have a much higher concentration of
In 1973, a study conducted by the Department of Occupational Health at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem found that when cancerous breast tissue is compared with non-cancerous tissue from elsewhere in the same woman's body, the concentration of toxic chemicals such as DDT and PCBs was "much increased in the malignant tissue compared to the normal breast and adjacent adipose tissue."[iv] This should say something to the oncologists of the world about chemical etiologies that are going undiagnosed and untreated.
Part of any successful cancer treatment includes chelation and detoxification of heavy metals and a host of toxic chemicals, which are all invading our bodies’ everyday. It is literally raining mercury, uranium contamination is increasing, lead we are discovering is even more toxic than anyone ever believed and is even in the bread that we eat, arsenic is in our chicken, the government still wants you to get your yearly mercury flu shot, dentists of course are still using hundreds of tons of mercury exposing patients to internalized toxic waste dumps (mercury vapors from hell), fluoride is still put in the water and chlorine is breathed in most showers. This just covers a small slice of the toxic disaster that is the hallmark of life in the 21st century.
The IMVA recommends alkaline foods and sodium bicarbonate so that the pH of the blood remains high, which in turn means that the blood is capable of carrying more oxygen. This in turn keeps every cell in the body at peak efficiency and helps the cell eliminate waste products. Detoxification and chelation will proceed more easily and safely under slightly alkaline conditions. Increased urinary pH reduces oxidative injury in the kidney so it behooves us to work clinically with bicarbonate.
receiving sodium bicarbonate achieved urine pHs
Body ph level changes are intense in the profundity of their biological effects. Even genes directly experience external pH. pH differentially regulates a large number of proteins. Increased oxidative stress, which correlates almost exponentially with ph changes into the acidic, is especially dangerous to the mitochondria, which suffer the greatest under oxidative duress. Epigenetics, which may now have begun eclipsing traditional genetics, commonly describes how factors such as diet and smoking, rather than inheritance influence how genes behave.
great advantage of knowing the prime cause of a disease
Dr. Otto Warburg, two times Nobel Prize winner, stated in his book, The Metabolism of Tumors that the primary cause of cancer was the replacement of oxygen in the respiratory cell chemistry by the fermentation of sugar. The growth of cancer cells is initiated by a fermentation process, which can be triggered only in the absence of oxygen at the cell level. What Warburg was describing was a classic picture of acidic conditions. Just like overworked muscle cells manufacture lactic acid by-products as waste, cancerous cells spill lactic acid and other acidic compounds causing acid pH.
After we just saw how important sulfur is in human health and how useful a basic chemical like sodium thiosulfate can be, we now get a crash course in the power of sodium bicarbonate and the act of instantly turning cancer cells alkaline. Might as well shoot a guided cruise missile at them - so effective, safe, quick and precise is sodium bicarbonate, inexpensive as well. Just a few pennies a day of it will keep cancer further away, keeping it at arms length from ourselves, patients and loved ones. It is something we can use to treat our water with as well, excellent to put in distilled or reverse osmosis water or any water for that matter.
A true understanding of cancer is impossible without understanding why some tissues in the body are deficient in oxygen and therefore prone to cancer. Cancerous tissues are acidic, whereas healthy tissues are alkaline. Water (H2O) decomposes into H+ and OH-. When a solution contains more H+ than OH- then it is said to be acid. When it contains more OH- than H+ then it is said to be alkaline. When oxygen enters an acid solution it can combine with H+ ions to form water. Oxygen helps to neutralize the acid, while at the same time the acid prevents oxygen from reaching the tissues that need it. Acidic tissues are devoid of free oxygen. An alkaline solution is just the reverse. Two hydroxyl ions (OH-) can combine to produce one water molecule and one oxygen atom. In other words, an alkaline solution can provide oxygen to the tissues.
The pH scale goes from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Below 7 is acid and above 7 is alkaline. The blood, lymph and cerebral spinal fluid in the human body are designed to be slightly alkaline at a pH of 7.4.
At a pH slightly above 7.4 cancer cells become dormant and at pH 8.5 cancer cells will die while healthy cells will live. This has given rise to a variety of treatments based on increasing the alkalinity of the tissues such as vegetarian diet, the drinking of fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and dietary supplementation with alkaline minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, cesium and rubidium. But nothing can compare to the instant alkalinizing power of sodium bicarbonate for safe and effective treatment of cancer.
Like magnesium chloride or sulfates are excellent emergency medicines, basic chemicals, nutritional in nature, sodium bicarbonate is a nutritional medicine meaning it cannot and will not end up controlled by CODEX. To control bicarbonate they would have to demand mothers stop making cake with it. We might thus identify sodium bicarbonate as an emergency medicine for cancer with the above supporting approaches working on broader levels to help overall physiology change to a degree where body chemistry is unfavorable for new cancer growth.
Cancer seems to grow slowly in a highly acid environment (because the acids cause it to partially destroy itself) and may actually grow more quickly as your body becomes more alkaline prior to reaching the healthy pH slightly above 7.4 where the cancer becomes dormant. Therefore it is important to get pH above 7.4 quickly. Once one has achieved a pH above 7.4, it is useful to monitor saliva pH regularly to ensure that the body remains sufficiently alkaline.
and more frequent use of sodium bicarbonate was associated
“The therapeutic treatment of bicarbonate salts can be administered orally, through aerosol, intravenously and through catheter for direct targeting of tumors.” All of Dr. Tullio Simoncini’s treatments with sodium bicarbonate are directed as specifically as possible to the organs involved, for example, vaginally as well as abdominally into the peritoneal space for cervical cancer, through the hepatic artery for liver cancer in order to get the solution as close to the affected area as possible. Sodium bicarbonate administered orally, via aerosol or intravenously. can achieve positive results in most tumors, including the brain, while others, such as the serious ones of the bones can remain unaffected.by the treatment. Dr. Simoncini, with the help of interventionist radiologists was able to reach those areas of the body that had previously been inaccessible. This was achieved through positioning appropriate catheters either in cavities for peritoneum and pleura, or in arteries to reach other organs.[vii]
most effective measure to treat RT-induced mucositis in patients
Case two: A nine-year-old child is hospitalized and diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma on the right humerus. Despite several chemotherapy cycles surgery on removed the humeral bone. Growth of three tumor masses continued despite continued efforts to stop progression. Sodium bicarbonate salts treatment were then started administered by catheter into the right sub-clavian artery in order to administer the salts (phleboclysis of 500 cc at five per cent) directly on the tumoral masses. Of the 3 masses shown by the scographic scan of May 7, 2001, whose size is respectively
a. 6,5 cm
b. 4,4 cm
c. 2,4 cm
After the sodium bicarbonate salts treatment only one tumor was left, with a size of only 1.5 cm, which is most likely residual scarring, as shown by the echography of September 10, 2001.
Sodium bicarbonate injection is also indicated in the treatment of metabolic acidosis which may occur in severe renal disease, uncontrolled diabetes, and circulatory insufficiency due to shock or severe dehydration, extracorporeal circulation of blood, cardiac arrest and severe primary lactic acidosis. Sodium bicarbonate is further indicated in the treatment of drug intoxications, including barbiturates. Sodium carbonate has been found effective in treating poisoning or overdose from many chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs by negating the cardiotoxic and neurotoxic effects. [ix]
bicarbonate is useful in treating
Knowledge of sodium bicarbonate is important for parents because the rate of childhood cancer is growing exponentially. But parents who resist the radiation burning, cutting and the lethal chemicals are regularly hauled before the courts only to have their children taken away from them. Oncologists are increasingly resorting to the justice system to have children made wards of the courts who then turn them over to medically irresponsible practitioners. It is inexcusable separating a child from his mother and father in the middle of a medical crisis. Adding to the stress by tormenting patients’ hearts and souls has nothing to do with safe or effective medicine. The naked truth is doctors and medical institutions have not earned the necessary trust for this level of intervention in people’s lives. With patient safety slipping year by year,[x] children are not safe in hospitals, much less so if forced at gunpoint from their parents embrace.
extremely simple therapy used by physicians who treat autism is to
supply a mild antidote that neutralizes the excess acids. The most
convenient product is a nonprescription drug called AlkaSeltzer
One mother wrote, “It worked so well for both of my children that the die-off was an uneventful experience, even though they both had very high levels of yeast.” The restoring of acid/alkaline balance also relieves many allergies. “These children also had grave disturbances in electrolyte chemistry, and tended to be acidotic (low CO). The data that unfolded was fascinating and clearly earmarked the acidosis and hypoxic state (low serum bicarbonate = low O2 levels). Potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, magnesium carbonate and the like were used. Now we began to understand why so many children responded to Buffered C (potassium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate), and others needed a more specific buffer (in some children for example niacin was grossly depleted and they required niacin bicarbonate),” wrote Patricia Kane.
acid/alkaline balance is one of the most overlooked aspects
Case three: A 62-year-old patient undergoes surgery in December 1998 for endometrial adenocarcinoma, followed by successive cycles of radiotherapy and anti-hormone therapy. Following the thickening of the peritoneum and the growth of several lymph nodes due to carcinosis; from the clinical point of view, the patient’s condition decayed with the presence of exhaustion, general swelling, intestinal meteorism, irregularity of evacuation, steady feeling of heaviness and blood pressure instability. Treatment with a 5% sodium bicarbonate solution administered alternately thru an endoperitoneal catheter and via IV showed rapid improvement to a normal condition of health. A final CAT scan confirms the regression of the peritoneal carcinosis and a stabilization of the size of the lymph nodes when compared to the preceding year.
kidneys are usually the first organs to show chemical
Case four: A 40-year-old patient underwent surgical intervention (left radical mastectomy) for mammarian carcinoma seven months earlier. After three months of chemotherapy, the patient is affected by: “diffused pulmonary and hepatic metastasis; bone metastasis particularly to the fifth and sixth lumbar vertebrae, with invasion and compression of the medullar channel, which is causing extreme pain which makes the patient unresponsive to any treatment.” All pain suppressant drugs – morphine included – are totally ineffective and the patient is totally prostrate even unable to sleep. Believing that fungal colonies amassed in the medullar channel will respond to administration of sodium bicarbonate salts, lumbar injections are begun.
Dr Tullio Simoncini recounts: “As I administer it by slowly injecting 50 cc of sodium bicarbonate solution at 8.4 %, the patient tosses and with a thread of a voice confesses to me that she has slept only two hours in the last week. Exhausted, she whispers to me: “If only I could sleep half an hour tonight.” But the day after, she calls me on the phone and says: “I have slept all night”. After two more lumbar injections of the bicarbonate salts in the next month, the pain disappeared completely. Magnetic Resonance imaging reports performed before and after treatment were defined by hospital head of the radiology department as "shocking."
Sodium bicarbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is commonly used as an antacid for short-term relief of stomach upset, to correct acidosis in kidney disorders, to make the urine alkaline during bladder infections and to minimize uric acid crystallization during gout treatment. Prescription sodium bicarbonate products are given by injection to treat metabolic acidosis and some drug intoxications. Sodium bicarbonate is available as a nonprescription medical as well as a general house hold item. It is also used with other non-prescription drugs for short-term treatment of various conditions to treat anything from fever to moderate pain.
bicarbonate possesses the property of absorbing heavy
Sodium bicarbonate neutralizes acids present in gases (in particular hydrochloric acid, suphur dioxide, hydrofluoric acid) to form sodium salts (sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, sodium fluoride, sodium carbonate), which are all known as Residual Sodium Chemicals. Sodium bicarbonate can be made into a paste salve with vinegar, it relieves burning from bug stings (particularly bee stings), poison ivy, nettles, and sunburn. It is used as an antacid to treat acid indigestion and heartburn. Mixed with water in a 10% solution can soften earwax for removal.
a sodium bicarbonate solution for saline
Because sodium bicarbonate has long been known and is widely used, it has many other names including sodium hydrogen carbonate, sodium bicarb, baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarb soda, saleratus or bicarbonate of soda. It is soluble in water. This white solid is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. It is also produced artificially. World wide production is on the scale of 100,000 ton/year. Sodium bicarbonate is primarily used in cooking (baking) where it reacts with other components to release carbon dioxide, that helps dough "rise."
It is commonly used to increase the pH and total alkalinity of the water for pools and spas. Sodium bicarbonate can be added as a simple solution for restoring the pH balance of water that has a high level of chlorine. It is sometimes used in septic tanks to control pH and bacteria.
bicarbonate-rich mineral water in conjunction with a
Distilled water is not safe, it lacks bicarbonates and minerals and yes, it is acid forming to the body. Yet it is an excellent aid in detoxification and chelation for its purity pulls on toxicities in the body. Part of the reason why our body is acid is that it lacks enough bicarbonate necessary to neutralize the acid. Whenever the water lacks the proper bicarbonates to neutralize the water in distilled water your body basically becomes a little more acid. But we can easily treat distilled or reverse osmosis water by adding bicarbonate and magnesium and perhaps even some sodium thiosulfate. (The art and science of water treatment will be covered in The Waters of Life, another IMVA publication due out later this year. The conscious use of water favorably increases medical outcomes, often it even determines the prognosis. You cannot separate out hydration from pH. Dehydration would certainly push the body toward acidity.)
of the blood is the most important factor to
The native chemical and physical properties of sodium bicarbonate account for its wide range of applications, including cleaning, deodorizing, buffering, and fire extinguishing. Sodium bicarbonate neutralizes odors chemically, rather than masking or absorbing them. Consequently, it is used in bath salts and deodorant body powders. Sodium bicarbonate tends to maintain a pH of 8.1 (7 is neutral) even when acids, which lower pH, or bases, which raise pH, are added to the solution. Its ability to tabletize makes it a good effervescent ingredient in antacids and denture cleaning products. Sodium bicarbonate is also found in some anti-plaque mouthwash products and toothpaste.
Sodium bicarbonate also is indicated in severe diarrhea which is often accompanied by a significant loss of bicarbonate. Vigorous bicarbonate therapy is required in any form of metabolic acidosis where a rapid increase in plasma total CO2 content is crucial † e.g. cardiac arrest, circulatory insufficiency due to shock or severe dehydration , and in severe primary lactic acidosis or severe diabetic acidosis.
Sodium Bicarbonate Injection, USP is administered by the intravenous route. In cardiac arrest, a rapid intravenous dose of one to two 50 mL vials (44.6 to 100 mEq) may be given initially and continued at a rate of 50 mL (44.6 to 50 mEq) every 5 to 10 minutes if necessary (as indicated by arterial pH and blood gas monitoring) to reverse the acidosis. Caution should be observed in emergencies where very rapid infusion of large quantities of bicarbonate is indicated. Bicarbonate solutions are hypertonic and may produce an undesirable rise in plasma sodium concentration in the process. of correcting the metabolic acidosis. In cardiac arrest, however, the risks from acidosis exceed those of hypernatremia.
In the current system, if a promising compound can’t be patented, it is highly unlikely ever to make it to market — no matter how well it performs in the laboratory or in emergency room situations. The hormone melatonin,[xiv] sold as an inexpensive food supplement in the United States, has repeatedly been shown to slow the growth of various cancers when used in conjunction with conventional treatments. Dr. Paolo Lissoni, another Italian oncologist has written many articles about this hormone and conducted clinical trials. But he has despaired over the pharmaceutical industry’s total lack of interest in his treatment approach.
We need a new approach to fight cancer, one that will work safely and effectively since the majority of us are now destined to have to suffer through cancer at one point or another in our lives. The situation in the field of oncology is horrendous and in the area of childhood oncology they have earned their place in the book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine, (which one can download as a free e-book.)
Most people today cringe at the idea of finding a cancer then slashing, burning and poisoning it to smithereens. Most would agree that the mainstream cancer approach offers only marginal benefits at best, and providers push screening and aggressive treatment in part because they have nothing else to give, and also because it’s very profitable.
the body’s cellular metabolism and pH is
Since 1971, when President Nixon declared war on cancer, the budget of the National Cancer Institute has increased to $4.8 billion from half a billion and cancer rates are still going up. For most of the past half-century, medical treatment of invasive tumors like those of the breast and colon has relied mainly on drugs, radiation or both, in effect carpet-bombing the DNA of cancer cells. These highly toxic treatments do not address the root causes of cancer and are extremely dangerous, medical approaches involving the highest risks.
great variety of cancers must reflect a fundamental
Though allopathic medicine already uses sodium bicarbonate it will not any day soon turn to its own arsenal of already available safe and inexpensive medications like sodium bicarbonate or magnesium chloride. The medical industrial complex seems unwilling to change its views on cancer so patients will need to quietly ask their doctors for intravenous bicarbonate without specifying it as a substance they want to use to cure their cancer. It will be easier to find someone if one approaches with a need to treat acidic conditions than the actual cancer. Few doctors are willing to risk their licenses so it is better not to put them in an uncomfortable situation that they cannot control.
closer the pH is to 7.35 - 7.45, the higher our level of
Sadly this does not address the need for the use of catheters which target tumors more directly thus pushing us toward a more complete protocol that will target cancer in a more general and comprehensive way. This needs to be done anyway because killing the tumor with a rush of alkalinity that provokes an oxygen rush into the cells will not prevent the condition from reoccurring. Though we can think that acidity is a basic cause of cancer a more basic cause is addressed when we look at what leads to the acidic conditions that are so prevalent in our bodies today.
bicarbonate is an anti-fungin substance
Dr Tullio Simoncini says, “It is useful to consider the extreme sensitivity of fungi to saline and electrolytic solutions. These solutions, because of their extreme capacity for diffusion, are able to reach all the myceliar biological expressions, including the most infinitesimal ones. Salts and bicarbonates, by making the “terrain” completely inorganic, eliminates the slightest organic fonts that fungi could use for nourishment. In this context, sodium bicarbonate, which is currently used in children’s oral candidoses, appears to be a simple and handy weapon capable of uprooting, inhibiting, or attenuating any neoplastic formation wherever it is possible to easily apply it.”
is actually a four-letter word — ACID,
For centuries, medicated baths have been one of the first lines of treatment for psoriasis. Even today, with sophisticated immunosuppressive treatments available, Dead Sea salts and spa waters are recognized to be beneficial in the management of psoriatic patients.
To assess statistically the efficacy of sodium bicarbonate baths in psoriasis patients, thirty-one patients with mild-moderate psoriasis were studied. Almost all patients who used NaHCO3− reported a statistically valuable improvement. NaHCO3− baths reduced itchiness and irritation; in general, the patients themselves recognized a beneficial impact on their psoriasis, so much so that they have continued to bathe in NaHCO3− even after the end of the study. [xv]
“Sodium bicarbonate therapy is harmless, fast and effective because it is extremely diffusible. A therapy with bicarbonate for cancer should be set up with strong dosage, continuously, and with pauseless cycles in a destruction work which should proceed from the beginning to the end without interruption for at least 7-8 days. In general a mass of 2-3-4 centimetres will begin to consistently regress from the third to the fourth day, and collapses from the fourth to the fifth. Generally speaking, the maximum limit of the dosage that can be administered in a session gravitates around 500 cc of sodium bicarbonate at five per cent solution, with the possibility of increasing or decreasing the dosage by 20 per cent in function of the body mass of the individual to be treated and in the presence of multiple localisations upon which to apportion a greater quantity of salts,” instructs Dr Simoncini.
In the early stages of acidic pH in the body’s tissues, the warning symptoms are mild. These include such things as skin eruptions, headaches, allergies, colds, flu and sinus problems. These symptoms are frequently treated (manipulated) with antibiotic drugs and suppressive medications. The longer and the deeper we become acidic the more our illness takes hold so it’s best to fight acidic conditions early on and in every presenting clinical situation. Certainly a highly toxic drug like anti viral Tamiflu won’t do a fraction of the job sodium bicarbonate will do especially if it’s combined with magnesium chloride and iodine as well as high levels of vitamin C.
In late stages of acidic pH we need to turn to the most alkaline minerals to increase our throw weight of alkalinity into cancer cells. Mass spectrographic and isotope studies have shown that potassium, rubidium, and especially cesium are most efficiently taken up by cancer cells. This uptake was enhanced by Vitamins A and C as well as salts of zinc and selenium. The quantity of cesium taken up was sufficient to raise the cell to the 8 pH range. [xvi]
On April 2, 2007 Health Day News published, “Patient safety incidents in U.S. hospitals increased by three percent overall from 2003 to 2005, and the error gap between the nation's best- and worst-performing hospitals remained wide, a report released Monday found. America's top rated centers had 40 percent lower rates of medical errors than the poorest-performing hospitals, the study showed.”
There seems little grace left in medicine and it is a disgrace that allopathic medicine does not even use its own emergency medicines, proven heavies like magnesium sulfate and chloride, sodium bicarbonate and iodine to anywhere near a thousandth of a percent of their real medical potentials.
Combining pH shift with Heat
In the opening paragraph of this chapter we mentioned killing cancer cells with lasers, with heat.
me a chance to create fever
Fever is one of the body's own defensive and healing forces, created and sustained for the deliberate purpose of restoring health. The high temperature speeds up metabolism, inhibits the growth of the invading virus or bacteria, and literally burns the enemy with heat. Fever is an effective protective and healing measure not only against colds and simple infections, but against such serious diseases as polio and cancer.
The idea of destroying cancer with heat is certainly not new and has been widely accepted for a very long time, but has had very limited applications because it was finally concluded that, in order to ensure destruction of the cancerous growth, it is necessary to reach a temperature deadly to healthy cells as well. Many attempts have been made to bypass this problem and some methodologies have been developed like: localized hyperthermia, laserthermia, radio-fractionated hyperthermia and TTT. But they all have limitations and cannot complete the job, because they cannot achieve total necrosis and, unless the entire mass of neoplastic tissue is destroyed, the cancer will continue to grow. But:
Hyperthermia gives cancer a hard time:
1. removing accumulations of stored toxic chemicals that cause cancer
2. improving circulation so that tissues are both nourished with oxygen and flushed of acidic metabolic wastes
3. weakening or even killing cancer cells that have a lower tolerance for heat than healthy cells.
Thus we should easily conclude that far-infrared sauna treatments are going to help a cancer sufferer no matter which way we slice the treatment protocol. But for a more targeted heat to kill cancer tumors we have Dr Antonella Carpenter who has perfected the treatment of cancer cells with heat through her use of lasers. She generates the death of the cells by suffocation via heat. Dr Carpenter, a physicist with a clinic in Little Rock, says, “As long as the entire neoplastic mass is exposed to the laser light, for the correct amount of time, the success is complete and the results, as well as the healing stages, are always the same.” Her cancer treatment is called Light Induced Enhanced Selective Hyperthermia, which in itself pretty much summarizes all the characteristics of this new therapy. With this form of treatment cancer cells reach a deadly temperature level quickly and are subject to irreversible damage and therefore die, either immediately or within 48 hours.
In a separate chapter we will be talking about hyperthermia in another context, that of the hot bathtub which we will learn to fill with healing substances like sodium bicarbonate. We will be creating our own hot springs, healing pools that will do wonders for our health. Medical treatments of the first order can be had right inside your very own bathtub.
Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
Medical Veritas Association
[ii] Enhancement of chemotherapy by manipulation of tumour pH. Raghunand N, He X, van Sluis R, Mahoney B, Baggett B, Taylor CW, Paine-Murrieta G, Roe D, Bhujwalla ZM, Gillies RJ. Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson 85724-5024, USA.
[iii] Enhancement of chemotherapy by manipulation of tumour pH. Raghunand N, He X, van Sluis R, Mahoney B, Baggett B, Taylor CW, Paine-Murrieta G, Roe D, Bhujwalla ZM, Gillies RJ. Arizona Cancer Center.
Jerome B. Westin and Elihu Richter, "The Israeli
Breast-Cancer Anomaly," in Devra Lee Davis and David Hoel,
editors, TRENDS IN CANCER MORTALITY IN INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES (New
York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1990), pgs. 269-279.
[vi] Resuscitation outcome in emergency medical systems with increased usage of sodium bicarbonate during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Bar, Joseph G et al; Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2005 Jan;49(1):6 Entrez PubMed
[vii] With the aim to reach the maximum effect, sodium bicarbonate should be administered directly on the neoplastic masses which are susceptible of regression only by destroying the fungal colonies. This is possible by the selective arteriography (the visualisation through instrumentation of specific arteries) and by the positioning of the arterial port-a-cath (these devices are small basins used to join the catheter). These methods allow the positioning of a small catheter directly in the artery that nourishes the neoplastic mass, allowing the administration of high dosages of sodium bicarbonate in the deepest recesses of the organism. With this method, it is possible to reach almost all organs; they can be treated and can benefit from a therapy with bicarbonate salts which is harmless, fast, and effective – with only the exception of some bone areas such as vertebrae and ribs, where the scarce arterial irrigation does not allow sufficient dosage to reach the targets. Selective arteriography therefore represents a very powerful weapon against fungi that can always be used against neoplasias, firstly because it is painless and leaves no after effects, secondly because the risks are very low.
[viii] Oncol Nurs Forum. 2002 Aug;29(7):1063-80. A research review of the current treatments for radiation-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer.Shih A, Miaskowski C, Dodd MJ, Stotts NA, MacPhail
[ix] These include, Benzotropines (valium) cyclic antidepressants (amytriptayine), organophosphates, methanol (Methyl alcohol is a cheap and potent adulterant of illicit liquors) Diphenhydramine (Benedryl), Beta blockers (propanalol) Barbiturates, and Salicylates (Aspirin). Poisoning by drugs that block voltage-gated sodium channels produces intraventricular conduction defects, myocardial depression, bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Human and animal reports suggest that hypertonic sodium bicarbonate may be effective therapy for numerous agents possessing sodium channel blocking properties, including cocaine, quinidine, procainamide, flecainide, mexiletine, bupivacaine, and others.
[x] Patient safety incidents in U.S. hospitals increased by three percent overall from 2003 to 2005, and the error gap between the nation's best- and worst-performing hospitals remained wide. America's top rated centers had 40 percent lower rates of medical errors than the poorest-performing hospitals, the study showed. The fourth annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, put out by HealthGrades, an independent health care ratings company, examined over 40 million Medicare hospitalization records at almost 5,000 hospitals from 2003 to 2005.
[xi] A study of the acidosis, blood urea, and plasma chlorides in uranium nephritis in the dog, and the protective action of sodium bicarbonate. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 25, 693-719, Copyright, 1917, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York http://www.jem.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/5/693
[xii] JAMA 2004;291:2328-2334,2376-2377.
[xiv] One of the most important supplements for the breast cancer patient is high doses of the hormone melatonin at bedtime. Melatonin blocks estrogen receptors somewhat similarly to the drug tamoxifen without the long-term side effects of tamoxifen. Further, when melatonin and tamoxifen are combined, synergistic benefits occur. Melatonin can be safely taken for an indefinite period of time. The suggested dose of melatonin for breast cancer patients is 3 mg to 50 mg at bedtime. Caution: Although melatonin is strongly recommended for breast cancer patients, interleukin-2 (IL-2), which often is combined with melatonin, should be avoided by breast cancer patients. IL-2 may promote breast cancer cell division. http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag99/jan99-protocols.html
[xv] Old fashioned sodium bicarbonate baths for the treatment of psoriasis in the era of futuristic biologics: An old ally to be rescued; Journal of Dermatological Treatment; Volume 16, Number 1/February 2005
"A mass spectrographic analysis of cancer cells showed that
the cell membrane readily attached cesium, rubidium and potassium,
and transmitted these elements with their associated molecules
into the cancer cell. In contrast cancer membranes did not
transmit sodium, magnesium, and calcium into the cell: the amount
of calcium within a cancer cell is only about 1% of that for
normal cells. Potassium transports glucose into the cell. Calcium
and magnesium transport oxygen into the cell. As a consequence of
the above, oxygen cannot enter cancer cells so the glucose which
is normally burned to carbon dioxide and water undergoes
fermentation to form lactic acid within the cell. This anaerobic
condition was pointed out by Warburg, as early as 1924. Potassium,
and especially rubidium and cesium are the most basic of the
elements. When they are taken up by the cancer cells they will
thus raise the pH of the cells. Since they are very strong bases
as compared to the weak lactic acid it is possible that the pH
will be raised to values in the 8.5 to 9 range. In this range the
life of the cancer cell is short, being a matter of days at the
most. The dead cancer cells are then absorbed by the body fluids
and eventually eliminated from the system." - Dr. Brewer
More info on sodium bicarbonate to cure cancer
Over the last decade, Dr. Ralph Moss, at the University of Arizona has been researching the use of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) as a potential treatment for cancerous conditions.(1)
At the same time Robert J. Gillies and his colleagues have demonstrated that pre-treatment of mice with sodium bicarbonate results in the alkalinization of the area around tumors. (Raghunand 2003)
Using sodium bicarbonate in the treatment of a cancerous condition has been found to "enhance the anti-tumor activity" of other anticancer drugs. The alkalizing effects are very similar to the recently published research of injecting O2 directly into tumors where such direct administration of oxygen also facilitated the action of chemotherapy.
This year the same researchers reported that sodium bicarbonate increases tumor pH (i.e., making it more alkaline) and also inhibiting spontaneous metastases (Robey 2009). They also showed that oral sodium bicarbonate increased the pH of tumors and also reduced the formation of spontaneous metastases in mice with breast cancer. Oral administration of sodium bicarbonate also reduced the rate of lymph node involvement.
Both Dr. Moss as well as Dr. Simoncini, an oncologist from Rome, Italy, found it striking that the oral administration of bicarbonate was able to reduce the spontaneous formation of metastases in mice with breast cancer. Dr. Moss stated, "This is impressive work that needs to go forward."
Sodium bicarbonate has been used for decades in chemotherapy, but until the last few years, baking soda has received little attention. Now, in great part due to the work, clinical research and reporting of Dr. Moss, Dr. Simoncini and Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of the pH Miracle Living Center and founder of the New Biology(R), there are over 50,000 web sites with information on this subject.
There is little dispute that cancer is an ACIDIC condition which can be measured in terms of tumor pH. During many years of previous clinical research preceding Dr. Moss and Dr. Simoncini, Dr. Robert O. Young, the world's leading nutritional microbiologist and live and dried blood microscopist, had long reported that cancerous tissues are significantly more acidic than normal tissues. Dr. Young also reported that manipulation of pH with oral and/or intravenous sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate can help to restore healthy tissue and reverse cancerous conditions.
It is amazing to note the lack of follow-up research by the medical and pharmaceutical industry over the last 80 years in view of the fact that in 1932, Dr. Warburg received a Nobel prize for discovering the cause of cancer. He determined that cancerous cells and tissues were acidic and also low in oxygen. According to Dr. Young, "When alkalinity increases the supply of hydroxyl ions or oxygen to the cancerous tissue, the increase in hydroxyl ions or oxygen combines with the excessive hydrogen ions in and around the cancerous cells or tissues creating water and neutralizing the acid which was the original cause of the cellular or tissue breakdown. Simply put, dietary and/or metabolic acid is the cause of all cancerous cells and tissues." In view of this astounding, demonstrable and easily verifiable information, it is incredible that America loses more than 500,000 lives to cancer each year and cancer costs continue to exceed a quarter trillion dollar annual industry.
Sodium bicarbonate is the universal mainstream treatment of acidosis. It is used every day by oncologists to neutralize the heavy acidic nature of their chemical and chemotherapeutic agents which are offten quite toxic. Sodium bicarbonate is also used routinely in many clinical situations as herein noted including many peer--reviewed journals:
1) Severe diabetic ketoacidosis (2)
2) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (3)
3) Pregnancy (4)
4) Hemodialysis (5)
5) Peritoneal dialysis (6)
6) Pharmacological toxicosis (7)
7) Hepatopathy (8)
8) Vascular surgery operations (9)
Medics and emergency room medical doctors are accustomed to participating in a flurry of activity when trying to save a persons live after a cardiac arrest--inserting IVs and breathing tubes, performing defibrillation to restart the heart, etc. Sodium bicarbonate is a constant performer under such conditions and is more commonly used than magnesium injections, which is traditionally at the top of every doctor's protocol for cardiac arrest.
Mainstream oncologists recognize the routine involvement of late stage infections which Dr. Young refers to as outfections in all cancerous conditions. Medical savants also recognize that bacteria, yeast and mold is present in over forty percent of all cancerous conditions. (10) The most recent research in this area demonstrates how even viruses, which Dr. Young describes as crystallized acid, is present in fifty percent of certain types of cancerous conditions. (11)
Dr. Robert O. Young has written or co-authored over 15 books in over 18 different languages on the subject of acid having given rise to biological transformation of cells or the birth of bacteria, yeast and mold in all dis-ease or so-called disease and cellular or tissue conditions. This would also include late stage outfections which are the result of an over-acidification of the internal environment.
According to Dr. Young, there is a simple definition of cancer - ACID. Anyone who has seen a cancerous tissue will admit that cancer is a rot that is breaking down the body and that will destroy it if left unchecked. When the body is rotting, when its cells and tissues are demonstrating dire distress, when certain colonies of cells become acidic and rotten and change their type of metabolism from respiration to fermentation, when dietary and metabolic acids are not properly removed through the four channels of elimination, including urination, respiration, defecation and perspiration, then you will have a certain over-acidic condition that will eventually take shape depending on where the acid is deposited. Dietary and/or metabolic acid which are not properly eliminated are generally deposited in the colloidal connective and fatty tissues. The body deposits acids into the tissue in order to preserve the delicate pH balance of the blood at 7.365. This is why there is such
an increase in breast, brain and prostate cancers.
Dr. Young's position has been clearly stated for more than two decades. "No matter what one observes or describes as cancer, no matter what atypical physical manifestation one might claim, no matter what nuance one might observe in the formation and prolifereation of cancerous cells, it should be obvious by now that all the names and various kinds of cancerous conditions are essentially the same. It is clear that in any type of rotting cells or tissue, the bacteria, yeast and mold are a result of those rotting cells and tissue and NOT THE CAUSE!
Dr. Young also states, "bacteria, yeast/fungi, and mold are not the cause of a cancerous condition but are the result and the evidence of cells and tissues biologically transforming from a healthy state and to a unhealthy state." Dr. Young astutely observed that, "over-acidification of the body leads to the development of chronic yeast and fungal outfections and ultimately a cancerous condition of the cells and tissues."
Fundamentally, cancer is a relatively simple over-acidic condition of the blood and then tissues that leads to an oxygen deficiency dis-ease. The use of sodium bicarbonate increases hydroxyl ions or oxygen that buffers dietary and/or metabolic acids preventing the rotting or fermentation of cells and tissues and thus prevents and/or reverses a cancerous condition.
One is not likely to fall into a cancerous condition if one's blood and tissues are in the perfect alkaline state of 7.365. To achieve this perfect alkaline state, free from all sickness and dis-esase, one must have alkaline nutritional sufficiency including full alkaline hydration, ingestion of liberal amounts of green foods rich in chlorophyll to build healthy blood and tissues, and plenty of healthy alkalizing sun exposure. Then, add plenty of restful sleep, alkalizing exercise, relaxed conflict-free existence and a pristine alkaline environment (something that no longer exists in most areas of the world). One must also include freedom from dental amalgam, antibiotics, steroids/hormones, recreational drugs and vaccines in order to achieve extraordinary health and a cancerous free existence.
Candidly, all of this health and medical information is clearly omnipresent, and cancer has become such an onerous, frightening, disasterous, and economic monstrosity in our world today, that a brief discussion of the decades of duplicitous and compounding human error may be at least somewhat instructive.
Cancer is easy to define because it defines modern man. Humanity is in deep acidic trouble with its cancerous condition for the simple reason that we are in deep acidic trouble with ourselves, our relationships, and our civilization.
There are no real medical precedents to draw upon when it comes to the use of sodium bicarbonate; it is an obvious panacea. Its broad usefulness is so clear and self-evident that virtually no research has sought to point out the obvious nor attempt to expand upons its potentially unlimited value. Sodium bicarbonate is simply and clearly that useful, safe and effective for ALL sickness and dis-ease. It is a given.
But it now appears that much of the ongoing medical debate over its use has more to do with human confusion, medical group-think, financially driven myopia, and illogical thought processes than anything having to do with observable phenomenon or simple reality. That is what sociologists, observers, and various investigators appear to be discovering and increasingly reporting in the public debate over the issue of universal health care.
People often work backwards from a firm conclusion to find supporting facts, rather than letting evidence inform and direct their views. A totally rational person would first lay out and then evaluate objectively the pros and cons of sodium bicarbonate and its use in a cancerous protocol. But even the best professionals become attached to their own self-serving beliefs and self-protective egos. We humans often form emotional attachments that become wrapped up in our image, reputation, personal identity and connecting beliefs about medicine and health. This attachment often unfolds irrespective of the facts of the matter. This pervasive, gut-level attachment then renders our personal theories and subjective beliefs all that more potent and meaningful in our minds than simple, pragmatic evidence and answers.
Thus, this same human condition renders many, scientists and non-scientists alike, as vulnerable to a phenomenon of tightly grasping various beliefs, even in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary. It then becomes an enormous challenge including a test of personal courage and self-confidence to be able to reevaluate one's own world views and medical belief system. Yet, in order to be of service to humanity, practitioners must be able to effect such a process of repositioning, even if we must reverse our own previously held thoughts, beliefs, statements, writings, and positions.
Some of the greatest changes throughout history have occurred as a result of the efforts of a single individual or very small groups. Humanity depends on very few medical and science leaders to offer the latest and the best information. Individual egos do get in the way, and some scientists, medical doctors, university professors, and health politicians are known for their substantial egos and scientific airs.
Regardless of what one's ego says, the scope of dietary and metabolic acids and the comprehensiveness of the problems they usher into the world are vastly important in science, medicine, health and prevention. Sadly, it will one day be understood, in retrospect, that it was the affectively damaged, intellectually deficient, or characteroloically irresponsible practitioners who will have totally ignored the importance of acids as the cause of ALL sickness and dis-ease. As German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer reminded us, "There are three steps in the reveleation of any Truth. In the first, it is ridiculed; in the second, resisted, in the third, it is considered self evident." Eventually, only those practitioners with their proverbial head-in-the-sand will have ignored the reality of sodium bicarbonate's powerful action and how it dramatically reestablishes the intracellular alkaline environment and its miraculous efficacy wherein conditions are over-acidic and causing
sickness and dis-ease.
The action of sodium bicarbonate is, for all intents and purpose, instant and effective in preventing and reversing a cancerous condition for many victims. Most cancer sufferers are able to reverse their cancerous condition in 12 to 16 weeks, although, depending on previous treatment and certain constitutional or bodily variables, some reversals may take up to 9 months. In the end, even the most effective sodium bicarbonate application is not as powerful, and therefore not a healthy alternative or substitute, as Dr. Young's pH Miracle alkaline diet including pure, hydroxyl, ion-rich alkaline water.
Sodium bicarbonate--that simple white stuff called baking soda--can be purchased in any supermarket in the world and is a world class anti-bacterial and anti-fungal with no known negative side-effects. If one needs to "punch in the face" a late stage outfection of any kind, simply use sodium bicarbonate. If a person wants to eliminate bacteria, yeast or mold colonies in the blood or tissues, baking soda should be a number one choice. Dr. Young explains, "sodium bicarbonate can be used like a fire extinguisher spraying the tissues with alkalinity and preventing or reversing latent tissue acidosis. It can be used orally and/or transdermally to reach all parts of the body through systemic effect via the blood."
Medical researchers such as Dr. Tullio Simoncini and Dr. Robert O. Young have identified the alkaline substances uniquely able to penetrate the volumetric acidic cancerous tissues, such as sodium bicarbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate and calcium bicarbonate. These elements are manufactured in the body to prevent acidic build-up and to maintain the alkaline design of the body. When the body is perfectly balanced and slightly alkaline, we are healthy, strong and happy.
Sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium bicarbonate, when used in conjunction with other equally safe substances, can form the basis for a natural chemotherapy, which has proven to be greatly more effective then significantly more toxic and acidic interventions. Most people are all too aware of the horrors that await those who travel down the road of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. The question becomes: Why travel down these pits to bodily suffering and devastation when safer, vastly more affordable, natural, and highly effective answers like sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium bicarbonate are so readily available?
Special Note: Dr. Young suggests using a combination of four powerful cell salts of sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium bicarbonate which are available under the name of pHour Salts.
Special Recommendation: Dr. Young also suggests sodium and potassium bicarbonate use for anyone undergoing cardiac angiography, CT (computed tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to protect their kidneys. The incidence of medical imaging has soared over the last few years across all types of tests. Doctors have long known that exposure to contrast agents can cause damage in seemingly healthy kidneys. The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology warns that kidney damage or injury can arise after undergoing certain common medical imaging procedures and poses a serious health threat.
A meta-analysis of 17 randomised controlled trials has shown that pre-procedural treatment with sodium bicarbonate-based hydration is the best strategy to prevent contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). 12
Many medical imaging techniques, including cardiac angiography and CT scans, often involve the use of contrast agents, substances that contain iopamidol, iodixanol and barium with their own toxic downside. Dr. Solomon found that 31 percent of research subjects experienced negative health effects after imaging test. Overall, 13 percent of patients experienced a major event, such as death, stroke, heart attack, or end-stage renal disease. Those who developed contrast-induced kidney injuries had twice as many long-term negative health effects as compared with patients who did not suffer kidney damage. No doubt much of this harm can be avoided if sodium bicarbonate is used appropriately.
1. Ralph Moss is an independent journalistic researcher who has been investigating and writing about promising cancer treatments since 1974. Click to read Ralph Moss's biography . Formerly science writer and assistant director of public affairs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NY, he is "probably the most knowledgeable writer in the world on alternative therapies for cancer," according to Julian Whitaker, MD in his Health and Healing newsletter. You can learn more about Ralph Moss by clicking to "What Experts Say." You can also find out what cancer patients say about his service by clicking to "What Clients Say." Click here to view our prestigious Scientific Advisory Board.
2. Gamba, G., "Bicarbonate therapy in severe diabetic ketoacidosis. A double blind, randomized, placebo controlled trial." (Rev Invest Clin 1991 Jul-Sep;43(3):234-8). Miyares Gom ez A. in "Diabetic ketoacidosis in childhood: the first day of treatment." (An Esp Pediatr 1989 Apr;30(4):279-83)
3. Levy, M.M., "An evidence-based evaluation of the use of sodium bicarbonate during cardiopulmonary resuscitation." (Crit Care Clin 1998 Jul;14(3):457-83). Vukmir, R.B., Sodium bicarbonate in cardiac arrest: a reappraisal (Am J Emerg Med 1996 Mar;14(2):192-206). Bar-Joseph, G., "Clinical use of sodium bicarbonate during cardiopulmonary resuscitation--is it used sensibly?" (Resuscitation 2002 Jul;54(1):47-55).
4. Zhang. L., "Perhydrit and bicarbonate improve maternal gases and acid-base status during the second stage of labor." Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Xiangya Hospital, Hunan Medical University, Changsha 410008. Maeda, Y., "Perioperative administration of bicarbonated solution to a patient with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy." (Masui 2001 Mar;50(3):299-303).
5. Avdic. E., "Bicarbonate versus acetate hemodialysis: effects on the acid-base status." (Med Arh 2001;55(4):231-3).
6. Feriani, M., "Randomized long-term evaluation of bicarbonate-buffered CAPD solution." (Kidney Int 1998 Nov;54(5):1731-8).
7. Vrijlandt, P.J., odium bicarbonate infusion for intoxication with tricyclic antidepressives: recommended inspite of lack of scientific evidence” Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2001 Sep 1;145(35):1686-9). Knudsen, K., “Epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate independently and additively increase survival in experimental amitriptyline poisoning." (Crit Car e Med 1997 Apr;25(4):669-74).
8. Silomon, M., "Effect of sodium bicarbonate infusion on hepatocyte Ca2+ overload during resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock." (Resuscitation 1998 Apr;37(1):27-32). Mariano, F., "Insufficient correction of blood bicarbonate levels in biguanide lactic acidosis treated with CVVH and bicarbonate replacement fluids." (Minerva Urol Nefrol 1997 Sep;49(3):133-6).
9. Dement'eva, I.I., "Calculation of the dose of sodium bicarbonate in the treatment of metabolic acidosis in surgery with and deep hypothermic circulatory arresta." (Anesteziol Reanimatol 1997 Sep-Oct;(5):42-4).
10. "I believe that, conservatively, 15 to 20 percent of all cancer is caused by infections; however, the number could be larger -- maybe double," (Dr. Andrew Dannenberg, Director of the Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.") Dr. Dannennberg made the remarks in a speech in December 2007 at the annual international conference of the American Association for Cancer Research.1 And if omitting infections as a cause of cancer is not bad enough nowhere in Watson's article do we see mention of:
11. A sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer is also to blame for half of all cases of cancer of the penis news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090824/hl_nm/us_cancer_penis
In Love and Healing Light,
Robert O. Young, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Founder of 'THE NEW BIOLOGY' ®
Creator of the 'SCIENCE OF ALKALINE
LIVING'™ for Health.
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The train goes by.
I don't really hear it, even at two in the morning, but just the same, I know the train goes by. There's an east-west freight line that approaches to within 600 yards of my bedroom window, and it crosses section-line roads half a mile from me in either direction, so the train, as a safety measure, will sound its horn. It doesn't sound quite like anything else. The occasional police siren, the storm-warning horns, the yelp of the ambulance all these things will rouse me from my fitful semi-slumber, not because they're any louder, but because they announce that something is wrong, something must be done quickly, something will never be the same again.
But when the train goes by, even if I hear it, I don't really hear it; it's part of the aural landscape, part of the regular routine, a reassurance that the world has not come to an end, that shipping and business and life go on. "All is well," as the town crier used to say in places like Woodbury, Connecticut, where the clock in the tower of the First Congregational Church sings the hour, in the middle of the day or in the dead of night, stirring up complaints from people who don't understand or have forgotten what it means when the train goes by.
If the Bush administration's call for a new missile defense system sounds an awful lot like a couple of six-year-olds trying to snag every last Pokémon card, well, shucks, Mom, the Pentagon hasn't had any new toys in ages, and some of the ones they did get really sort of sucked.
Then again, it's not like the Russians pose much of a threat anymore; yeah, they've got missiles, but maintenance on them eats up a tidy chunk of the military budget, and if they want any more, they're going to have to have a whole lot of bake sales. As for the Chinese and the North Koreans, they do love that old-fashioned Communist bluster, but they're just as hard up for hard currency, and what's more, Beijing seems to be running out of Democratic candidates to finance.
Yet Another Life Lesson Dept.: It may or may not be true that all the good ones are taken, but it is definitely not true that all the taken ones are good.
On the good side of the ledger, happy birthday, Mrs Vanderhorst (not her real name). All these years, it turns out, I've been celebrating it on the wrong day. There's always, of course, the question of whether I had any business celebrating it at all, but there are times when memory even a wayward memory like mine trumps propriety.
You can still ask Jeeves, but for non-canned responses from actual humanoids, the place to go was WHquestion. Unfortunately, the key word here is "was".
After an unexpectedly warm and dry April, it's starting to look more like a typically soggy Oklahoma spring. May traditionally is the wettest month in an average 33-inch year, May accounts for about five and from the looks of things, this damp pattern should hold up through the weekend (figures, since it's the first weekend I've had off in a while) and into the middle of next week. I'm not particularly perturbed by this, though it would definitely bug me if I rode a motorcycle.
The amount of vehicular detritus cluttering up the back lot has increased by a third, or maybe more if you're scoring by mass. Joining the ancient Ford sedan and the less-ancient Dodge minivan stuffed with trash bags (and I don't want to know what they're stuffed with) is a late-Seventies Buick LeSabre with an expired registration (two years ago) whose paint job over the years has devolved into colors that exist only in snot. The possessor ("owner" might be pushing it) of this carriage du merde evidently is concerned for its safety; the front wheels have been removed the hubs rest on a swiped railroad tie and it's parked at a 50-degree angle, making it quite difficult for anyone to park anywhere nearby. However, there is no trunk lock, so the likelihood that there's a corpse in the back is, I infer, fairly low.
Last night's storms blew through with medium ferocity; the main event was listening to the local weather guys spending half the time explaining how this was nothing like two years ago when the F5s came to town and cut a mile-wide swath through homes and parks and strip malls. I guess they figure we really need the assurance or perhaps we just need Fox NFL Sunday weather reporter Jillian Barberi, who explains her popularity this way: "I have breasts and I can deliver accurate forecasts." Gary England, eat your heart out.
Today, updates on yesterday's items.
Apparently the Big Booger Buick isn't necessarily going to be abandoned here just yet; somebody rolled a couple of tires under its front end and backed it into a parallel position that blocks no one. I didn't check to see what happened to the railroad tie.
As for the weather, which often as not fails to do what it's predicted to do, meteorologist (and chaos theory godfather) Edward Lorenz, in a lecture subsequently published in the book The Essence of Chaos, offers this observation:
"To the oft-heard question 'Why can't we make better weather forecasts?' I have been tempted to say, 'Well, why should we be able to make any forecasts at all?'"
Pray for beer:
which art in barrels,
hallowed be thy drink,
thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk),
at home as I am in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
and forgive us our spillages,
as we forgive those who spill against us,
and lead us not to incarceration,
but deliver us from hangovers,
for thine is the beer,
the bitter and the lager,
forever and ever,
And with that, I have to go shake the dew off the lily.
Online journals and diaries and other forms of personal expression account for an increasing amount of my Web surfing, and being excessively analytical by nature, I occasionally find myself wondering whether I'm doing this out of some idealistic notion that the personal has a far greater intrinsic value than the commercial "The present-day independent content producer refuses to die!" says Zeldman, with nods to Varèse and Zappa or if I'm just indulging myself in some form of voyeurism.
The cynic in me wants to declare the latter, that I only read these things for cheap laffs and prurient thrills. But this declaration won't hold up under scrutiny. Most of the things I pass on to others, or that I mention here, are neither rib-ticklers nor French ticklers; they're simply things I thought were worth repeating. I suspect most operators of serious Web logs (I don't think this little backwater of mine qualifies as "serious" just yet) use similar criteria; they share what they think, filtered (or metafiltered) through their particular worldview, is worth sharing. It's impossible for me to read a good online journal, even if the topics are wrenchingly painful, without being grateful to the person who made it available to you and me.
And this, perhaps, is why I don't worry so much about the Net subsuming all human interaction in a vast miasma of strained superficiality. No, I don't know the writers the way I know my best friends; but were it not for the Net, I wouldn't know them at all. Even with a screen or two and however many lines of wire, of fiber, of code between us, we still connect to one another. Surely that's worth something in this alleged Age of Isolation.
I spent three paragraphs yesterday nibbling at the edge of what keeping an online log of this sort is all about, and then came across this, courtesy of Lisay:
"...since i'm too lazy to write emails, this is my way of saying that i am still alive."
The crux of the biscuit, indeed.
Meanwhile, the state has enacted another so-called reform: they have discontinued the annual (and highly unpopular) motor-vehicle inspection. Mechanics didn't like it because even if they really dug deep into the guts of the machine instead of a perfunctory hand-wave sort of thing, it still only brought in $4; drivers didn't like it because (1) if they passed, they considered it a waste of time and (2) if they failed, they had to spend the bucks to get the offending component fixed. As of the 25th of August, it's gone. Of course, I'm due for one more between now and then. Some law-enforcement types have said that in view of the law's upcoming extinction, they won't be ticketing people with expired stickers. Unfortunately, not all of them have said that, and I have no doubt that somewhere in this state (probably Tulsa, or worse, Delaware County) there is a police department that sees this as a window of opportunity for some undeserved revenue.
It must be virus season, and I don't mean the sort for which one drowns oneself in NyQuil. A couple copies of Magistr found their way into my mail this week, and while I didn't take the bait in the attachment this makes an even dozen bullets dodged since the beginning of the school year I'm still rather disturbed that these things are getting as far as they do.
And if ever again I spend a decade in a brothel, I'm going to insist on owning my very own bed.
Doing the right thing is just as hard as Spike Lee said. Even reluctant supporters of the death penalty and possibly a few opponents are impatient to see Timothy McVeigh go down for the count, but John Ashcroft, whose support for capital punishment is by no means reluctant, has ordered that evidence withheld from McVeigh's defense counsel by the FBI must be reviewed and that McVeigh's execution will be stayed thirty days. This will probably cost him some Brownie points in a few circles, but this is, to me at least, more evidence that Mr Ashcroft takes the position of Attorney General very seriously indeed, and that despite my serious misgivings about some of his positions, he is proving himself worthy of the job.
To a friend in L.A.: Hang in there, kid. We're all rooting for you, even way out here in the flyover zone.
Most mission statements, after you strip away the platitudes (and sometimes before you strip away the platitudes), are complete and utter, um, bovine excrement. Of course, the very word "most" implies that there might be some that aren't.
Signs That My Personal Power Is Overrated, Part I:
The guys who tend my 401(k) have sent me an application for one of their new Web-based checking accouts. It has evidently never occurred to them that the only way I could possibly have built said 401(k) into the low five figures was by keeping my checking account in the high two.
Signs That My Personal Power Is Overrated, Part II:
A downsized dot-comrade from San Francisco actually emailed me a résumé. In Adobe Acrobat format, yet.
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket and it ends up covered with fluff; it's a sad week when we lose both Perry Como and Douglas Adams.
This being the day on which we celebrate the putative joys of motherhood, it is very much apropos to point out that not everyone is ready for such a major undertaking, and if you're of an age where this could be an issue, you should know that there are alternatives.
Clarence Thomas and the Supremes have ruled that Congress never intended that marijuana be used for legitimate therapeutic purposes. Of course they didn't. If they had, they would have been pilloried by that odd bunch who think Clarence Thomas, who comes down on the side of the government more often than not, is nevertheless somehow some sort of freedom fighter and we all know how much Congress hates being pilloried.
In a development of comparable usefulness, the American Meteorological Association is preparing to roll out new technology which would give weather forecasts the force of law, and would hold states responsible for departures therefrom; if The Weather Channel says it's going to rain in Florida, it had damned well better rain, or Tallahassee will have to answer to Sharon Resultan.
Silly, you say? No more so than this medicinal-marijuana business. I'd bet a month's supply of Avalide (irbesartan/hydrochlorothiazide) $37.50 (Canadian) in Saskatchewan, $58.79 (US) down the street at Eckerd's that if the likes of Bristol Myers Squibb owned a patent on cannabis, this drug case would never have made it to the Supreme Court. The usual suspects, it's safe to assume, are delighted with having won this battle, conveniently overlooking the fact that they lost the war years ago.
While playing the race card used to be considered the next-to-last refuge of the scoundrel, it's become such an integral part of what passes for political discourse these days that the pols are falling back on its rhetoric even when no tinge of ethnicity is involved.
Today, Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), having failed to persuade the Democrats that the people who pay the most income tax should get the most tax reduction, pulled this card out of his sleeve:
"There's one form of bigotry that is still acceptable in America that's the bigotry against the successful."
Shortly thereafter, Gramm filed a complaint with Jesus Christ, claiming that Christ's statement about rich men and camels and eyes of needles and such was blatantly prejudicial. No response from Christ as of this writing.
Add to my existing list of pipe dreams (tripling my wage, finding my dream house, wangling Yasmine Bleeth's phone number) the fervent hope that Microsoft, in its capacity as steward of the WebTV service, will find a way to add the ability to read Adobe Acrobat files to its television-based browser. As a practical matter, WebTV users make up only one or two percent of the user base out there, and while I have nothing on this site that looks particularly heinous on your grandmother's 21-inch Zenith, I put out a lot of PDFs at work, and the powers that be tend to frown on tech-support calls that end with "Get a real computer, fercrissake."
(Yasmine Bleeth? Sheesh.)
I don't know which is more startling: the fact that the World Wide Web is ten years old, or the fact that I've been cluttering it up for more than half its existence.
You and a handful of others have been putting in twelve-hour days, sometimes even fourteen or fifteen, in order to clear up the backlogs and meet the deadlines. What is the reaction from the top cats?
If you're the one in twelve million who can actually answer 1. with a straight face, please pass along the appropriate address to send my résumé.
My Own True Hovel is, in fact, a multi-family dwelling, in a loose sense of the term, and therefore it is incumbent upon me to provide the unit number when submitting my mailing address for anything. (As Foghorn Leghorn didn't quite say, "Fortunately, I keep my units numbered for just such an emergency.")
Twice this month I have ordered merchandise online, carefully specifying the aforementioned unit number, and twice UPS has sent me a nastygram saying that such-and-such was not deliverable because the unit number was not given. Somebody's circulating some dubious FORM scripts out there.
Not quite two inches of rain this morning, not quite two hours before dawn, and with the inexplicable absence of wind, walking outside this afternoon was like striding into a sauna. (If you're reading this at dinnertime, I apologize for the visual of me in a towel or worse, out of one.)
Another 60-hour week, from which scarcely 60 seconds of actual benefit for the human race (not to mention its trusting companion animals) could be derived. Fortunately, I have learned the advantage of keeping one's conscience locked in the closet.
The Cola Wars continue apace. As I was wheeling into the supermarket today, a giant inflatable Coca-Cola bottle proclaimed the appearance of a traveling lunch wagon at which said soft drink was the One True Beverage, while on the curb in front of the store, a visibly-fatigued figure started another lap of the premises with his Pepsi sign.
While not everyone has embraced Zoom Zoom as a mantra, Mazda is finally starting, after years of ineptitude, to come up with advertising worth quoting. A recent 626 spot shows your basic towheaded kid (not the usual urchin associated with this campaign) looking wistful under the tree, asking, "Daddy, what's it like to drive?" The old man starts looking kind of wistful himself, the Zoom Zoom theme cranks up, and shots of Dad and kid swinging around are intercut with shots of 626 sliding around, while the voiceover delivers the zinger: "Remember how it felt? That's how it feels."
Today's spam for the "Ultimate Internet Marketing Tool" starts with a complaint about "the many internet copyright pirates, and those who have copied and released our products without our permission or consent," and goes on to offer the usual list of email addresses for far less than the usual $999 US. If this sounds rather like Bill Gates bitching about Altair BASIC, well, so far Bill Gates has never asked me to fax my credit card number to Miami while sending me spam through an ISP in Egypt.
The spam also contains this cryptic comment:
This message is not intended for residents in the States of WA, NV, CA, TN, RI, NC & VA. Screening of addresses has been done to the best of our technical ability.
While I don't live in any of those seven states if you do, and you got a copy of this, let me know I got four copies of this thing, which tells me that their technical ability is probably not something of which they should boast.
Remember the Big Booger Buick? It hasn't moved an inch in two weeks, and while the two hideous fake wire wheel covers under the car's nose surely wouldn't impede the car's forward progress, the two drive belts dangling in front of them indicate some problems. Of course, belt replacement, as late as the Seventies, could be taught to middle-school children with at least average dexterity, but the arrival of horribly complex automotive devices that require $75-an-hour service has made this arcane art obsolete.
Who is George W. Bush's biggest fan? Certainly not I. But I doubt even his detractors would countenance some of the antics at the Yale commencement; all right, maybe he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but an awful lot of us couldn't have gotten into that shed in the first place. (Disclosure: I did not apply to Yale, though I was accepted by the one Ivy League school to which I applied. I have no reason to think I would have done substantially better than Dubya.) The very word "commencement" signals a new beginning; it's no time to trot out old woes. There will be ample opportunity to complain about the President the rest of the year. The rest of his term, even.
And just for the record, he picked up a point or two in my personal poll. "Life takes its own turns, writes its own story," said Mr Bush. "And along the way, we start to realize that we are not the author." Well said, sir. May we both remain on good terms with our proofreaders and our editors.
As life goes on, more of my regular reads perish. Greg Knauss has put off An Entirely Other Day until some entirely other time; Dack Ragus has backed away from dack.com. Suggestions for replacements are welcomed.
And on a more personal note: happy birthday, C (for once, a correct initial). I know I gave you way too much crap over the years; I hope it's far enough behind you now that you don't notice the sheer volume of it. And besides, on that family and motherhood stuff, you do good work. Not that you're wanting to try it again anytime soon, I'm sure.
With Senator Jeffords poised to leave the GOP behind, the Democrats will be leading 50-49 in the Senate, which puts them in the hitherto-unattainable position of being able to ignore Hillary Clinton without guilt. Given Jeffords' lack of enthusiasm for most of the Republican agenda, I suspect there will be some ill-masked glee on both sides of the aisle.
Fallout from the Kaycee Nicole business has apparently brought Metafilter to its knees, server-wise, and while it would be hypocritical in the extreme for me to criticize the perpetrator, I will point out two things here:
Oh, and happy birthday, Dawn. I bet you look just as tousled and fourteen as ever.
Undoubtedly due to some oversight somewhere, I somehow received a piece of third-class mail today that was not trying to sell me insurance. So surprised was I at this development that I decided I would actually accept the advertiser's offer.
Heady with delight at having recaptured control of the Senate, or more precisely, having had it handed to them on the proverbial silver platter "Thirty pieces, more or less," sniffed Trent Lott the Democrats are reported to have made an offer to Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), terms undisclosed at this writing, contingent upon his changing his registration from Living to Dead.
I am now closer to fifty than to forty-five. Geez, what a thrill.
Meanwhile, I have to wonder: what possible evolutionary advantage, other than the mundane task of weeding out the old and infirm, can there be in chest pains?
In the late Seventies, I started working with computers, and I took an immediate dislike to them. Informed that someday mere mortals could possess the sort of devices that then cost many thousands of dollars, I said something to the effect that "I don't care if they're $199.95, there's no way in hell I would ever own such a thing." Not too long after that, I acquired a Commodore 64, for something less than $199.95.
This particular memory came back to me this morning, along with a later statement I had made along the lines of "What would I ever do with a cell phone?" At the time, of course, I was buying a cell phone.
The next step, I suppose, is to make a list of all the products and services I have denounced over the years and see how many of them I actually wound up buying, but I'll save that project for some unspecified future time when I'm feeling insufficiently dense.
There's a story in this somewhere. I mentioned yesterday that I had acquired my first wireless phone (I actually typed "phobe" the first time through, and there's a story in there somewhere too), and it took about half an hour to set preferences for the seven or eight thousand options available, though I will readily admit that I spent twenty of those thirty minutes getting the device to play Keith's guitar lick from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" when it rings.
The American wireless market is about as wide-open as you can get, which means that there is going to be serious competition, even in areas where there's little benefit to having competition at all. While we're fighting over the relative merits of CDMA versus TDMA, most of the rest of the world has adopted the GSM standard. This means that you're going to have to buy new hardware if you take that trip to France this summer, which probably won't bother most people but it also means that if you change service providers, there's a good chance you're also going to have to change phones, which will.
Faced with this dilemma, I said "Screw this," and bought a GSM phone. Admittedly, GSM operators on this side of the pond tend to use a different frequency band 1900 MHz, instead of the 900 and 1800 MHz bands prevalent elsewhere but if we're ever going to get to one planet, one communications system (if you're planning on bleating about the New World Order, save it for your fellow paranoids), this strikes me as a hell of a good place to start.
The sun comes up early in mid-Missouri on the first of April, but we were already awake. Sort of.
It was 5:02 am, cool and damp getting a head start on its way to becoming warm and sticky, and we were standing outside on the gravel wondering what would happen next. Most of us were eighteen or nineteen, but the adolescent bluster that had sustained us for the last few years had vanished with yesterday's sunset and our arrival at Fort Lost-in-the-Woods.
Not all of us wanted to be there. Our company seemed evenly divided among draftees, Reservists and the so-called "Regular Army". "RA, Drill Sergeant!" I recited as I moved up the line to the mess hall. The Drill Sergeant managed to look both scary and unimpressed at the same time.
Very little in that spring of 1972 made a whole lot of sense to me. "Hurry up and wait" was the order of the day. The story goes I'll probably never know for sure, and maybe I don't want to that after we finished training, the Army arbitrarily dispatched everyone in the company whose surname began with A through G to Vietnam. My H and I eventually landed in the Middle East, where there was arguably just as much tension but definitely a lot less live ammo.
If there's a lesson in all of this, it's that sometimes, whether we wear the uniform or not, we have to go through things that don't make a whole lot of sense, on the off-chance that it might do some good somewhere down the line. Many men went through the same things I did, and not all of them got to come home. Perhaps their deaths didn't make a whole lot of sense, either.
Their lives, on the other hand, most certainly did.
Yecch. I feel like and probably look like that shlub in the NyQuil ads. And best of all, I can't take any sleeping pills; they interact badly with my tranquilizers. So I get to thrash myself to sleep, and I don't mean musically.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ruled that Tiger Woods can play in the Special Olympics if he wants. Or something like that.
Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) has never been one of my favorite people, but I've never known anyone who wasn't actually slotted above me on an organizational chart who was wrong all the time, and while I'm not sure why he decided to pick on traffic enforcement by photograph did he get a ticket or something? it's about time someone outside the relatively-narrow pool of car enthusiasts screamed about these things. Certainly no one is in favor of running red lights, and no one except maybe Brock Yates is in favor of ignoring reasonable speed limits (hint: 20 mph through the whole 100-yard expanse of Snake's Navel, Kansas is not "reasonable"), but traffic cameras, quite apart from that whole Nineteen Eighty-Four business, serve mostly to provide maximum revenue with minimum effort to governmental units, and dammit, if I have to work for a living, so do they.
And while I was working for a living today, I made the mistake of saying something nice about someone's garb, and was not-quite-icily reminded that "You focus way too much on what's outside." Well, maybe. On the other hand, what's inside remains even farther out of reach.
As everyone in the 405 area code probably knows, the North Canadian River, which twists and turns and otherwise meanders through the middle of Oklahoma City, usually needs mowing at least once or twice a year. And though I've been around here for a quarter-century or so, I still marvel at those rare occasions when the North Canadian actually looks like a river, with, um, water and stuff. Five inches of rain in three and a half days will do that.
The local Mazda store has sent me a recall notice for Sandy, which I found perplexing. The prescribed remedy for the defect in question is fairly piddling, but what I want to know is this:
Answers will be sought next trip to the dealership, which will be Real Soon Now.
| Copyright © 2001 by Charles G. Hill |
Book your room at Active Stay Hotel
Standard Room, 2 Single BedsMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 1 infant)
Single RoomMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child)
Family RoomMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children, 3 infants)
3-star hotel with free breakfast and restaurant
Collect 200 points
Simply enter your Nectar card number when prompted. Your points will be credited 30 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Situated in Borlange, this hotel is within 2 mi (3 km) of Kupolen Shopping Centre, Borlange Geological Museum, and Jussi Bjorling Museum. Frostbrunnsdalen Valley and Dalatravet are also within 6 mi (10 km).
This hotel features a restaurant, a fitness center, and a bar/lounge. Free buffet breakfast, free WiFi in public areas, and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a coffee shop/café, a sauna, and a conference center are onsite.
All 97 rooms offer free WiFi, flat-screen TVs with cable channels, and phones.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Active Stay Hotel features a sauna and a fitness center. Dining options at the hotel include a restaurant and a coffee shop/café. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast each morning. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary.
Event facilities include a conference center, conference space, and meeting rooms. This Borlange hotel also offers tour/ticket assistance, ski storage, and an elevator (lift). Complimentary self parking is available on site.
- Free WiFi
- Total number of rooms - 97
- Coffee shop or café
- Free breakfast
- Conference space
- Fitness facilities
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Ski storage
- Luggage storage
- Meeting rooms
- Free self parking
- Number of meeting rooms -
- Conference center
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
- Cribs/infant beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
- Hair dryer (on request)
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Cable TV service
- Flat-panel TV
Where to Eat
A complimentary buffet breakfast is served each morning between 6:30 AM and 9 AM.
Active Stay Hotel has a restaurant on site.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a sauna and a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Downhill skiing nearby
- Snowmobiling nearby
- Kayaking nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Segway rental/tour on site
- Skydiving nearby
- Ski lessons available nearby
- Ski equipment rental shops nearby
- Bicycle rentals on site
- Mountain biking on site
- Rock climbing nearby
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible bathroom
- Accessible path of travel
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Crib (infant bed) fee: SEK 100 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: SEK 150 per night
We should mention
The property allows pets in specific rooms only and has other pet restrictions. Guests can arrange to bring pets by contacting the property directly, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
Hotelstars Union assigns an official star rating for properties in Sweden. This property is rated 3 stars. |
Many factors may cause Spina Bifida.
What is Spina Bifida?
Spina Bifida happens when the spine of a baby in the womb does not close all of the way. Every day, about eight babies who are born in the U.S. have Spina Bifida (SB) or a similar birth defect of the brain and spine. It occurs within the first month of pregnancy — often before most women even know that they are going to have a baby.
What causes Spina Bifida?
No one knows for sure. Experts think that both genetics (one or more genes) and the person’s environment might interact to cause Spina Bifida. It is possible that a person inherits multiple genes that make them susceptible to having Spina Bifida, but something in the environment triggers the Spina Bifida to develop.
Can Spina Bifida be prevented?
There is no way to prevent a baby from having a birth defect. It is only possible to reduce the risk. Studies show that the risk is reduced up to 70 percent when women take folic acid before and through the first three months of pregnancy. That is why all women who could possibly become pregnant should take 400 mcg (0.4 mg) of folic acid each day. It is especially important for them to take it one month before and through the first three months of pregnancy.
Women who have had a pregnancy with Spina Bifida should take even more folic acid. They should take 4000 mcg (4.0 mg) every day but should only get this much folic acid through a prescription. Also, folic acid should be taken under a doctor’s supervision. Do not raise the dose by taking more of a multivitamin because the high levels of the other vitamins are harmful.
Folic acid does not stop all cases of Spina Bifida. There is still a chance that some babies will have it even when women take the right amount every day.
Who is at risk for having a baby with Spina Bifida?
Any woman who is capable of becoming pregnant can have a baby with Spina Bifida. There are approximately 65 million women of childbearing age in the United States. Although people with a first-degree relative (parent, sibling) with Spina Bifida are 5 to 10 times more likely to have Spina Bifida than the greater population, there is no way to tell which women will have babies with Spina Bifida. Ninety-five percent of people with SB have no family history. Many things affect pregnancy, including genes, environment and certain illnesses or drugs. These include:
- Prior pregnancy with Spina Bifida (the chance of the next pregnancy being affected is 20-50 times greater)
- Family history of SB
- Mother with insulin-dependent diabetes
- Mother’s use of certain anti-seizure drugs
- Mother with medically diagnosed obesity
- Race and ethnicity. (SB is more common in Caucasians than African-Americans and more common in Hispanics than non-Hispanics.)
Other things may raise the chance of having a baby with Spina Bifida, but they are not as well understood. These things include:
- Exposure to high temperatures in early pregnancy, such as prolonged high fevers
- Extended hot tub or sauna use
- Parental exposure to Agent Orange.
Can research help?
Experts know that genes play a role, and they are looking for the exact gene(s) that cause Spina Bifida. In time, research should clearly show how Spina Bifida develops so new treatments or even a cure can be developed. This research may also lead to new tests that help people or couples understand their chance for having a baby with Spina Bifida.
To learn more about your chance for having a baby with Spina Bifida or other neural tube defects, speak with a genetic counselor. This person can suggest tests, explain test procedures and results, present options and answer questions.
How can I find a Genetic Counselor?
To find a genetic counselor, contact:
National Society of Genetic Counselors
401 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
This information does not constitute medical advice for any individual. As specific cases may vary from the general information presented here, SBA advises readers to consult a qualified medical or other professional on an individual basis.
Elizabeth C. Melvin, MS, CGC, Certified Genetic Counselor |
Narconon Drug Rehab Sauna Detox Published PaperThe Psychotherapeutic and Health Potentials of the Narconon Drug-Free Social Education Rehabilitation Model
Mr. Clark Carr, President of Narconon International delivered a presentation at hope2000 International Conference on HIV and Substance Abuse on "The Psychotherapeutic and Health Potentials of the Narconon Drug-Free Social Education Rehabilitation Model, Including a Protocol of Reduction of Persistent Residual Drug Toxins". This is a published paper and is presented here as published in the hope2000 publication, Compendium of Transcripts (www.hopeconference.org).
9th November 2000 - Session No.4
Topic 1: The Psychotherapeutic and Health Potentials of the Narconon Drug-Free Social Education Rehabilitation Model, Including a Protocol of Reduction of Persistent Residual Drug Toxins
Speaker Mr. Clark R. N. Carr
Organisation: Narconon International, Inc., California, USA.
Bio-data: Mr. Clark Carr is the President of the International Narconon network of more than 75 rehabilitation and prevention centers in 28 countries. He has spoken on behalf of the drug-free social education rehabilitation model on dozens of radio and television stations worldwide and has been published in the national and international press. He has addressed international conferences all over the world, as well as before Health and/or Drug Abuse Committees of numerous legislative bodies.
The Narconon drug rehabilitation network is a secular, drug-free program utilizing a standard and reproducible program model. The Narconon program frequently accepts as clientele some of the more recalcitrant drug abusers. Worldwide, positive results from the majority of drug rehabilitation programs have proven elusive, with a revolving door of post-program reversion to drugs and criminal activity being a common occurrence. Narconon rehabilitation centers frequently accept these recurrent drug users, as demonstrated in at least one study where the average first-time Narconon program enrollee had already failed at 2.2 earlier alcohol rehab attempts or 3.3 earlier drug rehab attempts and the majority admitted to current criminal activity.
In four follow-up studies of graduates of the Narconon drug rehabilitation program, 70% or better remained drug-free and crime-free one or more years after program completion.
We postulate that there are two reasons for this high rate of stable success amongst Narconon clients or students. First is the significant elimination of residual drugs and other toxins from the tissues of Narconon students through the Narconon detoxification program, a drug-free protocol which utilizes methodology developed by author and researcher L. Ron Hubbard to eliminate chemical residues from the body. Second is the social education program of life-skills courses, which improve the abilities of drug rehab students in the areas of communication, self-control, ethics and morality.
The Narconon detoxification protocol, based on a specific nutritional regimen accompanied by aerobic exercise and intensive sweating in low-heat dry saunas with adequate rehydration, has been shown by various studies conducted in Europe and the United States:
- to reduce fat-soluble drug and/or environmental or industrial toxins
- and to positively affect various health parameters.
These parameters include improvement of the immune system
- and reduction in the severity of symptoms,
- including improved mental acuteness, and long-term reduction of drug cravings.
In post-program life, it is the last benefit, reduction of formerly persistent and uncontrollable drug cravings, that Narconon graduates report as most significant in aiding them to live stable, drug-free lives.
The Narconon program was founded in 1966 by William Benitez, at the time a heroin addict serving time in Arizona State Prison. He had repeatedly reverted to drugs despite numerous attempts to rehabilitate himself. After reading texts on raising human ability by L. Ron Hubbard, he felt he had discovered the basis for a new "ability-raising" drug rehabilitation methodology and founded "Narconon," coined by him to mean "no-drugs." Subsequently, the first Narconon non-profit, nonreligious-affiliated corporation was established in Los Angeles, California in 1975. Over the last 25 years, Narconon has developed a definitive program of educational courses along with the sauna sweat out detoxification step. This same program, translated into different languages, is now delivered in widely varying cultures, to publics of varying age, literacy, social and cultural environments.
Narconon is now a network of drug rehabilitation and/or drug prevention centers currently delivering service at 75 locations in 29 countries worldwide. Administrated by Narconon International, Narconon centers - whether free-standing or incorporated into prisons or other institutions -- are financially and corporately independent centers.
The Narconon Program:
Although it is Narconon's worldwide policy that all enrolling students receive a comprehensive medical exam prior to enrollment, the Narconon program is a drug-free, non-medical model. [Certain cases, such as heavy alcohol abusers, may be referred to a short-term medical detox center before enrolling in the Narconon program due to potential medical complications.] A drug-free, relatively pain- and discomfort-free withdrawal from drugs such as heroin and other opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, lesser alcohol, and hallucinogenics is accomplished regularly as the first step of the program.
The steps of the Narconon program are:
- Drug-free withdrawal,
- Communication Skills Course,
- Narconon New Life Detoxification Program (sauna sweat out program),
- Learning Improvement Course,
- Communication and Perception Course (helping the student to extrovert from past memories and to regain good self-control),
- Ups and Downs in Life Course (educating the student about social and anti- social personality types),
- Personal Values and Integrity Course (assessing, confronting, and taking personal responsibility for past contra-survival harmful acts),
- Changing Conditions in Life Course (tools for improving personal or organizational conditions in a step-by-step manner),
- The Way to Happiness Course (study and application of a non-religious commonsense moral code),
- Discharge Plan (for smooth and responsible post-graduation re-entry into the living environment, to be monitored by Narconon staff for an adequate period),
- Family Services (during and following the program, as needed).
Each component of this program is tailored to the specific needs of the individual student. For most steps, students (as "clients" are called in this program) pair up and work with each other under the direction of a trained supervisor--to complete the program step. Each step involves both training and practical application to the individual's life. The average length of full-time study for the Narconon program, in a residential facility, is four months.
The Narconon New Life Detoxification Program:
Undergone only after the addict has physically withdrawn from active drug use, this program is aimed at mobilizing and eliminating accumulated drugs and their metabolites from the body. Other drug rehabilitation methodologies have included attempts to flush toxins from the body, but the Narconon program is a more comprehensive approach to this problem.
Many substances are known to store in human adipose (fat) tissue. In addition to commercial compounds, many drugs--both pharmaceutical and so-called recreational or illicit drugs -- can remain in the body for an extended time. Drugs such as LSD, PCP, cocaine, marijuana and diazepam (Valium) are found in fat. These drugs can be retained for extended periods, especially under conditions of chronic use. For example, marijuana metabolites are found in urine up to 77 days subsequent to the last use of marijuana. It is hypothesized that these metabolites are stored in adipose tissue prior to excretion.
Cocaine is generally considered to be a rapidly metabolized drug and, indeed, the majority of the drug is metabolized and excreted within 2 hours. However, cocaine is a lipophilic substance (having an affinity for fat) and is expected to accumulate in body tissues. Studies of urine and saliva in cocaine users show that unmetabolized cocaine is found for 5-10 days after the last use of the drug.
Frequently reported subjective effects of long-term drug abuse include feelings of disorientation, fatigue, and lack of motivation. Certain drugs, most notedly LSD, are reported to cause "flashbacks" long after the last ingestion of the drug.
The detoxification component of the Narconon program is based on the premise that these adverse consequences of drug abuse arise from small amounts of drugs or their metabolites stored in the fatty tissues of the drug user. When fats are mobilized during times of stress, hunger, weight loss, or exercise, these drug residuals can be mobilized as well. This may lead to reactivation of drug effects, a "flashback" type experience or, in the case of the recovering drug abuser, may lead to reactivation of the "craving" for his original drug of abuse. Persistent drug cravings are known to lead to relapse. Hence the revolving door of "drug rehab program, relapse, another drug rehab program, relapse, and on and on."
This hypothesis is supported by the results from treatment with Narconon?s detoxification program. Clients often report feeling the effects of drugs while undergoing this protocol, apparently as they are mobilized and eliminated from the system. Following treatment, they report increased mental acuity, less disorientation and greater energy. Findings of a research project at two Narconon centers in the United States showed that drugs, including cocaine and diazepam, are eliminated during the Hubbard detoxification protocol, despite their having been undectable prior to the regimen.
Components of the Detoxification Program:
This procedure is designed to mobilize the elimination of fat-stored foreign compounds. It was specifically developed to reduce levels of drug residues and has proven effective in the reduction of other fat-stored compounds as well.
This is an intensive regimen and, as such, requires physician approval to participate. Physical illness, ongoing physical problems such as anemia, heart disease, high blood pressure, advanced diabetes, digestive ailments, kidney disorders, malnutrition and physical infirmities relating to alcohol and/or other drug dependence may result in restriction from this program while these prior medical conditions are addressed, or may result in a medically-supervised modification to the procedure to fit individual needs.
Briefly, the program consists of the following components:
- Aerobic exercise, preferably running, to stimulate circulation.
- Prescribed periods in a low temperature sauna (60-80 Centigrade).
- An exact regimen of vitamin, mineral, and cold-pressed oil intake (vitamin dosages balanced around gradiently increasing dosages of instant-release [not sustained-release] B3, niacin).
- Sufficient liquids to offset the loss of body fluids through sweating.
- Regular diet, supplemented with plenty of fresh vegetables which are not overcooked.
- A properly ordered personal schedule which provides the person with the normally required amount of sleep.
Students are on this program up to 5 hours per day, always participating with another present and under the supervision of staff personnel. Students exercise for half an hour, then sweat in sauna (with regular cool-off periods) for up to four and a half hours, every day, until program completion.
The daily schedule is related to the mobilization of fatty acids caused by vitamin B3 (niacin). Following an initial 30 minute reduction in the mobilization of free fatty acids, niacin then promotes a several hour transitory increase in free fatty acid mobilization; hence, the time period of the sweating regimen. After ingesting the daily dose of niacin, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise is followed by frequent periods of low-heat sauna (not the high heat sports gym saunas which allow for only short periods of sweating). Instant-release crystalline niacin only is used. Polyunsaturated oil is administered to sustain the mobilization and elimination process and to inhibit reabsorption of mobilized toxins into the liver. Increasing dosages of the vitamins also replace those lost through sweating. Vitamins and minerals are supplemented and the daily liquid losses are replaced. Body weight is kept constant throughout the program, helping to monitor and prevent dehydration.
The program is pursued individually until a stable clinical improvement is achieved, generally from 14 to 28 days of treatment. The protocol is monitored by clinical and subjective change, not by reduction of stored toxins. The goal for drug rehabilitation students is to attain sustainable recovery from the past effects of drug abuse. (See Hubbard for a full description of this protocol.)
Results and Discussion: The Narconon detoxification program has resulted in marked improvements in rehabilitation program students. Across the world, over 20 years, tens of thousands of Narconon students have consistently reported increased mental acuity, greater energy, greater awareness of their surroundings, and an increased feeling of general well-being following detoxification completion. Fully supporting this record of positive health result from the Hubbard detoxification was one recent study performed by Russian Federation doctors associated with the Medical Radiological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Obninsk, Russia. They put 24 males between 20 and 40-years-of-age who had been exposed to severe radiation as a result of the Chernobyl reactor explosion through the Hubbard protocol. They monitored the health and progress through the regimen for each person and performed multiple clinical diagnostic tests, monitoring 22 different biochemical parameters of blood, psychological evaluations, etc.
The function of each participant?s immune system was measured through various tests. The scientists presented in their conclusion that, "There is evidence suggesting that the program revitalizes the immune system and improves the general physical condition of the participant. In spite of its robust regimen, there is an absence of negative health effects. In addition, the detoxification program devised by Hubbard possesses a powerful psychotherapeutic potential that has been associated with a significant improvement in the general health of the participant. Follow-up examinations of the participants conducted at one and nine months after completion of the program indicated that chronic diseases present at the start of the detoxification study were in lengthy remission."
Two additional studies have found similar benefits accrue to children or juveniles with toxic body burdens who are guided through this procedure.
Based on these intriguing results concerning improvement in the immune system and remission of chronic diseases, we recommend that further study of the Narconon detoxification regimen should be conducted, particularly with HIV-positive drug addicts who have not yet advanced to the stage of AIDS.References:
- [ ] Beckmann SL (1997), "The Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program: On-Going Program Evaluation," Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Human Detoxification, Stockholm, Sweden.
- [ ] Spain: Associated Technicians of Research and Marketing, (1987) "Study: Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts in Narconon," Madrid, Spain; Sweden: Gerdman P (1981), "A Study of Drug Abusers Assistance Group in Stockholm," Stockholm, Sweden; Russia: Gurotchkin, Grigoriev et al (1998), "Expertise on the Efficacy of the Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program," Moscow, Russian Federation; U.S.: Beckmann SL, cited above.
- [ ] FASE: Research Report (1995), "The International Conference on Chemical Contamination and Human Detoxification," 35-37, FASE Publications, Los Angeles, CA.
- [ ] Shields M et al (1995), "Reduction of Drug Residues: Applications in Drug Rehabilitation," presented at 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.
- [ ] Tsyb AF, Parshkov EM, et al (1998) "Rehabilitation of a Chernobyl Affected Population Using a Detoxification Method," Proceedings of the 1998 International Radiological Post-Emergency Response Conference, Washington D.C.
- [ ] Carr CRN (1997), "Detoxification: Its Range of Application and on Human Detoxification, Stockholm, Sweden.
- [ ] L. Ron Hubbard Library (1991) Narconon Course Materials, Volumes 1 to 8, Bridge Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
- [ ] Nebelkopf E (1981) "Holistic programs for the drug addict and alcoholic." J Psychoactive Drugs 13:345-351.
- [ ] Stanley JS (1986) Broad Scan Analysis of Human Adipose Tissue: Vol I: Executive Summary, EPA 560/5-86-035.
- [ ] James SH and Schnoll SH (1976) "Phencyclidine: Tissue Distribution in the Rat." Clin Tox 9:573-582.
- [ ] Nayak et al. (1976) "Physiological Disposition and Biotransformation of [3H] Cocaine in Acutely and Chronically Treated Rats." J Pharmacol Exp Ther 196:556-569.
- [ ] Foltz, Rodger L, Ph.D., Personal Communication
- [ ] Friedman H et al. (1985) "Tissue Distribution of Diazepam and its Metabolite Desmethyldiazepam: A Human Autopsy Study." J Clin Pharmacol 25:613-615.
- [ ] Cone EJ and Weddington WW (1989) "Prolonged Occurrence of Cocaine in Human Saliva and Urine After Chronic Use." J Analyt Toxicol 13:65-68.
- [ ] Martin BR (1982) "Long-Term Disposition of Phencyclidine in Mice." Drug Metabolism and Disposition 10:189-193.
- [ ] Weiss RD (1988) "Protracted Elimination of Cocaine Metabolites in Long-Term, High-Dose Cocaine Abusers." Amer J Med 85:879-880.
- [ ] Dackis CA et al. (1982) "Persistence of Urinary Marijuana Levels After Supervised Abstinence." Am J Psychiatry 139:1196-1198.
- [ ] Ellis et al. (1985) "Excretion Patterns of Cannabinoid Metabolites After Last Use in a Group of Chronic Users." Clin Pharmacol Ther 38:572-578.
- [ ] Chow MR et al. (1985) "Kinetics of Cocaine Distribution, Elimination, and Chronotropic Effects." Clin Pharmacol Ther 38:318-324.
- [ ] Beckmann SL and Tennant F (1995) "Precipitation of Cocaine Metabolites in Sweat and Urine of Addicts Undergoing Sauna Bath Treatment." CPDD Meeting, June 1995 [abstract].
- [ ] Schnare DW et al (1984) "Body Burden Reductions of PCBs, PBBs, and Chlorinated Pesticides in Human Subjects." Ambio 13:378-380.
- [ ] Tretjak Z et al. (1990) "PCB Reduction and Clinical Improvement by Detoxification: An Unexploited Approach?" Human and Experimental Toxicology 9:235-244.
- [ ] Hubbard LR (1990) Clear Body, Clear Mind: The Effective Purification Program, Bridge Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA
- [ ] Wisner RM et al (1995), "Treatment of Children with the Detoxification Method Developed by Hubbard," Proceedings of the American Public Health Association: National Conference, San Diego. And Barnes JG et al (1995), "Accelerated Elimination of Cs-137 in Children Induced by the Detoxification Method Developed by L. Ron Hubbard," Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Human Detoxification, Stockholm, Sweden.
- To facilitate withdrawal from drugs broadly implement use of the simple, inexpensive, nutrition-assisted and drug-free system utilized in the Narconon program. This withdrawal approach helps heroin and other IV drug addicts to successfully withdraw from drug use in a relatively pain-free manner, hopefully before the addict becomes HIV-infected and then infects others.
- Expand use of the Narconon detoxification program to reduce the persistent ill effects from drug abuse and to reduce recidivism. Reducing recidivism will lead to reduced spread of disease.
- Further evaluate the effectiveness of the Narconon detoxification program in improving the health of former addicts, particularly as regards reports that this sauna-sweat-out detoxification protocol enhances the immune system.
- Expand the use of socio-educational drug rehabilitation approaches as opposed to medical drug substitution approaches. Employ drug-free, nutrition-based and social-education drug rehabilitation models such as the Narconon drug rehabilitation program to help train grass-roots organizations and personnel to improve their drug rehabilitation results (without needing to rely on costly medical support.)
- To reduce the spread of AIDS in India and Africa vis-a-vis the sexual transmission, simplify the public education message to "Do Not Be Promiscuous." Communicate this message with consistency on every channel of dissemination as the primary message. Back this up with universal education on the use of condoms and other safe sex measures.
Mr. Clark R. N. Carr
The Narconon history. |
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36 avenue de la Poste, 56340 Carnac, France – Show map
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25 properties in Carnac
Including hotels, apartments, villas and more.
240 verified reviews
They speak your language!
Hôtel Lann Roz's staff speaks: French
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Grounds, Terrace, Sun Deck
Food & Drink
Breakfast in the Room
Free private parking is available on site (reservation is not possible).
Baggage Storage, Meeting/Banquet Facilities
Newspapers, Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Facilities for Disabled Guests, Soundproof Rooms, All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)
Super U (1.2 miles)
Océan Atlantique (0.5 miles)
3:00 PM - 8:00 PM
8:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
Children older than 5 years are welcome.
One child or adult is charged EUR 20 per person per night in an extra bed.
There is no capacity for extra beds in the room.
Any type of extra bed or crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by management.
Additional fees are not calculated automatically in the total cost and will have to be paid for separately during your stay.
Pets are allowed on request. Charges may apply.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Based on 242 reviews
Value for money
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Nestled in the heart of the Gulf of Morbihan, on Carnac beach, the 4-star Le Churchill offers comfortable and elegant accommodations, free Wi-Fi and free on-site parking.
Score from 470 reviews Excellent
Located in Carnac, this Best Western Hotel is just 55 yards from the beach. It has a heated indoor swimming pool and a spa center with a sauna, hammam and Jacuzzi.
Score from 338 reviews Very good
Overlooking the ocean in Quiberon, the Hotel Europa offers well-decorated rooms with their own private balcony. Rooms include flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi internet access.
Score from 308 reviews Very good
Chambres d’hôtes de la Vanneresse is located in La Trinité-sur-Mer, within walking distance from the local harbour and the sea.
Score from 12 reviews Wonderful
Basic breakfast, good if you like cakes
Good modern hotel in ideal location for town centre and beach. Good spacious well equipped rooms
- the room was not warm enough, i tried to increase the heater at maximum but it was not enough and the cleaning lady put it back to average heating on the morning.. - As the bathroom has no door, it was cold after shower and amenities were not enough for all the nights we spent - there is a well thought way to access the building for wheelchairs and luggages but this way has not been built until the road- why?!
- the staff is nice and welcoming - The hotel looks new and the rooms are made in a nice design way - wifi works well - bed is really comfortable - lots of differents lights - enough mirrors
Shower did not have enough coverage.
Well designed and comfortable room.
It took a few goes to work out how to position the shower head to limit the water wetting the floor in the open plan shower, but the mats and towels were changed as requested.The restaurant appeared to be run under different management. The menu appeared limited and so we dined out.
The position opposite a park was ideal for a late afternoon stroll. Rooms were spacious, very comfortable and decoration was contemporary. It was nice to be able to have tea/coffee making facilities in the room. Positioned within walking distance of the "Grand Plage" with friendly Cafe's. An excellent boulangerie just around the corner. The hotel itself has beautifully maintained gardens providing an ideal view from the balcony.
Assumed that arrival time on their website was fixed, however when we arrived at the appropriate time the room was not ready as we had failed to inform the hotel of our arrival time! We were sent away for an hour and on return waited a further 20 minutes (now mid afternoon).
Easy walk into both the old town and the seafront, and access to the 'stones'.
There is no air conditioning.
Very comfortable and clean in a nice location.
Lovely room with balcony, near to Carnac so easy to walk in and near to the beaches and alignements as well. Quiet location.
The lack of air con. I appreciate the room rate was very reasonable but air con would have meant we had a better nights sleep
The breakfast was very good and excellent value
A lovely hotel, positioned halfway between Carnac town and coast, so handy for both! Modern bedroom, that was very cleverly designed, with tea/coffee making facilities. plenty of parking. Excellent breakfasts. We will definitely stay here again in the future.
Room Staff Cleanliness Location Wifi Balcony
Little bit further from the beach than I would have liked, not really walking distance in high heels in the evening, but that's a minor point. We would definitely stay here again.
We booked a triple room for myself, my husband and our teenage daughter. It was more like a mini apartment. She had a spacious room of her own-with her own tv-and it was very comfortable and clean.
If you have time, it's cheaper to walk into town and have breakfast in one of the many café's, than to take it at the hotel.
Very comfortable and spaceous rooms in a modern hotel located on a quiet street opposite the park. It's closer to Carnac centre than the beach, (although in walking distance of each). The is an excellent resturant on site but under separate management.
Great location between the beach & the old town. Rooms were well proportioned and recently done up.
lack of downstairs toilet or lift
the situation the size and facilities of the room
The evening meal choices were too expensive for our budget
The room was very clean and styled in a modern way - loved the chromatherapy bath!
Although there was a TV all the channels were in French. Bottled Water was only provided on arrival.
The room was beautifully decorated and the hotel was very clean. Breakfast was very nice I liked the location as I wanted to be between the town and beach. Wifi very good
Mpst excellent surprise
Would have loved to be able to order a fresh boiled egg (hot). Only cold hard boiled cold eggs were offered.
Very friendly reception. Contemporary, fresh and modern style. Shower was superb. Neighbourhood was quite. Location was right in between beach and "village". Plenty of parking space. Breakfast was good choice of salty and sweet.
Nothing all OK
Rooms were nice and modern, nice linen. short walk to restaurants. Friendly staff, nice continental breakfast.
It would have been nice to have a hair dryer in the room but did not think to ask for one.
We really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Lann Roz. The staff was very helpful and kind and the rooms were beautifully decorated, very clean and comfortable. The breakfast was very nice with many choices and great coffee!
Although a private car park, not really secure for my motorbike. Not a problem for car drivers.
Friendly host, excellent breakfast, quiet room as requested
It was a nice little hotel, with very friendly and caring staff.Cosy, very clean rooms with modern disign. Tasty breakfast. We arrived in the eveninng and asked to advice us restorant for dinner. The owner not only recommended us the restaurant, but also advised us which meal and vine makes sence to taste. We followed his advice, and it was nice.
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Pine Lake Sauna
Come enjoy Pine Lake's softly-lit traditional wood-fired Finnish-style sauna and sweat out your troubles and cares. The stars above the lake, the fresh crisp air and sound of the water gently lapping the shore help you attain a more tranquil mood. Bring a flashlight for the walk there and a towel to dry off. Leave alcohol, drugs, and worries at home.
Pine Lake Sauna Policy
The sauna is open to Hartwick students, faculty, staff, alumni, and Friends of Pine Lake only.
Hours: Wednesdays and Sundays, 7:30-10 p.m. when classes are in session
All Hartwick College policies are in effect at Pine Lake, including in the sauna!
NO SWIMMING ALLOWED!
NO FOOD, DRINK, or SMOKING ALLOWED: Alcohol and drugs are strictly prohibited. Impaired judgment in the sauna can be dangerous; alcohol is a diuretic--combined with sweating in the sauna it could quickly result in serious dehydration.
Pine Lake has a zero-tolerance policy with regards to alcohol or illegal drugs in or around the sauna. Use of drugs and/or alcohol in or in conjunction with the sauna is a serious policy violation and WILL lead to closure of the sauna and disciplinary action against individuals.
For your health! DO NOT use the sauna without your physician's permission if you have been diagnosed with a heart condition, high blood pressure, respiratory ailments, or other chronic condition.
If you are pregnant, you CANNOT use the sauna.
Sign in. A sign in sheet is located inside the sauna door. All users are REQUIRED to sign-in.
Sauna users must be at least 18 years old.
Appropriate clothing and towel required. Clean swim attire must be worn and participants are required to bring a towel to sit on when using the sauna. Under no circumstances may patrons wear excess clothing such as a sweat suit or rubberized suit while in the sauna. Do not wrap in ceramic wrap.
Don't touch the stove. It's HOT! Do not place anything on or near the stove.
When adding water to the rocks, do so slowly, one ladleful at a time. Do not saturate the rocks or pour water directly on the stove. Do not add essential oils, scents, or other materials, including sage and tobacco to the sauna stones or stove. Some people are allergic to these materials.
Drink lots of water. Drink plenty of fluids before entering and leaving the sauna. Avoid dehydration.
Limit your stay. Users CANNOT remain in the sauna for more than 15 consecutive minutes due to the fatiguing effects of prolonged use of the sauna. You are losing water more rapidly than you realize. Before returning to the sauna, you must remain outside for at least 5 minutes. The total amount of time you can remain in the sauna CANNOT exceed 30 minutes.
The sauna CANNOT be used alone. Always have someone with you.
No electronic devices or reading materials. Newspapers, books, notebooks, laptops, cell phones, IPods, MP3s, and other paper and electronic devices prohibited.
Pack it in-pack it out! Take trash home with you, including plastic bottles, which should be recycled.
Honor the system. The Pine Lake sauna runs on trust and community spirit. It is a privilege not a right. If someone is abusing the system (breaking the rules) tell them and report it to the Pine Lake staff person on duty. Do not allow dangerous situations to exist. Everyone has the responsibility to maintain a safe sauna. A Pine Lake employee is on duty in the Lodge office during all sauna hours. Contact the on-duty staff (278-5429), or Coordinator of Pine Lake Residency, Seth Lucas (353-9586), to report problems or any concerns.
Donations: Anyone (including Hartwick folks) can support the sauna (and Pine Lake). Funds help purchase wood, pay sauna attendants, make repairs, and cover costs. To donate, complete a Friends of Pine Lake membership form and write "sauna" on the check memo line. It's easy and tax deductible! The current stove was donated by sauna goers and flood repairs were paid for by donations. Financial support, even small amounts, makes a difference and helped us reopen.
ALL POLICY VIOLATIONS WILL BE REPORTED TO CAMPUS SAFETY!
ENJOY YOUR SAUNA! |
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Kunaeva Street 151/34, 050000 Almaty, Kazakhstan – Show map
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130 properties in Almaty
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24 verified reviews
They speak your language!
City Hotel Tien Shan's staff speaks: Russian, English
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Sauna, Fitness Center
Food & Drink
Bar, Breakfast in the Room, Restaurant with Dining Menu, Buffet-Style Restaurant, Snack Bar
WiFi is available in all areas and is free of charge.
No parking available.
Room Service, 24-Hour Front Desk, Express Check-in/Check-out, Currency Exchange, Tour Desk, Baggage Storage, ATM on site, Concierge Service, Babysitting/Child Services, Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Ironing Service, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Business Center, Fax/Photocopying, Honeymoon Suite
Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Soundproof Rooms, Heating, Designated Smoking Area
From 2:00 PM
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
All children under 7 years stay free of charge when using existing beds.
All children under 2 years stay free of charge in a crib.
All older children or adults stay free of charge for extra beds.
The maximum number of extra beds/cribs in a room is 1.
Any type of extra bed or crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by management.
Pets are not allowed.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Based on 24 reviews
Value for money
Show reviews from:
Featuring a sauna and free Wi-Fi, this hotel is located in Almaty city, 8 minutes’ drive from the central Republic Square. It offers air-conditioned rooms with a flat-screen TV.
Score from 87 reviews Good
Stylish restaurants, a spa center with indoor pool and free Wi-Fi are featured at this central hotel, located across from Almaty’s Kunaev Park. Gogol Keshesi Tram Stop is 330 yards away.
Score from 131 reviews Good
Just a 5 minute walk from Zhibek Zholy Metro Station, this hotel in central Almaty offers a sauna, billiards room and a free gym.
Score from 210 reviews Good
In Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, this modern hotel is a 25-minute drive from Almaty International Airport. It includes free Wi-Fi, an indoor swimming pool, spa and traditional Kazakhstani...
Score from 196 reviews Good
breakfast can be improved value for money
Breakfast can be improved. Wifi, too.
Location is the best. You have to know Almaty to understand that Tien Shan City Hotel is one of the best kept secrets in the city. Location is perfect within walking distance of good restaurants. And on a very quiet street in the best neighbourhood. I'd rather stay here than the Rixos; in fact, I do.
Clean, affordable, not far away from the Centre
The illumination in the washroom was poor with shaving, trimming of moustache difficult.
The room incl. washroom was large and the well lit and the furnishing was good.
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The Arrival of the Jesuits
The Jesuits were among the earliest settlers of New Orleans and Louisiana. A Jesuit chaplain accompanied Iberville on his second expedition, and the fathers are credited with introducing the growing of sugar cane to Louisiana, paving the way for one of the state’s prime industries. They probably brought this from their West Indies farms and planted it on the plantation they bought from former Governor Bienville in 1725. This tract, used by the fathers as a staging area or supply base for their activities in ministering to the needs of settlers and Indians in the up-country, was located "across the common" (now Canal Street), running along the Mississippi River to what is now Jackson Avenue. When the Jesuit order was banned from the French colonies in 1763, the land was sold at public auction.
The city’s leaders, including Bienville, had long hoped for a Jesuit college. After the Jesuit order was restored, the Bishop of New Orleans implored the Jesuits in France to come to the city. In 1837, seven Jesuit priests arrived. After weighing several sites, they decided that Grand Coteau, in St. Landry Parish, was a better site for their boarding college than the fever-ridden city.
Establishment of New Orleans' first Jesuit college
Meanwhile, New Orleans continued its dramatic growth, despite yellow fever. The desire for a Jesuit college here intensified in both the citizens and the fathers. In 1847, the priests bought a small piece of the same land they had owned nearly a century before, and in 1849, the College of the Immaculate Conception opened its doors at the corner of Baronne and Common streets.
This college became a well-established and beloved institution. As the city grew, however, it became obvious to Rev. John O’Shanahan, S.J., superior general of the province, that the downtown area would become too congested for a college. He began looking for a suburban site.
The Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884 had given impetus to the development of the uptown section of the city, especially around Audubon Park. This area was reached by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad which ran from Lee Circle to the City of Carrollton on the present roadbed of the St. Charles streetcar line. Father O’Shanahan learned that a large site directly across from the park was available. This was the site of the Foucher Plantation, owned by Paul Foucher, son of a New Orleans mayor and son-in-law of Etienne de Bore, famed as the granulator of sugar from cane syrup.
The entire Foucher site was offered to Father O’Shanahan for the sum of $75,500. It included the land now occupied by Loyola and Tulane universities, and Audubon Place. The priest’s advisers dissuaded him from purchasing this lest the acquisition of such a large tract bring on the charge of commercialism. He acceded, but said later he wished he had not since he could have within 10 days sold enough of the property "to pay for the entire tract I bought and to put aside a sinking fund for the education of our young men."
The section of the Foucher estate Father O’Shanahan bought in 1886 fronted on St. Charles and ran approximately to the Claiborne canal. It was purchased with the assistance of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, a Jesuit alumnus, and the Brousseau family. The price was $22,500, paid in three installments at six percent interest. On the day the act was signed, the fathers were offered $7,500 more for the property.
In May 1890, the parish of Most Holy Name of Jesus was established for the area. Rev. John Downey, S.J., was the first pastor. A frame church, known affectionately among Orleanians as "Little Jesuits," was built, and Mass was celebrated in it in May 1892.
Loyola College opens
In 1904, the long-planned Loyola College, together with a preparatory academy, opened its doors. First classes were held in a residence located to the rear of the church on what is now Marquette Place. The first president was the Rev. Albert Biever, S.J., who was appointed by the provincial, Rev. William Power, S.J.
The college grew steadily. Father Biever promised and did give a holiday when the student body reached 50. In 1907, Father Biever called a meeting of prominent Catholic laymen to plan for a new building. Acting chairman was W.E. Claiborne. Out of his group grew the Marquette Association for Higher Education with B.A. Oxnard as chairman. In 1910, this group, with the assistance of its ladies auxiliary, was responsible for the building of Marquette Hall, queen of Loyola’s buildings and centerpiece of its campus horseshoe. Strongly encouraged by Archbishop Blenk and prominent New Orleanians, the Jesuits and the Marquette Association had several years previously begun to make plans for expansion to a university.
In 1911, the Jesuit schools in New Orleans were reorganized. Immaculate Conception College became exclusively a college preparatory school and was given the preparatory students of Loyola College. The downtown institution relinquished its higher departments—what are now known as college programs—to Loyola, which was in the process of becoming a university.
Becoming a university
On May 28, 1912, a bill was introduced in the Louisiana Senate by Senator William H. Byrnes, Jr., of Orleans Parish which proposed to grant a university charter to Loyola. It was passed unanimously and sent to the State House of Representatives. There was some backstage opposition, and Father Biever, fearing a fatal snag, made an impassioned speech to the house. The bill passed, and on July 10, 1912, the governor signed the act authorizing Loyola to grant university degrees.
Under the direction of the dynamic Father Biever and with the advice and financial support of New Orleans citizens, the new university grew dramatically. Thomas Hall, residence for the fathers, was dedicated in 1912. The new church known as the McDermott Memorial, with its soaring tower, arose in 1913.
In that year also the New Orleans College of Pharmacy, incorporated in 1900 by its founder, Dr. Philip Asher, chose to affiliate with Loyola. In 1919, the college merged completely with the university. The college was discontinued in 1965.
The School of Dentistry was organized in 1914 with Dr. C. Victor Vignes as first dean. First classes were held in Marquette Hall. The school was transferred to Bobet Hall when that building was completed in 1924. The college was phased out between 1968 and 1971.
The School of Law also was established in 1914 with Judge John St. Paul as founding dean. First classes were held at night in Alumni Hall near the College of Immaculate Conception. However, after the first year they were moved to the new university.
Dr. Ernest Schuyten had founded the New Orleans Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art in 1919. It was first located at Felicity and Coliseum streets and later moved to Jackson Avenue and Carondelet Street. It was incorporated into Loyola University in 1932 as the College of Music. The next year it moved to the Loyola campus with Dr. Schuyten as dean.
The roots of educating adult students date back to 1919 when evening courses were first offered at Loyola for students who were unable to pursue full-time degree programs. By 1949, the demand for such evening courses had grown to an extent that the university decided to establish an Evening Division to serve the educational needs of working adults. In 1970, the Evening Division, with an enrollment of 1,200 students, was chartered as City College, with its own full-time faculty. In 2006, the university made each college responsible for educating undergraduate adult students. City College was discontinued as an administrative unit and its faculty became department members in the other colleges.
From 1926 to 1947, a four-year degree program leading to a bachelor of science degree in economics was offered by the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1947, the Department of Commerce of the College of Arts and Sciences expanded into the full-fledged College of Business Administration granting a bachelor of business administration degree. The college moved into Stallings Hall shortly thereafter. Dr. John V. Conner was the first dean. In 1950, the college was admitted to associate membership in the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and in 1957, the college was admitted to full membership. In 1983, the college was renamed the Joseph A. Butt, S.J., College of Business Administration in honor of the Jesuit priest who taught generations of Loyola business students. The college moved to Miller Hall, its present home, in 1986.
Educating the whole person
The university thus has a colorful and distinguished history marked by the zeal and scholarship of the Jesuit fathers and the valued advice and support of leading citizens of New Orleans. Hundreds of the city’s top leaders received their education from the Jesuits at Loyola University, or its predecessor, the College of the Immaculate Conception. Teachers, scientists, attorneys, pharmacists, musicians, and business executives call Loyola their alma mater.
Loyola has a colorful sports history. A double-decker stadium on Freret Street was the scene of exciting football games, including the first collegiate night game in the south. Olympic and national champions have worn the maroon and gold. In 1945 the basketball team won the National Intercollegiate Basketball Championship Tournament. The intercollegiate athletics program was discontinued in 1972 but reinstated in 1991, following a student referendum in which students voted for its return. The Wolfpack currently competes in the N.A.I.A. (National Association of Intercollegiate Conference) for both men and women.
An expanding campus
In 1964, Loyola completed major physical plant expansion with the dedication of three new buildings, a 404-student residence hall, a university center, and a central heating/cooling plant. In 1967, Buddig Hall, a 412-student women’s residence, was dedicated.
In 1969, the university completed the largest academic structure in its history, the 180,000-square-foot J. Edgar Monroe Memorial Science Building. Today this impressive structure houses science-oriented departments and is known as Monroe Hall.
In 1984, the university purchased the 4.2-acre Broadway campus, formerly the campus of St. Mary’s Dominican College. The Broadway campus, located on St. Charles Avenue at Broadway, is a few blocks from Loyola’s main campus. Major renovations were completed to two existing buildings in 1986, creating modernized housing for the School of Law and Law Library.
In 1986, a 115,000-square-foot Communications/Music Building was dedicated. The building, constructed on the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Calhoun Street, houses the Department of Communications and the College of Music. The building boasts, in addition to the latest technology for broadcasting and music studios, the 600-seat Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall.
The six-level Recreational Sports Complex was dedicated in February 1988. The RecPlex includes two floors of racquetball, tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts; a natatorium with diving pool, whirlpool, sauna, and steam room; an elevated jogging track and weight room. The building also houses a four-story parking garage.
The Activities Quad, between Bobet Hall and the Danna Center, was renamed the Plaza De Los Martires De La Paz in 1989 to honor the six Jesuits, their cook, and her daughter who were slain in El Salvador. The Jesuits taught at the University of San Salvador. Eight trees were planted in the Peace Quad as a permanent memorial to these contemporary martyrs.
In 1989, historic Greenville Hall on the Broadway campus was renovated to provide office space for the Division of Institutional Advancement (alumni/parent relations, development, and public affairs/publications/marketing communications). This outstanding Italianate structure was built in 1892 for St. Mary’s Academy, a girls’ school established in 1861 by Dominican nuns from Cabra, Ireland. In 1864 when the nuns acquired the property on which the building sits, the area was known as the village of Greenville, a community which was annexed by the City of New Orleans in 1870. In 1910, the academy became St. Mary’s Dominican College. In 1984, the same year Loyola bought the Broadway campus, Greenville was designated a historic landmark by the Orleans Parish Landmarks Commission.
Loyola’s Broadway campus today also includes the School of Law, Cabra Residence Hall, and the Department of Visual Arts in St. Mary’s Hall.
In 1993, Loyola purchased Mercy Academy at the corner of Calhoun and Freret streets. The facility was renovated in 1994 – 95 and a number of departments moved in including the Office of Human Resources, the Office of International Student Affairs, the Women’s Resource Center, and Physical Plant.
In 1996, Loyola officially changed its name to Loyola University New Orleans to distinguish itself from other Jesuit institutions with similar names.
Loyola continues to grow and expand physically. A new 500-car parking garage was completed on West Road in 1996. The 150,000-square-foot, 550,000-volume-capacity J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library opened its doors in January 1999 and was dedicated in February 1999. Thresholds: The Campaign for Loyola University New Orleans supported the library project and provided funding endowment for faculty and staff support and endowment for student financial aid. The $50 million capital campaign, the largest in Loyola’s history, exceeded its goal within its established five-year framework (1993 – 1998) with a total of over $51 million raised. Carrollton residence hall was also completed in 1999.
In 2003, athletic scholarships were once again awarded to men’s and women’s basketball players.
In 2006, following the devastating effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, Loyola implemented Pathways: Toward Our Second Century. This plan restructured the existing colleges and departments into five distinct colleges: Business, Humanities and Natural Sciences, Law, Music and Fine Arts, and Social Sciences. Under the plan, the School of Mass Communication and the School of Nursing were also created and housed under the College of Social Sciences.
In 2007, the College of Law opened its Wendell H. and Anne B. Gauthier Family Wing. The four-story, 16,000-square-foot addition, located at the corner of Pine and Dominican Streets, seamlessly connected to the main law building.
Also in 2007, the Danna Center was renamed the Danna Student Center, and the Recreational Sports Complex became the University Sports Complex.
In 2008, Loyola completed an extensive renovation of the Danna Student Center. In addition, two classrooms in Bobet Hall were redone, and the Gregory R. Choppin Chemistry Wing in Monroe Hall was renovated.
In fall 2010, the university rededicated the former university library as the new Tom Benson Jesuit Center. Mr. Benson’s investment of $8 million in the university will go toward the renovation of the 36,000 square foot building, originally constructed in 1950, which will house the Jesuit Center and a new chapel.
In 2011, two additional floors were completed on the West Road Garage, creating 236 more parking spaces for the university’s main campus.
Also in 2011, the university completed a renovation and expansion of Thomas Hall, which formerly housed Jesuits on campus. The renovated building is now a one-stop-shop for student administrative services, including Admissions, Bursar’s Office, Student Records, Student Finance and Financial Aid.
The College of Law expanded its reach in 2011 with the renovation of the former Dominican Conference Center. The university purchased the building in 2009 and completed its renovation in the summer of 2011. It now houses the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice.
Loyola University New Orleans is one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. It is open to students of all faiths. |
Book your room at Shrigley Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club
Standard Double RoomMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 infant)
Standard Twin RoomMax Occupancy: 2 guests
Standard Single RoomMax Occupancy: 1 guest
4-star Macclesfield hotel in Pott Shrigley with 2 restaurants
Collect 200 points
Simply enter your Nectar card number when prompted. Your points will be credited 30 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Located in Pott Shrigley, this golf hotel is 2.8 mi (4.6 km) from Adlington Hall and within 9 mi (15 km) of Quarry Bank Mill and Styal Estate and Millennium Walkway. Lyme Park and Hat Works Museum of Hatting are also within 12 mi (20 km).
This smoke-free hotel features 2 restaurants, a golf course, and an indoor pool. Free WiFi in public areas and free self parking are also provided. Other amenities include 2 bars/lounges, a health club, and a spa tub.
All 148 rooms offer free WiFi and free wired Internet, plus 24-hour room service and TVs. Other amenities available to guests include coffee makers, hair dryers, and safes.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
In addition to a golf course, Shrigley Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club features an indoor pool and a health club. Dining is available at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants. Guests can unwind with a drink at one of hotel's 2 bars/lounges. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wired and wireless Internet access.
Business-related amenities at this 4-star property consist of a business center and meeting rooms. 12 meeting rooms are available. This business-friendly hotel also offers a spa tub, a sauna, and a steam room. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Shrigley Hall Hotel, Golf & Country Club is a smoke-free property.
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- 24-hour front desk
- Express check-out
- Total number of rooms - 148
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Number of floors - 3
- Golf course on site
- Tennis on site
- Number of bars/lounges - 2
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Business center
- Conference space
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Express check-in
- Health club
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Meeting rooms
- Free self parking
- Number of restaurants - 2
- Number of meeting rooms - 12
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 2
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Indoor pool
- Wedding services
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired high-speed Internet
Free self parking
- Pay movies
- Coffee/tea maker
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- In-room safe
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Free WiFi
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Room service (24 hours)
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
Where to Eat
Breakfast is available for a surcharge and served each morning between 8 AM and 9:30 AM.
Oakridge Restaurant - This restaurant serves lunch and dinner. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar. A children's menu is available.
The Courtyard Bar - This bar serves lunch and light fare.
Make me a blush - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and light fare. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Summer of Sport - This sports bar serves light fare only.
24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
A golf course and a health club are featured at the hotel. An indoor pool and a spa tub are on site. Other recreational amenities include a sauna and a steam room.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing on site
- Manicures and pedicures
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible parking
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
Pets allowed, Only dogs are allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Breakfast fee: GBP 10 per person (approximately)
- Onsite credit card charges are subject to a surcharge
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. |
Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris - Hotel Review
by Sophie Gayot
NOTE: This article was written before the 2014 renovation of the hotel and it does not reflect the changes that have occurred.
Part of the swanky Dorchester Collection, which regards luxury and refinement as its main preoccupation, the Hôtel Plaza Athénée stretches its famous red awnings and its colorful geraniums along the ultra-elegant avenue Montaigne. What a prime location! At the crossroads of entertainment, fashion and business, it's within walking distance of many meeting, shopping and leisure venues.
"Once upon a time in the palace of tomorrow." This is how the always-smiling Director of Operations for the Dorchester Group — and the hotel's former general manager — François Delahaye, likes to describe this property, and we agree with him. The hotel first opened in 1911 and rapidly gained international fame. It has constantly been kept up, but in 2000 the biggest renovation of all took place. The goal was to combine traditional, classical style with the most modern technology.
The hotel is close to the fashion districts, and its corridors and suites are decorated with sketches and works from well-known designers and artists. The 191 rooms and suites have been entirely refurbished, while continuing to capitalize on their star attraction: the views. Choose vistas of the avenue's chestnut trees, the courtyard, or the panoramic landscapes of the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre or the legendary roofs of Paris. Choose also your style: Art Deco or French classical with Louis XV, Louis XVI and Regency overtones. Accommodations are equipped to provide maximum comfort and convenience: remote control air-conditioning, Internet access, satellite TV, internal video network, VCR, two-line telephones and faxes, and stereo with CD. For some, dreams can come true in the 5,300-square-foot Royal Suite over avenue Montaigne, or the decadent Eiffel Suite overlooking ... well, you can figure it out.
We cannot speak about the Plaza Athénée without speaking about food. Let us start with La Galerie des Gobelins, which is an intimate and exclusive place to enjoy an afternoon tea or aperitif. The bar, simply called Le Bar du Plaza, is for seeing and being seen. It was revamped in 2001, and the wood-paneled walls remain, but the furniture and ambience are very modern. Le Bar is divided into two areas: the first surrounding the long, illuminated bar made entirely of sculpted and sandblasted glass, and the second made cozier with leather club chairs. From 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., or the "Blue Hours," Le Bar du Plaza is a more conventional cocktail lounge. But from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., or the "Red Hours," it takes on a new identity, where the bar "comes alive" with a new color and electro-rock music. Le Relais Plaza, a chic rendezvous spot, will welcome you with its Art Deco style. Fine ingredients are used to prepare simple and well-executed cuisine: crab, foie gras, lobster, sea bass. Two classics not to be missed are the oeufs bénédictine and the escalopes viennoise. During summer months, La Cour Jardin serves Mediterranean fare in the courtyard.
The hotel's pièce de résistance is Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée. We don't need to introduce Ducasse, who has been at the Plaza since September, 2000. He is in the perfect location to execute and serve his highly luxurious (and expensive) cuisine. Although we're not sure about the décor, we have no reservations about the food. Classics include the sweetbreads and half-cooked crayfish with caviar.
What to do after all these meals? Run to the fitness room. Adorned with Cuban mahogany wood panels, it is certainly one of the most elegant workout spaces in Paris. Cybex training machines, Tae Bo lessons, Shiastu, sauna and a hamman are available for your relaxation and pleasure. For a complete escape, indulge in a wide variety of face and body treatments offered at the Dior Institut, featuring five treatment rooms (including a double VIP room) and a relaxation lounge. Capping the Plaza Athénée experience is the guest relations team. Devoted entirely to your well being, and assisted by an admirable staff, they will satisfy all your demands and make your stay the best one possible. |
|Minimum Stay||4 nights|
Your vacation object: The holiday apartment is surrounded by 300 sqm large, enclosed garden property with meadow. The property is surrounded by a hedge. The owner lives just temporarily in the house. Die Ferienwohnung befindet sich in der oberen Etage des Einfamilienhauses. To your own use available: sunbathing area, parasol, sunlounger, garden furniture, barbecue possibilities and pavillon. Bicycles (2 pieces). Your holiday apartment: 3 rooms (therefrom 3 bedrooms), 54 sqm, 5 persons. Stove in each room (gas), Electric heating. Entrance on the upper floor, through the internal stairs into the porch the anteroom breakfast kitchen the living/bedroom with wardrobe. 1st floor: Living/bedroom with 2 additional beds on the couch/sofa, tv, TV, (1 sunlounger) and Tisch und Sessel, kleine Schrankwand. Living/bedroom (a walk-through room) with 2 additional beds on the couch/sofa, tv, TV, access to the balcony (5 sqm, roofed, garden furniture, 1 sunlounger, parasol) and Schrankwand, Tisch und Sessel. Living/bedroom with 1 single bed, tv, TV, radio, dvd and kleine Schränke, Tisch und Sessel. cooking nook in the kitchen living with dinette, tv, electric cooker (2 cooking plates), oven, refrigerator (icebox), coffee machine, toaster, electric water jug, access to the balcony and radio. bathroom with bathtub, 1 washbasin, WC, hair dryer and window. Other facilities: Internet access (WLAN), electric iron and tumble dryer. Television available by satellite. Pets: auf Anfrage, EUR 5.00/Tier und Tag.
Nitrianske Rudno. The modern and suitable equipped holiday apartment (constructed in 1990, renovated in 2009) is located in one standing singles one-family house, in a holiday home area, by the water and In has peaceful and sunny location. View from the property on the lake. The access goes directly from main street (asphalted, length 15 m). In the winter are snow chains recommended. Parking on the property (for 2 cars). Shopping 1500 m, restaurant 80 m, Central district 1500 m. Railway station 10 km and Indoor swimming pool and sauna in each case 12 km. Thermal spa in Bojnice 12 km. Internetkaffee 80 m, Zoo in Bojnice 12 km, Prievidza 15 km, Novaky 10 km, historischer Ort Cicmany 25 km. Sommer: Stausee Nitrianske Rudno 50 m (beach 100 m with meadow). Pier 100 m, tennis 130 m, Boat rental 200 m and Mini golf 12 km. Winter: Ski lift 15 km In Homolka. Ski region 15 km (Homolka). Ice skating 100 m, Toboggan run 14 km and Cross country ski track and Ski rental in each case 15 km.
*Plus compulsory or optional charges based on actual occupancy or consumption. The payment has to be made in the currency offered by the property manager (EUR), before use of conversion tool. Payments in other currencies have to be negotiated beforehand with the property manager. The currency conversion tool is provided for your convenience only and is non-binding. |
Current Conditions at Stokely: 1°C & overcast
New Snow: 0 inches / 0 cm Snow Base: 0 inches / 0 cm Snow Depth: 0 inches/ 0 cm
Stokely Creek was created as a Scandinavian style back country ski lodge. Guests ski half a kilometer through a wooded valley to arrive at the lodge.
The award winning Architect David Osler designed and located the main lodge near the tumbling waterfalls on Stokely Creek. Simple yet elegant, each charming Scandinavian room has a view of rolling landscapes. After an exhilarating day out on the trails enjoy a soothing sauna followed by a glass of wine and appetizers around the fireplace. End your day with an elegant gourmet supper. Stokely has well stocked bar of beer, wine and mixed drinks. If you bring your own wine there is a $5.00 corking fee. Canadian liquor license law does not allow you to bring your own beer. |
East Meets West
Looking for the benefits of an Eastern treatment without setting foot out of the country? You’ve come to the right place says Frankie Rozwadowska
With practices and traditions dating to over 2,000 years ago – Thai techniques are a unique form of body therapy and are a true, authentic art of healing. They combine the four fundamental elements of life (Earth, Water, Fire and Air) to ensure we are balanced and healthy on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. And anyone who’s had a Thai treatment knows that you not only feel amazing, but you look amazing too – for they nourish both the mind and the skin. So why not escape to the orient (without the 12 hour flight or the jet lag) with our top two Thai-inspired spas – where East meets West at its best.
East meets West meets London:
Thai Square Spa – Covent Garden, London. Visited by Sadie Macleod
Tucked away behind busy Covent Garden is this little slice of Thailand. Deceptively small from the entrance, once inside you’ll discover this spa occupies two floors – complete with a small garden and separate shower room at the back. It feels exotic; perhaps because it conjures up memories of all the Asian spas I have been to. I was there to experience the signature facial, which uses organic products sourced from Thailand and then made in France. They smell divine, earthy and natural. After being led downstairs through cavernous walk ways lined by red brick ceilings and slick black walls, I change and am given a pair of bamboo flip-flops. The wonderful Thai stuff are discreet and soft spoken by nature, and my therapist doesn’t speak English – perfect. Total silence for a whole hour almost seemed too good to be true. After cleansing and applying the mask she then preceded to give me the most sensational head massage. The mask was then removed and a serum and moisturiser was applied. Nothing ground breaking happened – it was a traditional facial that didn’t try to do anything clever or over the top. I think that sometimes simplicity is exactly what we want. If it is then Thai Square is perfect – it’s traditional, tame and, overall, authentically Thai. They’ve just opened one in the city too – what better place to go after a hard day’s work.
Thai Square Signature Facial – 1hr 15mins | www.thaisquarespa.com
East Meets West Meets Country:
SenSpa at Carey’s Manor. Visited by Frankie Rozwadowska
Nestled in the beautiful New Forest countryside is SenSpa – an award-winning spa that prides itself on its unique fusion of Eastern and Western treatments. And take pride it should, for this really is where country break meet exotic escape – the perfect combination for a truly unforgettable experience.
Upon arrival at Carey’s Manor, it’s almost impossible to believe that a taste of Thailand is just down the corridor from your room. The hotel itself is cosy and homey, with traditional touches and country charm – complete with a two rosette restaurant serving up the best of British fine dining. But if you’re really here for the true Thai experience, including gastronomy, you will not be disappointed. The Zen Garden is a low-lit, atmospheric restaurant that will tantalise your taste buds with Thai curries, stir-fries, noodles and salads. Everything is sourced locally and there’s organic wine to help wash it down. Perfect.
The spa itself is unexpectedly large, housing an indoor ozone treated pool, 19 treatment rooms, relaxation rooms, a hydrotherapy pool, a herbal sauna, crystal steam room, tepidarium, laconicum, experience showers and an ice room. You’ll find yourself spending so long enjoying one area that you’re forever in fear of not having time for them all! There’s even a ‘Thai Temple Studio’ where you can practice Pilates, yoga and meditation. If you can drag yourself away from your herbal tea and day-bed, that is.
My personal favourite had to be the hydrotherapy pool – like your own giant bath with various bubble jets that work to relax muscles, improve joint mobility and ease tension. You can be super lazy and lie back at the side to feel the vibrations work through your whole body, or there are more powerful jets around the pool that target specific areas (shoulders, neck, thighs and bum). The experience showers are also something to try – with various settings that change the water temperature from freezing to blissfully hot whilst lights flash and thunder roars around you (the Sea Storm setting was particularly dramatic). This not only helps boost circulation throughout the body, but also increases lymphatic drainage and leaves you feeling awake and invigorated. Although be warned – you’ll be disappointed by your first shower back home when there are no flashing lights or tropical sounds. Boring.
All the therapists here are Thai-Trained (mine was actually Thai, making the experience even more authentic) so they understand the true value of complete relaxation. Using the spa’s own product range, all certified organic and natural, they work their magic with facials, massages, wraps and body polishes galore. Not to mention the rhassoul mud treatment which leaves your skin totally transformed using mud from the Moroccan Alas Mountains. Opting for the SenSpa Fusion Signature Massage, I had the best of East meets West meets massage. Combining Thai, Shiatsu, Ayurveda, Swedish and Aromatherapy, it was a heavenly blend of deep and relaxing techniques, leaving me both refreshed and relaxed. An hour and a half of total rejuvenation in my oriental inspired room and twinkling Thai music, I really did feel as though I had been transported to somewhere far, far away.
From the food to the pool, the array of treatments, country views and ridiculously comfy beds – just one night at Carey’s Manor and SenSpa left me feeling like a new person. Whether you’re looking for a day away or a weekend somewhere a bit more exotic, SenSpa is the place for you. Just be sure to pack your wellies as well as your fisherman pants.
SenSpa at Carey’s Manor | www.senspa.co.uk | 01590 624467 |
Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure
Company Overview of Q 33 Hotelldrift AS
Q 33 Hotelldrift AS owns and operates hotel which comprises approximately 242 rooms. The amenities include 19 meeting rooms, conference halls, restaurant, bar, exercise room, business center, sauna, and teleconferencing service. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Oslo, Norway. As of December 14, 2011, Q 33 Hotelldrift AS operates as a subsidiary of Choice Hotels & Resorts AS.
Ostre Aker vei 33
Founded in 2007
47 23 19 33 33
47 23 19 33 34
Key Executives for Q 33 Hotelldrift AS
Q 33 Hotelldrift AS does not have any Key Executives recorded.
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To contact Q 33 Hotelldrift AS, please visit www.choicehotels.no/quality/en/oslo-hotel-quality-no103-en. Company data is provided by Capital IQ. Please use this form to report any data issues. |
OpenAir talks with the veteran indie experimentalist about new album "Sauna," David Lynch, and why "music is dumb."
Alisha Sweeney talks with Pixies drummer David Lovering following the release of "Indie Cindy," the band's first new album in 23 years!
There's a lot of waiting in line at SXSW, and you never know who you're going to meet. While waiting to get into the NPR Music showcase line outside of Stubb's for two hours on Wednesday night, Alisha Sweeney started chatting with the people in front of her. They happened to be Foxygen drummer Shaun Fleming and his band Diane Coffee.
Stream Alisha's interview with Painted Palms singer Christopher Prudhomme! |
One of the largest growing Opens in the north. Please visit our website for full details: http://www.leedsopen.co.uk/
This will be run as a complete six weapon event with those who qualify receiving BFA ranking points - full metal pistes available on some of our 21 pistes. The tournament is situated at the state-of-the-art sports complex; The Edge at The University of Leeds.
Check-in closing times for all weapons are as follows:
Saturday 3rd November 2012
■Men’s Foil – 9:00am
■Women’s Foil – 11:00am
■Women’s Sabre – 12:00pm
Sunday 4th November 2012
■Men’s Epee – 9:00am
■Women’s Epee – 11:00am
■Men’s Sabre – 12:00pm
There will be an initial round of pools. Everyone is promoted to the Direct Elimination stage with no cut after the pools. Prizes for the top four in all weapons, in addition prizes for best cadet and veteran.
The entry fee is £20 per weapon and £30 for two weapons (you may only enter ONE weapon per day).
The closing date for entries is the Monday 29th October, any entries received after this date will be at the discretion of the organisers, and a late fee of £10 will be applicable.
The Edge, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT (Parking, armoury, Allstar equipment suppliers, café, swim/sauna and sports massage therapist facilities are available over the course of the entire weekend).
Please follow The Leeds Open on facebook to enter our competition here: |
Re: Still holding its own - HF Radio
I think the whole point of the Kiss is that you don't have to ground it to anything. If you do, I'm not sure it would be better or worse.
Any way you can test it both ways? Transmit and see if the Martians respond with KISS and see if the beings from Jupiter respond when the KISS itself it grounded?
I have a sauna on my boat, therefore I win.
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I awoke friday morning to my dad shaking me.
"Time to get up sweety"
"shit dad its 7 o clock"
"Well we have things to do" he said. "Like what?"
"Im spending a week in chicago for work"
" what do i have to do with this?"
" your gunna spend the week at ur uncles house" he told me.
How borring i thought to my self. A week of sitting around doing nothing, spending time with my uncle.
"i have to drop you off at his house before i catch my flight at 1 oclock"
" Fine.." i replyed.
"we have to leave in about 2 hours" he told me.
" ok il be down in a lil bit".
I rolled out of bed and walked to the door then down the hall to the bathroom.
I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I shaved my legs and did my makeup. i went back to my room and proceded to my closset. I put on a pair of undwerwear and a bra. I then layed out 3 different outfits, then choose the best one. a denim skirt, a white and black hollister top and white flip flops. I opend up my suitcas and started packing cloths for the next week. i walked around my room picking out the essentials i needed to have with me at my uncles. I then found a birthday card fromy my uncle i recived a months ago.
"Happy 16th birthday lauren! i sent you some money so you can go shopping for some summer cloths. i was gunan do it my self and mail it but i wasnt shure if ur still the same sizes as you were last christmas. not shure if u got lazy on us and now cant fit into ur size 0 jeans. well hope you get to buy some thing nice. love you, hope to see you soon, uncle jim.
"Hurry up lauren, we have to leave soon." my dad shouted from downstairs.
I grabbed my shit and headed down stairs. my dad took my bags to the car wile i said good by to my dog and locked up the house.
we then set off to my uncles house. I was about 30 minutes away so i had time to think. i havent been to his house in about 2 years. He lives by him self and works from home. He has had my girlfriends but they dont usualy stay around too long. Its not liek hes ugly or anythign, actualy hes prity good looking. Hes tall, he works out, hes in his late 30s. Not too bad of a guy.
We soon later pulled up to his house he soon greeted outside. i gave him a big hug and he helps carry my bags inside. He gave us a tour of the house since its been a wile and hes done some recent remodeling. he showed me the kitchen, the living room the bathrooms, his room, the den, then he showed me the room id be staying in.
It was prity nice. It had a creamy color walls, a large window witch showed the back yard, a large cumfy bed, and a white tile floor.
Down the hall was my dressing room he put my bag in there. "I love this house, i get my own dressing room." i shouted.
It was 12 o clock and my dad needed to be at the airport soon. I walked with him to his car.
"Be good for you uncle ok?"
"yes dady il be good" i said.
He gave me a hug and said good by. he then drove off.
I went inside and began unpacking my things and got settled. At this time, Jim was preparing lunch. i was called down to eat from the kitchen. I came down and saw him seated at the table. "its not much, but nothin beats camble chicken noodle soup!' we said with laughter. We ate our soup and caught up on old times. what seemed liek 20 minutes was actualy 3 hours. "Wow time is flying." i said.
He asked me if i would like a TV in my room and i said i would like it. He then said i should go have fun out by the pool wile he would need some time to set it all up.
I went to my changin room and changed into a bikini. i went out to the pool and had a swimm. When i got borred i got out and dryed in the sun. I then called my friend Liz and chatted with her for a deal of time as i bathed in the sun. when i got off when phone it was going on 7:30 and the sun was starting to fall. I went inside and walked to my change room, i was suprised to see my uncle in there puting up a shelf on the wall, o hey u need to change? well u can go change in my room, he said to me.
I grabed some cloths and went to his room. i then changed out of my bikini and put on a pair of sweat pants and a t shirt. i was on my way out when i saw a stack of dvds on a rack and i looked closser and it was all porno. Im a curious girl. I wanted to see what he had. I took a random dvd and put it in the dvd player and hit play. It was now obvious he likes rough sex. IL admit it i enjoyed it, i watched more. I soon began to snoop around his room a bit and i saw a table next to his bed and i checked it out. It had his watch, his wallet, a picture of my grandmorther on it and then i saw a large drawer. curiously i opend it and found he drawr full of condoms. There had to be atleast 300 condoms. "wow my uncle is a pimp" i said to my self. I then herd a nock on the door.
"Lauren?" are you in here?" my uncle said. The porno was still on the tv when he opend the door.
His face turnd red in embarassment. " OH, im sorry to interupt" ohh so youve found my stash" he said quietly
" Im soo sorry uncle jim, i was curious.' i said
"No im nto mad" he said. " just a lil embarrassed"
" its ok every guy has porn" I dont blame you, you live by ur self, You gotta get sum ass sumtime" i said.
" yeahh......... well ur rooms done" he said
He then showed me to my finnished room. I was supprised when i saw the TV. it was big. He also hooked up a dvd player. he showed me how to work everythign and he left. I removed my cloths and crawld into bed and went to sleep. I awoke later that night verry hot. my room was around 85 degrees. I got up and walkd down the hall to my change room and looked for the largest tee shirt i brought and sliped it on and walked up to my uncles room. I knocked ont he door once and walked in.
"Jim?" i wisperd.
there was no answer.
I stumbled through the dark and reached his bed. i climbed up onto the side and proceded to shake him.
" yes its me, my room is liek a sauna"
"fuck i thought i fixed it" he exclaimed. " go get a sleeping back from my closet" he instructed.
" You can sleep here" he told me.
I turnd on the light and walked to the closet. I opend the door and saw a rolled up sleeping back ont he top shelf. i had to climb the shelfs a litlle to reach it so then my uncle clearly saw that i was naked under my tee shirt.
I walked over and layed the bag on on the side of the bed and crawld into it.and reached over and shut off the light. i was laying in bed when i noticed i was laying on somehting. |
Editor's note: Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of "The Thrilla In Manila," the final installment in the legendary Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy. In honor of this fight and in anticipation of Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones III on Saturday, ESPN.com explores boxing's -- and other sports' -- great trilogies this week.
They were stripped bare, painfully vulnerable to each other's brutality.
The torrent of a thousand punches in the sweltering heat, preceded by the erosion from too many remorseless years, left them naked with nowhere to hide.
That's the way it had to be.
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier willingly had done it to themselves. Blood welled beneath the skin, and it sprayed amid the spittle. Their lungs heaved in search of oxygen. Their legs, no longer concrete pilings, threatened to crumble.
It would take weeks to recover physically. But most of the damage they inflicted would prove eternal, forever following them, shadows growing longer with the setting sun.
Yet even if Ali and Frazier could have foreseen the years of torment they had coming, neither would have yielded that day. They trudged onward through the agony and exhaustion, each hoping to remain upright just one moment longer than his opponent while praying the merciful end would come soon.
They were two legends with too much pride -- Ali's buoyed by peacock arrogance, Frazier's derived from red-eyed hatred -- to waver when pitted against the other.
Thirty years ago, Ali and Frazier completed their historic heavyweight trilogy in such a gripping, primal fashion it changed them forever.
"The Thrilla In Manila," held Oct. 1, 1975, ended not with fists raised in exaltation, but with two battered men slumped on their stools. Venerable trainer Eddie Futch would not let Frazier leave the corner for the 15th round, needing only the gentle pressure of his elderly hand to keep the mighty fighter from standing. Ali, on the verge of quitting himself, learned the news and wilted.
"We got it on," Frazier said, his voice sounding weary at merely reminiscing. "The fight itself was a tough fight for both of us. It was hard."
Witnesses described it with terms generally reserved for war. Famed British boxing writer Hugh McIlvanney called the bout "40-odd minutes of unremitting violence," and "an exchange of suffering."
"This fight could make a legitimate claim to being the greatest fight of all time, maybe not in terms of social significance, but in terms of great action between two historic fighters," said Thomas Hauser, author of "Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times."
"I don't know if there's ever been a greater fight."
With such sustained ferociousness, many of the wounds inflicted turned out to be permanent. Some are readily apparent. Some dwell beneath the surface.
"I'm sure I never saw a fight where two guys took as much punishment as those two did that day," said longtime Associated Press boxing reporter Ed Schuyler. "After that fight, as fighters, neither one was ever worth a damn."
Ali's deterioration was the most obvious. Parkinson's syndrome, believed to be caused by the accumulation of punches absorbed over the years, has incapacitated the once-effusive showman. He's a tottering man of 63, barely able to communicate.
He endured some hellacious trauma during his career, especially toward the end. His former doctor and cornerman, Ferdie Pacheco, called those final fights "slow murder." Pacheco insisted the Thrilla In Manila was the worst pounding of them all.
"It was at the very top, the tip top of a slow murder," Pacheco said. "Do you think after the beating he took that day in Manila he went home happy and had chocolate ice cream? He goddamn near died. It's the reason he's a shambling, neurological wreck."
Frazier moves along rather well for a 61-year-old former prizefighter. Aside from a hitch in his stride, the pain's not so evident.
Frazier hurts every time he thinks of Ali. His animus still rages within. It's a consuming, ugly bitterness he has carried for decades, the result of the myriad hurtful things Ali has said. Ali insulted his intelligence, his character, his lack of black pride.
"Truth is, I'd like to rumble with that sucker again -- beat him up piece by piece and mail him back to Jesus," Frazier wrote in his 1996 autobiography, "Smokin' Joe."
"Now people ask me if I feel bad for him, now that things aren't going so well for him. Nope. I don't. Fact is, I don't give a damn. They want me to love him, but I'll open up the graveyard and bury his ass when the Lord chooses to take him."
There was a publicized meeting between Ali and Frazier at the 2002 NBA All-Star Game. They supposedly reconciled.
But the notions of spite and forgiveness apparently are at odds in Frazier's heart.
Last week, in an interview with ESPN.com, he said: "I do get on my knees at night and ask God to make Ali better."
But Frazier also spoke of how God purposefully afflicts those who don't live justly, a belief he related to Ali.
"I asked Joe Frazier earlier this year about Ali's declining state," Hauser said, "and he replied, with a sense of satisfaction, 'I did that to him.' "
The Thrilla In Manila wasn't supposed to be an epic display. It was viewed more as nostalgic than historic. Both fighters had seen better days, their legendary first meeting a tiny dot in the rearview mirror.
Four and a half years had passed since their "Fight of the Century" in Madison Square Garden, where a bulldozing Frazier revealed the seemingly invincible Ali was, in fact, fallible. Frazier entered their first fight as champion, having defeated Jimmy Ellis a year earlier. Ali, 43 months removed from the ring for refusing induction into the military, was seeking a title the public believed was rightfully his.
But the story line was more complicated than that.
The socio-political climate in March 1971 was turbulent, and Ali had become a cultural symbol with his outspoken beliefs on Islam, civil rights and Vietnam. He paid a monumental price for making such a controversial stand on the war, but his sacrifice made him a beacon for the disenchanted masses, particularly black America, which viewed him as a lightning rod for change.
Ali's platform, however, was changing from a podium to a square stage surrounded by ropes. He no longer needed to make ends meet by speaking on the college-lecture circuit, gigs that paid so scantly Frazier quietly slipped Ali cash to pay bills during the layoff.
Now Ali was returning to boxing's spotlight, and he quickly transformed Frazier from friend to foil. It mattered little how Frazier had supported Ali's quest to regain his boxing license. Now Frazier was the enemy, and in Ali's world, that meant he was a target for humiliation before the first of their three classic bouts.
Ali called Frazier ugly and ignorant and, most disturbingly, an Uncle Tom. Frazier, the son of South Carolina sharecroppers, was deeply wounded by Ali's ridicule, which was accepted as fact and isolated Frazier from the black community. Ali somehow had succeeded in making a fight between two proud African-American men a matter of black and white.
"Throughout a lot of the black community, he was an object of derision and scorn because of the way Ali treated him," Hauser said. "It was cruel."
The hatred grew intensely within Frazier. He was unable to compete with Ali's eloquence, but he had a left hook that could do the talking for him.
Frazier, with loathing in his heart and thunder in his Everlast gloves, punished Ali for the things he said. Ali won the first two rounds before he discovered he was overmatched. Three rounds with Jerry Quarry and 15 more with Oscar Bonavena clearly weren't enough preparation for Frazier's masterful onslaught.
By the fifth round, Frazier was taunting Ali, and even though Ali's punches kept scoring, his smiling foe continued to march forward. Frazier pulled away in the final five rounds and would have finished the job in the 11th had the ropes not held Ali in the ring. Frazier punctuated the finest victory of his career with a perfectly-timed left hook that swiveled Ali's head and rendered him supine.
Frazier won a unanimous decision, but he left part of himself behind that night. A diabetic with a history of high blood pressure, he spent nearly two weeks in the hospital because of exhaustion and kidney trouble.
"Frazier was never the same after his first fight with Ali," said HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant, a former Philadelphia Daily News and New York Post columnist. "He fought the best fight of his career in that fight."
Frazier's reign lasted only two more fights. He beat Terry Daniels and Ron Stander, but lost his title to George Foreman in Jamaica. Foreman annihilated Frazier inside two rounds. The six knockdowns looked like slapstick pratfalls, but they weren't comical given the concussive force behind Foreman's sledgehammer mitts.
Ali, meanwhile, won his next 10 bouts before Ken Norton broke his jaw and won a split decision.
The sheen of their rivalry had dulled by the time Ali and Frazier fought again in Manhattan. As significant as their first bout had been, the 1974 rematch reduced any interest in seeing them fight a third time. With only the minor-league NABF title on the line, Ali almost stopped Frazier in the second round and won an otherwise uneventful decision.
The Thrilla In Manila? It was met with shrugs. Many major newspapers declined to staff the event, a revealing statement for the time.
"It was the third fight. They had both been beaten," Merchant said. "If the fight was as significant as it may seem in hindsight, it wouldn't have been held in Manila. It would have been the Thrilla in Chicago."
But Manila was the latest exotic locale with a government willing to give Don King an exorbitant sum in exchange for the sort of exposure only Ali could deliver. Besides, Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos had a brewing civil war to stave, and he hoped an Ali fight would keep the rebels quiet for a while.
Ali was installed as a 1-to-2 favorite. Many boxing insiders, particularly those in Ali's camp, considered it an even bigger mismatch.
"We had been told Joe Frazier was not only hurt, but broke," Pacheco said.
"We watched him fight George Foreman, and Foreman bounced him around like a basketball. So pitiful. It showed there was nothing left of Joe Frazier, so we thought we would give him a good-bye fight that would give him some money.
"We thought we were doing him a favor."
The Ali camp found itself bracing for a potentially larger clash in the weeks preceding the bout.
Ali traveled to the Philippines with Veronica Porche, whom he would eventually wed. The only problem was that he was still married to his second wife, Belinda, who had stayed home with their children.
Porche (mother of women's boxing star Laila Ali) had been Ali's mistress for about a year. They met during the prefight promotion for "The Rumble in the Jungle," Ali's dramatic victory over Foreman in Zaire. Belinda Ali harbored suspicions about her husband's infidelity, but it wasn't until Manila that the situation erupted.
Ten days before the fight, Ali attended a reception at the presidential palace with Porche, his parents and trainer Angelo Dundee. Marcos complimented Ali on his lovely wife. Ali not only failed to correct the president, but he also began to introduce Porche as his wife later in the evening.
Newsweek reported the story. Belinda Ali bolted for Manila and stormed into her husband's hotel room, where Dick Schaap was conducting an interview for "The Today Show."
"Belinda said 'Either she goes home on the next plane, or I go home on the next plane,'" Pacheco recalled. "Ali said, 'Good-bye.'
"It was a huge distraction. He thought Joe Frazier was the least of his problems. He had no worry whatsoever. He did a lot of publicity that was funny and hardly any hard work. He just sort of [expletive] it away."
Ali had approached Manila as a rendezvous of sorts. He enjoyed the company of his mistress, avoided strenuous workouts and reveled in making more tacky jokes at Frazier's expense.
Ali didn't harp on Frazier's being an Uncle Tom this time. That was so 1971. Ali instead compared Frazier to a primate with one of his trademark prefight poems:
It will be a killa
And a chilla
And a thrilla
When I get the gorilla
And, perhaps emblematic of their rubber match, Ali pulled out a black rubber gorilla.
"This is Joe Frazier's conscience," Ali said. "I keep it everywhere I go. This is the way he looks when you hit him."
Ali began to punch the little doll.
"All night long, this is what you'll see," Ali said, eliciting laughter. "Come on, gorilla! We're in Manila! Come on, gorilla! This is a thrilla!"
Frazier didn't find Ali's stunt humorous. It only galvanized his disdain.
"I saw it as promotional hype, but Joe took it as personal invective," King said.
"He took it as character assassination. It was so deeply imbedded. Joe wasn't playing the role. He was living the role. He was infuriated.
"He took it as a personal insult. It persecuted him in his life."
King admitted he feared Frazier's hatred of Ali would threaten the show in the days leading up to it.
"Many times I thought the fight was going to happen for free," King said. "I thought we'd have the Thrilla in the Gym or anywhere else we would meet."
The Thrilla In Manila happened on schedule, at 10:45 a.m. (to accommodate U.S. television) on a steamy Wednesday morning in Quezon City, about six miles outside the capital.
The air conditioning in Araneta Coliseum was useless. The sun would nearly peak during the fight, and with no breeze coming off the South China Sea, the reported temperature was 107 degrees.
"The heat was as intense as any fight I've ever been in," Pacheco said.
"The heat in Manila is an 'I'm about to drown you in a monsoon' type of heat. Oppressive. I had a hard time breathing. Not only were all the seats filled, all the aisles were filled and there people crammed in the rafters. I don't know if you could squeeze in one more person. It was body to body."
The first few rounds were indicative of the matchup most had predicted. Ali was dominant. He wobbled Frazier in the first round and twice more in the third. Frazier was on the verge of hitting the canvas each time, yet somehow he remained erect.
The fourth round marked the beginning of a momentum shift. Perhaps Ali's decision to play footsy rather than put in extra roadwork started to catch up with him in the sauna that was Araneta Coliseum. Maybe all of those insults that spurred Frazier to train harder for this go-round helped him find momentum.
"Most of [Frazier's] fights," wrote Mark Kram of Sports Illustrated, "have shown this: You can go so far into that desolate and dark place where the heart of Frazier pounds, you can waste his perimeters, you can see his head hanging in the public square, may even believe you have him, but then suddenly learn that you have not."
Frazier began to pummel Ali, pinning him in a corner or along the ropes. Frazier thumped away at the champ's midsection and set up his most searing round, the sixth. That's when Frazier's illustrious left hook wailed away on the reeling Ali unlike any other time in the fight. Somehow, Ali made it to his corner at the bell, and for the first time he rested on his stool.
Frazier remained in control through the 10th round. Grave concern began to set in among Ali's cornermen.
"He thought he was dying," Pacheco said. "He was at the ends of exhaustion. He was having trouble staying awake between rounds."
But then Ali summoned that special something from deep within, just as he had done when ointment temporarily blinded him against Sonny Liston, when he broke his jaw against Norton, when he took a thrashing yet shocked Foreman anyway.
Ali started to land power shots, while Frazier's strength dwindled to near-nothingness. At the end of the 12th round, Frazier's face looked like a topographical map of Appalachia. His eyes resembled keyholes. His mouth leaked blood.
"Joe Frazier fought with such fury," King said. "Only the magnificent skills and talents of Muhammad Ali, being tired to the Nth of his degree of physical prowess, could overcome it."
Frazier's legs were gone already by the 13th round. A booming Ali punch sent Frazier's mouthpiece spinning into the crowd. Ali landed so many power shots, Futch could only maintain hope Ali wouldn't be able to lift his arms for the 14th.
Futch was wrong. The 14th round was even worse for Frazier. Ali peppered his near-blind rival. Nine straight rights crashed into Frazier's misshapen head. Futch hardly could wait to hear the next bell, to get his fighter safely back to the corner, where he would stay. No more.
"Joe was defenseless," Hauser said.
"He was taking punishment. There was no way he was going to win the fight, and I think Eddie wanted to spare Joe the humiliation of being knocked down or knocked out. They fought 41 rounds, and Ali never knocked Frazier down, and I think Eddie wanted to maintain that."
Three decades later, Frazier doesn't resent his late trainer's decision in the slightest. After all, he reasoned, Ali was ahead comfortably on the scorecards and a Frazier knockout of Ali was unlikely given his impeded vision.
"One more round, my eggs might break," Frazier said. "Eddie Futch knew the deal better than I did. When he said 'No,' I agreed with him. God bless him for that."
In the opposite corner, Ali was equally drained. Back in 1966, Cleveland Williams managed to hit him only three times over three rounds. Frazier tagged him with 440 shots.
"Everyone remembers Ali afterwards could hardly get off his stool because of the effort he gave," Merchant said.
"He had long ago established he wasn't just another pretty face, but it was a reminder of what was going on inside his body while he was entertaining us."
The timing after the Thrilla In Manila would have been perfect for each to retire from the sport for good, thankful to have survived such a grueling test, yet mindful of retaining what precarious health he had left.
Alas, neither could walk away.
Frazier, thankfully, fought only twice more. Eight months after Manila he tried to avenge his embarrassing loss to Foreman but got knocked out again. Frazier then retired, only to come back for one last forgettable hurrah, a draw with Floyd "Jumbo" Cummings.
Ali's career continued, destined to end miserably. He fought 10 more times over the next six years, losing to Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and, finally, Trevor Berbick.
"There are certain points in time where you can look back and say 'That's when Ali should have retired,'" Hauser said. "He clearly should've retired after Manila. When you've taken a beating like he had taken in Manila and you know you're not the fighter you once were, that's the time to get out."
It's a shame, really, that the Thrilla In Manila wasn't the last chapter in their boxing lives.
Having left every ounce inside the ring that day 30 years ago, there really was no way they could have given anything more -- not to themselves, not to each other, not to us.
"Only fighting each other could have brought that much effort out, at a time in their careers when fighters, given all the punches that had landed on them, generally don't want to go that far," Merchant said.
"Neither guy wanted to yield. It was the third fight of their trilogy, and it was that important."
Tim Graham covers boxing for The Buffalo News and is a contributor to ESPN.com. |
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VRBO is part of the HomeAway family, the world leader in vacation rentals with over 1 million listings. We offer the largest selection of properties for any travel occasion and every budget. We’re committed to helping families and friends find a perfect vacation rental to create unforgettable travel experiences together. Learn More
Our resort Citakara Sari has two rental villas named 'Joglo' and 'Yoga Bale', which can be rented together or separately. For large groups sometimes it is possible to rent owner's villa "Saraswati" as well. The cost of this villa will is 400 USD per night (2 bedrooms, 325m2 total) will be added to the price of 2 guest villas listed. Our pool is 18X7m, plus spa, tennis court and great grounds (6200m2)with 110 palm trees. Villa Joglo is a combination of an antique teak house from Java with contemporary architectural elements. The elegant open design plan where we can enjoy the antique carving of the walls, and the conveniences of a contemporary home well suited to our beachfront location. Villa Joglo comprising 557 m2 roofed space including attached spa area. Second guest villa, called Villa Yoga Bale with 2 bedrooms has a total living area of 225m2. It's living area designed so it can serve as a small performance space and yoga pavilion. Yoga Bale architecture weds elements of the traditional and the modern, combining Javanese woodwork and Balinese thatching with western amenities to create a comfortable, natural flow. Swimming and snorkeling is off our private beach, boats are waiting to be used.
Citakara Sari is translated as “The Essence of Arts.” The richness of Balinese arts is what drew us to this unique land in the first place. Citakara Sari Villa was designed to wed elements of the traditional and the modern, combining Javanese woodwork and Balinese thatching with western amenities create a comfortable, natural flow. And behind it all, the ocean, framed by one of the only white-sand beaches to be found in Candi Dasa.
Villa Joglo: Years of searching, conversing, and building, resulted in what we call Villa Joglo. Specifications: Total area – 557m2 Living/kitchen/dining/entertainment area-- 110m2, first floor. Wrap around granite porch—150m2, first floor, 110m2—second floor. Spa/sauna area—90m2, first floor. Bedroom 1, second floor--35m2 with attached bathroom with large custom-made terrazzo bathtub and marble sinks, queen size Madura bed, armoire, writing table, and chairs. Bedroom 2, second floor—35m2 with attached bathroom with large custom-made terrazzo bathtub and natural stone sink, queen size bed, armoire, vanity, writing table, and chairs. Center area, second floor--35m2 with 2.5mX2.5m glass opening in the floor, antique double bed, mirror, table, and spectacular “Raja’s house” light fixture. The Villa Joglo’s large kitchen/dining/living/entertainment/office area is tastefully appointed with antique furniture pieces and contemporary design elements that divide the large open space into different 'zones'. This villa can comfortably accommodates 4 adults with children.
Our original intention was to designate the Yoga Bale for yoga sessions. Truly, the soothing warmth of the polished granite floor invites you to stretch. Now the grandiose (80m2 with over 7m high ceiling) semi-open living space is a multifunctional area for dining, relaxing, playing games, watching the waterfall built out of rough marble, hosting a small performance , and , of course, yoga. Antique Javanese gebyok walls are united with large panes of glass to create a traditional/contemporary blend in a fully air-conditioned downstairs bedroom. The bedroom is large enough to hold a king size bed and a double bed (both antique from the island of Madura), a writing table, chairs, and armoire for clothes. Attached to the bedroom is a semi-open 30m2 bathroom with a room enough for two hand made terrazzo bathtub. Flowers and green trees growing in the bathroom make you feel like you are outside. The upstairs bedroom (36m2) with vaulted alang-alang ceiling offers the best view of the ocean. 4 adults plus children can reside at the villa with comfort.
Please note that we can accommodate only 8 adults( children over 10 years old require separate bed and consider to be an adult). Up to 8 children younger than 10 years old stay free when sharing bedrooms with their parents....moreless
There are three bathrooms with terazzo bathtubs and one with glassed shower attached to 4 bedrooms. In addition there is a spa bathroom with a shower. Bathroom #6 serves like a spare bathroom, has a shower and located on a ground floor....moreless
We have thought about what we would like to have at hand and built structures and amenities.. Hope most of it will be suitable to our guests. There are more things readily available though. Just ask and we will try to accommodate your needs....moreless
Large granite tub is situated in a spa area, can accommodate up to 4 people. Spa area attached to villa Joglo, used by villa guests while in residence. When no guests are occupying villa Joglo can be used by villa Yoga Bale guests....moreless
Outdoor Hot Tub
18X6m 'infinity' pool shared between two villas plus 3X3m children shallow pool attached....moreless
The rates are for renting the entire estate (2 villas). Please, contact us to inquire about renting just one villa.
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Our Estate is located right on the beach, has 6 bedrooms in three villas, sleeping 12 adults(of course, kids staying with their parents in the same bedrooms). There is tennis court, spa and sauna on site, fruit garden and more. We are in Candi Dasa, a quiet haven on the Bali's east coast, which is known as a quiet refuge for artists, writers, and discerning travelers, seeking a beautiful retreat away from larger westernized resorts. We have 7 service personnel attending to almost any guests' needs. We organize private shows involving the best artistic talent of Bali performed at he villas.
There are many wonderful restaurants in the area though our chef offers great menu and may entice you to dine in. We have great ocean views and the white-sand beach is at out boat ramp. Great diving is short boat ride away, snorkeling is right off the beach. Our compound of 3 villas is build on 6200m2 of land filled with grass, thousands of plants and flowers, 100 palm trees, pools and fish ponds. Our place is great for large families, reunions, weddings, celebrations.
Why the Owner Chose Candi Dasa: It is a great alternative to Bali's overcrowded South. Incredible nature, mountains surroundings, safe ocean, great for boat activities, snorkeling and sailing. New highway makes our place very accessible, it takes only 50 min to get to Sanur these days. Plus, we like it quiet. Like many creative people we need the sound of the wave and the wind to concentrate on our work.
Our villas are built in Traditional Indonesian style with contemporary twists at the palm fringed beach overlooking coral reefed lagoon outside the town of Candidasa.
You will love an oasis of calm and comfort decorated with cleverly chosen local antiques, artwork and crafts you’ll want to take home with you.
All meals can be catered at the villa or you can eat out in a wide variety of local restaurants, but with kids in tow it’s a good idea to stock up on snacks and favorite foods for light lunches. Groceries can be ordered in for you, or have the driver take you to a supermarket in one of the larger towns at the beginning of your stay to stock up on necessities. There is a German baker in the local town for fresh bread and rolls.
Wonderful massages can be booked in the spa courtyard, private yoga sessions or tennis lessons can be arranged on request.
The Unique Benefits at this Villa: Two villas share the grounds, sleeping up to 9 adults plus kids. Joglo is the larger villa and was built using antique carved wooden walls and ceiling from a traditional Javanese house. Intricate carved wood delights the eye at every turn and is combined with wide glass doors on two sides to create an interior that is at once rooted in island tradition and modern and light filled. Beautifully decorated with a mixture of contemporary artworks and quirky traditional craft, every piece of furniture is individual, carefully chosen and comfortable as well as beautiful.
Floors are smooth local stone tiles, tactile and pleasing to bare feet – there is no reason to wear shoes at all at the villa, inside or out as the grass lawns are soft as deep pile carpet.
Upstairs in Villa Joglo the stunning carved ceiling is the architectural focus. The three bedrooms are divided by sliding wood and glass panelling doors, curtained at night, so that each room can enjoy the ceiling. This makes for a slight lack of privacy – no problem if one family is sharing, as we were, but perhaps not ideal for two couples. Our kids loved the high carved four posters, almost like rooms within rooms. There are two beautifully fitted bathrooms with soft fluffy towels, huge granite tubs and stone sinks. All three rooms open onto a wide wrap-around balcony with an upstairs sitting area and stunning views through the palms to the sea and the island of Nusa Penida.
Balinese thatched villa Yoga Bale has two large bedrooms and its own spacious open living room with soaring thatch ceiling. It is designed for island living with two sides open to the garden, closed in only by rattan blinds when windy and at night. The downstairs family bedroom with two large carved wood beds and plenty of space for a cot is the room. The two bathrooms are open air, like small private courtyards with plants and greenery.
Beautiful carved wooden beds, soft linen sheets and well chosen pillows make for comfort in both villas. |
Book your room at Victoria Regal Hotel
Single Room, No WindowsMax Occupancy: 2 guests
Basic Room, 1 BedroomMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 infant)
Superior Room, 1 King BedMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Superior Room, 2 Single BedsMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Deluxe Room, 2 Single BedsMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Deluxe Room, 1 King BedMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Executive RoomMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 1 infant)
Lakefront Hangzhou hotel in Hangzhou City Centre, near West Lake
Located in Hangzhou City Centre, this hotel is within a 15-minute walk of Westlake Yintai Shopping Mall and West Lake. China Academy of Art and Xihu Tiandi are also within 5 minutes.
Along with a restaurant, this hotel has a health club and a bar/lounge. WiFi in public areas is free. Other amenities include a coffee shop/café, a sauna, and massage/treatment rooms.
All 179 rooms offer free wired Internet, 24-hour room service, and LCD TVs with satellite channels. Other amenities available to guests include DVD players, refrigerators, and minibars.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Victoria Regal Hotel features a health club and a sauna. Dining options at the hotel include a restaurant and a coffee shop/café. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access.
This 4-star property offers access to a business center and meeting rooms. This business-friendly hotel also offers spa services, tour/ticket assistance, and multilingual staff. For a surcharge, a roundtrip airport shuttle (available on request) is offered to guests.
- 24-hour front desk
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Total number of rooms - 179
- Number of floors - 5
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Business center
- Coffee shop or café
- Concierge services
- Conference space
- Hair salon
- Health club
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Meeting rooms
- Multilingual staff
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Spa services on site
Available in all rooms: Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
- DVD player
- Air conditioning
- Hair dryer
- In-room safe
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Satellite TV service
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Room service (24 hours)
- LCD TV
Where to Eat
Breakfast is available for a surcharge each morning.
Sixiang Chinese Restauran - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Free Angle - Onsite bistro.
Excecutive Lounge - Onsite pub.
24-hour room service is available.
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a health club and a sauna.
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Check-out time is noon
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Breakfast fee: CNY 68 per person (approximately) |
Book your room at Marina All Suites Hotel
Super Deluxe SuiteMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Suite MasterMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Suite CorcovadoMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
4-star beach retreat just steps from Leblon Beach
With a stay at Marina All Suites Hotel in Rio de Janeiro (Leblon), you'll be minutes from Leblon Beach and Posto 12.
This 4-star hotel is within close proximity of Posto 11 and Rio Design Leblon.
Treat yourself to a stay in one of the 39 individually decorated guestrooms, featuring private spa tubs and LCD televisions. Your bed comes with down comforters and Egyptian cotton sheets, and all rooms are furnished with sofa beds. Kitchenettes are outfitted with refrigerators. Cable programming and iPod docking stations are provided for your entertainment, while wireless Internet access (surcharge) keeps you connected.
Be sure to enjoy recreational amenities, including an outdoor pool, a sauna, and a fitness center. This hotel also features wireless Internet access (surcharge), concierge services, and babysitting/childcare (surcharge). Guests can catch a ride to nearby destinations on the area shuttle (surcharge).
Enjoy a meal at a restaurant, or stay in and take advantage of the hotel's room service (during limited hours). Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge. Buffet breakfasts are available daily for a fee.
Featured amenities include a business center, dry cleaning/laundry services, and a 24-hour front desk. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available 24 hours).Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
In addition to an outdoor pool, Marina All Suites Hotel provides a sauna and a fitness center. The hotel offers a restaurant. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. High-speed wireless Internet access is available for a surcharge.
Business-related amenities at this 4-star property consist of a business center and meeting rooms. This beach hotel also offers a rooftop terrace, a terrace, and multilingual staff. For a surcharge, the property provides a roundtrip airport shuttle (available 24 hours), an area shuttle, and a shopping center shuttle. Parking is available onsite for a surcharge.
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Fitness facilities
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Business center
- Meeting rooms
- 24-hour front desk
- Multilingual staff
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- Outdoor pool
- Concierge services
- Number of floors - 16
- Shopping center shuttle (surcharge)
- Total number of rooms - 39
- Rooftop terrace
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Luggage storage
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Area shuttle (surcharge)
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- WiFi (surcharge)
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
Available in all rooms: Wireless internet access (60 BRL per 24 hours surcharge)
Available in some public areas: Wireless internet access (60 BRL per 24 hours surcharge)
Valet parking (surcharge)
- Air conditioning
- Premium TV channels
- DVD player
- Free newspaper
- Daily housekeeping
- Premium bedding
- Separate sitting area
- Hair dryer
- In-room safe
- Climate control
- Microwave (on request)
- Private bathroom
- Designer toiletries
- Free toiletries
- Rainfall showerhead
- Separate bathtub and shower
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Room service (limited hours)
- Sofa bed
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- iPod docking station
- Cable TV service
- WiFi (surcharge)
- Private spa tub
- In-room massage available
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Down comforter
- Egyptian-cotton sheets
- First-run movies
- Individually furnished
- Individually decorated
- LCD TV
Where to Eat
Buffet breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning.
Marina All Suites Hotel has a restaurant serving breakfast only.
Room service (during limited hours) is available.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include an outdoor pool, a sauna, and a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Bicycle rentals on site
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Minimum check-in age is 18
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Fee for buffet breakfast: BRL 62 per person (approximately)
- Fee for in-room wireless Internet: BRL 60 (for 24 hours, rates may vary)
- Fee for wireless Internet in public areas: BRL 60 (for 24 hours, rates may vary)
- Self parking fee: BRL 35 per night
We should mention
Parents traveling with a child under 18 must present the child’s birth certificate and photo ID (passport for foreign visitors) upon check-in. If only one parent or legal guardian is traveling with the child, that parent or legal guardian must also present a notarized consent of travel signed by both parents. Visitors who plan to travel with children should consult with a Brazilian consulate office prior to travel for further guidance. This property offers transfers from the airport (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. |
Dive into the pool for a few laps or clock up the miles on a
treadmill. Take a Pilates class or stretch out on your yoga mat.
Sweat it out in the sauna or relax with a massage. Our Vital Health
and Wellbeing Clubs at Macdonald Hotels have so many routes to
feeling good and staying fit. It's not just about the latest
technogym equipment. Our approach is to design a fitness programme
right for you, with properly-qualified personal trainers to keep
you on track.
Of course, if you're a hotel guest, just drop in to use the
health and fitness facilities you fancy. We'll be happy to show you
the ropes, so you get the most out of your stay.
To view our health club facilities
visit our hotel spa & fitness pages. |
Bunker floor plans
Underground bunkers now and then.
The purpose and build of underground bunkers has changed over the time.
During WW2 when the cities were bombed relentlessly the fear was high explosives from air raids. Bunkers were built of brick and stone, covered with arched corrugated metal, and then buried under few feet of dirt. See also pictures from the Churchill's underground bunker in picturesque Dollis Hill, north-west London.
After nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan underground bunkers took on a new shape. The fear was now nuclear weapons that could destroy an entire city in one fell swoop. The cold war era shelter was a deep underground bunker able to be self sufficient for very long periods of time and protect from nuclear blasts and radiation. They were very expensive.
Today there are new fears shaping the attitudes of modern bunkers. Economic collapse, social collapse, anarchy created form the collapse of our own monetary system, pandemic, coronal mass ejections, terrorism and other natural disasters such as tornados and hurricanes. The trend is an urban foxhole style of bunker. An urban foxhole is a smaller security bunker. Bunkers Now and Then.
Underground bunker design
There are all kinds of reasons why someone might want the reassurance of several tons of concrete reinforcement around their home. But could you actually live in an underground bunker?
That's where the underground bunker design comes in. Because an underground bunker can become our home for a long time. Some people even live in well designed bunkers on permanent basis.
Private underground bunker design by The Vivos Group for a family of four and guests.
Underground survival bunker
Underground survival bunker from Vivos Group.
Modern underground survival bunkers provide a complete all threat shelter solution. Survival bunkers can be discreetly built just about anywhere. They can be stocked with food, water and fuel for a minimum of one year for a company of 4 or 12.
Beware of the low cost, corrugated drain pipe bunkers, or fiberglass cocoons, that are little more than overrated storm shelters. Safety, security, strength and comfort shouldn't be compromised! Have a real, concrete and steel bunker that is built to survive virtually any catastrophe that may be ahead.
Underground bunker floor plans
3D floor plan of a simple and practical underground bunker.
An underground bunker made of heavy duty 10 gauge steel that is welded on the inside and the outside to resist water intrusion. Bunker is sandblasted down to the bare metal and then coated with coal tar epoxy and painted on the interior with a white gloss enamel. Underground bunker floor plans like this are simple and most practical. The bunker costs around $20,000.
Urban foxhole bunker floor plan
Underground bunker floor plan No 2
Smart Product Technology Security Pod.
Smaller bunkers, urban foxholes that no one knows about and are accessed from your own home or located under your patio can be used for securing your family and your food and water and arms storage, they can be used as a safe when you are not at home, they can even be used as a wine cellar. In these systems you will enter and exit it throughout the day or night and take cover in it when needed. During times of civil unrest your family can sleep in the shelter, and someone will always stand guard in the main parts of the house. The object is to never let your home look abandoned if possible. If the home has to be abandoned because of flooding, everything will be safe while you are gone. And remember, you never want you bunker to be your coffin, so make certain you have an emergency escape! Supply batteries, and lots of them. Be protected in a faraday cage...
Best plan for underground bunker
When you plan your own underground bunker take suit from neighbours. A humble mansion on the surface. A bunker with playrooms for much loved children and a wine cellar and gun room underneath.
A gargantuan urban foxhole in London's elite area of Kensington. Luxury bunkers in London.
An urban foxhole in London's elite area of Kensington features a ballroom and swimming pool with hot tub, gym, ping pong and billiards room, climbing wall, bowling alley, sauna and massage room, cinema, media suites, wine cellar, kitchen, servants' quarters, as well as 15 bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 20 toilets. An obvious necessity in case of a zombie apocalypse is a car lift and turntable to evacuate Ferraris into underground vintage car museum.
Over the past four years, the local authority of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea alone has granted planning applications for more than 800 underground bunkers of a kind, refused 90, and has a further 20 bunker plans outstanding.
Any plans for an underground bunker? |
I sent a personal message in reply to your question. I will post it on this forum for others too (below).
NB Please note that depressed scarring (and perhaps even hypertropic scarring??) usually appears longer/ wider as it heals (before it shrinks/ disappears). This is because when collagen fills-up the depressed scar, the circumference of the scar initially widens. So, please don't be disheartened. Healing scars is not an instant event but a lengthy process contingent on many variables including your diet and overall health i.e. you need to eat healthy, drink healthy & lightly exercise daily!
Lastly, it takes 3 months for new collagen to form and new skin cells to form. So, please assess your skin every 3 months. And don't fuss with your skin too much i.e. don't over wash it (i.e. everyday - but use a mild organic natural cleanser), and do not place any toxic things or harsh products on it.
My reply to you:
I think firstly you need to do extensive research on natural therapies/ remedies in relation to healing cystic acne. Stay away from anything artificial, harsh, chemical based and toxic.
Secondly, you need to ascertain what causes your cystic acne. For example, I have read that some people get it from eating oranges. I have also read that it could be a byproduct of an ingested toxic substance: i.e. a person on acne.org went to a toxicologist to have the contents of her cystic acne analyzed and it contained traces of plastic!!! Once you have established the cause (i.e. leaky gut syndrome, lack of exercise, lack of sunlight/ vitamin D, nutritional deficiency, gluten, SUGAR, processed sugar, refined carbs, flour products, sweets, cakes, GMO foods, fluoride toothpaste/ tap water/ processed food diet/ sodas/ junk food/ takeaway junk foods/ microwave foods/ dairy/ toxins/ over-processing/ over-washing/ harsh chemical acne topicals etc), you can seek to heal it/ rectify it.
So, essentially, I see cystic acne as a message from your body that it is allergic to something or it is filled with a toxic substance and it is tying to purge itself of the toxin (note: these toxins can stay in your body fat for years until you lose weight and then it's purged through your skin [i.e. if not eradicated through bowel movement, most toxins/ body waste products are then released through the skin]).
Essentially, I would recommend:
A) A major detox:
- Eat lots of organic, raw vegan wholefoods/ superfoods (NB if anything makes you breakout stop eating it): i.e. lots of green leafy salad leaves, raw kale, avocado, bell peppers, flaxseed oil/ grapseed oil/ cold pressed organic virgin coconut oil, carrots cucumber, coriander, mint, flat leaf parsley, thyme, mixed nuts, mixed beans, peas, fermented foods like tempeh/ sauerkraut, quinoa, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dandelion greens, hemp seeds, tomato, red cabbage, red onion, cayenne pepper, tumeric, dried thyme, baked potatoes with their skin, baked sweet potatoes, iodized sea salt, sea vegetables (seaweed, nori rolls etc), spring water, fresh fruit & vegetable juices, gluten free muesli, almond milk, oats, nutritious flat bread or gluten free bread, brown rice, kiwi fruit, apples, berries, melons, mangoes, banana etc.
- Use a sauna once a week for a month to cleanse your body of toxins.
- Drink a fresh carrot, beetroot, apple juice daily (cleanses your liver) with a scoop of superfoodgreens i.e. chlorella/ spirulina/ barley grass - see Synergy brand or any brand. You can try other ones too with green leafy salad leaves like spinach etc
- Drink herbal burdock or dandelion tea
- Drink edible healing clay drink once a week for a month (see your health store): this is very detoxing & healing
- Use Bentonite clay masks once a month.
- Take quality chlorella daily (very detoxifying)
- Exercise lightly/ power walk 10 -30 minutes per day in the sun (use hat if necessary but not sunblock - but expose your arms/ legs etc to direct sunlight for vitamin D).
B) Go to owndoc.com forum for advice on cystic scars and hypertropic scarring. (NB Please ensure they are not in fact keloid scars which require a completely different healing method). You could try gently needling them with beta glucan liquid over 6-12 months (see Garden of Wisdom brand). However, a more stronger protocol would be using copper peptides and a very low strength glycolic acid (10 -15% - NB don't go higher!!!) along with skin needling (BUT please test a patch first to ensure it's not too strong for your skin - and please research this protocol thoroughly before attempting). I used a short derma roller from clearskincare.com.au which was very good and easy to clean (just rinse under hot water and store in fridge with topicals to keep them pathogen free). Just don't over roll & give your skin a few days rest, then a few weeks rest, then a few months break between rolling or single needling/ stamping. The rolling only activates the skin to heal itself, the 'magic' happens in the time you don't derma roll & let the skin naturally reform collagen. So after a period of skin rolling, leave the skin for 3 months or more alone and only use the beta glucan liquid. Note: you must eat & drink very healthy to maximise your healing.
Note: You might want to use the copper peptide with the skin needling. Whereas the 10-15% glycolic acid can be used as a peel once fortnight for 3 months then stop (but please test to ensure it's not too strong for your skin).
You might also wish to try a vitamin c mask from owndoc.com once a month. However, I prefer pure lemon juice (but some people find this too harsh). Please test a small patch of skin. This will help collagen formation.
C) Trial using a niacinamide gel. This is a vitamin B3 based product and is said to really help most acne types resolve.
D) Get sunshine daily (just don't burn and don't use sunblock, only a hat if necessary, but ensure you expose your skin directly to sunlight daily).
E) Try swimming at a pristine clean beach as often as possible (in warmer months). Sea salt is great for the body, mind & soul.
F) Do things daily that de-stress, calm & center you (i.e. reading, walking, meditation, listening to spa music or baroque music, napping). Surround yourself with people, animals, activities & things that uplift your soul etc.
E) Don't fuss with your skin. Don't wash your skin or shower everyday. Your skin needs its protective lipid/ oil barrier to heal, prevent infection and prevent scarring. Use a very mild organic natural cleanser once in a while (see The Body Deli, Sukin, Pure Skin Junkie, Jess Organics etc). Use a natural organic facial mist to boost skin hydration.
F) Keep your personal space and bedroom/ bed dust free, clean, fresh, organized and relaxing. It should give you a feeling of calm and be an inviting sanctuary. Nourish your soul every day.
G) Consider a non industrial, non-toxic wholefood/ organic multivitamin like Deva Nutrition (prenatal if you're female or regular if you're male) or one from drbenkim.com etc.
If I think of anything else, I'll message you.
Hope this helps!
PS Healing scars takes time. You will not see major results until 3 -6 months after using a derma rolling protocol. However, it usually takes between 1 to 2 years to see final results. If you still have superficial irregularities, you'll need a low strength retin a (or retinaldehyde - a safer form of retin a) application once or twice a week for 3 months to finally polish your skin. You can use beta glucan with the retin a too. However, its best to stop using retin a as it's very potent, whereas you can continue with beta glucan as it enhancers your skin health.
PPS Massaging your skin for a month is great to do. It complements skin needling. You can try it along with skin needling. But only do it for a 2 weeks or one month then stop. 3 months after stopping skin needling and massaging, you should see a remarkable improvement to your skin/ scars, especially if you continue using beta glucan liquid.
PPPS Stay away from microwaves, junk foods, tap water, DAIRY, fluoride toothpaste (use mineral/ herbal), GMO, takeway foods (especially McDonalds), plastic containers, canned foods, tea, coffee, sodas, sugar, gluten, flour products, refined carbs, processed foods, artificial additives, non-organic foods etc
PPPPS Read www.naturalnews.com articles to keep up-to-date with natural health news and natural health remedy innovations. Keep researching.
Edited by aquasea, 29 October 2013 - 12:04 AM. |
ON THE BEACH! 3 BALCONIES, SEA VIEW, SUN ALL DAY.
Andalucia Del Mar is in Puerto Banus, Costa Del Sol and shares the same beach with Club Playas del Duque, being less than 50 meters apart.
This is a prestigious and sought after development where you can simply step out of the garden directly on to the sandy beach and into the soothing waters of the Mediterranean sea.
Located in a wonderfully unique, natural setting, enjoying an exceptional climate, this apartment offers every possible comfort for your stay. We offer the highest quality in a peaceful development, within private tropical gardens, yet only a few minutes walk from the opulent social life of Marina Puerto Banus in Marbella.
Our tropical gardens have 2 swimming pools. This very safe and secure development is located directly on the beach with a security gate opening onto the Blue Flag sandy beach, into the inviting Mediterranean sea and the lavish Ocean Club with its fabulous huge seawater swimming pool. Also this security gate leads into the famous PUERTO BANUS MARINA which is a two minute walk either along the sandy beach or by using the boardwalk.
The gardens and apartment are wheelchair and push-chair friendly. The boardwalk is accessible from our garden gate which makes the beach and Marina Puerto Banus so easy to navigate.
We have a 24/7 hours key collection service facilitating your arrival and departure times making them totally flexible and at your convenience. In the adjacent building you will find the most luxurious exclusive health and beauty SPA with its own indoor heated swimming pool, well equipped gym, exercise classes, sauna, steam room and Turkish hammam as well as conventional massage treatments. (Reasonable entrance fee payable directly to the club).
In the same adjacent building where you collect the keys, there is a 24/7 supermarket, pharmacy, restaurants and cafes.
More photos are available on request.
Puerto Banus is the most loved resort in Spain enjoying a sunny micro climate protected by the magnificent Sierra Blanca Mountain range.
Apart from the world famous marina, displaying multimillion pound yachts, it has wonderful sandy beaches, restaurants, beauty salons, cinemas, art galleries, designer boutiques, department stores, post office, bakery, English newspaper shop, pharmacy, medical services, alfresco cafes, plenty of nightlife, bars, banks, casino, bridge clubs, cinema, all water sports, bowling alley, horseback riding, bowling green, tennis and golf clubs, play grounds, water parks, crocodile farm, dolphin excursions, tours to the mountain villages, Gibraltar and across the waters into Morocco.
YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT NEED A CAR when holidaying in one of our apartments as everything you need is immediately accessible or just a few minutes' walk. However, we do include a designated car space inside the building accessible by elevator from the apartment, should you require it and at no extra charge.
Malaga or Gibraltar airports are 35 minutes drive. Information on airport collection and car hire is available.
1ST floor, Extremely spacious 145 square meters or 1561 square feet in size.
An up upscale, comfortable and luxuriously decorated apartment with air conditioning throughout for cooling or heating.
The lounge balcony and the master bedroom have stunning views of the manicured gardens, swimming pools plus seaview.
Dine alfresco for breakfast, lunch or dinner as the main lounge balcony has a smart rattan dining table for six with views of the swimming pools, the park like tropical gardens and sea view.
The spacious lounge and dining areas are luxuriously appointed with high quality furnishings, flat screen Satellite TV with UK and other European Channels plus DVD player.
The apartment is centrally air conditioned for heating and cooling throughout.
WiFi and additional cleaning are available upon request.
This apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and sleeps up to 6 people.
There is a superior quality sofa bed and luxury roll away bed available for guests 5 and 6
Generously sized master bedroom, tastefully decorated with high quality furnishings, a luxury quality super king size bed plus fitted wardrobes. The en-suite bathroom is all marble, full bath tub/shower, WC, bidet, twin vanity unit.
Round stone table with chairs on the second balcony directly off the master bedroom is ideal for breakfast or to enjoy a cocktail or two whilst you watch the sun go down.
Contemporary guest bedroom with twin beds and fitted wardrobes, its own balcony with table and chairs. Enjoy the wonderful mountain views and afternoon sun.
Guest bathroom is all marble, with full bath tub/shower, bidet, WC and vanity unit.
The modern kitchen is fully fitted with fridge/freezer, microwave, dishwasher, ceramic hob and oven, washing machine and separate clothes dryer, electric kettle, coffee maker. All cutlery, crockery, utensils etc are provided.
There is a convenient serving hatch from the kitchen to the dining area.
What's Included in the cost:
- Arrival and departure cleaning.
- A parking space in our underground garage.
- Linens, towels and pool towels.
- Baby cots and high chairs are available on request.
- Air conditioning, cooling / heating throughout.
- Satellite TV with UK and many European channels.
- Hair dryer in each bedroom.
- Steam iron and ironing board.
- Sterling or Euro bank transfers.
- or personal cheques.
- or credit card via the secure system of PayPal -We accept any currency using PayPal
and it's not necessary to have an account with PayPal to make a transaction.
- or transfer through Western Union
We provide an up to date folder in the apartment, giving lots of information about the local areas of interest, leaflets on tours and activities, restaurants and take away menus, emergency service contact details etc.
Every Saturday morning there is a popular street market at the Bullring in Puerto Banus. This market is the largest open market on the Costa Del Sol.
There are eight Andalusian provinces, a journey around the lands of Almería, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, Huelva, Jaén and Seville. Each so close, and yet each so different...Hidden throughout the length and breadth of the rich geography of Andalusia's eight provinces are lovely cities which deserve a privileged position for their beauty, their priceless architectural heritage, or simply for their traditions.
Daily tours are available from here to all these provinces plus Gibraltar and Morocco.
If you are a golfer, this is Costa Del Golf - Golf experience holidays.
Within the length of this coast, there are over fifty spectacular golf courses offering international standards and designs.
The golf clubs are available for anyone to play and to use all their facilities without membership restrictions - daily entrance fees apply.
The area boasts some of the best golf courses in Europe including, but not limited to the Valderama course which hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup and the American Express Match Play Championships.
In Puerto Banus you are located in the centre of the Golfing environment where there are 5 world renowned Golf Courses. Centrally; Las Brisas, Aloha, La Quinta, Los Naranjos and Dame de Notche for night golf and there are many other courses to the East and to the West within half an hour's drive in either direction.
West of Puerto Banus:
Sotogrande, Duquesa, Estepona, Flamengos Golf & Resort, Monte Mayor, El Paraiso
Club Del Golf El Coto is 9 holes, Atalaya Golf and Country Club, Guadalmina Club Del Golf is 45 holes
East of Puerto Banus:
Marbella Golf and Country Club, Santa Maria, La Cala Resort, Miraflores, Cabopino with wonderful views, Torrequabrada, Mijas Golf is a busy course, La Noria is flat 9 holes.
|Size||Sleeps up to 6, 2 bedrooms|
|Nearest beach||Plaza Beach and Puerto Banus - gated access to bea|
|Will consider||Corporate bookings, Long term lets (over 1 month)|
|Access||Car not necessary, Wheelchair users|
|Nearest travel links||Nearest airport: Malaga or Gibraltar 45 km, Nearest railway: Fuengirola 20 km|
|Family friendly||Great for children of all ages, Suitable for people with restricted mobility|
|Notes||No pets allowed, No smoking at this property|
|Luxuries||Jacuzzi or hot tub, Sauna, Internet access, DVD player, Sea view|
|Pool||Shared indoor pool, Shared outdoor pool (unheated), Children's pool|
|General||Central heating, Air conditioning, TV, Video player, CD player, Safe, Satellite TV, Wi-Fi available|
|Standard||Kettle, Toaster, Iron, Hair dryer|
|Utilities||Clothes dryer, Dishwasher, Cooker, Microwave, Fridge, Freezer, Washing machine|
|Rooms||2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms of which 1 Family bathrooms and 1 En suites|
|Furniture||1 Sofa beds, Double beds (1), Single beds (3), Cots (2), Dining seats for 6, Lounge seats for 6|
|Other||Linen provided, Towels provided, High chair|
|Outdoors||Shared outdoor pool (unheated), Shared indoor pool, Balcony or terrace, Private garden, Shared garden, Climbing frame, Trampoline, Private fishing lake or river|
|Access||Wheelchair users, Secure parking, Lift access|
|Further details indoors|
A safe and hairdryers are supplied. The apartment is very spacious. It has dining for six on the balcony. There is a two seater and a three seater sofa bed of best quality.New modern kitchen FULLY equipped. Iron & Ironging board supplied..Change of sheets once a week and departure cleaning is included. Extra cleaning can be arranged. There is a cot and high chair available if requested included in the rental price. The bathrooms have full bath, bidet, twin vanity units and marble floor and walls.
|Further details outdoors|
There are within few minutes day and night golf and please see the details inthe next section
Leisure activities includes biking, horse back riding, water sports, golf, tennis, swimming, boat trips, multi complex cinema with original sound tracks, bridge clubs, casino, bowling, sea world, dolphin excursions, safari park/zoo, crocodile farm, two large aqua (water)parks, Tivoli World fun fair with traditional Spanish entertainment.
Every Saturday morning there is a popular street market at Puerto Banus bullring.
Most probably our location, Costa del Sol, offers all what you might wish for within walking distance or short drives.
There is a collection of information leaflets and brochures at the apartment suggesting all types of ides of what to do or go for all the family and maps. The concierge service is 24 hours and offers all the help that you might need.
Costa Del Golf
The alternative known name for the Costa Del Sol is the Costa Del Golf. Within the length of this cost, there are over fifty golf courses for all tastes, styles, budgets and facilities. There are the challenging and the less challenging. You would be completely spoilt for choice.
Some courses are hilly and the others flat park land courses with shady trees. The golf clubs are available for any one to enter and play and to use all their facilities without membership restrictions but on daily entrance fees for about 40 Euro for 18 holes..
The golf clubs offers eating, drinking and relaxing areas in the club houses, buggies, and all your needs to rent or buy from their shops.
The courses are normally much less crowded than would be expected and of good value.
The area boasts some of the best golf courses in Europe including, but not limited to the Valderama course which hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup and the American Express Match Play Championships,
We named some courses above but would like to name others here as you might be familiar with their names.
In Puerto Banus you are located in the centre of the Golf activities where there are 6 world renown Golf Courses in the Puerto Banus, Las Brisas, Aloha, La Quinta, Los Naranjos and Dame de Noche for night golf. There are tens of courses to the East and to the West within half an hour drive in either direction
West of Puerto Banus
Flamengos Golf & Resort
Club Del Golf El Coto is 9 holes
Atalaya Golf and Country Club
Guadalmina Club Del Golf is 45 holes
Los Aequeros Golf and Country Club
Club de Camp La Zagaleta
East of Puerto Banus
Marbella Golf and Country Club
La Cala Resort
Cabopino with wonderful views
Mijas Golf is a busy course
La Noria flat 9 holes
Several Malaga golf courses
In Puerto Banus you are located in the centre of the Golf activities where there are 6 Golf Courses in the Puerto Banus area and many to the East and many to the West where there are tens of courses within half an hour drive in either direction.
Puerto Banus, Marbella in the Costa del Sol is the most loved resort in Europe. It has more than 300 days of sun a year. It is just as beautiful all the year around. It offers every thing a person could wish for within walking distance and a vast exposure to history and international cities within short distances. There are daily bus tours to Morocco and the magical cities of Andalucia if it was Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla and many others.
There are hourly ferries to the interesting and colourful cities of Morocco with their soouks and entertainments. The travelling in short distances away from the cost are the white villages with their handcraft. There are more famous museums in Malaga and the cobble streets of old Marbella. International and traditional entertainment and a whole world of adventures for the young one and all night fun for the not too young.
The towns along the cost have week long festivals and carnivals that move from town or village to the next all the year around. There are too many Saints in Spain for an excuse for that. There are safaris and adventure trips beside all the sports activities. The spectacular famous Spanish horse back riding schools offers memorable experiences for the young and the old |
Beach – The resort is located on the beautiful Macao Beach on the Easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic. Powdery white sands and turquoise waters will be your backdrop as you enjoy the warm Caribbean sun.
Golf – The Hard Rock Golf Club at Cana Bay features an 18-hole course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The course is 7,253 yards with a par 72. Beatiful views of the natural landscape surround each green for a wonderful experience. The course is located right next to the Hard Rock and transportation is included when you book your tee time. Club and shoe rentals are available for an additional fee.
Shopping – The resort is host to several shops and boutiques for you to browse through during your stay. The Rock Shop offers authentic Hard Rock merchandise, perfect for souvenirs and gifts. The Cana Shop is the main gift shop offering souvenirs, tobacco, sundries, beach accessories, magazines, and more. Visit the Pandora Store if high quality jewelry is what you are after. The Swarovski Boutiue features a selection of beautiful crystal from jewelry to home decor. The Montblanc Boutique offers writing accessories, leather goods, jewelry, eyewear, and watches near the casino. The Billabong Store is home to sunglasses, watches, footwear, backpacks, clothing, and more. Carmen Sol New York is a luxury boutique featuring clothing, handbags, and shoes from well-known designers. Costa Linda is a clothing and beachwear store with must-have accessories for the beach. The Ray Ban Sunglass Store offers a selection of the hottest styles of designer sunglasses, perfect for protecting your eyes from the Caribbean sun.
Spa – The Rock Spa features 35 spa suites, 11 couples spa suites, and two VIP suites. There is also a hydrotherapy center with whirlpools, lagoons, steam rooms, a sauna, reflexology, and an ice room. Indulge and relax as you choose from a wide selection of massage therapies, rejuvenating facials, and body treatments. The beauty salon offers manicures, pedicures, hair styling, hair cuts, and more.
Fitness Center – Body Rock offers guests a selection of state-of-the-art cardiovascular and weight equipment, perfect for staying in shape while enjoying your rock star vacation. Fitness classes are available from professional staff ready to get you rockin’. The fitness center is open daily from 6:00am – 11:00pm.
Casino – The 45,000 square foot casino features an amazing selection of slot machines and table games for your enjoyment. The casino offers 400 slot machines, a poker room, blackjack, baccarat, craps, roulette, and sports on big plasma screens.
The Little Big Club – The Hard Rock offers supervised activities for children at their exciting kids club. The Little Big Club provides professional staff to watch over your children as they play and interact with others. Activities include arts and crafts, painting, table games, jewelry making, sing alongs, story time, Spanish lessons, dancing, building, bingo, picnics, ice cream parties, video games, movies, fashion shows, pajama parties, and more.
Other Activities – The Hard Rock offers an amazing array of activites throughout the day including miniature golf, an arcade center, a 5-meter climbing wall, dancing and music at the Oro nightclub, and a selection of Fender guitars and amplifiers able to be delivered to your suite. |
By Melanie Waxman
During pregnancy many women
worry about the quality of their skin especially when it comes
to a growing belly and breasts and the fear of stretch marks.
I have given birth to seven children and by to following a
simple body rub routine have never experienced any stretch
marks or sagging skin.
In our modern world, we are
bombarded with masses of advertising on beauty. Billions of
dollars are spent promoting a whole host of creams and treatments
for the skin, most of which don't work. It is a shame that
we are not so well informed about what the skin actually does
and the fact that it is the largest organ in the body. Instead
we try to help it with remedies that cost a lot and only clog
the surface and do little else to help.
The technique I used during
my pregnancies and still use today is a simple hot towel,
body rub. Sounds simple and it is. The body rub is very cheap
too. You only need a cotton face cloth and a sink full of
The hot towel rub was used
in Japan and Europe to rejuvenate and beautify the skin. Unlike
dry skin brushing or loofahs, which works only the surface
of the skin, the hot towel rub also stimulates the muscles
and the internal organs.
The rub can be done on a daily
basis both during and after pregnancy. While you are pregnant,
it helps to prevent stretch marks and the build up of cellulite.
Afterwards, it can help to keep your skin healthy and enable
it to regain its natural elasticity.
Our skin actually renews itself
every 28 days. The cells in your skin go through a continuous
cycle of dying and being replaced. Our skin can renew itself
in a healthy or an unhealthy way depending on our lifestyle
over the past days and weeks. Of course, a healthy diet is
the most important factor in having beautiful, healthy skin.
By adding the easy routine of a body rub, we can actually
nourish the skin on a daily basis.
When I was in my late teens,
I hardly perspired at all. I thought it was great at the time
because I didn't have to worry too much about body odor or
deodorants. I remember going to a sauna one day and falling
asleep and not perspiring one bit.
I felt awful and never went
back. When I became involved in alternative medicine, I realised
that the reason I didn't perspire was because I had clogged
skin. This wasn't a healthy situation at all. The toxins,
which should naturally be released through my skin, were going
back into my body.
Sadly, today, many young women
have eating disorders and a common symptom is clogged skin.
When the skin is clogged a great deal of pressure is built
up internally. When our skin is healthy, we release tension,
stress and pressure easily and feel more relaxed and happy
with ourselves. Our skin is the barrier between our inner
and outer world. It protects us from the environment, affects
how we respond to heat and cold and literally holds us together.
Healthy skin helps us to develop sensitivity to pressure and
touch and also strengthens our immune system.
So what does healthy skin look
like? I was born and raised in England. We are famous for
our beautiful skin, often described as 'the peaches and cream'
complexion or the look of 'a blooming rose'. I think the endless
rain actually helps to keep the British skin slightly shiny
and moist which is one indication of health.
Healthy skin should also perspire
gently and easily all over and not just under the armpits.
This shows that excess fluids and toxins are being discharged
in a natural manner. Healthy skin is smooth, soft to the touch
and firm but not tight. It looks fresh and radiant and is
actually a reflection of our overall health.
Our skin is a very hard working
organ and when it becomes clogged, moisture and oil cannot
pass through the pores. Dry skin is result of pores becoming
clogged, most commonly as a result of a high fat diet. Using
moisturisers high in mineral, coconut or palm oil only coats
the surface and makes the matter worse. As fat builds up beneath
the surface of the skin, our circulation becomes sluggish
as excess fat and fluids back up in the system trying to exit
via the blood vessels.
The simple body rub not only
helps the skin to function at optimum efficiency, it also
takes the strain off the kidneys, liver and intestines. These
organs are also responsible for discharging toxins. When they
overwork, excess cannot be smoothly released but moves to
the surface in an attempt to exit, resulting in rashes, pimples
or other skin irritations.
When we rub our body all over,
we stimulate the meridians in the body. Meridians are streams
of energy that connect to the organs. They nourish the organs
and help them to discharge. By stimulating the skin we activate
the meridians, thus increasing the energy that is sent to
the internal organs. Therefore, the body rub also stimulates
our organs and helps them to rest, repair and function well.
During pregnancy, practicing
the body rub will send a direct message of love to your baby.
The baby receives energy as you stimulate your skin and he
will feel like he is getting his own special massage too.
Now for the great news! The
hot towel rub is an inexpensive, simple and fun way to look
and feel great. All you need is a top quality, ideally, organic
cotton face cloth (not too soft), a sink full of hot water
and your bathroom. You can also add a few drops of high quality
aromatherapy oils to your face cloth if you like. Make sure
that they are suitable for pregnancy. Use lavender for stress
relief and aches and pains, tangerine for calming nerves and
further preventing stretch marks or ylang ylang for relaxation.
Remember, having glowing skin
is only one benefit. The hot towel rub also improves circulation,
strengthens the immune system and aids the smooth function
of the organs. It is a great stress release too. If you do
the rub in the morning, you will feel uplifted and ready for
the day. At night, the rub helps you to feel relaxed and sleep
more soundly. In general, it will help you to de-toxify, let
out tension, improve your energy and strengthen your health.
began studying Oriental medicine in 1980 and went on to specialize
in macrobiotic cooking. She has lived in Portugal, England
and America and has trained cooks from all over the world.
Melanie is the mother of seven children. She has cooked for
international recording stars, fashion designers, doctors,
and business professionals and has helped thousands of others
to change their lifestyle and way of eating. She has written
a children's cook book; Mr. Hoppity's Color Me Cook book for
Kids, a series of self-published12 Cooklets and has recently
published Bless the Baby, a beautifully illustrated book on
the natural and traditional ways a mother can bond with her
newborn. Melanie is also a massage therapist and Feng Shui |
Choose your preferred language. We speak English (US) and 41 other languages.
8231 Amarillo Boulevard West, Amarillo, TX 79124, United States of America – Show map
|Superior Queen Room|
|King Suite with Bath Tub - Disability Accessible|
|King Suite - Disability Access|
|Queen Room with Two Queen Beds - Hearing and Mobility Accessible|
|King Room with Roll-In Shower - Disability Access|
|Queen Room with Two Queen Beds|
|Queen Room with Two Queen Beds - Disability Access|
|Executive Queen Room with Two Queen Beds|
|Executive King Room|
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65 verified reviews
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The Holiday Inn Amarillo West Medical Center's staff speaks: English
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Sauna, Fitness Center, Hot Tub, Indoor Pool
Food & Drink
WiFi is available in all areas and is free of charge.
Free public parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Business Center
Newspapers, Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Facilities for Disabled Guests, Heating, All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)
From 3:00 PM
Until 11:00 AM
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
One child under 19 years stays free of charge when using existing beds.
There is no capacity for extra beds in the room.
Pets are not allowed.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Guests are required to show a photo ID and credit card upon check-in. Please note that all Special Requests are subject to availability and additional charges may apply.
Based on 65 reviews
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Microwave and refrigerators are featured in all rooms at this hotel. On the west side downtown Amarillo the hotel has easy access to Interstate 40.
Score from 118 reviews Wonderful
This hotel is located off Interstate 40 and is 5 miles from downtown Amarillo. It offers an outdoor pool, gym and rooms with free Wi-Fi. Baymont Inn and Suites Amarillo rooms include a coffee maker.
Score from 170 reviews Review score
The Comfort Suites hotel is located with easy access to Interstate 27 and Interstate 40, just 12 miles from the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport and Palo Duro Canyon State Park.
Score from 203 reviews Very good
Located a 20-minute drive from Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, this hotel features an indoor swimming pool and a hot tub. Free Wi-Fi is also available.
Score from 114 reviews Wonderful
No complimentary breakfast as stated on Bookings.com (stopped 2 weeks ago) No walk-in shower as stated on Bookings.com (only available in Presidential Suite) Room wasnt blacked out very well. Bed was very high and very soft, pillows were all very soft - no spare pillow/blanket Had to go to bar to buy drinks to drink with meal in Restaurant.
The room was clean.
The bed was extremely high and unfortunately the added mattress wasn't enough to make the bed more comfortable. I would have expected the bed to be very comfortable. It was also really difficult to get to the parking lot, you could see the hotel but the entrance wasn't easy to find.
our favorite place to stay in Amarillo. Always clean. The staff is always super friendly. Great bar with a great happy hour!
Very bad experience with the front desk at 5:00am.
went to front desk about the very limited access to wi-fi, but no one could explain nor help; left the room for 4 hours and room was not made up even though the button was set!
easy access; close to restaurants and shopping; we stayed 4 nights
We enjoy getting away and that is the best place iv been to be able to eat and have a few drinks an then go to our room! The staff is very nice and clean!
We had a bottom floor room, close to the main hallway. If you're going to have a hotel bar, and allow noisy crowds, you shouldn't put gas on the bottom floor where they can be disturbed by your rowdy crowd.our room was freezing and took forever to warm up. There was also literally no hot water coming out of either faucet. Lukewarm was the best that we got. If we would've been there for more than one night, we would've found a different room.
Absolutely great location, easy access to everything you would want to do.
to many turns to get to the hotel.
Quick check-in, clean room, great amenities.
the ac was loud and breezy, and my wife kept changing the setting because she was hot flashing; one minute you could hang meat in there and the next I was tossing covers; menopause & fibromyalgia at the same is a sleepless combo even though we slept in separate beds.
the granite, the age, the condition the security of the key-card only up elevators, the location is very convenient to great restaurants yet far enough from the interstate to avoid all road noise. Overall: good value
That I could not upgrade my room when booking messed up my room I wanted to upgrade and they couldn't
The fun for kids, my kids had a blast and so did I there is a little bit if everything
The staff were exceptionally helpful and the room and hotel Were wonderful
Staff was unbelievably friendly. They went above and beyond to accommodate my family.
Very very very slow Wi-Fi. They need to update this.
Really impressed with the property. It didn't feel like a Holiday Inn at all.
Breakfast was limited,
Its close to the interstate I40, Staff were all very friendly.
Nothing not to like.
Modern comfort, style, clean, and the bar. Movies next door. Restaurants all around. Indoor pool, jacuzzi, and sauna!!!!
First visit pool out. Return visit it was repaired.
Modern design and reasonable price.
As much as I like the hotel, the rooms are a little small, especially for a five day stay. What they mainly lack, is comfortable seating, the desk chair, & a small straight back chair, just don't cut it.
I liked the area, the way it's kept up, the staff, in reception, dining room, & bar. The breakfast buffet is nice, for the most part, except, for the weekend, when it was hit by scads of kids, who came in like the seven year locusts. The staff, really worked hard to try to keep up, but it wasn't pretty.
Other than the indoor pool not being available the first day we checked in and this was corrected by Friday evening 3/28/14 there was no other issues.
Mr.A.Smallwood and his staff from houskeeping to the front desk were very professional and courteous ALWAYS. Mr Smallwood took the time to sit with us at breakfast Friday morning(3/28/14) and have a very pleasant converstion with my husband and I. We really enjoyed our stay.
One small complaint. .. we got the room for the pool and slide and they only open the slide on the weekends. However the pool was neat anyways.
Great breakfast easy location off interstate. Facilities upscale and clean staff very helpful and nice.
I was disappointed that the picture of the tub is not what we got when we got to our room.
The staff was very polite and helpful even when busy with several customers.
Pool was under construction
the lobby was very crowded and loud
Booking.com misrepresented the room that we thought we booked. We were wanting to book the junior suite and on booking.com they called it an executive suite which was just a king bed and we needed more room for a family of four than that. The hotel was booked and we had to just deal with the one king bed. The pictures on booking.com showed that the executive king was a suite. Complete misrepresentation.
Great service in the mexican restraunt and breakfast. The kids loved the swimming pool.
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eu sou Ian.
Será um prazer recebe-lo em meu apartamento.
Seja bem vindo!
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We were greeted by Alice, she was really nice! The place was great, everything you need, lots of fresh towels and necessities. The backyard is awesome, the bedroom is open concept and bright. The beach is so close, amazing shopping in Ipanema, we couldn't have picked a better place!
Great location and great apartment !
Apesar do contato ter sido dificil (por airbnb, sms, telefone), o que causou um certa insegurança, fomos bem recebidos pela Alice que é muito simpática.
O apto estava limpo, é bem decorado e confortável e equipado.
Ponto de atenção: TV a cabo muito limitada em qtde de canais.
Além disso, a localização é excelente! Boa opção, de bom gosto, para ficar em Ipanema, proximo à praia, restaurantes, lagoa, ponto de taxi....
Localização privilegiada e tanto o Ian como sua esposa foram muito atenciosos e prestativos. Super recomendo!
Really enjoyed our stay, Alice was very helpful and friendly. The apartment is spacious and the outdoor patio and pool are ideal for cooling off. The location was also ideal being close to the beach, nightlife and restaurants. Highly recommended>
Ian and Alice were very accommodating! The place is beautiful, spacious and in a nice part of town. Plenty of room in the kitchen for cooking and the pool/garden area is gorgeous. The only downside - the sauna was broken during my visit (which I wasn't informed of until I arrived) and the bathroom could have been a bit cleaner (a decent amount of hair which wasn't mine in the shower).
Travis sauna this is already in maintainability, which is outside the state of rio de janeiro ... in a few weeks'll be working ... thanks for your comment. best regards ian
Ian is very available and friendly.
Renovation of the terrace and build a wall between is private apartment and the apartment rented.
Oliver, thanks for your comment and your stay, the terrace is already being updated with new paint and maintenance of the deck... tks Ian
I stayed at the house for almost a month. The apartment couldn't be in a better location and the space layout is perfect for a couple or a bachelor like me. Ian the host is a great guy as well that knows all about Rio. Truly recommend this apartment. Cheers
The reservation was canceled 9 days before arrival. This is an automated posting.
Located in a great neighborhood the apartment had plenty of space, nice setting for a short or long stay. No problem with the owners, they were always willing to help on anything. The building was nice and also never had any problems with the neighbors. Very quiet, very peaceful environment considering that I was in Rio for the Final game of the world cup. Fully recommend the apartment.
O Apto é muito bem localizado, bem decorado e delicioso para uma estadia perfeita no Rio de Janeiro! O anfitrião não poderia ser melhor, com boas dicas para conhecer a cidade e fazer bons passeios!
Ian é filho de minha amiga Divana eu o conheço e sei que é um rapaz ótimo e feliz , cumpridor de seus deveres como cidadão, v deve ser um excelente anfitrião…abraços
Filho de uma grande e querida amiga, Ian tb é um querido amigo. De credibilidade e confiança, tb um grande fotógrafo! Grande abraço, meu brother! |
With a stay at IFA Fehmarn Hotel & Ferien-Centrum in Fehmarn, you'll be on the beach and minutes from FehMare Pool Complex, and close to Fehmarn Golf Course. This beach hotel is within the vicinity of Fehmarn Aquarium and Grossenbrode Beach.
Make yourself at home in one of the 479 guestrooms, featuring kitchens. Rooms have private balconies. Satellite television is provided for your entertainment. Conveniences include separate sitting areas and coffee/tea makers, and housekeeping is provided daily.
Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities
Take advantage of recreation opportunities including a sauna and a fitness center. Additional amenities include complimentary wireless Internet access, babysitting/childcare (surcharge), and a hair salon.
Satisfy your appetite at one of the hotel's 2 restaurants. Relax with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge or a beach bar. Buffet breakfasts are available daily for a fee.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a 24-hour front desk, laundry facilities, and a library. This hotel has 3 meeting rooms available for events. A train station pick-up service is available for a surcharge.Expedia Affiliate Network
24 hour front desk
Babysitting/child services (surcharge)
Pets not allowed
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Book your room at Catalonia Sur Aparts & Spa
3.5-star Bariloche aparthotel in Playa Bonita with free breakfast
Collect 200 points
Simply enter your Nectar card number when prompted. Your points will be credited 30 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Located in Playa Bonita, this aparthotel is within 2 mi (3 km) of Capilla de San Eduardo, Cerro Otto Cable Car, and Cerro Viejo Eco Park. Fenoglio Museum of Chocolate and Casino de Bariloche are also within 6 mi (10 km).
This smoke-free aparthotel features an indoor pool, a fitness center, and a sauna. Free breakfast and free WiFi in public areas are also provided. Other amenities include a seasonal outdoor pool, dry cleaning, and laundry facilities.
All 10 apartments offer kitchenettes, free WiFi, and phones.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
In addition to an indoor pool and a seasonal outdoor pool, Catalonia Sur Aparts & Spa provides a sauna and a fitness center. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast. This Bariloche aparthotel also offers tour/ticket assistance, barbecue grills, and laundry facilities.
Catalonia Sur Aparts & Spa is a smoke-free property.
- Total number of rooms - 10
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Free breakfast
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Fitness facilities
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Laundry facilities
- Luggage storage
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Smoke-free property
- Indoor pool
- Outdoor seasonal pool
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Cookware, dishware, and utensils
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
A complimentary breakfast is offered.
Nearby Things to Do
An indoor pool and a seasonal outdoor pool are on site. Other recreational amenities include a sauna and a fitness center.
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-out time is 11 AM
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed. |
Book your room at Carnoustie Golf Hotel
Seaside hotel with full-service spa and restaurant
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Situated by the sea, this spa hotel is 0.2 mi (0.4 km) from Carnoustie Golf Links and within 9 mi (15 km) of Claypotts Castle and Arbroath Abbey. Discovery Point and Verdant Works are also within 12 mi (20 km).
Along with a full-service spa, this smoke-free hotel has a restaurant and an indoor pool. Free WiFi in public areas and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a fitness center, a bar/lounge, and a spa tub are onsite.
All 85 rooms offer free WiFi, coffee makers, and flat-screen TVs with digital channels. Free bottled water, hair dryers, and phones are among the other amenities that guests will find.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
In addition to a full-service spa, Carnoustie Golf Hotel features an indoor pool and a spa tub. The hotel offers a restaurant. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary.
Event facilities measuring 11330 square feet (1053 square meters) include conference space and meeting rooms. This business-friendly hotel also offers a fitness center, a sauna, and a steam room. Complimentary self parking is available on site.
Carnoustie Golf Hotel is a smoke-free property.
- Total number of rooms - 85
- 24-hour front desk
- Indoor pool
- Fitness facilities
- Number of floors - 3
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Coffee/tea in lobby
- Conference space
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Full-service spa
- Free WiFi
- Laundry facilities
- Meeting rooms
- Conference space size (feet) - 11330
- Conference space size (meters) - 1053
- Number of meeting rooms - 12
- Free self parking
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Spa services on site
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Wedding services
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
- Digital TV service
- Iron/ironing board
- Coffee/tea maker
- Hair dryer
- Free bottled water
- Private bathroom
- Shower/tub combination
- Rollaway/extra beds available
- Flat-panel TV
- Free WiFi
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Free cribs/infant beds
Where to Eat
Full breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning.
Dalhousie Restaurant - Overlooking the golf course, this restaurant specializes in local cuisine. Reservations are required.
Nearby Things to Do
An indoor pool and a spa tub are on site. Other recreational amenities include a sauna, a steam room, and a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
Guests can indulge in a pampering treatment at the hotel's full-service spa, Inspired Spa. Services include massages, body treatments, and manicures and pedicures. The spa is equipped with a sauna. A variety of treatment therapies are provided, including aromatherapy.
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Sauna in spa
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible bathroom
- Accessible parking
- In-room accessibility
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
Only service dogs are allowed
We should mention
The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. |
WHAT: The ultimate personal gym
WHO: Allen Poon, architect Partner and co-founder of TETRA Architects & Planners
Poon has been in the tradefor more than a decade.In 2011, he co-founded the firm with veteran architects Andrew Kinoshita,Gilbert Yeungand Joshua Lauto focus on luxury interiors and institutional architecture.Poon has consulted and worked on awide range of projects such as the Hong Kong Design Centre.Last year, he also curated the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture.
Despite his fit physique, Allen Poon isn't your average gym rat.
"I'm not really a big fan of the gym. I always feel like I am trapped on a hamster wheel whenever I'm at a gym," the architect jokes.
With that in mind, for his ultimate private gym project, Poon brings the perfect environment indoors, with a little help from cutting-edge virtual reality simulators.
The luxe private gym consists of two levels, floats on the ocean and makes for a perfect extension to your grand beach house.
The upper level of the structure features a dome-shaped screen for virtual reality projections, an infinity pool, changing rooms and sauna facilities, while the undersea level is designed to accommodate a range of gym equipment and a pool tank.
Poon incorporates hi-tech virtual reality simulators that bring real fun into exercising.
The simulators project moving images to take you to a destination of your desire. The visual effects also reflect personalised training programmes, be it urban marathon training or trekking on Mount Everest.
The dome-shaped screen creates an illusion of extra space and can seamlessly project motion images compared to the display on flat screens. The virtues of the airtight dome don't just end here. It also allows a completely controlled environment and atmospheric effect simulations, such as rain or sunshine.
Indoor rainfall can be created by adding motion sensors to prevent the user from getting wet.
"These simulations not only make exercising more fun but also helps you train under different conditions," Poon says.
Forget public showers and run-down equipment drenched in sweat - the private gym focuses on exclusivity and personalisation.
Special sensors at the entrance will be able to recognise facial features. Once a user logs on, his or her training routines will be downloaded from the gym's intelligent archive or synchronised with the owner's personal fitness tracking device. Or the user can simply download information from his or her smartphone. Other personalised information, such as a workout playlist, can also be synchronised and downloaded wirelessly.
"I think exercising should be an extremely pleasant and personal experience," Poon says.
The gym's advanced audio and video system can patch in the owner's personal trainer to help with the fitness programmes even without trainers to be physically present in the facility.
Unlike public gyms where all the equipment is laid out for everyone to see, Poon places the equipment on a revolving turntable in the lower level. The equipment you choose rises to the upper level via a hydraulic platform.
"The design makes the most of the available space without any clutter," Poon explains.
For the most effective and high-end gym equipment, we consulted Andrew Cox, a veteran personal trainer at Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel, for his checklist of must-haves.
Apart from general cardio training equipment, he also points out some of his favourites, such as Power Plate - a vibrating base that helps the user develop strength and muscle more effectively; PurMotion - a resistance-training system developed by five-time Olympian Jorge Bonnet; and ViPR - a cylinder-shaped rubber equipment that improves the user's vitality and performance.
With this luxury private gym, you can easily stick with your New Year's Resolution and burn off those extra calories. |
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Where to stay in Norway
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Cosy holiday home of high standard in an especially good location for visiting the best known tourist attractions in Norway. Very short distance to Geiranger and the Fjordsenter, Jostedalsbren National Park and Strynefjellet. 15 km to a summer skiing centre. The house is set in peaceful surroundings with garden and lawn. There is a beautiful view of the river, woods and mountains which makes this house perfect for people who want a house in rural surroundings. The house has two fully equipped kitchens. Neighbour 4 m.
The fishermen´s shack is composed of 3 units. It is situated in the northern end, 1. floor. The house is of high and good standard. Enchanting fishing places in the fjord and in the ocean. Sit down comfortably and enjoy the wonderful view from the livingroom window or the terrace. There is a fishing house/gutting site down by the marina. Hiking trails close to the house leading to where the fjord meets the open sea. Beautiful skerries in the entire area. Golf course ca 35 km away. Closest city: Bergen, 60 km.
Nice traditional log cabin in a peaceful location at the end of a no through road near Strynsvannet lake. Not far to Strynefjell, Geiranger, Stryn summer ski center, the Briksdal glacier and Jostedal National Park Center in Oppstryn. The scenery looks like a postcard with deep valleys and high mountains with snow-clad peaks.Fishing for trout, char and eels in the lake, and there are both salmon and trout in the river Stryn. A really beautiful place. N26046 40 m. Bath room nr. 2 is beside the sauna in the basement.
A very nice and well equipped holiday house, located undisturbed in a small bay; great view over the sea, islets and skerries. Here you find a sunny terrace with garden furniture & grill and a sitting area by a small pond. The conditions for fishing & swimming are very good; well suited for children. Great sandy beach 15mins. walk from the house. Only 4 km from the idyllic town of Skudeneshavn, and not far to the festival city of Haugesund. Boat in the marina: 2 mins. driving. Echo sounder with colour screen, childbed & childchair rentable. Smokehouse for fish. Golf course: 5 mins.
Fjellvær Gjestegård is idyllically situated on the coast of Fjellværøya in the borough of Hitra. We offer overnight accommodation in holiday homes / ca...
Hitra is one of Norway’s biggest islands, 707 km² of woodland, moors, skerries and small fjords, and maybe you’ll be treated to a sighting of our very...
Angelamfi Hitra, which is built like an amphitheater, has a total of 21 high standard houses/cabins and apartments. They are all fully equipped with...
25 m2 cabins with 2 bedrooms and 4 beds. Kitchen, livingroom, bathroom with wc/shower. TV and WIFI. Large recreation area with outdoor seating....
Centrally located hotel in Hitra. Large and nice rooms with free WIFI. In the restaurant we focus on offering dishes of local produce, such as deer, sc... |
Those of us associated with the building of cities are often asked to do tricky things. Build a 632-meter-high skyscraper and give it the world’s tallest and fastest single elevator, traveling at speeds of more than 40 mph so folks can soar to the top in fewer than 40 seconds with no transfers. Build a data center in Houston that makes its own electricity (handy during a hurricane) and turns rain water into an asset. Design an office building that makes people happy to come to work.
But one of the biggest challenges facing us today requires, perhaps, one of our best magic tricks of all time: Creating open space when there seems to be none left.
How do we give people in cities public spaces (parks, gardens, squares, even wide tree-lined streets) to gather and room to breathe in our increasingly built-up and built-out urban environments?
More on David Gensler’s thoughts on reutilizing public space, after the break…
According to data from the United Nations, by 2050 nearly 70% of the world’s population—some 6.29 billion million people—will live in cities. That is up from just over 50% today. Where will all those urbanites find places to breathe, to pause, to share ideas, to gather and be productive as social animals, which is why cities came to be 9,000 years ago? How do we avoid replicating the urban planning and development problems that we have in our modern cities, and in particular, our penchant for not placing enough value on the “people factor”? How do we avoid transporting those problems to the fast developing cities of the world?
As a leader of a global design firm, I believe we need a different kind of vision to “see” potential high-quality, public open space where others do not. We need to create, reclaim, and just plain squeeze it out of our existing cities and then turn that essential space into spectacular places designed for the promotion of our humanity. The High Line on New York’s West Side does this brilliantly, but it has been everyone’s best example–and model for imitation.
Last year, we set out to unearth and re-imagine unexpected open space (which is what we should be replicating about the High Line) in cities around the globe. We asked all 43 Gensler offices to participate in a conceptual project that we’re calling the Gensler Town Square Initiative. The idea was simple: find what we haven’t yet seen. Identify open space in your city and re-imagine it as a town square, which we used as a metaphor for all kinds of gathering places, not just the traditional civic square.
The ideas ranged from wild to pragmatic.
In New York, the team took to the streets of Manhattan–quite literally–and realized the wasted space in some of our streetscapes. It saw potential in the oftentimes generous central medians and the opportunity to create important neighborhood amenity spaces there.
But here’s the kicker: It then combined that potential for community space with another thing New Yorkers need badly in light of their post-Hurricane Sandy reality: a sense that something’s being done to integrate resilient infrastructure solutions into New York’s urban fabric.
Creating a kit of parts geared toward coupling community amenities with resilient strategies, the New York team proposed that a net-zero park be created within a three-block-long stretch of central median running down Allen Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Each block of that (prototype) linear park would be designed to test–via its amenities–a particular resilience strategy: waste disposal and biomass generation; solar/renewable energy; or storm water retention.
Among the amenities: lounge areas shaded with solar PV canopies; public charging stations powered by that park-generated solar electricity; rain-fed ponds; bicycle racks that also collect rain and double as hydroponic planters; solar-heated showers for bicyclists; organic waste collection bins; and a community organic waste and methane processor. A series of “plug-in” special event spaces could also be available on demand in the park and include a methane-powered community sauna and a pop-up library.
In Las Vegas, the team developed a strategy to transform the streetscape of this city’s (in)famous strip into an ad hoc town square shared by Vegas’ 40 million annual visitors and the 2 million people who live in the city’s metropolitan area. It developed modular pop-up structures designed to accommodate a wide variety of activities and services. Dubbed the “Urban Mosaic,” the modular cubes can be combined in any number and configuration to turn the strip’s streetscape into a meaningful public space for events both big (i.e. New Year’s Eve) and small.
The team in Bangalore–a city that seems to have turned its back on the many polluted and misused lakes that dot its landscape–proposed turning one underachieving, neglected pool of liquid into a “lakesquare” by improving the lake’s ecology while developing a meaningful lakeside experience for residents. It enhanced the lake’s connection to the city by activating its edges and, thus, created a prototype for a green infrastructure that is both sustainable and deeply rooted in the local culture.
Although London has many well-established public spaces, the successful ones tend to be located in the heart of the individual boroughs–and rarely do those boroughs consider the public spaces beyond their boundaries. The London Gensler team recognized the greater potential of considering urban open space as part of a network of spaces. It looked at combining individual spaces across district boundaries to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
In Washington D.C., the Gensler team considered specific interventions to build stronger connections across its riverfront—not more bridges, but more people-focused spaces and opportunities to gather and breathe as they cross the Potomac River and move among the city’s key sights. Among those interventions: a series of pedestrian pathways across the car-dominated Key Bridge that allow people to dwell within the bridge’s crevices and arches; a new water-facing terrace for the The Kennedy Center; and Paddleshare, a boat-sharing service similar to Zipcar.
The glories of open space and the town squares they inspire are big and small and endless.
The Arab Spring, Occupy movement, and recent announcement of the new pope in Rome all played out in town squares. People’s memory and attention span improve after spending time interacting with nature, according to a study from the University of Michigan. And if nothing else sticks with doubters, this one generally sways opinions: there’s money to be in made in urban open space. The published literature suggests very strongly that people will pay a premium to be near open space–and that can be a very good thing for a city’s tax base.
Some 95% of those surveyed (real estate developers, public sector workers, and investors across Europe) said they would pay 3% more for commercial property in close proximity to open space, according to a joint research effort by Gensler and the Urban Land Institute. In London that could equate to approximately £1.3 billion in added value. In Chicago, the opening of Millennium Park in 2004 is credited for sending condo values in the surrounding blocks up $100 a square foot, with the additional value of all residential development in those blocks reaching $1.4 billion by 2014.
The bottom line is that open space and town squares humanize and invigorate cities and are essential to the health and welfare of the people who live and work in them. It’s that simple.
The video is courtesy of Elena Collins and the World Cities Network. |
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Medno 54, 1210 Medvode, Slovenia – Show map
|Business Double Room|
|Special Offer - Single Room with Business Package|
|Double Room with Mountain View|
|Double Room with Waterbed|
|Business Single Room|
|Special Offer - Double Room - Romantic Package|
Hotel Medno is located in natural green surroundings sheltered by a forest and near the river Sava at Medno, which is considered as the suburbs of Ljubljana. You can enjoy yourself or in the company of someone dear to you with glass of fine wine, a lighter snack or an indoor film screening in the Club room with hot tub.
Hotel Medno takes special requests! Add in the next step – get instant confirmation when you book.
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6 properties in Medvode
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32 verified reviews
They speak your language!
Hotel Medno's staff speaks: Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, English, German
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Ski Storage, Ski Equipment Rental (on site), Ski Passes Available
Golf Course (within 2 miles), Fishing, Canoeing, Hiking, Cycling, Sauna, Spa, Massage, Hot Tub, Bicycle Rental, Library, Playground
Food & Drink
Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast in the Room, Restaurant with Dining Menu, Snack Bar
Wired internet is available in public areas and is free of charge.
Free public parking is available on site (reservation is not needed).
Room Service, Packed Lunches, Car Rental, Shuttle Service (surcharge), Airport Shuttle (surcharge), 24-Hour Front Desk, Express Check-in/Check-out, Tour Desk, Baggage Storage, Concierge Service, Private Check-in/Check-out, Lockers, Shared Lounge/TV Area, Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Ironing Service, Shoeshine, Suit Press, Daily Housekeeping, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Business Center, Fax/Photocopying, Souvenir/Gift Shop, VIP Room Facilities, Honeymoon Suite
Newspapers, Safe, Non-smoking Rooms, Soundproof Rooms, Heating, All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)
Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, English, German
From 2:00 PM
Until 12:00 PM
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
One child under 2 years stays free of charge in a crib.
One child under 10 years is charged 70 % of the room stay per night and person in an extra bed.
One older child or adult is charged 100 % of the room stay per night and person in an extra bed.
The maximum number of extra beds/cribs in a room is 2.
Any type of extra bed or crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by management.
Additional fees are not calculated automatically in the total cost and will have to be paid for separately during your stay.
Pets are allowed on request. Charges may apply.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Based on 32 reviews
Value for money
Show reviews from:
Hotel Pension Na klancu was renovated in 2009. It is situated in Medvode, 7 miles from central Ljubljana and offers free Wi-Fi and comfortable, bright rooms.
Score from 135 reviews Good
In the heart of Ljubljana, the Best Western Premier Hotel Slon has bright and colorful rooms, a spa area, an elegant restaurant and a well-known pastry shop.
Score from 1552 reviews Excellent
Birokrat Hotel offers air-conditioned accommodation, free laptop rental and free use of the fitness centre and sauna. Free Wi-Fi and in-room LCD satellite TV are provided.
Score from 1077 reviews Excellent
Offering free Wi-Fi, Apartments Vega offers self-catering accommodation with cable TV.
Score from 167 reviews Very good
The welness is very expensive, more expensive than the rooms price. Some room's windows open to the restauran's terrace, at summer It can be embarrassing.
Clean, modern room, rich breakfast, very good location, near the forest and the hills.
Wifi in the room (1st floor) was really poor and available just if you were at the doors (not possible to sit on the bed and use it). Just basic breakfast, always the same things and even if the plate is empty they do not refill. It happend that there was not enough warm/hot water in the morning and the shower was completed with cold water.
Big and clean double room
Rooms small and noisy. No air conditioning. No mini bar in some rooms
Staff very helpful. Pleasant terrace
good location, easy to find
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Rated 3.8 out of 5 by 34
Rated 1 out of 5 by Redlion We got really cold
Central heating was not working. Altough we warned the hotel that we were cold they turned on the heating at certain hours. This is not a three star hotel. Since it is winter time the heating should be operated 24 hours. We were really cold during the night. Spa was not clean. (Specially sauna) The breakfast buffet was lacking in variety. Weekend and weekday buffet standards were not the same. I would not recommend this hotel.
November 4, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5 by Ilonaj training needed
The hotel facilities are good, but the staff of young people were not well trained, Wait staff didn't understand the menu, cooks apparently also did not know the menu. As an example we ordered oat meal from the menu and a bowl of raw oats were delivered. At dinner we ordered appetizers and an entrée. the restaurant was not crowded, but the food was late in coming. The reason was that they held the entrée until the main dish was ready and then served everything at once. The employees were extremely friendly and they tried to provide us with good service, but there appeared to be an issue with training.
October 30, 2014
Rated 2 out of 5 by sozdem A 5 star sea-side hotel but absolutely not Sheraton class
Try to find a parking area other than the closed one. It is extremely hot like an oven and you may be surprised with some strange kind of fluid over your car probably from a leak in the air-conditioning system pipes (well..hopefully).
October 10, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by selin78 Best Hotel in the region
I must say that Sheraton Cesme is the best hotel in Cesme region. I stayed in this hotel in the past because of some business related activities. This was the first time that I had a holiday and it was really excellent. Especially the staff of the hotel are very qualified and friendly. Thanks to all of you who made my holiday unforgettable.
See you again next summer.
October 8, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Sarman57 Hotel with good food and ideal for relaxation
The Sheraton Cesme Hotel is an outstanding hotel because it has very good food, very nice beach and very good hotel seving for the guests. The hotel has thermal water and spa facilities as well. I high recommend it to the foreign and Turkish visitors.
October 7, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Smileyfaces Great hotel & amazing service!
Especially would like to thank you very much to the service manager Mr. EYÜP!! He was very professional, very friendly and always smiling. We would just come back to this hotel because of him!! We appreciated very much his amazing service offered every day! Cok tesekkürler!
September 12, 2014
Rated 4 out of 5 by btlkskn excellent beach
excellent beach but average foods :(
September 10, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5 by Bilici167 This hotel need redecoration
hotel room need new design and new look because everything looks old.
August 26, 2014 |
Sandwiched between two petrol stations along Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi, Ken Holdings Bhd will build a green office building, which will house its corporate headquarters. The 13-storey energy-efficient office tower will be equipped with facilities equivalent to that of a 5-star hotel. It will have four levels of basement parking, food and beverage outlets as well as a ballroom that will also double as a conference room. Recreational facilities will include a swimming pool, gym and sauna for tenants.
Saturday April 7, 2012By THOMAS HUONG email@example.com
Prices and rentals for residential properties in the Klang Valley should stabilise this year due to credit-tightening measures by banks and investors' cautious sentiment after prices of houses rose by 6.6% last year, according to property consultants.
However, they point out that property developments in selected locations, especially in areas where the proposed Klang Valley My Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) stations are, would still perform well in terms of capital appreciation.
Property consultancy CB Richard Ellis (M) executive director Paul Khongsays price increases in the Klang Valley residential market had slowed down slightly in the last two quarters.
“Property developers are offering more incentives and freebies to push sales, ranging from free SPA (sales and purchase agreement), stamp duty, free air-conditioners to even trips to Hong Kong,” he says.
Khong says that this year, buyers are more cautious as prices are currently toppish.
“Loans are now getting difficult to secure. Larger numbers of buyers especially investors, have now taken a more conservative stand.”
Some heat has been taken out of the speculative end of the property market in recent months, says property consultancy Khong and Jaafarmanaging director Elvin Fernandez.
“Speculation is an accepted and needed element in any market, excessive speculation is not,” says Fernandez.
One property research analyst says the residential property market is set to take a breather, and prices should be flat in 2012 and 2013.
“Last year was a sterling period when property prices went up a lot, especially for new development launches.
“So, we are coming off from a very high base set in 2011. Can the market maintain this kind of momentum?
“We do not think so as there are no major catalysts and banks are cooling down the residential property sector,” he says.
The property analyst also says a lot of residential properties launched in 2010 would be completed this year.
“Many owners will try to flip' their units. So, there will be affordability issues if prices keep going up.”
According to data on Bank Negara's website, the number of loans applied for purchases of residential property increased by 17% year-on-year in the first two months of 2012 to RM26.7bil.
The amount of residential property loans approved during the period was RM12.25bil, which was 2.7% higher compared with a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the amount of loans applied for purchases of non-residential property increased by 15.3% year-on-year in the first two months of 2012 to RM13.83bil.
The amount of non-residential property loans approved during the period was RM6.83bil, which was 8.4% higher compared with a year earlier.
Another property research analyst says the central bank's data shows that credit-tightening measures are working to cool down the property sector. “This year to date, demand is still very strong, and has in fact increased substantially, especially for residential properties.
However, the amount of loans approved was not substantially higher compared with the same period last year,” he says.
Fernandez says there is evidence that the run-up in prices for the various “hot spots” of housing in the Klang Valley and in Penang, have been arrested due to cooling measures undertaken by Bank Negara and the tightening on housing loans by banks.
Effective this year, banks have started using net income instead of gross income to calculate the debt service ratio for loans.
Fernandez also points out that coming out of the holiday season this year, there was a distinct slowdown in enquiries for mortgage valuations and house purchases in the secondary market.
“The Government has said it was serious about preventing a property asset bubble. So, even if banks start to loosen the lending guidelines in the later part of the year, how much can property prices go up before measures such as increasing the real property gains tax (RPGT) are imposed?”
The 2011 property market report, compiled by the Finance Ministry's Valuation and Property Services Department, says the Malaysian All House Price Index had surged to 156.9 points in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 147.2 points a year earlier.
The report also says the demand for high-end units priced above RM500,000 had increased in the country, with 21,905 transactions last year (compared with 16,782 in 2010).
“This could be attributed to the increase in affordability level and supported by the ease in borrowing as well as attractive loan packages offered by the financial institutions,” says the report.
Khong says this is also largely due to the fact that there is a substantial increase in the number of units priced above RM500,000 in recent times within the Klang Valley.
“Many residential properties have gone beyond this price level. So, a lot of sales done would largely be in this category now.”
Khong points out that nowadays, it is virtually impossible to buy a landed property at RM500,000 or below in good locations in Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur.
“A terrace house in Taman Sri Hartamas is already above RM1mil and even one in SS2, Petaling Jaya or Bandar Setia Alam, Shah Alam has also moved up above this RM500,000 range.”
The report noted that last year, prices of houses continued to consolidate, with landed housing in general on an upward trend.
Across the board, terraced houses in Kuala Lumpur recorded price increase of 8% to 13%.
For example, the prices of single-storey terraced houses in Lucky Garden, Taynton View and Salak South Garden rose by 8.1% to 11.9% while double-storey terraced houses in Bandar Tasek Selatan saw price increases of 11.7%.
However, the prices of high-rise developments in Kuala Lumpur showed mixed trends.
Low-cost flats in Taman Batu Permai recorded price increases of 11% due to strong demand while the prices of low-cost flats in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling dropped by 5% due to competition from other stratified buildings in the area.
Apart from that, the prices of condominiums at Casa Kiara II and Mont Kiara Pines rose by 12.8% and 13.3% respectively.
Residential housing prices in Selangor were also influenced by projects such as the MRT and Light Rail Transit, with single and double-storey terraced houses in locations such as Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya and Bandar Utama registering double-digit increases of 14% to 34.3%.
In the high-rise segment, it is noted that apartment units in Bandar Puchong Jaya and Taman Puteri Impian recorded price increases of 3.3% and 21.5% respectively.
Meanwhile, in Putrajaya, prices of residential properties also recorded strong growth.
Prices of double-storey terraced units in Precinct 11 increased by 18%, with the highest price registering at RM430,000 (against RM370,000 in 2010) while prices of low-cost flats in Precinct 9 rose by 10%.
The report also points out that the 55km Sungai Buloh-Kajang MRT alignment, which is expected to be completed in 2017, could result in an appreciation in property values within the areas served by the project such as Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Phoenix Plaza.
“Those who have parcels of developed or undeveloped land along the alignment are poised to enjoy the spillover effects of the rise in property values.”
Across the board in the country, the rental rate of both landed and stratified residential properties is stable.
However, there are exceptions particularly in the Klang Valley.
In Bandar Utama, Selangor, rental of two and two-and-a-half storey terrace houses grew by 30% and 36.4% respectively with rental ranging from RM1,900 to RM2,900 per month.
Rentals for single-storey medium cost terrace houses at Bandar Sri Damansara increased strongly by 35%.
Meanwhile, in Kajang, single-storey terrace houses in Taman Cheras Jaya and Taman Bukit Mewah showed rental growth of 9.1% and 5.3% respectively due to their strategic location near the exit to SILK Highway.
Increases in rentals are also seen in low-cost flats and apartments in Damansara Damai, Bandar Puchong Jaya and Taman Kinrara.
Double-digit rental growth is seen in condominiums at Bandar Baru Ampang, Taman Pandan Mewah, One Ampang Avenue and Pelangi Damansara.
In Kuala Lumpur, rental increase of 4% to 13% is seen for single and double-storey terrace houses in Danau Kota, Happy Garden, OUG and Salak South Garden.
Rental of apartment units were generally stable, except for certain high-rise developments in Kuala Lumpur, the Petaling district and Ampang which increased by 5.5% to 18.2%.
However, Fernandez says rental yields for ubiquitous two-storey terrace houses in selected areas in the Klang Valley are getting lower.
“The trend has been towards lower returns, slipping below the critical 3% benchmark. Below 3% is a cause for concern as houses should return between 3% and 6% (all risks net return) depending on house type, and whether it is landed or strata.”
One property analyst also says it is getting tougher for residential property buyers to obtain decent rental yields.
“Rentals will always be area specific. But generally, how many people in the Klang Valley can afford to pay rental of RM2,000 a month with the exception of foreigners. Typically, young professionals and couples are paying rentals in the range of RM1,000 to RM1,500 a month.”
Boom for shops
In Kuala Lumpur as well as the Petaling and Batu districts, prices of shops increased by 2.9% to 21.4%.
Those in Taman Alam Damai (Damai Niaga) recorded the highest average price change, from a range of RM895,000 to RM910,000 in 2010 to a range of RM1.1mil to RM1.2mil last year.
Notable price increases for shops are also seen in Happy Garden (8%) and Salak South Garden (11%).
In Selangor, shop prices increased by 18% and 42.4% in the central town prime areas in Subang Jaya and Kota Damansara respectively as positive expectation from the proposed MRT and LRT projects spurred the commercial segments.
Meanwhile, rentals for commercial shops showed optimistic performance last year.
Rental of ground floor shops in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur continued to be the highest at RM20,000 to RM25,000 per month.
Ground floor shops rental that showed double-digit increases include Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park and Taman Connaught at 16.6% and 11% respectively.
For Selangor, good areas in Petaling Jaya recorded rental increases of 13.3%.
Khong says shop rentals will continue to escalate slightly this year, reflecting the high prices that investors paid for such shops.
“In areas where commercial activities are bustling, rents will be good as well. Rents may not fairly match the capital values in many cases.”
However, he points out that shophouse rents will depend largely on the actual commercial performance of the individual centre.
One property analyst says shop owners in new housing projects where there is population growth will benefit.
“Remember, there are limited supply of shop lots. And, those who buy shop lots tend to have holding power, so they can afford to wait for better times.”
Other states doing well
Johor's property market performed well last year, with 52,946 transactions worth RM17.1bil.
Compared with 2010, Johor's property market volume and value increased by 9.1% and 44.6% respectively.
The report says Johor's residential property prices are generally stable with instances of mixed performance.
Single-storey terraced houses within areas in Johor such as Taman Puteri Wangsa, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Taman Bukit Indah and Taman Perling see price increases of 2.9% to 11.1%, with prices ranging from RM125,000 to RM220,000.
Houses in areas within Nusajaya such as Taman Nusa Idaman and Horizon Hills record price increases of 6.4% to 9.1%, with prices ranging from RM392,000 to RM448,000.
In Johor's high-rise residential segment, developments such as Straits View Condominium in Bandar Baru Permas Jaya saw price increases of 5.2%, with transactions done at RM470,000 to RM570,000 while Taman Perling Apartments registered the highest price increase of 23.3%, with transactions done at around RM220,000.
However, prices in Tanjung Puteri Apartment declined by 12.6%.
Property analysts are confident that the property sector in the Iskandar Malaysia economic growth corridor will perform well.
“The boom area will be Iskandar Malaysia. Lately, many major property developers have made forays there.
This is what happened with areas like Cyberjaya and Puchong, Selangor in the past,” they say.
Meanwhile, Penang's property market had an outstanding year with 39,415 transactions worth RM13.1bil, thus registering growth of 51.7% and 39.5% respectively compared with 2010.
It is noted that Penang's residential property prices are also on an upward trend, due to the scarcity of land on the island.
For example, double-storey terrace and semi-detached houses at Island Park see price increases of 13.4% to 30.8%, as the area is buttressed by neighbourhood developments such as Tesco hypermarket, Queensbay Mall, hospitals and schools.
As for Sabah, the property market improved slightly last year, with 10,321 transactions worth RM4.43bil, thus registering growths of 1.4% and 12.8% respectively compared with 2010.
In Sabah, prices of residential properties were generally unchanged, with a few exceptions.
For example, double-storey terrace houses in Seri Millenium Kingfisher, Kota Kinabalu are transacted at higher prices of RM400,000 to RM450,000 due to the area's proximity to the city centre.
In Sandakan, similar property in Taman Indah Jaya and Taman Fajar witnessed 20% and 14.6% price increases respectively.
The high-rise segment in the state also recorded price increases, and highlights included condominium units in Grace Ville and One Borneo Tower A in Kota Kinabalu, where prices increased by 17.9% and 10.8% respectively.
Sunday July 1, 2012
BY LISA GOH
Property consultants forecast the property market to remain slow for the rest of the year. Will the average middle-income earner be able to afford the house of their dream now?
COMMUNICATIONS executive Michelle (not her real name) has been house-hunting for a while now but has yet to find a property that suits her budget.
Having been in the workforce for nine years, Michelle, 33, feels it is time to buy her own house. But with the prices of residential properties in Malaysia skyrocketing over the last two years, her prospect of getting her dream home looks bleak.
“Back in 2009, my friends were telling me to buy my own place but at that time, my priority was to travel. Around last year, when I was finally ready to commit to getting a house, prices weren't what they used to be any more.
“A decent 1,000sq ft (93 sq m) apartment that used to cost around RM200,000 to RM300,000 is now RM500,000 to RM600,000. That is far beyond what I can afford,” she laments.
From early 2010 up to the end of last year, residential properties in good locations within the Klang Valley have seen a sharp spike of between 20% and 40% in price, a trend which has caused grave concern for potential house-buyers.
But how is the scenario looking in 2012?
According to KGV International Property Consultants executive director Anthony Chua, the first half of the year has been generally quiet.
“There seems to be a breather in the residential market. It's definitely not as busy compared with the same period last year. (The number of) inquiries with us have also lessened significantly,” Chua says.
He explains that inquiries in 2012 with KGV on high-end properties (above RM2mil) have gone down by about 30% compared with the first half of last year. Inquiries on other segments (between RM1mil and RM2mil, and below RM1mil) have also gone down but not as drastically.
Reasons for this could include tighter lending guidelines set by the banks and buyers taking a more cautious approach on their investments this year.
(Following Bank Negara's new lending guidelines, which came into effect on Jan 1, loans are now approved based on net income compared with gross income previously, in addition to the need for more documentation. The new guidelines are intended to help keep household debt in Malaysia to reasonable levels.)
Chua adds that there was a lot of speculation in the property market in the past two years, and that the market is due for a correction.
“The economic scenario is not as rosy and people are expecting things to worsen, which could be why they are hesitant to invest. And to a lesser degree, it could also be the coming general election, which is causing some uncertainties,” Chua says.
Paul Khong, executive director of property consultancy CB Richard Ellis (M) Sdn Bhd, shares similar sentiments.
“The number of buyers (for properties above RM3mil) has dropped by about half with the stricter bank-lending guidelines, which has eliminated the speculative group (of buyers).
“For properties below RM2mil, the market is relatively active with more real transactions. With the new lending guidelines in place, many investors have disappeared from the radar,” Khong says, adding that those who want to purchase their third property now will need 30% in cash for downpayment.
“So, to buy a RM3mil property, they'll need RM1mil in cash if it is their third property. Previously, RM400,000 was enough,” Khong says.
Interestingly, Chua notes that while interest in property purchase has waned, prices are still going strong for landed property.
However, sellers are seen to be less aggressive this year.
“They seem to be less demanding and more willing to accommodate. Last year, they would have said this is my price', and would have refused to budge,” he says.
Property consultants forecast the property market to remain quite slow for the rest of the year.
Even so, for average middle-income earners such as Michelle, the current prices of properties in various locations within the Klang Valley (refer to chart) leave her with few options.
“I don't even dare look at landed property any more. Even apartments at relatively good locations cost RM400,000 and up.
“For my budget, an apartment around RM200,000 to RM350,000 would still be quite comfortable,” says Michelle, who currently lives with her family in Petaling Jaya.
A mass communications graduate from the United States, Michelle draws a salary of about RM5,000 a month, which goes into paying for her car loan, household expenses, utilities, and credit card bills.
“Household expenditure doesn't just cover grocery shopping. I also have to pay for medical bills, car maintenance and repairs as well as give my parents some money too,” she says.
“As banks are now looking at net income, the loan amount I qualify for is unlikely to be enough for me to even afford an apartment in the Klang Valley.
“Sure, you can still get cheaper houses in places like Bukit Beruntung, but it's just too far away. My life is here. At the rate property prices are going, the thought has crossed my mind that I may never be able to afford a place of my own.”
It's not just within the Klang Valley that property prices have escalated.
Early last month, it was reported that residential property prices in Penang have shot up by more than 25% over the past five years.
Condominium units in Batu Ferringhi, Tanjung Bungah and Gurney Drive, with sea-front views, are being sold at astronomical prices, in some cases beginning with RM2mil for a 1,000 sq ft unit.
Houses which cost about RM500,000 in 2007 now cost RM800,000 an increase of about 30%.
Raine & Horne Malaysia director Michael Geh was reported as saying that the increase was among the steepest in the Pulau Tikus, Gurney Drive, Tanjung Tokong, and Tanjung Bungah residential neighbourhoods, which experienced a 25% increase in prices of condominium units.
Other areas where prices of condominium units and terrace and semi-detached houses have shot up by at least 25% are Bayan Baru, Sungai Ara, Minden Heights and Batu Maung.
Medium-range housing schemes in George Town neighbourhoods of Perak Road, MacCallum Street, Jelutong Road and Sungai Pinang have also not been spared an apartment located in such a neighbourhood cost RM180,000 in 2007 but is now RM250,000.
It is precisely with this concern in mind that the National House Buyers Association (HBA) has come up with a 10-point proposal to the Government, to find solutions which it claims will hopefully bring prices down.
Among the proposals are for the Government to unlock its land banks in various locations and give priority to affordable housing projects rather than high-end properties.
The HBA is urging the Government to take the lead in developing affordable homes and not leave it to property developers.
It has also proposed that those who buy homes under the affordable housing projects (with a proposed price range of RM150,000 to RM300,000) be barred from selling their property until after 10 years. Before the 10-year period is up, they should only be allowed to sell the house back to the Government.
The association has also proposed that the Government impose a higher stamp duty and real property gains tax as well as tighter mortgage rules for those buying a third and subsequent properties.
HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong notes that with the way prices are climbing, the majority of young working adults will not be able to afford to buy a home.
“I'm talking about young people from around the age of 25 to 35 years old, with an average income of about RM3,500 per month.
“The rule of thumb is that a third goes into paying for your home.
“But with RM1,000, many will still not be able to afford it. The consequence of this could be that an entire generation of young adults could be locked out of property investments,” he explains.
A question that needs to be asked, however, is whether HBA's proposal for “affordable housing scheme” by the Government will be able to meet the needs of the urban middle-income earners such as Michelle.
“There are several factors to consider. The location, for example,” Michelle says.
“If the design and quality is decent, then yes, I am willing to consider it. But this doesn't mean we have to settle for bad quality homes, with cheap construction materials.”
|By Wong King Wai of The Edge Malaysia |
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Property values along MRT line to appreciate
The value of houses located along the proposed MRT line, like those in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) and Bandar Utama, are expected to appreciate. CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Malaysia managing director Allan Soo says the house prices will rise quickly but it will also depend on how fast the MRT is built and how much traffic it carries.
“If the MRT makes life easier, I would rather take it than drive. The line is one of the better ones I’ve seen as it stretches from Sungai Buloh to Jalan Bukit Bintang to Cheras,” he says when presenting The Edge/CBRE Klang Valley Housing Property Monitor for 4Q2010.
Data for the last quarter of 2010 showed growth in property prices in almost all areas surveyed. However, the data collected and the word on the street were markedly different. “It is a surprise, to be honest,” says Allan Soo, in presenting the monitor. “The fourth quarter is usually quieter; even the agents say it is so. The data is a surprise to us. It doesn’t tally with what we know.”
Nevertheless, the positive growth is welcomed as 2011 gets underway. However, several areas showed a drop or low growth, such as 2-storey terraced houses in Jalan Datuk Sulaiman in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, which dropped 20.51% for the quarter. Soo believes that the area is facing stiff competition from surrounding areas that are guarded. “Security concerns and issues may have caused some areas in Taman Tun Dr Ismail to lose their flavour compared with guarded communities,” he says.
Two other areas that recorded low or zero growth are on the high-rise list. The first is
TTDI’s The Plaza, which recorded 0.74% growth. Soo believes this could be due to the positioning of the condominium, which means some units have better views than the others.
The second is Lanai Kiara in Mont’Kiara, which experienced zero growth in the quarter. Soo says competition is drawing buyers away from Lanai Kiara due to its age — there are newer condominiums in the vicinity to choose from.
On a positive note, the 1-storey terraced houses in the monitor showed positive gains compared with the year before. Streaking to the top of the list are houses in TTDI’s Burhanuddin Helmi.
“TTDI is still seen as a good location and the 1-storey terraced houses are the only things to buy if you missed out on the 2-storey homes,” Soo says. “The good performance of the Burhanuddin Helmi area is due to its better design and infrastructure.”
As for 2-storey terraced houses, all of those in the monitor showed strong growth, with houses in Bandar Sri Damansara SD10 surging 39.47% in 4Q. Bandar Utama’s BU1 homes were next, growing 32.73%.
Some older high-rises, such as Bangsar’s Tivoli Villas (+19.35%), TTDI’s Kiara Park (+15.56%) and Villa Flora (+15.38%), also outshone their younger competitors.
“Bangsar and Damansara Heights do not have any new supply, with the exception of One Menerung. As a result, the tenancy market is still very established and strong in comparison with others,” Soo says. “Moreover, the high-rise market in Bangsar and Damansara Heights is stable. The secondary market grows and allows older units, like those in Tivoli Villa, to go up in price. This doesn’t happen in other places.”
As for the good performance of TTDI’s Kiara Park and Villa Flora, Soo says their large land size and good location and designs trumped the competition.
In summary, all areas and property types showed some growth. Soo believes 1Q2011 will be quiet. “This quarter will be flat but things will improve from the next quarter onwards,” he says.
As for concerns about escalating property prices, Soo says the 70% loan-to-value ratio for the third housing loan has made an impact, especially on houses priced at RM3 million and more, due to the high financial outlay.
He uses a three-tiered pricing structure to explain the performance of the property market in the coming months. In the top tier are houses priced from RM3 million, followed by the middle tier comprising properties priced from RM1 million to RM3 million. The last tier consists of houses priced below RM1 million.
The houses in the first tier, Soo says, will not do well for the reason mentioned earlier. Second-tier homes in selected hot spots will do well but houses in the last tier will do very well, he adds.
This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 847, Feb 28-Mar 6, 2011
|Written by Chua Sue-Ann |
Friday, 04 March 2011
KUALA LUMPUR: It was a hot Sunday afternoon when a group of Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents met for lunch in a newly painted terrace house facing a busy highway.
Their conversation centred on the proposed mass rapid transit (MRT) project that will soon change lives in a big way, regardless of whether their houses are acquired to make way for part of the planned Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) line.
The residents along Jalan Medan Burhanuddin Helmi in TTDI say they are not opposing the MRT project or compulsory acquisition of their properties. They tell The Edge Financial Daily that they are open to having their property acquired on the condition that they be resettled within the TTDI area.
TTDI residents’ fears of compulsory land acquisition were sparked in early February after finding notices, surreptitiously pinned on trees and lamp posts, notifying them that their properties could be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
The same fears are spreading in many parts of the Klang Valley that the MRT will pass through. This brings to the forefront the acquisition of land for the project and its associated cost.
The entire proposed MRT project, comprising three lines, is expected to cost RM36.6 billion, making it the largest infrastructure project in Malaysia’s history. But that figure excludes land acquisition, rolling stock and any potential rise in building material prices.
Taking into account the land acquisitions, the final bill is likely to be higher. Any sharp increase on top of the estimated RM36.6 billion will raise more doubts over the funding of the massive project.
The authorities have yet to reveal the cost of the proposed SBK line, the first route that is to be built.
Some quarters point out that the MRT, which is partly underground, will cut through densely populated areas in Kuala Lumpur’s city centre as well as affluent residential areas such as Damansara Heights and Taman Tun Dr Ismail. As such, land acquisition costs are unlikely to be low.
The Land Public Transport Commission or Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) has countered by saying that part of the line will be underground, particularly in the city center, and this will save on costs land acquisition for that portion.
ERE Consulting Group Sdn Bhd, hired by SPAD to conduct a study on the environmental impact of the MRT project in the Klang Valley, says that, for the Sungai Buloh to Semantan segment of the SBK line, TTDI is a “critical area” with 41 lots up for acquisition while the Maluri to Kajang segment will require the aqcuisition 65 lots in Kajang town.
According to ERE, the 51km SBK line will require the acquisition of 473 lots, of which 310 lots are located along the elevated sections of the track. The consultant anticipates 97ha of property may have to make way for the project.
The consultants identified four critical areas for potential land acquisition -- TTDI, Taman Suntex in Cheras, and two villages on Malay reserve land, Kampung Sungai Sekamat and Kampung Sungai Balak.
Construction for the SBK line’s underground portion, spanning Semantan to Cochrane, is expected to start in July, while construction for the elevated track is scheduled to begin in February next year.
Apart from the large financial cost, there is a human cost to the project as well, as affected residents are battling to keep their homes.
TTDI residents have emerged as the most vocal group to air their grouses on the SBK alignment, which calls for one TTDI station and elevated tracks that will trace the fringes of the leafy suburb.
Opinions are divided in the community, with some residents saying they have no need for the MRT in their peaceful neighbourhood while others have welcomed plans for improved public transport.
Two streets in TTDI, Medan Burhanuddin Helmi and Pinggir Zaaba, are facing potential acquisition and are likely to suffer the direct impact of the MRT project.
Both streets sit behind barrier walls that shield them from the bustling Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP) and ongoing upgrading road works.
Medan Burhanuddin Helmi residents say they have had no peace for the last 15 years, with their street sitting on a narrow two-way lane precariously by the congested LDP.
Now, they are facing yet another challenge -- plans for a MRT station near the One Utama shopping mall and office blocks -- just across the highway, which they say will make their street “unlivable”.
According to one retired man who declined to be named, he and his like-minded neighbours have written to SPAD to register their protest.
SPAD has since clarified in a press statement that TTDI houses may not need to be acquired simply because the properties are located beyond the 20m minimum buffer zone.
With compulsory acquisitions looming, affected home owners are concerned about the valuations attached to their properties and the inconvenience that comes with relocating, among other worries.
Datuk Mani Usilappan, former director-general of the Ministry of Finance’s Valuation and Property Services Department. says fair compensation upon property acquisition is a constitutional right and the Land Acquisition Act is aimed at making the entire acquisition process “as soft as possible” on affected owners.
Article 13 of the Federal Constitution states that no person shall be deprived of property save in accordance with the law and that no law shall provide for the compulsory acquisition or use of property without adequate compensation.
“The whole idea is that the person affected should not be worse off because of the acquisition,” says Mani, who is now in private practice.
Mani acknowledges that government valuations for properties have often been lower than private valuations, but says the differences left room for further discussions.
“Property owners always have very optimistic views of their property if they have not tried to sell it yet. If they have placed their property out, they will know. Government valuations are not that far off from market value,” Mani says.
Mani says the final award for an acquired property prices in the cost of relocating and inconvenience but does not take into account sentimental value for property.
Land acquisitions seem to be the immediate challenge for the SPAD that could possibly inflate the MRT project’s costs.
That said, perhaps the real challenge for the government is dealing with cost escalations due to rising raw material prices in the years to come.
Year 2010 saw the increase of property prices despite key changes that took place, such as:
- March and May: 5 bps rate hikes
- October: Full loan for first-time buyers and stamp duty exemption of 50% on instruments of transfer on a house not exceeding RM350,000
- November: Central Bank announced the implementation of a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 70% for people buying their third house onwards
StarProperty.my asks the individuals below about their expectations for the property market for year 2011.
Naza TTDI, Group Managing Director
“The property market here is resilient and I am confident it will grow stronger in 2011. The exciting development plans that Malaysian Prime Minister announced in the Budget 2011 will act to spur the real estate market, especially in globalised areas where economic activities are most active. Property investors must be aware of the strategic plans announced by government as the real estate market in Malaysia will move forward with globalisation. No doubt the implementation of a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 70% will affect the investing movements in the housing market but this will be balanced by the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that is poised to create new prospects and opportunities in the real estate market.
I do believe that the Greater Kuala Lumpur project will also contribute to the property market heating up in 2011. The continued foreign interest and rapid growth in urban areas that is strategically planned and developed will not only make the property market more attractive to investors but also promote the development of the surrounding cities and towns.
Our new signature development surrounding the Matrade project at Jalan Duta will hopefully create the right buzz and interest from both local and foreign investors. The development itself is planned to complement the city of Kuala Lumpur yet iconic in itself lending to our nation’s international presence.
There are in fact many Malaysian developers who are capable of developing properties of international standard. In this regard, NAZA TTDI is one of the top privately owned companies with the capability and potential to successfully develop large scale mega projects and also niche boutique projects of international standards.
As we all know, success of any development is gauged not only by the construction of the physical buildings, but also how successful the developer has been able to establish a viable and thriving community in the area of development. In today’s climate where the purchasers have many choices in deciding where to live, locate their businesses and offices, it is important for the developers to offer innovative products that responds to the requirements and the needs of their prospective buyers and tenants. This is what NAZA TTDI strives to do for all our developments regardless of magnitude, GDV or land area.
2010 − a great year, 2011 − even better!”
Ho Hon Sang
Managing Director of Property Development Division, Sunway City Berhad
“We remain optimistic of the market outlook for 2011 due to steady employment rate, ample liquidity and attractive financing packages. Property is still deemed as a preferred inflation hedge. The demand will remain strong for landed residential properties but this is confined to certain strategic locations in the Klang Valley. The shortage of supply especially in good locations will command good secondary prices while new launches will be much sought after.
We do not think that Malaysia will experience a property bubble due to the limited supply of land in prime areas and availability of liquidity at the banks and institutions such as the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). While the 70% cap on LVR will affect the property market, we do not foresee it to have an adverse impact. We believe buyers will continue to search for quality properties as they remain a safe and solid asset class. Latest round of quantitative easing by the US will see some funds inflow to this part of the world.
Developers will continue to launch lifestyle-driven housing concepts as this will be a trend that is here to stay. Developers are also designing houses with larger built-ups and surrounded by lush greenery to accommodate families wanting a green and spacious living environment, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Security is another important factor which explains the demand for gated and guarded projects. Homebuyers will be attracted to new lifestyle features that are aesthetically pleasing and functional at the same time.
2010 − improved market conditions and a good year due to return of market confidence, 2011 − positive progress with vibrant and competitive outlook due to strong offerings from developers for customers.”
Chang Kim Loong AMN
National House Buyers Association, Hon. Sec-Gen
“Unless the Government does more to curb excessive speculation, property prices especially in urban and even sub-urban areas will continue to rise beyond the reach of many wage earners, especially those fresh into the work force or about to start a young family. Even middle income wage earners with joint salaries are unable to buy in.
One will notice that the pay cheque increase does not commensurate with the increase in prices of residential property. People buy in on the premise that economy is growing or allegedly to be increasing. In an event of a downturn it would trigger a snow ball effect. Ask the man-on-the-street; don't just seek opinions of parties with vested interest i.e. developers, builders, real estate agents, property consultants who are there to sell property.”
Reapfield Properties, Senior Vice President
“We expect that the property market will still be buoyant and vibrant in 2011. It is hard to predict how much the market will continue to grow as an actual figure but we are able to comment there are many factors which would ensure that the market remains very sustainable:
1. Inflation is on the way up. Building materials cost increasing and with upward pressure on wages are crucial reasons why there is no reason property would head south.
2. Immigration of more than 3m people to the greater Kuala Lumpur ensures housing pressure
3. Infrastructures, e.g. LRT, road networks will ensure that the growth will be in tandem with these main infrastructures planned
4. Stability of the government will ensure confidence amongst the investor market
Property market is the driver of the economy and it is best to leave it to the banks to moderate the lending based on cost of funds and the true value of the properties. To comment on the market response to the cap on LVR is premature. Our view is that it would not drastically affect the market as the lending institutions will accommodate for these new rules.
2010 − vibrant/sustainable, 2011 − a brilliant year.”
Khoo Boo Tee
Newfields Property, Executive Director
“The momentum is still there. Therefore I think it will carry on from last year. In my opinion, everything seems steady. Developers are still launching new projects and people are still buying. Most of them buy to stay, so the cap (LTV) from the government doesn’t really matter.
The population is there. If you look at the Economic Transformation Program (ETP), the population in Kuala Lumpur will be approximately 10 million by 2020. Now, I think we have about 6 million people. Therefore the demand for properties will definitely be there. The cap is good for the industry as a whole.”
Would you pay thousands of ringgit, on top of skipping what you do for a living for several days, to have the inside track on real estate investment?
Many of us wouldn’t, but there are those who do not baulk at such investments because of the potential returns from bricks and mortar.
A real estate investor, fresh from attending two recent property seminars in the Klang Valley, found himself in the company of avid property buyers with varied profiles. Whether they were medical practitioners — doctors and specialists are known to really fancy property investment — budding entrepreneurs, professionals or college leavers, they were united by a common goal — to get rich (or richer) the real estate way.
Property seminars and talks are nothing new really, although the recent surge in value in selected addresses has helped fan interest.
A good friend who paid more than RM600,000 for a typical intermediate 1-storey terraced house in Kuala Lumpur’s Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) earlier this year still laments her decision.
Consider this: The standard version of the first batch of bungalows in TTDI cost only about RM110,000 — that was in June 1976. In that same launch, the standard semi-detached homes were sold for about RM90,000.
Excluding TTDI Hills, there are now 437 bungalows and 396 semidees in TTDI. In the launch of the final batch of bungalows in 1984, the 156 units cost RM413,000 onwards each. In September that year, the last batch of 162 semidees were put on the market for RM330,000.
And stop blaming your forefathers for not having had the ability or foresight to accumulate landbank that would now make you an instant millionaire. It is too bad if you do not belong to the famed See Hoy Chan group or Eng Lian group of Bangsar.
When the times are good, it is easy to forget those who lost their pants in property deals that went awry when the going was tough. The impact of the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis brought even the so-called giants of property development to their knees. Then, the US subprime crisis threatened to cripple the global economy, although Malaysia got off relatively easy.
But as property diehards will acknowledge, there is money to be made in real estate whether in good times or bad. Ultimately, apart from having an healthy appetite for risk and luck thrown in for good measure, one has to look hard, which explains the continuing quest for knowledge on property.
Interestingly, common sense and keeping an open mind can be counted as the best ingredients of a sound property investment.
Sentiments and ego are taboo because a shrewd investor must maintain a balanced view devoid of emotions. Sure, go ahead and listen to what your best friend has to say about a property sale or lease, but stay true to your own course. Nobody knows your investment threshold better than yourself.
Be open to criticisms about a piece of property you want to invest in because human nature is such that we tend to shut out negativity and focus on the positive aspects of something we are inclined towards.
Take care not be swept away by a sense of euphoria. The most knowledgeable and cautious of investors have been known to make overstretched commitments on the strength of a show unit alone, and of course lived to regret the decision.
Like in any other form of investment, it is imperative to do your homework. Map your cash flow and keep your ears open to not only what the developer or owner is telling you, but also what you are not told.
Fraud is a real threat in any property deal. A seemingly official-looking document such as a sale and purchase agreement can be tampered with, as can tenancy agreements. Never underestimate the extent to which the unscrupulous will go to achieve their dubious goal. So, it pays to always ensure your investment is protected in the eyes of the law.
Some quarters have bandied about ways to circumvent the taxman, but that is not something we will discuss here.
Whatever the case, common sense must prevail before a document is inked. For many, all it takes is one bad real estate decision to bring them down.
In the final analysis, not everyone can be Li Ka-shing or Donald Trump.
Au Foong Yee is The Edge Malaysia’s chief marketing officer. She has been tracking and writing on the Malaysian real estate sector for close to two decades, but continues to be amazed by its dynamics
This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 837, Dec 20-26, 2010
Value rose to record RM97bil in Jan-Nov period of last year
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 342,179 property transactions worth RM96.77bil were recorded between January and November last year, which means the full year's transactions could reach the RM100bil mark, said Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Eric Ooi.
Ooi was commenting on figures provided by the Valuation & Property Services Department director general Datuk Abdullah Thalith Md Thani
at the Property Market Outlook for 2011 yesterday.
“This is the first time transactions value has reached this figure,” said Ooi at the event organised by the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia.
In light of this, and considering Malaysians penchant for property investments, Ooi said it was unlikely that property values would fall. It may not rise as much as it did last year, but the uptrend is there.
Ooi, together with Henry Butcher chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng, said property value rose between 30% and 40% last year.
“This is the first time property went up so much,” Tang said, adding that he had never seen such record growth for the property market in 30 years.
“The condominium market saw a price rise of between 60% and 100% between 2003 and 2008. This pales in comparison to the rise in value of landed units which rose as high as 40% in just one year. If one were to average out the rise in condominium prices, it is about 20% a year,” Tang said.
Earlier, in his overview of the Malaysian economy and the Malaysian property market, director general of Valuation & Property Services Department Abdullah Thalith said it was very significant that the transaction volume between the 11-month period increased 12.2% year-on-year, but the value of transactions increased at a higher rate of 35% from RM71.67bil to RM96.77bil.
“The recovery of the Malaysian economy has reinvigorated the overall property market,” he said.
In terms of lending in the broad property sector, the purchase of residential property took up the lion share of bank loan, at 58.8% compared with the purchase of non-residential property, at 22.1%. Construction took up 9.6%.
“Credit expansion for the broad property sector in the banking system increased from RM342.09bil as at the end of September 2009 to RM391.25bil as at end-September 2010,” he said.
“This means the residential property sub-sector remained the main mover of the property market,” he said. In this residential market, transactions in Kuala Lumpur recorded a growth of 8.2%, Selangor 7.2%, Johor 3.6% and Penang (island) 9.7%.
Terraced houses continued to dominate the market, especially in Selangor with 27,165 transactions, Johor with 12,555 transactions and Penang 4,358 transactions.
The city of Kuala Lumpur recorded more condominiums changing hands, 10,333 units versus terraced housing at 3,756 units.
|Written by Racheal Lee of The Edge Malaysia |
Monday, 20 December 2010
The suburbs of Bandar Utama, Mutiara Damansara and Desa ParkCity has seen property values rise steeply over the years. The development of this conurbation in the Klang Valley probably began with Bandar Utama, where a 2-storey terraced home measuring 1,873 sq ft recently sold for RM750,000 — 56% more than its initial price tag of RM480,000 in 2002, transaction data by Landserve Sdn Bhd shows.
After Bandar Utama came Mutiara Damansara, developed by Mutiara Rini Sdn Bhd. And when Ikano Corp Sdn Bhd and Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd set up shop in its commercial precinct in 2000 and 2001 respectively, real estate values there spiked.
The launch of the award-winning Desa ParkCity, a 473-acre freehold high-end master-planned township development, in 2002 brought even greater prominence to the area. Property values here are setting benchmark prices. A renovated 2-storey Zenia link house there sold for RM2.05 million recently, while a 2-storey SouthLake linked house — which sold for RM640,000 in 2008 — has seen its value double.
So with homes in these parts seeing such impressive appreciation, what about the surrounding areas of Kepong, which comprises townships such as Bandar Manjalara, Taman Bukit Maluri and Kepong Baru, as well as those in Segambut like Taman Sri Sinar and Taman Sri Bintang?
Property developers and consultants say residential and commercial property values in the older parts of Kepong have increased substantially over the years as well. The overall robust demand for homes in the Klang Valley and the spillover effect from the newer and higher-end neighbouring townships have contributed to their growth. According to Landserve managing director Chen King Hoaw, Kepong — which includes Bandar Manjalara, Kepong Baru and Medan Putra Business Centre — covers about 3,800 acres (excluding Desa ParkCity).
He says the real estate in the surrounding areas, including those that lie on the other side of the hills to the east of Desa ParkCity that are adjacent to Taman Sri Bintang and Taman Sri Sinar in Segambut, have seen their values rise over the years.
City & Country recently visited Bandar Manjalara, located across the road from Desa ParkCity. The almost fully developed township is accessible via the LDP into Jalan Burung Hantu that divides Desa ParkCity and Sunway SPK Damansara from the older Bandar Manjalara and Medan Putra Business Centre. The difference in character and atmosphere between the two areas are rather apparent.
Bandar Manjalara, Taman Bukit Maluri, Taman Sri Bintang, Kepong Baru, Taman Sri Sinar, Segambut Dalam and Jinjang Selatan have existed side by side for decades and are all interconnected.
This entire stretch from Bandar Manjalara to Segambut Dalam houses mainly medium-cost terraced houses and shophouses, new villages, squatter settlements, factories and warehouses that are either temporary or semi-permanent structures.
Before the development of Mutiara Damansara, Desa ParkCity and Sunway SPK Damansara, this stretch was known as the Sungai Penchala Malay settlement, with large tracts of undeveloped land covered with trees and thick undergrowth.
According to real estate agents familiar with the area, current demand for landed housing here is rather strong, and the limited supply of medium to medium high-end residential properties in recent times.
There is also an overall shortage of land for landed home development in the vicinity, with most new projects being high-rises, as evident from the number of upcoming condominium projects.
Chen points out that a 2-storey terraced home measuring 1,650 sq ft in Bandar Manjalara, which went for RM280,000 in 2000, appreciated 10.7% to RM310,000 in 2002 when Desa ParkCity was launched. Two years later, a similar unit saw an appreciation of 16.1% while yet another unit sold for RM460,000 this year, translating to a 48% rise in capital appreciation over eight years (see charts).
(For comparison, the Nadia homes at the gated and guarded Desa ParkCity have enjoyed more than 100% appreciation in eight years.)
IJM Land also developed a project called Bayu Sri Bintang, adjacent to Desa ParkCity. Consisting of bungalows and semi-detached homes, this freehold development is fully sold.
Not too far away from Bandar Manjalara, a fully furnished 2½-storey terraced house in the leasehold Laman Rimbunan project is now on the market for RM800,000. The project was launched at end-2004 with prices starting from RM385,000.
The gated and guarded Laman Rimbunan is a joint venture between Faber Group Bhd and Metro Kajang Bhd. The RM600 million project, which sits on 100 acres of land, comprises six phases and is now in the third phase of development, having recorded almost full take-up rates for the previous two.
Once completed, Laman Rimbunan will comprise 150 units of 3-storey shopoffices, 584 units of 3-storey terraced houses, 160 units of 3-storey semi-detached homes, 88 medium-cost apartments and 360 low-cost apartments.
As for commercial properties, CBD Properties managing director Adrian Wang says there is a slight over-supply of commercial property, especially along Jalan Kepong, with the completion of numerous shoplots in this area.
A secondary school, SMJK(C) Kepong 3, is being built there while Tesco Hypermart recently opened for business in Bandar Manjalara. Road-widening works are also being carried out in Jalan Kepong to ease congestion.
Besides Tesco, there is a Jusco department store in Metro Prima and a Carrefour hypermart at the Kepong Entrepreneurs Park, as well as shops in Metro Prima, Kepong Entrepreneurs Park, Laman Rimbunan, Taman Fadason, Medan Putra in Bandar Manjalara and M Avenue in Sri Sinar.
“The commercial properties and shoplots in Jalan Kepong benefit from their proximity to the hypermarkets and accessibility to major highways. Shoplots in Jalan Kepong are now selling at RM1.5 million onwards, compared with their launch price of about RM900,000 for a standard unit,” says Wang.
Landserve’s Chen says that in the past, one had to access the Manjalara/Kepong area via Jalan Kepong or Jalan Segambut. Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) was only opened in 1999.
“More often than not, the roads were congested. Kepong was considered far from Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Damansara or SS2 in Petaling Jaya. Not many would have thought of its potential for high-end living. To have expatriates living here was unheard of.
“Today, the landscape has changed. Many defunct factories and warehouses, wooden houses and shops have been demolished to make way for newer developments. Many commercial developments, including the hypermarkets, have been completed in Kepong, Jinjang and Segambut. Roads have been widened and upgraded into highways. Modern residential developments are now built for the middle to upper-middle-income bracket,” he says.
Desa ParkCity has, without doubt, played a part in elevating Kepong into a higher-end area, and there is no denying that some of the excitement from the “hot” market there has spilled over to its other neighbours as well.
Chen notes that Sunway SPK Homes Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between Sharikat Permodalan Kebangsaan Bhd and Sunway City Bhd, was the first developer to ride the Mutiara Damansara/Desa ParkCity developments when it launched the 63-acre freehold Sunway SPK Damansara in 2004. This was followed by Villa Manja @ Sunway SPK Damansara in 2007 and Sunway SPK 3 Harmoni in 2010. The high-end 2 and 2½-storey terraced houses, 2-storey semidees and townhouses there achieved brisk sales.
According to CBD Properties’ Wang, a 2½ -storey intermediate terraced house, with a built-up of 2,477 sq ft, in Sunway SPK Damansara is going for about RM1.2 million to RM1.25 million, compared with the developer’s price of RM638,000 in September 2004.
“At Villa Manja, a standard semidee with a land area of 4,050 sq ft and built-up of 3,948 sq ft, is going for RM2.3 million to RM2.7 million when the developer’s price was RM1.5 million in August 2007,” he tells City & Country.
Sunway SPK 3 Harmoni was launched in March, with prices starting from RM832,000. The project consists of 3-storey townhouses, with sizes of 2,336 to 2,583 sq ft.
Bandar Sri Damansara
Across the LDP from Sunway SPK Damansara is the freehold township of Bandar Sri Damansara by Land & General Bhd (L&G). Property prices there have been trending upwards steadily. Wang notes that a basic unit has increased 30% to 40% over the past two years, from RM350,000 to RM550,000.
A series of launches has been lined up over the next five years in the township. Early next year, a RM1.5 billion condominium project, which lies within a 40-acre park, will be launched by L&G. It will feature a total of 2,800 units and be developed in four phases over eight years.
The developer will save the trees in the park and put in boardwalks and jogging tracks for residents to enjoy the open space. Phase 1 of the project will comprise 928 units in four towers. L&G has yet to fix the selling price, but is looking at RM500,000 onwards.
TA Global Bhd is also developing a project in Bandar Sri Damansara called Damansara Avenue, a RM3.8 billion mixed-use development formerly known as Seri Suria. The site, over 48 acres of commercial land, was acquired in February 2006 for RM95 psf.
The developer launched the first phase — the RM205 million Ativo Plaza — in August at RM460 psf onwards. To date, 90% of the project has been taken up. This phase comprises 198 office suites and 43 lifestyle retail units in an 8-storey building on a 5.73-acre site but only the office suites were for sale. The office suites range from 547 to 4,094 sq ft and were priced from RM266,000 to RM2 million. The sizes of the retail units are between 1,415 and 2,692 sq ft.
TA Global aims to launch the first residential phase, comprising 250 units of high and low-rise residences with sizes of 600 to 3,400 sq ft, next quarter through a balloting process as more than 4,500 registrants have signed up.
Chen is positive about the growth prospects of Desa ParkCity and the surrounding areas and believes there is a growing pool of homebuyers and investors looking to upgrade. Demand for new products such as quality homes and well-located retail shops, he adds, will remain strong here.
“This is because undeveloped land suitable for residential developments for the medium to high income group is scarce. Supply is limited, hence prices are expected to trend upwards,” he says.
Chen hopes the redevelopment of the older parts of the Kepong/Jinjang/Segambut area will continue, and include transforming old factories and warehouses into modern industrial parks. He also hopes that the large squatter settlements in Segambut Dalam will be replaced by new projects and amenities or the full potential of this locality will not be realised.
CBD Properties’ Wang expects the completion of the Desa ParkCity International School by end-2011 to generate more demand for homes among foreigners and expatriates in Desa ParkCity, as well as the surrounding areas of Bandar Manjalara and Bandar Sri Damansara.
“Values will increase as demand for properties, both residential and commercial, increases,” he say
This article appeared in City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 837, Dec 20-26, 2010
The Klang Valley property landscape is set for a massive change with major government land being open for re-development and a number of new infrastructure initiatives.
They include the mass rapid transit (MRT) system, Greater Kuala Lumpur development plan, the re-development of the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) land in Sungei Buloh and the Sungei Besi airport.
These projects are certainly high-profile and potentially significant as catalysts for change in the interest of a more organised living, working and recreational environment.
The proposed development projects present immense opportunities to both the people and industry players to participate in their planning. As such, their views should be given due attention and incorporated if they proved to be relevant.
They are important to ensure the sustainability and growth of the country’s infrastructure development for years to come.
It is not every day that an opportunity for re-development of such massive scale arises; so, it should not be treated as a profit-making venture but a chance to overhaul poorly-planned cities.
The 3,300-acre RRI project has the potential to become a showcase for a well-planned sustainable township that will last for decades.
Besides its potential gross development value of RM10bil, there are many intangible values which should be considered including a safer neighbourhood as well as more accessible, economical and convenient public transport system.
More development projects could also result in more proposed mergers and acquisitions (M&As).
But these M&As have generated both excitement and concerns in the market.
For industry players, those looking to merge their companies may be driven by the need to strengthen their capital base and technical capability.
They believe that by becoming larger developers, they will get to enjoy economies of scale and become more efficient. It will also provide a stronger financial position, healthier balance sheet, larger landbank and management expertise.
Merged entities will also mean larger market capitalisation and liquidity. Their higher profile may also attract interest from investors.
While there may be merits to support the M&As, there are also shortcomings that may de-rail such plans.
The M&A process will become problematic if the enlarged team cannot work as a team as there are bound to be differences in corporate culture, vision, work ethics and practices.
A contentious issue will always be about the controlling stake of the new company. Therefore, it is crucial for the companies to get it right from the very beginning from controlling stake to the right management team.
It will be ideal if the two companies which are going to merge addressed issues concerning their differences and assimilate best practices.
For the public, the formation of bigger entities may mean that there are fewer smaller developers and less competition in the industry.
This scenario is not healthy as the absence of competition means that players need not produce their best product offerings to survive in the market.
Nonetheless, a bigger entity does not necessarily equate a stronger, and more successful company as many mega financial institutions in the West had crumbled during the global financial crisis. More importantly, companies, whether big or small, should conduct their business in an ethical manner.
They should not be guided by the motto of “making profits at all cost” and therefore sacrificing their values and responsibilities to the community at large.
Conglomerates have been known to fall from grace when greed takes over sound ethical values.
I believe companies that grow through the organic process may have smaller capacities but they have built for themselves a strong foundation to face market challenges and uncertainties.
In the property sector, there is certainly a big role for the smaller players who are focused on their strength and in doing what they do best.
The bottomline is to ensure that they deliver good values, quality and wholesome projects to their customers. |
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Title: Older Angels and Younger Women
Summary: Castiel makes a request of Ellen, the conclusion of which surprises both of them. Castiel/Ellen Set in S5. Complete.
Disclaimer: Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke. No disrespect is intended.
Notes: Umm…odd pairings intrigue me? I'm still dissecting Cas as a character....
As much as Ellen loved her daughter, she was glad Dean had called and suggested they meet up and head for Bobby's house. She and Jo had been getting on each others nerves the past couple weeks, so it was nice to have other people to talk to.
Ellen even enjoyed talking with Castiel. They had a different sort of conversations than she had with Sam and Dean. At times, she had the sense that she and Castiel were the only real adults present, despite his remaining innocence of many human matters. It was probably the age thing she decided when she thought about it. She was older than Sam and Dean and Castiel was much older.
She thought of Dean and Sam as her 'boys', as though she'd given birth to them herself. They meant nearly as much to her as Jo did and she'd willingly adopted them as family. By extension, Castiel was part of her family too. Ellen had no problem with that. Family was important. Of course, it was also important for family to spend time together relaxing.
Yet, when Sam suggested they all go to a movie and somewhere to eat, Ellen bowed out. Castiel did the same when Dean insisted he join them, choosing instead to stay with Ellen in her motel room. She knew why she didn't go -- to let those three have time together to discuss those things they were interested in that she wasn't. Music, tv, whatever. Ellen had no idea what they'd discuss, she just knew they needed to socialize without her sometimes. Who wanted 'mom' around all the time? But why did Castiel stay behind?
She glanced at him as she flipped a page in the magazine she'd picked up earlier.
He hadn't said anything since Dean, Sam, and Jo had left. All he'd done was sit in the chair and watch her. A part of her wondered if it was only him watching. Did his host watch too? Was the soul of his vessel still with him and awake? Ellen had been wondering about that, unable to get a sense that that was the case. She didn't ask, however. It wouldn't be the thing to do. Maybe when they knew each other much better.
Ellen wanted to get to know him. How many women could claim to know an angel; to speak with one? Besides, his vessel was right nice to look at. Attractive men were always a bonus.
She kept her attention half on him as she flipped through her magazine.
Castiel didn't feel like being alone. What he felt like doing was being in the company of a human. Not talking really, simply enjoying the companionship.
He sat with Ellen in her motel room, watching in silence while she read a magazine, worked a crossword puzzle, and flipped channels on the tv. His silence would have driven Dean crazy, as would his correct posture in the chair. Not so Ellen. She accepted it and let it pass. He liked that about her. She accepted others as they were.
Dean, Sam, and Jo had gone out to a movie and dinner, attempting to have a normal evening together. Ellen had told them she wasn't interested in any of the movies listed or in having a public meal, but it was a lie. Cas knew it as she said it. She thought the 'young people' needed some time without her.
As though she was ancient. Compared to Cas himself, Ellen was a young woman.
Dean had tried to get Cas to join them. Surprising after Dean's last attempt to take Castiel to the movies. It…hadn't gone well. Talking was apparently forbidden and popcorn was an excellent projectile that when thrown hard enough and, in conjunction with something called 'Milk Duds', actually hurt.
She stretched, then reached for one bag, drawing out a deck of cards and holding it up. "You know any card games, Castiel?"
"Dean has been teaching me poker. He keeps changing the rules."
"You mean the games?"
"No, the rules. The particular game remains the same." They couldn't play for money, though, because the only money Cas had was the change Dean and Sam occasionally handed him. They thought he kept it. He saw no harm in letting them think that, waiting until they weren't looking and putting it with the other change they emptied from their pockets before they went to sleep at night.
"How's that working out?"
A smile of amusement tugged at his lips -- for it was amusing -- and he let it blossom a fraction, no more than a twitch really. "Frustrating for Dean. He changes the rules in an attempt to win and can't fathom why I continue winning despite his changing of the rules. Dean has yet to connected my wins with Sam dealing. I've not enlightened him."
"Those boys…." Ellen laughed and shuffled the deck. "Anyone taught you rummy yet?"
"Jo and I play quite a bit. It passes the time." Getting up from the bed, she came to the table. "I'll teach you the variation we play." She began to shuffle the deck, telling him the rules as she laid out the cards.
As the first game commenced, Castiel decided Ellen was a good teacher. She laid her cards out so he could see them and explained her first move, then got up and explained what moves he could make and why with the cards he had.
"Now, I said 'wrap-around' when I dealt, which means you can put down a combination with the ace between, like Queen, King, Ace, Two or King, Ace, Two, Three. Some people don't use that rule, so make sure you know before you play if you can make that move."
"But don't screw the deck."
"Screw the deck?"
"Slap down four of any same card. It's Jo's favorite move, so I've banned it when I deal. You play with her though, she'll make that move as soon as she can, mess up your chances of getting a good run going. She also likes to add the Joker, so you have to miss a turn or two."
Back and forth until one game was over. As she moved between her chair and him, he noted that the perfume she wore was pleasant, an earthy scent with a slight floral hint to it.
The word popped into his head and he mulled over the definition. Her perfume did cause a pleasurable stimulation of the senses, so perhaps it was the correct word? His nostrils twitched, Castiel attempting to draw in more of the scent when she leaned down beside him.
"You'll want these cards," she told him, easing cards from his hand and moving them around, then taking cards off the discard pile and adding them to those he held. His pulse jumped as her fingers brushed against his. "You see why?"
"Yes," he replied, barely glancing at the cards, choosing instead to think about that snippet of sensory information. Interesting. A response he'd not noticed to a woman before. He'd had anxiety during that excursion Dean had planned, and a few other physical sensations, but this was different. Castiel knew it was different. How? What made it different?
As he sat, only half listening to the remainder of her explanations, Castiel thought about his moments in that house of ill repute and this moment now. There was a difference. A short while later, he thought he'd hit upon it.
She glanced up from her cards. "Yeah?" He had an odd expression upon his face and in his eyes. Curiosity mixed with a bit of yearning. She wondered what was bothering him. As she watched, he broke eye contact and looked away.
Ellen set her cards down, crossed her arms on the table and leaned against them. "No, Castiel, what is it?" It dawned on her that he was uncomfortable, a dull flush spreading along his cheekbones.
"I would…ask a favor of you." Hesitance in his voice.
"Well, sure. Ask it."
"You agree without knowing the favor?"
"I trust you." She did, too. Implicitly. There'd been no evidence at any point thus far that she couldn't trust him. Dean obviously trusted him.
He blinked, lips parting. "Will you kiss me?"
The request took the breath from her. "Kiss you?"
"A kiss. Yes."
She studied him, trying to understand the request. He wanted a kiss from her? Why? "What brought this on?"
He passed his cards from hand to hand, his stare intent upon them, as though they held the answer he wanted from her. "I had occasion to be kissed awhile ago, but it wasn't the experience I was under the impression it would be. While it was interesting, it wasn't…. I thought perhaps something was missing. The woman was a," his glance raised to meet her gaze, then lowered once more, "professional."
"Dean took you to a hooker," she guessed.
Castiel nodded. "Yes."
"So what do you think was missing from the experience?"
"Emotion? Trust? I'm merely guessing. It seems to me that having previously interacted with a person would add to the experience. I had not met the woman before and the moment was…awkward for me. I may have said something I shouldn't have then that upset her and Dean and I were encouraged to leave the establishment."
As he spoke, she had the impression he was trying to play it cool, like Dean would, pretending to ponder his next move in the card game during that explanation. Oh sweetie, she thought. Dean's probably not the best role model for you in this department.
His brows drew together in a quick frown that smoothed out even as she watched.
"Kisses can be awkward even if you know the person ahead of time," she told him. She knew that for a fact. Ellen had experienced her share of awkward kisses over the years, a few so awkward she still winced at the memory. "Trust me on that, honey. Knowing someone doesn't mean it's going to make the kiss any better. I've had some humdingers in my day from guys I knew pretty well."
"I believe it would be less awkward for myself to experience the moment with a trusted woman with whom I've had a previous acquaintance."
Ellen smiled a little. "And that woman is me?" Good to know.
"I like you, Ellen, and trust you. I believe you would give me the best, warmest kiss in your ability without expecting more than I'm able to return. You'd do everything in your power to make it a special moment." He looked at her. "It's the sort of woman you are."
Now she sat back, still studying him. "You're serious."
The cards were set face down on the table top. He copied her pose. "Very. I'm curious and I find the thought of you kissing me appealing."
"Just a kiss?"
"It's all I'm asking for."
Ellen looked about the room, considering the request and the potential consequences for fulfilling it. Were there any? Offhand, she didn't think so. "Okay. I'll kiss you, but I've got a couple of rules, first."
"What are they?"
"The first: you'll take off your coat and jacket."
He frowned. "I'm uncertain why that would be necessary."
She smiled, brow arching. "It's not, but it's one of my rules. Consider it a personal preference."
"I see," he replied, although she could tell he didn't by the continuing puzzled glint in his eyes.
Ellen didn't elaborate for him. If he was really curious about her reason, he could ask. It was a simple enough reason: she liked a man slightly disheveled and with the coat and jacket on he seemed too physically distant for that kiss he wanted. It was more for her own comfort, though if it aided his experience then all the better.
With a slow nod, Castiel stood and removed both items, placing them with great care on the back of his chair before sitting back down. "Condition met."
"Second: We'll sit over there on the edge of the bed for comfort. Straight chairs aren't conducive to pleasant kisses, at least not in my experience."
He moved to the bed and sat, hands resting on his knees. "Are there more?"
Ellen thought a moment. "I suppose that'll do." She joined him, sitting beside him and trying to decide how to proceed. It probably wouldn't do any good to tell him to relax, so she didn't bother. Reaching up with a hand, Ellen stroked her fingers across his cheek. The stubble there tickled pleasantly against her fingertips.
Castiel sat still, waiting. The color of his eyes seemed very bright. His lips were parted, gaze in constant motion, taking in every movement she made, however slight. She had the impression that he wanted to savor the moment so as to dissect it later, second by second.
"You ready for this," she asked, quirking one brow.
The gesture was returned. "Yes."
Ellen flicked her glance down to his mouth and back to his eyes, then closed the distance between them.
He felt her lips against his, a soft press that gradually became more, her tongue flicking along his lower lip. The sensation was pleasurable, so much so that when she began to draw away, he raised a hand to curve about the back of her neck and keep her against him in order to experience more. He wanted more of this thing called kissing, following her as she sat back, trying out the nibbling, caressing movements on her.
Her lips parted beneath his, head turning a fraction. He did the same, the movement locking their mouths in a deeper kiss. Ideas filled his mind and he tried them out. Their tongues touched, tangled in a sensual whirl of sensation.
Quite a different encounter than the first one he'd had.
One of Ellen's hands grasped his forearm. It felt natural then, to slip his other arm about her. He wanted to hold her closer and did, drawing her flush to him, continuing to kiss her, enjoying the experience of doing so. The feel of her warmth against him somehow made the kiss more intimate, personal.
It pleased him that he'd been correct in his conclusion of what he'd been missing.
Cas pulled away, surprised to find himself gasping for breath and warm. Extremely warm. The temperature in the room appeared to have risen several degrees. "That was enjoyable," he told her in a voice a bit raspier than it had been before the series of kisses, slowly removing his arm from around her and his hand from her neck.
Ellen released his arm and took a deep breath, scooting back from him on the edge of the bed. "Just 'enjoyable'?"
He blinked. The word was accurate, but not the entire description he could use for their kisses. Should he elaborate for her? Would she like to hear his entire thought processes on his satisfaction with the encounter? It could take quite awhile were he to attempt to share them with her. "I meant --"
She shook her head, a tiny smile upon her lips. "Relax, sweetie. I'm teasing. I do that sometimes."
"Oh." The experience had been far better this time than the last. He'd been correct in another matter, as well. Ellen was a good teacher. Judging by her expression alone, she was as affected as he was. That, he concluded, was a good thing. Castiel didn't think many things surprised this woman and he was strangely satisfied to have done so.
She'd never expected such heated kisses from him. He may be an angel, but he kissed like a devil, leaving her feeling like she'd been sitting in a sauna -- all hot and bothered. Ellen hadn't had such a thorough kissing in a very long time. Too long, she reflected, discovering her legs a bit shaky when she went to return to the table. Luckily, it was only a couple steps and she could collapse into her chair without giving away her full state of fluster.
"Yes?" She picked up the cards she'd set down, looked at them and tried to remember what she'd been planning to do with them.
"In light of a moment ago…" He remained sitting on the bed. "You should call me 'Cas'. Castiel is quite formal in comparison and we're no longer…formal."
Ellen's smile widened. "Okay, Cas. We playin' rummy or what?"
One second he was on the bed and the next he was across from her. "We are."
They played in silence for several minutes before his voice sounded once more.
"Thank you for fulfilling my request."
"I believe I can say 'rummy' at this point?"
Ellen blinked and looked up from her cards. He'd won the game, cards all laid out and a pleased glint in his eyes. "I think I'm going to understand Dean's frustration with you and cards." She tossed hers onto the table. "Let me tally the score and then you try dealing."
By the time Dean, Sam, and Jo returned, they were back as they'd been when the three had left: Cas in the chair with his jacket and coat back on and Ellen reading one of Jo's magazines.
Dean surveyed the scene with disbelief. He'd assumed Ellen would get Cas talking or doing something besides just sitting there, yet that's what both were doing. "Anything interesting happen while we were gone?"
"Just a quiet evening," Ellen replied, taking the bag of new magazine purchases from Jo and dumping it out on her bed. She pulled two from the pile, then gathered the rest and handed them back to Jo.
"Ellen taught me rummy." Cas looked up at him. "She's an exceptional teacher."
Ellen cleared her throat. "He's a fast learner."
"I enjoyed the experience."
"He's certainly got the aptitude for it."
"Under the right circumstances," Cas added.
"There are right circumstances for learning a card game?" While there seemed to be some sort of subtext in their words, Dean couldn't figure out what. A quick shared glance with Sam and Jo showed they were curious as well. However, Dean decided he was too tired to hunt down the explanation tonight. Maybe he'd figure it out in the morning. "Okay. Well, it's late, so Sam and I'll head back to our room. Cas, you might want to come with us and let Jo and Ellen get some sleep."
"Of course." He was gone before Dean could blink.
By morning, he'd forgotten all about the odd exchange between Ellen and Cas. As long as they seemed to get along, Dean didn't particularly care what they'd been talking around.
If Jo didn't know better, she'd swear her mother was blushing. She occupied herself with getting ready for bed and maybe pulling the story from Ellen. There was a story. She knew it.
"So what was that about," she asked, cleaning the make-up from her face.
"What was what?"
"That bit with Castiel. Aptitude? Fast learner? What's going on?" A glance showed her mother smiling in a definite wistful manner. "Mom?"
"Oh, nothing." Ellen shut the magazine in her hands and tossed it aside.
"Nothing?" Jo turned, washcloth in hand. "Seriously? Just because Sam and Dean didn't notice your blush doesn't mean I didn't."
"Joanna Beth, I am not blushing!"
Jo arched a brow her direction.
Ellen got up from the bed and crossed to the mirror. She put her hands to her cheeks. "So maybe I am."
Jo finished washing her face and reached for her pajamas, wondering what had happened to cause her unflappable mother to blush. "He's kind of adorable, for a fierce angel," she said, hoping to prod an explanation free.
"Sweetie, you have no idea just how adorable that angel is."
Though Jo attempted to attain clarification for the statement, her mother was not forthcoming and she finally had to abandon her efforts for the lure of sleep. Maybe she'd find out later. Right now, though, Jo needed rest more than enlightenment.
Ellen settled into bed, listening to Jo's even breaths, and hoped she'd dream of Castiel's kisses. It would be nice to have good dreams and she couldn't think of anything more pleasant at present than to dream of him.
"Night all," she whispered into the dark and closed her eyes.
She dreamed of kisses and of Cas the angel with the pretty blue eyes. |
Gustafsberg Travel guide
Gustafsberg : Michelin's recommendations
The car ride from Uddevalla affords magnificent views over the fjord right up to the charming village of Gustafsberg, an enclave of the past. Well-maintained houses, prettily decorated and lavishly ornate, date from the mid-19C, when the village enjoyed its heyday as a thermal spa. The thermal baths were closed for good in 1970 and the complex was transformed into a youth hostel.
Nordens Väg 6 S - 451 43 Uddevalla
Located next to the Byfjord in Uddevalla, Hotell Bohusgården offers free spa, sauna and indoor pool access. WiFi and parking are also free. All rooms have a TV. Bohusgården Hotell’s rooms also feature a private bathroom and bright, modern décor. Som.. |
1. make chinese zodiac circle painted eggshell peking opera painted face each kind of design
2. puncture the towel
Towel loom details:
1.may produce the disposable inflation towel water to puncture the towel to inflate the towel belt scented soap chinese native medicine sauna inflation water to puncture the towel belt sulfur inflation towel,
2.to be possible to reduce the official seal size volume to enter the water for three seconds to inflate big towel,shift production 8000 with inflation paper dustlessness paper) the wood fiber to eliminate the oil effect good kitchen with,to be possible to use for three months,
3.to be possible to make chinese zodiac circle painted eggshell peking opera painted face each kind of design.
4. the patent number 9520882 million,matches the hot contraction automatic packaging.
Established in 1994, Fujian Baochuang Machine Technology Development Co., Ltd. is a professional manufacturer and exporter that is concerned with the design, development and production of tableware machine.
We are located in Fuzhou, Fujian, with convenient transportation access. All of our products comply with international quality standards and are greatly appreciated in a variety of different markets throughout the world.
Covering an area of 42,000 square meters, we now have over 500 ... View detail |
Things to see and do - Bad Wimpfen
Leaving for Germany
Bad Wimpfen :
Unmissable tourist sites
Bad Wimpfen Travel guide
Bad Wimpfen : Michelin's recommendations
Overlooking the River Neckar, the small fortified town of Bad Wimpfen was the imperial residence of the Hohenstaufens in the 13C and boasts a picturesque network of half-timbered houses lining its narrow winding streets. At the foot of the hill on which the town is built lie the Ludwigshalle salt works. The production of salt brought wealth to the whole of this region, especially the area around Bad Wimpfen im Tal (in the valley), which is built around an old collegiate church.
Tourist attractions Bad Wimpfen : Things to see and do
D - 74206 Bad Wimpfen
Imperial residence of the Hohenstaufens in the 13C, the small fortified town of Wimpfen overlooks the River Neckar. Remains of the imperial palace, such as the Blue Tower, which offers a superb view of town and valley, are still visible in Bad Wimpfe..
Marktplatz D - 74206 Bad-Wimpfen
Behind the town hall are the remains of the imperial palace including the Blue Tower. A little further on stands the Romanesque house known as Steinhaus, housing a museum retracing the history of the town since the Roman occupation. Next to the panor..
Klostergasse D - 74206 Bad-Wimpfen
On the left-hand side of Klostergasse, with its half-timbered houses set in gardens, are the former spa bathhouses, recognizable by their outside galleries. The courtyard of a former hospital can be seen in Hauptstrasse at no 45. Admire the many pict..
Hotels Bad Wimpfen
Erich-Sailer-Strasse 48. D - 74206 BAD WIMPFEN
Prix Prices from : 93 €
"""You'll feel at home straight away at the hotel Neckarblick, located in the pretty resort of Bad Wimpfen, thanks to the personal touch provided by the family running the business. Rustic-style rooms with panoramic views, a dining roo..
Osterbergstraße 16 D - 74206 Bad Wimpfen
This guesthouse is peacefully situated next to the spa gardens and town baths of the spa town of Bad Wimpfen. The centre of town is only 400 metres away. The Gästehaus Fernblick guest house offers comfortable, spacious rooms with modern amenities. ..
Osterbergstrasse 16 D - 74206 Bad Wimpfen
This quiet hotel in Bad Wimpfen is set next to the Kurpark spa gardens. It offers a spa area, traditional Swabian and Baden food, and Wi-Fi. The Hotel am Rosengarten has a free Finnish sauna, steam room, and solarium. The hotel is connected to the t..
Restaurants Bad Wimpfen
Osterbergstr. 16 D - 74206 Bad Wimpfen
Hauptstr. 74 D - 74206 Bad Wimpfen
At the start of the pedestrian zone is this light, friendly restaurant serving international fare. A simple menu at lunch. The winebar Feyerabend is available for events. |
|Minimum Stay||4 nights|
Aloha! E Komo Mai (Welcome) to sunny South Kihei on the beautiful Island of Maui. Just 200 yards from Kamole Beach I, one of South Maui's best Beaches.
This unit is fully furnished with all the comforts and amenities you will need for your dream vacation on the fabulous island of Maui. The unit has a state of the art entertainment center including a 46 inch 1080P Hi Def TV with a Digital Video Recorder. Sports fans can record their favorite games while relaxing on one of South Maui's best beachs. There is a DVD player for your enjoyment. We also provide a landline with free local and long distance to the US and Canada.
For your convenience we have provided a laptop computer with a DVD RW for use in the unit and on the lanai, so you can check your email while you enjoy your morning coffee.
Enjoy fabulous sunsets, swimming snorkeling and just basking in the Sun. The unit comes with beach chairs, snorkel equipment, a beach umbrella and a boogie board for your convenience, so you won't need to rent. Please use caution with water sports and use the equipment at your own risk.
This gorgeous property has a private garden view and is ground floor for easy access. Enjoy morning coffee on your lanai (patio) or sip an evening cocktail amid the warm Kihei tradewinds. There is a swimming pool with a hot tub on the property, as well as tennis courts, barbecue and sauna.
Walk to the beach, restaurants, shopping and all that beautiful South Kihei has to offer. And, it's just a short drive to championship golf courses in Wailea and Makena as well as the fabulous shops and restaurants, without the Wailea price tag.
The bedroom has a fabulous comfy king sized bed and a 32 inch wall mounted flat screen TV. The living room has a sofa bed, along with a double reclining love seat for enjoying the large flat screen TV. The bath has a stand up tile shower and a hair dryer is provided for your convenience, as well as towels and paper goods.
The open kitchen is a cooks delight. We provide all cooking utensils, dishware and flatware, and even throw in coffee filters, sugar, creamer as well as salt and pepper.
This well managed complex features a pool, hot tub, gas barbecue, sauna, and two tennis courts for your recreational enjoyment.
Keywords: Vacation rental, vacation condo, South Maui vacation rental, Kihei vacation rental
We reside in Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. When we are not working, we enjoy golf, fine dining and spending time with friends. We also love live Hawaiian music and local theater performances. One owner holds an active Hawaii Real Estate license and practices on the Island of Oahu.
TAT License # W-00206094-01
The Owner purchased this condo in 2011
In our opinion South Kihei is one of the best locations on Maui. It is convenient to shopping, restaurants, beautiful beaches and all the things people want to do on vacation. In addition, it also has some of the best if not the best weather on Maui. We have been vactioning in and around this area for many years and when we decided to buy, we elected to focus our search to South Kihei.
We love the proximity to great beaches, all the shops and restaurants in Kihei and being close to Wailea and Makena.
We could tell that you had put a lot of thought and effort into preparing the condo, furnishing and equipping it. Thank you.
We definitely enjoyed the decor... You must have put quite a bit of thought into it! Despite not having a view of the ocean, the condo interior still made us feel like we were in Hawaii. Who painted the bamboo on the bathroom walls? ... And the key hooks, so cute. I loved your little touches... the coasters, the colourful notebook by the phone... I know they are small things, but they make a big difference.
Lanai: So nice to sit out there in the morning with our breakfast... listening to the morning sounds and birds chirping. No traffic noise!
Bathroom: Nice towels, beautiful shower... It was just right. If I had known you had even supplied a blow dryer, I certainly would have left mine at home :) I don't know what is customary, but it would have been nice to have one or two more rolls of toilet paper.
Bedroom: Nice decor. Cozy. Clean. The bed was comfortable - both my husband and I have back problems and the bed certainly did not make them worse, as some beds tend to. Nice to have the laundry basket.
Living room: Very comfy couches and pillows. Just right. You even provided a phone book... amazing.
Washer/dryer: Worked well and were very nice to have.
Thank you for providing so much beach gear... It really improved the quality of our time near the ocean. It was great to have the cooler, the big bag, the umbrella and the chairs. Gorgeous beach towels, by the way. We had brought our own snorkel gear, but that is a nice touch. My husband had fun with the boogie board
We were down for wedding and were really thankful for the beautiful condo. All members of wedding were in same condo resort and it was very nice. The condo had all the necesities that was needed and very comfy. Thank you so much and was very nice and relaxing get away for us.
This was a very clean condo with all the items you need to go to the beach and snorkeling. Had all cooking items you need and also the little items that you would appreciate.
The bed needs to be improved as it was uncomfortable and the bedroom needs more air movement as it get a little too warm. Suggestion: get a gel top for the mattress and and repair the overhead fan/light and add a better floor fan. I would rate this 9 out of a 10.
It was really nice to have a washer/dryer and The computer was an excellent surprise.
All in all we will recommend to our friends and the experience was nice, you can walk everywhere to many beaches or just lay at the great pool and hot tub. The property was highly maintained outside also.
The Maui Thai Bristo was an excellent place to eat.and the Pizza Hut had great pizza. Was not impressed with the Denny's they are not up to par with others.
This was the first time to Maui for me and my daughter. We were very pleased with the condo. It was just like in the pictures, very spacious and clean. The location is a plus as well, close to everything and most importantly close to the beach. There was everything in the condo one needs, the kitchen was fully stocked and all the beach supplies you can think of. The pool and the hot tub where very close to the unit and clean as well. We would definitely come back.
This is our 2nd time in Kihei and it was fabulous. This condo is perfectly situated for access to the pool and bbq area. The livingroom couches were soooo comfortable, it felt like home. The kitchen was well stocked with all the knick knacks you need to prepare meals. Nice, big comfy bed too. Love the shower, so much easier than stepping into a tub all the time. Already miss it! Looking forward to our next trip...aloha!!!
Very nice condo with many amenities to enjoy the beach which is nearby. Full kitchen and utensils also make this place a must-stay when in Maui. Ground level unit makes renting a paddle board from Boss Frogs overnight handy as well.
The condo was clean, comfortable and very convenient. So close to the beach and lots of good restaurants.
Paddle Boarding, Surfing, Whale watching, Game fishing, Scuba diving, Helicopter tours and all forms of water sports.
|Rate Period||Nightly||Weekend Night||Weekly||Monthly *||Event|
Apr 16 2015 - Dec 14 2015
4 night minimum stay
* Approximate monthly rate. Actual rate will depend on the days of the month you stay. |
Home > Regional Information > Victoria
photo courtesy of PictureBC
Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, oozes charm amidst beautiful surroundings. Feeling more like a friendly town than a vibrant city, it offers something for everyone. It has gained a reputation for its "British" character due to its colonial history and still has a touch of quaintness usually lost in larger cities. Greater Victoria includes a busy downtown, small oceanside communities and quiet country areas all in a compact peninsula at the south-eastern end of Vancouver Island. Plan to stay a few days to enjoy its many attractions and activities while relaxing in its peaceful beauty. There are many Bed and Breakfast accommodations throughout the whole area.
Victoria, "The Garden City", has a moderate Mediterranean-like climate welcoming visitors year-round. Visitors arrive via Victoria International Airport or on ferry services from Vancouver BC or from Seattle and other Washington State centres. Immediately upon arrival you begin to feel the friendly and relaxed atmosphere of this lovely place and you will feel yourself begin to unwind.
In downtown Victoria walk through heritage architecture set around the picturesque Inner Harbour where pleasure craft and float planes create a hum of activity. You could take a harbour ferry; small tugboat-shaped passenger ferries which weave their way across the Inner Harbour, providing a different perspective of downtown Victoria. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride and tour the Parliament Buildings. Allow half a day for the Royal British Columbia Museum, one of the best in Canada, for its extensive displays of local and native history and its IMAX theatre.
Savor traditional afternoon tea in many different settings: in elegant grandeur, in outdoor gardens or cozy little tearooms. Victoria has the second highest number of restaurants per capita in North America so your choice for dining is very broad, from ethnic cuisine to fish and chips! Walk north along Government Street through downtown, exploring the interesting shops tucked in the side streets and select a gift or two. You will reach Chinatown which was once one of the largest on the continent. Enjoy "window shopping" or pick up a treasure by walking east along Antique Row (Fort Street) which extends to elegant Craigdarroch Castle, a family mansion of the 1890's.
Set on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria offers a wide variety of marine recreation. Whale-watching tours offer spectacular viewing of orcas in their natural setting. These tours respect the marine environment and provide a wealth of information on the many other marine animals you may see. Alternatively, there's fishing, sailing and kayaking, idyllic ways to enjoy the natural scenery. Activities on land include year-round golf on fifteen courses, horseback riding, strolling along ocean beaches or just sunbathing at a quiet lake. Hiking options vary from casual walks (like at Goldstream Park along a stream where salmon spawn in an old-growth forest) to serious hiking on the many trails in the parks and surrounding hills (such as the Juan de Fuca Trail on the west coast). Bike trails on the peninsula extending to Sooke offer scenic cycling on the Galloping Goose Trail and the Lochside Trail.
The deservedly famous Butchart Gardens on the Saanich Peninsula are just north of Victoria with 50 acres of display gardens which are beautiful at any time of year and illuminated in the evenings and at Christmas. In the peninsula's lovely countryside consider visiting farm fruit stands or tour wineries where you can sample and buy British Columbia estate wines. Other attractions here include the Butterfly Gardens (50 species), Glendale Gardens, the Centre of the Universe (the interpretative centre at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory) and Saanich Commonwealth Place, with its full-size pool, wave pool, sauna, steam room and extensively equipped gym. A pleasant way to drive to the rural parts of the peninsula from downtown is to go through Oak Bay to Cordova Bay via Mount Douglas Park which has good views of Victoria, the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and the Gulf Islands across to mainland BC. Further north, near the airport and BC Ferries terminal, lies the retiring town of Sidney, renowned for its many bookshops and pleasant marina area where you can take a short ferry hop to the island of Sidney Spit for a picnic.
Sooke is just 40 minutes west of Victoria with glorious beaches, parks and marine recreation opportunities in a quiet semi-rural setting. En route visit Hatley Castle which was built by the same family as Craigdarroch Castle, and enjoy the wonderful gardens. Then make a short detour to Fisgard Lighthouse, a classic old lighthouse, which now contains exhibits of the many past wrecks along this coast. Continuing west you pass through Metchosin and will shortly arrive at two British Columbia provincial parks which both have good trails: Sooke Potholes (a popular swimming spot) and East Sooke Provincial Park. Past the small town of Sooke this west coast road leads to solitude on the way to Port Renfrew, passing French Beach, China Beach and the Juan de Fuca Trail.
The charm of Greater Victoria extends to its many B&Bs. Victoria Bed and Breakfasts include accommodations at downtown heritage homes, oceanfront guest houses, contemporary homes, country manor houses and elegant inns. All include a full breakfast. Their hosts will be delighted to share local secrets and be your travel guide to help you make the most of your visit to Victoria British Columbia. |
Hotel Kurorten Mösseberg - Falköping
Mossebergsparken 34 - Falköping1-877-662-6988
Located in a regional park in Falkoping and offering free breakfast, Kurorten Mösseberg makes for a great choice for your Falkoping spa hotel.
Enjoy brunch, lunch and dinner at this 3-star Falkoping hotel's restaurant where you're sure to find something to suit all tastes. If you are in need of rest and relaxation you can find a spa tub, a fitness center and a sauna on offer. Don't forget to pack your swimwear as this hotel features an indoor pool.
Free Wi-Fi is available. The hotel has a meeting room available for hire. The reception is manned during limited hours. Other amenities include an elevator (lift) and a garden.
Price is way too high for that accomodation and three star hotel.Lack of good air ...Venere Guest, Sweden
Check Availability at Hotel Kurorten Mösseberg
Breakfast at Hotel Kurorten Mösseberg
A free buffet breakfast is served each morning.
- Spa/Wellness Centre
- Hydromassage Jacuzzi
- Luggage room
- Multilingual staff
- Entire property is non-smoking
- Indoor swimming pool
- Meeting Room
- Internet/Email services
- Free parking
- Children 5 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding.
- No pets and no service animals are allowed at this property.
Check-in: between 3 PM and 8 PM.
Check-out: before 11 AM.
Please contact the property ahead of time if you are planning to arrive after 8 PM.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.
- Crib (infant bed) fee: SEK 200 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: SEK 350-700 per night
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.
Kurorten Mösseberg Hotel reviews
- November 2013
- Venere Guest
Price is way too high for that accomodation and three star hotel.Lack of good air ventilation in the room.Not that special breakfast.The beds where good.However if you look overall the price is too high for this hotel.
Kurorten Mösseberg Hotel reviews by TripAdvisor
Kurorten Mösseberg offers 75 guest rooms for your spa holiday. Televisions in each room offer entertainment at the end of a long day. Corporate travelers visiting the Falkoping area will benefit from free wireless high-speed Internet access as well as desks. Guest rooms are individually furnished, making each stay a unique experience. Private bathrooms are outfitted with showers, bathrobes and hair dryers.
- Extra beds
- Hairdryer in each room
- Wireless Internet access
Distances from Hotel Kurorten MössebergFalbygdens Museum - 1.8 km / 1.1 mi
Falkoping Alpin - 1.9 km / 1.2 mi
Wragarden's Wildlife Park - 3.5 km / 2.2 mi
Falkoping Golf Club - 6 km / 3.7 mi
Gudhem Abbey - 6.2 km / 3.9 mi
Lake Hornborga Nature Reserve - 15.7 km / 9.8 mi
Ekehagen Ancient Village - 17.8 km / 11 mi
Skara Railway Museum - 22.8 km / 14.2 mi
Vilanvadet - 23.3 km / 14.5 mi
Skara Cathedral - 23.4 km / 14.5 mi
Jula Adventure Mini Golf - 23.4 km / 14.6 mi
Fornbyn Open Air Museum - 23.7 km / 14.7 mi
Vastergotlands Museum - 23.7 km / 14.7 mi
Axevalla Horse Track - 23.9 km / 14.8 mi
Skara Sommarland - 24.5 km / 15.2 mi
The preferred airport for Kurorten Mösseberg is Jonkoping (JKG-Axamo) - 57.2 km / 35.6 mi.
Distances are calculated in a straight line from the property's location to the point of interest or airport and may not reflect actual travel distance.
Distances are displayed to the nearest 0.1 km and mile.
Transportation services Hotel Kurorten Mösseberg
- Free parking |
In humans, sweating is primarily a means of thermoregulation which is achieved by the water-rich secretion of the eccrine glands. Maximum sweat rates of an adult can be up to 2–4 liters per hour or 10–14 liters per day (10–15 g/min•m²), but is less in children prior to puberty. Evaporation of sweat from the skin surface has a cooling effect due to evaporative cooling. Hence, in hot weather, or when the individual's muscles heat up due to exertion, more sweat is produced. Animals with few sweat glands, such as dogs, accomplish similar temperature regulation results by panting, which evaporates water from the moist lining of the oral cavity and pharynx.
Primates and horses have armpits that sweat like those of humans. Although sweating is found in a wide variety of mammals, relatively few, such as humans and horses, produce large amounts of sweat in order to cool down.
- Perspiration in humans and other animals is sometimes called transpiration, although that word is usually used in reference to plants.
- The words diaphoresis and hidrosis both can mean either perspiration (in which sense they are synonymous with sweating) or excessive perspiration (in which sense they can be either synonymous with hyperhidrosis or differentiable from it only by clinical criteria involved in narrow specialist senses of the words).
- Hypohidrosis is decreased sweating from whatever cause.
- Focal hyperhidrosis is increased or excessive sweating in certain regions such as the underarms, palms, soles, face or groin.
- Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating, usually secondary to an underlying condition (in which case it is called secondary hyperhidrosis) and usually involving the body as a whole (in which case it is called generalized hyperhidrosis).
- Hidromeiosis is a reduction in sweating that is due to blockages of sweat glands in humid conditions.
Sweating allows the body to regulate its temperature. Sweating is controlled from a center in the preoptic and anterior regions of the brain's hypothalamus, where thermosensitive neurons are located. The heat-regulatory function of the hypothalamus is also affected by inputs from temperature receptors in the skin. High skin temperature reduces the hypothalamic set point for sweating and increases the gain of the hypothalamic feedback system in response to variations in core temperature. Overall, however, the sweating response to a rise in hypothalamic ('core') temperature is much larger than the response to the same increase in average skin temperature.
Sweating causes a decrease in core temperature through evaporative cooling at the skin surface. As high energy molecules evaporate from the skin, releasing energy absorbed from the body, the skin and superficial vessels decrease in temperature. Cooled venous blood then returns to the body's core and counteracts rising core temperatures.
There are two situations in which the nerves will stimulate the sweat glands, causing perspiration: during physical heat and during emotional stress. In general, emotionally induced sweating is restricted to palms, soles, armpits, and sometimes the forehead, while physical heat-induced sweating occurs throughout the body.
People have an average of two to four million sweat glands. But how much sweat is released by each gland is determined by many factors, including gender, genetics, environmental conditions, age or fitness level. Two of the major contributors to sweat rate are an individual's fitness level and weight. If an individual weighs more, sweat rate is likely to increase because the body must exert more energy to function and there is more body mass to cool down. On the other hand, a fit person will start sweating earlier and easier. As someone becomes fit, the body becomes more efficient at regulating the body's temperature and sweat glands adapt along with the body's other systems.
Sweat is not pure water; it always contains a small amount (0.2–1%) of solute. When a person moves from a cold climate to a hot climate, adaptive changes occur in the sweating mechanisms of the person. This process is referred to as acclimatisation: the maximum rate of sweating increases and its solute composition decreases. The volume of water lost in sweat daily is highly variable, ranging from 100 to 8,000 mL/day. The solute loss can be as much as 350 mmol/day (or 90 mmol/day acclimatised) of sodium under the most extreme conditions. During average intensity exercise, sweat losses can average up to 2 litres of water/hour. In a cool climate and in the absence of exercise, sodium loss can be very low (less than 5 mmols/day). Sodium concentration in sweat is 30-65 mmol/l, depending on the degree of acclimatisation.
Sweat contains mainly water. It also contains minerals, lactate, and urea. Mineral composition varies with the individual, their acclimatisation to heat, exercise and sweating, the particular stress source (sauna, etc.), the duration of sweating, and the composition of minerals in the body. An indication of the minerals content is sodium (0.9 gram/liter), potassium (0.2 g/l), calcium (0.015 g/l), and magnesium (0.0013 g/l). Also many other trace elements are excreted in sweat, again an indication of their concentration is (although measurements can vary fifteenfold) zinc (0.4 milligrams/liter), copper (0.3–0.8 mg/l), iron (1 mg/l), chromium (0.1 mg/l), nickel (0.05 mg/l), and lead (0.05 mg/l). Probably many other less-abundant trace minerals leave the body through sweating with correspondingly lower concentrations. Some exogenous organic compounds make their way into sweat as exemplified by an unidentified odiferous "maple syrup" scented compound in several of the species in the mushroom genus Lactarius. In humans, sweat is hypoosmotic relative to plasma (i.e. less salty). Sweat typically is found at moderately acidic to neutral pH levels, typically between 4.5 and 7.0.
Fabrics and food
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- Ferner S, Koszmagk R, Lehmann A, Heilmann W (1990). "[Reference values of Na(+) and Cl(-) concentrations in adult sweat]". Zeitschrift Für Erkrankungen Der Atmungsorgane (in German) 175 (2): 70–5. PMID 2264363.
- Nadel ER, Bullard RW, Stolwijk JA (July 1971). "Importance of skin temperature in the regulation of sweating". Journal of Applied Physiology 31 (1): 80–7. PMID 5556967.
- Sato K, Kang WH, Saga K, Sato KT (April 1989). "Biology of sweat glands and their disorders. I. Normal sweat gland function". Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 20 (4): 537–63. doi:10.1016/S0190-9622(89)70063-3. PMID 2654204.
- Mosher HH (1933). "Simultaneous Study of Constituents of Urine and Perspiration" (PDF). The Journal of Biological Chemistry 99 (3): 781–790.
- Jessen, C. (2000). Temperature Regulation in Humans and Other Mammals. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 3-540-41234-4.
- Mack, G. W.; Nadel, E. R. (1996). "Body fluid balance during heat stress in humans". In Fregly, M. J.; Blatteis, C. M. Handbook of Physiology. Section 4: Environmental Physiology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 187–214. ISBN 0-19-507492-0.
- Sawka, M. L.; Wenger, C. B.; Pandolf, K. B. (1996). "Thermoregulatory responses to acute exercise-heat stress and heat acclimation". In Fregly, M. J.; Blatteis, C. M. Handbook of Physiology. Section 4: Environmental Physiology. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507492-0.
- Goglia G (January 1953). "[Further research on the branched sweat glands in some mammals (Cavia cobaya, Sus scrofa, Equus caballus).]". Bollettino Della Società Italiana Di Biologia Sperimentale 29 (1): 58–60. PMID 13066656.
- Robertshaw D, Taylor CR (November 1969). "Sweat gland function of the donkey (Equus asinus)". The Journal of Physiology 205 (1): 79–89. PMC 1348626. PMID 5347721.
- McDonald RE, Fleming RI, Beeley JG et al. (2009). Koutsopoulos, Sotirios, ed. "Latherin: A Surfactant Protein of Horse Sweat and Saliva". PLoS ONE 4 (5): e5726. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005726. PMC 2684629. PMID 19478940.
- Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
- Elsevier, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Elsevier.
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- "Academy of Hyperhidrosis". Allaboutsweat.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- Parsons K (2009). "Maintaining health, comfort and productivity in heat waves". Glob Health Action 2. doi:10.3402/gha.v2i0.2057. PMC 2799322. PMID 20052377.
- Kameia, Tomoya; Tsudab, Takao; Kitagawab, Shinya; Naitoha, Ken; Nakashimaa, Koji; Ohhashi, Toshio (June 1998). "Physical stimuli and emotional stress-induced sweat secretions in the human palm and forehead". Analytica Chimica Acta 365 (1–3): 319–326. doi:10.1016/S0003-2670(97)00642-9.
- Hansen, Julieann. "The Science of Sweat". American College of Sports Medicine. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- Montain, S. J.; Cheuvront, S. N.; Lukaski, H. C. (2007). "Sweat mineral-element responses during 7 h of exercise-heat stress". International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism 17 (6): 574–582. PMID 18156662.
- Cohn JR, Emmett EA (1978). "The excretion of traces of metals in human sweat". Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science 8 (4): 270–5. PMID 686643.
- Saraymen, Recep; Kılıç, Eser; Yazar, Süleyman (2004). "Sweat Copper, Zinc, Iron, Magnesium and Chromium Levels in National Wrestler". İnönü Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi 11 (1): 7–10.
- Aurora, David "Lactarius fragilis" Mushrooms Demystified 1986 Ten Speed Press, Berkeley California
- Constanzo, Linda S. BRS Physiology (4th ed.). p. 155.
- Bandodkar AJ, Hung VWS, Jia W, Ramirez GV, Windmiller JR, Martinez AG, Ramirez J, Chan G, Kagan K, Wang J (2013). "Tattoo-based potentiometric ion-selective sensors for epidermal pH monitoring". Analyst 138 (1): 123–8. doi:10.1039/c2an36422k.
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Book your room at Rixos Pera Istanbul
Deluxe Room, City ViewMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Deluxe Room with Golden Horn ViewMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
Junior Suite, 1 King BedMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Superior SuiteMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children, 1 infant)
Luxury Istanbul hotel in Taksim, near Galata Tower
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Located in Taksim, this luxury hotel is within 1 mi (2 km) of Sanatorium Gallery, Galata Tower, and Taksim Square. Suleymaniye Mosque and Grand Bazaar are also within 2 mi (3 km).
Along with 3 restaurants, this hotel has a full-service spa and a fitness center. Free buffet breakfast and free WiFi in public areas are also provided. Additionally, a bar/lounge, a coffee shop/café, and a sauna are onsite.
All 116 rooms feature modern comforts like LCD TVs with satellite channels, free WiFi, and wired Internet. 24-hour room service, minibars, and hair dryers are among the other amenities available to guests.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
In addition to a full-service spa, Rixos Pera Istanbul features a sauna and a steam room. Dining is available at one of the hotel's 3 restaurants and guests can grab coffee at the coffee shop/café. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. A complimentary breakfast is offered each morning. Public areas are equipped with complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access.
This 5-star property offers access to a business center and meeting rooms. Event facilities measure 560 square feet (52 square meters). This Art Deco hotel also offers a fitness center, a terrace, and tour/ticket assistance. For a surcharge, a roundtrip airport shuttle (available on request) is offered to guests. Onsite parking is available (surcharge).
Rixos Pera Istanbul has designated areas for smoking.
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- 24-hour front desk
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Total number of rooms - 116
- Number of floors - 7
- Business center
- Coffee shop or café
- Free breakfast
- Concierge services
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Fitness facilities
- Full-service spa
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Free WiFi
- Wired (high-speed) Internet access - surcharge
- Designated smoking areas
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Meeting rooms
- Multilingual staff
- Luggage storage
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Conference space size (meters) - 52
- Number of meeting rooms - 2
- Year Built 2012
- Number of restaurants - 3
- Conference space size (feet) - 560
- Number of buildings/towers - 3
- Steam room
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Wired high-speed Internet access (surcharge)
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Wired (high-speed) Internet access - surcharge
Valet parking (surcharge)
- Air conditioning
- Daily housekeeping
- Hair dryer
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Satellite TV service
- Free WiFi
- Wired high-speed Internet access (surcharge)
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Room service (24 hours)
- LCD TV
Where to Eat
A complimentary buffet breakfast is served each morning between 7 AM and 10:30 AM.
Park Samdan - This restaurant serves lunch and dinner.
Chapelle - This restaurant serves lunch and dinner.
Jack Russell - Onsite bar.
Cafe Royal - Onsite restaurant.
Aija Shima - This restaurant specializes in Asian cuisine.
24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
Recreational amenities at the hotel include a sauna, a steam room, and a fitness center.
ROYAL SPA has 4 treatment rooms including rooms for couples. Services include massages, facials, and manicures and pedicures. The spa is equipped with a sauna and Turkish bath/hammam. A variety of treatment therapies are provided, including aromatherapy.
- Number of treatment rooms 4
- Couples treatment rooms
- Manicures and pedicures
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Sauna in spa
- Facial treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- In-room accessibility
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
No pets or service animals allowed
- Airport shuttle fee: TRY 297 per vehicle (one way)
- Self parking fee: TRY 48 per day
- Valet parking fee: TRY 40 per day
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. No pets and no service animals are allowed at this property. |
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Scheelevägen 27, 223 63 Lund, Sweden – Show map
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29 properties in Lund
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437 verified reviews
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Elite Hotel Ideon, Lund's staff speaks: Swedish, Polish, English, Danish
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Cycling, Sauna, Fitness Center, Bicycle Rental, Library
Food & Drink
Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast in the Room
WiFi is available in all areas and is free of charge.
Private parking is available at a location nearby (reservation is not needed) and charges apply.
Room Service, 24-Hour Front Desk, Baggage Storage, Shared Lounge/TV Area, Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Shoeshine, Meeting/Banquet Facilities, Business Center, Fax/Photocopying, Hair/Beauty Salon
Newspapers, Convenience Store (on site), Non-smoking Rooms, Facilities for Disabled Guests, Family Rooms, Elevator, Heating, All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)
Swedish, Polish, English, Danish
From 2:00 PM
Until 12:00 PM
Cancellation and prepayment policies vary according to room type. Please enter the dates of your stay and check what conditions apply to your preferred room.
Children and Extra Beds
All children are welcome.
All children from 0 to 5 year stay free of charge when using existing beds.
Up to two children under 2 years stay free of charge in a crib.
One child from 6 to 15 years is charged SEK 100 per person per night in an extra bed.
One older child or adult is charged SEK 200 per person per night in an extra bed.
The maximum number of extra beds/cribs in a room is 2.
Any type of extra bed or crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by management.
Additional fees are not calculated automatically in the total cost and will have to be paid for separately during your stay.
Pets are not allowed.
When booking more than 9 rooms, different policies and additional supplements may apply.
Cards accepted at this property
Hover over the cards for more info.
Based on 436 reviews
Value for money
Show reviews from:
Opened in 2014, this hotel is 3 km from central Lund. It offers modern rooms with tea/coffee facilities, a flat-screen TV and free WiFi access. Ideon Science Park is a 5-minute drive away.
Score from 455 reviews Excellent
This guesthouse is located in the Ideon Science Park, less than a 10 minute walk from Lund University Campus. It offers bright rooms with cable TV and free Wi-Fi.
Score from 196 reviews Very good
Just a 5-minute drive from the E22 highway, this hotel provides free gym, sauna and indoor pool access. Wi-Fi and parking are also free. The charming center of Lund is just over 1 mile away.
Score from 588 reviews Good
This hotel is in a peaceful residential area, a 5-minute drive from central Lund. It features free Wi-Fi and free access to the on-site gym and sauna.
Score from 447 reviews Very good
Drinks a little expensive and sound from other rooms seems to travel through the aircon.
Second time we have stayed at the Elite, great staff, great rooms, great beds, fantastic breakfast. All the amenities. On screen taxi booking service great help.
Unfortunately the restaurant was closed throughout my stay. I had been looking forward to having leisurely dinners with my granddaughters in the evenings, but we had to find food elsewhere earlier in the day, when not many places were open.
The very helpful and friendly staff, who spoke such perfect English!
Not reliable Internet connection for streaming (Skype, YouTube)
Clean, very well equipped. Enjoyable to stay.
The cream (in my room) was sour, For lowest price I took a room without a window. It's ok, but next time I'll g for the view...
This time downtown hotels were booked and so now i'm really annoyed I didn't try this hotel years ago. Great comfort, staff and people around but quiet, breakfast fabulous, easy to get here walking or bus. Lobby, gym w shower+ towels & fruit, lemon water..great!
Enjoyed second visit there and am booked in for two more. What else can I say!
Hor water could have been hotter in shower.
A bit too far out of town. Piece of advice: Check carefully what room type you're going to book. I was quite surprised when I found out that my room did not have a window (although room was located on 6th floor not in the basement)...
Good breakfast Rooms are spacious and comfortable <sarcasm>The hotel actually has rooms with windows</sarcasm>
Good breakfast Nice gym Perfect if you have business in the Lund-Ideon area.
No complaints whatsoever
The rooms, staff and facilities were great!
Menu in restaurant could do with revamp same as the last time we stayed 18 months ago. Lovely food just needs better selection if staying more than one night.
Lovely modern rooms with comfy beds. Excellent selection at breakfast. Easy access to buses and Lund University.
The location was okay, but slightly out of the city.. but it's the only not super positive aspect! Which is amazing! I miss it already!
What didn't I like? It was super cheap (35€ per person/night), Very clean, modern, very nice staff, very comfortable, amazing breakfast (already included in the price), an amazing inhouse gym & sauna, and probably many other things that I've forgotten right now because I'm so excited even thinking about it! I wish every hotel was like this one!
there are issues with the service and quality of food during the busy times
Nice hotel, good friendly staff and nice and comfortable rooms
Inside the university, everything is good. Walls out side the building is quite interesting.
The windows don't open (not even a little bit) and the air conditioning is always switched on, although it can be set to slightly cooler or warmer temperature.
The room, the breakfast, friendly staff.
no disposible slipper a lot of dust around lighteners
breakfast close to university comfortable bed and shower
I stayed one night. In the morning they had a nice and complete breakfast. I didn't face any problem during one night staying in the hotel.
The location is not great if you want to go in the center of the city but it's quite good if you're planning to visit the university campus. When I asked for a bike, they were already all rented out, so maybe a few more bikes could be a nice option.
The staff was friendly and helpful, the breakfast was OK, the room was very clean and had a VERY comfortable bed.
Restaurant staff not at same level
Very clean rooms and extremely helpful staff
- new furniture - big room - good view - good security - good breakfast - comfortable bed
Location not great
High quality rooms, excellent staff, very good breakfast, good wifi, sauna and gym good.
Food in restaurant could be better. Needs to have a wider choice of dishes with better quality. This is especially important as it's location is 20mins walk from town and not many other eateries are nearby.
Rooms large clean and comfortable. Staff helpful. Perfect location if you have business in the Science Park. Good bus service. Sauna and gym convenient. Great value.
nice breakfast good facilities
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England’s players have been losing up to 2kg in bodyweight in every warm-weather training session as they attempt to acclimatise for their potentially draining collision with Italy in the humidity of Manaus in 10 days’ time.
Roy Hodgson has had his squad working in three layers of clothing for some drills since the party first convened on the Algarve a fortnight ago to prepare them for the conditions in Amazonia and the players are also undertaking “brutal” exercise bike drills in heat chambers.” At St George’s Park last week we were doing double sessions,” said the goalkeeper, Ben Foster. “It’s kind of like pre-season and then, at night, we were doing bike sessions in heat chambers to get ready. Basically, you’re in a sauna on a bike. We’ve been doing half-hour sessions in there and it’s brutal, really hard work. No one’s grumbled or moaned about it. We’ve just got on with it. When we were in Portugal we wore under-armour, t-shirts, zip up tops and a wet top over that. So it’s a lot of layers. When it was 22 degrees, the lads were losing two kilos in sweat in every training session: it’s all about trying to replicate the heat and humidity out there.” So we’d be weighed before and after training, so you’d know how much fluid you’ve got to replace.
England’s players will experience severe humidity in Miami when they take on Ecuador on Wednesday afternoon. The game kicks off at 3pm and the temperature at the Sun Life stadium is forecast to be 28C, with 62% humidity. Manaus on Tuesday was 30C, with 72% humidity, though those figures are expected to be lower at kick-off time against Italy.
The team’s first training session on Monday had been wrecked by heavy thunderstorms, on the first day of the local hurricane season, though the rain stayed away while they prepared at the home of the Miami Dolphins.
The Football Association’s 77-man travelling party includes the like of the head of performance services, Dave Reddin, an exercise scientist in Chris Neville, the Manchester United fitness coach Tony Strudwick and Arsenal’s nutritionist James Collins. The team also boast West Ham’s head chef, Tim De’ath, with Foster confirming tomato sauce is now firmly back on the menu having been banned in South Africa four years ago by Fabio Capello.
“The chef’s doing a good job,” added the West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper. “Have you ever seen our food? It’s incredible. They’ve probably got seven or eight different stations of everything you could want, it’s amazing. The sauce is a sore point, but we are allowed it now. And butter as well.”
The FA have sold their allocated 2,500 tickets for the game against the Azzurri in Manaus, with all having gone to England Fans members. The support will be bolstered in the stadium by others who have gained entry from Fifa general sale, though the Italians have sold only 200 tickets for the game and sent back the rest of their allocation. The FA’s allocation of 3,800 for the Uruguay game has also sold out, as is the South Americans’, with both having been oversubscribed. |
Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik
Marijana Blazica 2, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 20000
- Recommended for:
- Business travellers, Couples, Culture vultures, Families with younger children, Mature travellers, Celebrity spotting, Great views / scenery, History, People watching, Sightseeing
Expert review of Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik
This proud 19th-century Hapsburg-era building, with a terraced garden and several towering palms out front, was fully renovated to open as the Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik in spring 2005. Located just outside Pile Gate, it’s ideally position for exploring the UNESCO-listed Old Town, while far enough away to avoid the crowds' noise at night. Facilities include a luxurious spa with indoor pool, making it a good option in winter too.
Just outside Dubrovnik Old Town, a two-minute walk from Pile Gate. The airport shuttle bus stops directly in front of the hotel.
All rooms and suites have apricot walls, beige carpets and rusty-orange curtains, plus spacious marble bathrooms complete with fluffy bathrobes and slippers. Furnishing is smart and simple, if rather business-style. Only the suites and executive rooms have balconies or terraces. My favourite rooms are on the top floor, affording views of Dubrovnik’s city walls and terracotta rooftops, and the sea.
The Porat restaurant has floor-to-ceiling windows and a spacious front terrace with fine sea views where guests have breakfast on sunny mornings. There’s a large light and airy indoor pool, plus a garage with valet parking (a definite bonus in a city limited parking spaces).
Porat Restaurant serves a generous buffet breakfast including freshly squeezed orange juice, with eggs, pancakes and waffles cooked-to-order. At lunch and dinner, they do a la carte, with a refined selection of Dalmatian specialities, such as lobster with spaghetti, plus several international gourmet favourites. The Lobby Bar serves coffee, drinks and snacks all through the day.
The Beauty Line Spa offers massage, a sauna and steam room, an ultra-modern gym, plus an impressive indoor pool with a glass roof.
Welcoming and professional staff at the reception desk, friendly waiters and a very helpful and efficient concierge.
Well-to-do tourists, cultural visitors and occasional business visitors of varying nationalities.
More information on Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik:
- Price from:
- Marijana Blazica 2, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 20000
- Business Centre, Room Service, High-Speed Internet, Fitness Centre, Restaurant, Parking, Swimming Pool, Pets Allowed |
Working out has many rewards, even if you don't collect enough tickets from the treadmill to trade in for the big stuffed shark. Keep your eyes on the prize with this Groupon.
Choose Between Two Options
- $59 for two 60-minute personal-training sessions (a $290 value)
- $99 for four 60-minute personal-training sessions (a $580 value)
- All sessions are with personal trainer Debra Bailly.
Fresh Fitness and Dance
Though its name suggests one or the other, the classes at Fresh Fitness and Dance often seamlessly blend exercise with getting down. Fresh Fitness's team of dedicated instructors design cardio workouts around hip-shaking moves, create aerobic routines out of Brazilian samba dances, and teach Zumba's popular union of Latin rhythms and interval training.
Some sessions, of course, celebrate dancing for dancing's sake, such as ballroom lessons that illuminate classic styles such as the waltz, tango, and rumba. On the other hand, their roster of traditional fitness sessions, such as the Insanity workout—an intensive blend of core, strength, and cardio training—focus on sculpting physiques sans tripping the light fantastic. After demanding exercises, visitors can continue burning calories by sweating in the infrared sauna, a more relaxing option than pushing your car back home.
“They are great! Right in my neighborhood and the instructors are super nice! Great workout!” |
Hôtel Taillard - Goumois
3 Route De La Corniche - Goumois1-877-662-6988
This very peaceful hotel, member of Relais du silence, boasts a renowned restaurant serving genuine local products. During your free time, relax in the garden or in the swimming pool, or take advantage of the fitness room, the sauna and the jacuzzi. Ayurvedic treatments and complimentary wireless and wired Internet access are also available.
Guests staying at Taillard Hotel have the opportunity to discover the superb Jura landscapes, indulge in hiking, fishing, canoeing, etc. A golf course, tennis courts and mountain bikes are also popular options in the vicinity of the hotel. On-site parking is free.
Check Availability at Hôtel Taillard
- Hydromassage Jacuzzi
- Meeting Room
- Billiards / Snooker
- Outdoor swimming pool
- Internet/Email services
- City tour
- Free parking
- Reservations are required for massage services. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
Check-in: after 3 PM.
Check-out: before 11 AM.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.
- Breakfast fee: EUR 14 per person (approximately)
- Fee for in-room wireless Internet: EUR 4.5 (rates may vary)
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.
Hôtel Taillard reviews
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- October 2012
- Venere Guest
- September 2011
- Venere Guest
- Single traveller
Hôtel Taillard reviews by TripAdvisor
Hôtel Taillard has 20 guest rooms. Guests can unwind at the end of a long day and enjoy televisions with satellite channels. Business travelers will have access to wireless high-speed Internet access (charges apply) as well as safes and phones during their Goumois visit. Private bathrooms are outfitted with hair dryers.
- Hairdryer in each room
- Satellite TV
- Wireless Internet access
Distances from Hôtel TaillardGoumois Church - 0.1 km / 0.1 mi
Combe St. Martin - 10.2 km / 6.4 mi
Bois du Petit-Chateau Zoo - 19.6 km / 12.2 mi
La Maison Blanche - 19.8 km / 12.3 mi
International Museum of Horology - 19.8 km / 12.3 mi
Roman Theater - 23.7 km / 14.8 mi
Le Saut du Doubs Waterfall - 26.1 km / 16.2 mi
Chateau de Belvoir - 26.6 km / 16.5 mi
Peugeot Museum of Adventure - 29.6 km / 18.4 mi
St. Joseph Chapel - 29.7 km / 18.4 mi
Castle of the Dukes of Wurttemberg - 29.7 km / 18.5 mi
Auguste Bonal Stadium - 29.7 km / 18.5 mi
Watch Museum - 30.6 km / 19 mi
Morteau City Hall - 34.3 km / 21.3 mi
Clock Museum - 34.7 km / 21.5 mi
The preferred airport for Hôtel Taillard is Mulhouse (MLH-EuroAirport) - 58.1 km / 36.1 mi.
Distances are calculated in a straight line from the property's location to the point of interest or airport and may not reflect actual travel distance.
Distances are displayed to the nearest 0.1 km and mile.
Transportation services Hôtel Taillard
- Free parking |
This is an average hotel, but with a fantastic location and good price. New ownership in November 2012 has brought improvements such as memory foam mattress toppers, flat screen TVs, free continental breakfast, clean rooms, and very friendly and helpful staff. I got a fantastic price at below $100/night thru Hotels.com during the fairly busy spring break week in mid-March. The continental breakfast includes a nice variety of fresh bagels, cinnamon raison bread, small toaster waffles, instant oatmeal and some fruit, plus apple juice, orange juice and coffee. The location is fantastic – on US highway 6 directly across from Keystone Resort’s “Mountain House” area and two of the Keystone ski lifts. The free Keystone shuttle picks up right in front if you want to head into the Keystone “River Run Village” area for shopping, dining or hanging out. You can rent ski gear at a variety of locations that are within walking distance (Mountain View Sports and Snowdance Sports are right across the street). The hotel has a big group-sized hot Jacuzzi and a sauna. I didn’t use either but they seemed popular with other guests. If you want the “resort experience” stay at one of the more expensive places in River Run Village, but if you are looking for a comfortable hotel with a great location but at an affordable price, be sure to check this place out.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Great location! Comfortable and clean! Views of runs from rooms. Walk just 491 yards, from the hotel to the Peru Express Chair Lift, or take the free shuttle service. A-Basin is just 5 miles away.Lodge amenities:Hot tub and sauna w/views, comfortable lounge with fireplace, new workout room, new coin-operated guest laundry. Free continental breakfast, WiFi, local calls and parkingUpgraded guest roomsWe have new upgraded rooms with 40 inch flat-screen TVs, Tempur-pedic tops. Down-alternative comforters/duvets and 4 cozy pillows per bed. Microwaves/ refrigerators in every room. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Expedia, Priceline, Booking.com, BookIt.com, Orbitz, Hotels.com and Odigeo so you can book your Alpine Slopes Lodge reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.
- Also Known As:
- Arapahoe Hotel Keystone
- Arapahoe Motel Keystone |
Book your room at Hôtel Les bains de Cabourg
Seaside hotel with full-service spa and restaurant
Collect 200 points
Simply enter your Nectar card number when prompted. Your points will be credited 30 days after you return from your trip.*Offers may apply
Situated by the sea, this spa hotel is within 1 mi (2 km) of Cabourg-Le Home Golf, Cabourg Beach, and Casino Gardens. Cabourg Public Golf and Houlgate Beach are also within 3 mi (5 km).
Along with a full-service spa, this smoke-free hotel has a restaurant and an indoor pool. Free WiFi in public areas and free self parking are also provided. Other amenities include an outdoor pool, a fitness center, and a lazy river.
All 165 soundproofed rooms feature free WiFi and minibars. For a bit of entertainment, guests will find flat-screen TVs with satellite channels, and other amenities include furnished balconies and room service.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
The hotel offers a restaurant. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary. In addition to a full-service spa, Hôtel Les bains de Cabourg features a lazy river and an indoor pool. Event facilities include a conference center, conference space, and meeting rooms. For a surcharge, the property provides a shuttle from the airport to the hotel (available on request) and a train station pick-up service. This Cabourg hotel also offers an outdoor pool, a seasonal outdoor pool, and a spa tub. Concierge services and tour/ticket assistance can be provided. Limited complimentary onsite parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Hôtel Les bains de Cabourg is a smoke-free property.
- Airport transportation - pickup (surcharge)
- Total number of rooms - 165
- Number of floors - 3
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Concierge services
- Conference space
- Fitness facilities
- Full-service spa
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Lazy river
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Meeting rooms
- Multilingual staff
- Parking (limited spaces)
- Luggage storage
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Year Built 2013
- Conference center
- Number of meeting rooms - 5
- Train station pickup (surcharge)
- Free self parking
- Pool sun loungers
- Shopping on site
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Spa services on site
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Indoor pool
- Outdoor pool
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Free use of nearby fitness center
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking, Parking (limited spaces)
- Premium bedding
- Furnished balcony
- Climate control
- Soundproofed rooms
- Free newspaper
- Free local calls
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free bottled water
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Bathtub or shower
- Rainfall showerhead
- In-room safe
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Satellite TV service
- Flat-panel TV
- Free WiFi
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Room service (limited hours)
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Individually furnished
Where to Eat
Buffet breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning between 7 AM and 10 AM.
Le Poisson d Argent - This restaurant overlooks the ocean. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar.
Room service (during limited hours) is available.
Nearby Things to Do
An indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a seasonal outdoor pool, and a spa tub are on site. Other recreational amenities include a lazy river, a sauna, a steam room, and a fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
- Segway rental/tour nearby
Thalazur Thalassotherapie has 8 treatment rooms including rooms for couples. Services include massages, facials, body wraps, and body scrubs. A variety of treatment therapies are provided, including Ayurvedic, hydrotherapy, and thalassotherapy. The spa is equipped with a sauna, a spa tub, and Turkish bath/hammam.
Children under 18 years old are not allowed in the spa without adult supervision. Guests under 18 years old are not allowed in the spa.
- Sauna in spa
- Spa tub in spa
- Minimum age to access spa is 18
- Number of treatment rooms 8
- Couples treatment rooms
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body wraps
- Body scrubs
- Thalassotherapy treatments
- Hydrotherapy treatments
- Ayurvedic treatments
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible bathroom
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible parking
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- A tax is imposed by the city: EUR 1.50 per person, per night
- Fee for buffet breakfast: EUR 20 per person (approximately)
We should mention
This property offers transfers from the airport and train station (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details 72 hours prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Reservations are required for massage services. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.
Relaxation Benefits Promotion
Book a stay in any room or rate category for travel anytime and receive complimentary access to the on-site relaxation area, including the use of the outdoor pool (summer only), indoor heated swimming pool, spa tub, Turkish bath/Hammam, sauna, and gym.
Full details at check-in. Spa is open daily from 9 AM - 7:45 PM. Guests under 16 years old can access in the Spa area only from 11:30 AM to 2 PM and from 5 PM - 7:45 PM, Monday to Saturday, and from 11:30 AM - 7:45PM on Sunday. Valid for all room and rate categories. Offer valid anytime. Other restrictions may apply.
This hotel has received its official star rating from the French Tourism Development Agency, ATOUT France. |
Perpetually touring performer Beck has lowered the price on his Malibu beach house a smidgen to pique interest. Old price: $2,399,000. New price: $2,345,000. Hey, we did say a smidgen. It's his second home, and his schedule hasn't allowed much use of it.
The Malibu home, described in the Multiple Listing Service as "a very hip mid-century ranch," has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. There are pitched ceilings, hardwood floors and a great room overlooking private gardens and a lawn. No ocean views, but they -- and the ocean -- aren't far away. There is a separate two-bedroom, one-bathroom guesthouse with a fireplace. Public records put the square footage at about 1,600; the home was built in 1961. It came on the market in October.
Fans of the genre-bending Beck, 38, consider him to be among the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of the last 20 years. He first earned mainstream recognition with his breakthrough single "Loser" in 1994. Beck is on a world tour promoting his latest album, "Modern Guilt." He is married to actress Marissa Ribisi.
Richard Klug of Sotheby's International Realty, Beverly Hills, is the listing agent.
Rockstar exec works up a deal
There are some houses that are truly not for everybody. The good news for Rockstar energy drink magnate Russell Weiner is that he found just such a non-everybody.
After 578 days on the market, Weiner's poured-in-place concrete megalith in the Hollywood Hills sold for $8 million. It started as a $14,995,000 listing -- based on replacement costs. But lots of unpleasantness in the economy later, more realistic pricing followed and led to multiple offers.
So what do you get for $8 million? To start, the entrance foyer doubles as a nightclub. Guests can settle in on the nifty built-in couches in alcoves and wait to be served their high-caffeine energy drinks (What else would he serve?). There are soaring ceilings, state-of-the-art sound and light systems and a new media room with a bar and drop screen.
Most of the walls are made of glass to provide views of city lights and the ocean. There are glass staircases and a glass loft floor, all the better to see what's going on in the world beneath you.
For the practical-minded, there are five bedroom suites in the main house and a two-bedroom guesthouse. Square footage tops 9,000 combined.
Weiner recently listed another home he owns just above the Sunset Strip at $2,995,000.
He founded and is chief executive of Rockstar Inc. and is the son of radio talk show host Michael Savage. Michael Eisenberg of Keller Williams Realty, Beverly Hills, had the listing.
Encino no longer a match for Mitch
Pamela Anderson wasn't the only hunka-hunka burning love to strut off the "Baywatch" beach into popular culture. For the ladies, there was David Hasselhoff, who listed his Encino home for $5.95 million on Jan. 8 and then withdrew it about a week later. According to his agent, the house will be back on the market shortly and is, indeed, for sale.
Hasselhoff's 9,770-square-foot home has five bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms. The private estate is entered through double gates.
There's a two-story living room with high ceilings, a lavish dining room, gourmet kitchen and master-bedroom suite with a fireplace and mahogany floors. There are his-and-her bathrooms and walk-in closets. The home has a gym and an elevator, which would seem to serve cross purposes.
A grotto-style pool with a waterfall and spa, as well as lighted tennis courts, complete the playground.
The property is co-owned by his ex-wife Pamela Hasselhoff.
The 56-year-old actor, who played Lt. Mitch Buchannon for 221 episodes of "Baywatch" from 1989 to 2000, also re-created the role for the various Baywatch spinoffs and movies.
Let's face it: Some people just look good running down the beach with a boogie board under their arm.
His non-beachy credits include roles in "Fugitives Run" (2003) and "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" (2004).
Shayn Scott of Sotheby's International Realty, Sunset Boulevard office, is representing Hasselhoff.
An A-list acting provenance
This is one of those houses you might want to bow to in homage as you approach. It was owned by the late Milton Katselas, founder of the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school, director and coach to half of Hollywood.
Katselas, who died at 75 on Oct. 24, worked with hundreds of actors, including Al Pacino, Alex Baldwin, Gene Hackman, George C. Scott, Tom Selleck, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ted Danson, James Cromwell, Burt Reynolds, John Glover, Kate Hudson, Patrick Swayze and George Clooney.
His longtime Hollywood Hills residence is being offered for sale at $2.6 million. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in 3,800 square feet was built in 1937. It is built of oxidized iron, glass and concrete pillars with large, sand-blasted wooden beams. The floors are polished concrete and hardwood. There is a pool, a spa and a cabana with a bathroom and a second kitchen outside for entertaining in the garden. There are six skylights and parking for seven cars, three of them garaged. The master bedroom has a steam shower and sauna. According to the MLS, the property has two lots and could be used to build up to eight condos.
Elsa Nelson of Nelson Shelton & Associates in Beverly Hills has the listing.
Inventor's sales spike in Palisades
The mark of genius is inventing something to fill a need that people don't even know they have. Following this logic, Cleatskins, a rubberized covering that slips over soccer/golf/football cleats and turns them into street wear instantly, is headed toward being a soccer mom's new best friend.
Richard and Marianne Kay, who hold the patent for Cleatskins, just sold their Pacific Palisades home for $14.5 million. Although the property was shown widely to show business folks, the buyers are civilians.
The property includes a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, Cape Cod-style main house of about 8,500 square feet and a 3,000-square-foot guesthouse with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The property has five fireplaces, and there is a sitting room, a gym, a pool and spa, two elevators and a sports court.
Richard Kay developed Cleatskins and introduced the product to the mass marketplace last fall. The coverings are intended to eliminate slips and falls that occur when cleated shoes are worn on nongrassy surfaces.
Bob Hurwitz of James Hurwitz Co., Beverly Hills, had the listing. The buyers were represented by Fred Bernstein of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, according to the Multiple Listing Service.Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune |
Look and you will find it—what is unsought will go undetected. —SOPHOCLES
ContentsEpigraph iiiKeep Your Friends Close… 11Spencer’s Hard Work Pays Off 132Just Another Sexually Charged Day in AP English 223There’s No Such Thing as bad Press 294No Wonder Emily’s Mom is So Strict 365Aria’s All for Literary Reenactments 446Sibling Rivalry’s a Hard Habit to Break 527Nothing Like an Old-Fashioned Interrogation 598It’s Always Good to Read the Book Before Stealing from it 719Everyone, a Big Round of Applause for Spencer Hastings! 8010Someone Didn’t Listen 8611Even High-Tech Security Doesn’t Protect You from Everything 94
12Ah, Court Life 10413Hello, My Name is Emily. And I’m Gay. 11014Spencer’s Big Close-Up 11715Never, Ever Trust Something as Obsolete as a Fax Machine 12516Someone’s Been Kissing in the Kiln… 13217Because all Cheesy Relationship Moments Happen inCemeteries 14218A Good Smack Upside the Head Never Hurt Anyone 14919It’s Better Than a Sign Saying, “Kick Me” 15820Life Imitates Art 16621What Does H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P Spell? 17522There’s No Place Like Rosewood—From 3,000 Feet Up 18423The Rosebushes Have Eyes 19724And in Another Garden Across Town… 204
25Special Delivery for Hanna Marin 20826Spencer Gets in Hot Water…Literally and Figuratively 21627Old Habits Die Hard 22128Some of Her Letters Also Spell Jail 23029There’s a Full Moon at the Hollis Planetarium 23830Change is Good…Except When it’s Not 24531They Fought the Law and the Law Won 25232Not-So-Secret Lovers 26033Someone Slips Up. Big Time. 26734It’s Right There in Front of You 27335Words Whispered from the Past 28436It Will all Be Over 29137It Was Necessary 296
Acknowledgments 299What Happens Next… 302About the AuthorOther Books by Sara ShepardCreditsCoverCopyrightAbout the Publisher
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE. . . .Have you ever had a friend turn on you? Just totallytransform from someone you thought you knew intosomeone . . . else? I’m not talking your boyfriend fromnursery school who grows up and gets gawky and uglyand zitty, or your friend from camp whom you’ve gotnothing to say to when she comes to visit you overChristmas break, or even a girl in your clique who sud-denly breaks away and turns goth or into one of thosegranola Outward Bound kids. No. I’m talking about yoursoul mate. The girl you know everything about. Whoknows everything about you. One day she turns aroundand is a completely different person. Well, it happens. It happened in Rosewood.“Watch it, Aria. Your face is going to freeze like that.”Spencer Hastings unwrapped an orange Popsicle and slidit into her mouth. She was referring to the squinty-eyed
2 ✦ SARA SHEPARDdrunk-pirate face her best friend, Aria Montgomery, wasmaking as she tried to get her Sony Handycam to focus. “You sound like my mom, Spence.” Emily Fieldslaughed, adjusting her T-shirt, which had a picture of ababy chicken in goggles on it and said, INSTANT SWIMCHICK! JUST ADD WATER! Her friends had forbiddenEmily from wearing her goofy swimming T-shirts—“Instant Swim Dork! Just add loser!” Alison DiLaurentishad joked when Emily walked in. “Your mom says that too?” Hanna Marin asked,throwing away her green-stained Popsicle stick. Hannaalways ate faster than anyone else. “Your face will freeze thatway,” she mimicked. Alison looked Hanna up and down and cackled.“Your mom should’ve warned you that your butt wouldfreeze that way.” Hanna’s face fell as she pulled down her pink-and-white striped T-shirt—she’d borrowed it from Ali, and itkept riding up, revealing a white strip of her stomach.Alison tapped Hanna’s shin with her flip-flop. “Justjoking.” It was a Friday night in May near the end of seventhgrade, and best friends Alison, Hanna, Spencer, Aria, andEmily were gathered in Spencer’s family’s plushly deco-rated family room, with the Popsicle box, a big bottle ofcherry vanilla Diet Dr Pepper, and their cell phonessplayed out on the coffee table. A month ago, Ali hadcome to school with a brand-new LG flip phone, and the
PERFECT ✦ 3others had rushed out to buy their own that very day.They all had pink leather holsters to match Ali’s, too—well, all except for Aria, whose holster was made of pinkmohair. She’d knitted it herself. Aria moved the camera’s lever back and forth tozoom in and out. “And anyway, my face isn’t going tofreeze like this. I’m concentrating on setting up this shot.This is for posterity. For when we become famous.” “Well, we all know I’m going to get famous.” Alisonthrust back her shoulders and turned her head to theside, revealing her swanlike neck. “Why are you going to be famous?” Spencer chal-lenged, sounding bitchier than she probably meant to. “I’m going to have my own show. I’ll be a smarter,cuter Paris Hilton.” Spencer snorted. But Emily pursed her pale lips, con-sidering, and Hanna nodded, truly believing. This wasAli. She wouldn’t stay here in Rosewood, Pennsylvania,for long. Sure, Rosewood was glamorous by moststandards—all its residents looked like walk-on models fora Town & Country photo shoot—but they all knew Ali wasdestined for greater things. She’d plucked them out of oblivion a year and a halfago to be her best friends. With Ali by their sides, theyhad become the girls of Rosewood Day, the private schoolthey attended. They had such power now—to deem whowas cool and who wasn’t, to throw the best parties, tonab the best seats in study hall, to run for student office
4 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand win by an overwhelming number of votes. Well, thatlast one only applied to Spencer. Aside from a few twistsand turns—and accidentally blinding Jenna Cavanaugh,which they tried their hardest not to think about—theirlives had transformed from passable to perfect. “How about we film a talk show?” Aria suggested. Sheconsidered herself the friends’ official filmmaker—one ofthe many things she wanted to be when she grew up wasthe next Jean-Luc Godard, some abstract French director.“Ali, you’re famous. And Spencer, you’re the interviewer.” “I’ll be the makeup girl,” Hanna volunteered, rootingthrough her backpack to find her polka-dotted vinylmakeup bag. “I’ll do hair.” Emily pushed her reddish-blond bobbehind her ears and rushed to Ali’s side. “You havegorgeous hair, chérie,” she said to Ali in a faux-Frenchaccent. Ali slid her Popsicle out of her mouth. “Doesn’t chériemean girlfriend?” The others were quick to laugh, but Emily paled. “No,that’s petite amie.” Lately, Em was sensitive when Alimade jokes at her expense. She never used to be. “Okay,” Aria said, making sure the camera was level.“You guys ready?” Spencer flopped on the couch and placed a rhine-stone tiara left over from a New Year’s party on her head.She’d been carrying the crown around all night. “You can’t wear that,” Ali snapped.
PERFECT ✦ 5 “Why not?” Spencer adjusted the crown so it wasstraight. “Because. If anything, I’m the princess.” “Why do you always get to be the princess?” Spencermuttered under her breath. A nervous ripple sweptthrough the others. Spencer and Ali weren’t gettingalong, and no one knew why. Ali’s cell phone let out a bleat. She reached down,flipped it open, and tilted it away so no one else couldsee. “Sweet.” Her fingers flew across the keypad as shetyped a text. “Who are you writing to?” Emily’s voice soundedeggshell-thin and small. “Can’t tell. Sorry.” Ali didn’t look up. “You can’t tell?” Spencer was irate. “What do youmean you can’t tell?” Ali glanced up. “Sorry, princess. You don’t have toknow everything.” Ali closed her phone and set it on theleather couch. “Don’t start filming yet, Aria. I have topee.” She dashed out of Spencer’s family room towardthe hall bathroom, plopping her Popsicle stick in thetrash as she went. Once they heard the bathroom door close, Spencerwas the first to speak. “Don’t you just want to kill hersometimes?” The others flinched. They never bad-mouthed Ali. Itwas as blasphemous as burning the Rosewood Day offi-cial flag on school property, or admitting that Johnny
6 ✦ SARA SHEPARDDepp really wasn’t that cute—that he was actually kind ofold and creepy. Of course, on the inside, they felt a little differently.This spring, Ali hadn’t been around as much. She’d got-ten closer with the high school girls on her JV fieldhockey squad and never invited Aria, Emily, Spencer, orHanna to join them at lunch or come with them to theKing James Mall. And Ali had begun to keep secrets. Secret texts, secretphone calls, secret giggles about things she wouldn’t tellthem. Sometimes they’d see Ali’s screen name online,but when they tried to IM her, she wouldn’t respond.They’d bared their souls to Ali—telling her things theyhadn’t told the others, things they didn’t want anyone toknow—and they expected her to reciprocate. Hadn’t Alimade them all promise a year ago, after the horriblething with Jenna happened, that they would tell oneanother everything, absolutely everything, until the endof time? The girls hated to think of what eighth grade wouldbe like if things kept going like this. But it didn’t meanthey hated Ali. Aria wound a piece of long, dark hair around her fin-gers and laughed nervously. “Kill her because she’s socute, maybe.” She hit the camera’s power switch, turningit on. “And because she wears a size zero,” Hanna added. “That’s what I meant.” Spencer glanced at Ali’s
PERFECT ✦ 7phone, which was wedged between two couch cushions.“Want to read her texts?” “I do,” Hanna whispered. Emily stood up from her perch on the couch’s arm. “Idon’t know. . . .” She started inching away from Ali’sphone, as if just being close to it incriminated her. Spencer scooped up Ali’s cell. She looked curiously atthe blank screen. “C’mon. Don’t you want to know whotexted her?” “It was probably just Katy,” Emily whispered, refer-ring to one of Ali’s hockey friends. “You should put itdown, Spence.” Aria took the camera off the tripod and walkedtoward Spencer. “Let’s do it.” They gathered around. Spencer opened the phoneand pushed a button. “It’s locked.” “Do you know her password?” Aria asked, still filming. “Try her birthday,” Hanna whispered. She took thephone from Spencer and punched in the digits. Thescreen didn’t change. “What do I do now?” They heard Ali’s voice before they saw her. “What areyou guys doing?” Spencer dropped Ali’s phone back onto the couch.Hanna stepped back so abruptly, she banged her shinagainst the coffee table. Ali stomped through the door to the family room,her eyebrows knitted together. “Were you looking atmy phone?”
8 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Of course not!” Hanna cried. “We were,” Emily admitted, sitting on the couch, thenstanding up again. Aria shot her a look and then hidbehind the camera lens. But Ali was no longer paying attention. Spencer’solder sister, Melissa, a senior in high school, burst intothe Hastings’ kitchen from the garage. A takeout bagfrom Otto, a restaurant near the Hastings’ neighborhood,hung from her wrists. Her adorable boyfriend, Ian, waswith her. Ali stood up straighter. Spencer smoothed herdirty-blond hair and straightened her tiara. Ian stepped into the family room. “Hey, girls.” “Hi,” Spencer said in a loud voice. “How are you, Ian?” “I’m cool.” Ian smiled at Spencer. “Cute crown.” “Thanks!” Spencer fluttered her coal-black eyelashes. Ali rolled her eyes. “Be a little more obvious,” shesingsonged under her breath. But it was hard not to crush on Ian. He had curlyblond hair, perfect white teeth, and stunning blue eyes,and none of them could forget the recent soccer gamewhere he’d changed his shirt midquarter and, for five glo-rious seconds, they’d gotten a full-on view of his nakedchest. It was almost universally believed that his gor-geousness was wasted on Melissa, who was totally prudishand acted way too much like Mrs. Hastings, Spencer’smother. Ian plopped down on the edge of the couch near Ali.“So, what are you girls doing?”
PERFECT ✦ 9 “Oh, not much,” Aria said, adjusting the camera’sfocus. “Making a film.” “A film?” Ian looked amused. “Can I be in it?” “Of course,” Spencer said quickly. She plopped downon the other side of him. Ian grinned into the camera. “So what are my lines?” “It’s a talk show,” Spencer explained. She glanced atAli, gauging her reaction, but Ali didn’t respond. “I’mthe host. You and Ali are my guests. I’ll do you first.” Ali let out a sarcastic snort and Spencer’s cheeksflamed as pink as her Ralph Lauren T-shirt. Ian let the ref-erence pass by. “Okay. Interview away.” Spencer sat up straighter on the couch, crossing hermuscular legs just like a talk show host. She picked up thepink microphone from Hanna’s karaoke machine andheld it under her chin. “Welcome to the SpencerHastings show. For my first question—” “Ask him who his favorite teacher at Rosewood is,”Aria called out. Ali perked up. Her blue eyes glittered. “That’s a goodquestion for you, Aria. You should ask him if he wantsto hook up with any of his teachers. In vacant parkinglots.” Aria’s mouth fell open. Hanna and Emily, who werestanding off to the side near the credenza, exchanged aconfused glance. “All my teachers are dogs,” Ian said slowly, not gettingwhatever was happening.
10 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Ian, can you please help me?” Melissa made a clatter-ing noise in the kitchen. “One sec,” Ian called out. “Ian.” Melissa sounded annoyed. “I got one.” Spencer tossed her long blond hair behindher ears. She was loving that Ian was paying more atten-tion to them than to Melissa. “What would your ultimategraduation gift be?” “Ian,” Melissa called through her teeth, and Spencerglanced at her sister through the wide French doors to thekitchen. The light from the fridge cast a shadow acrossher face. “I. Need. Help.” “Easy,” Ian answered, ignoring her. “I’d want a base-jumping lesson.” “Base-jumping?” Aria called. “What’s that?” “Parachuting from the top of a building,” Ianexplained. As Ian told a story about Hunter Queenan, one of hisfriends who had base-jumped, the girls leaned forwardeagerly. Aria focused the camera on Ian’s jaw, whichlooked hewn out of stone. Her eyes flickered for amoment to Ali. She was sitting next to Ian, staring offinto space. Was Ali bored ? She probably had better thingsto do—that text was probably about plans with her glam-orous older friends. Aria glanced again at Ali’s cell phone, which was rest-ing on the cushion of the couch next to her arm. Whatwas she hiding from them? What was she up to?
PERFECT ✦ 11 Don’t you sometimes want to kill her? Spencer’s questionfloated through Aria’s brain as Ian rambled on. Deepdown, she knew they all felt that way. It might be betterif Ali were just . . . gone, instead of leaving them behind. “So Hunter said he got the most amazing rush whenhe base-jumped,” Ian concluded. “Better than anything.Including sex.” “Ian,” Melissa warned. “That sounds incredible.” Spencer looked to Ali onthe other side of Ian. “Doesn’t it?” “Yes.” Ali looked sleepy, almost like she was in atrance. “Incredible.”The rest of the week had been a blur: final exams, plan-ning parties, more get-togethers, and more tension. Andthen, on the evening of the last day of seventh grade, Aliwent missing. Just like that. One minute she was there,the next . . . gone. The police scoured Rosewood for clues. They ques-tioned the four girls separately, asking if Ali had been act-ing strangely or if anything unusual had happenedrecently. They all thought long and hard. The night shedisappeared had been strange—she’d been hypnotizingthem and had run out of the barn after she and Spencerhad a stupid fight about the blinds and just . . . never cameback. But had there been other strange nights? They con-sidered the night they tried to read Ali’s texts, but not forvery long—after Ian and Melissa left, Ali had snapped out
12 ✦ SARA SHEPARDof her funk. They’d had a dance contest and played withHanna’s karaoke machine. The mystery texts on Ali’sphone had been forgotten. Next, the cops asked if they thought anyone close toAli might have wanted to hurt her. Hanna, Aria, andEmily all thought of the same thing: Don’t you sometimeswant to kill her? Spencer had snarled. But no. She’d beenkidding. Hadn’t she? “Nobody wanted to hurt Ali,” Emily said, pushing theworry out of her mind. “Absolutely not,” Aria answered too, in her own sep-arate interview, darting her eyes away from the burly copsitting next to her on the porch swing. “I don’t think so,” Hanna said in her interview, fiddlingwith the pale blue string bracelet Ali had made for themafter Jenna’s accident. “Ali wasn’t that close with manypeople. Only us. And we all loved her to death.” Sure, Spencer seemed angry with Ali. But really, deepdown, weren’t they all? Ali was perfect—beautiful, smart,sexy, irresistible—and she was ditching them. Maybe theydid hate her for it. But that didn’t mean any of themwanted her gone. It’s amazing what you don’t see, though. Even whenit’s right in front of your eyes.
1SPENCER’S HARD WORK PAYS OFFSpencer Hastings should have been sleeping at six-thirty on Monday morning. Instead, she was sitting in atherapist’s blue-and-green waiting room, feeling a littlelike she was trapped inside an aquarium. Her older sis-ter, Melissa, was sitting on an emerald-colored chairopposite her. Melissa looked up from her Principles ofEmerging Markets textbook—she was in an MBA programat the University of Pennsylvania—and gave Spencer amotherly smile. “I’ve felt so much clearer since I started seeing Dr.Evans,” purred Melissa, whose appointment was right afterSpencer’s. “You’re going to love her. She’s incredible.” Of course she’s incredible, Spencer thought nastily.Melissa would find anyone willing to listen to her for awhole uninterrupted hour amazing. “But she might come on a little strong for you, Spence,”Melissa warned, slapping her book closed. “She’s going
14 ✦ SARA SHEPARDto tell you things about yourself you don’t want to hear.” Spencer shifted her weight. “I’m not six. I can takecriticism.” Melissa gave Spencer a tiny eyebrow-raise, clearlyindicating that she wasn’t so sure. Spencer hid behindher Philadelphia magazine, wondering again why she washere. Spencer’s mother, Veronica, had booked her anappointment with a therapist—Melissa’s therapist—afterSpencer’s old friend Alison DiLaurentis had been founddead and Toby Cavanaugh committed suicide. Spencersuspected the appointment was also meant to sortthrough why Spencer had hooked up with Melissa’sboyfriend, Wren. Spencer was doing fine though. Really.And wasn’t going to her worst enemy’s therapist likegoing to an ugly girl’s plastic surgeon? Spencer fearedshe’d probably come out of her very first shrink sessionwith the mental-health equivalent of hideously lopsidedfake boobs. Just then, the office door swung open, and a petiteblond woman wearing tortoiseshell glasses, a black tunic,and black pants poked her head out. “Spencer?” the woman said. “I’m Dr. Evans. Come in.” Spencer strode into Dr. Evans’s office, which was spareand bright and thankfully nothing like the waiting room.It contained a black leather couch and a gray suede chair.A large desk held a phone, a stack of manila folders, achrome gooseneck lamp, and one of those weighteddrinking-bird toys that Mr. Craft, the earth science teacher,
PERFECT ✦ 15loved. Dr. Evans settled into the suede chair and gesturedfor Spencer to sit on the couch. “So,” Dr. Evans said, once they were comfy, “I’veheard a lot about you.” Spencer wrinkled her nose and glanced toward thewaiting room. “From Melissa, I guess?” “From your mom.” Dr. Evans opened to the first pageof a red notebook. “She says that you’ve had some tur-moil in your life, especially lately.” Spencer fixed her gaze on the end table next to thecouch. It held a candy dish, a box of Kleenex—of course—and one of those pegboard IQ games, the kind where youjumped the pegs over one another until there was onlyone peg remaining. There used to be one of those in theDiLaurentis family den; she and Ali had solved ittogether, meaning they were both geniuses. “I think I’mcoping,” she muttered. “I’m not, like, suicidal.” “A close friend died. A neighbor, too. That must behard.” Spencer let her head rest on the back of the couch andlooked up. It looked like the bumpily plastered ceilinghad acne. She probably needed to talk to someone—itwasn’t like she could talk to her family about Ali, Toby,or the terrifying notes she’d been getting from the evilstalker who was known simply as A. And her old friends—they’d been avoiding her ever since she’d admitted thatToby had known all along that they’d blinded hisstepsister, Jenna—a secret she’d kept from them for three
16 ✦ SARA SHEPARDlong years. But three weeks had gone by since Toby’s suicide, andalmost a month had passed since the workers unearthedAli’s body. Spencer was coping better with all of it,mostly, because A had vanished. She hadn’t received anote since before Foxy, Rosewood’s big charity benefit.At first, A’s silence made Spencer feel edgy—perhaps itwas the calm before the hurricane—but as more timepassed, she began to relax. Her manicured nails dislodgedthemselves from the heels of her hands. She started sleep-ing with her desk light off again. She’d received an A+ onher latest calc test and an A on her Plato’s Republic paper.Her breakup with Wren—who had dumped her forMelissa, who had in turn dumped him—didn’t sting somuch anymore, and her family had reverted back intoeveryday obliviousness. Even Melissa’s presence—she wasstaying with the family while a small army renovated hertown house in Philly—was mostly tolerable. Maybe the nightmare was over. Spencer wiggled her toes inside her knee-high buff-colored kidskin boots. Even if she felt comfortableenough with Dr. Evans to tell her about A, it was a mootpoint. Why bring A up if A was gone? “It is hard, but Alison has been missing for years. I’vemoved on,” Spencer finally said. Maybe Dr. Evans wouldrealize Spencer wasn’t going to talk and end their sessionearly. Dr. Evans wrote something in her notebook. Spencer
PERFECT ✦ 17wondered what. “I’ve also heard you and your sister werehaving some boyfriend issues.” Spencer bristled. She could only imagine Melissa’sextremely slanted version of the Wren debacle—it proba-bly involved Spencer eating whipped cream off Wren’sbare stomach in Melissa’s bed while her sister watchedhelplessly from the window. “It wasn’t really a big deal,”she muttered. Dr. Evans lowered her shoulders and gave Spencer thesame you’re not fooling me look her mother used. “He wasyour sister’s boyfriend first, wasn’t he? And you datedhim behind her back?” Spencer clenched her teeth. “Look, I know it waswrong, okay? I don’t need another lecture.” Dr. Evans stared at her. “I’m not going to lecture you.Perhaps . . .” She put a finger to her cheek. “Perhaps youhad your reasons.” Spencer’s eyes widened. Were her ears workingcorrectly—was Dr. Evans seriously suggesting thatSpencer wasn’t 100 percent to blame? Perhaps $175 anhour wasn’t a blasphemous price to pay for therapy,after all. “Do you and your sister ever spend time together?”Dr. Evans asked after a pause. Spencer reached into the candy dish for a Hershey’sKiss. She pulled off the silver wrapper in one long curl,flattened the foil in her palm, and popped the kiss in hermouth. “Never. Unless we’re with our parents—but it’s
18 ✦ SARA SHEPARDnot like Melissa talks to me. All she does is brag to myparents about her accomplishments and her insanely bor-ing town house renovations.” Spencer looked squarely atDr. Evans. “I guess you know my parents bought her atown house in Old City simply because she graduatedfrom college.” “I did.” Dr. Evans stretched her arms into the air andtwo silver bangle bracelets slid to her elbow. “Fascinatingstuff.” And then she winked. Spencer felt like her heart was going to burst out ofher chest. Apparently Dr. Evans didn’t care about themerits of sisal versus jute either. Yes. They talked a while longer, Spencer enjoying it moreand more, and then Dr. Evans motioned to the SalvadorDalí melting-clocks clock that hung above her desk toindicate that their time was up. Spencer said good-byeand opened the office door, rubbing her head as if thetherapist had cracked it open and tinkered around in herbrain. That actually hadn’t been as torturous as she’dthought it would be. She shut the therapist’s office door and turnedaround. To her surprise, her mother was sitting in a pale-green wing chair next to Melissa, reading a Main Linestyle magazine. “Mom.” Spencer frowned. “What are you doing here?” Veronica Hastings looked like she’d come straightfrom the family’s riding stables. She was wearing a white
PERFECT ✦ 19Petit Bateau T-shirt, skinny jeans, and her beat-up ridingboots. There was even a little bit of hay in her hair. “Ihave news,” she announced. Both Mrs. Hastings and Melissa had very seriouslooks on their faces. Spencer’s insides started to whirl.Someone had died. Someone—Ali’s killer—had killedagain. Perhaps A was back. Please, no, she thought. “I got a call from Mr. McAdam,” Mrs. Hastings said,standing up. Mr. McAdam was Spencer’s AP economicsteacher. “He wanted to talk about some essays you wrotea few weeks ago.” She took a step closer, the scent of herChanel No. 5 perfume tickling Spencer’s nose. “Spence,he wants to nominate one of them for a Golden Orchid.” Spencer stepped back. “A Golden Orchid?” The Golden Orchid was the most prestigious essaycontest in the country, the high school essay equivalentof an Oscar. If she won, People and Time would do a fea-ture story on her. Yale, Harvard, and Stanford would begher to enroll. Spencer had followed the successes ofGolden Orchid winners the way other people followedcelebrities. The Golden Orchid winner of 1998 was nowmanaging editor of a very famous fashion magazine. Thewinner from 1994 had become a congressman at 28. “That’s right.” Her mother broke into a dazzlingsmile. “Oh my God.” Spencer felt faint. But not fromexcitement—from dread. The essays she’d turned inhadn’t been hers—they were Melissa’s. Spencer had been
20 ✦ SARA SHEPARDin a rush to finish the assignment, and A had suggestedshe “borrow” Melissa’s old work. So much had gone onin the past few weeks, it had slipped her mind. Spencer winced. Mr. McAdam—or Squidward, as every-one called him—had loved Melissa when she was hisstudent. How could he not remember Melissa’s essays,especially if they were that good? Her mother grabbed Spencer’s arm and she flinched—her mother’s hands were always corpse-cold. “We’re soproud of you, Spence!” Spencer couldn’t control the muscles around hermouth. She had to come clean with this before she gotin too deep. “Mom, I can’t—” But Mrs. Hastings wasn’t listening. “I’ve already calledJordana at the Philadelphia Sentinel. Remember Jordana?She used to take riding lessons at the stables? Anyway,she’s thrilled. No one from this area has ever been nomi-nated. She wants to write an article about you!” Spencer blinked. Everyone read the PhiladelphiaSentinel newspaper. “The interview and photo shoot are all scheduled,”Mrs. Hastings breezed on, picking up her giant saffron-colored Tod’s satchel and jingling her car keys.“Wednesday before school. They’ll provide a stylist. I’msure Uri will come to give you a blowout.” Spencer was afraid to make eye contact with her mom,so she stared at the waiting-room reading material—anassortment of New Yorkers and Economists, and a big book
PERFECT ✦ 21of fairy tales that was teetering on top of a Dubble Bubbletub of Legos. She couldn’t tell her mom about the stolenpaper—not now. And it wasn’t as if she was going to winthe Golden Orchid, anyway. Hundreds of people werenominated, from the best high schools all over the coun-try. She probably wouldn’t even make it past the first cut. “That sounds great,” Spencer sputtered. Her mom pranced out the door. Spencer lingered amoment longer, transfixed by the wolf on the cover ofthe fairy tale book. She’d had the same one when she waslittle. The wolf was dressed up in a negligee and bonnet,leering at a blond, naïve Red Riding Hood. It used togive Spencer nightmares. Melissa cleared her throat. When Spencer looked up,her sister was staring. “Congrats, Spence,” Melissa said evenly. “The GoldenOrchid. That’s huge.” “Thanks,” Spencer blurted. There was an eerily famil-iar expression on Melissa’s face. And then Spencer real-ized: Melissa looked exactly like the big bad wolf.
2 JUST ANOTHER SEXUALLY CHARGED DAY IN AP ENGLISHAria Montgomery sat down in English class on Mondaymorning, just as the air outside the open widow startedto smell like rain. The PA crackled, and everyone in theclass looked at the little speaker on the ceiling. “Hello, students! This is Spencer Hastings, your jun-ior class vice president!” Spencer’s voice rang out clearand loud. She sounded perky and assured, as if she’dtaken a course in Announcements 101. “I want to remindeveryone that the Rosewood Day Hammerheads areswimming against the Drury Academy Eels tomorrow.It’s the biggest meet of the season, so let’s all show somespirit and come out and support the team!” There was apause. “Yeah!” Some of the class snickered. Aria felt an uneasy chill.Despite everything that had happened—Alison’s murder,Toby’s suicide, A—Spencer was the president or VP of
PERFECT ✦ 23every club around. But to Aria, Spencer’s spiritednesssounded . . . fake. She had seen a side of Spencer othershadn’t. Spencer had known for years that Ali had threat-ened Toby Cavanaugh to keep him quiet about Jenna’saccident, and Aria couldn’t forgive her for keeping sucha dangerous secret from the rest of them. “Okay, class,” Ezra Fitz, Aria’s AP English teacher,said. He resumed writing on the board, printing TheScarlet Letter in his angular handwriting, and then heunderlined it four times. “In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece, HesterPrynne cheats on her husband, and her town forces herto wear a big, red, shameful A on her chest as a reminderof what she’s done.” Mr. Fitz turned from the board andpushed his square glasses up the bridge of his slopednose. “Can anyone think of other stories that have thesame falling-from-grace theme? About people who areridiculed or cast out for their mistakes?” Noel Kahn raised his hand and his chain-link Rolexwatch slid down his wrist. “How about that episode ofThe Real World when the housemates voted for the psychogirl to leave?” The class laughed, and Mr. Fitz looked perplexed.“Guys, this is supposed to be an AP class.” Mr. Fitzturned to Aria’s row. “Aria? How about you? Thoughts?” Aria paused. Her life was a good example. Not longago, she and her family had been living harmoniously inIceland, Alison hadn’t been officially dead, and A hadn’t
24 ✦ SARA SHEPARDexisted. But then, in a horrible unraveling of events thatstarted six weeks ago, Aria had moved back to preppyRosewood, Ali’s body had been discovered under theconcrete slab behind her old house, and A had outed theMontgomery family’s biggest secret: that Aria’s father,Byron, had cheated on her mother, Ella, with one of hisstudents, Meredith. The news hit Ella hard and shepromptly threw Byron out. Finding out that Aria hadkept Byron’s secret from her for three years hadn’t helpedElla much either. Mother-daughter relations hadn’t beentoo warm and fuzzy since. Of course, it could have been worse. Aria hadn’t got-ten any texts from A in the last three weeks. AlthoughByron was now allegedly living with Meredith, at leastElla had begun speaking to Aria again. And Rosewoodhadn’t been invaded by aliens yet, although after all theweird things that had happened in this town, Ariawouldn’t have been surprised if that were next. “Aria?” Mr. Fitz goaded. “Any ideas?” Mason Byers came to Aria’s rescue. “What aboutAdam and Eve and that snake?” “Great,” Mr. Fitz said absentmindedly. His eyes rest-ed on Aria for another second before looking away. Ariafelt a warm, prickly rush. She had hooked up with Mr.Fitz—Ezra—at Snooker’s, a college bar, before either ofthem knew he would be her new AP English teacher. Hewas the one who’d ended it, and afterward, Aria hadlearned he had a girlfriend in New York. But she didn’t
PERFECT ✦ 25hold a grudge. Things were going well with her newboyfriend, Sean Ackard, who was kind and sweet and alsohappened to be gorgeous. Besides, Ezra was the best English teacher Aria had everhad. In the month since school had started, he’d assignedfour amazing books and staged a skit based on EdwardAlbee’s “The Sandbox.” Soon, the class was going to do aDesperate Housewives–style interpretation of Medea, theGreek play where a mother murders her children. Ezrawanted them to think unconventionally, and unconven-tional was Aria’s forte. Now, instead of calling her Finland,her classmate Noel Kahn had given Aria a new nickname,Brownnoser. It felt good to be excited about school again,though, and at times she almost forgot things with Ezrahad ever been complicated. Until Ezra threw her a crooked smile, of course. Thenshe couldn’t help but feel fluttery. Just a little. Hanna Marin, who sat right in front of Aria, raisedher hand. “How about that book where two girls are bestfriends, but then, all of a sudden, one of the best friendsturns evil and steals the other one’s boyfriend?” Ezra scratched his head. “I’m sorry . . . I don’t thinkI’ve read that book.” Aria clenched her fists. She knew what Hanna meant.“For the last time, Hanna, I didn’t steal Sean from you!You guys were already. Broken. Up!” The class rippled with laughter. Hanna’s shouldersbecame rigid. “Someone’s a little self-centered,” she
26 ✦ SARA SHEPARDmurmured to Aria without turning around. “Who said Iwas talking about you?” But Aria knew she was. When Aria had returned fromIceland, she’d been stunned to see that Hanna hadmorphed from Ali’s chubby, awkward lackey to a thin,beautiful, designer-clothes-wearing goddess. It seemedlike Hanna had everything she’d ever wanted: she andher best friend, Mona Vanderwaal—also a transformeddork—ruled the school, and Hanna had even nabbedSean Ackard, the boy she’d pined over since sixth grade.Aria had only gone for Sean after hearing that Hannahad dumped him. But she quickly found out it had beenthe other way around. Aria had hoped she and her old friends might reunite,especially since they’d all received notes from A. Yet, theyweren’t even speaking—things were right back to wherethey’d been during those awkward, worried weeks afterAli’s disappearance. Aria hadn’t even told them aboutwhat A had done to her family. The only ex–best friendAria was still sort of friendly with was Emily Fields—buttheir conversations had mostly consisted of Emily blub-bering about how guilty she felt about Toby’s death, untilAria had finally insisted that it wasn’t her fault. “Well, anyway,” Ezra said, putting copies of The ScarletLetter at the front of each row to pass back, “I want every-one to read chapters one through five this week, and youhave a three-page essay on any themes you see at thebeginning of the book due on Friday. Okay?”
PERFECT ✦ 27 Everyone groaned and started to talk. Aria slid herbook into her yak-fur bag. Hanna reached down to pickher purse off the floor. Aria touched Hanna’s thin, palearm. “Look, I’m sorry. I really am.” Hanna yanked her arm away, pressed her lipstogether, and wordlessly stuffed The Scarlet Letter into herpurse. It kept jamming, and she let out a frustrated grunt. Classical music tinkled through the loudspeaker, indi-cating the period was over. Hanna shot up from her seatas if it were on fire. Aria rose slowly, shoving her pen andnotebook into her purse and heading for the door. “Aria.” She turned. Ezra was leaning against his oak desk, histattered caramel leather briefcase pressed to his hip.“Everything okay?” he asked. “Sorry about all that,” she said. “Hanna and I havesome issues. It won’t happen again.” “No problem.” Ezra set his mug of chai down. “Iseverything else okay?” Aria bit her lip and considered telling him what wasgoing on. But why? For all she knew, Ezra was as sleazyas her father. If he really did have a girlfriend in NewYork, then he’d cheated on her when he’d hooked upwith Aria. “Everything’s fine,” she managed. “Good. You’re doing a great job in class.” He smiled,showing his two adorably overlapping bottom teeth. “Yeah, I’m enjoying myself,” she said, taking a step
28 ✦ SARA SHEPARDtoward the door. But as she did, she stumbled over hersuper-high stack-heeled boots, careening into Ezra’s desk.Ezra grabbed her waist and pulled her upright . . . andinto him. His body felt warm and safe, and he smelledgood, like chili powder, cigarettes, and old books. Aria moved away quickly. “Are you okay?” Ezra asked. “Yeah.” She busied herself by straightening her schoolblazer. “Sorry.” “It’s okay,” Ezra answered, jamming his hands in hisjacket pockets. “So . . . see you.” “Yeah. See you.” Aria walked out of the classroom, her breathing fastand shallow. Maybe she was nuts, but she was pretty sureEzra had held her for a second longer than he needed to.And she was certain she’d liked it.
3 THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BAD PRESSDuring their free period Monday afternoon, HannaMarin and her best friend, Mona Vanderwaal, were sit-ting in the corner booth of Steam, Rosewood Day’s cof-fee bar, doing what they did best: ripping on people whoweren’t as fabulous as they were. Mona poked Hanna with one end of her chocolate-dipped biscotti. To Mona, food was more like a prop, lesslike something to eat. “Jennifer Feldman’s got some logs,doesn’t she?” “Poor girl.” Hanna mock-pouted. Logs was Mona’sshorthand term for tree-trunk legs: solid and unshapelythighs and calves with no tapering from knees to ankles. “And her feet look like overstuffed sausage casings inthose heels!” Mona cawed. Hanna snickered, watching as Jennifer, who was on thediving team, hung up a poster on the far wall that read,
30 ✦ SARA SHEPARDSWIM MEET TOMORROW! ROSEWOOD DAY HAMMERHEADSVS. DRURY ACADEMY EELS! Her ankles were hideously thick.“That’s what girls with fat ankles get when they try to wearLouboutins,” Hanna sighed. She and Mona were the thin-ankled sylphs Christian Louboutin shoes were meant for,obviously. Mona took a big sip of her Americano and pulled outher Gucci wallet diary from her eggplant-colored Botkierpurse. Hanna nodded approvingly. They had otherthings to do besides criticize people today, like plan notone but two parties: one for the two of them, and the sec-ond for the rest of Rosewood Day’s elite. “First things first.” Mona uncapped her pen. “TheFrenniversary. What should we do tonight? Shopping?Massages? Dinner?” “All of that,” Hanna answered. “And we definitely haveto hit Otter.” Otter was a new high-end boutique at themall. “I’m loving Otter,” Mona agreed. “Where should we have dinner?” Hanna asked. “Rive Gauche, of course,” Mona said loudly, talkingover the groaning coffee grinder. “You’re right. They’ll definitely give us wine.” “Should we invite boys?” Mona’s blue eyes gleamed.“Eric Kahn keeps calling me. Maybe Noel could come foryou?” Hanna frowned. Despite being cute, incredibly richand part of the über-sexy clan of Kahn brothers, Noel
PERFECT ✦ 31wasn’t really her type. “No boys,” she decided. “Althoughthat’s very cool about Eric.” “This is going to be a fabulous Frenniversary.” Monagrinned so broadly that her dimples showed. “Can youbelieve this is our third?” Hanna smiled. Their Frenniversary marked the dayHanna and Mona had talked on the phone for three anda half hours—the obvious indicator that they were bestfriends. Although they’d known each other since kinder-garten, they’d never really spoken before cheerleadingtryouts a few weeks before the first day of eighth grade.By then, Ali had been missing for two months andHanna’s old friends had become really distant, so she’ddecided to give Mona a chance. It was worth it—Monawas funny, sarcastic, and, despite her thing for animalbackpacks and Razor scooters, she secretly devouredVogue and Teen Vogue as ravenously as Hanna did. Withinweeks, they’d decided to be best friends and transformthemselves into the most popular girls at school. Andlook: Now they had. “Now for the bigger plans,” Mona said, flippinganother page of her notebook. “Sweet seventeen,” she sangto the MTV My Super Sweet Sixteen melody. “It’s going to rock,” Hanna gushed. Mona’s birthdaywas this Saturday, and she had almost all the partydetails in place. She was going to have it at the HollisPlanetarium, where there were telescopes in everyroom—even the bathrooms. She’d booked a DJ, caterers,
32 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand a trapeze school—so guests could swing over thedance floor—as well as a videographer, who would filmthe party and simultaneously webcast it onto aJumbotron screen. Mona had carefully instructed gueststo wear formal dress only on the invites. If someoneturned up in jeans or Juicy sweats, security would not-so-politely turn them away. “So I was thinking,” Mona said, stuffing a napkin intoher empty paper coffee cup. “It’s a little last-minute, butI’m going to have a court.” “A court?” Hanna raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “It’s an excuse to get that fabulous Zac Posen dressyou keep frothing over at Saks—the fitting is tomor-row. And we’ll wear tiaras and make the boys bowdown to us.” Hanna stifled a giggle. “We’re not going to do anopening dance number, are we?” She and Mona hadbeen on Julia Rubenstein’s party court last year, and Juliahad made them do a dance routine with a bunch ofD-list male models. Hanna’s dance partner smelled likegarlic and had immediately asked her if she wanted tojoin him in the coatroom. She’d spent the rest of theparty running away from him. Mona scoffed, breaking her biscotti into smallerpieces. “Would I do something as lame as that?” “Of course not.” Hanna rested her chin in her hands.“So I’m the only girl in the court, right?” Mona rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”
PERFECT ✦ 33 Hanna shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know who else youcould pick.” “We just need to get you a date.” Mona placed thetiniest piece of biscotti in her mouth. “I don’t want to take anyone from Rosewood Day,”Hanna said quickly. “Maybe I’ll ask someone fromHollis. And I’ll bring more than one date.” Her eyes litup. “I could have a whole load of guys carry me aroundall night, like Cleopatra.” Mona gave her a high five. “Now you’re talking.” Hanna chewed on the end of her straw. “I wonder ifSean will come.” “Don’t know.” Mona raised an eyebrow. “You’re overhim, right?” “Of course.” Hanna pushed her auburn hair over hershoulder. Bitterness still flickered inside her whenever shethought about how Sean had dumped her for way-too-tall,I’m-a-kiss-ass-English-student-and-think-I’m-hot-shit-because-I-lived-in-Europe Aria Montgomery, but whatever.It was Sean’s loss. Now that boys knew she was available,Hanna’s BlackBerry inbox was beeping with potential datesevery few minutes. “Good,” Mona said. “Because you’re way too hot forhim, Han.” “I know,” Hanna quipped, and they touched palmslightly in another high five. Hanna sat back, feeling awarm, reassuring whoosh of well-being. It was hard tobelieve that things had been shaky between her and Mona
34 ✦ SARA SHEPARDa month ago. Imagine, Mona thinking that Hanna wantedto be friends with Aria, Emily, and Spencer instead of her! Okay, so Hanna had been keeping things from Mona,although she’d confessed most of it: her occasionalpurges, the trouble with her dad, her two arrests, the factthat she’d stripped for Sean at Noel Kahn’s party andhe’d rejected her. She’d downplayed everything, worriedMona would disown her for such horrible secrets, butMona had taken it all in stride. She said every diva got introuble once in a while, and Hanna decided she’d justoverreacted. So what if she wasn’t with Sean anymore?So what if she hadn’t spoken to her father since Foxy? Sowhat if she was still volunteering at Mr. Ackard’s burnclinic to atone for wrecking his car? So what if her twoworst enemies, Naomi Zeigler and Riley Wolfe, knew shehad a bingeing problem and had spread rumors abouther around the school? She and Mona were still tight,and A had stopped stalking her. Kids began filtering out of the coffee bar, whichmeant that free period was about to end. As Hanna andMona swaggered through the exit, Hanna realized theywere approaching Naomi and Riley, who had beenhiding behind the giant swirling Frappuccino machine.Hanna set her jaw and tried to hold her head high. “Baaaarf,” Naomi hissed into Hanna’s ear as shepassed. “Yaaaaak,” Riley taunted right behind her. “Don’t listen to them, Han,” Mona said loudly.
PERFECT ✦ 35“They’re just pissed because you can fit into those Richand Skinny jeans at Otter and they can’t.” “It’s cool,” Hanna said breezily, sticking her nose intothe air. “There’s that, and at least I don’t have invertednipples.” Naomi’s mouth got very small and tense. “That wasbecause of the bra I was wearing,” she said throughclenched teeth. Hanna had seen Naomi’s invertednipples when they were changing for gym the weekbefore. Maybe it was just from the weird bra she had on,but hey—all’s fair in love and the war to be popular. Hanna glanced over her shoulder and shot Naomiand Riley a haughty, condescending look. She felt like aqueen snubbing two grubby little wenches. And it gaveHanna great satisfaction to see that Mona was givingthem the exact same look. That was what best friendswere for, after all.
4 NO WONDER EMILY’S MOM IS SO STRICTEmily Fields never had practice the day before a meet,so she came straight home after school and noticedthree new items sitting on the limestone kitchen island.There were two new blue Sammy swim towels forEmily and her sister Carolyn, just in time for their bigmeet against Drury tomorrow . . . and there was also apaperback book titled It’s Not Fair: What to Do WhenYou Lose Your Boyfriend. A Post-it note was affixed to thecover: Emily: Thought you might find this useful. I’ll be backat 6. —Mom. Emily absentmindedly flipped through the pages.Not long after Alison’s body had been found, Emily’smother had started surprising her with little cheer-me-ups, like a book called 1001 Things to Make You Smile, abig set of Prismacolor colored pencils, and a walruspuppet, because Emily used to be obsessed with
PERFECT ✦ 37walruses when she was younger. After Toby’s suicide,however, her mother had merely given Emily a bunchof self-help books. Mrs. Fields seemed to think Toby’sdeath was harder for Emily than Ali’s—probablybecause she thought Toby had been Emily’s boyfriend. Emily sank into a white kitchen chair and shut her eyes.Boyfriend or not, Toby’s death did haunt her. Every night,as she was looking at herself in the mirror while brushingher teeth, she thought she saw Toby standing behind her.She couldn’t stop going over that fateful night when he’dtaken her to Foxy. Emily had told Toby that she’d been inlove with Alison, and Toby had admitted he was glad Aliwas dead. Emily had immediately assumed Toby was Ali’skiller and had threatened to call the cops. But by the timeshe realized just how wrong she was, it was too late. Emily listened to the small settling sounds of herempty house. She stood up, picked up the cordless phoneon the counter and dialed a number. Maya answered inone ring. “Carolyn’s at Topher’s,” Emily said in a low voice.“My mom’s at a PTA meeting. We have a whole hour.” “The creek?” Maya whispered. “Yep.” “Six minutes,” Maya declared. “Time me.” It took Emily two minutes to slip out the back door,sprint across her vast, slippery lawn, and dive into thewoods to the secluded little creek. Alongside the waterwas a smooth, flat rock, perfect for two girls to sit on. She
38 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand Maya had discovered the secret creek spot two weeksago, and they’d been hiding away here as much as theypossibly could. In five minutes and forty-five seconds, Maya emergedthrough the trees. She looked adorable as usual, in herplain white T-shirt, pale pink miniskirt, and red suedePuma sneakers. Even though it was October, it was almosteighty degrees out. She had pulled her hair back from herface, showing off her flawless, caramel-colored skin. “Hey,” Maya cried, a little out of breath. “Under sixminutes?” “Barely,” Emily teased. They both plopped down on the rock. For a second,neither of them spoke. It was so much quieter back herein the woods than by the street. Emily tried not to thinkabout how she had run from Toby through these verywoods a few weeks ago. Instead, she concentrated on theway the water sparkled over the rocks and how the treeswere just starting to turn orange at the tips. She had asuperstition about the big tree she could just make outat the edge of her backyard: if its leaves turned yellow inthe fall, she would have a good school year. If theyturned red, she wouldn’t. But this year, the leaves wereorange—did that mean so-so? Emily had all sorts ofsuperstitions. She thought the world was fraught withsigns. Nothing was random. “I missed you,” Maya whispered in Emily’s ear. “Ididn’t see you at school today.”
PERFECT ✦ 39 A shiver passed through Emily as Maya’s lips grazedher earlobe. She shifted her position on the rock, movingcloser to Maya. “I know. I kept looking for you.” “Did you survive your bio lab?” Maya asked, curlingher pinkie around Emily’s. “Uh-huh.” Emily slid her fingers up Maya’s arm.“How was your history test?” Maya wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Does this make it better?” Emily pecked Maya on thelips. “You’ll have to try harder than that to make it better,”Maya said seductively, lowering her green-yellow catlikeeyes and reaching for Emily. They had decided to try this: sitting together, hangingout whenever they could, touching, kissing. As much asEmily tried to edit Maya from her life, she couldn’t.Maya was wonderful, nothing like Em’s last boyfriend,Ben—nothing, in fact, like any boy she’d ever gone outwith. There was something so comforting about beinghere at the creek side by side. They weren’t just together—they were also best friends. This was how coupledomshould feel. When they pulled away, Maya slid off a sneaker anddipped her toe into the creek. “So we moved back intoour house yesterday.” Emily drew in her breath. After the workers had foundAli’s body in Maya’s new backyard, the St. Germains hadmoved to a hotel to escape the media. “Is it . . . weird?”
40 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “It’s okay.” Maya shrugged. “Oh, but get this. There’sa stalker on the loose.” “What?” “Yeah, a neighbor was telling my mom about it thismorning. Someone’s running around through people’syards, peeping into windows.” Emily’s stomach began to hurt. This, too, remindedher of Toby: back when they were in sixth grade, he wasthe creepy kid who peeked into everyone’s windows,especially Ali’s. “Guy? Girl?” Maya shook her head. “I don’t know.” She blew hercurly bangs up into the air. “This town, I swear to God.Weirdest place on earth.” “You must miss California,” Emily said softly, paus-ing to watch a bunch of birds lift off from a nearby oaktree. “Not at all, actually.” Maya touched Emily’s wrist.“There are no Emilys in California.” Emily leaned forward and kissed Maya softly on herlips. They held their lips together for five long seconds.She kissed Maya’s earlobe. Then Maya kissed her bottomlip. They pulled away and smiled, the afternoon sun mak-ing pretty patterns on their cheeks. Maya kissed Emily’snose, then her temples, then her neck. Emily shut hereyes, and Maya kissed her eyelids. She took a deepbreath. Maya ran her delicate fingers along the edge ofEmily’s jaw; it felt like a million butterflies flapping theirwings against her skin. As much as she’d been trying to
PERFECT ✦ 41convince herself that being with Maya was wrong, it wasthe only thing that felt right. Maya pulled away. “So, I have a proposal for you.” Emily smirked. “A proposal. Sounds serious.” Maya pulled her hands into her sleeves. “How aboutwe make things more open?” “Open?” Emily repeated. “Yeah.” Maya ran her finger up and down the lengthof Emily’s arm, giving her goose bumps. Emily couldsmell Maya’s banana gum, a smell she now found intox-icating. “Meaning we hang out inside your house. Wehang out at school. We . . . I don’t know. I know you’renot ready to be, like, out with this, Em, but it’s hardspending all our time on this rock. What’s going to hap-pen when it gets cold?” “We’ll come out here in snowsuits,” Emily quipped. “I’m serious.” Emily watched as a stiff wind made the tree branchesknock together. The air suddenly smelled like burningleaves. She couldn’t invite Maya inside her house becauseher mother had already made it clear that she didn’t wantEmily to be friends with Maya . . . for terrible, almost-definitely racist reasons. But it wasn’t like Emily was goingto tell Maya that. And as for the other thing, coming out—no. She closed her eyes and thought of the picture A hadtexted her a while ago—the one of Emily and Maya kissingin the photo booth at Noel Kahn’s party. She winced. Shewasn’t ready for people to know.
42 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I’m sorry I’m slow,” Emily said. “But this is what I’mcomfortable with right now.” Maya sighed. “Okay,” she said in an Eeyore-ish voice.“I’ll just have to deal.” Emily stared into the water. Two silvery fish swamtightly together. Whenever one turned, the other turnedtoo. They were like those needy couples who made outin the hallway and practically stopped breathing whenthey were separated. It made her a little sad to realize sheand Maya could never be one of those couples. “So,” Maya said, “nervous about your swim meettomorrow?” “Nervous?” Emily frowned. “Everyone’s going to be there.” Emily shrugged. She’d competed in much bigger swim-ming events than this—there had been camera crews atnationals last year. “I’m not worried.” “You’re braver than I am.” Maya shoved her sneakerback onto her foot. But Emily wasn’t so sure about that. Maya seemedbrave about everything—she ignored the rules that saidyou had to wear the Rosewood Day uniform and showedup in her white denim jacket every day. She smoked potout her bedroom window while her parents were at thestore. She said hi to kids she didn’t know. In that way,she was just like Ali—totally fearless. Which was probablywhy Emily had fallen for both of them. And Maya was brave about this—who she was, what
PERFECT ✦ 43she wanted, and who she wanted to be with. She didn’tcare if people found out. Maya wanted to be with Emily,and nothing was going to stop her. Maybe somedayEmily would be as brave as Maya. But if it was up to her,that would be someday far, far away.
5 ARIA’S ALL FOR LITERARY REENACTMENTSAria perched on the back bumper of Sean’s Audi, skim-ming through her favorite Jean-Paul Sartre play, No Exit. Itwas Monday after school, and Sean said he would give hera ride home after he grabbed something from the soccercoach’s office . . . only he was taking an awfully long-asstime. As she flipped to Act II, a group of nearly identicalblond, long-legged, Coach-bag-toting Typical RosewoodGirls strode into the student parking lot and gave Aria asuspicious once-over. Apparently Aria’s platform bootsand gray knitted earflap hat indicated she was surely up tosomething nefarious. Aria sighed. She was trying her hardest to adjust toRosewood again, but it wasn’t easy. She still felt like apunked-out, faux-leather-wearing, free-thinking Bratzdoll in a sea of Pretty Princess of Preppyland Barbies. “You shouldn’t sit on the bumper like that,” said a
PERFECT ✦ 45voice behind her, making Aria jump. “Bad for the suspen-sion.” Aria swiveled around. Ezra stood a few feet away. Hisbrown hair was standing up in messy peaks and his blaz-er was even more rumpled than it had been this morning.“I thought you literary types were hopeless when it cameto cars,” she joked. “I’m full of surprises.” Ezra shot her a seductive smile.He reached into his worn leather briefcase. “Actually, Ihave something for you. It’s an essay about The ScarletLetter, questioning whether adultery is sometimes permis-sible.” Aria took the photocopied pages from him. “I don’tthink adultery is permissible or forgivable,” she saidsoftly. “Ever.” “Ever is a long time,” Ezra murmured. He was stand-ing so close, Aria could see the dark-blue flecks in hislight-blue eyes. “Aria?” Sean was right next to her. “Hey!” Aria cried, startled. She jumped away fromEzra as if he were loaded with electricity. “You . . . you alldone?” “Yep,” Sean said. Ezra stepped forward. “Hey, Sean is it? I’m Ez—Imean, Mr. Fitz, the new AP English teacher.” Sean shook his hand. “I just take regular English. I’mAria’s boyfriend.” A flicker of something—disappointment, maybe—passed
46 ✦ SARA SHEPARDover Ezra’s face. “Cool,” he stumbled. “You play soccer,right? Congrats on your win last week.” “That’s right,” Sean said modestly. “We have a goodteam this year.” “Cool,” Ezra said again. “Very cool.” Aria felt like she should explain to Ezra why she andSean were together. Sure, he was a Typical RosewoodBoy, but he was really much deeper. Aria stopped herself.She didn’t owe Ezra any explanations. He was her teacher. “We should go,” she said abruptly, taking Sean’s arm.She wanted to get out of here before either of them embar-rassed her. What if Sean made a grammatical error? Whatif Ezra blurted that they’d hooked up? No one atRosewood knew about that. No one, that was, except for A. Aria slid into the passenger seat of Sean’s tidy, pine-smelling Audi, feeling itchy. She longed for a few privateminutes to collect herself, but Sean slumped into thedriver’s seat right next to her and pecked her on thecheek. “I missed you today,” he said. “Me too,” Aria answered automatically, her voicetight in her throat. As she peeked through her side win-dow, she saw Ezra in the teacher’s lot, climbing into hisbeat-up, old-school VW Bug. He had added a new stick-er to the bumper—ECOLOGY HAPPENS—and it looked likehe’d washed the car over the weekend. Not that she wasobsessively checking or anything. As Sean waited for other students to back out in frontof him, he rubbed his cleanly shaven jaw and fiddled
PERFECT ✦ 47with the collar of his fitted Penguin polo. If Sean andEzra had been types of poetry, Sean would have been ahaiku—neat, simple, beautiful. Ezra would have been oneof William Burroughs’s messy fever dreams. “Want tohang out later?” Sean asked. “Go out to dinner? Hangwith Ella?” “Let’s go out,” Aria decided. It was so sweet how Seanliked to spend time with Ella and Aria. The three of themhad even watched Ella’s Truffaut DVD collectiontogether—in spite of the fact that Sean said he reallydidn’t understand French films. “One of these days you’ll have to meet my family.”Sean finally pulled out of the Rosewood lot behind anAcura SUV. “I know, I know,” Aria said. She felt nervous aboutmeeting Sean’s family—she’d heard they were wildly richand super-perfect. “Soon.” “Well, Coach wants the soccer team to go to that bigswim meet tomorrow for school support. You’re going towatch Emily, right?” “Sure,” Aria answered. “Well, maybe Wednesday, then? Dinner?” “Maybe.” As they pulled onto the wooded road that paralleledRosewood Day, Aria’s Treo chimed. She pulled it outnervously—her knee-jerk response whenever she got a textwas that it would be A, even though A seemed to begone. The new text, however, was from an unfamiliar 484
48 ✦ SARA SHEPARDnumber. A’s notes always came up “unavailable.” Sheclicked READ. Aria: We need to talk. Can we meet outside the Hollis art building today at 4:30? I’ll be on campus waiting for Meredith to finish teaching. I’d love for us to chat. —Your dad, Byron Aria stared at the screen in disgust. It was disturbingon so many levels. One, her dad had a cell phone now?For years, he’d shunned them, saying they gave you braincancer. Two, he’d texted her—what was next, a MySpacepage? And three . . . the letter itself. Especially the qualify-ing Your dad at the end. Did he think she’d forgotten whohe was? “You all right?” Sean took his eyes off the winding,narrow road for a moment. Aria read Sean Byron’s text. “Can you believe it?” sheasked when she finished. “It sounds like he just needssomeone to occupy him while he waits for that skank tofinish teaching her class.” “What are you going to do?” “Not go.” Aria shuddered, thinking of the times she’dseen Meredith and her father together. In seventh grade,she and Ali had caught them kissing in her dad’s car, andthen a few weeks ago, she and her younger brother, Mike,had happened upon them at the Victory Brewery. Meredith
PERFECT ✦ 49had told Aria that she and Byron were in love, but how wasthat possible? “Meredith is a homewrecker. She’s worse thanHester Prynne!” “Who?” “Hester Prynne. She’s the main character in The ScarletLetter—we’re reading it for English. It’s about this womanwho commits adultery and the town shuns her. I thinkRosewood should shun Meredith. Rosewood needs atown scaffold—to humiliate her.” “How about that pillory thing at the fairgrounds?”Sean suggested, slowing down as they passed a cyclist.“You know that wooden contraption with the holes youcan stick your head and arms through? They lock you upin it and you just hang there. We always used to get ourpictures taken in that thing.” “Perfect,” Aria practically shouted. “And Meredithdeserves to have ‘husband-stealer’ branded on her fore-head. Just stitching a red letter A to her dress would betoo subtle.” Sean laughed. “It sounds like you’re really into TheScarlet Letter.” “I don’t know. I’ve only read eight pages.” Aria grewsilent, getting an idea. “Actually, wait. Drop me off atHollis.” Sean gave her a sidelong glance. “You’re going tomeet him?” “Not exactly.” She smiled devilishly. “Ohhhhkay . . .” Sean drove a few blocks through the
50 ✦ SARA SHEPARDHollis section of town, which was filled with brick andstone buildings, old bronze statues of the collegefounders, and tons of shabby-chic students on bicycles. Itseemed like it was permanently fall at Hollis—the color-ful cascading leaves looked perfect here. As Sean pulledinto a two-hour parking spot on campus, he looked wor-ried. “You’re not going to do anything illegal, are you?” “Nah.” Aria gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t wait. I canwalk home from here.” Squaring her shoulders, she marched into the ArtsBuilding’s main entrance. Her father’s text flashed beforeher eyes. I’m on campus waiting for Meredith to finish teach-ing. Meredith had told Aria herself that she taught studioart at Hollis. She slid by a security guard, who was sup-posed to be checking IDs but was instead watching aYankees game on his portable TV. Her nerves felt jangledand snappy, as if they were ungrounded wires. There were only three studio classrooms in the build-ing that were big enough for a painting class, which Ariaknew, because she’d attended Saturday art school atHollis for years. Today, only one room was in use, so ithad to be the one. Aria burst noisily through the doorsof the classroom and was immediately assaulted by thesmell of turpentine and unwashed clothes. Twelve artstudents with easels set up in a circle swiveled around tostare at her. The only person who didn’t move was thewrinkly, hairless, completely naked old drawing model inthe center of the room. He stuck his bandy little chest
PERFECT ✦ 51out, kept his hands on his hips, and didn’t even blink.Aria had to give him an A for effort. She spied Meredith perched on a table by the far win-dow. There was her long, luscious brown hair. There wasthe pink spiderweb tattoo on her wrist. Meredith lookedstrong and confident, and there was an irritating, healthypink flush to her cheeks. “Aria?” Meredith called across the drafty, cavernousroom. “This is a surprise.” Aria looked around. All of the students had theirbrushes and paints within easy reach of their canvases.She marched over to the student closest to her, snatcheda large, fan-shaped brush, swiped it in a puddle of redpaint, and strode over to Meredith, dribbling paint as shewent. Before anyone could do anything, Aria painted alarge, messy A on the left breast of Meredith’s delicate,cotton eyelet sundress. “Now everyone will know what you’ve done,” Ariasnarled. Giving Meredith no time to react, she whirled aroundand strode out of the room. When she got out ontoHollis’s green lawn again, she started gleefully, crazilylaughing. It wasn’t a “husband-stealer” brand across herforehead, but it might as well have been. There, Meredith.Take that.
6 SIBLING RIVALRY’S A HARD HABIT TO BREAKMonday afternoon at field hockey practice, Spencerpulled ahead of her teammates on their warm-up laparound the field. It had been an unseasonably warm dayand the girls were all a little slower than usual. KirstenCullen pumped her arms to catch up. “I heard about theGolden Orchid,” Kirsten said breathlessly, readjustingher blond ponytail. “That’s awesome.” “Thanks.” Spencer ducked her head. It was amazinghow fast the news had spread at Rosewood Day—hermother had only told her six hours ago. At least tenpeople had come up to talk to her about it since then. “I heard John Mayer won a Golden Orchid when hewas in high school,” Kirsten continued. “It was, like, anessay for AP music theory.” “Huh.” Spencer was pretty sure John Mayer hadn’twon it—she knew every winner from the past fifteen years.
PERFECT ✦ 53 “I bet you’ll win,” Kirsten said. “And then you’ll beon TV! Can I come with you for your debut on the Todayshow?” Spencer shrugged. “It’s a really cutthroat competi-tion.” “Shut up.” Kirsten slapped her on the shoulder. “You’realways so modest.” Spencer clenched her teeth. As much as she’d beentrying to downplay this Golden Orchid thing, everyone’sreaction had been the same—You’ll definitely win it. Getready for your close-up!—and it was making her crazy. Shehad nervously organized and reorganized the money inher wallet so many times today that one of her twentieshad split right down the center. Coach McCready blew the whistle and yelled, “Cross-overs!” The team immediately turned and began runningsideways. They looked like dressage competitors at theDevon Horse Show. “You hear about the RosewoodStalker?” Kirsten asked, huffing a little—crossovers wereharder than they looked. “It was all over the news lastnight.” “Yeah,” Spencer mumbled. “He’s in your neighborhood. Hanging out in thewoods.” Spencer dodged a divot in the dry grass. “It’s proba-bly just some loser,” she huffed. But Spencer couldn’thelp but think of A. How many times had A texted herabout something that it seemed no one could have seen?
54 ✦ SARA SHEPARDNow she looked out into the trees, almost certain she’dsee a shadowy figure. But there was no one. They started running normally again, passing theRosewood Day duck pond, the sculpture garden, and thecornfields. When they looped toward the bleachers,Kirsten squinted and pointed toward the low metalbenches that held the girls’ hockey equipment. “Is thatyour sister?” Spencer flinched. Melissa was standing next to IanThomas, their new assistant coach. It was the very sameIan Thomas Melissa had dated when Spencer was in sev-enth grade—and the same Ian Thomas who had kissedSpencer in her driveway years ago. They finished their loop and Spencer came to a haltin front of Melissa and Ian. Her sister had changed intoan outfit that was nearly identical to what their motherhad been wearing earlier: stovepipe jeans, white tee, andan expensive Dior watch. She even wore Chanel No. 5,just like Mom. Such a good little clone, Spencer thought.“What are you doing here?” she demanded, out ofbreath. Melissa leaned her elbow on one of the Gatorade jugsresting on the bench, her antique gold charm bracelet tin-kling against her wrist. “What, a big sister can’t watch herlittle sister play?” But then her saccharine smile faded,and she snaked an arm around Ian’s waist. “It also helpsthat my boyfriend’s the coach.” Spencer wrinkled her nose. She’d always suspected
PERFECT ✦ 55Melissa had never gotten over Ian. They’d broken upshortly after graduation. Ian was still as cute as ever, withhis blond, wavy hair, beautifully proportioned body, andlazy, arrogant smile. “Well, good for you,” Spenceranswered, wanting out of this conversation. The less shespoke to Melissa, the better—at least until the GoldenOrchid thing was over. If only the judges would hurry thehell up and knock Spencer’s plagiarized paper out of therunning. She reached for her gear bag, pulled out her shinguards, and fastened one around her left shin. Then shefastened the other around her right. Then she unfastenedboth, refastening them much tighter. She pulled up hersocks and then pulled them down again. Repeat, repeat,repeat. “Someone’s awfully OCD today,” Melissa teased. Sheturned to Ian. “Oh, did you hear the big Spencer news?She won the Golden Orchid. The Philadelphia Sentinel iscoming over to interview her this week.” “I didn’t win,” Spencer barked quickly. “I was onlynominated.” “Oh, I’m sure you will win,” Melissa simpered, in away Spencer couldn’t quite read. When her sister gaveSpencer a wink, she felt a pinch of terror. Did she know? Ian let out a whistle. “A Golden Orchid? Damn! YouHastings sisters—smart, beautiful, and athletic. You shouldsee the way Spence tears up the field, Mel. She plays amean center.”
56 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Melissa pursed her shiny lips, thinking. “Rememberwhen Coach had me play center because Zoe hadmono?” she chirped to Ian. “I scored two goals. In onequarter.” Spencer gritted her teeth. She’d known Melissacouldn’t be charitable for long. Yet again, Melissa hadturned something completely innocent into a competi-tion. Spencer scrolled through the long list in her headfor an appropriate fake-nice insult but then decided toscrew it. This wasn’t the time to pick a fight with Melissa.“I’m sure it rocked, Mel,” she conceded. “I bet you’re away better center than I am.” Her sister froze. The little gremlin that Spencer wascertain lived inside Melissa’s head was confused. Clearlyit hadn’t expected Spencer to say something nice. Spencer smiled at her sister and then at Ian. He heldher gaze for a moment and then gave her a little conspir-atorial wink. Spencer’s insides flipped. She still got gooey when Ianlooked at her. Even three years later, Spencer remem-bered every single detail about their kiss. Ian had beenwearing a soft gray Nike T-shirt, green army shorts, andbrown Merrills. He smelled like cut grass and cinnamongum. One second, Spencer was giving him a good-byepeck on his cheek—she’d gone out to flirt, nothing more.The next second, he was pressing her up against the sideof his car. Spencer had been so surprised, she’d kept hereyes open.
PERFECT ✦ 57 Ian blew the whistle, breaking Spencer out of herthoughts. She jogged back to her team, and Ian followed.“All right, guys.” Ian clapped his hands. The team sur-rounded him, taking in Ian’s golden face longingly.“Please don’t hate me, but we’re going to do Indiansprints, crouching drills, and hill running today. Coach’sorders.” Everyone, including Spencer, groaned. “I told you notto hate me!” Ian cried. “Can’t we do something else?” Kirsten whined. “Just think how much butt you’re going to kick forour game against Pritchard Prep,” Ian said. “And howabout this? If we get through the entire drill, I’ll take youguys to Merlin after practice tomorrow.” The hockey team whooped. Merlin was famous for itslow-calorie chocolate ice cream that tasted better thanthe full-fat stuff. As Spencer leaned over the bench to fasten her shinguards—again—she felt Ian standing above her. When sheglanced up at him, he was smiling. “For the record,” Iansaid in a low voice, shadowing his face from her team-mates, “you play center better than your sister does. Noquestion about it.” “Thanks.” Spencer smiled. Her nose tickled with thesmell of cut grass and Ian’s Neutrogena sunscreen. Herheart pitter-pattered. “That means a lot.” “And I meant the other stuff, too.” The left corner ofIan’s mouth pulled up into a half-smile.
58 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Spencer felt a faint, trembling thrill. Did he mean the“smart” and “beautiful” stuff ? She glanced across thefield to where Melissa was standing. Her sister leanedover her BlackBerry, not paying a bit of attention. Good.
7 NOTHING LIKE AN OLD-FASHIONED INTERROGATIONMonday evening, Hanna parked her Prius in her sidedriveway and hopped out. All she had to do was changeclothes, and then she was off to meet Mona for theirdinner. Showing up in her Rosewood Day blazer andpleated skirt would be an insult to the institution ofFrenniversaries. She had to get out of these long sleeves—she’d been sweating all day. Hanna had spritzed herselfwith her Evian mineral water spray bottle about a hun-dred times on the drive home, but she still felt over-heated. When she rounded the corner, she noticed her mother’schampagne-colored Lexus next to the garage and stoppedshort. What was her mom doing home? Ms. Marin usuallyworked über-long hours at McManus & Tate, her Phila-delphia advertising firm. She often didn’t get back untilafter 10 P.M.
60 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Then Hanna noticed the four other cars, stuffed oneafter the other against the garage: the silver Mercedescoupe was definitely Spencer’s, the white Volvo Emily’s,and the clunky green Subaru Aria’s. The last car was awhite Ford with the words ROSEWOOD POLICE DEPART-MENT emblazoned on the side. What the hell? “Hanna.” Hanna’s mother stood on the side porch. She still hadon her sleek black pantsuit and high snakeskin heels. “What’s going on?” Hanna demanded, annoyed.“Why are my old friends here?” “I tried calling you. You didn’t pick up,” her mothersaid. “Officer Wilden wanted to ask you girls some ques-tions about Alison. They’re out back.” Hanna pulled her BlackBerry out of her pocket. Sureenough, she had three missed calls, all from her mom. Her mother turned. Hanna followed her into the houseand through the kitchen. She paused by the granite-topped telephone table. “Do I have any messages?” “Yes, one.” Hanna’s heart leapt, but then her motheradded, “Mr. Ackard. They’re doing some reorganization atthe burn clinic, and they won’t need your help anymore.” Hanna blinked. That was a nice surprise. “Anyone . . .else?” The corners of Ms. Marin’s eyes turned down, under-standing. “No.” She gently touched Hanna’s arm. “I’msorry, Han. He hasn’t called.”
PERFECT ✦ 61 Despite Hanna’s otherwise back-to-perfect life, thesilence from her father made her ache. How could he soeasily cut Hanna out of his life? Didn’t he realize she’dhad a very good reason to ditch their dinner and go toFoxy? Didn’t he know he shouldn’t have invited hisfiancée, Isabel, and her perfect daughter, Kate, to theirspecial weekend? But then, Hanna’s father would be mar-rying plain, squirrelly Isabel soon—and Kate would offi-cially be his stepdaughter. Maybe he hadn’t called Hannaback because Hanna was one daughter too many. Whatever, Hanna told herself, taking off her blazerand straightening her sheer pink Rebecca Taylorcamisole. Kate was a prissy bitch—if her father chose Kateover her, then they deserved each other. When she looked through the French doors to theback porch, Spencer, Aria, and Emily were indeed sittingaround the giant teak patio table, the light from thestained-glass window sparkling against their cheeks.Officer Wilden, the newest member of Rosewood’spolice force and Ms. Marin’s newest boyfriend, stoodnear the Weber grill. It was surreal to see her three ex–best friends here. Thelast time they’d sat on Hanna’s back porch had been atthe end of seventh grade—and Hanna had been the dorki-est and ugliest of the group. But now, Emily’s shouldershad broadened and her hair had a slight greenish tint.Spencer looked stressed and constipated. And Aria was azombie, with her black hair and pale skin. If Hanna was
62 ✦ SARA SHEPARDa couture Proenza Schouler, then Aria was a pilly, ill-fitting sweatshirt dress from the Target line. Hanna took a deep breath and pushed through theFrench doors. Wilden turned around. There was a seriouslook on his face. The tiniest bit of a black tattoo peeked outfrom under the collar of his cop uniform. It still amazedHanna that Wilden, a former Rosewood Day badass, hadgone into law enforcement. “Hanna. Have a seat.” Hanna scraped a chair back from the table andslumped down next to Spencer. “Is this going to takelong?” She examined her pink diamond-encrusted Diorwatch. “I’m late for something.” “Not if we get started,” Wilden looked around at allof them. Spencer stared at her fingernails, Aria chompedon her gum with her eyes freakishly closed, and Emilyfixated on the citronella candle in the middle of thetable, like she was about to cry. “First thing,” Wilden said. “Someone has leaked ahomemade video of you girls to the press.” He glanced atAria. “It was one of the videos you gave the RosewoodPD years ago. So you might see it on TV—all the newschannels got it. We’re looking for whoever leaked it—andthey’ll be punished. I wanted to let you girls know first.” “Which video is it?” Aria asked. “Something about text messages?” he answered. Hanna sat back, trying to remember which video itcould be—there were so many. Aria used to be obsessiveabout videotaping them. Hanna had always tried her
PERFECT ✦ 63hardest to duck out of every shot, because for her, thecamera added not ten pounds but twenty. Wilden cracked his knuckles and fiddled with aphallic-looking pepper grinder that sat in the center ofthe table. Some pepper spilled on the tablecloth, and theair immediately smelled spicy. “The other thing I want totalk about is Alison herself. We have reason to believethat Alison’s killer might be someone from Rosewood.Someone who possibly still lives here today . . . and thatperson may still be dangerous.” Everyone drew in a breath. “We’re looking at everything with a fresh eye,” Wildenwent on, rising from the table and strolling around withhis hands clasped behind his back. He’d probably seensomeone on CSI do that and thought it was cool. “We’retrying to reconstruct Alison’s life right before she wentmissing. We want to start with the people who knew herbest.” Just then, Hanna’s BlackBerry buzzed. She pulled itout of her purse. Mona. “Mon,” Hanna answered quietly, getting up from herchair and wandering to the far side of the porch by hermother’s rosebushes. “I’m going to be a couple minuteslate.” “Bitch,” Mona teased. “That sucks. I’m already at ourtable at Rive Gauche.” “Hanna,” Wilden called gruffly. “Can you please callwhoever that is back?”
64 ✦ SARA SHEPARD At the same time, Aria sneezed. “Bless you,” Emilysaid. “Where are you?” Mona sounded suspicious. “Areyou with someone?” “I’m at home,” Hanna answered. “And I’m withEmily, Aria, Spencer, and Off—” “You’re with your old friends?” Mona interrupted. “They were here when I got home,” Hanna protested. “Let me get this straight.” Mona’s voice rose higher.“You invited your old friends to your house. On the nightof our Frenniversary.” “I didn’t invite them.” Hanna laughed. It was still hardto believe Mona could feel threatened by her old friends.“I was just—” “You know what?” Mona cut her off. “Forget it. TheFrenniversary is cancelled.” “Mona, don’t be—” Then she stopped. Wilden wasnext to her. He plucked the phone from her hand and snapped itshut. “We’re discussing a murder,” he said in a low voice.“Your social life can wait.” Hanna glared at him behind his back. How dareWilden hang up her phone! Just because he was datingher mom didn’t mean he could get all dadlike on her.She stormed back to the table, trying to calm down.Mona was the queen of overreacting, but she couldn’t iceHanna out for long. Most of their fights only lasted a fewhours, tops.
PERFECT ✦ 65 “Okay,” Wilden said when Hanna sat back down. “Ireceived something interesting a few weeks ago that Ithink we should talk about.” He pulled his notepad out.“Your friend, Toby Cavanaugh? He wrote a suicide note.” “W-we know,” Spencer stuttered. “His sister let usread part of it.” “So you know it mentioned Alison.” Wilden flippedback through his notebook. “Toby wrote, ‘I promisedAlison DiLaurentis I’d keep a secret for her if she kept a secretfor me.’ ” His olive-colored eyes scanned each of them.“What was Alison’s secret?” Hanna slumped down in her seat. We were the ones whoblinded Jenna. That was the secret Toby had kept for Ali.Hanna and her friends hadn’t realized Toby knew that—until Spencer spilled the beans three weeks ago. Spencer blurted out, “We don’t know. Ali didn’t tellany of us.” Wilden’s brow crinkled. He leaned over the patiotable. “Hanna, a while ago you thought Toby killedAlison.” Hanna shrugged impassively. She’d gone to Wildenduring the time they’d thought Toby was A and Ali’skiller. “Well . . . Toby didn’t like Ali.” “Actually, he did like Ali, but Ali didn’t like himback,” Spencer clarified. “He used to spy on her all thetime. But I’m not sure if that had anything to do with hissecret.” Emily made a small whimper. Hanna eyed her
66 ✦ SARA SHEPARDsuspiciously. All Emily talked about lately was how guiltyshe felt about Toby. What if she wanted to tell Wildenthat they were responsible for his death—and Jenna’s acci-dent? Hanna might have taken the rap for The JennaThing weeks ago when she had nothing to live for, butthere was no way in hell she would confess now. Her lifewas finally back to normal, and she was in no mood tobe known as one of The Psycho Blinders, or whateverthey’d inevitably be called on TV. Wilden flipped a few pages on his pad. “Well, every-one think about it. Moving on . . . let’s talk about thenight Alison went missing. Spencer, it says here that rightbefore she disappeared, Ali tried to hypnotize you. Thetwo of you fought, she ran out of the barn, you ran afterher, but you couldn’t find her. Right?” Spencer stiffened. “Um. Yeah. That’s right.” “You have no idea where she went?” Spencer shrugged. “Sorry.” Hanna tried to remember the night Ali vanished. Oneminute, Ali was hypnotizing them; the next, she wasgone. Hanna really felt like Ali had put her in a trance:as Ali counted down from one hundred, the vanillacandle wafting pungently through the barn, Hanna hadfelt heavy and sleepy, the popcorn and Doritos she’deaten earlier roiling uncomfortably in her stomach.Spooky images began to flicker in front of her eyes: Aliand the others ran through a dense jungle. Large, man-eating plants surrounded them. One plant snapped its
PERFECT ✦ 67jaws and grabbed Ali’s leg. When Hanna had snappedout of it, Spencer was standing in the doorway of thebarn, looking worried . . . and Ali was gone. Wilden continued to stroll around the porch. Hepicked up a Southwest-style ceramic pot and turned itover, like he was checking for a price tag. Nosy bastard. “Ineed you girls to remember all you can. Think aboutwhat was happening around the time Alison disappeared.Did she have a boyfriend? Any new friends?” “She had a boyfriend,” Aria offered. “Matt Doolittle.He moved away.” As she sat back, her T-shirt slid off hershoulder, revealing a lacy, fire engine red bra strap. Slut. “She was hanging out with these older field hockeygirls,” Emily volunteered. Wilden looked at his notes. “Right. Katy Houghtonand Violet Keyes. I got them. How about Alison’s behav-ior. Was she acting strangely?” They fell silent. Yes, she was, Hanna thought. Shethought of one memory straightaway. On a blustery springday, a few weeks before Ali disappeared, her dad had takenthem both to a Phillies game. Ali was jittery the wholenight, as if she’d downed packs and packs of Skittles. Shekept checking her cell phone for texts and had seemedlivid that her inbox was empty. During the seventh inningstretch, when they sneaked to the balcony to ogle a groupof cute boys sitting in one of the skyboxes, Hanna noticedAli’s hands trembling. “Are you okay?” Hanna asked. Alismiled at her. “I’m just cold,” she explained.
68 ✦ SARA SHEPARD But was that suspicious enough to bring up? Itseemed like nothing, but it was hard to know what thepolice were looking for. “She seemed okay,” Spencer said slowly. Wilden looked at Spencer dead-on. “You know, myolder sister was a lot like Alison. She was the leader of herclique, too. Whatever my sister said, her friends did.Anything. And they kept all kinds of secrets for her. Isthat how it worked for you guys?” Hanna curled up her toes, suddenly irritated at wherethis conversation was going. “I don’t know,” Emily mumbled. “Maybe.” Wilden glanced down at the vibrating cell phoneclipped to his holster. “Excuse me.” He ducked towardthe garage, pulling his phone from his belt. As soon as he was out of earshot, Emily let out a pent-up breath. “Guys, we have to tell him.” Hanna narrowed her eyes. “Tell him what?” Emily held up her hands. “Jenna is blind. We didthat.” Hanna shook her head. “Count me out. And anyway,Jenna’s fine. Seriously. Have you noticed those Guccisunglasses she wears? You have to get on, like, a year-longwaiting list for a pair of those—they’re harder to scorethan a Birkin bag.” Aria gaped at Hanna. “What solar system are you from?Who cares about Gucci sunglasses?” “Well, obviously not someone like you,” Hanna spat.
PERFECT ✦ 69 Aria tensed her jaw and leaned back. “What is thatsupposed to mean?” “I think you know,” Hanna snarled. “Guys,” Spencer warned. Aria sighed and turned to face the side yard. Hannaglared at her pointy chin and ski-slope nose. Even Aria’sprofile wasn’t as pretty as hers. “We should tell him about Jenna,” Emily goaded.“And A. The police should handle this. We’re in over ourheads.” “We’re not telling him anything, and that’s final,”Hanna hissed. “Yeah, I don’t know, Emily,” Spencer said slowly, pok-ing her car keys through one of the tabletop’s wide slats.“That’s a big decision. It affects all our lives.” “We’ve talked about this before,” Aria agreed.“Besides, A is gone, right?” “I’ll leave you all out of it,” Emily protested, crossingher arms over her chest. “But I’m telling him. I think it’sthe right thing to do.” Aria’s cell phone chirped and everyone jumped. ThenSpencer’s Sidekick vibrated, wriggling toward the edge ofthe table. Hanna’s BlackBerry, which she’d shoved backinto her purse, let out a muffled chime. And Emily’s lit-tle Nokia made that old-school telephone ring sound. The last time the girls’ phones all rang at once had beenoutside Ali’s memorial service. Hanna had the same feel-ing she’d had the first time her father had taken her on the
70 ✦ SARA SHEPARDTilt-a-Whirl at the Rosewood County Fair when she wasfive—that of dizzying nausea. Aria opened her phone.Then Emily, then Spencer. “Oh God,” Emily whispered. Hanna didn’t even bother reaching for her BlackBerry;instead, she leaned over Spencer’s Sidekick. You really thought I was gone? Puh-lease. I’ve been watching you this whole time. In fact, I might be watching you right now. And girls—if you tell ANYONE about me, you’ll be sorry. —A Hanna’s heart throbbed. She heard footsteps andturned around. Wilden was back. He shoved his cell phone into his holster. Then helooked at the girls and raised an eyebrow. “Did I misssomething?” Had. He. Ever.
8 IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO READ THE BOOK BEFORE STEALING FROM ITAbout a half hour later, Aria pulled up to her fifties-modern brown box of a house. She cradled her Treo toher chin, waiting for Emily’s voice-mail message to fin-ish. At the beep, she said, “Em, it’s Aria. If you’re reallyconsidering telling Wilden, please call me. A’s capableof . . . of more than you think.” She hit END, feeling anxious. She couldn’t imaginewhat dark secret of Emily’s A might out if she talked to thepolice, but Aria knew from experience that A would do it. Sighing, she unlocked her front door and clomped upthe stairs, passing her parents’ bedroom. The door wasajar. Inside, her parents’ bed was neatly made—or was itonly Ella’s bed now? Ella had draped it with the brightsalmon batik-print quilt that she loved and Byrondespised. She’d piled all the pillows up on her side. Thebed felt like a metaphor for divorce.
72 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Aria dropped her books and aimlessly wandered backdownstairs into the den, A’s threat spinning around inher head like the centrifuge they’d used in today’sbiology lab. A was still here. And, according to Wilden, sowas Ali’s killer. A could be Ali’s killer, worming her wayinto all of their lives. What if Wilden was right—what ifAli’s killer wanted to hurt someone else? What if Ali’skiller wasn’t only Ali’s enemy, but Aria’s, Hanna’s,Emily’s, and Spencer’s, too? Did that mean one of themwas . . . next? The den was dark except for the flickering TV. WhenAria saw a hand curled over the edge of the tweedy loveseat, she jumped. Then Mike’s familiar face appeared. “You’re just in time.” Mike pointed to the TV screen.“Coming up, a never-before-seen home video of AlisonDiLaurentis shot the week before she was murdered,” he said inhis best Moviefone-announcer impersonation. Aria’s stomach tightened. This was the leaked videoWilden had been talking about. Years ago, Aria hadthrown herself into filmmaking, documenting every-thing she could, from snails in the backyard to her bestfriends. The movies were generally short, and Aria oftentried to make them arty and poignant, focusing onHanna’s nostril, or the zipper on Ali’s hoodie, orSpencer’s fidgety fingers. When Ali went missing, Ariaturned her video collection over to the police. The copscombed through them but had found no clues aboutwhere Ali could have gone. Aria still had the originals on
PERFECT ✦ 73her laptop, although she hadn’t looked through them ina long, long time. Aria flopped down on the love seat. When a Mercedescommercial ended and the news came back on, Aria andMike sat up straighter. “Yesterday, an anonymous sourcesent us this clip of Alison DiLaurentis,” the anchormanannounced. “It offers a look at how chillingly innocent herlife was just days before she was murdered. Let’s watch.” The clip opened with a fumbling shot of Spencer’sleather living room couch. “And because she wears a sizezero,” Hanna said offscreen. The camera panned to ayounger-looking Spencer, who had on a pink polo andcapri-length pajama pants. Her blond hair cascaded aroundher shoulders, and she wore a sparkly rhinestone crownon her head. “She looks hot in that crown,” Mike said enthusiasti-cally, tearing open a large bag of Doritos. “Shhh,” Aria hissed. Spencer pointed at Ali’s LG phone on the couch.“Want to read her texts?” “I do!” Hanna whispered, ducking out of the shot.Then the camera swung to Emily, who looked nearly thesame as she did today—same reddish-blond hair, sameoversize swimming T-shirt, same pleasant-but-worriedexpression. Aria suddenly remembered this night—beforethey’d turned on the camera, Ali had gotten a text mes-sage and hadn’t told them whom it was from. Everyonehad been annoyed.
74 ✦ SARA SHEPARD The camera showed Spencer holding Ali’s phone. “It’slocked.” There was a blurry shot of the phone’s screen. “Do you know her password?” Aria heard her ownvoice ask. “Damn! That’s you!” Mike whooped. “Try her birthday,” Hanna suggested. The camera showed Hanna’s chubby hands reachingin and taking the phone from Spencer. Mike wrinkled his nose and turned to Aria. “Is thiswhat girls do when they’re alone? I thought I was goingto see pillow fights. Girls in panties. Kissing.” “We were in seventh grade,” Aria snapped. “That’s justgross.” “There’s nothing wrong with seventh-grade girls intheir panties,” Mike said in a small voice. “What are you guys doing?” Ali’s voice called. Thenher face appeared on-screen, and Aria’s eyes brimmedwith tears. That heart-shaped face, those luminous darkblue eyes, that wide mouth—it was haunting. “Were you looking at my phone?” Ali demanded, herhands on her hips. “Of course not!” Hanna cried. Spencer staggeredbackward, clutching her head to keep her crown on. Mike shoved a handful of Doritos into his mouth.“Can I be your love slave, princess Spencer?” he said infalsetto. “I don’t think she goes out with prepubescent boyswho still sleep with their blankies,” Aria snapped.
PERFECT ✦ 75 “Hey!” Mike squeaked. “It’s not a blankie! It’s mylucky lacrosse jersey!” “That’s even worse,” Aria said. Ali floated on-screen again, looking alive and vibrantand carefree. How could Ali be dead? Murdered? Then Spencer’s older sister, Melissa, and her boy-friend, Ian, walked past the camera. “Hey, girls,” Ian said. “Hi,” Spencer greeted him loudly. Aria smirked at the TV. She’d forgotten how they alllusted over Ian. He was one of the people they wouldprank-call sometimes—along with Jenna Cavanaughbefore they hurt her, Noel Kahn because he was cute, andAndrew Campbell because Spencer found him annoy-ing. For Ian, they took turns pretending they were girlsfrom 1-800-Sexy-Coeds. The camera caught Ali rolling her eyes at Spencer.Then Spencer scowled at Ali behind her back. Typical,Aria thought. The night Ali disappeared, Aria hadn’tbeen hypnotized, and she’d listened to Ali and Spencerfight. When they ran out of the barn, Aria waited aminute or two, then followed. Aria called their names.But she couldn’t catch up with them. She went backinside, wondering if Ali and Spencer had just ditchedthe rest of them, staging the whole thing so they couldrun off to a cooler party. But eventually Spencer burstback inside. She looked so lost, as if she was in a trance. On-screen, Ian plopped down on the couch next toAli. “So, what are you girls doing?”
76 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Oh, not much,” Aria said from behind the camera.“Making a film.” “A film?” Ian asked. “Can I be in it?” “Of course,” Spencer said, taking a seat next to him.“It’s a talk show. I’m the host. You and Ali are my guests.I’ll do you first.” The camera panned off the couch and focused onAli’s closed phone, which was next to Ali’s hand on thecouch. It got closer and closer until the phone’s tiny LEDscreen took up the whole picture. To this day, Aria didn’tknow who had texted Ali that night. “Ask him who his favorite teacher at Rosewood is,”Aria’s younger, slightly higher voice called out frombehind the camera. Ali chuckled and looked straight into the lens. “That’sa good question for you, Aria. You should ask him if hewants to hook up with any of his teachers. In vacant park-ing lots.” Aria gasped, and heard her younger self gasp on-screen, too. Ali had really said that? In front of all ofthem? And then the clip was over. Mike turned to her. There were neon-orange Doritocrumbs around his mouth. “What did she mean abouthooking up with teachers? It seemed like she was onlytalking to you.” A dry rasp escaped Aria’s mouth. A had told Ellathat Aria had known about Byron’s affair all these years,
PERFECT ✦ 77but Mike still didn’t know. He’d be so disappointedin her. Mike stood up. “Whatever.” Aria could tell he was try-ing to be all unaffected and casual, but he bumbled outof the room, knocking over a framed, signed photo ofLou Reed—Byron’s rock star hero, and one of the fewByron artifacts Ella hadn’t removed. She heard himstomp up to his bedroom and slam the door hard. Aria put her head in her hands. This was the three-thousandth instance she wished she were back inReykjavík, hiking to a glacier, riding her Icelandic pony,Gilda, along a dried-up volcano bed, or even eatingwhale blubber, which everyone in Iceland seemed toadore. She shut off the TV, and the house became eerilysilent. When she heard a rustling at the door, shejumped. In the hall, she saw her mother, lugging in sev-eral large canvas shopping bags from Rosewood’s organ-ic market. Ella noticed Aria and smiled wearily. “Hey, sweetie.”Since she’d kicked Byron out, Ella seemed moredisheveled than usual. Her black gauzy tunic was baggierthan ever, her wide-leg silk pants had a tahini stain on thethigh, and her long, brownish-black hair sat in a rat’s nestat the crown of her head. “Let me help.” Aria took a bunch of bags from Ella’sarms. They walked into the kitchen together, hefted thebags onto the island, and started unpacking.
78 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “How was your day?” Ella murmured. Then Aria remembered. “Oh my God, you’ll neverbelieve what I did,” she exclaimed, feeling a surge of gid-diness. Ella glanced at her before putting the organicpeanut butter away. “I went down to Hollis. Because Iwas looking for . . . you know. Her.” Aria didn’t want tosay Meredith’s name. “She was teaching an art class, so Iran inside, grabbed a paintbrush, and painted a scarlet Aacross her chest. You know, like that woman in The ScarletLetter? It was awesome.” Ella paused, holding a bag of whole-wheat pasta mid-air. She looked nauseated. “She didn’t know what hit her,” Aria went on. “Andthen I said, ‘Now everyone will know what you’vedone.’” She grinned and spread her arms out. Taa-daa! Ella’s eyes darted back and forth, processing this. “Doyou realize that Hester Prynne is supposed to be a sympa-thetic character?” Aria frowned. She was only on page eight. “I did it foryou,” Aria explained quietly. “For revenge.” “Revenge?” Ella’s voice shook. “Thanks. That makesme look really sane. Like I’m really handling this well.This is hard enough for me as it is. Don’t you realizeyou’ve made her look like . . . like a martyr?” Aria took a step toward Ella. She hadn’t consideredthat. “I’m sorry. . . .” Then Ella crumpled against the counter and started tosob. Aria stood motionless. Her limbs felt like Sculpey
PERFECT ✦ 79clay straight out of the oven, all hardened and useless.She couldn’t fathom what her mom was going through,and she’d gone and made it worse. Outside their kitchen window, a hummingbird landedon the replica of a whale penis Mike had bought atReykjavík’s phallological museum. In any other circum-stance, Aria would’ve pointed it out—hummingbirds wererare here, especially ones that landed on fake whalepenises—but not today. “I can’t even look at you right now,” Ella finally stam-mered. Aria put her hand to her chest, as if her mother hadspeared her with one of her Wüsthof knives. “I’m sorry. Iwanted Meredith to pay for what she’s done.” When Elladidn’t answer, the searing, acidic feeling in Aria’s stom-ach grew stronger. “Maybe I should get out of here for awhile then, if you can’t stand the sight of me.” She paused, waiting for Ella to jump in and say, No,that’s not what I want. But Ella stayed quiet. “Yes, maybethat’s a good idea,” she agreed quietly. “Oh.” Aria’s shoulders sank and her chin trembled.“Then I . . . I won’t come home from school tomorrow.”She didn’t have any idea where she’d go, but that didn’tmatter right now. All that mattered was doing the onething that would make her mom happy.
9 EVERYONE, A BIG ROUND OFAPPLAUSE FOR SPENCER HASTINGS!On Tuesday afternoon, while most of the Rosewood Dayjunior class ate lunch, Spencer sat on top of the confer-ence table in the yearbook room. Eight blinking Mac G5computers, a whole bunch of long-lensed Nikon cam-eras, six eager sophomore and freshman girls, and anerdy, slightly effeminate freshman boy surrounded her. She tapped the covers of the past few Rosewood Dayyearbooks. Each year, the books were named The Muledue to some apocryphal, inside joke from the 1920s thateven the school’s oldest teachers had long forgotten. “Inthis year’s Mule, I think we should try to capture a sliceof what Rosewood Day students are like.” Her yearbook staff diligently wrote down slice of life intheir spiral-bound notebooks. “Like . . . maybe we could do some quickie interviewswith random students,” Spencer went on. “Or ask people
PERFECT ✦ 81what’s on their favorite iPod playlist, and then publish itin boxes next to their photos. And how are the still lifesgoing?” Last meeting, they had planned to ask a couplekids to empty the contents of their bags to documentwhat Rosewood Day girls and guys were carrying around. “I got great photos of the stuff in Brett Weaver’s soc-cer bag and Mona Vanderwaal’s purse,” said BrennaRichardson. “Fantastic,” Spencer said. “Keep up the good work.” Spencer closed her leaf green leather-bound journaland dismissed her staff. Once they were gone, shegrabbed her black fabric Kate Spade bag and pulled outher Sidekick. There it was. The note from A. She kept hoping itwouldn’t be there. As she slid the phone back into her bag, her fingersgrazed against something in the inside pocket: OfficerWilden’s business card. Wilden wasn’t the first cop to askSpencer about the night Ali went missing, but he was theonly one who’d ever sounded so . . . suspicious. The memory of that night was both crystal clear andincredibly muddled. She remembered a glut of emotions:excitement over getting the barn for their sleepover,annoyance that Melissa was there, giddiness that Ian was.Their kiss had been a couple weeks before that. But thenAli started talking about how Melissa and Ian made thecutest couple and Spencer’s emotions swung again. Alihad already threatened to tell Melissa about the kiss.
82 ✦ SARA SHEPARDOnce Ian and Melissa left, Ali tried to hypnotize them,and she and Spencer got in a fight. Ali left, Spencer ranafter her, and then . . . nothing. But what she never toldthe cops—or her family, or her friends—was that some-times when she thought about that night, it felt like therewas a black hole in the middle of it. That something hadhappened which she couldn’t remember. Suddenly, a vision flashed in front of Spencer’s eyes.Ali laughing nastily and turning away. Spencer stopped in the middle of the packed hallwayand someone ran into her back. “Will you move?” the girl behind her whined. “Someof us have to get to class.” Spencer took a tentative step forward. Whatever shehad just remembered had quickly disappeared, but it feltlike there had been an earthquake. She looked around forshattered glass and scattering students, certain the restof the world had felt it, too, but everything lookedcompletely normal. A few steps away, Naomi Zeiglerinspected her reflection in her mini locker mirror. Twofreshmen by the Teacher of the Year plaque laughed atthe pointy Satan beard and horns drawn over Mr. Craft’ssmiling photo. The windows that faced the commonsweren’t the tiniest bit cracked, and none of the vases inthe Pottery III display case had fallen over. What was thevision Spencer had just seen? Why did she feel so . . .slithery? She slipped into her AP econ classroom and slumped
PERFECT ✦ 83down at her desk, which was right next to a very largeportrait of a scowling J. P. Morgan. Once the rest of theclass filed in and everyone sat down, Squidward strode tothe front of the room. “Before today’s video, I have anannouncement.” He looked at Spencer. Her stomachswirled. She didn’t want everyone looking at her rightnow. “For her first essay assignment, Spencer Hastings madea very eloquent, convincing argument on the invisible-hand theory,” Squidward proclaimed, stroking his tie,which had Benjamin Franklin’s C-note portrait stampedall over it. “And, as you may have heard, I have nominat-ed her for a Golden Orchid award.” Squidward began to applaud, and the rest of the classfollowed. It lasted an intolerable fifteen seconds. “But I have another surprise,” Squidward continued.“I just got off the phone with a member of the judges’panel, and Spencer, you’ve made the finals.” The class burst into applause again. Someone at theback even wolf-whistled. Spencer sat very still. For amoment, she lost all vision completely. She tried to pastea smile on her face. Andrew Campbell, who sat next to her, tapped her onthe shoulder. “Nice job.” Spencer looked over. She and Andrew had hardlyspoken since she’d been the world’s worst Foxy date andditched him at the dance. Mostly, he’d been giving her dirtylooks. “Thanks,” she croaked, once she found her voice.
84 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “You must have really worked hard on it, huh? Didyou use extra sources?” “Uh-huh.” Spencer frantically pulled out all the loosehandouts from her econ folder and started straighteningthem. She smoothed out any bent-down corners andfolds and tried to organize them by date. Melissa’s paperwas actually the only outside source Spencer had used.When she’d tried to do the necessary research for theessay, even Wikipedia’s simple definition of invisible handhad completely perplexed her. The first few sentences ofher sister’s essay were clear enough—The great Scottish econ-omist Adam Smith’s invisible-hand concept can be summed upvery easily, whether it’s describing the markets of the nineteenthcentury or those of the twenty-first: you might think people aredoing things to help you, but in reality, everyone is only out forthemselves. But when she read the rest of the essay, herbrain got as foggy as her family’s eucalyptus steam room. “What kind of sources?” Andrew continued. “Books?Magazine articles?” When she looked over again, heseemed to have a smirk on his face, and Spencer feltdizzy. Did he know? “Like the . . . like the books McAdam suggested on hislist,” she fumbled. “Ah. Well, congratulations. I hope you win.” “Thanks,” she answered, deciding Andrew couldn’tknow. He was just jealous. Spencer and Andrew wereranked number one and number two, respectively, in theclass and were constantly shifting positions. Andrew
PERFECT ✦ 85probably monitored Spencer’s every achievement like astockbroker watches the Dow Jones Industrial Averageticker. Spencer went back to straightening her folder,although it wasn’t making her feel any better. As Squidward dimmed the lights and the video—Microeconomics and the Consumer, with cheesy, upbeatmusic—came on, Spencer’s Sidekick vibrated in her bag.Slowly, she reached in and pulled it out. Her phone hadone new text. Spence: I know what you did. But I won’t tell if you do EXACTLY what I say. Wanna know what happens if you don’t? Go to Emily’s swim meet . . . and you’ll see. —A Someone next to Spencer cleared his throat. Shelooked over, and there was Andrew, staring right at her.His eyes glowed against the flickering light of the movie.Spencer turned to face forward, but she could still feelAndrew watching her in the darkness.
10 SOMEONE DIDN’T LISTENDuring the break at the Rosewood Day–Drury Academyswim meet, Emily opened her team locker and pulleddown the straps of her Speedo Fastskin racing suit. Thisyear, the Rosewood Day swim team had splurged onfull-body, drag-free, Olympian-caliber swimsuits. They’dhad to special-order them, and they’d just arrived intime for today’s meet. The suits tapered to the ankles,clung to every inch of skin, and showed every bulge,reminding Emily of the photo in her bio textbook of aboa constrictor digesting a mouse. Emily grinned atLanie Iler, her teammate. “I’m so happy to be getting outof this thing.” She was also happy she’d decided to tell OfficerWilden about A. Last night, after Emily returned homefrom Hanna’s house, she’d called and arranged to meetWilden at the Rosewood police station later tonight.Emily didn’t care what the others said or thought about
PERFECT ✦ 87A’s threat—with the police involved, they could put thisdrama behind them forever. “You’re so lucky you’re done,” Lanie responded.Emily had already swum—and won—all of her events;now the only thing she had left to do was cheer alongwith the zillions of other Rosewood students who hadshowed up for the meet. She could hear the cheerleadersscreaming from the locker room and hoped theywouldn’t slip on the natatorium’s wet tiled floor—TraceyReid had taken a spill before the first event. “Hey, girls.” Coach Lauren strode down their aisle oflockers. Today, as usual, Lauren was wearing one of herinspirational swimming T-shirts: TOP TEN REASONS ISWIM. (Number five: BECAUSE I CAN EAT 5,000 CALORIESAND NOT FEEL GUILTY.) She clapped a hand on Emily’sshoulder. “Great job, Em. Pulling ahead in the medleyrelay like that? Fantastic!” “Thanks.” Emily blushed. Lauren leaned over the chipped red bench in themiddle of the aisle. “There’s a local recruiter from theUniversity of Arizona here,” she said in a low voice, onlyto Emily. “She asked if she could speak to you during thesecond half. That okay?” Emily’s eyes widened. “Of course!” The University ofArizona was one of the best swimming schools in thecountry. “Great. You guys can talk in my office, if you want.”Lauren gave Emily another smile. She disappeared toward
88 ✦ SARA SHEPARDthe hall that led to the natatorium, and Emily followed.She passed her sister Carolyn, who was coming from theother direction. “Carolyn, guess what!” Emily bounced up and down.“A University of Arizona recruiter wants to talk to me! IfI went there and you went to Stanford, we’d be close!”Carolyn was graduating this year and had already beenrecruited by Stanford’s swim team. Carolyn glanced at Emily and disappeared into abathroom stall, shutting the door behind her with a slam.Emily backed away, feeling stunned. What just hap-pened? She and her sister weren’t super-close, but she’dexpected a little more enthusiasm than that. As Emily walked toward the hall that led to the pool,Gemma Curran’s face peeped at her from the showers.When Emily met her eyes, Gemma snapped the curtainclosed. And as she walked by the sinks, AmandaWilliamson was whispering to Jade Smythe. When Emilymet their eyes in the mirror, their mouths made small,startled O’s. Emily felt goose bumps rise to the surface ofher skin. What was going on? “God, it seems like even more people are here now!”Lanie murmured, walking into the natatorium behindEmily. And she was right: the stands seemed morepacked than during the first half. The band, set up nearthe diving well, was playing a fight song, and the foamygray Hammerhead mascot had joined the cheerleaders infront of the stands. Everyone was in the stands—the pop-
PERFECT ✦ 89ular kids, the soccer boys, the drama club girls, even herteachers. Spencer Hastings sat next to Kirsten Cullen.Maya was up there, typing furiously into her cell phone,and Hanna Marin sat near her, all alone and gazing outinto the crowd. And there were Emily’s parents, dressedup in their blue-and-white Rosewood Swimming sweat-shirts decorated with GO EMILY and GO CAROLYN buttons.Emily tried to wave to them, but they were too busy study-ing a piece of paper, probably the heat sheet. Actually, alot of people were looking at the heat sheet. Mr. Shay, thegeezerish biology teacher who always watched practicebecause he’d been a swimmer about a thousand years ago,held a copy about three inches from his face. The heatsheet wasn’t that interesting—it just listed the order ofevents. James Freed stepped in Emily’s path. His mouthstretched into a broad grin. “Hey, Emily,” he saidleeringly. “I had no idea.” Emily frowned. “No idea . . . what?” Aria’s brother, Mike, sauntered up next to James. “Hi,Emily.” Mona Vanderwaal came up behind the two boys.“Stop bothering her, you two.” She turned to Emily.“Ignore them. I want to invite you to something.” Shedug through her giant butterscotch suede satchel andhanded Emily a white envelope. Emily turned it over inher hands. Whatever this was, Mona had scented it withsomething expensive. Emily glanced up, confused.
90 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I’m having a birthday party on Saturday,” Monaexplained, twisting a long piece of white-blond hairaround her fingers. “Maybe I’ll see you?” “You should totally come,” Mike agreed, widening hiseyes. “I . . .” Emily stammered. But before she could sayanything more, the band struck up another fight songand Mona skipped away. Emily looked at the invite again. What on earth wasthat all about? She wasn’t the type of girl who got hand-delivered invitations from Mona Vanderwaal. And shecertainly wasn’t the type who got salacious looks fromboys. Suddenly, something across the pool caught her eye.It was a piece of paper taped to the wall. It hadn’t beenthere before halftime. And it looked familiar. Like aphoto. She squinted. Her heart dropped to her knees. It wasa photo . . . of two people kissing in a photo booth. InNoel Kahn’s photo booth. “Oh my God.” Emily ran across the natatorium, slid-ing twice on the wet pool deck. “Emily!” Aria ran toward her from the side entrance,her suede platform boots clomping against the tile andher blue-black hair flapping wildly all over her face. “I’msorry I’m late, but can we talk?” Emily didn’t answer Aria. Someone had placed aXerox of the kissing photo next to the big marker board
PERFECT ✦ 91that listed who was swimming in what race. Her wholeteam would see it. But would they know it was her? She tore the Xerox off the wall. On the bottom, in bigblack letters, it said, LOOK WHAT EMILY FIELDS HAS BEENPRACTICING WHEN SHE’S NOT IN THE POOL! Well, that cleared that up. Aria leaned over and examined the photo. “Is that . . .you?” Emily’s chin trembled. She crumpled up the paper inher hands, but when she looked around, she saw anothercopy sitting on top of someone’s gear bag, a fold alreadydown the center. She grabbed it and crumpled it up, too. Then she saw another copy lying on the ground nearthe tub of kickboards. And another one . . . in CoachLauren’s hands. Lauren looked from the picture to Emily,from Emily to the picture. “Emily?” she said quietly. “This can’t be happening,” Emily whispered, rakingher hand through her wet hair. She glanced over at thewire-mesh wastebasket near Lauren’s office. There were atleast ten discarded pictures of her kissing Maya at thebottom. Someone had thrown a half-drunk can ofSunkist on top. The liquid had oozed out, coloring theirfaces orange. There were more near the water fountains.And taped up to the racing lane storage wheel. Her team-mates, who were all filtering out from the locker rooms,gave her uneasy looks. Her ex-boyfriend, Ben, smirked ather, as if to say, Your little lesbo experiment isn’t so fun now,huh?
92 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Aria picked up a copy that had seemingly fluttereddown from the ceiling. She squinted and pursed hershiny, strawberry-red lips together. “So what? You’re kiss-ing someone.” Her eyes widened. “Oh.” Emily let out a helpless eep. “Did A do this?” Aria whispered. Emily looked around frantically. “Did you see whowas giving these out?” But Aria shook her head. Emilyunzipped the pouch to her swim bag and found her cellphone. There was a text. Of course there was a text. Emily, sweetie, I know you’re all about tit for tat, so when you made plans to out me, I decided to out you too. Kisses! —A “Damn,” Aria whispered, reading the text over Emily’sshoulder. A sickening thought suddenly hit Emily. Her parents.That paper they were looking at—it wasn’t the heat sheet.It was the photo. She glanced over at the stands. Sureenough, her parents were staring at her. They looked likethey were about to cry, their faces red and nostrils flared. “I have to get out of here.” Emily searched for thenearest exit. “No way.” Aria grabbed Emily’s wrist and spun heraround. “This is nothing to be ashamed of. If someonesays something, screw ’em.” Emily sniffed. People might call Aria weird, but she
PERFECT ✦ 93was normal. She had a boyfriend. She would never knowwhat this felt like. “Emily, this is our opportunity!” Aria protested. “A isprobably here.” She looked menacingly into the bleachers. Emily peeked over at the stands again. Her parentsstill wore the same angry and hurt expressions. Maya’sspot was now empty. Emily scanned the length of thestands for her, but Maya was gone. A was probably up there. And Emily wished she wasbrave enough to climb up into the bleachers and shakeeveryone until someone confessed. But she couldn’t. “I . . . I’m sorry,” Emily said abruptly, and ran for thelocker room. She passed the hundred or so people whonow knew what she was really like, trampling over copiesof her and Maya on the way.
11 EVEN HIGH-TECH SECURITY DOESN’T PROTECT YOU FROM EVERYTHINGMoments later, Aria pushed through the fogged-updouble doors of Rosewood Day’s natatorium and joinedSpencer and Hanna, who were talking quietly by thevending machines. “Poor Emily,” Hanna whispered toSpencer. “Did you know about . . . this?” Spencer shook her head. “No idea.” “Remember when we snuck into the Kahns’ poolwhen they were on vacation and went skinny-dipping?”Hanna murmured. “Remember all the times we changedin dressing rooms together? I never felt weird.” “Me neither,” Aria piped up, ducking out of the wayso a freshman boy could get a soda out of the Cokemachine. “Do you think she thought any of us were cute?”Hanna widened her eyes. “But I was so fat back then,”she added, sounding a little disappointed.
PERFECT ✦ 95 “A passed around those flyers,” Aria said to Hannaand Spencer. She pointed toward the pool. “A might behere.” They all peered into the natatorium. Competitors stoodon the blocks, waiting. The hammerhead shark mascotparaded up and down the length of the pool. The standswere still packed. “What are we supposed to do about it?”Hanna asked, narrowing her eyes. “Stop the meet?” “We shouldn’t do anything.” Spencer zipped up herkhaki Burberry anorak to her chin. “If we look for A, Amight get mad . . . and do something worse.” “A. Is. Here!” Aria repeated. “This might be our bigchance!” Spencer looked at the crowd of kids in the lobby.“I . . . I have to go.” With that, she darted through therevolving doors and sprinted across the parking lot. Aria turned to Hanna. “Spencer ran out of here likeshe was A,” she half-joked. “I heard she’s a finalist in some big essay contest.”Hanna pulled out her Chanel compact and began dab-bing at her chin. “You know she gets manic when she’scompeting. She’s probably going home to study.” “True,” Aria said quietly. Maybe Spencer was right—maybe A would do something worse if they searched thestands. Suddenly, someone whipped her hood off her headfrom behind. Aria swirled around. “Mike,” she gasped.“God.”
96 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Her brother grinned. “Did you get a photo of thelesbo action?” He pretended to lick the picture of Emilyand Maya. “Can you get me Emily’s digits?” “Absolutely not.” She surveyed her brother. His STXlacrosse cap smashed down his blue-black hair, and hewas wearing his blue-and-white Rosewood Day Varsitylacrosse windbreaker. She hadn’t seen him since lastnight. “So.” Mike put his hands on his hips. “I hear you gotkicked out of the house.” “I wasn’t kicked out,” Aria said defensively. “I justthought it would be better if I stayed away for a while.” “And you’re moving into Sean’s?” “Yeah,” Aria answered. After Ella had told Aria toleave, Aria had called Sean in hysterics. She hadn’t beenfishing for an invitation—but Sean had offered, saying itwouldn’t be any trouble at all. Hanna’s jaw dropped. “You’re moving to Sean’s? Asin, his house?” “Hanna, not by choice,” Aria said quickly. “It’s anemergency.” Hanna cut her eyes away. “Whatever. I don’t care.You’re going to hate it. Everybody knows that stayingwith your boyfriend’s parents is relationship suicide.”She whirled around, pushing through the crowd towardthe front door. “Hanna!” Aria protested, but Hanna didn’t turnaround. She glared at Mike. “Did you have to mention
PERFECT ✦ 97that when she was standing here? Do you have no tact atall?” Mike shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t speak PMS.” He pulledout a PowerBar from his pocket and started to eat it,not bothering to offer Aria any. “You going to Mona’sparty?” Aria stuck out her lip. “Not sure. I haven’t thoughtabout it.” “Are you depressed or something?” Mike asked, hismouth full. Aria didn’t have to think about it too hard. “Kind of.I mean . . . Dad left. How do you feel?” Mike’s face changed from being open and jokey tohardened and guarded. He let the paper fall to his side.“So, last night I asked Mom some questions. She told meDad was seeing that girl before we went to Iceland. Andthat you knew.” Aria put the ends of her hair in her mouth and staredat the blue recycling can in the corner. Someone haddrawn a cartoonish pair of boobs on the lid. “Yeah.” “So why didn’t you tell me about it?” Aria glanced at him. “Byron told me not to.” Mike took a violent bite of PowerBar. “It was okay,though, to tell Alison DiLaurentis. And it’s okay for herto say it in a video that’s all over the news.” “Mike . . .” Aria started. “I didn’t tell her. She was withme when it happened.” “Whatever,” Mike grunted, colliding with the shark
98 ✦ SARA SHEPARDmascot as he pushed angrily through the natatorium’sdouble doors. Aria considered going after him but didn’t.She was reminded, suddenly, of the time in Reykjavíkwhen she was supposed to baby-sit Mike but had goneoff to the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa with herboyfriend, Hallbjorn, instead. When she returned,smelling like sulfur and covered in curative salt, she’d dis-covered that Mike had set half the backyard’s wood trel-lis on fire. Aria had gotten in deep trouble for it—andreally, it had been her fault. She’d noticed Mike eagerlyeyeing the kitchen matches before she left for the lagoon.She could have stopped him. She probably could havestopped Byron, too.“So this one’s yours,” Sean said, leading Aria down hismahogany-floored, immaculately clean hallway to alarge, white bedroom. It had a bay window with a win-dow seat, gauzy white curtains, and a white bouquet offlowers on the end table. “I love it.” The room looked like the Parisian bou-tique hotel room her family stayed in the time her fatherwas interviewed on Parisian television for being an experton gnomes. “You sure it’s okay for me to stay?” “Of course.” Sean gave her a demure kiss on thecheek. “I’ll let you get settled.” Aria looked out the window at the pinkish, late-Tuesday sky and couldn’t help comparing this view tohers at home. The Ackards’ estate was nestled in the
PERFECT ✦ 99deep woods and surrounded by at least ten acres ofuntouched land. The nearest property, a castlelikemonolith with medieval-style turrets, was at least threefootball fields away. Aria’s house was in a lovely butrickety neighborhood close to the college. The onlything she could see of her neighbors’ yard was theirunfortunate collection of birdbaths, stone animals, andlawn jockeys. “Everything okay with the room?” Mrs. Ackard,Sean’s stepmother, asked as Aria drifted downstairs intothe kitchen. “It’s great,” Aria said. “Thank you so much.” Mrs. Ackard gave her a sweet smile in return. She wasblond, a bit pudgy, with inquisitive blue eyes and a mouththat looked like it was smiling even when she wasn’t.When Aria closed her eyes and pictured a mom, Mrs.Ackard was pretty much what she imagined. Sean hadtold her that before she married his dad she’d worked asa magazine editor in Philadelphia, but now she was a full-time housewife, keeping the Ackards’ monstrous houselooking photo-shoot ready at all times. The apples in thewooden bowl on the island were unbruised, the maga-zines in the living room rack all faced the same direction,and the tassels on the giant Oriental rug were even, as ifthey’d just been combed. “I’m making mushroom ravioli,” Mrs. Ackard said,inviting Aria to come over and smell a pot of sauce.“Sean said you’re a vegetarian.”
100 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I am,” Aria answered softly. “But you didn’t have todo that for me.” “It’s no trouble,” Mrs. Ackard said warmly. Therewere also scalloped potatoes, a tomato salad, and a loafof the hearty, gourmet seven-grain bread from FreshFields that Ella always scoffed at, saying anyone whopaid $10.99 for some flour and water ought to have hishead examined. Mrs. Ackard pulled the wooden spoon out of the potand rested it on the counter. “You were good friends withAlison DiLaurentis, weren’t you? I saw that video of yougirls on the news.” Aria ducked her head. “That’s right.” A lump grew inher throat. Seeing Ali so alive in that video had broughtAria’s grief to the surface all over again. To Aria’s surprise, Mrs. Ackard wrapped her armaround her shoulder and gave her a little squeeze. “I’mso sorry,” she murmured. “I can’t imagine what that’slike.” Tears prickled at Aria’s eyes. It felt good to be nestledin a mom’s arms, even if she wasn’t her mom. Sean sat next to Aria at dinner, and everything was theantithesis of how it went at Aria’s house. The Ackards puttheir napkins on their laps, there was no television newsdroning in the background, and Mr. Ackard, who wasrangy and balding but had a charismatic smile, didn’tread the newspaper at the table. The younger Ackardtwins, Colin and Aidan, kept their elbows off the table
PERFECT ✦ 101and didn’t poke each other with their forks—Aria couldonly imagine what atrocities Mike would commit if hehad a twin. “Thank you,” Aria said as Mrs. Ackard poured moremilk in her glass, even though Byron and Ella had alwayssaid milk contained synthetic hormones and caused can-cer. Aria had told Ezra about her parents’ ban on milkthe evening she’d spent at his apartment a few weeks ago.Ezra had laughed, saying his family had their freak-showgranola moments, too. Aria laid down her fork. How had Ezra crept into herpeaceful dinnertime thoughts? She quickly eyed Sean,who was chewing a forkful of potatoes. She leaned overand touched his wrist. He smiled. “Sean tells us you’re taking AP classes, Aria,” Mr.Ackard said, spearing a carrot. Aria shrugged. “Just English and AP studio art.” “English lit was my major in college,” Mrs. Ackardsaid enthusiastically. “What are you reading right now?” “The Scarlet Letter.” “I love that book!” Mrs. Ackard cried, taking a smallsip of red wine. “It really shows how restrictive thePuritan society used to be. Poor Hester Prynne.” Aria chewed on the inside of her cheek. If only Ariahad talked to Mrs. Ackard before she branded Meredith. “The Scarlet Letter.” Mr. Ackard put his finger to hislips. “They made that into a movie, didn’t they?” “Uh-huh,” Sean said. “With Demi Moore.”
102 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “The one where the man falls in love with a youngergirl, right?” Mr. Ackard added. “So scandalous.” Aria drew in her breath. She felt like everyone waslooking at her, but in reality, only Sean was. His eyeswere wide and drawn down, mortified. I’m sorry, hisexpression said. “No, David,” Mrs. Ackard said quietly,in a voice that indicated she had some idea of Aria’s sit-uation. “That’s Lolita.” “Oh. Right.” Mr. Ackard shrugged, apparently notrealizing his faux pas. “I get them all mixed up.” After dinner, Sean and the twins went upstairs to dotheir homework, and Aria followed. Her guest room wasquiet and inviting. Some time between dinner and now,Mrs. Ackard had put a box of Kleenex and a vase oflavender on her nightstand. The flowers’ grandmotherlysmell filled the room. Aria flopped on her bed, switchedon the local news for company, and opened Gmail onher laptop. There was one new note. The name of thesender was a series of garbled letters and numbers. Ariafelt her heart stop as she double-clicked it open. Aria: Don’t you think Sean should know about that extra- credit work you did with a certain English teacher? Real relationships are built on truth, after all. —A Just then, the central heating shut off, making Aria situp straighter. Outside, a twig snapped. Then another.Someone was watching.
PERFECT ✦ 103 She crept to the window and peered out. The pinetrees cast lumpy shadows across the tennis court. A secu-rity camera perched on the edge of the house slowlyswiveled from right to left. There was a flicker of light,then nothing. When she looked back into her room, something onthe news caught her eye. New stalker sighting, the bannerat the bottom of the screen said. “We’ve received newsthat a few people have seen the Rosewood Stalker,” saida reporter, as Aria turned up the volume. “Stand by fordetails.” There was an image of a police car in front of a behe-moth of a house with castlelike turrets. Aria turned to thewindow again—there they were. And sure enough, a bluepolice siren was now flashing against the far-off pines. She stepped into the hall. Sean’s door was shut; BlocParty drifted out. “Sean?” She pushed his bedroom dooropen. His books were strewn all over his desk, but hisdesk chair was empty. There was an indentation on hisperfectly made bed where his body had been. His win-dow was open, and a chilly breeze blew in, making thecurtains dance like ghosts. Aria didn’t know what else to do, so she went back toher computer. That’s when she saw a new e-mail. P.S. I may be a bitch, but I’m not a murderer. Here’s a clue for the clueless: someone wanted something of Ali’s. The killer is closer than you think. —A
12 AH, COURT LIFETuesday evening, Hanna strolled down the main con-course at the King James Mall, puzzling over herBlackBerry. She’d sent Mona a text asking R we still meet-ing 4 my dress fitting? but she hadn’t received a response. Mona was probably still annoyed at her because ofthe Frenniversary thing, but whatever. Hanna had triedto explain why her old friends had been at her house, butMona had interrupted her before she could even start,declaring in her frostiest voice, “I saw you and yourbesties on the news. Congrats on your big TV debut.”Then she hung up. So sure she was pissed, but Hannaknew Mona couldn’t stay mad for long. If she did, whowould be her BFF? Hanna passed Rive Gauche, the mall brasserie wherethey were supposed to have their Frenniversary dinneryesterday. It was a copy of Balthazar in New York, whichwas a copy of zillions of cafés in Paris. She caught sight
PERFECT ✦ 105of a group of girls at Hanna’s and Mona’s favorite ban-quette. One of the girls was Naomi. The next was Riley.And the girl next to her was . . . Mona. Hanna did a double take. What was Mona doingwith . . . them? Even though the lights in Rive Gauche were dim andromantic, Mona was wearing her pink-tinted aviators.Naomi, Riley, Kelly Hamilton, and Nicole Hudson—Naomi and Riley’s bitchy sophomore toadies—surroundedher, and a big, uneaten plate of fries sat in the middle ofthe table. Mona appeared to be telling a story, wavingher hands around animatedly and widening her big,blue eyes. She came to a punch line, and the othershooted. Hanna squared her shoulders. She strode through thecafé’s antique brown door. Naomi was the first to noticeher. Naomi nudged Kelly, and they whispered together. “What are you girls doing here?” she demanded,standing over Riley and Naomi. Mona leaned forward on her elbows. “Well, isn’t thisa surprise? I didn’t know if you still wanted to be on thecourt, since you’re so busy with your old friends.” Sheflicked her hair over her shoulder and took a sip of DietCoke. Hanna rolled her eyes and settled on the end of thedark red banquette bench. “Of course I still want to beon your court, drama whore.” Mona gave her a bland smile. “ ’Kay, tubbykins.”
106 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Bitch,” Hanna shot back. “Slut,” Mona said. Hanna giggled . . . and so didNaomi, Riley, and the others. Sometimes she and Monagot in mock-fights like this, although normally theydidn’t have an audience. Mona twirled a piece of pale blond hair around herfinger. “Anyway, I decided the more, the merrier. Smallcourts are boring. I want this party to be over-the-top.” “We’re so excited,” Naomi gushed. “I can’t wait to tryon the Zac Posen dress Mona picked out for us.” Hanna shot them a taut smile. This really didn’t makeany sense. Everyone at Rosewood knew Riley and Naomihad been talking about Hanna behind her back. Andwasn’t it just last year that Mona had vowed she’d despiseNaomi forever after Naomi gossiped that Mona had got-ten skin grafts? Hanna had fake-friended Naomi forthat—she’d pretended she and Mona were in a fight, wonNaomi’s confidence, then pilfered a cheesy love letterNaomi had written to Mason Byers from Naomi’s note-book. Hanna posted the letter anonymously onRosewood Day’s intranet the very next day, everyonelaughed, and all was right again. All at once, Hanna had an epiphany. Of course!Mona was fake-friending! It completely made sense. Shefelt a little better, realizing what was going on, but shestill wanted confirmation. She eyed Mona. “Hey, Mon,can I talk to you for a sec? Alone?” “Can’t right now, Han.” Mona looked at her Movado
PERFECT ✦ 107watch. “We’re late for our fitting. C’mon.” With that, Mona strolled out of the restaurant, herthree-inch heels clacking against the shiny walnut floor.The others followed. Hanna reached over to grab herenormous Gucci purse, but the zipper had come undoneand the entire contents spilled under the table. All hermakeup, her wallet, her vitamins, the Hydroxycut she’dstolen ages ago from GNC but was a little too scared totake . . . everything. Hanna scrambled to pick it all up,her eyes on Mona and the others as they snaked away.She knelt down, feverishly trying to stuff everything intoher bag as quickly as possible. “Hanna Marin?” Hanna jumped. Above her was a familiar, tall, floppy-haired waiter. “It’s Lucas,” he reminded her, fiddling withthe cuff on his white button-down, the Rive Gauche uni-form. “You probably don’t recognize me because I lookso French in this outfit.” “Oh,” Hanna said wearily. “Hey.” She’d known LucasBeattie forever. In seventh grade, he’d been popular—and,bizarrely, for a second, he’d liked Hanna. Word had got-ten around that Lucas was going to send Hanna a redheart-shaped box of candy on the schoolwide CandyDay. A boy sending you a heart-shaped box of candymeant love, so Hanna got really excited. But then, a few days before Candy Day, somethingchanged. Lucas was suddenly a dork. His friends startedto ignore him, girls began to laugh at him, and a rampant
108 ✦ SARA SHEPARDrumor that he was a hermaphrodite swirled. Hannacouldn’t believe her luck, but she secretly wondered ifhe’d gone from popular to a loser all because he’ddecided to like her. Even if she was Ali D’s friend, she wasstill a fat, dorky, clumsy loser. When he sent her thecandy, Hanna hid it in her locker and didn’t thank him. “What’s up?” Hanna asked blandly. Lucas had prettymuch stayed a loser. “Not much,” Lucas responded eagerly. “What’s upwith you?” Hanna rolled her eyes. She hadn’t meant to start aconversation. “I have to go,” she said, looking toward thecourtyard. “My friends are waiting for me.” “Actually . . .” Lucas followed her toward the exit,“your friends forgot to pay the bill.” He whipped out aleather booklet. “Unless, um, you were getting it thistime.” “Oh.” Hanna cleared her throat. Nice of Mona tomention it. “No problem.” Lucas swiped her AmEx and gave her the bill to sign,and Hanna strode out of Rive Gauche without adding atip—or telling Lucas good-bye. The more she thoughtabout it, she was excited that Naomi and Riley were partof Mona’s court. Around Rosewood, party court girlscompeted over who could get the birthday girl the mostglamorous gift. A day pass to the Blue Springs Spa or aPrada gift card didn’t cut it, either—the winning gift hadto be totally over the top. Julia Rubenstein’s best friend
PERFECT ✦ 109had hired male strippers to perform at an after-party fora select few—and they’d been hot strippers, not muscle-heads. And Sarah Davies had convinced her dad to hireBeyoncé to sing “Happy Birthday” to the girl-of-honor.Thankfully, Naomi and Riley were about as creative asthe newborn panda at the Philadelphia Zoo. Hannacould out-glam them on her worst day. She heard her BlackBerry humming in her bag andpulled it out. There were two messages in her mailbox.The first, from Mona, had come in six minutes ago. Where R U, bee-yotch? If you’re any later, the tailor’s going to get pissed. —Mon But the second text, which had arrived two minuteslater, was from a blocked number. That could only beone person. Dear Hanna, We may not be friends, but we have the same enemies. So here are two tips: One of your old friends is hiding something from you. Something big. And Mona? She’s not your friend, either. So watch your back. —A
13 HELLO, MY NAME IS EMILY. AND I’M GAY.That night at 7:17 Emily pulled into her driveway. Aftershe’d run out of the natatorium, she’d walked around theRosewood Bird Sanctuary for hours. The busily chirpingsparrows, happy little ducks, and tame parakeets soothedher. It was a good place to escape from reality . . . and acertain incriminating photo. Every light in the house was on, including the one inthe bedroom that Emily and Carolyn shared. How wouldshe explain the photo to her family? She wanted to say thatkissing Maya in that picture had been a joke, that someonewas playing a prank on her. Ha ha, kissing girls is gross! But it wasn’t true, and it made her heart ache. The house smelled warm and inviting, like a mixtureof coffee and potpourri. Her mother had turned on thehallway Hummel figurines cabinet. Little figurines of aboy milking a cow and a lederhosen-clad girl pushing a
PERFECT ✦ 111wheelbarrow slowly rotated. Emily made her way downthe floral wallpapered hallway toward the living room.Both her parents were sitting on the flowered couch. Anolder woman sat on the love seat. Her mother gave her a watery smile. “Well, hello,Emily.” Emily blinked a few times. “Um, hi . . .” She lookedfrom her parents to the stranger on the love seat. “You want to come in?” her mother asked. “We havesomeone here to see you.” The older woman, who was wearing high-waistedblack slacks and a mint-green blazer, stood and offeredher hand. “I’m Edith.” She grinned. “It’s so nice to meetyou, Emily. Why don’t you sit down?” Emily’s father bustled into the dining room anddragged another chair over for her. She sat down tenta-tively, feeling jumpy. It was the same feeling she used toget when her old friends played the Pillow Game—oneperson walked around the living room blindfolded, and,at a random moment, the others bombarded her with pil-lows. Emily didn’t like playing—she hated those tensemoments right before they started smacking her—but shealways played anyway, because Ali loved it. “I’m from a program called Tree Tops,” Edith said.“Your parents told me about your problem.” The bones in Emily’s butt pressed into the bare woodof the dining room chair. “Problem?” Her stomach sank.She had a feeling she knew what problem meant.
112 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Of course it’s a problem.” Her mother’s voice waschoked. “That picture—with that girl we forbade you tosee—has it happened more than once?” Emily nervously touched the scar on her left palmthat she’d gotten when Carolyn accidentally speared herwith the gardening shears. She’d grown up striving to beas obedient and well behaved as possible, and she couldn’tlie to her parents—at least not well. “It’s happened morethan once, I guess,” she mumbled. Her mother let out a small, pained whimper. Edith pursed her wrinkly, fuchsia-lined lips. She hadan old-lady mothball smell. “What you’re feeling, it’s notpermanent. It’s a sickness, Emily. But we at Tree Tops cancure you. We’ve rehabilitated many ex-gays since the pro-gram began.” Emily barked out a laugh. “Ex . . . gays?” The worldstarted to spin, then recede. Emily’s parents looked at herself-righteously, their hands wrapped around their coffeecups. “Your interest in young women isn’t genetic or scien-tific, but environmental,” Edith explained. “With coun-seling, we’ll help you dismiss your . . . urges, shall wesay.” Emily gripped the arms of her chair. “ That sounds . . .weird.” “Emily!” scolded her mother—she’d taught herchildren never to disrespect adults. But Emily was toobewildered to be embarrassed.
PERFECT ✦ 113 “It’s not weird,” Edith chirped. “Don’t worry if youdon’t understand it all now. Many of our new recruitsdon’t.” She looked at Emily’s parents. “We have a superbtrack record of rehabilitation in the greater Philadelphiaarea.” Emily wanted to throw up. Rehabilitation? Shesearched her parents’ faces, but they gave her nothing.She glanced out to the street. If the next car that passes iswhite, this isn’t happening , she thought. If it’s red, it is. A carswept past. Sure enough, it was red. Edith placed her coffee cup on its saucer. “We’regoing to have a peer mentor come talk to you. Someonewho experienced the program firsthand. She’s a senior atRosewood Senior High, and her name’s Becka. She’s verynice. You’ll just talk. And after that, we’ll discuss youjoining the program properly. Okay?” Emily looked at her parents. “I don’t have time to talkto anybody,” she insisted. “I have swimming in themornings and after school, and then I have homework.” Her mother smiled tensely. “You’ll make time. Whatabout lunch tomorrow?” Edith nodded. “I’m sure that would be fine.” Emily rubbed her throbbing head. She already hatedBecka, and she hadn’t even met her. “Fine,” she agreed.“Tell her to meet me at Lorence chapel.” There was noway Emily was talking with Little Miss Tree Tops in thecafeteria. School was going to be brutal enough tomor-row as it was.
114 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Edith brushed her hands together and stood up. “I’llmake all the arrangements.” Emily stood against the foyer wall as her parentshanded Edith her coat and thanked her for coming.Edith navigated down the Fieldses’ stone path to her car.When Emily’s parents turned back to her, they hadweary, sober looks on their faces. “Mom, Dad . . .” Emily started. Her mother whirled around. “That Maya girl has a fewtricks up her sleeve, huh?” Emily backed up. “Maya didn’t pass that picturearound.” Mrs. Fields eyed Emily carefully, then sat down onthe couch and put her head in her hands. “Emily, whatare we going to do now?” “What do you mean, we?” Her mother looked up. “Don’t you see that this is areflection on all of us?” “I didn’t make the announcement,” Emily protested. “It doesn’t matter how it happened,” her mother inter-rupted. “What matters is that it’s out there.” She stood upand regarded the couch, then picked up a decorative pillowand smacked it with her fist to fluff it up. She set it backdown, picked up another, and started all over again.Thwack. She was punching them harder than she needed to. “It was so shocking to see that picture of you, Emily,”Mrs. Fields said. “Horribly shocking. And to hear that it’ssomething you’ve done more than once, well . . .”
PERFECT ✦ 115 “I’m sorry,” Emily whimpered. “But maybe it’s not—” “Have you even thought about how hard this is forthe rest of us?” Mrs. Fields interrupted. “We’re all . . .well, Carolyn came home crying. And your brother andsister both called me, offering to fly home.” She picked up another pillow. Thwack, thwack. A fewfeathers spewed out and floated through the air beforesettling on the carpet. Emily wondered what this wouldlook like to someone passing by the window. Perhapsthey’d see the feathers flying and think that somethingsilly and happy was happening, instead of what actuallywas. Emily’s tongue felt leaden in her mouth. A gnawinghole at the pit of her stomach remained. “I’m sorry,” shewhispered. Her mother’s eyes flashed. She nodded to Emily’sfather. “Go get it.” Her father disappeared into the livingroom, and Emily listened to him rooting through thedrawers of their old antique bureau. Seconds later, hereturned with a printout from Expedia. “This is for you,”Mr. Fields said. It was an itinerary, flying from Philadelphia to DesMoines, Iowa. With her name on it. “I don’t under-stand.” Mr. Fields cleared his throat. “Just to make things per-fectly clear, either you do Tree Tops—successfully—or youwill go live with your aunt Helene.” Emily blinked. “Aunt Helene . . . who lives on a farm?”
116 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Can you think of another Aunt Helene?” he asked. Emily felt dizzy. She looked to her mom. “You’regoing to send me away?” “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Mrs. Fieldsanswered. Tears dotted Emily’s eyes. For a while, she couldn’tspeak. It felt as if a block of cement were sitting on herchest. “Please don’t send me away,” she whispered.“I’ll . . . I’ll do Tree Tops. Okay?” She lowered her gaze. This felt like when she and Aliused to arm wrestle—they were matched for strength andcould do it for hours, but eventually, Emily would sur-render, letting her arm go limp. Maybe she was giving uptoo easily, but she couldn’t fight this. A small, relieved smile crept over her mother’s face.She put the itinerary in her cardigan pocket. “Now, thatwasn’t so hard, was it?” Before she could respond, Emily’s parents left theroom.
14 SPENCER’S BIG CLOSE-UPWednesday morning, Spencer stared at herself in hermahogany Chippendale vanity mirror. The vanity anddressing table had been in the Hastings family for twohundred years, and the watermark stain on the top hadallegedly been made by Ernest Hemingway—he’d set hissweaty glass of whisky on it during one of Spencer’sgreat-great-grandmother’s cotillions. Spencer picked up her round boar-bristle brush andbegan raking it through her hair until her scalp hurt.Jordana, the reporter from the Philadelphia Sentinel, wouldbe showing up soon for her big interview and photo shoot.A stylist was bringing wardrobe options, and Spencer’shairdresser, Uri, was due any minute to give her a blowout.She just finished her own makeup, going for a subtle,refined, fresh-faced look, which hopefully made her looksmart, put-together—and absolutely not a plagiarist. Spencer gulped and glanced at a photo she kept
118 ✦ SARA SHEPARDwedged in the corner of the mirror. It was of her oldfriends on Ali’s uncle’s yacht in Newport, Rhode Island.They were all smashed together, wearing matching J. Crewbikinis and wide-brimmed straw hats, grinning like theywere goddesses of the sea. This will go fine, Spencer told the mirror, taking a deepbreath. The article would probably end up being a tinyitem in the Style section, something no one would evensee. Jordana might ask her two or three questions, tops.A’s note from yesterday—I know what you did—had onlybeen meant to scare her. She tried to sweep it to the backof her mind. Suddenly, her Sidekick bleeped. Spencer picked it up,pushed a few buttons to get into her texts inbox, andsquinted at the screen. Need another warning, Spence? Ali’s murderer is right in front of you. —A Spencer’s phone clattered to the floor. Ali’s murderer?She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Then at the pic-ture of her friends in the corner. Ali was holding theyacht’s wheel, and the others were grinning behind her. And then, something in the window caught her eye.Spencer wheeled around, but there was nothing. No onein her yard except for a lost-looking mallard duck.Nobody in the DiLareuntises’ or the Cavanaughs’ yards,either. Spencer turned back to the mirror and ran her
PERFECT ✦ 119cool hands down the length of her face. “Hey.” Spencer jumped. Melissa stood behind her, leaningagainst Spencer’s four-poster bed. Spencer whirledaround, not sure if Melissa’s reflection was real. She’dsneaked up on Spencer so . . . stealthily. “Are you all right?” Melissa asked, fiddling with theruffled collar of her green silk blouse. “You look likeyou’ve seen a ghost.” “I just got the weirdest text,” Spencer blurted out. “Really? What did it say?” Spencer glanced at her Sidekick on the cream-coloredrug, then kicked it farther under the dressing table.“Never mind.” “Well, anyway, your reporter is here.” Melissa wan-dered out of Spencer’s room. “Mom wanted me to tellyou.” Spencer stood up and walked to her door. Shecouldn’t believe she’d almost told Melissa about A’snote. But what had A meant? How could Ali’s killer beright in front of her, when she was staring in the mirror? A vision flashed in front of her eyes. Come on, Alicackled nastily. You read it in my diary, didn’t you? I wouldn’t read your diary, Spencer replied. I don’t care. There were a few spots and flashes, and a white rushof movement. And then, poof, gone. Spencer blinked furi-ously for a few seconds, standing dazed and alone in themiddle of the upstairs hallway. It felt like a continuation
120 ✦ SARA SHEPARDof the strange, fuzzy memory from the other day. Butwhat was it? She strode slowly down the stairs, gripping the railingfor support. Her parents and Melissa were gatheredaround the couch in the living room. A plump womanwith frizzy black hair and black plastic cat’s-eye glasses, askinny guy with a patchy goatee and a ginormous cameraaround his neck, and a petite Asian girl who had a pinkstreak in her hair stood near the front door. “Spencer Hastings!” the frizzy-haired woman criedwhen she spied Spencer. “Our finalist!” She threw her arms around Spencer, and Spencer’snose smushed into the woman’s blazer, which smelledlike the maraschino cherries Spencer used to get in herShirley Temples at the country club. Then, she steppedback and held Spencer at arm’s length. “I’m JordanaPratt, style editor of the Philadelphia Sentinel,” she cried.Jordana gestured to the other two strangers. “And this isBridget, our stylist, and Matthew, our photographer. It’sso nice to meet you!” “Likewise,” Spencer sputtered. Jordana greeted Spencer’s mother and father. Shepassed over Melissa, not even looking at her, and Melissacleared her throat. “Um, Jordana, I believe we’ve met too.” Jordana narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose, asif a bad smell had just permeated the air. She stared atMelissa for a few seconds. “We have?” “You interviewed me when I ran the Philadelphia
PERFECT ✦ 121Marathon a couple years ago,” Melissa reminded her,standing up straighter and pushing her hair behindher ears. “At the Eames Oval, in front of the artmuseum?” Jordana still looked lost. “Great, great!” she cried dis-tractedly. “Love the marathon!” She gazed at Spenceragain. Spencer noticed she was wearing a Cartier TankAmericaine watch—and not one of the cheap stainlessones, either. “So. I want to know everything about you.What you like to do for fun, your favorite foods, whoyou think is going to win on American Idol, everything.You’re probably going to be famous someday, you know!All Golden Orchid winners end up stars.” “Spencer doesn’t watch American Idol,” Mrs. Hastingsvolunteered. “She’s too busy with all her activities andstudies.” “She got a 2350 on her PSATs this year,” Mr. Hastingsadded proudly. “I think that Fantasia girl is going to win,” Melissasaid. Everyone stopped and looked at her. “On AmericanIdol,” Melissa qualified. Jordana frowned. “That was practically the first sea-son.” She turned back to Spencer and pursed her glossyred lips. “So. Miss Finalist. We want to emphasize howfantastic and smart and wonderful you are, but we wantto keep it fun, too. You were nominated for an econo-mics essay—which is business stuff, right? I was thinkingthe shoot could be a spoof on The Apprentice. The photo
122 ✦ SARA SHEPARDcould scream, Spencer Hastings, You’re Hired! You’ll be in asleek black suit, sitting behind a big desk, telling a manhe’s fired. Or hired. Or that you want him to make youa martini. I don’t care.” Spencer blinked. Jordana spoke very fast and gesticu-lated wildly with her hands. “The desk in my study might work,” Mr. Hastingsoffered. “It’s down the hall.” Jordana looked at Matthew. “Wanna go check it out?”Matthew nodded. “And I have a black suit she could borrow,” Melissapiped up. Jordana pulled her BlackBerry off her hip-holster andstarted feverishly typing on the keypad. “That won’t benecessary,” she murmured. “We’ve got it covered.” Spencer took a seat on the striped chaise in the livingroom. Her mother plopped onto the piano bench.Melissa joined them, perching near the antique harp.“This is so exciting,” Mrs. Hastings cooed, leaning overto push some hair out of Spencer’s eyes. Spencer had to admit, she loved when people fawnedover her. It was such a rare occurrence. “I wonder whatshe’s going to ask me,” she mused. “Oh, probably about your interests, your education,”Mrs. Hastings singsonged. “Be sure to tell her aboutthose educational camps I sent you to. And rememberhow I started teaching you French when you were eight?You were able to go straight to French II in sixth grade
PERFECT ✦ 123because of that.” Spencer giggled into her hand. “There are going to beother stories in Saturday’s edition of the Sentinel, Mom.Not just mine.” “Maybe she’ll ask you about your essay,” Melissa saidflatly. Spencer looked up sharply. Melissa was calmly flip-ping through a Town & Country, her expression givingnothing away. Would Jordana ask about the essay? Bridget waltzed back in with a rolling rack of garmentbags. “Start unzipping these and see if there’s anythingyou like,” she instructed. “I just have to run out to the carand get the bag of shoes and accessories.” She wrinkledher nose. “An assistant would be great right now.” Spencer ran her hands along the vinyl bags. There hadto be at least twenty-five. “All these are just for my littlephoto shoot?” “Didn’t Jordana tell you?” Bridget widened her grayeyes. “The managing editor loved this story, especiallysince you’re local. We’re putting you on the front page!” “Of the Style section?” Melissa seemed incredulous. “No, of the whole paper!” Bridget cried. “Oh my God, Spencer!” Mrs. Hastings took Spencer’shand. “That’s right!” Bridget beamed. “Get used to this. Andif you win, you’ll be on one wild ride. I styled 2001’s win-ner for Newsweek. Her schedule was crazy.” Bridget strode back toward the front door, her jasmine
124 ✦ SARA SHEPARDperfume punctuating the air. Spencer tried to breatheyoga fire breaths. She unzipped the first garment bag,running her hands over a dark wool blazer. She checkedthe tag. Calvin Klein. The next one was Armani. Her mother and Melissa joined her in unzipping.They were quiet for a few seconds, until Melissa said,“Spence, there’s something taped on this bag.” Spencer looked over. A folded piece of lined paperwas affixed to a navy garment bag with duct tape. On thefront of the note was a single, handwritten initial: S. Spencer’s legs stiffened. She pulled the note offslowly, angling her body so that Melissa and her mothercouldn’t see it, and then opened it up. “What is it?” Melissa moved away from the rack. “J-just directions for the stylist.” Her words came outgarbled and thick. Mrs. Hastings continued to calmly unzip the garmentbags, but Melissa held Spencer’s gaze for a beat longer.When Melissa finally looked away, Spencer slowlyunfolded the note again. Dear Ms. Finalist, How’d you like it if I told your secret RIGHT NOW? I can, you know. And if you don’t watch it, maybe I will. —A
15 NEVER, EVER TRUST SOMETHING AS OBSOLETE AS A FAX MACHINEWednesday afternoon at lunch, Hanna sat at a teak farm-house table that overlooked the Rosewood Day practicefields and the duck pond. Mount Kale rose up in the dis-tance. It was a perfect afternoon. Tiffany-blue sky, nohumidity, the smell of leaves and clean air all aroundthem. The ideal setting for Hanna’s perfect birthdaypresent to Mona—now all Mona had to do was show up.Hanna hadn’t been able to get a word in while they werefitted for their champagne-colored Zac Posen courtdresses at Saks yesterday—not with Naomi and Rileyaround. She’d tried to call Mona to talk to her about itlast night, too, but Mona had said she was in the middleof studying for a big German test. If she failed, the SweetSeventeen was off. But whatever. Mona was due any minute, and they’dmake up for all the private Hanna-Mona time they’d
126 ✦ SARA SHEPARDmissed. And yesterday’s note from A about Mona notbeing trustworthy? Such a bluff. Mona might still be alittle pissed about the Frenniversary misunderstanding,but there was no way she’d bail on their friendship.Anyway, Hanna’s birthday surprise would make every-thing all better. So Mona had better speed it up beforeshe missed the whole thing. As Hanna waited, she scrolled through her BlackBerry.She had it programmed to keep messages until manuallyerased, so all her old Alison text conversations were stillstored right in her inbox. Most of the time, Hanna didn’tlike going through them—it was too sad—but today, forsome reason she wanted to. She found one from the firstday of June, a few days before Ali went missing. Trying to study for the health final, Ali had written. I have allthis nervous energy. Y? had been Hanna’s answer. Ali: I don’t know. Maybe I’m in love. Ha ha. Hanna: Yr in love? w/ who? Ali: Kidding. Oh shit, Spencer’s at my door. She wants topractice field hockey drills . . . AGAIN. Tell her no, Hanna had written back. Who do U love? You don’t tell Spencer no, Ali argued. She’ll, like, hurt you. Hanna stared at her BlackBerry’s bright screen. At thetime, she’d probably laughed. But now Hanna looked atthe old texts with a fresh eye. A’s note—saying one ofHanna’s friends was hiding something—scared her. CouldSpencer be hiding something?
PERFECT ✦ 127 All of a sudden, Hanna recalled a memory she hadn’tthought of in a long time: A few days before Ali wentmissing, the five of them had gone on a field trip to thePeople’s Light Playhouse to see Romeo and Juliet. Thereweren’t many seventh-graders who’d opted to go—the restof the field-trippers had been high-schoolers. Practicallyall of the Rosewood Day senior class had been there—Ali’s older brother, Jason, Spencer’s sister, Melissa, IanThomas, Katy Houghton, Ali’s field hockey friend, andPreston Kahn, one of the Kahn brothers. After the playwas over, Aria and Emily disappeared to the bathroom,Hanna and Ali sat on the stone wall and started eatingtheir lunches, and Spencer sprinted over to talk to Mrs.Delancey, the English teacher, who was sitting near herstudents. “She’s only over there because she wants to be nearthe older boys,” Ali muttered, glaring at Spencer. “We could go over too, if you want,” Hanna suggested. Ali said no. “I’m mad at Spencer,” she declared. “Why?” Hanna asked. Ali sighed. “Long, boring story.” Hanna let it drop—Ali and Spencer often got mad ateach other for no reason. She started daydreaming abouthow the hot actor who played Tybalt had stared right ather all through his death scene. Did Tybalt think Hannawas cute . . . or fat? Or perhaps he wasn’t staring at her atall—maybe he was just acting dead with his eyes open.When she looked up again, Ali was crying.
128 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Ali,” Hanna had whispered. She’d never seen Ali crybefore. “What’s wrong?” Tears ran silently down Ali’s cheeks. She didn’t evenbother wiping them away. She stared off in the directionof Spencer and Mrs. Delancey. “Forget it.” “Shit! Look at that!” Mason Byers cried out, breakingHanna out of her old seventh-grade thoughts. Up in thesky, a biplane cut a line through the clouds. It passedover Rosewood Day, swooped around, and then zoomedby again. Hanna jiggled up and down in her seat andswiveled around. Where the hell was Mona? “Is that an old Curtiss?” James Freed asked. “I don’t think so,” Ridley Mayfield answered. “I thinkit’s a Travel Air D4D.” “Oh, right,” James said, as if he’d known it all along. Hanna’s heart fluttered excitedly. The plane made afew long, sweeping strokes through the air, puffing out atrail of clouds that formed a perfect letter G. “It’s writingsomething!” a girl near the door called out. The plane moved on to the E, then the T, and then,after a space, the R. Hanna was practically bursting. Thiswas the coolest party court gift ever. Mason squinted at the plane, which was dipping andweaving in the sky. “Get . . . ready . . . to . . .” he read. Just then, Mona slid into the seat next to her, throw-ing her charcoal gray quilted Louis Vuitton bag over herchair. “Hey, Han,” she said, opening her Fresh Fieldsbento box and sliding the paper off her wooden chop-
PERFECT ✦ 129sticks. “So you’ll never believe who Naomi and Riley gotto play at my birthday party. It’s the best gift ever.” “Forget that,” Hanna squealed. “I got you somethingcooler.” Hanna tried to point out the plane in the sky, butMona was riled up. “They got Lexi,” she rushed on. “Lexi!For me! At my party! Can you believe it?” Hanna let her spoon drop back in the yogurt container.Lexi was a female hip-hop artist from Philadelphia. A majorlabel had signed her and she was going to be a megastar.How had Naomi and Riley managed that? “Whatever,” shesaid quickly, and steered Mona’s chin toward the clouds.“Look what I did for you.” Mona squinted into the sky. The plane had finishedwriting the message and was now doing loops over theletters. When Hanna took in the whole message, her eyeswidened. “Get ready to . . .” Mona’s mouth fell open. “. . . fartwith Mona?” “Get ready to fart with Mona!” Mason cried. Otherswho saw it were repeating it, too. A freshman boy by theabstract wall mural blew into his hands to make a fartingsound. Mona stared at Hanna. She looked a little green.“What the hell, Hanna?” “No, that’s wrong!” Hanna squeaked. “It was sup-posed to say, ‘Get ready to party with Mona!’ P-A-R-T-Y!They messed up the letters!”
130 ✦ SARA SHEPARD More people made fart noises. “Gross!” a girl nearthem screamed. “Why would she write that?” “This is horrible!” Mona cried. She pulled her blazerover her head, just like celebrities did when they wereavoiding the paparazzi. “I’m calling them right now to complain,” Hannaexclaimed, whipping out her BlackBerry and shakily scroll-ing for the skywriting company’s number. This wasn’t fair.She’d used the clearest, neatest handwriting possible whenshe faxed Mona’s party message to the skywriter. “I’m sosorry, Mon. I don’t know how this happened.” Mona’s face was shadowed under her blazer. “You’resorry, huh?” she said in a low voice. “I bet you are.” Sheslid her blazer back around her shoulders, lurched up,and strode away as fast as her raffia Celine wedges wouldcarry her. “Mona!” Hanna jumped up after her. She touchedMona’s arm and Mona spun around. “It was a mistake!I’d never do that to you!” Mona took a step closer. Hanna could smell her Frenchlavender laundry soap. “Ditching the Frenniversary is onething, but I never thought you’d try to ruin my party,” shegrowled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “But you wantto play that way? Fine. Don’t come. You’re officially unin-vited.” Mona stomped through the cafeteria doors, practicallypushing two nerdy-looking freshmen aside into the largestone planters. “Mona, wait!” Hanna cried weakly.
PERFECT ✦ 131 “Go to hell,” Mona yelled over her shoulder. Hanna took a few steps backwards, her whole bodytrembling. When she looked around the courtyard, every-one was staring at her. “Oh, snap,” Hanna heard Des-demona Lee whisper to her softball-playing friends.“Mrow,” a group of younger boys hissed from the moss-covered birdbaths. “Loser,” an anonymous voice muttered. The wafting smell of the cafeteria’s overly sauced,mushy-crusted pizza was beginning to give Hanna thatold, familiar feeling of being both hideously nauseatedand crazily ravenous at the same time. She returned toher purse and rifled absentmindedly through the sidepouch to find her emergency package of white cheddarCheez-Its. She pushed one into her mouth after another,not even tasting them. When she looked up into the sky,the puffy, letter-shaped clouds announcing Mona’s partyhad drifted. The only letter that remained intact was the last onethe plane had written: a crisp, angular letter A.
16 SOMEONE’S BEEN KISSING IN THE KILN. . . .That same Wednesday lunch period, Emily strodequickly through the art studio hallway. “Heeeyyy,Emily,” crooned Cody Wallis, Rosewood Day’s star ten-nis player. “Hi?” Emily looked over her shoulder. She was theonly person around—could Cody really be saying hi toher? “Looking good, Emily Fields,” murmured John Dexter,the unbelievably hot captain of Rosewood Day’s crewteam. Emily couldn’t even muster a hello—the last timeJohn had spoken to her was in fifth-grade gym class.They’d been playing dodgeball, and John had beanedEmily’s chest to tag her out. Later, he’d come up to herand said, snickering, “Sorry I hit your boobie.” She’d never had so many people—especially guys—smile, wave, and say hi to her. This morning, Jared Coffey,
PERFECT ✦ 133a brooding senior who rode a vintage Indian motorcycleto school and was usually too cool to speak to anyone,had insisted on buying her a blueberry muffin out of thevending machine. And as Emily had walked from secondto third period this morning, a small convoy of freshmanboys followed. One filmed her on his Nokia—it wasprobably already up on YouTube. She had come to schoolprepared to be taunted about the photo A had passedaround at the meet yesterday, so this was sort of . . .unexpected. When a hand shot out of the pottery studio, Emilyflinched and let out a small shriek. Maya’s face material-ized at the door. “Psst. Em!” Emily stepped out of the stream of traffic. “Maya.Hey.” Maya batted her eyelashes. “Come with me.” “I can’t right now.” Emily checked her chunky Nikewatch. She was late for her lunch with Becka—Little MissTree Tops. “How about after school?” “Nah, this’ll just take a second!” Maya darted insidethe empty studio and around a maze of desks toward thewalk-in kiln. To Emily’s surprise, she pushed the kiln’sheavy door open and slid inside. Maya poked her headback out and grinned. “Coming?” Emily shrugged. Inside the kiln, everything was dark,wooden, and warm—like a sauna. Dozens of students’pots sat on the shelves. The ceramics teacher hadn’t firedthem yet, so they were still brick red and gooey.
134 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “It’s neat in here,” Emily mused softly. She’d alwaysliked the earthy, wet smell of raw clay. On one of theshelves was a coil pot she’d made two periods ago. She’dthought she’d done a good job, but seeing it again, shenoticed that one side caved in. Suddenly, Emily felt Maya’s hands sliding up her backto her shoulders. Maya spun Emily around, and theirnoses touched. Maya’s breath, as usual, smelled likebanana gum. “I think this is the sexiest room in theschool, don’t you?” “Maya,” Emily warned. They had to stop . . . only,Maya’s hands felt so good. “No one will see,” Maya protested. She raked herhands through Emily’s dry, chlorine-damaged hair. “Andbesides, everyone knows about us anyway.” “Aren’t you bothered by what happened yesterday?”Emily asked, pulling away. “Don’t you feel . . . violated?” Maya thought for a moment. “Not particularly. Andno one really seems to care.” “That’s the weird thing,” Emily agreed. “I thoughteveryone was going to be mean today—like, teasing me orwhatever. But instead . . . I’m suddenly crazily popular.People didn’t even pay this much attention to me afterAli disappeared.” Maya grinned and touched Emily’s chin. “See? I toldyou it wouldn’t be so bad. Wasn’t it a good idea?” Emily stepped back. In the kiln’s pale light, Maya’sface shone a ghoulish green. Yesterday, she’d noticed
PERFECT ✦ 135Maya in the natatorium stands . . . but when she’dlooked after discovering the photo, she couldn’t findMaya anywhere. Maya had wanted their relationship tobe more open. A sick feeling washed over her. “What doyou mean, good idea?” Maya shrugged. “I just mean, whoever did this madethings much easier for us.” “B-but it’s not easier,” Emily stammered, rememberingwhere she was supposed to be right now. “My parents arelivid about that photo. I have to go into a counselingprogram to prove to them I’m not gay. And if I don’t,they’re going to send me to Iowa to live with my auntHelene and uncle Allen. For good.” Maya frowned. “Why didn’t you tell your parents thetruth? That this is who you are, and it’s not somethingyou can, like, change. Even in Iowa.” She shrugged. “Itold my family I was bi last year. They didn’t take it thatwell at first, but they got better.” Emily moved her feet back and forth against the kiln’ssmooth cement floor. “Your parents are different.” “Maybe.” Maya stood back. “But listen. Since lastyear, when I was finally honest with myself and witheverybody else? Ever since then, I’ve felt so great.” Emily’s eyes instinctively fell to the snakelike scaron the inside of Maya’s forearm. Maya used to cutherself—she said it was the only thing that made herfeel okay. Had being honest about who she waschanged that?
136 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Emily closed her eyes and thought of her mother’sangry face. And getting on a plane to live in Iowa. Neversleeping in her own bed again. Her parents hating herforever. A lump formed in her throat. “I have to do what they say.” Emily focused on a pet-rified piece of gum someone had stuck on a kiln shelf. “Ishould go.” She opened the kiln door and stepped backinto the classroom. Maya followed her. “Wait!” She caught Emily’sarm, and as Emily spun around, Maya’s eyes searchedher face. “What are you saying? Are you breaking upwith me?” Emily stared across the room. There was a stickerabove the pottery teacher’s desk that said, I LOVE POTS!Only, someone had crossed out the s and drawn a mari-juana leaf over the exclamation point. “Rosewood’s myhome, Maya. I want to stay here. I’m sorry.” She snaked around the vats of glaze and potter’swheels. “Em!” Maya called behind her. But Emily didn’tturn around. She took the exit door that led straight out of the pot-tery studio to the quad, feeling like she’d just made ahuge mistake. The area was empty—everyone was atlunch—but for a second, Emily could have sworn she sawa figure standing on Rosewood Day’s bell tower roof. Thefigure had long blond hair and held binoculars to herface. It almost looked like Ali. After Emily blinked, all she saw was the tower’s
PERFECT ✦ 137weathered bronze bell. Her eyes must have been playingtricks on her. She’d probably just seen a gnarled, twistedtree. Or . . . had she?Emily shuffled down the little footpath that led toLorence chapel, which looked less like a chapel andmore like the gingerbread house Emily had made forthe King James Mall Christmas competition in fourthgrade. The building’s scalloped siding was cinnamonbrown, and the elaborate trim, balusters, and gableswere a creamy white. Gumdrop-colored flowers linedthe window boxes. Inside, a girl was sitting in one of thefront pews, facing forward in the otherwise emptychapel. “Sorry I’m late,” Emily huffed, sliding onto thebench. There was a Nativity scene placed on the altar atthe front of the room, waiting to be set up. Emily shookher head. It wasn’t even November yet. “It’s cool.” The girl put out her hand. “RebeccaJohnson. I go by Becka.” “Emily.” Becka wore a long lacy tunic, skinny jeans, anddemure pink flats. Delicate, flower-shaped earrings dan-gled from her ears, and her hair was held back with a lace-trimmed headband. Emily wondered if she’d end uplooking as girly as Becka if she completed the Tree Topsprogram.
138 ✦ SARA SHEPARD A few seconds passed. Becka took out a tube of pinklip gloss and applied a fresh coat. “So, do you want toknow anything about Tree Tops?” Not really, Emily wanted to answer. Maya was probablyright—Emily would never be truly happy until she stoppedfeeling ashamed and denying her feelings. Although . . .she eyed Becka. She seemed okay. Emily opened her Coke. “So, you liked girls?” Shedidn’t entirely believe it. Becka looked surprised. “I—I did . . . but not any-more.” “Well, when you did . . . how did you know for sure?”Emily asked, realizing she was brimming with questions. Becka took a minuscule bite out of her sandwich.Everything about her was small and doll-like, includingher hands. “It felt different, I guess. Better.” “Same here!” Emily practically shouted. “I had boy-friends when I was younger . . . but I always felt differentlyabout girls. I even thought my Barbies were cute.” Becka daintily wiped her mouth with a napkin.“Barbie was never my type.” Emily smiled, as another question came to her. “Whydo you think we like girls? Because I was reading that itwas genetic, but does that mean that if I had a daughter,she would think her Barbies were cute, too?” Shethought for a moment, before rambling on. No one wasaround and it felt good to ask some of the things thathad been circling around in her brain. That’s what this
PERFECT ✦ 139meeting was supposed to be about, right? “Although . . .my mom seems like the straightest woman on earth,”Emily continued, a little manically. “Maybe it skips ageneration?” Emily stopped, realizing that Becka was staring at herwith a weirded-out expression on her face. “I don’t thinkso,” she said uneasily. “I’m sorry,” Emily admitted. “I’m kind of babbling.I’m just really . . . confused. And nervous.” And aching,she wanted to add, dwelling for a second on how Maya’sface had collapsed when Emily told her it was over. “It’s okay,” Becka said quietly. “Did you have a girlfriend before you went into TreeTops?” Emily asked, more quietly this time. Becka chewed on her thumbnail. “Wendy,” she saidalmost inaudibly. “We worked together at the Body Shopat the King James Mall.” “Did you and Wendy . . . fool around?” Emily nibbledon a potato chip. Becka glanced suspiciously at the manger figurines onthe altar, like she thought that Joseph and Mary and thethree wise men were listening in. “Maybe,” she whispered. “What did it feel like?” A tiny vein near Becka’s temple pulsed. “It felt wrong.Being . . . gay . . . it’s not easy to change it, but I thinkyou can. Tree Tops helped me figure out why I was withWendy. I grew up with three brothers, and my counselorsaid I was raised in a very boy-centric world.”
140 ✦ SARA SHEPARD That was the stupidest thing Emily had ever heard. “Ihave a brother, but I have two sisters too. I wasn’t raisedin a boy-centric world. So what’s wrong with me?” “Well, maybe the root of your problem is different.”Becka shrugged. “The counselors will help you figure thatout. They get you to let go of a lot of feelings and mem-ories. The idea is to replace them with new feelings andmemories.” Emily frowned. “They’re making you forget stuff ?” “Not exactly. It’s more like letting go.” As much as Becka tried to sugarcoat it, Tree Topssounded horrible. Emily didn’t want to let go of Maya.Or Ali, for that matter. Suddenly, Becka reached out and put her hand overEmily’s. It was surprising. “I know this doesn’t makemuch sense to you now, but I learned something huge inTree Tops,” Becka said. “Life is hard. If we go with thesefeelings that are . . . that are wrong, our lives are going tobe even more of an uphill battle. Things are hardenough, you know? Why make it worse?” Emily felt her lip quiver. Were all lesbians’ lives anuphill battle? What about those two gay women who ranthe triathlon shop two towns over? Emily had bought herNew Balances from them, and they seemed so happy.And what about Maya? She used to cut herself, but nowshe was better. “So is Wendy okay that you’re in Tree Tops now?”Emily asked.
PERFECT ✦ 141 Becka stared at the stained-glass window behind thealtar. “I think she gets it.” “Do you guys still hang out?” Becka shrugged. “Not really. But we’re still friends, Iguess.” Emily ran her tongue over her teeth. “Maybe wecould all hang out some time?” It might be good to seetwo ex-gays who were actually friends. Maybe she andMaya could be friends, too. Becka cocked her head, seeming surprised. “Okay.How about Saturday night?” “Sounds good to me,” Emily answered. They finished their lunch and Becka said good-bye.Emily started down the sloped green, falling in line withthe other Rosewood Day kids heading back to class. Herbrain was overloaded with information and emotions.The lesbian triathletes might be happy and Maya mightbe better, but maybe Becka had a point, too. What wouldit be like at college, then after college, then getting a job?She would have to explain her sexuality to people overand over again. Some people wouldn’t accept her. Before yesterday, the only people who knew howEmily truly felt were Maya, her ex, Ben, and Alison. Twoout of the three hadn’t taken it very well. Maybe they were right.
17BECAUSE ALL CHEESY RELATIONSHIP MOMENTS HAPPEN IN CEMETERIESWednesday after school, Aria watched Sean pedal hisGary Fisher mountain bike farther in front of her, easilyclimbing West Rosewood’s hilly country roads. “Keepup!” he teased. “Easy for you to say!” Aria answered, pedaling furi-ously on Ella’s old beat-up Peugeot ten-speed fromcollege—she’d brought it with her when she moved intoSean’s. “I don’t run six miles every morning!” Sean had surprised Aria after school by announcinghe was ditching soccer so they could hang out. Whichwas a huge deal—in the 24 hours she had lived with him,Aria had learned that Sean was über–soccer boy, thesame way her brother was manic about lacrosse. Everymorning, Sean ran six miles, did drills, and kicked prac-tice goals into a net set up on the Ackards’ lawn until itwas time to leave for school.
PERFECT ✦ 143 Aria struggled up the hill and was happy to see thatthere was a long descent in front of them. It was a gor-geous day, so they’d decided to take a bike ride aroundWest Rosewood. They rode past rambling farmhousesand miles of untouched woods. At the bottom of the hill, they passed a wrought-ironfence with an ornate entrance gate. Aria hit her brakes.“Hold on. I completely forgot about this place.” She had stopped in front of St. Basil’s cemetery,Rosewood’s oldest and spookiest, where she used to dogravestone rubbings. It was set on acres and acres ofrolling hills and beautifully tended lawns, and some ofthe headstones dated back to the 1700s. Before Ariafound her niche with Ali, she’d gone through a gothphase, embracing everything having to do with death,Tim Burton, Halloween, and Nine Inch Nails. The ceme-tery’s leafy oaks had provided the perfect shade forlounging and acting morose. Sean stopped beside her. Aria turned to him. “Can wego in for a sec?” He looked alarmed. “Are you sure?” “I used to love coming here.” “Okay.” Sean reluctantly chained his bike to awrought-iron trash can along with Aria’s and startedbehind her past the first line of headstones. Aria read thenames and the dates that she had practically memorizeda few years back. EDITH JOHNSTON, 1807–1856. BABYAGNES, 1820–1821. SARAH WHITTIER, with that Milton
144 ✦ SARA SHEPARDquote, DEATH IS THE GOLDEN KEY THAT OPENS THE PALACEOF ETERNITY. Over the hill, Aria knew, were the graves ofa dog named Puff, a cat named Rover, and a parakeetnamed Lily. “I love graves,” Aria said as they passed a big one withan angel statue on the top. “They remind me of ‘TheTell-Tale Heart.’ ” “The what?” Aria raised an eyebrow. “Oh, come on. You’ve readthat short story. Edgar Allan Poe? The dead guy’s buriedin the floor? The narrator can still hear his heart beat-ing?” “Nope.” Aria put her hands on her hips, dumbstruck. Howcould Sean not have read that? “When we get back, I’llfind my Poe book so you can.” “Okay,” Sean agreed, then changed the subject. “Yousleep okay last night?” “Great.” A white lie. Her Paris-hotel-like room wasbeautiful, but Aria had actually found it difficult to sleep.Sean’s house was . . . too perfect. The duvet seemed toofluffy, the mattress too quilted, the room too quiet. Itsmelled too nice and clean as well. But more than that, she’d been too worried aboutthe movement outside her guest bedroom window,about the possible stalker sighting, and about A’s note—saying that Ali’s killer was closer than she thought. Ariahad thrashed around for hours, alone, certain she’d
PERFECT ✦ 145look over and see the stalker—or Ali’s killer—at the footof her bed. “Your stepmom got all anal on me this morning,though,” Aria said, skirting around a Japanese cherryblossom tree. “I forgot to make my bed. She made me goback upstairs and do it.” She snorted. “My mom hasn’tdone that in about a billion years.” When she looked over, Sean wasn’t laughing along.“My stepmom works hard to keep the house clean.Rosewood Historic House tours come through it almostevery day.” Aria bristled. She wanted to tell him that theRosewood Historic Society had considered her housefor the tour, too—some Frank Lloyd Wright protégéhad designed it. Instead, she sighed. “I’m sorry. It’sjust . . . my mom hasn’t even called me since I left amessage telling her I was staying with you. I feel so . . .abandoned.” Sean stroked her arm. “I know, I know.” Aria poked her tongue into the spot at the back of hermouth where her lone wisdom tooth had been. “That’sthe thing,” she said softly. “You don’t know.” Sean’sfamily was perfect. Mr. Ackard had made them Belgianwaffles this morning, and Mrs. Ackard had packed every-one’s lunches—including Aria’s. Even their dog, anAiredale, was well mannered. “So explain it to me,” Sean said. Aria sighed. “It’s not as easy as that.”
146 ✦ SARA SHEPARD They passed a gnarled, knotty tree. Suddenly, Arialooked down . . . and stopped short. Right in front of herwas a new gravesite. The groundskeeper hadn’t dug thehole for the coffin yet, but there was a taped-off, coffin-size space. The marble headstone was up, though. It read,plainly, ALISON LAUREN DILAURENTIS. A small, gurgling noise escaped from the back ofAria’s throat. The authorities were still examining Ali’sremains for signs of poison and trauma, so her parentshadn’t buried her yet. Aria hadn’t known they were plan-ning to bury her here. She looked helplessly at Sean. He went pale. “Ithought you knew.” “I had no idea,” she whispered back. The headstone said nothing but Ali’s name. Nodevoted daughter, or wonderful field hockey player, or mostbeautiful girl in Rosewood. There wasn’t even the day,month, or year she’d died. That was probably because noone knew the exact date. She shivered. “Do you think I should say something?” Sean pursed his pink lips. “When I visit my mom’sgrave, sometimes I do.” “Like what?” “I fill her in on what’s going on.” He looked at hersideways and blushed. “I went after Foxy. I told her aboutyou.” Aria blushed too. She stared at the headstone but feltself-conscious. Talking to dead people wasn’t her thing. I
PERFECT ✦ 147can’t believe you’re dead, Aria thought, not able to say thewords out loud. I’m standing here, looking at your grave, andit still isn’t real. I hate that we don’t know what happened. Is thekiller still here? Is A telling the truth? Yesssss, Aria swore she heard a far-off voice call. Itsounded like Ali’s voice. She thought about A’s note. Someone had wantedsomething of Ali’s—and had killed her for it. What?Everyone had wanted something of Ali’s—even her bestfriends. Hanna had wanted Ali’s personality, and seemedto have appropriated it after Ali vanished. Emily hadloved Ali more than anyone—they used to call Emily“Killer,” as in Ali’s personal pit bull. Aria had wantedAli’s ability to flirt, her beauty, her charisma. AndSpencer had always been so jealous of her. Aria stared into the taped-off area that would be Ali’sgrave and asked the question that had been slowly form-ing in her mind: What were you guys really fighting about? “This isn’t working for me,” Aria whispered after amoment. “Let’s go.” She gave Ali’s future grave a parting glance. As sheturned away, Sean’s fingers entwined with hers. Theywalked quietly for a while, but halfway to the gate, Seanstopped. “Bunny rabbit,” he said, pointing at a rabbitacross the clearing. He kissed Aria’s lips. Aria’s mouth curled up into a smile. “I get a kiss justbecause you saw a rabbit?” “Yep.” Sean nudged her playfully. “It’s like the game
148 ✦ SARA SHEPARDwhere you punch someone when you see a VW Bug. Withus, it can be kisses—and rabbits. It’s our couple game.” “Couple game?” Aria snickered, thinking he wasjoking. But Sean’s face was serious. “You know, a game that’sonly for us. And it’s a good thing it’s rabbits, becausethere are tons of rabbits in Rosewood.” Aria was afraid to make fun of him, but really—a cou-ple game? It reminded her of something Jennifer Thatcherand Jennings Silver might do. Jennifer and Jennings werea couple in her grade who had been going out since beforeAria had left for Iceland at the end of seventh grade. Theywere known only as Double-J, or Dub-J, and were calledthat even individually. Aria could not be a Dub-J. As she watched Sean walk in front of her, headingtoward their bikes, the delicate hairs on the back of herneck stood up. It felt like someone was looking at her.But when she turned around, all she saw was a giant blackcrow standing on top of Ali’s headstone. The crow glared at her, unblinking, and then spreadits massive wings and took off toward the trees.
18A GOOD SMACK UPSIDE THE HEAD NEVER HURT ANYONEOn Thursday morning, Dr. Evans shut her office door,settled into her leather chair, folded her hands placidly,and smiled at Spencer, who was sitting opposite her. “So.I hear you had a photo shoot and interview yesterdaywith the Sentinel.” “That’s right,” Spencer answered. “And how did that go?” “Fine.” Spencer took a sip of her extra-large Starbucksvanilla latte. The interview actually had gone fine, evenafter all of Spencer’s worrying—and A’s threats. Jordanahad barely asked her about the essay, and Matthew hadtold her the pictures looked exquisite. “And how did your sister deal with you being in thespotlight?” Dr. Evans asked. When Spencer raised an eye-brow, Dr. Evans shrugged and leaned forward. “Have youever thought she might be jealous of you?”
150 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Spencer glanced anxiously at Dr. Evans’s closed door.Melissa was sitting outside on the waiting room couch,reading Travel + Leisure. Yet again, she’d scheduled hersession for right after Spencer’s. “Don’t worry, she can’t hear you,” Dr. Evans assuredher. Spencer sighed. “She seemed sort of . . . pissed,” shesaid in a low voice. “Usually, it’s all about Melissa. Evenwhen my parents just ask me a question, Melissa imme-diately tries to steer the conversation back to her.” Shestared at the undulating silver Tiffany ring on her point-er finger. “I think she hates me.” Dr. Evans tapped her notebook. “You’ve felt like shehates you for a long time, right? How does that make youfeel?” Spencer shrugged, hugging one of Dr. Evans’s forestgreen chenille pillows to her chest. “Angry, I guess.Sometimes I get so frustrated about the way things are, Ijust want to . . . hit her. I don’t, obviously, but—” “But it would feel good though, wouldn’t it?” Spencer nodded, staring at Dr. Evans’s chrome goose-neck lamp. Once, after Melissa told Spencer she wasn’t avery good actress, Spencer had come really close topunching Melissa in the face. Instead, she’d flung one ofher mother’s Spode Christmas plates across the diningroom. It had shattered, leaving a butterfly-shaped crackin the wall. Dr. Evans flipped a page in her notebook. “How do your
PERFECT ✦ 151parents deal with your and your sister’s . . . animosity?” Spencer raised one shoulder. “Mostly, they don’t. Ifyou asked my mom, she’d probably say that we get alongperfectly.” Dr. Evans sat back and thought for a long time. Shetapped the drinking-bird toy on her desk, and the plasticbird started taking measured sips of water out of an IHEART ROSEWOOD, PA, coffee mug. “This is just an earlytheory, but perhaps Melissa is afraid that if your parentsrecognize something you’ve done well, they’ll love youinstead of her.” Spencer cocked her head. “Really?” “Maybe. You, on the other hand, think your parentsdon’t love you at all. It’s all about Melissa. You don’tknow how to compete with her, so that’s where herboyfriends come in. But maybe it’s not that you wantMelissa’s boyfriends exactly, but more that you want tohurt Melissa herself. Sound right?” Spencer nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe . . .” “You girls are both in a lot of pain,” Dr. Evans saidquietly, her face softening. “I don’t know what startedthis behavior—it could have been something long ago,something you might not even remember—but you’vefallen into a pattern of dealing with each other this way,and you’ll continue the pattern unless you recognizewhat it’s based on and learn how to respect each other’sfeelings and change. The pattern might be repeating inyour other relationships, too—you might choose friends
152 ✦ SARA SHEPARDand boyfriends who treat you like Melissa does, becauseyou’re comfortable with the dynamic, and you knowyour role.” “What do you mean?” Spencer asked, hugging herknees. This sounded awfully psychobabblish to her. “Are your friends sort of . . . the center of everything?They have everything you want, they push you around,you never feel good enough?” Spencer’s mouth went dry. She certainly used to havea friend like that: Ali. She closed her eyes and saw the strange Ali memorythat had been plaguing her all week. The memory was ofa fight, Spencer was sure of it. Only, Spencer usuallyremembered all of her fights with Ali, better than sheremembered the good moments of their friendship. Wasit a dream? “What are you thinking?” Dr. Evans asked. Spencer took a breath. “About Alison.” “Ah.” Dr. Evans nodded. “Do you think Alison waslike Melissa?” “I don’t know. Maybe.” Dr. Evans plucked a Kleenex out of the box on herdesk and blew her nose. “I saw that video of you girls onTV. You and Alison seemed angry at each other. Wereyou?” Spencer took a deep breath. “Sort of.” “Can you remember why?” She thought for a moment and gazed around the
PERFECT ✦ 153room. There was a plaque on Dr. Evans’s desk that shehadn’t noticed the last time she’d been here. It said THEONLY TRUE KNOWLEDGE IN LIFE IS KNOWING YOU KNOWNOTHING. —SOCRATES. “Those weeks before Alison wentmissing, she started acting . . . different. Like she hatedus. None of us wanted to admit it, but I think she wasplanning on dropping us that summer.” “How did that make you feel? Angry?” “Yeah. Sure.” Spencer paused. “Being Ali’s friend wasgreat, but we had to make a lot of sacrifices. We wentthrough a lot together, and some of it wasn’t good. It waslike, ‘We go through all this for you, and you repay us byditching us?’” “So you felt owed something.” “Maybe,” Spencer answered. “But you feel guilty too, right?” Dr. Evans suggested. Spencer lowered her shoulders. “Guilty? Why?” “Because Alison’s dead. Because, in some ways, youresented her. Maybe you wanted something bad to hap-pen to her because she was hurting you.” “I don’t know,” Spencer whispered. “And then your wish came true. Now you feel likeAlison’s disappearance is your fault—that if you hadn’tfelt this way about her, she wouldn’t have been mur-dered.” Spencer’s eyes clouded with tears. She couldn’trespond. “It’s not your fault,” Dr. Evans said forcefully, leaning
154 ✦ SARA SHEPARDforward in the chair. “We don’t always love our friendsevery minute. Alison hurt you. Just because you had amean thought about her doesn’t mean you caused herdeath.” Spencer sniffed. She stared at the Socrates quoteagain. The only true knowledge in life is knowing you knownothing. “There’s a memory that keeps popping into myhead,” she blurted out. “About Ali. We’re fighting. Shetalks about something I read in her diary—she alwaysthought I was reading her diary, but I never did. ButI’m . . . I’m not even sure the memory is real.” Dr. Evans put her pen to her mouth. “People copewith things in different ways. For some people, if theywitness or do something disturbing, their brain some-how . . . edits it out. But often the memory starts push-ing its way back in.” Spencer’s mouth felt scratchy, like steel wool.“Nothing disturbing happened.” “I could try to hypnotize you to draw out the memory.” Spencer’s mouth went dry. “Hypnotize?” Dr. Evans was staring at her. “It might help.” Spencer chewed on a piece of hair. She pointed at theSocrates quote. “What does that mean?” “That?” Dr. Evans’s shrugged. “Think about it your-self. Draw your own conclusion.” She smiled. “Now, areyou ready? Lie down and get comfy.” Spencer slumped on the couch. As Dr. Evans pulleddown the bamboo blinds, Spencer cringed. This was just
PERFECT ✦ 155like what Ali did that night in the barn before she died. “Just relax.” Dr. Evans turned off her desk lamp. “Feelyourself calming down. Try to let go of everything wetalked about today. Okay?” Spencer wasn’t relaxed at all. Her knees locked andher muscles shook. Even her teeth ground together. Nowshe’s going to walk around and count down from one hundred.She’ll touch my forehead, and I’ll be in her power. When Spencer opened her eyes, she wasn’t in Dr.Evans’s office anymore. She was outside her barn. Itwas night. Alison was staring at her, shaking her headjust like she had in the other flashes of memorySpencer had recalled during the week. Spencer suddenlyknew it was the night Ali went missing. She tried toclaw her way out of the memory, but her limbs feltheavy and useless. “You try to steal everything away from me,” Ali wassaying with a tone and inflection that were now eerilyfamiliar. “But you can’t have this.” “Can’t have what?” The wind was cold. Spencershivered. “Come on,” Ali taunted, putting her hands on herhips. “You read about it in my diary, didn’t you?” “I wouldn’t read your diary,” Spencer spat. “I don’tcare.” “You care way too much,” Ali said. She leaned for-ward. Her breath was minty. “You’re delusional,” Spencer sputtered.
156 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “No, I’m not,” Ali snarled. “You are.” Rage suddenly filled Spencer. She leaned forward andshoved Ali’s shoulder. Ali looked surprised. “Friends don’t shove friends.” “Well, maybe we’re not friends,” Spencer answered. “Guess not,” Ali said. She took a few steps away butturned back. Then she said something else. Spencer sawAli’s mouth move, then felt her own mouth move, but shecouldn’t hear their words. All she knew was that whateverAli said made her angry. From somewhere far away was asharp, splintering crack. Spencer’s eyes snapped open. “Spencer,” Dr. Evans’s voice called. “Hey. Spencer.” The first thing she saw was Dr. Evans’s plaque acrossthe room. The only true knowledge is knowing you know noth-ing. Then, Dr. Evans’s face swam into view. She had anuncertain, worried look on her face. “Are you okay?” Dr.Evans asked. Spencer blinked a few times. “I don’t know.” She sat upand ran the palm of her hand over her sweaty forehead. Thisfelt like waking up from the anesthesia the time she’d hadher appendix out. Everything seemed blurry and edgeless. “Tell me what you see in the room,” Dr. Evans said.“Describe everything.” Spencer looked around. “The brown leather couch,the white fluffy rug, the . . .” What had Ali said? Why couldn’t Spencer hear her?Had that really happened? “A wire mesh trash can,” she stammered. “An
PERFECT ✦ 157Anjou pear candle . . .” “Okay.” Dr. Evans put her hand on Spencer’s shoul-der. “Sit here. Breathe.” Dr. Evans’s window was now open, and Spencercould smell the freshly tarred asphalt on the parking lot.Two morning doves cooed to each other. When she finallygot up and told Dr. Evans she’d see her next week, shewas feeling clearer. She skidded across the waiting roomwithout acknowledging Melissa. She wanted out of here. In the parking lot, Spencer slid into her car and sat insilence. She listed all the things she saw here, too. Hertweed bag. The farmer’s market placard across the streetthat read, FRESH OMATOES. The T had fallen to theground. The blue Chevy truck parked crookedly in thefarmer’s market lot. The cheerful red birdhouse hangingfrom a nearby oak. The sign on the office building doorthat said only service animals were permitted inside.Melissa’s profile in Dr. Evans’s office window. The corners of her sister’s mouth were spread into ajagged smile, and she was talking animatedly with herhands. When Spencer looked back at the farmer’s mar-ket, she noticed the Chevy’s front tire was flat. There wassomething slinking behind the truck. A cat, maybe. Spencer sat up straighter. It wasn’t a cat—it was a per-son. Staring at her. The person’s eyes didn’t blink. And then, suddenly,whoever it was turned his or her head, crouched into theshadows, and disappeared.
19 IT’S BETTER THAN A SIGN SAYING, “KICK ME”Thursday afternoon, Hanna followed her chemistry classacross the commons to the flagpole. There had been afire drill, and now her chem teacher, Mr. Percival, wascounting to make sure none of the students had run off.It was another freakishly hot October day, and as the sunbeat down on the top of Hanna’s head, she heard twosophomore girls whispering. “Did you hear that she’s a klepto?” hissed NoelleFrazier, a tall girl with cascading blond ringlets. “I know,” replied Anna Walton, a tiny brunette withenormous boobs. “She, like, organized this huge Tif-fany heist. And then she went and wrecked Mr. Ackard’scar.” Hanna stiffened. Normally, she wouldn’t have beenbothered by a couple of lame sophomore girls, but shewas feeling sort of vulnerable. She pretended to be really
PERFECT ✦ 159interested in a bunch of tiny pine trees the gardeners hadjust planted. “I heard she’s at the police station like every day,”Noelle said. “And you know she’s not invited to Mona’s anymore,right?” Anna whispered. “They had this huge fightbecause Hanna humiliated her with that skywritingthing.” “Mona’s wanted to drop her for a couple monthsnow,” Noelle said knowingly. “Hanna’s become this hugeloser.” That was too much. Hanna whirled around. “Wheredid you hear that?” Anna and Noelle exchanged a smirk. Then they saun-tered down the hill without answering. Hanna shut her eyes and leaned against the metalflagpole, trying to ignore the fact that everyone in herchem class was now staring at her. It had been twenty-four hours since the disastrous skywriting debacle, andthings had gone from bad to worse. Hanna had left atleast ten apologetic messages on Mona’s cell last night . . .but Mona hadn’t called back. And today, she’d beenhearing strange, unsavory things about herself . . . fromeveryone. She thought of A’s note. And Mona? She’s not yourfriend, either. So watch your back. Hanna scanned the crowd of kids on the commons.Next to the doors, two girls in cheerleading uniforms
160 ✦ SARA SHEPARDwere pantomiming a cheer. Near the gum tree, a coupleof boys were “blazer fighting”—whapping each other withtheir Rosewood Day blazers. Aria’s brother, Mike, walkedby playing his PSP. Finally, she spied Mona’s white-blond hair. She was heading back into the main buildingvia one of the side doors with a bored, haughty look onher face. Hanna straightened her blazer, clenched andunclenched her fists, and made a beeline for her bestfriend. When she reached Mona, she tapped her on her bonyshoulder. Mona looked over. “Oh. It’s you,” she said ina monotone, the way she normally greeted losers notcool enough to be in her presence. “Are you saying stuff about me?” Hanna demanded,putting her hands on her hips and keeping pace withMona, who was striding quickly through the side doorand down the art studio hallway. Mona hitched her tangerine Dooney & Bourke totehigher on her shoulder. “Nothing that’s not true.” Hanna’s mouth fell open. She felt like Wile E. Coyotein one of those old Looney Toons cartoons she used towatch—he would be running and running and runningand suddenly run off a cliff. Wile E. would pause, notrealizing it for a second, and then rapidly plummet. “Soyou think I’m a loser?” she squeaked. Mona raised one eyebrow. “Like I said, nothing that’snot true.” She left Hanna standing in the middle of the hall,
PERFECT ✦ 161students swarming around her. Mona walked to the endof the corridor and stopped at a clump of girls. At firstthey all looked the same—expensive handbags, shiny hair,skinny fake-tanned legs—but then Hanna’s eyes unblurred.Mona was standing with Naomi and Riley, and they wereall whispering. Hanna was certain she was going to cry. She fumbledthrough the bathroom door and closed herself into a stallnext to Old Faithful, an infamous toilet that randomlyspurted out plumes of water, drenching you if you werestupid enough to use it. The boys’ room had a spewing toi-let, too. Through the years, plumbers had tried to fix themboth, but since they couldn’t figure out the cause, the OldFaithfuls had become a legendary part of Rosewood Daylore. Everyone knew better than to use them. Except . . . Mona had used Old Faithful just a fewweeks after she and Hanna became friends, back whenMona was still clueless. She’d frantically texted Hanna inhealth class, and Hanna had rushed to the bathroom toslip Mona the extra uniform skirt and blouse she’d hadin her locker. Hanna remembered balling up Mona’ssoaked skirt in a Fresh Fields plastic bag and sliding outof the stall so Mona could furtively change—Mona hadalways been funny about changing in front of otherpeople. How could Mona not remember that? As if on cue, Old Faithful erupted. Hanna shriekedand pressed herself against the opposite stall wall as a
162 ✦ SARA SHEPARDcolumn of blue toilet water shot into the air. A fewheavy droplets hit the back of Hanna’s blazer, and shecurled up against the stall wall and finally started to sob.She hated that Mona no longer needed her. And thatAli had been murdered. And that her dad still hadn’tcalled. Why was this happening? What had she done todeserve this? As Old Faithful quieted down to a gurgle, the maindoor swung open. Hanna made tiny gasping noises, try-ing to keep quiet. Whoever it was walked to the sink, andHanna peered under the door. She saw a pair of clunky,black, boyish loafers. “Hello?” a boy’s voice said. “Is . . . is someone inthere?” Hanna put her hand to her mouth. What was a guydoing in this bathroom? Unless . . . No. She hadn’t. “Hanna?” The shoes stood in front of her stall. Hannarecognized the voice, too. She peeked out the crack in the door. It was Lucas, theboy from Rive Gauche. She could see the edge of hisnose, a long piece of white blond hair. There was a bigGO ROSEWOOD SOCCER! pin on his lapel. “How did youknow it was me?” “I saw you come in here,” he answered. “You knowthis is the boys’ room, right?” Hanna answered with an embarrassed sniff. She tookoff her wet blazer, shuffled out of the stall, walked to the
PERFECT ✦ 163sink, and forcefully pumped the soap dispenser. The soaphad that fake almond smell Hanna hated. Lucas’s eyes cut to the Old Faithful stall. “Did thatthing erupt?” “Yes.” And then Hanna couldn’t control her emo-tions anymore. She hunched over the sink, her tears drip-ping into the basin. Lucas stood there a moment, then put his hand onthe middle of her back. Hanna felt it shake a little. “It’sonly Old Faithful. It erupts, like, every hour. You knowthat.” “That’s not it.” Hanna grabbed a scratchy paper toweland blew her nose. “My best friend hates me. And she’smaking everyone else hate me, too.” “What? Of course she doesn’t. Don’t be crazy.” “Yes, she does!” Hanna’s high-pitched voice bouncedoff the bathroom’s tiled walls. “Mona’s hanging out withthese girls now who we used to hate, and she’s gossipingabout me, all because I missed the Frenniversary and theskywriter wrote, ‘Fart with Mona,’ instead of, ‘Party withMona,’ and she disinvited me to her birthday party, andI’m supposed to be her best friend!” She said it all in a long sentence without breathing,despite where she was and who she was talking to. Whenshe finished, she stared at Lucas, suddenly irritated thathe was there and had heard it all. Lucas was so tall he practically had to stoop to not hithis head on the ceiling. “I could start spreading rumors
164 ✦ SARA SHEPARDabout her. Like maybe she’s got a disease where she can’thelp but secretly eat her snot when no one’s looking?” Hanna’s heart thawed. That was gross . . . but alsofunny . . . and sweet. “That’s okay.” “Well the offer stands.” Lucas had an earnest look onhis face. In the hideous green bathroom light, he wasactually cute. “But hey! I know something we can do tocheer you up.” Hanna looked at him incredulously. What, did Lucasthink they were friends now, because he’d seen her in thebathroom? Still, she was curious. “What?” “Can’t tell you. It’s top secret. I’ll come get youtomorrow morning.” Hanna shot him a warning look. “Like, a date?” Lucas raised his hands in surrender. “Absolutely not.Just as . . . friends.” Hanna swallowed. She needed a friend right now.Bad. “All right,” she said quietly, feeling too exhausted toargue. Then, with a sigh, she pushed out of the boys’ OldFaithful bathroom and headed for her next class.Strangely, she felt a teensy bit better. But as she turned the corner to the foreign languageswing, Hanna reached around to put her blazer back onand felt something sticking to the back. She pulled off awrinkled piece of paper. Feel sorry for me, it said, in spikypink handwriting. Hanna looked around at the passing students, butno one was paying attention. How long had she been
PERFECT ✦ 165walking around with the note on her? Who could havedone this? It could have been anyone. She’d been inthat crowd during the fire drill. Everyone had beenthere. Hanna looked down at the paper again and turnedit over in her hands. On the other side was a type-written note. Hanna got that familiar sinking feeling inher stomach. Hanna: Remember when you saw Mona leaving the Bill Beach plastic surgery clinic? Hello, lipo!! But shh! You didn’t hear it from me. —A
20 LIFE IMITATES ARTThursday afternoon at lunch, Aria turned the corner toRosewood Day’s administrative wing. All the teachershad offices here and often tutored or advised studentsduring their lunch periods. Aria stopped at Ezra’s closed office door. It hadchanged a lot since the beginning of the year. He’dinstalled a white board, and it was chock-full of blue-inked notes from students. Mr. Fitz—Want to talk about myFitzgerald report. I’ll stop by after school. —Kelly. There was aHamlet quote at the bottom: O villain, villain, smiling,damned villain! Below the marker board was a cutout of aNew Yorker cartoon of a dog on a therapist’s couch. Andon the doorknob was a DO NOT DISTURB sign from aDay’s Inn; Ezra had turned it to the DISTURB side: MAID,PLEASE CLEAN UP THIS ROOM. Aria tentatively knocked. “Come in,” she heard himsay from the other side. She’d expected Ezra to be with
PERFECT ✦ 167another student—from snippets she heard in class, she’dthought his lunchtime office hours were always busy—buthere he was alone, with a Happy Meal box on his desk.The room smelled like McNuggets. “Aria!” Ezra exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. “This is asurprise. Sit down.” She plopped down on Ezra’s scratchy tweed couch—the same kind that was in the Rosewood Day head-master’s office. She pointed at his desk. “Happy Meal?” He smiled sheepishly. “I like the toys.” He held up acar from some kids’ movie. “McNugget?” He profferedthe box. “I got barbecue.” She waved him away. “I don’t eat meat.” “That’s right.” He ate a fry, his eyes locked with hers.“I forgot.” Aria felt a swoosh of something—a mix of intimacyand discomfort. Ezra looked away, probably feeling ittoo. She looked around on his desk. It was littered withstacks of paper, a mini zen rock garden, and about a thou-sand books. “So . . .” Ezra wiped his mouth with a napkin, notnoticing Aria’s expression. “What can I do for you?” Aria leaned her elbow on the couch’s arm. “Well, I’mwondering if I can have an extension on the Scarlet Letteressay that’s due tomorrow.” He set down his soda. “Really? I’m surprised. You’renever late with anything.” “I know,” she mumbled sheepishly. But the Ackards’
168 ✦ SARA SHEPARDhouse was not conducive to studying. One, it was tooquiet—Aria was used to studying while simultaneously lis-tening to music, the TV, and Mike yammering on thephone in the next room. Two, it was hard to concentratewhen she felt like someone was . . . watching her. “But it’snot a big deal,” she went on. “All I need is this weekend.” Ezra scratched his head. “Well . . . I haven’t set a pol-icy on extensions yet. But all right. Just this once. Nexttime, I’m going to have to mark you down a grade.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “I’m not goingto make a habit of it.” “Good. So, what, are you not liking the book? Orhaven’t you started it?” “I finished it today. But I hated it. I hated HesterPrynne.” “Why?” Aria fiddled with the buckle on her Urban Outfittersivory suede flats. “She assumes her husband’s lost at sea,and so she goes and has an affair,” she muttered. Ezra leaned forward on his elbow, looking amused.“But her husband isn’t a very good man, either. That’swhat makes it complicated.” Aria stared at the books that were crammed intoEzra’s cramped, wooden bookshelves. War and Peace.Gravity’s Rainbow. An extensive collection of e. e.cummings and Rilke poetry, and not one but two copiesof No Exit. There was the Edgar Allan Poe collectionSean hadn’t read. All of the books looked creased and
PERFECT ✦ 169worn from reading and rereading. “But I couldn’t see pastwhat Hester did,” Aria said quietly. “She cheated.” “But we’re supposed to feel for her struggle, and howsociety has branded her, and how she strives to forge herown identity and not allow anyone to create one for her.” “I hated her, okay?” Aria exploded. “And I’ll neverforgive her!” She covered her face with her hands. Tears spilleddown her cheeks. When she shut her eyes, she picturedByron and Meredith as the book’s illicit lovers, Ella asHester’s vengeful, wronged husband. But if life really imi-tated art, Byron and Meredith should be suffering . . . notAria. She’d tried to call her house last night, but as soonas Ella picked up and heard Aria’s voice on the other end,she hung up. When Aria waved at Mike across the gym,Mike had quickly spun on his heel and marched backinto the locker room. No one was on her side. “Whoa,” Ezra said quietly, after Aria let out a stifledsob. “It’s okay. So you didn’t like the book. It’s fine.” “I’m sorry. I’m just . . .” She felt hot tears on herpalms. Ezra’s room had grown so quiet. There was onlythe whirring of the computer’s hard drive. The buzz ofthe fluorescent lamp. The happy cries from the lowerschool playground—all the little kids were out for recess. “Is there something you want to talk about?” Ezraasked. Aria wiped her eyes with the back of her blazer sleeve.She picked at a loose button on one of the couch’s seat
170 ✦ SARA SHEPARDcushions. “My father had an affair with his student threeyears ago,” she blurted out. “He’s a professor at Hollis. Iknew about it the whole time, but he asked me not to tellmy mom. Well, now he’s back with the student . . . andmy mom found out. She’s furious I knew for so long . . .and now my dad’s gone.” “Jesus,” Ezra whispered. “This just happened?” “A few weeks ago, yeah.” “God.” Ezra stared up at the beamed ceiling for awhile. “That doesn’t sound very fair of your dad. Or yourmom.” Aria shrugged. Her chin started to tremble again. “Ishouldn’t have kept it a secret from my mom. But whatwas I supposed to do?” “It’s not your fault,” Ezra told her. He got out of his chair, walked around to the front ofthe desk, pushed a few papers aside, and sat on the edge.“Okay. So, I’ve never told anyone this, but when I was inhigh school, I saw my mom kissing her doctor. She hadcancer at the time, and since my dad was traveling, sheasked me to take her to her chemotherapy treatments.Once, while I was waiting, I had to use the bathroom,and as I was walking back through the hall, I saw thisexam room door open. I don’t know why I looked in, butwhen I did . . . there they were. Kissing.” Aria gasped. “What did you do?” “I pretended like I didn’t see it. My mom had no ideathat I had. She came out twenty minutes later, all
PERFECT ✦ 171straightened up and proper and in a hurry. I reallywanted to bring it up, but at the same time, I couldn’t.”He shook his head. “Dr. Poole. I never looked at him inthe same way again.” “Didn’t you say your parents got divorced?” Ariaasked, remembering a conversation they’d had at Ezra’shouse. “Did your mom go off with Dr. Poole?” “Nah.” Ezra reached over and grabbed a McNuggetout of the box. “They got divorced a couple years later.Dr. Poole and the cancer were long gone.” “God,” was all Aria could think to say. “It sucks.” Ezra fiddled with one of the rocks in themini zen rock garden that sat at the edge of his desk. “Iidolized my parents’ marriage. It didn’t seem to me likethey were having problems. My whole relationship idealwas shattered.” “Mine too,” Aria said glumly, running her footagainst a stack of paperbacks on the floor. “My parentsseemed really happy together.” “It has nothing to do with you,” Ezra told her. “That’sa big thing I learned. It’s their thing. Unfortunately, youhave to deal with it, and I think it makes you stronger.” Aria groaned and clunked her head against thecouch’s stiff back. “I hate when people say things likethat to me. That things will make me a better person,even if the things themselves suck.” Ezra chuckled. “Actually, I do too.” Aria shut her eyes, finding this moment bittersweet.
172 ✦ SARA SHEPARDShe had been waiting for someone to talk to about allthis—someone who really, truly understood. She wantedto kiss Ezra for having as messed-up a family as she did. Or maybe, she wanted to kiss Ezra . . . because he wasEzra. Ezra’s eyes met hers. Aria could see her reflection inhis inky pupils. With his hand, Ezra pushed the littleHappy Meal car so that it rolled across his desk, over theedge, and onto her lap. A smile whispered across his face. “Do you have a girlfriend in New York?” Aria blurtedout. Ezra’s forehead furrowed. “A girlfriend . . .” He blinkeda few times. “I did. But we broke up this summer.” “Oh.” “Where did that come from?” Ezra asked. “Some kids were talking about it, I guess. And I . . . Iwondered what she was like.” A devilish look danced in Ezra’s eyes, then escaped.He opened his mouth to say something but changed hismind. “What?” Aria asked him. “I shouldn’t.” “What?” “It’s just . . .” He glanced at her askance. “She wasnothing compared to you.” A hot feeling swished through Aria. Slowly, withouttaking his eyes off her, Ezra slid off the desk to stand.Aria inched toward the edge of the couch. The momentstretched on forever. And then, Ezra lunged forward,
PERFECT ✦ 173grabbed Aria at her shoulders, and pressed her to him. Herlips crashed onto his. She held the sides of his face, and heran his hands up the length of her back. They broke awayand stared at each other, then dove back in again. Ezrasmelled delicious, like a mix of Pantene and mint and chaitea and something that was just . . . Ezra. Aria had never feltthis way from kissing. Not with Sean, not with anyone. Sean. His image swam into her head. Sean letting Arialean into him while they watched the BBC version of TheOffice last night. Sean kissing her before bio class, com-forting her because they were starting dissections today.Sean holding her hand at dinner with his family. Seanwas her boyfriend. Aria pushed Ezra away and jumped up. “I have to go.”She felt sweaty, as if someone had jacked up the thermo-stat about fifty degrees. She quickly gathered up herthings, heart thumping and cheeks blazing. “Thanks for the extension,” she blurted out, pushingclumsily through the door. Out in the hall, she drew in a few deep breaths. Downthe corridor, a figure slipped around the corner. Ariatensed. Someone had seen. She noticed something on Ezra’s door and widenedher eyes. Someone had erased all the old white-boardmessages, replacing them with a new one in an unfamil-iar hot pink marker. Careful, careful! I’m always watching! —A
174 ✦ SARA SHEPARD And then, in smaller letters, down at the bottom: Here’s a second hint: You all knew every inch of her back- yard. But for one of you, it was so, so easy. Aria pulled her blazer sleeve down and quickly wipedthe letters away. When she got to the signature, she wipedextra hard, scrubbing and scrubbing until there was notrace of A left.
21 WHAT DOES H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P SPELL?Thursday evening, Spencer settled into the red plushyseats at the Rosewood Country Club restaurant andlooked out the bay window. On the golf course, a coupleof older guys in V-neck sweaters and khakis were trying toget in a few more holes before the sun went down. Out onthe deck, people were taking advantage of the last fewwarm days of the year, drinking gin and tonics and eatingrock shrimp and bruschetta squares. Mr. and Mrs. Hastingsstirred their Bombay Sapphire martinis, then looked ateach other. “I propose a toast.” Mrs. Hastings pushed her blondbobbed hair behind her ears, her three-carat diamondring glinting against the setting sun streaming throughthe window. Spencer’s parents always toasted before theytook a drink of anything—even water. Mrs. Hastings raised her glass. “To Spencer making
176 ✦ SARA SHEPARDthe Golden Orchid finals.” Mr. Hastings clinked. “And to being on the front pageof this Sunday’s Sentinel.” Spencer raised her glass and clinked it with them, butthe effort was halfhearted. She didn’t want to be here.She wanted to be at home, protected and safe. Shecouldn’t stop thinking about her strange session with Dr.Evans this morning. The vision she’d seen—the forgottenfight with Ali the night she disappeared—was haunting.Why hadn’t she remembered it before? Was there moreto it? What if she’d seen Ali’s killer? “Congrats, Spencer,” her mother interrupted herthoughts. “I hope you win.” “Thanks,” Spencer mumbled. She worked to fold hergreen napkin back into an accordion, then went aroundthe table and folded all the others, too. “Nervous about something?” Her mother nudged herchin at the napkins. Spencer immediately stopped. “No,” she said quickly.Whenever she shut her eyes, she was right back in the Alimemory again. It was so clear now. She could smell thehoneysuckle that grew in the woods that paralleled thebarn, feel the early summer breeze, see the lightning bugsspatter-painting the dark sky. But it couldn’t be real. When Spencer looked up, her parents were gazing ather peculiarly. They’d probably asked her a question she’dcompletely missed. For the first time ever, she wishedMelissa were here monopolizing the conversation.
PERFECT ✦ 177 “Are you nervous because of the doctor?” her motherwhispered. Spencer couldn’t hide her smirk—she loved that hermom called Dr. Evans “the doctor” instead of “the ther-apist.” “No. I’m fine.” “Do you think you’ve gotten a lot . . .” Her fatherseemed to search for his words, fiddling with his tie pin.“. . . accomplished, with the doctor?” Spencer rocked her fork back and forth. Define accom-plished, she wanted to say. Before she could answer, the waiter appeared. It wasthe same waiter they’d had for years, the short little bald-ish guy who had a Winnie-the-Pooh voice. “Hello, Mr.and Mrs. Hastings.” Pooh shook her father’s hand. “AndSpencer. You’re looking lovely.” “Thanks,” Spencer mumbled, although she was prettysure she wasn’t. She hadn’t washed her hair after fieldhockey, and the last time she’d looked in the mirror, hereyes had a wild, scared look to them. She kept twitching,too, and looking around the restaurant to see if someonewas watching her. “How is everyone tonight?” Pooh asked. He fluffedup the napkins Spencer had just refolded and spreadthem on everyone’s laps. “Here for a special occasion?” “Actually, yes,” Mrs. Hastings piped up. “Spencer’s afinalist in the Golden Orchid competition. It’s a majoracademic prize.” “Mom,” Spencer hissed. She hated how her mother
178 ✦ SARA SHEPARDbroadcast family accomplishments. Especially sinceSpencer had cheated. “That’s wonderful!” Pooh bellowed. “It’s nice to havesome good news, for once.” He leaned in closer. “Quite afew of our guests think they’ve seen that stalker every-one’s been talking about. Some even say they saw some-one near the club last night.” “Hasn’t this town been through enough?” Mr.Hastings mused. Mrs. Hastings worriedly glanced at her husband. “Youknow, I swore I saw someone staring at me when I metSpencer at the doctor’s on Monday.” Spencer jerked her head up, her heart racing. “Didyou get a look at him?” Mrs. Hastings shrugged. “Not really.” “Some people are saying it’s a man. Others, a woman,”Pooh said. Everyone tsked in distress. Pooh took their orders. Spencer mumbled that shewanted the ahi tuna—the same thing she’d been gettingever since she stopped ordering off the kids’ menu. Asthe waiter trundled away, Spencer looked blearily aroundthe dining room. It was done up in a ramshackle-Nantucket-boat theme, with dark wicker chairs and lotsof life buoys and bronze figureheads. The far wall stillhad the ocean mural, complete with a hideous giantsquid, a killer whale, and a merman that had flowingblond hair and a broken, Owen Wilson–style nose.
PERFECT ✦ 179When Spencer, Ali, and the others used to come here toeat dinner alone—a huge deal, back in sixth and seventhgrades—they loved sitting next to the merman. Once,when Mona Vanderwaal and Chassey Bledsoe came inhere by themselves, Ali demanded that Mona andChassey both give the merman a big French kiss. Tears ofshame had run down their cheeks as both girls stuck theirtongues to the painted merman’s lips. Ali was so mean, Spencer thought. Her dream floatedback. You can’t have this, Ali had said. Why did Spencerget so angry? Spencer thought Ali was going to tellMelissa about Ian that night. Was that why? And whatdid Dr. Evans mean when she said that some people editout things that happen to them? Had Spencer ever donethat before? “Mom?” Suddenly Spencer was curious. “Do youknow if I ever, like, randomly forgot a whole bunch ofstuff ? Like . . . experienced temporary amnesia?” Her mother held her drink in midair. “W-why are youasking?” The back of Spencer’s neck felt clammy. Her motherhad the same disturbed, I don’t want to deal with this lookshe’d had the time her brother, Spencer’s uncle Daniel, gottoo drunk at one of their parties and prattled off a fewdeeply protected family secrets. That was how Spencerfound out her grandmother had a morphine addiction,and that her aunt Penelope had given away a child foradoption when she was seventeen. “Wait, I have?”
180 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Her mom felt the plate’s scalloped edge. “You wereseven. You had the flu.” The cords in her mother’s neck stood out, whichmeant she was holding her breath. And that meant shewasn’t telling Spencer everything. “Mom.” Her mother ran her hands around the martini glassedge. “It’s not important.” “Oh, tell her, Veronica,” her father said gruffly. “Shecan handle it.” Mrs. Hastings took a deep breath. “Well, Melissa, you,and I went to the Franklin Institute—you both loved thatwalk-through heart exhibit. Remember?” “Sure,” Spencer said. The Franklin Institute heartexhibit spanned five thousand square feet, had veins thesize of Spencer’s forearm, and throbbed so loudly thatwhen you were inside its ventricles, the beating was theonly sound you could hear. “We were walking back to our car,” her mother wenton, her eyes on her lap. “On our way, this man stoppedus.” She paused, and took Spencer’s father’s hand. Theyboth looked so solemn. “He . . . he had a gun in hisjacket. He wanted my wallet.” Spencer widened her eyes. “What?” “He made us get down on our stomachs on the side-walk.” Mrs. Hastings’s mouth wobbled. “I didn’t carethat I gave him my wallet, but I was so scared for yougirls. You kept whimpering and crying. You kept askingme if we were going to die.”
PERFECT ✦ 181 Spencer twisted the end of the napkin in her lap. Shedidn’t remember this. “He told me to count to one hundred before wecould get up again,” her mother said. “After the coast wasclear, we ran to our car, and I drove us home. I drovenearly thirty miles over the speed limit, I remember. It’sa wonder I didn’t get stopped.” She paused and sipped her drink. Someone droppeda bunch of plates in the kitchen, and most of the dinerscraned their necks in the direction of the shatteringchina, but Mrs. Hastings acted as if she hadn’t even heardit. “When we got home, you had a horrible fever,” shewent on. “It came on suddenly. We took you to the ER.We were afraid you had meningitis—there had been a caseof it a few towns over. We had to stay close to homewhile we waited for the test results, in case we had to rushyou back to the hospital. We had to miss Melissa’snational spelling bee. Remember when she was preparingfor that?” Spencer remembered. Sometimes, she and Melissawould play Bee—Melissa as the contestant, Spencer as thejudge, lobbing Melissa words to spell from a long list.That was back when Melissa and Spencer used to likeeach other. But the way Spencer remembered it, Melissahad opted out of the competition because she had a fieldhockey game that same day. “Melissa went to the beeafter all?” she sounded out. “She did, but she went with Yolanda’s family.
182 ✦ SARA SHEPARDRemember her friend Yolanda? She and Melissa were inall those knowledge bowls together.” Spencer crinkled her brow. “Yolanda Hensler?” “That’s right.” “Melissa was never Yolanda’s—” Spencer stopped her-self. She was about to say that Melissa was never YolandaHensler’s friend. Yolanda was the type of girl who wassweetie-pie around adults but a bossy terror in private.Spencer knew that Yolanda had once forced Melissa togo through every knowledge bowl sample question with-out stopping, even though Melissa told her a zilliontimes that she had to pee. Melissa had ended up peeingin her pants, and it seeped all over Yolanda’s LillyPulitzer comforter. “Anyway, a week later, your fever broke,” her mothersaid. “But when you woke up, you’d forgotten the wholething ever happened. You remembered going to theFranklin Institute, and you remembered walking throughthe heart, but then I asked if you remembered the meanman in the city. And you said, ‘What mean man?’ Youcouldn’t remember the ER, having tests run, being sick,anything. You just . . . erased it. We watched you the restof that summer, too. We were afraid you might get sickagain. Melissa and I had to miss our mother-daughterkayak camp in Colorado and that big piano recital inNew York City, but I think she understood.” Spencer’s heart was racing. “Why hasn’t anyone evertold me this?”
PERFECT ✦ 183 Her mother looked at her dad. “The whole thing wasso strange. I thought it might upset you, knowing you’dmissed a whole week. You were such a worrier after that.” Spencer gripped the edge of the table. I might havemissed more than a week of my life, she wanted to say to herparents. What if it wasn’t my only blackout? She shut her eyes. All she could hear was that crackfrom her memory. What if she had blacked out before Alidisappeared? What had she missed that night? By the time Pooh set down their steaming plates, Spencerwas shaking. Her mother cocked her head. “Spencer?What’s wrong?” She swiveled her head to Spencer’s father.“I knew we shouldn’t have told her.” “Spencer?” Mr. Hastings waved his hands in front ofSpencer’s face. “You okay?” Spencer’s lips felt numb, as if they’d been injectedwith novocaine. “I’m afraid.” “Afraid?” her father repeated, leaning forward. “Ofwhat?” Spencer blinked. She felt like she was having therecurring dream where she knew what she wanted to sayin her head, but instead of words coming out of hermouth, out came a shell. Or a worm. Or a plume ofpurple, chalky smoke. Then she clamped her mouthclosed. She’d suddenly realized the answer she was look-ing for—what she feared. Herself.
22 THERE’S NO PLACE LIKEROSEWOOD—FROM 3,000 FEET UPFriday morning, Hanna stepped out of Lucas’s maroonVolkswagen Jetta. They were in the parking lot of RidleyCreek State Park, and the sun was barely up. “This is my big surprise that’s supposed to make mefeel all better?” She looked around. Ridley Creek Parkwas full of undulating gardens and hiking trails. Shewatched as a bunch of girls in running shorts and long-sleeved T-shirts passed. Then a bunch of guys on bikes incolorful spandex shorts rode by. It made Hanna feel lazyand fat. Here it was, not even 6 A.M., and these peoplewere virtuously burning off calories. They probablyhadn’t binged on a whole box of cheddar-flavored gold-fish crackers last night, either. “I can’t tell you,” Lucas answered. “Otherwise, itwouldn’t be a surprise.” Hanna groaned. The air smelled like burning leaves,
PERFECT ✦ 185which Hanna always found spooky. As she crunchedthrough the parking lot gravel, she thought she heardsnickering. She whipped back around, alert. “Something wrong?” Lucas said, stopping a few pacesaway. Hanna pointed at the trees. “Do you see someone?” Lucas shaded his eyes with his hand. “You worriedabout that stalker?” “Something like that.” Anxiety gnawed at her belly. When they’d driven herein semi-darkness, Hanna felt like a car had been follow-ing them. A? Hanna couldn’t stop thinking about thebizarre text from yesterday about Mona going to BillBeach for plastic surgery. In some ways, it made sense—Mona never wore anything that revealed too much skin,even though she was way thinner than Hanna was. Butplastic surgery—anything but a boob job, anyway—waskind of . . . embarrassing. It meant genetics were againstyou, and you couldn’t exercise your way down to yourideal body. If Hanna spread that rumor about Mona, herpopularity quotient might sink a few notches. Hannawould have done it to another girl without batting aneye . . . but to Mona? Hurting her felt different. “I think we’re okay,” Lucas said, walking toward thepebbly path. “They say the stalker only spies on peoplein their houses.” Hanna rubbed her eyes nervously. For once, shedidn’t need to worry about smudging her mascara. She’d
186 ✦ SARA SHEPARDput on next to no makeup this morning. And she waswearing Juicy velour pants and a gray hoodie she oftenwore to run laps around the track. This was all to showthey were not on some queer early morning date. When Lucas showed up at the door, Hanna wasrelieved to find that he was wearing ratty jeans, a scruffytee, and a similar gray hoodie. Then he’d flopped into aleaf pile on their way to the car and squirmed around likeHanna’s miniature Doberman, Dot. It was actually kindof cute. Which was totally different from thinking thatLucas was cute, obviously. They entered a clearing and Lucas turned around.“Ready for your surprise?” “This better be good.” Hanna rolled her eyes. “I couldstill be in bed.” Lucas led her through the trees. In the clearing was arainbow-striped hot air balloon. It was limp and lying onits side, with the basket part tipped over. A couple ofguys stood around it as fans blew air up into the balloon,making it ripple. “Ta-daaa!” Lucas cried. “Okaaay.” Hanna shaded her eyes with her hand. “I’mgoing to watch them blow up a balloon?” She knew thiswasn’t a good idea. Lucas was so lame. “Not quite.” Lucas leaned back on his heels. “You’regoing up in it.” “What?” Hanna shrieked. “By myself ?” Lucas knocked her upside the head. “I’m going with
PERFECT ✦ 187you, duh.” He started walking toward the balloon. “Ihave a license to fly hot air balloons. I’m learning to flya Cessna, too. But my biggest accomplishment is this.”He held up a stainless steel carafe. “I made smoothies forus this morning. It was the first time I’d used theblender—the first time I’ve used a kitchen appliance at all,actually. Aren’t you proud of me?” Hanna smirked. Sean had always cooked for her,which always made Hanna feel more inadequate thanpampered. She liked that Lucas was boyishly clueless. “I am proud.” Hanna smiled. “And sure, I’ll go up inthat deathtrap with you.” After the balloon got fat and taut, Hanna and Lucasclimbed in the basket and Lucas shot a long plume offire up into the envelope. In seconds, they started to rise.Hanna was surprised her stomach didn’t lurch as itsometimes did on an elevator, and when she lookeddown, she was amazed to see that the two guys who hadhelped inflate the balloon were tiny specks on the grass.She saw Lucas’s red Jetta in the parking lot . . . then thefishing creek, then the winding running path, thenRoute 352. “There’s the Hollis spire!” Hanna cried excitedly,pointing at it off in the distance. “Cool, huh?” Lucas smiled. “It is,” Hanna admitted. It was so nice and quiet uphere. There were no traffic sounds, no annoying birds,just the sound of wind. Best of all, A wasn’t up here.
188 ✦ SARA SHEPARDHanna felt so free. Part of her wanted to fly away in a bal-loon for good, like the Wizard of Oz. They flew over the Old Hollis neighborhood, with itsVictorian houses and messy front lawns. Then the KingJames Mall, its parking lot nearly empty. Hanna smiledwhen they passed the Quaker boarding school. It had anavant-garde obelisk on the front lawn that was nick-named William Penn’s Penis. They floated over Alison DiLaurentis’s old house.From up here, it seemed so untroubled. Next to that wasSpencer’s house, with its windmill, stables, barn, androck-lined pool. A few houses down was Mona’s, a beau-tiful redbrick bordered by a grove of cherry trees with agarage off to the side of the yard. Once, right after theirmakeovers, they’d painted HM + MV = BBBBBFF inreflective paint on the roof. They never knew what itactually looked like from above. She reached for herBlackBerry to text Mona the news. Then she remembered. They weren’t friends anymore.She sucked in a breath. “You all right?” Lucas asked. She looked away. “Yeah. Fine.” Lucas’s eyebrows made a V. “I’m in the SupernaturalClub at school. We practice mind reading. I can ESP itout of you.” He shut his eyes and put his hands to histemples. “You’re upset because of . . . how Mona’s hav-ing a birthday party without you.” Hanna suppressed a snort. Like that was hard to fig-
PERFECT ✦ 189ure out. Lucas had been in the bathroom right after ithappened. She unscrewed the top to the smoothiecarafe. “Why are you in, like, every Rosewood Day clubimaginable?” He was like a dorkier version of Spencer inthat way. Lucas opened his eyes. They were such a clear, lightblue—like the cornflower crayon from the 64-Crayolabox. “I like being busy all the time. If I’m not doing any-thing, I start thinking.” “About what?” Lucas’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Myolder brother tried to kill himself a year ago.” Hanna widened her eyes. “He has bipolar disorder. He stopped taking his med-ication and . . . something went wrong in his head. Hetook a whole bunch of aspirin, and I found him passedout in our living room. He’s at a psychiatric hospitalnow. They have him on all these medications and . . .he’s not really the same person anymore, so . . .” “Did he go to Rosewood Day?” Hanna asked. “Yeah, but he’s six years older than us. You probablywouldn’t remember him.” “God. I’m so sorry,” Hanna whispered. “Thatsucks.” Lucas shrugged. “A lot of people would probably justsit in their room and get stoned, but keeping busy worksbetter for me.” Hanna crossed her arms over her chest. “My way of
190 ✦ SARA SHEPARDstaying sane is to eat a ton of cheese-based snacks andthen throw them up.” She covered her mouth. She couldn’t believe she justsaid that. Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Cheese-based snacks, huh?Like Cheez-Its? Doritos?” “Uh-huh.” Hanna stared at the balloon basket’s wood-en bottom. Lucas’s fingers fidgeted. His hands were strong andwell proportioned and looked like they could give reallygreat back rubs. All of a sudden, Hanna wanted to touchthem. “My cousin had that . . . problem . . . too,” Lucassaid softly. “She got over it.” “How?” “She got happy. She moved away.” Hanna stared over the basket. They were flying overCheswold, Rosewood’s wealthiest housing development.Hanna had always wanted to live in a Cheswold house,and up here, the estates looked even more amazing thanthey did at street level. But they also looked stiff and for-mal and not quite real—more like an idea of a houseinstead of something you’d actually want to live in. “I used to be happy,” Hanna sighed. “I hadn’tdone . . . the cheese thing . . . in years. But my life’s beenawful lately. I am upset about Mona. But there’s more.It’s everything. Ever since I got that first note, thingshave gone from bad to worse.” “Rewind.” Lucas leaned back. “Note?”
PERFECT ✦ 191 Hanna paused. She hadn’t meant to mention A. “Justthese notes I’ve been getting. Someone’s teasing me withall this personal stuff.” She peeked at Lucas, hoping hewasn’t interested—most boys wouldn’t be. Unfortunately,he looked worried. “That sounds mean.” Lucas furrowed his brow. “Who’ssending them?” “Don’t know. At first, I thought it was Alison DiLau-rentis.” She paused, pushing the hair out of her eyes. “Iknow that’s moronic, but the first notes talked about thisthing that only she knew.” Lucas made a disgusted face. “Alison’s body wasfound, what, a month ago? Someone’s impersonatingher? That’s . . . that’s freaky.” Hanna waved her arms. “No, I started getting thenotes before Ali’s body was found, so no one knew shewas dead yet. . . .” Her head started to hurt. “It’s confus-ing and . . . don’t worry about it. Forget I said anything.” Lucas looked at her uneasily. “Maybe you should callthe cops.” Hanna sniffed. “Whoever it is isn’t breaking anylaws.” “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, though,”Lucas said. “It’s probably some dumb kid.” Lucas paused. “Don’t the cops say that if you’re beingharassed, like getting prank calls, it’s most likely fromsomeone you know? I saw that on a crime show once.”
192 ✦ SARA SHEPARD A chill went through Hanna. She thought of A’snote—One of your old friends is hiding something from you.Something big. She thought again about Spencer. Once,not long after Ali vanished, Spencer’s dad had taken thefour of them to Wildwater Kingdom, a water park nottoo far from their house. As Hanna and Spencer wereclimbing the steps to the Devil’s Drop, Hanna had askedher if she and Ali were mad at each other about some-thing. Spencer’s face had turned the exact shade of hermerlot-colored Tommy Hilfiger string bikini. “Why areyou asking that?” Hanna frowned, holding her foamy raft to her chest.“I was just curious.” Spencer stepped closer. The air became very still, andall splashing and squealing sounds seemed to evaporate.“I wasn’t mad at Ali. She was mad at me. I have no cluewhy, okay?” Then she did a 180 and started marchingback down the wooden staircase, practically knockingover other kids as she went. Hanna curled her toes. She hadn’t thought of that dayin a while. Lucas cleared his throat. “What are the notes about?The cheese thing?” Hanna stared at the skylights on top of the RosewoodAbbey, the site of Ali’s memorial. Screw it, she thought.She’d told Lucas about A—why not everything else? Itwas like that trust exercise she’d done on her sixth-grade
PERFECT ✦ 193camping trip: a girl in her bunk named Viviana Rogershad stood behind her and Hanna had to fall into herarms, having faith that she would catch Hanna instead ofletting her clunk to the grass. “Yeah, the cheese,” she said quietly. “And . . . well,you may have heard some of the other things. Plenty ofstuff is going around about me. Like my father. Hemoved out a couple years ago and now lives with hisbeautiful stepdaughter. She wears a size two.” “What size do you wear?” Lucas asked, confused. She took a deep breath, ignoring that question. “AndI got caught stealing, too—some jewelry from Tiffany, andSean Ackard’s father’s car.” She looked up, surprised to see that Lucas hadn’tjumped over the side of the balloon in disgust. “In seventhgrade, I was a fat, ugly spaz. Even though I was friendswith Alison, I still felt . . . like a nothing. Mona and Iworked hard to change, and I thought we’d both become. . . Alison. It worked for a while, but not anymore.” Hearing her problems out loud, she sounded like sucha loser. But it also felt like the time she’d gone with Monato a spa in the country and had a colonic. The processwas gross, but afterward she felt so free. “I’m glad you’re not Alison,” Lucas said quietly. Hanna rolled her eyes. “Everyone loved Alison.” “I didn’t.” Lucas avoided Hanna’s startled look. “Iknow that’s terrible to say, and I feel horrible about whathappened to her. But she wasn’t very nice to me.” He
194 ✦ SARA SHEPARDblew a plume of fire into the balloon. “In seventh grade,Ali started a rumor that I was a hermaphrodite.” Hanna looked up sharply. “Ali didn’t start thatrumor.” “She did. Actually, I started it for her. She asked if Iwas a hermaphrodite at a soccer game. I said I didn’tknow—I had no idea what a hermaphrodite was. Shelaughed and told everyone. Later, when I looked it up, itwas too late—it was everywhere.” Hanna stared at him in disbelief. “Ali wouldn’t dothat.” But . . . Ali would do that. It was Ali who had gotteneveryone to call Jenna Cavanaugh Snow. She’d spreadthe rumor that Toby had fish gills. Everyone had takeneverything Ali said as gospel. Hanna peered over the edge of the basket. That rumorabout Lucas being a hermaphrodite had started after theyfound out he was going to send Hanna a heart-shapedbox on Candy Day. Ali had even gone with Hanna tobuy new glitter-pocketed Sevens to mark the occasion.She’d said she loved them, but she was probably lyingabout that, too. “And you shouldn’t say you’re ugly, Hanna,” Lucassaid. “You’re so, so pretty.” Hanna stuck her chin into the collar of her shirt, feel-ing surprisingly shy. “You are. I can’t stop looking at you.” Lucas grimaced.“Yikes. I probably way overstepped the friends thing, huh?”
PERFECT ✦ 195 “It’s okay.” Heat spread over her skin. It made her feelso good to hear she was pretty. When had someone lasttold her that? Lucas was as different from perfect Sean asa boy could get. Lucas was tall and lanky, and not in theslightest bit cool, with his Rive Gauche job and ESP cluband the sticker on the back of his car that said, SCISSORSISTERS, which could be a band or a salon or a cult. Butthere was something else there, too—you just had to digdown to get to it, like how Hanna and her dad had onceplundered the New Jersey beaches with their metal detec-tor. They’d searched for hours and had found not onebut two diamond earrings hiding under the sand. “So listen,” Lucas said. “I’m not invited to Mona’sparty, either. Do you want to get together on Saturdayand have an anti-party? I have a negative-edge pool. It’sheated. Or, you know, if that’s not your thing, wecould . . . I don’t know. Play poker.” “Poker?” Hanna glanced at him askance. “Not strip.” “What do you take me for?” Lucas put his hand to hischest. “I’m talking Texas Hold ’Em. You’d better watch it,though. I’m good.” “All right. Sure. I’ll come over and play poker.” Sheleaned back in the balloon, realizing she was looking for-ward to it. She gave Lucas a coy smile. “Don’t changethe subject, though. Now that I’ve made an ass out ofmyself, you’ve got to fess up about some embarrassingstuff, too. What else are you avoiding by joining all youractivities?”
196 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Lucas leaned back. “Let’s see. There’s the fact that I’ma hermaphrodite.” His face was dead serious. Hanna widened her eyes,caught off guard. But then Lucas grinned and startedlaughing, so Hanna laughed, too.
23 THE ROSEBUSHES HAVE EYESFriday at lunch, Emily sat in the Rosewood Day green-house, where tall, leafy plants and a few species of butter-flies flourished in the humidity. Even though it was hotand smelled like dirt, a lot of people were eating lunch inhere. Maybe it was to escape the drizzly weather—ormaybe they just wanted to be near Rosewood Day’s newIt Girl, Emily Fields. “So are you going to Mona’s party?” Aria’s brother,Mike, gazed expectantly at Emily. He and a few otherboys on the lacrosse team had plopped down on abench across from her and were hanging on her everyword. “I don’t know,” Emily replied, finishing the last of herpotato chips. It was doubtful her mom would let her goto Mona’s, and Emily wasn’t sure if she wanted to. “You should come hang out in my hot tub afterward.”Noel Kahn scribbled his number on a piece of lined
198 ✦ SARA SHEPARDnotebook paper. He tore it off and handed it to her.“That’s when the real party’s going to start.” “Bring your girlfriend, too,” Mike suggested, a hungrylook in his eye. “And feel free to make out around us.We’re very open-minded.” “I could even get my photo booth back out for you,”Noel offered, giving Emily a wink. “Whatever turnsyou on.” Emily rolled her eyes. As the boys sauntered off, sheleaned over her thighs and let out a frazzled breath. Itwas too bad she wasn’t the exploitative type—she couldprobably make a lot of money off these sexed-up, girl-on-girl-loving Rosewood boys. Suddenly, she felt someone’s small hand curl aroundher wrist. “You dating a lax boy?” Maya whispered in herear. “I saw him slip you his number.” Emily looked up. Her heart swooped. It felt like shehadn’t seen Maya in weeks, and she couldn’t stopthinking about her. Maya’s face swam before her when-ever she shut her eyes. She thought about the feel ofher lips during their make-out sessions on the rock bythe creek. Not that those make-out sessions could ever happenagain. Emily pulled her hand away. “Maya. We can’t.” Maya stuck out her bottom lip. She looked around.Kids were sitting on the fountains or on the woodenbenches next to the flower beds or near the butterfly
PERFECT ✦ 199sanctuary, calmly talking and eating their lunches. “It’snot like anyone’s watching.” Emily shivered. It felt like someone was. This wholelunch, she’d had the most eerie feeling that there wassomeone right behind her, spying. The greenhouse plantswere so tall and thick, they provided easy coverage forpeople to hide behind. Maya unclipped her pink Swiss Army knife from herbackpack and snipped off a rose from the lush bushesbehind them. “Here,” she said, handing it to Emily. “Maya!” Emily dropped the rose on her lap. “Youcan’t pick flowers in here!” “I don’t care,” Maya insisted. “I want you to have it.” “Maya.” Emily forcefully slapped her palms on herthighs. “You should go.” Maya scowled at her. “You’re seriously doing the TreeTops thing?” When Emily nodded, Maya groaned. “Ithought you were stronger than that. And it seems socreepy.” Emily crumpled up her lunch bag. Hadn’t she alreadygone through this? “If I don’t do Tree Tops, I have to goto Iowa. And I can’t—my aunt and uncle are crazy.” She closed her eyes and thought of her aunt, heruncle, and her three Iowa cousins. She hadn’t seen themin years, and all she could picture were five disapprovingfrowns. “The last time I visited, my aunt Helene told methat I should eat Cheerios and only Cheerios for breakfastbecause they suppressed sexual urges. My two male
200 ✦ SARA SHEPARDcousins went on extra-long runs through the cornfieldsevery morning to drain their sexual energy. And mycousin Abby—she’s my age—wanted to be a nun. Sheprobably is one now. She carried around a notebook thatshe called Abby’s Little Book of Evil—and she wrotedown everything she thought was a sin. She recordedthirty sinful things about me. She even thought goingbarefoot was evil!” Maya chuckled. “If you have really ganked-up feet,it is.” “It’s not funny!” Emily cried. “And this isn’t about mebeing strong or thinking Tree Tops is right or lying tomyself. I can’t move there.” Emily bit her lip, feeling the hot rush she always gotbefore she was about to cry. In the past two days, if herfamily passed her in the halls or the kitchen, they wouldn’teven look in her direction. They said nothing to her atmeals. She felt weird about joining them on the couch towatch TV. And Emily’s sister Carolyn seemed to have noidea how to deal with her. Since the swim meet, Carolynhad stayed away from their shared bedroom. Usually, thesisters did their homework at their desks, murmuring toeach other about math problems, history essays, or ran-dom gossip they’d heard at school. Last night, Carolyncame upstairs when Emily was already in bed. She changedin the dark and climbed into her own bed without sayinga word. “My family won’t love me if I’m gay,” Emily explained,
PERFECT ✦ 201looking into Maya’s round brown eyes. “Imagine if yourfamily woke up and decided they hated you.” “I just want to be with you,” Maya mumbled, twirlingthe rose between her hands. “Well, me too,” Emily answered. “But we can’t.” “Let’s hang out in secret,” Maya suggested. “I’m goingto Mona Vanderwaal’s party tomorrow. Meet me there.We’ll ditch and find somewhere to be alone.” Emily chewed on her thumbnail. She wished shecould . . . but Becka’s words haunted her. Life is hardalready. Why make it harder? Yesterday, during her freeperiod, Emily had logged into Google and typed, Arelesbians’ lives hard? Even as she typed that word—lesbian—her right hand pecking the L key and her left the E, S,and B, it seemed strange to think that it applied to her.She didn’t like it, as a word—it made her think of ricepudding, which she despised. Every link in the list was toa blocked porn site. Then again, Emily had put the wordslesbian and hard in the same search field. Emily felt someone’s eyes on her. She glancedaround through the whirling vines and bushes and sawCarolyn and a few other swim team girls sitting by thebougainvillea. Her sister glared right at them, a dis-gusted look on her face. Emily leapt up from the bench. “Maya, go. Carolynsees us.” She took a few steps away, pretending to be fascinatedby a planter of marigolds, but Maya didn’t move. “Hurry!”
202 ✦ SARA SHEPARDEmily hissed. “Get out of here!” She felt Maya’s eyes on her. “I’m going to Mona’sparty tomorrow,” she said in a low voice. “Are you goingto be there or not?” Emily shook her head, not meeting Maya’s eye. “I’msorry. I need to change.” Maya violently yanked up her green-and-white canvastote. “You can’t change who you are. I’ve told you that athousand times.” “But maybe I can,” Emily answered. “And maybe Iwant to.” Maya dropped Emily’s rose on the bench and stompedaway. Emily watched her weave through the rows ofplanters past the foggy windows for the exit and wanted tocry. Her life was a horrible mess. Her old, simple life—theone she’d had before this school year started—seemed likeit belonged to a different girl entirely. Suddenly, she felt someone’s fingernails trace theback of her neck. A chill ran up her back, and she whirledaround. It was only a tendril from another rosebush, itsthorns fat and sharp, the roses plump. Then, Emilynoticed something on one of the windows a few feetaway. Her mouth fell open. There was writing in the con-densation. I see you. Two wide-open, heavily lashed eyeswere drawn next to the words. It was signed A. Emily rushed to the writing to wipe it away with hersleeve. Had it been here all along? Why hadn’t she seenit? Then, something else struck her. Because of the
PERFECT ✦ 203greenhouse’s humidity, water only condensed on itsinside walls, so whoever had written this had to be . . .inside. Emily turned around, looking for some kind of tell-tale sign, but the only people glancing in her directionwere Maya, Carolyn, and the lacrosse boys. Everyoneelse was milling around the greenhouse door, waiting forlunch period to end, and Emily couldn’t help but won-der if A was among them.
24 AND IN ANOTHER GARDEN ACROSS TOWN . . .Friday afternoon, Spencer leaned over her mother’sflower bed, pulling out the thick, stubborn weeds. Hermother usually did the gardening herself, but Spencerwas doing it in an attempt to be nice—and to absolve her-self of something, although she wasn’t sure what. The multicolored balloons her mother had bought afew days ago to celebrate the Golden Orchid were stilltied to the patio rail. Congratulations, Spencer! they allsaid. Next to the words were pictures of blue ribbons andtrophies. Spencer glanced into the balloons’ shiny Mylarfabric; her warped reflection stared back. It was like look-ing into a funhouse mirror—her face looked long insteadof round, her eyes were small instead of large, and herbutton nose looked wide and enormous. Maybe it wasthis balloon girl, not Spencer, who’d cheated to becomea Golden Orchid finalist. And maybe Balloon Girl had
PERFECT ✦ 205been the one who’d fought with Ali the night she disap-peared, too. The sprinkler system came on next door at theDiLaurentises’ old house. Spencer stared up at Ali’s oldwindow. It was the last one at the back, directly acrossfrom Spencer’s. She and Ali had felt so lucky their roomsfaced each other. They had window signals when it waspast phone curfew—one blink of the flashlight meant, Ican’t sleep, can you? Two blinks meant, Good night. Threemeant, We need to sneak out and talk in person. The memory from Dr. Evans’s office floated into herhead again. Spencer tried to push it down, but it bobbedright back up. You care way too much, Ali had said. Andthat far-off crack. Where had it come from? “Spencer!” a voice whispered. She whirled around,heart pounding. She faced the woods that bordered theback of her house. Ian Thomas stood between two dog-woods. “What are you doing here?” she hissed, glancingtoward the edge of the yard. Melissa’s barn was just a fewhundred yards away. “Watching my favorite girl.” Ian’s eyes grazed downher body. “There’s a stalker running around,” Spencer warnedhim sternly, trying to suppress the hot, excited feeling inher stomach she always got when Ian looked at her. “Youshould be careful.” Ian scoffed. “Who’s to say I’m not part of the
206 ✦ SARA SHEPARDneighborhood watch? Maybe I’m protecting you from thestalker?” He pushed his palm flat up against the tree. “Are you?” Spencer asked. Ian shook his head. “Nah. I actually cut through herefrom my house. I was coming to see Melissa.” He paused,shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. “What do youthink of me and Melissa being back together?” Spencer shrugged. “It’s none of my business.” “It isn’t?” Ian held her gaze, not even blinking. Spencerlooked away, her cheeks hot. Ian wasn’t making a referenceto their kiss. He couldn’t be. She revisited that moment again. Ian’s mouth had hithers so roughly that their teeth had smacked together.Afterward, her lips had felt achy and sore. When Spencertold Ali the exciting news, Ali had cackled. “What, doyou think Ian’s going to go out with you?” she taunted.“Doubtful.” She eyed Ian now, calm and casual and oblivious thathe’d been the cause of all that strife. She sort of wishedshe hadn’t kissed him. It seemed like it had started adomino effect—it had led to the fight in the barn, whichhad led to Ali leaving, which had led to . . . what? “So Melissa told me you’re in therapy, huh?” Ianasked. “Pretty crazy.” Spencer stiffened. It seemed odd, Melissa talkingabout therapy to Ian. The sessions were supposed to beprivate. “It isn’t that crazy.” “Really? Melissa said she heard you screaming.”
PERFECT ✦ 207 Spencer blinked. “Screaming?” Ian nodded. “W-whatwas I saying?” “She didn’t say you were saying anything. Just thatyou were screaming.” Spencer’s skin prickled. The DiLaurentises’ sprinklersystem sounded like a billion little guillotines, choppingoff grass-blade heads. “I have to go.” She walkedcrookedly toward the house. “I think I need some water.” “One more sec.” Ian stepped toward her. “Have youseen what’s in your woods?” Spencer stiffened. Ian had such a strange look on hisface that Spencer wondered if maybe it was something ofAli’s. One of her bones. A clue. Something to make senseof Spencer’s memory. Then Ian thrust out his open fist. Inside were sixplump, pulpy blackberries. “You have the most amazingblackberry bushes back here. Want one?” The berries had stained Ian’s palm a dark, bloodypurple. Spencer could see his love line and life line andall the strange etchings near his fingers. She shook her head. “I wouldn’t eat anything fromthose woods,” she said. After all, Ali had been killed there.
25SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR HANNA MARINFriday evening, a pimply, over-gelled T-Mobile sales-person inspected Hanna’s BlackBerry screen. “Yourphone looks okay to me,” he said. “And your battery isfunctioning.” “Well, you must not be looking hard enough,” Hannareplied gruffly, leaning up against the store’s glass counter.“What about the service? Is T-Mobile down?” “No.” The sales boy pointed to the bars in theBlackBerry’s window. “See? Five bars. Looks great.” Hanna breathed forcefully through her nose.Something was going on with her BlackBerry. Her phonehadn’t rung once all night. Mona might have ditchedher, but Hanna refused to believe that everyone elsewould follow so quickly. And she thought A might textagain, filling Hanna in with more information aboutMona and her possible lipo, or explaining what itmeant when A said that one of her friends had a big
PERFECT ✦ 209secret that had yet to be revealed. “Do you just want to buy a new BlackBerry?” the salesguy asked. “Yes,” Hanna said sharply, conjuring up a voice thatsounded surprisingly like her mother’s. “One that worksthis time, please.” The sales guy looked tired. “I’m not going to be ableto transfer over your information from this one, though.We don’t do that at this location.” “It’s fine,” Hanna snapped. “I have a hard copy ofeverything at home.” The sales guy retrieved a new phone from the back,pulled it out of its Styrofoam bed, and started hittingsome buttons. Hanna leaned on the counter and watchedthe shoppers stream through the King James Mall con-course, trying not to think about what she and Monausually did on Friday nights. First, they’d buy a HappyFriday outfit to reward themselves for making it throughanother week; next, they’d hit a sushi place for thesalmon platter; and then—Hanna’s favorite part—they’dgo home and gossip on Hanna’s queen-size bed, laugh-ing and making fun of the “Ouch! of the Day” columnin CosmoGirl!. Hanna had to admit that it was hard totalk to Mona about certain things—she’d sidestepped anyemotional conversations about Sean because Monathought he was gay, and they were never able to talkabout Ali’s disappearance because Hanna didn’t want todredge up bad memories about her old friends. In fact,
210 ✦ SARA SHEPARDthe more she thought about it, she wondered what sheand Mona did talk about. Boys? Clothes? Shoes? Peoplethey hated? “It’ll be a minute,” the sales guy said, frowning andlooking at something on his computer monitor. “Forsome reason, our network isn’t responding.” Ha! Hanna thought. There was something wrong withthe network. Someone laughed as they entered T-Mobile, andHanna looked up. She had no time to duck when she sawMona walking in with Eric Kahn. Mona’s light blond hair stood out against her char-coal gray turtleneck sweater dress, black tights, and tallblack boots. Hanna wished she could hide, but shedidn’t know where—the T-Mobile register counter wasan island in the middle of the store. This stupid placedidn’t even have any aisles to sneak down or shelves tohide under, just four walls of cell phones and mobiledevices. Before she could do anything, Eric saw her. His eyesflashed with recognition, and he gave Hanna a nod.Hanna’s limbs froze. Now she knew how a deer felt whenit was face-to-face with an oncoming tractor-trailer. Mona followed Eric’s gaze. “Oh,” she said flatly whenher eyes met Hanna’s. Eric, who must have sensed girl trouble, shrugged andwandered to the back of the store. Hanna took a fewsteps toward Mona. “Hi.”
PERFECT ✦ 211 Mona stared at a wall of phone headsets and caradapters. “Hey.” A long beat passed. Mona scratched the side of hernose. She had painted her nails with Chanel’s limited edi-tion La Vernis black lacquer—Hanna remembered the timethey’d stolen two bottles from Sephora. The memory near-ly brought tears to Hanna’s eyes. Without Mona, Hannafelt like a great outfit without matching accessories, a screw-driver that was all orange juice and no vodka, an iPod with-out headphones. She just felt wrong. Hanna thought aboutthe time in the summer after eighth grade when she’dtagged along with her mom on a work trip. Hanna’s celldidn’t get service there, and when she came back, there hadbeen twenty voice mails from Mona. “It felt weird not talk-ing to you every day, so I decided to tell you everything inmessages instead,” Mona had said. Hanna let out a long, shaky breath. T-Mobile smelledoverwhelmingly like carpet cleaner and sweat—she hopedit wasn’t her own. “I saw that message we painted on topof your garage the other day,” she blurted out. “Youknow, HM + MV = BBBBBFF? You can see it from thesky. Clear as day.” Mona seemed startled. Her expression softened. “Youcan?” “Uh-huh.” Hanna stared at one of T-Mobile’s promoposters across the room. It was a cheesy photo of twogirls giggling over something, holding their cell phonesin their laps. One was auburn-haired, the other blond—
212 ✦ SARA SHEPARDlike Hanna and Mona. “This is so messed up,” Hanna said quietly. “I don’teven know how this started. I’m sorry I missed theFrenniversary, Mon. I didn’t want to be hanging out withmy old friends. I’m not getting close with them or any-thing.” Mona tucked her chin into her chest. “No?” Hannacould barely hear her over the mall’s kiddie train, whichwas rumbling by right outside the T-Mobile store. Therewas only one pudgy, miserable-looking boy on the ride. “Not at all,” Hanna answered, after the kiddie trainpassed. “We’re just . . . weird stuff is happening to us. Ican’t explain all of it right now, but if you’re patient withme, I’ll be able to tell you soon.” She sighed. “And youknow I didn’t do that skywriting thing on purpose. Iwouldn’t do that to you.” Hanna let out a small, squeaky hiccup. She always gotthe hiccups before she was about to start bawling, andMona knew it. Mona’s mouth twitched, and for a second,Hanna’s heart leapt. Maybe things would be okay. Then, it was like the cool-girl software inside Mona’shead re-booted. Her face snapped back to being glossy andconfident. She stood up straighter and smiled icily. Hannaknew exactly what Mona was doing—she and Hannaagreed never, ever to cry in public. They even had a ruleabout it: if they even thought they were going to cry, theyhad to squeeze their butt cheeks together, remind them-selves that they were beautiful, and smile. A few days ago,
PERFECT ✦ 213Hanna would’ve done the same thing, but now, shecouldn’t see the point. “I miss you, Mona,” Hanna said. “Iwant things to go back to the way they were.” “Maybe,” Mona answered primly. “We’ll have to see.” Hanna tried to force a smile. Maybe? What did maybemean?When she pulled into her driveway, Hanna noticedWilden’s police cruiser next to her mother’s Lexus.Inside, she found her mother and Darren Wildensnuggled up on the couch watching the news. There wasa bottle of wine and two glasses on the coffee table. Bythe looks of Wilden’s T-shirt and jeans, Hanna guessedSupercop was off duty tonight. The news was showing the leaked video of the five ofthem again. Hanna leaned against the doorjambbetween the living room and the kitchen and watched asSpencer threw herself at her sister’s boyfriend, Ian, andAli sat at the corner of the couch, looking bored. Whenthe clip ended, Jessica DiLaurentis, Alison’s mother,appeared on the screen. “The video is hard to watch,”Mrs. DiLaurentis said. “All of this has made us gothrough our suffering all over again. But we want tothank everyone in Rosewood—you’ve all been so won-derful. The time we’ve spent back here for Alison’sinvestigation has made my husband and me realize howmuch we’ve missed it.” For a brief second, the camera panned on the people
214 ✦ SARA SHEPARDbehind Mrs. DiLaurentis. One of them was OfficerWilden, all gussied up in his cop uniform. “There youare!” Hanna’s mother cried, squeezing Wilden’s shoul-der. “You look great on camera.” Hanna wanted to vomit. Her mom hadn’t even got-ten that excited last year when Hanna had been namedSnowflake Queen and had ridden on a float in thePhiladelphia Mummers parade. Wilden swiveled around, sensing Hanna’s presence inthe doorway. “Oh. Hi, Hanna.” He moved slightly awayfrom Ms. Marin, as if Hanna had just caught him doingsomething wrong. Hanna grunted a hello, then turned and opened akitchen cupboard and pulled down a box of peanut but-ter Ritz Bits. “Han, a package came for you,” her mother called,turning down the TV volume. “Package?” Hanna repeated, her mouth full of crackers. “Yep. It was on the doorstep when we got here. I putit in your room.” Hanna carried the box of Ritz Bits upstairs with her.There was indeed a large box propped up against herbureau, right next to her miniature pinscher Dot’s Guccidog bed. Dot stretched off the bed, his tiny nubby tailwagging. Hanna’s fingers trembled as she used her nailscissors to slice open the packing tape. As she rippedopen the box, a few sheets of tissue paper cascadedthrough the room. And then . . . a champagne-colored
PERFECT ✦ 215Zac Posen slip dress sat at the bottom. Hanna gasped. Mona’s court dress. All tailored andpressed and ready to wear. She rooted around the bottomof the box for a note of explanation but couldn’t findone. Whatever. This could only mean one thing—she wasforgiven. The corners of Hanna’s lips slowly spread into a grin.She leapt onto her bed and started jumping, making herbedsprings squeak. Dot circled around her, yappingcrazily. “Yessss,” Hanna cried, relieved. She’d knownMona would come to her senses. She would be crazy tostay mad at Hanna for long. She sat back down on the bed and picked up her newBlackBerry. This was short notice—she probably wouldn’tbe able to rebook the hair and makeup appointmentsshe’d cancelled when she thought she wasn’t going to theparty. Then she remembered something else: Lucas. I’mnot invited to Mona’s party, either, he’d said. Hanna paused, drumming her hands on theBlackBerry’s screen. She obviously couldn’t bring him toMona’s party. Not as her date. Not as anything. Lucas wascute, sure, but he was definitely not party-worthy. She sat up straighter and flipped through her red leatherCoach organizer for Lucas’s e-mail address. She wouldwrite him a short, snippy e-mail so he’d know exactly wherehe stood with her: nowhere. He’d be crushed, but really,Hanna couldn’t please everyone now, could she?
26SPENCER GETS IN HOT WATER . . . LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELYFriday evening, Spencer was soaking in the family hottub. It was one of her favorite things to do, especially atnight, when all of the stars glittered in the dark sky.Tonight the only sounds around her were the burbling ofthe hot tub’s jets and the slobbery crunching sounds ofBeatrice, one of the family’s labradoodles, chewing on arawhide bone. Then suddenly, she heard a twig snap. Then another.Then . . . someone breathing. Spencer turned as her sis-ter, clad in a Nova-check plaid Burberry bikini, climbeddown the stairs and settled into the tub, too. For a while, neither of them said anything. Spencer hidunder a beard of bubbles, and Melissa was looking at theumbrella table next to the pool. Suddenly, Melissainspected her sister. “So I’m a little annoyed at Dr. Evans.” “Why?”
PERFECT ✦ 217 Melissa swished her hands around in the water. “Some-times she says all this stuff about me like she’s known mefor years. Does she do that to you?” Spencer shrugged. Hadn’t Melissa warned her Dr.Evans would do that? Melissa pressed the flat of her hand against her fore-head. “She told me that I choose untrustworthy men todate. That I actually go after guys I know will never com-mit or turn into anything long-term because I’m afraid ofgetting close to anyone.” Melissa reached over and drank from her big bottle ofEvian, which was sitting next to the tub. Above her head,Spencer saw the silhouette of a large bird—or perhaps abat—flap past the moon. “I was angry about it at first, butnow . . . I don’t know.” Melissa sighed. “Maybe she’sright. I’ve started to think about all my relationships.Some of the guys I’ve gone out with have seemed reallyuntrustworthy, right from the start.” Her eyes needled into Spencer, and Spencer blushed. “Wren’s an obvious one,” Melissa went on, as if read-ing Spencer’s thoughts. Spencer looked away, staring atthe waterfall installation that was on the other side of thepool. “She’s got me wondering about Ian, too. I think hewas cheating on me when we were in high school.” Spencer tensed. “Really?” “Uh-huh.” Melissa inspected her perfectly manicuredpale peach nails. Her eyes were dark. “I’m almost certain.And I think I know who it was.”
218 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Spencer bit a hangnail on her thumb. What if Melissahad overheard Spencer and Ian in the yard earlier? Ianhad alluded to their kiss. Or, worse: what if Ali had toldMelissa what Spencer had done, years ago? Not long before Ali vanished, Spencer’s dad had takenthe five of them to play paintball. Melissa had comealong, too. “I’m going to tell Melissa what you did,” Alisingsonged to Spencer as they put on their jumpsuits inthe changing room. “You wouldn’t,” Spencer hissed back. “Oh no?” Ali teased. “Watch me.” Spencer had followed Ali and the others to the field.They all crouched behind a large bale of hay, waiting forthe game to start. Then Ali leaned over and tappedMelissa on the shoulder. “Hey, Melissa. I have somethingto tell you.” Spencer nudged her. “Stop it.” The whistle blew. Everyone shot forward and startedpelting the other team. Everyone, that was, except for Aliand Spencer. Spencer took Ali’s arm and dragged herbehind a nearby hay bale. She was so angry her muscleswere quivering. “Why are you doing this?” Spencer demanded. Ali snickered, leaning against the hay. “Why are youdoing this?” she imitated in a high falsetto. “Because it’swrong. Melissa deserves to know.” Anger gathered in Spencer’s body like clouds before ahuge thunderstorm. Didn’t friends keep each other’s
PERFECT ✦ 219secrets? They’d kept the Jenna secret for Ali, after all—Aliwas the one who’d lit that firework, Ali was the one whohad blinded Jenna—and they’d all vowed not to tell.Didn’t Ali remember that? Spencer didn’t mean to pull the trigger of the paint-ball gun . . . it just happened. Blue paint splattered allover Ali’s jumpsuit, and Ali let out a startled cry. Thenshe glared at Spencer and stormed away. What if she’dgone and told Melissa then, and Melissa had been wait-ing all this time for the right moment to drop it onSpencer? Maybe this was it. “Any guesses who it was?” Melissa goaded, breakingSpencer out of the memory. Spencer sank down farther into the hot tub’s bubbles,her eyes stinging with chlorine. A kiss hardly qualified ascheating, and it had been so long ago. “Nope. No clue.” Melissa sighed. “Maybe Dr. Evans is full of it. Whatdoes she know, really?” Spencer studied her sister carefully. She thought aboutwhat Dr. Evans had said about Melissa—that her sisterneeded validation. That she was jealous of Spencer. It wassuch a weird possibility to consider. And could Melissa’sissues have something to do with the time they’d beenmugged, Spencer had gotten sick, and Melissa had had togo to her Bee with Yolanda? How many other things hadher sister missed out on that summer because her parentswere too busy hovering over Spencer? How many timeshad she been shoved to the side?
220 ✦ SARA SHEPARD I liked when we were friends, said a voice inside Spencer’shead. I liked quizzing you with your spelling words. I hate theway things are now. I’ve hated it for a long time. “Does it really matter if Ian cheated on you in highschool?” Spencer said quietly. “I mean, it was so longago.” Melissa stared up at the dark, clear sky. All the starshad come out. “Of course it matters. It was wrong. And ifI ever find out it’s true, Ian is going to regret it for the restof his life.” Spencer flinched. She’d never heard Melissa sound sovengeful. “And what will you do to the girl?” Melissa turned very slowly and gave Spencer apoisonous smile. At that very moment, the backyard’stimed lights snapped on. Melissa’s eyes glowed. “Whosays I haven’t done something to her already?”
27 OLD HABITS DIE HARDLate Saturday afternoon, Aria slumped down behind amaple in the McCreadys’ yard, which was across thestreet from her own house. She watched as three cookie-selling Girl Scouts strode to her family’s front door. Ella’snot home, but put her down for a couple boxes of Thin Mints,she wanted to tell the girls. They’re her favorite. The girls waited. When no one answered, they went tothe next house. Aria knew it was weird to have biked here fromSean’s, stalking her own house as if it were a velvet-ropecelebrity club and she were a paparazzo, but she missedher family so badly. The Ackards were like the bizarro-Montgomerys. Mr. and Mrs. Ackard had joined theRosewood Stalker Community Watch Board. They’destablished a twenty-four-hour tip hotline, and in a fewdays, it would be Mr. and Mrs. Ackard’s turn to make thenightly rounds. And every time any of them looked at
222 ✦ SARA SHEPARDher, Aria felt like they could tell what she’d done withEzra in his office. It was as though she had a big scarletA on her shirt now, too. Aria needed to clear her head and purge herself of Ezra.Only, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. This wholebike ride had been one Ezra reminder after another. She’dpassed a chubby man eating Chicken McNuggets and hadgotten weak-kneed from the smell. She’d seen a girl withblack plastic glasses just like Ezra’s and felt chills. Even acat on a garden wall had reminded her of Ezra, for nogood reason at all. But what was she thinking? How couldsomething be so wrong . . . yet so right at the same time? As she passed a stone house with its own water-wheel, a Channel 7 news van whizzed by. It disap-peared over the hill, the wind slid through the trees,and the sky suddenly darkened. All at once, Aria felt asif a hundred spiders were crawling over her. Someonewas watching. A? When her Treo let out a whirly little ring, she nearlyfell off her bike. She hit the brakes, pulled onto the side-walk, and reached for it in her pocket. It was Sean. “Where are you?” he asked. “Um . . . I went out for a bike ride,” she answered,chewing on the cuff of her beat-up red hoodie. “Well, come home soon,” Sean said. “Otherwise we’llbe late to Mona’s.” Aria sighed. She’d completely forgotten about Mona
PERFECT ✦ 223Vanderwaal’s party. He sighed back at her, too. “Do you not want to go?” Aria squeezed the bike’s brakes and stared at thebeautiful Gothic Revival house in front of her. The own-ers had decided to paint it royal purple. Aria’s parentswere the only people in the neighborhood who hadn’tsigned a petition demanding the artist-owners paint it amore conservative color, but the petition hadn’t held up incourt. “I’m not really friends with Mona,” Aria mumbled.“Or anyone else going to that party.” “What are you talking about?” Sean sounded baffled.“They’re my friends, so they’re your friends. We’re goingto have a great time. And, I mean, other than our bikeride, I feel like I haven’t seen you, really, since youmoved in with me. Which is weird, if you think about it.” Suddenly, Aria’s call waiting beeped. She brought herphone away from her ear and looked at the screen. Ezra.She clapped her hand over her mouth. “Sean, can I put you on hold for a sec?” She tried tocontain the exhilaration in her voice. “Why?” Sean asked. “Just . . . hang on.” Aria clicked over. She cleared herthroat and smoothed down her hair, as if Ezra werewatching her on a video screen. “Hello?” She tried tosound cool yet seductive. “Aria?” She swooned at Ezra’s sleepy, gravelly voice. “Ezra.” Aria feigned surprise. “Hi.” A few seconds of silence passed. Aria spun her bike’s
224 ✦ SARA SHEPARDpedals with her foot and watched a squirrel run across thepurple house’s lawn. “I can’t stop thinking about you,”Ezra finally admitted. “Can you meet me?” Aria squeezed her eyes shut. She knew she shouldn’tgo. But she so wanted to. She swallowed hard. “Hang on.” She clicked back over to Sean. “Um, Sean?” “Who was it?” he asked. “It was . . . my mom,” Aria fumbled. “Really? That’s great, right?” Aria bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. Shefocused intently on the intricately carved pumpkinson the purple house’s steps. “I have to go do some-thing,” she blurted out. “I’ll call you later.” “Wait,” Sean cried. “What about Mona’s?” But Aria’s finger was already switching back to Ezra.“I’m back,” she said breathlessly, feeling as if she’d justcompeted in some sort of boy triathlon. “And I’ll be rightover.”When Ezra opened the door to his apartment, which wasin an old Victorian house in Old Hollis, he was holdinga Glenlivet bottle in his right hand. “Want some Scotch?”he asked. “Sure,” Aria answered. She walked into the middle ofEzra’s living room and sighed happily. She’d thoughtabout this apartment a lot since she’d been here last. Thebillions of books on the shelves, the blue melted candlewax spilling over the mantel in Smurf-like lumps, and the
PERFECT ✦ 225big, useless bathtub in the middle of the room . . . it allmade Aria feel so comfortable. She felt like she’d justcome home. They plopped down on Ezra’s springy, mustard-yellow love seat. “Thanks for coming over,” Ezra saidsoftly. He was wearing a pale blue T-shirt with a little ripin the shoulder. Aria wanted to stick her finger throughthe hole. “You’re welcome,” Aria said, sliding out of hercheckerboard Vans slip-ons. “Should we toast?” Ezra thought for a moment, a lock of dark hair fallingover his eyes. “To coming from messed-up homes,” hedecided, and touched his glass to hers. “Cheers.” Aria tipped the Scotch back. It tasted likeglass cleaner and smelled like kerosene, but she didn’tcare. She drained the Scotch fast, feeling it burn downher esophagus. “Another?” he asked, bringing the Glenlivet bottlewith him as he sat back down. “Sure,” Aria answered. Ezra got up to get more icecubes and glanced at the tiny muted TV in the corner.There was an iPod commercial on. It was funny to watchsomeone dance so enthusiastically with no sound. Ezra returned and poured Aria another drink. Withevery sip of the Scotch, Aria’s tough exterior meltedaway. They talked for a while about Ezra’s parents—hismom lived in New York City now, his dad in Wayne, atown not too far away. Aria began to talk about her
226 ✦ SARA SHEPARDfamily again. “You know what my favorite memory of myparents is?” she said, hoping she wasn’t slurring. The bit-ter Scotch was doing a number on her motor skills. “Mythirteenth birthday at Ikea.” Ezra raised an eyebrow. “You’re kidding. Ikea’s anightmare.” “It sounds weird, right? But my parents knew someonewho was really high up who ran the Ikea store near here,and we rented it out after-hours. It was so much fun—Byronand Ella went there early and planned this whole big scav-enger hunt all around the Ikea bedrooms and kitchens andoffices. They were so giddy about it. We all had Swedishfurniture names for the party—Byron’s was Ektorp, I think,and Ella’s was Klippan. They seemed so . . . together.” Tears dotted Aria’s eyes. Her birthday was in April;Aria had found Bryon with Meredith in May, and thenAli had vanished in June. It seemed like that party hadbeen the last perfect, uncomplicated night of her life.Everyone had been so happy, even Ali—especially Ali. Atone point in a cavern of Ikea shower curtains, Ali hadgrabbed Aria’s hands and whispered, “I’m so happy, Aria!I’m so happy!” “Why?” Aria had asked. Ali grinned and wiggled. “I’ll tell you soon. It’s a sur-prise.” But she’d never had the chance. Aria traced her finger around the top of the Scotchglass. The news had just come on the TV. They were talk-
PERFECT ✦ 227ing about Ali—again. Murder investigation, the banner atthe bottom of the screen said. Ali’s seventh-grade schoolpicture was in the left-hand corner: Ali flashing her bril-liant smile, the diamond hoops glinting in her ears, herblond hair wavy and lustrous, her Rosewood Day blazerperfectly fitted and lint-free. It was so odd that Ali wouldbe a seventh grader forever. “So,” Ezra said. “Have you spoken to your dad?” Aria turned away from the TV. “Not really. He want-ed to talk to me, although he probably doesn’t now. Notafter the Scarlet A thing.” Ezra frowned. “Scarlet A thing?” Aria picked at a loose thread in her favorite APC jeansfrom Paris. This was not something she could explain tosomeone who had a degree in English literature. But Ezrawas learning forward, his beautiful lips parted in expecta-tion. So she took another sip of Scotch and told him allabout Meredith, Hollis, and the dripping red A. To her horror, Ezra burst out laughing. “You’re kiddingme. You really did that?” “Yes,” Aria snapped. “I shouldn’t have told you.” “No, no, it’s great. I love it.” Ezra impetuously grabbedAria’s hands. His palms were warm and big and slightlysweaty. He met her eyes . . . then kissed her. First lightly,then Aria leaned in and kissed him harder. They stoppedfor a moment, and Aria slumped back on the couch. “You okay?” Ezra asked softly. Aria had no idea if she was okay. She’d never felt so
228 ✦ SARA SHEPARDmuch in her life. She couldn’t quite figure out what to dowith her mouth. “I don’t—” “I know we shouldn’t be doing this,” Ezra interrupted.“You’re my student. I’m your teacher. But . . .” He sighed,pushing back a lock of hair. “But . . . I wish that maybe . . .somehow . . . this could work.” How badly had she wanted Ezra to say these thingsweeks ago? Aria felt perfect with him—more alive, moreherself. But then Sean’s face appeared in Aria’s mind. Shesaw him leaning over to kiss her the other day in thecemetery when he saw a rabbit. And she saw A’s note:Careful, careful! I’m always watching. She glanced at the television again. The familiarvideo clip came on for the billionth time. Aria couldread Spencer’s lips: Want to read her texts? The girlscrowded around the phone. Ali swam into the picture.For a moment, Ali looked squarely into the camera, hereyes round and blue. It seemed like she was staring outof the TV screen into Ezra’s living room . . . straight atAria. Ezra turned his head and noticed what was on. “Shit,”he said. “I’m sorry.” He rooted around in the pile ofmagazines and Thai takeout menus on his coffee tableand finally found the remote. He switched one channelup, which was QVC. Joan Rivers was selling a giantdragonfly-shaped brooch. Ezra pointed at the screen. “I’ll buy that for you, ifyou want.”
PERFECT ✦ 229 Aria giggled. “No thanks.” She put her hand on Ezra’sand took a deep breath. “So, what you said . . . aboutmaking this work. I . . . I think I want it to work with you,too.” He brightened and Aria could see her reflection in hisglasses. The old grandfather clock near Ezra’s diningroom table chimed out the hour. “R-really?” he mur-mured. “Yes. But . . . but I also want to do it right.” Sheswallowed hard. “I have a boyfriend right now. So . . . Ihave to take care of that, you know?” “Sure,” Ezra said. “I understand.” They stared at each other for at least a minute more.Aria could have reached over, torn his glasses off, andkissed him a billion times. “I think I should go now,” shesaid wistfully. “Okay,” Ezra answered, his eyes not leaving hers. Butwhen she slid off the couch and tried to put on her shoes,he pulled at the edge of her T-shirt. Even though she’dwanted to leave, she just . . . couldn’t. “Come here,” Ezra whispered, and Aria fell back intohim. Ezra reached out his arms and caught her.
28 SOME OF HER LETTERS ALSO SPELL JAILA little before eight on Saturday night, Spencer was lyingon her bed, watching her palm-leaf ceiling fan go aroundand around. The fan cost more than a decent-runningcar, but Spencer had begged her mom to buy it becauseit looked identical to the fan in her private cabana thetime her family stayed at the Caves in Jamaica. Now,however, it looked so . . . Spencer at thirteen. She got out of bed and slid her feet into her blackChanel sling-backs. She knew she should muster up someenthusiasm for Mona’s party. She would have last year—then again, everything had been different last year. Allday, she’d been having strange visions—fighting with Alioutside the barn, Ali’s mouth moving but Spencer nothearing the words, Spencer taking a step toward her, acrack. It was as if the memory, pent up for all these years,wanted to be the star.
PERFECT ✦ 231 She swiped more toasted almond-colored gloss on herlips, straightened her kimono-sleeve black dress, andclomped downstairs. When she reached the kitchen, shewas surprised to see that her mother, father, and Melissawere sitting at the table around an empty Scrabble board.The two dogs snuggled at their feet. Her father wasn’twearing his standard uniform of either a suit or cyclingclothes, but a soft white T-shirt and jeans. Her mom wasin yoga pants. The room smelled like steamed milk fromthe Miele espresso maker. “Hey.” Spencer couldn’t remember the last time she’dseen her parents home on a Saturday night. They were allabout being seen—whether it was at a restaurant openingor at the symphony or at one of the dinner parties thepartners at her father’s firm were always having. “Spencer! There you are!” Mrs. Hastings cried. “Guesswhat we just got?” With a flourish, she presented a print-out she had been holding behind her back. It had thePhiladelphia Sentinel ’s gothic-script logo on the top.Underneath was the headline, Move Over, Trump! SpencerHastings Is Coming! Spencer stared at the photo of herselfsitting at her father’s desk. The battleship gray CalvinKlein suit with the raspberry silk camisole underneathhad been a good choice. “Jordana just e-mailed us the link,” her motherchirped. “Sunday’s front page won’t be ready untiltomorrow morning, of course, but your story is alreadyup online!”
232 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Wow,” Spencer said shakily, too unfocused to actuallyread the story. So this was really happening. How far wasthis going to go? What if she actually won? “We’re going to open a bottle of champagne to cele-brate,” Mr. Hastings said. “You can even have some,Spence. Special occasion and all.” “And maybe you want to play Scrabble?” Mrs.Hastings asked. “Mom, she’s all dressed up for a party,” Melissa urged.“She doesn’t want to sit here and drink champagne andplay Scrabble.” “Nonsense,” Mrs. Hastings said. “It’s not even eightyet. Parties don’t start this early, do they?” Spencer felt trapped. They were all staring at her. “I . . .I guess not,” she said. She dragged a chair back, sat down, and kicked off hershoes. Her father got a bottle of Moët out of the fridge,popped the cork, and took out four Riedel glasses fromthe cabinet. He poured a whole glass for himself,Spencer’s mother, and Melissa, and a half glass forSpencer. Melissa put a Scrabble rack in front of her. Spencer plunged her hand into the velvet bag andselected letters. Her father selected his letters next.Spencer was amazed he knew how to do it—she’d neverseen him play a game, not even on vacation. “When doyou hear what the judges’ final decision is?” he asked,taking a sip of his champagne. Spencer shrugged. “I don’t know.” She glanced at
PERFECT ✦ 233Melissa, who gave her a brief, indecipherable smile.Spencer hadn’t talked to Melissa since their hot-tubsession last night, and she felt a little strange around hersister. Apprehensive, almost. “I had a chance to read it yesterday,” Mr. Hastingscontinued, folding his hands. “I love how you updatedthe concept for modern times.” “So who goes first?” Spencer asked shrilly. There wasno way they were talking about the content of the essay.Not around Melissa. “Didn’t 1996’s Golden Orchid winner win a Pulitzerlast year?” Mrs. Hastings asked. “No, it was a National Book Award,” Melissa said. Please stop talking about the Golden Orchid, Spencerthought. Then, she realized: for once, they were talkingabout her—not Melissa. Spencer looked at her tiles. She had I, A, S, J, L, R,and H. She rearranged the letters and almost choked onher tongue. LIAR SJH. SJH, as in Spencer Jill Hastings. Outside, the sky was raven-colored. A dog howled.Spencer grabbed her champagne flute and drained itscontents in three seconds flat. “Someone’s not drivingfor at least an hour,” her father mock-scolded. Spencer tried to laugh, sitting on her hands so her dadwouldn’t see that they were shaking. Mrs. Hastings spelled WORM with her tiles. “Yourturn, Spence,” she said. As Spencer picked up her L tile, Melissa’s slim
234 ✦ SARA SHEPARDMotorola lit up. A fake cello vibrated out of the cell’sspeaker, playing the theme to Jaws. Duh-DUH. Duh-DUH. Spencer could see the screen from here: new textmessage. Melissa flipped the screen open, angling it away fromSpencer’s view. She frowned. “Huh?” she said aloud. “What is it?” Mrs. Hastings asked, raising her eyesfrom her tiles. Melissa scratched her head. “The great Scottish economistAdam Smith’s invisible-hand concept can be summed up veryeasily, whether it’s describing the markets of the nineteenthcentury or those of the twenty-first: you might think people aredoing things to help you, but in reality, everyone is only out forhimself. Weird! Why would someone send me part of anessay I wrote when I was in high school?” Spencer opened her mouth to speak, but only a dryexhalation came out. Mr. Hastings put down his glass. “That’s Spencer’sGolden Orchid essay.” Melissa examined the screen. “No, it’s not, it’s my . . .”She looked at Spencer. “No.” Spencer shrank down in her chair. “Melissa, it was amistake.” Melissa’s mouth was open so wide, Spencer saw thesilver fillings in her molars. “You bitch!” “Things got out of hand!” Spencer cried. “The situa-tion slipped away from me!” Mr. Hastings frowned, confused. “What’s going on?”
PERFECT ✦ 235 Melissa’s face contorted, the corners of her eyes turn-ing down and her lips curling up sinisterly. “First yousteal my boyfriend. And then my paper? Who do youthink you are?” “I said I was sorry!” Spencer cried at the same time. “Wait. It’s . . . Melissa’s paper?” Mrs. Hastings said,growing pale. “There must be some mistake,” Mr. Hastings insisted. Melissa put her hands on her hips. “Should I tellthem? Or would you like to?” Spencer jumped up. “Tell on me like you always do.”She ran down the hall toward the stairs. “You’ve gottenso good at it by now.” Melissa followed. “They need to know what a liar youare.” “They need to know what a bitch you are,” Spencershot back. Melissa’s lips spread into a smile. “You’re so lame,Spencer. Everyone thinks so. Including Mom and Dad.” Spencer scrambled up the stairs backwards. “They donot!” “Yes, they do!” Melissa taunted. “And it’s the truth,isn’t it? You’re a boyfriend-stealing, plagiarizing, patheticlittle bitch!” “I’m so sick of you!” Spencer screamed. “Why don’tyou just die?” “Girls!” Mr. Hastings cried. But it was as if the sisters were in a force-field bubble
236 ✦ SARA SHEPARDall their own. Melissa didn’t break her stare from Spencer.And Spencer started shaking. It was true. She was pathetic.She was worthless. “Rot in hell!” Spencer screamed. She took two stairsat a time. Melissa was right behind her. “That’s right, little babywho means nothing, run away!” “Shut up!” “Little baby who steals my boyfriends! Who isn’t evensmart enough to write her own papers! What were yougoing to say on TV if you won, Spencer? Yes, I wrote everyword of it myself. I’m such a smart, smart girl! What, did youcheat on the PSATs, too?” It felt like fingernails scraping against Spencer’s heart.“Stop it!” she rasped, nearly tripping over an emptyJ. Crew box her mother had left on the steps. Melissa grabbed Spencer’s arm and swung heraround. She put her face right up to Spencer’s. Herbreath smelled like espresso. “Little baby wants every-thing of mine, but you know what? You can’t have whatI have. You never will.” All the anger that Spencer had held in for years brokefree and flooded her body, making her feel hot, then wet,then shaky. Her insides were so bathed in fury they werestarting to prune. She braced herself against the railing,grabbed Melissa by the shoulders and started to shake heras if she were a Magic Eight Ball. Then she shoved her. “Isaid, stop it!”
PERFECT ✦ 237 Melissa stumbled, grabbing the railing for support. Afrightened look danced over her face. A crack started to form in Spencer’s brain. But insteadof Melissa she saw Ali. They both wore the same smug,I’m everything and you’re nothing expression. You try to stealeverything away from me. But you can’t have this. Spencersmelled the dewy humidity and saw the lightning bugsand felt Ali’s breath close to her face. And then, a strangeforce invaded Spencer’s body. She let out an agonizedgrunt from somewhere deep inside her and shot forward.She saw herself reaching out and pushing Ali—or was itMelissa?—with all her strength. Both Melissa and Ali fellbackward. Their heads both made skull-shattering cracksas they fell against something. Spencer’s vision clearedand she saw Melissa tumbling down, down, down thestairs, falling into a heap at the bottom. “Melissa!” Mrs. Hastings cried. And then, everything went black.
29 THERE’S A FULL MOON AT THE HOLLIS PLANETARIUMHanna staggered to the planetarium gates a little afternine. It was the weirdest thing, but it was kind of hard towalk in the court dress. Or sit down. Or, well, breathe. Okay, so the whole thing was too damn tight. It hadtaken Hanna forever to wriggle into the thing and theneven longer to zip up the back. She had even consideredborrowing her mom’s Spanx girdle, but that would havemeant taking the dress off and going through the zippertorture again. The process had taken so long, in fact,she’d hardly had time to do anything else before cominghere, like touch up her makeup, tally the calories she’deaten today, or import her old phone numbers into hernew BlackBerry. Now the dress fabric seemed to have shrunk evenmore. It cut into her skin and clung so tightly to her hipsthat she had no idea how she would pull it up to pee.
PERFECT ✦ 239Every time she moved, she could hear tiny threads tear-ing. There were certain spots, too, like around the belly,the side of her boobs, and across her butt, that . . .bulged. She had eaten a lot of Cheez-Its over the past fewdays . . . and she’d tried really hard not to throw any ofthem up. Could she have gained weight that fast? Whatif something was suddenly wrong with her metabolism?What if she had turned into one of those girls whogained weight by simply looking at food? But she had to wear this dress. Maybe the fabricwould loosen the more she wore it, like leather. The partywould probably be dark, too, so no one would notice.Hanna tottered up the planetarium’s steps, feeling a bitlike a stiff, champagne-colored penguin. She heard the pumping bass from inside the buildingand steeled herself. She hadn’t felt this nervous about aparty since Ali’s seventh-grade Halloween bash, whenshe’d still felt like she was teetering on the edge of dork-dom. Not long after Hanna had arrived, Mona and hergeeky friends Chassey Bledsoe and Phi Templeton hadshown up as three Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings. Alihad taken one look at them and turned them away. “Youlook like you’re covered in fleas,” she’d said, laughing intheir faces. The day after Ali’s party, when Hanna had gone withher mom to the grocery store, she’d seen Mona and herdad in the checkout line. There, on the lapel of Mona’s
240 ✦ SARA SHEPARDdenim jacket, was the crystal-studded jack-o’-lantern pinthat had been in Ali’s party gift bag. Mona was wearingit proudly, as if she belonged. Hanna felt a twinge of guilt about ditching Lucas—hehadn’t e-mailed her back after she cancelled on him—butwhat choice did she have? Mona had all but forgiven herin T-Mobile and then sent her the dress. Best friendsalways came first, especially best friends like Mona. She carefully pushed through the large metal frontdoor. Immediately, the music washed over her like awave. She saw bluish ice sculptures in the main hall, andfarther back, a giant trapeze. Glittering planets hung fromthe ceiling, and an enormous video screen loomed overthe stage. A larger-than-life Noel Kahn gazed through atelescope on the Jumbotron. “Oh my God,” Hanna heard behind her. She turnedaround. Naomi and Riley stood by the bar. They worematching emerald sheaths and carried tiny satin clutches.Riley smirked behind her hand, giving Hanna the once-over. Naomi let out a loud guffaw. Hanna would havenervously pulled in her stomach if the dress hadn’talready unnaturally been doing it for her. “Nice dress, Hanna,” Riley said smoothly. With herblazing red hair and shiny bright green dress, she lookedlike an inverted carrot. “Yeah, it looks really good on you,” Naomi simpered. Hanna stood up straighter and strode away. Sheskirted around a black-suited waitress carrying a tray of
PERFECT ✦ 241mini crab cakes and tried not to look at them, worriedshe really might gain a pound. Then she watched as theimage on the Jumbotron changed. Nicole Hudson andKelly Hamilton, Riley and Naomi’s bitchy underlings,appeared on the screen. They also wore slinky greensheaths and carried the same delicate satin bags. “Happybirthday, Mona, from your party court posse!” they cried,blowing kisses. Hanna frowned. Party court? No. The court dresswasn’t green—it was champagne. Right? Suddenly, a crowd of dancing kids parted. A beautifulblond girl strode right up to Hanna. It was Mona. Shewore the exact same champagne-colored Zac Posen gownas Hanna—the one they’d both been fitted for at Saks.Except hers didn’t pull across the stomach or the ass. Thezipper didn’t look puckered and strained, and there wereno bulges. Instead, it accentuated Mona’s thin waist andshowed off her long, lithe legs. Mona’s eyes boggled. “What are you doing here?” Shelooked Hanna up and down, her mouth wobbling into asmile. “And where the hell did you get that dress?” “You sent it to me,” Hanna answered. Mona stared at her like she was crazy. She pointed atRiley. “That’s the court dress. I changed it. I wanted to bethe only one wearing champagne—not all of us.” Shelooked Hanna up and down. “And certainly not anywhales.” Everyone tittered, even the waitresses and the bartender.
242 ✦ SARA SHEPARDHanna stepped back, confused. The room was quieterfor a moment—the DJ was between songs. Mona wrin-kled her nose and Hanna suddenly felt like a drawstringhad pulled her throat closed. It all made horrible, sick-ening sense. Of course Mona hadn’t sent the dress. A had. “Please leave.” Mona crossed her arms over her chestand stared pointedly at Hanna’s various bulges. “I disin-vited you, remember?” Hanna walked toward Mona, wanting to explain, butshe stepped down unsteadily on her gold Jimmy Chooheel. She felt her ankle twist, her legs go out from underher, and her knees hit the ground. Worse, Hanna heard aloud, undeniable riiiiiiiip. Suddenly, her butt felt a lotless constricted. As she twisted around to assess the dam-age, her side seam gave way, too. The whole side of thedress burst open from Hanna’s ribs to her hip, exposingthe thin, lacy straps of her Eberjey bra and thong. “Oh my God!” Riley cried. Everyone howled withlaughter. Hanna tried to cover herself up, but she didn’tknow where to start. Mona just stood there and let it hap-pen, beautiful and queenlike in her perfect-fitting gown.It was hard for Hanna to imagine that only days ago,they’d loved each other as only best friends could. Mona placed her hands on her hips and looked overat the others. “Come on, girls,” she sniffed. “This trainwreck isn’t worth our time.” Hanna’s eyes filled with tears. Kids started to trample
PERFECT ✦ 243away, and someone tripped over Hanna, spilling warmbeer on her legs. This train wreck isn’t worth our time.Hanna heard the words echo in her head. Then shethought of something. Remember when you saw Mona leaving the Bill Beach plas-tic surgery clinic? Hello, lipo!! Hanna propped herself up against the cool marblefloor. “Hey, Mona.” Mona turned and stared at her. Hanna took a deep breath. “You look a lot skinniersince I saw you leaving Bill Beach. For lipo.” Mona cocked her head. But she didn’t look horrifiedor embarrassed—just confused. She let out a snort androlled her eyes. “Whatever, Hanna. You’re so pathetic.” Mona tossed her hair over her shoulder and wovetoward the stage. A wall of kids quickly separated them.Hanna sat up, covering the tear on her side with onehand and the tear on her ass with the other. And then,she saw it: her face, magnified a billion times on theJumbotron screen. There was a long, panning shot of herdress. The fat under her arms bulged. The lines of herthong showed through the tight fabric. The Hanna onthe screen took a step toward Mona and toppled over.The camera captured her dress splitting apart. Hanna screamed and covered her eyes. Everyone’slaughter felt like needles tattooing her skin. Then she felta hand on her back. “Hanna.” Hanna peeped through her hands. “Lucas?”
244 ✦ SARA SHEPARD He was wearing dark trousers, an Atlantic RecordsT-shirt, and a pinstriped jacket. His longish blond hairlooked thick and wild. The look on his face said he’dseen everything. He took off his jacket and handed it to her. “Here. Putthis on. Let’s get you out of here.” Mona was climbing onstage. The crowd quiveredwith anticipation. On any normal party night, Hannawould have been front and center, ready to grind to themusic. But instead, she grabbed Lucas’s arm.
30 CHANGE IS GOOD . . . EXCEPT WHEN IT’S NOTOn Saturday evening, Emily laced up her rental ice skatesuntil she could barely feel the circulation in her feet. “Ican’t believe we have to wear three pairs of socks,” shecomplained to Becka, who was next to her on the bench,lacing up the pair of white skates she’d brought fromhome. “I know,” Becka agreed, adjusting her lace headband.“But it keeps your feet from getting cold.” Emily tied her skate laces in a bow. It had to be aboutfifty degrees in the rink, but she was only in a RosewoodSwimming short-sleeve T-shirt. She felt so numb, colddidn’t affect her. On the way here, Emily told Becka thather first Tree Tops session was Monday. Becka seemedstartled, then happy. Emily didn’t say much else the restof the ride over. All she was thinking about was howshe’d rather be with Maya.
246 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Maya. Whenever Emily shut her eyes, she saw Maya’sangry face in the greenhouse. Emily’s cell phone hadbeen quiet all day. Part of her wanted Maya to call, to tryto get Emily back. And then of course, part of her didn’t.She tried to look at the positives—now that her parentssaw that she was really making a commitment to TreeTops, they had been kinder to her. At Saturday swimpractice, Coach Lauren had told her that the U of Aswim coach still wanted to meet with her. All the swimteam boys were still hitting on her and inviting Emily tohot-tub parties, but it was better than them making funof her. And as they were driving home from practice,Carolyn had said, “I like this CD,” when Emily slid someold No Doubt into the player. It was a start. Emily stared at the ice rink. After The Jenna Thing,she and Ali used to come here practically every weekend,and nothing about the place had changed since then.There were still the same blue benches that everyone saton to lace up their boots, the machine that dispensed hotchocolate that tasted like aspirin, the giant plastic polarbear that greeted everyone at the main entrance. Thewhole thing was so eerily nostalgic, Emily almostexpected to see Ali out on the ice practicing her backwardcrossovers. The rink was practically empty tonight,though—there were clusters of kids, but no one Emily’sage. Most likely, they were all at Mona’s party—in a par-allel world, Emily would have been there too. “Becka?”
PERFECT ✦ 247 Emily and Becka looked up. A tall girl with short darkcurly hair, a button nose, and hazel eyes stared at them. Shehad on a pink A-line dress, white cable-knit tights, a deli-cate pearl bracelet, and hot pink lip gloss. A pair of whiteice skates with rainbow laces dangled from her wrists. “Wendy!” Becka cried, standing up. She went to hugWendy but then seemed to correct herself and stoodback. “You’re . . . you’re here!” Wendy had a big smile on her face. “Wow, Becks. Youlook . . . great.” Becka smiled sheepishly. “So do you.” She inspectedWendy almost in disbelief, as if Wendy had been resur-rected from the dead. “You cut your hair.” Wendy touched it self-consciously. “Is it too short?” “No!” Becka said quickly. “It’s really cute.” Both of them kept smiling and giggling. Emilycoughed, and Becka looked over. “Oh! This is Emily. Mynew Tree Tops friend.” Emily shook Wendy’s hand. Wendy’s short fingernailswere painted seashell pink, and there was a Pokémonappliqué on her thumb. Wendy sat down and started lacing up her skates. “Doyou guys skate a lot?” Emily asked. “You both have yourown skates.” “We used to,” Wendy said, glancing at Becka. “Wetook lessons together. Well . . . sort of.” Becka giggled and Emily glanced at her, confused.“What?”
248 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Nothing,” Becka answered. “Just . . . remember theskate rental room, Wendy?” “Oh my God.” Wendy clapped a hand over her mouth.“The look on that guy’s face!” Oh-kaaay. Emily coughed again, and Becka immedi-ately stopped laughing, as if she realized where she was—or, perhaps, who she was. When Wendy finished lacing up, they all steppedonto the rink. Wendy and Becka immediately twirledaround and began skating backward. Emily, who onlyknew how to skate forward in a somewhat jerky fashion,felt bumbling and oafish next to them. No one said anything for a while. Emily listened tothe slicing noises their skates made in the ice. “So, areyou still seeing Jeremy?” Wendy asked Becka. Becka chewed on the end of her wool mitten. “Notreally.” “Who’s Jeremy?” Emily asked, skirting around ablond girl in a Brownie uniform. “A guy I met at Tree Tops,” Becka answered. Sheglanced at Wendy uncomfortably. “We went out for amonth or two. It didn’t really work out.” Wendy shrugged and pushed a lock of hair behind herear. “Yeah, I was going out with a girl from history class,but it didn’t go anywhere either. And I have a blind datenext week, but I’m not sure if I’ll go. Apparently she’sinto hip-hop.” She wrinkled her nose. Emily suddenly realized that Wendy had said she.
PERFECT ✦ 249Before she could ask, Becka cleared her throat. Her jawwas tense. “I might go on a blind date, too,” she said,louder than usual. “With another boy from Tree Tops.” “Well, good luck with that,” Wendy said stiffly, spin-ning to skate forward again. Only, she didn’t take hereyes off Becka, and Becka didn’t take her eyes off Wendy.Becka skated up next to Wendy, it seemed like she pur-posefully bumped hands. The lights dimmed. A disco ball descended from theceiling and colored lights swirled around the rink.Everyone except for a few couples tottered off the ice.“Couples skate,” said an Isaac Hayes imposter over theloudspeaker. “Grab the one you love.” The three of them collapsed on a nearby bench asUnchained Melody belted out of the speakers. Ali hadonce remarked that she was tired of sitting out of couplesskate. “Why don’t we just skate together, Em?” she sug-gested, offering Emily her hand. Emily would never for-get what it felt like to wrap her arms around Ali. To smellthe sweet, Granny Smith apple scent of Ali’s neck. Tosqueeze Ali’s hands when Ali lost her balance, to acci-dentally brush her arm against Ali’s bare skin. Emily wondered if she’d remember that event differ-ently next week. Would Tree Tops wipe those feelingsfrom her mind, the way the Zamboni machine smoothedaway all the nicks and skate-marks from the ice? “I’ll be back,” Emily murmured, stumbling clumsilyon the blades of her skates to the bathroom. Inside, she
250 ✦ SARA SHEPARDran her hands under scalding hot water and stared atherself in the streaky mirror. Doing Tree Tops was the rightdecision, she told her reflection. It was the only decision.After Tree Tops, she would probably date boys just likeBecka did. Right? When she walked back to the rink, she noticed thatBecka and Wendy had left the bench. Emily ploppeddown, figuring they’d gone to get a snack, and stared atthe darkened rink. She saw couples with their handsintertwined. Others were attempting to kiss while skating.One couple hadn’t even made it to the ice—they weregoing at it by one of the entrances. The girl plunged herhands into the guy’s curly dark hair. The slow song abruptly ended and the fluorescentlights snapped back on. Emily’s eyes widened at thecouple by the door. The girl wore a familiar lace head-band. Both were wearing white ice skates. The guy’s hadrainbow laces. And . . . he was in a pink A-line dress. Becka and Wendy saw Emily at the same time. Becka’smouth went round, and Wendy looked away. Emilycould feel herself shaking. Becka walked over and stood next to Emily. Sheexhaled a puff of frosty air. “I guess I should explain,huh?” The ice smelled cold, like snow. Someone had left asingle, child-size red mitten on the next bench over. Onthe rink, a child swooped by and cried, “I’m an airplane!”Emily stared at Becka. Her chest felt tight.
PERFECT ✦ 251 “I thought Tree Tops worked,” Emily said quietly. Becka ran her hands through her long hair. “I thoughtit did, too. But after seeing Wendy . . . well, I guess yougot the picture.” She pulled her Fair Isle sweater’s cuffsdown over her hands. “Maybe you can’t really change.” A hot feeling spread in Emily’s stomach. Thinkingthat Tree Tops could change something so fundamentalabout her had scared her. It seemed so against theprinciples of . . . of being human, maybe. But it couldn’t.Maya and Becka were right—you couldn’t change who youwere. Maya. Emily clapped her hand over her mouth. Sheneeded to talk to Maya, right now. “Um, Becka,” she saidquietly. “Can I ask you a favor?” Becka’s eyes softened. “Sure.” Emily skated for the exit. “I need you to drive me toa party. Right now. There’s someone I have to see.”
31 THEY FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WONAria squinted into the lens of her Sony Handycam asSpencer adjusted the rhinestone crown perched atopher head. “Hey, guys,” Spencer whispered, saunteringover to an LG flip phone that was lying right side upon the Hastingses’ leather couch. “Want to read hertexts?” “I do,” Hanna whispered. Emily stood up from her perch on the leather couch’sarm. “I don’t know. . . .” “C’mon. Don’t you want to know who texted her?”Spencer demanded. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily gatheredaround Ali’s cell phone. Aria took the camera off the tri-pod and moved closer, too. She wanted to get all of thison film. All of Ali’s secrets. She zoomed in to get a goodshot of the cell phone’s screen when suddenly she hearda voice from the hall.
PERFECT ✦ 253 “Were you looking at my phone?” Ali shrieked,marching into the room. “Of course not!” Hanna cried. Ali eyed her cell on thecouch, but then turned her attention to Melissa and Ian,who had just come into the kitchen. “Hey, girls,” Ian said, stepping into the family room.He glanced at Spencer. “Cute crown.” Aria retreated back to her tripod. Spencer, Ian, and Aligathered on the couch, and Spencer began playing talk-show host. Suddenly, a second Ali walked right up to thecamera. Her skin looked gray. Her irises were black andher neon-red lipstick was applied clownishly, in wrigglylines around her mouth. “Aria,” Ali’s doppelganger commanded, staringstraight into the lens. “Look. The answer is right in frontof you.” Aria furrowed her brow. The rest of the scene wasrolling forward as usual—Spencer was asking Ian aboutbase-jumping. Melissa was growing more pissed off as sheput away their takeout bags. The other Ali—the normal-looking one on the couch—seemed bored. “What do youmean?” Aria whispered to the Ali in front of the lens. “It’s right in front of you,” Ali urged. “Look!” “Okay, okay,” Aria said hastily. She searched theroom again. Spencer was leaning into Ian, hanging on hisevery word. Hanna and Emily were perched against thecredenza, seeming relaxed and chill. What was Aria sup-posed to be looking for?
254 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I don’t understand,” she whimpered. “But it’s there!” Ali screamed. “It’s. Right. There!” “I don’t know what to do!” Aria argued helplessly. “Just look!” Aria sprang up in bed. The room was dark. Sweatpoured down her face. Her throat hurt. When she lookedover, she saw Ezra lying on his side next to her, andjumped. “It’s okay,” Ezra said quickly, wrapping his armsaround her. “It was just a dream. You’re safe.” Aria blinked and looked around. She wasn’t in theHastingses’ living room but under the covers of Ezra’sfuton. The bedroom, which was right off the living room,smelled like mothballs and old-lady perfume, the way allOld Hollis houses smelled. A light, peaceful breezerippled the blinds, and a William Shakespeare bobble-head nodded on the bureau. Ezra’s arms were around hershoulders. His bare feet rubbed her ankles. “Bad dream?” Ezra asked. “You were screaming.” Aria paused. Was her dream trying to tell her some-thing? “I’m cool,” she decided. “It was just one of thoseweird nightmares.” “You scared me,” Ezra said, squeezing her tight. Aria waited until her breathing returned to normal,listening to the wooden, fish-shaped wind chimes knock-ing together right outside Ezra’s window. Then shenoticed that Ezra’s glasses were askew. “Did you fallasleep in your glasses?”
PERFECT ✦ 255 Ezra put his hand to the bridge of his nose. “I guess,”he said sheepishly. “I fall asleep in them a lot.” Aria leaned forward and kissed him. “You’re such aweirdo.” “Not as weird as you, screamer,” Ezra teased, pullingher on top of him. “I’m going to get you.” He started totickle her waist. “No!” Aria shrieked, trying to wriggle away from him.“Stop!” “Uh-uh!” Ezra bellowed. But his tickling hastilyturned into caressing and kissing. Aria shut her eyes andlet his hands flutter over her. Then, Ezra flopped back onthe pillow. “I wish we could just go away and live some-where else.” “I know Iceland really well,” Aria suggested. “Or whatabout Costa Rica? We could have a monkey. Or maybeCapri. We could hang out in the Blue Grotto.” “I always wanted to go to Capri,” Ezra said softly. “Wecould live on the beach and write poems.” “As long as our pet monkeys can write poems withus,” Aria bargained. “Of course,” Ezra said, kissing her nose. “We can haveas many monkeys as you want.” He got a far-off look onhis face, as if he were actually considering it. Aria felt herinsides swell. She’d never felt so happy. This felt . . . right.They would make it work. She would figure out the restof her life—Sean, A, her parents—tomorrow. Aria snuggled into Ezra. She started dozing off
256 ✦ SARA SHEPARDagain, thinking about dancing monkeys and sandybeaches when suddenly, there was pounding at the frontdoor. Before Aria and Ezra could react, the door splitopen and two policemen burst inside. Aria screamed.Ezra sat up and straightened his boxers, which had pic-tures of fried eggs, sausages, and pancakes all over them.The words Tasty Breakfast! were scrolled around thewaistband. Aria hid under the covers—she was wearingan oversized Hollis University T-shirt of Ezra’s thatbarely covered her thighs. The cops stomped through Ezra’s living room andinto his bedroom. They shined their flashlights first overEzra, then on Aria. She wrapped the sheets around hertighter, scanning the floor for her clothes and undies.They were gone. “Are you Ezra Fitz?” demanded the cop, a burly,Popeye-armed man with slick black hair. “Uh . . . yeah,” Ezra stammered. “And you teach at Rosewood Day School?” Popeyeasked. “Is this the girl? Your student?” “What the hell is going on?” Ezra shrieked. “You’re under arrest.” Popeye unhooked silver hand-cuffs from his belt. The other cop, who was shorter andfatter and had shiny skin that Aria could only describe asham-colored, yanked Ezra out of bed. The threadbare,grayish sheets went with him, exposing Aria’s bare legs.She screamed and dropped to the other side of the bedto hide. She found a pair of plaid pajama pants balled up
PERFECT ✦ 257behind the radiator. She stuffed her legs into them as fastas she could. “You have the right to remain silent,” Ham-facebegan. “Anything you say can and will be used againstyou in a court of law.” “Wait!” Ezra screamed. But the cops didn’t listen. Ham-face spun Ezra aroundand snapped the cuffs on his wrists. He glanced disgus-tedly at Ezra’s futon. Ezra’s jeans and T-shirt were snarledup near the headboard. Aria suddenly noticed that the lacyblack bra she’d had custom-fitted in Belgium was snaggedon one of the bedposts. She quickly ripped it down. They shoved Ezra through the living room and outhis own door, which hung precariously on one hinge.Aria ran after them, not even bothering to put on hercheckerboard Vans, which waited in the second balletposition on the floor near the television. “You can’t dothis!” she shouted. “We’ll deal with you next, little girl,” Popeye growled. She hesitated in the dingy, dimly lit front hall. Thecops restrained Ezra like he was a skinny, breakfast-boxer-clad mental patient. Ham-face kept stepping on hisknobby bare feet. It made Aria love him even more. As they bumbled out the door and onto the frontporch, Aria realized someone else was in the hall withher. Her mouth fell open. “Sean,” Aria sputtered. “What . . . what are you doinghere?”
258 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Sean was crumpled up against the gray mailbox unit,staring at Aria with dread and disappointment. “What areyou doing here?” he demanded, staring pointedly atEzra’s oversize pajama pants, which were threatening tofall down to her ankles. She quickly yanked them back up. “I was going to explain,” Aria mumbled. “Oh yeah?” Sean challenged, putting his hands onhis hips. He looked sharper tonight, meaner. Not thesoft Sean she knew. “How long have you been withhim?” Aria silently stared at an Acme market coupon circu-lar that had fallen on the floor. “I’ve packed up all your stuff,” Sean went on, noteven waiting for her answer. “It’s on the porch. There’sno way you’re coming back to my house.” “But . . . Sean . . .” Aria said weakly. “Where will I go?” “That’s not my problem,” he snapped, storming outthe front door. Aria felt woozy. Through the open door, she could seethe cops guiding Ezra down his front walk and pushinghim into a Rosewood Police cruiser. After they slammedthe back door, Ezra glanced toward his house again. Helooked at Aria, then Sean, then back again. There was abetrayed look on his face. A light switched on in Aria’s head. She followed Seanto the porch and grabbed his arm. “You called the police,didn’t you?” Sean crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.
PERFECT ✦ 259She felt dizzy and sick, and clutched the porch’s rustyblue-gray glider for balance. “Well once I got this . . .” Sean whipped out his cellphone and brought it close to Aria’s face. On the screenwas a picture of Aria and Ezra kissing in Ezra’s office.Sean hit the side arrow. There was another photo of themkissing, just from a different angle. “I figured I should letthe authorities know a teacher was with a student.” Hislips curled around the word student, as if it was disgustingto him. “And on school property,” he added. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Aria whispered. Andthen, she noticed the text message that accompanied thelast photo. Her heart sank a few thousand feet deeper. Dear Sean, I think someone’s girlfriend has a LOT of explaining to do. —A
32 NOT-SO-SECRET LOVERS“And they were all over each other!” Emily took a hugesip of the sangria Maya had gotten for them from theplanetarium bar. “All this time, I was afraid they could,like, change you, but it turns out that it’s fake! My spon-sor’s back with her girlfriend and everything!” Maya gave Emily a crazy look, poking her in the ribs.“You seriously thought they could change you?” Emily leaned back. “I guess that is stupid, isn’t it?” “Yes.” Maya smiled. “But I’m glad it doesn’t work too.” About an hour ago, Becka and Wendy had droppedEmily off at Mona’s party and she had torn through therooms, searching for Maya, terrified that she had left—orworse, that she was with someone else. She’d foundMaya by herself near the DJ booth, wearing a black-and-white striped dress and patent-leather Mary Janes. Herhair was up in white butterfly clips. They had escaped outside to a little patch of grass in
PERFECT ✦ 261the planetarium’s garden. They could see the party stillraging through the two-story, frosted-glass windows,but they couldn’t hear it. Shady trees, telescopes, andbushes pruned into the shapes of planets filled thegarden. A few of the partygoers had spilled out and weresitting on the other side of the patio, smoking and laugh-ing, and there was a couple making out by the giant,Saturn-shaped topiary, but Emily and Maya were prettymuch sequestered. They hadn’t kissed or anything, butwere merely staring up at the sky. It had to be almostmidnight, which was normally Emily’s curfew, but she’dcalled her mom to say that she would be staying thenight at Becka’s. Becka had agreed to corroborate thestory, if need be. “Look,” Emily said, pointing at the stars. “That sec-tion of stars up there, don’t they look like they couldform an E if you drew lines between them?” “Where?” Maya squinted. Emily positioned Maya’s chin correctly. “There arestars next to them that form an M.” She smiled in thedarkness. “E and M. Emily and Maya. It’s, like, a sign.” “You and your signs,” Maya sighed. They were com-fortably quiet for a second. “I was furious at you,” Maya said softly. “Breaking upwith me in the kiln like that. Refusing to even look at mein the greenhouse.” Emily squeezed her hand and stared at the constellations.A tiny jet streaked past, a thousand feet up. “I’m sorry,”
262 ✦ SARA SHEPARDshe said. “I know I haven’t exactly been fair.” Now Maya eyed Emily carefully. Glittery bronzer illu-minated her forehead, cheeks, and nose. She lookedmore beautiful than Emily had ever seen her. “Can I holdyour hand?” she whispered. Emily gazed at her own rough, square hand. It hadheld pencils and paintbrushes and pieces of chalk.Gripped the starting blocks before a swimming race.Clutched a balloon on the swim team’s homecoming floatlast year. It had held her boyfriend Ben’s hand . . . and ithad even held Maya’s, but it seemed like this time it wasmore official. It was real. She knew there were people around. But Maya wasright—everyone already knew. The hard part was over,and she’d survived. She’d been miserable with Ben, andshe hadn’t been kidding anybody with Toby. Maybe sheshould be out there with this. As soon as Becka had saidit, Emily knew she was right: she couldn’t change who shewas. The idea was terrifying but thrilling. Emily touched Maya’s hand. First lightly, then hard-er. “I love you, Em,” Maya said, squeezing back. “I loveyou so much.” “I love you, too,” Emily repeated, almost automatically.And she realized—she did. More than anyone else, morethan Ali, even. Emily had kissed Ali, and for a split second,Ali had kissed her back. But then Ali had pulled back,disgusted. She’d quickly started talking about some boy shewas really into, a boy whose name she wouldn’t tell Emily
PERFECT ✦ 263because Emily might “really freak.” Now Emily wonderedif there even had been a boy, or if Ali had said it to undothe tiny moment when she had kissed Emily for real. Tosay, I’m not a lesbo. No frickin’ way. All this time, Emily had fantasized about what thingswould have been like if Ali hadn’t disappeared, and ifthat summer and their friendship had proceeded asplanned. Now she knew: it wouldn’t have gone on. If Alihadn’t disappeared, she would have drifted farther andfarther away from Emily. But maybe Emily would stillhave found her way to Maya. “You okay?” Maya asked, noting Emily’s silence. “Yeah.” They sat quietly for a few minutes, holdinghands. Then Maya lifted her head, frowning at some-thing inside the planetarium. Emily followed her eyes toa shadowy figure, staring straight at them. The figureknocked on the glass, making Emily jump. “Who is that?” Emily murmured. “Whoever it is,” Maya said, squinting, “they’re com-ing outside.” Every hair on Emily’s body stood up. A? She scootedbackward. Then she heard an all-too-familiar voice.“Emily Catherine Fields! Get over here!” Maya’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God.” Emily’s mother stepped under the courtyard spot-lights. Her hair was uncombed, she wore no makeup, shehad on a ratty T-shirt, and her sneaker lace was untied.She looked ridiculous among the throng of done-up
264 ✦ SARA SHEPARDpartygoers. A few kids gaped at her. Emily clumsily struggled off the grass. “W-what areyou doing here?” Mrs. Fields grabbed Emily’s arm. “I cannot believeyou. I get a call fifteen minutes ago saying you’re withher. And I don’t believe them! Silly me! I don’t believethem! I say they’re lying!” “Mom, I can explain!” Mrs. Fields paused and sniffed the air aroundEmily’s face. Her eyes widened. “You’ve been drinking!”she screamed, enraged. “What has happened to you, Emily?”She glanced down at Maya, who was sitting very still onthe grass, as if Mrs. Fields had put her in suspended anima-tion. “You’re not my daughter anymore.” “Mom!” Emily screamed. It felt like her mother hadthrust a curling iron into her eye. That statement soundedso . . . legal and binding. So final. Mrs. Fields dragged her to the little gate that led fromthe courtyard to a back alley that led to the street. “I’mcalling Helene when we get home.” “No!” Emily broke free, then faced her motherhalfway hunched over, the way a sumo wrestler squaresoff when he’s about to fight. “How can you say I’m notyour daughter?” she screeched. “How can you send meaway?” Mrs. Fields reached for Emily’s arm again, but Emily’ssneakers caught on an uneven divot in the grass. She fellbackward, hitting the ground on her tailbone, experi-
PERFECT ✦ 265encing a white, blinding flash of pain. When she opened her eyes, her mother was above her.“Get up. Let’s go.” “No!” Emily bellowed. She tried to get up, but hermother’s nails pierced her arm. Emily struggled but knewit was hopeless. She glanced once more at Maya, who stillhadn’t moved. Maya’s eyes were huge and watery, andshe looked tiny and alone. I might never see her again,Emily thought. This might be it. “What’s so wrong with it?” she screamed at hermother. “What’s so wrong with being different? How canyou hate me for that?” Her mother’s nostrils flared. She balled up her fistsand opened her mouth, ready to scream something back.And then, suddenly, she seemed to deflate. She turnedaway and made a small noise at the back of her throat. Allat once, she looked so spent. And scared. And ashamed.Without any makeup on and in her pajamas, she seemedvulnerable. There was a redness around her eyes, as if shehad been crying for a long time. “Please. Let’s just go.” Emily didn’t know what else to do but get up. She fol-lowed her mother down the dark, deserted alley and intoa parking lot, where Emily saw their familiar Volvo. Theparking lot attendant met her mother’s eyes and gaveEmily a judging sneer, as if Mrs. Fields had explainedwhy she was parking here and retrieving Emily from theparty. Emily threw herself in the front seat. Her eyes landed
266 ✦ SARA SHEPARDon the Dial-a-Horoscope laminated wheel that was in thecar’s seat pocket. The wheel foretold every sign’s horo-scopes for all the twelve months of this year, so Emilypulled it out, spun the wheel to Taurus, her sign, andlooked at October’s predictions. Your love relationships willbecome more fulfilling and satisfying. Your relationships mayhave caused difficulties with others in the past, but all will besmooth sailing from now on. Ha, Emily thought. She hurled the horoscope cardout the window. She didn’t believe in horoscopes any-more. Or tarot cards. Or signs or signals or anything elsethat said things happened for a reason. What was thereason this was happening? A chill went through her. I get a call fifteen minutes agosaying you’re with her. She dug through her bag, her heart pounding. Herphone had one new message. It had been in her inbox fornearly two hours. Em, I see you! And if you don’t stop it, I’m calling you- know-who. —A Emily put her hands over her eyes. Why didn’t A justkill her instead?
33 SOMEONE SLIPS UP. BIG TIME.First, Lucas gave Hanna a shrunken Rosewood Daysweatshirt and a pair of red gym shorts from his car. “AnEagle Scout is always prepared for anything,” he pro-claimed. Second, he led Hanna to the Hollis College ReadingRoom so she could change. It was a few streets over fromthe planetarium. The reading room was simply that—a bigroom in a nineteenth-century house completely devotedto chilling out and reading. It smelled like pipe smokeand old leather bookbindings and was filled with all sortsof books, maps, globes, encyclopedias, magazines, news-papers, chessboards, leather couches, and cozy love seatsfor two. Technically, it was only open to college studentsand faculty, but it was easy enough to jimmy your way inthe side door. Hanna went into the tiny bathroom, removed herripped dress, and threw it into the little chrome trash can,
268 ✦ SARA SHEPARDstuffing it in so it would fit. She slumped out of thebathroom, threw herself on the couch next to Lucas,and just . . . lost it. Sobs that had been pent up insideof her for weeks—maybe even years—exploded out ofher. “No one will like me anymore,” she said chokingly,between sobs. “And I’ve lost Mona forever.” Lucas rubbed her hair. “It’s all right. She doesn’tdeserve you anyway.” Hanna cried until her eyes swelled and her throatstung. Finally, she pressed her head into Lucas’s chest,which was more solid than it looked. They lay there insilence for a while. Lucas ran his fingers through her hair. “What made you come to her party?” she asked aftera while. “I thought you weren’t invited.” “I was invited.” Lucas lowered his eyes. “But . . . Iwasn’t going to go. I didn’t want you to feel bad, and Iwanted to spend the night with you.” Little sparkles of giddiness snapped through her stom-ach. “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. “Bagging our pokergame at the last minute like that, for Mona’s stupid party.” “It’s okay,” Lucas said. “It doesn’t matter.” Hanna stared at Lucas. He had such soft blue eyes andadorably pink cheeks. It did matter to her, a lot. She wasso consumed with doing the perfect thing all the time—wearing the perfect outfit, picking out the perfectringtone, keeping her body in perfect shape, having theperfect best friend and the perfect boyfriend—but whatwas all that perfection for? Maybe Lucas was perfect, just
PERFECT ✦ 269in a different way. He cared about her. Hanna didn’t quite know how it had happened, butthey’d settled in on one of the cracked-leather love seats,and she was on Lucas’s lap. Strangely, she didn’t feel self-conscious that she was breaking Lucas’s legs. Last sum-mer, to prepare for her trip with Sean’s family to CapeCod, Hanna had eaten nothing but grapefruit andcayenne pepper, and she hadn’t let Sean touch her whenshe was wearing her bathing suit, afraid he’d find herJell-O-ish. With Lucas, she didn’t worry. Her face moved closer to Lucas’s. His face movedcloser to hers. She felt his lips touch her chin, then theside of her mouth, then her mouth itself. Her heartpounded. His lips whispered across hers. He pulled hertoward him. Hanna’s heart was beating so fast and excit-edly, she was afraid it would burst. Lucas cradled Hanna’shead in his hands and kissed her ears. Hanna giggled. “What?” Lucas said, pulling away. “Nothing,” Hanna answered, grinning. “I don’t know.This is fun.” It was fun—nothing like the serious, important make-out sessions she’d had with Sean, where she felt like apanel of judges was scoring each and every kiss. Lucaswas sloppy, wet, and overly joyful, like a boy Labrador.Every so often, he’d grab her and squeeze. At one point,he started tickling her, making Hanna squeal and roll offthe couch right onto the floor. Eventually, they were lying on one of the couches,
270 ✦ SARA SHEPARDLucas on top of her, his hands drifting up and down herbare stomach. He took off his shirt and pressed his chestagainst hers. After a while, they stopped and lay there,saying nothing. Hanna’s eyes grazed across all the books,chess sets, and busts of famous authors. Then, suddenly,she sat up. Someone was looking in the window. “Lucas!” She pointed to a dark shape moving towardthe side door. “Don’t panic,” Lucas said, easing off the couch andcreeping toward the window. The bushes shook. A lockbegan to turn. Hanna clamped down on Lucas’s arm. A was here. “Lucas . . .” “Shhh.” Another click. Somewhere, a lock was turn-ing. Someone was coming in. Lucas cocked his head tolisten. Now there were footsteps coming from the backhall. Hanna took a step backward. The floor creaked. Thefootsteps came closer. “Hello?” Lucas grabbed his shirt and pulled it onbackward. “Who’s there?” No one answered. There were more creaks. A shadowslithered across the wall. Hanna looked around and grabbed the largest thingshe could find—a Farmer’s Almanac from 1972. Suddenly, alight flicked on. Hanna screamed and raised the almanacover her head. Standing before them was an older manwith a beard. He wore small, wire-framed glasses and a cor-
PERFECT ✦ 271duroy jacket and held his hands over his head in surrender. “I’m with the history department!” the old man sput-tered. “I couldn’t sleep. I came here to read. . . .” He lookedat Hanna strangely. Hanna realized the neck of Lucas’ssweatshirt was pulled to the side, exposing her bare shoulder. Hanna’s heart started to slow down. She put the bookback on the table. “Sorry,” she said. “I thought—” “We’d better go anyway.” Lucas sidestepped the oldman and pulled Hanna out the side door. When they werenext to the house’s iron front gate, he burst into giggles. “Did you see that guy’s face?” he hooted. “He was ter-rified!” Hanna tried to laugh along, but she felt too shaken.“We should go,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Iwant to go home.” Lucas walked Hanna to the valet at Mona’s party. Shegave the valet the ticket for her Prius, and when hebrought it back, she made Lucas look all through it tomake sure no one was hiding in the backseat. When shewas safely inside with the door locked, Lucas tapped hishand against the window and mouthed that he’d call hertomorrow. Hanna watched him walk away, feeling bothexcited and horribly distracted. She started down the planetarium’s spiral drive. Everytwenty feet or so was a banner advertising the new exhibit.THE BIG BANG, they all said. They showed a picture of theuniverse exploding. When Hanna’s cell phone beeped, she jumped so
272 ✦ SARA SHEPARDviolently, she nearly broke out of the seat belt. She pulledover into the bus lane and whipped her phone out of herbag with trembling fingers. She had a new text. Oops, guess it wasn’t lipo! Don’t believe everything you hear! —A Hanna looked up. The street outside the planetariumwas quiet. All the old houses were closed up tight, andthere wasn’t a single person on the street. A breeze kickedup, making the flag on the porch of an old Victorianhouse flap and a jack-o’-lantern-shaped leaf bag on itsfront lawn flutter. Hanna looked back down at the text. This was odd.A’s latest text wasn’t from caller unknown, as it usuallywas, but an actual number. And it was a 610 number—Rosewood’s area code. The number seemed familiar, although Hanna nevermemorized anyone’s number—she’d gotten a cell in sev-enth grade and had since relied on speed dial. There wassomething about this number, though. . . . Hanna covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh myGod,” she whispered. She thought about it anothermoment. Could it seriously be? Suddenly, she knew exactly who A was.
34 IT’S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU“Another coffee?” A waitress who smelled like grilledcheese and had a very large mole on her chin hoveredover Aria, waving a coffee carafe around. Aria glanced at her nearly empty mug. Her parentswould probably say this coffee was loaded with carcino-gens, but what did they know? “Sure,” she answered. This was what it had come to. Aria sitting in a boothat the diner near Ezra’s house in Old Hollis with all ofher worldly goods—her laptop, her bike, her clothes, herbooks—around her. She had nowhere to go. Not Sean’s,not Ezra’s, not even her own family’s. The diner was theonly place open right now, unless you counted the twenty-four-hour Taco Bell, which was a total stoner hangout. She stared at her Treo, weighing her options. Finally,she dialed her home number. The phone rang six timesbefore the answering machine picked up. “Thanks forcalling the Montgomerys,” Ella’s cheery voice rang out.
274 ✦ SARA SHEPARD“We’re not home right now. . . .” Please. Where on earth would Ella be after midnighton a Saturday? “Mom, pick up,” Aria said into themachine after it beeped. “I know you’re there.” Still noth-ing. She sighed. “Listen. I need to come home tonight. Ibroke up with my boyfriend. I have nowhere else to stay.I’m sitting at a diner, homeless.” She paused, waiting for Ella to answer. She didn’t.Aria could imagine her standing over the phone, listen-ing. Or maybe she wasn’t at all. Maybe she’d heard Aria’svoice and walked back up the stairs to bed. “Mom, I’m indanger,” she pleaded. “I can’t explain how, exactly, butI’m . . . I’m afraid something’s going to happen to me.” Beep. The answering machine tape cut her off. Arialet her phone clatter to the Formica tabletop. She couldcall back, but what would be the point? She couldalmost hear her mother’s voice: I can’t even look at youright now. She lifted her head, considering something. Slowly,Aria picked up her Treo again and scrolled through hertexts. Byron’s text with his number was still there. Takinga deep breath, she dialed. Byron’s sleepy voice answered. “It’s Aria,” she said quietly. “Aria?” Byron echoed. He sounded stunned. “It’s,like, two in the morning.” “I know.” The diner’s jukebox switched records. Thewaitress married two ketchup bottles. The last remainingpeople besides Aria got up from their booth, waved
PERFECT ✦ 275good-bye to the waitress, and pushed through the frontdoor. The diner’s bells jingled. Byron broke the silence. “Well, it’s nice to hear fromyou.” Aria curled her knees into her chest. She wanted to tellhim that he’d messed up everything, making her keep hissecret, but she felt too drained to fight. And also . . . partof her really missed Byron. Byron was her dad, the onlydad she knew. He had warded off a snake that had slith-ered into Aria’s path during a hiking trip to the GrandCanyon. He’d gone down to talk to Aria’s fifth-grade artteacher, Mr. Cunningham, when he gave Aria an F on herself-portrait because she had drawn herself with greenscales and a forked tongue. “Your teacher simply doesn’tunderstand postmodern expressionism,” Byron had said,grabbing his coat to go do battle. Byron used to pick herup, throw her over his shoulder, carry her to bed, and tuckher in. Aria missed that. She needed that. She wanted to tellhim she was in danger. And she wanted him to say, “I’llprotect you.” He would, wouldn’t he? But then she heard someone’s voice in the back-ground. “Everything okay, Byron?” Aria bristled. Meredith. “Be there in a sec,” Byron called. Aria fumed. A sec? That was all he planned to devoteto this conversation? Byron’s voice returned to thephone. “Aria? So . . . what’s up?” “Never mind,” Aria said icily. “Go back to bed, or
276 ✦ SARA SHEPARDwhatever you were doing.” “Aria—” Byron started. “Seriously, go,” Aria said stiffly. “Forget I called.” She hit END and put her head on the table. She triedto breathe in and out, thinking calm thoughts, like aboutthe ocean, or riding a bicycle, or the mindlessness of knit-ting a scarf. A few minutes later, she looked around the diner andrealized she was the only person there. The ripped, fadedcounter stools were all vacant, the booths all cleaned offand empty. Two carafes of coffee sat on warmers behindthe counter, and the cash register’s screen still glowedWELCOME, but the waitresses and cooks had all vanished.It was like one of those horror movies where somehow,all at once, the main character looks up to find everyonedead. Ali’s killer is closer than you think. Why didn’t A just tell her who the killer was? She wassick of playing Scooby-Doo. Aria thought of her dreamagain, of how that pale, ghostly Ali had stepped in frontof the camera. “Look closer!” she’d screamed. “It’s rightin front of you! It’s right there!” But what was right there?What had Aria missed? The waitress with the mole trundled out from behindthe counter and eyed Aria. “Want a piece of pie? Theapple’s edible. On the house.” “Th-that’s okay,” Aria stuttered. The waitress leaned an ample hip against one of the
PERFECT ✦ 277counter’s pink stools. She had the kind of curly black hairthat always looked wet. “You heard about the stalker?” “Uh-huh,” Aria answered. “You know what I heard?” the waitress said. “It’s a richkid.” When Aria didn’t respond, she went back to wash-ing an already clean table. Aria blinked a few times. Look closer, Ali had said. Shereached into her messenger bag and opened her laptop.It took a while to boot up, and then it took even longerfor Aria to find the file folder that held her old videos. Ithad been so long since she’d searched for them. Whenshe finally unearthed it, she realized that none of thevideo files were labeled very accurately. They were titledthings like “Us Five, #1,” or “Ali and Me, #6,” and thedates were from when they’d last been viewed, notwhen they were made. She had no idea how to find thevideo that had been leaked to the press . . . besidesgoing through all of them. She clicked randomly on a video titled “Meow!” Aria,Ali, and the others were in Ali’s bedroom. They werestruggling to dress up Ali’s Himalayan cat, Charlotte, ina hand-knit sweater, giggling as they stuffed her legsthrough the armholes. She watched another movie called “Fight #5,” but itwasn’t what she thought it would be—she, Ali, and theothers were making chocolate-chip cookies and got in afood fight, flinging cookie dough around Hanna’s kitchen.In another, they were playing foosball on the table in
278 ✦ SARA SHEPARDSpencer’s basement. When Aria clicked on a new MPEG that was simplycalled “DQ,” she noticed something. By the looks of Ali’s haircut and all their new warm-weather clothes, the video was from a month or so beforeAli had gone missing. Aria had zoomed in on a shot ofHanna downing a monster-size Dairy Queen Blizzard inrecord time. In the background, she heard Ali start mak-ing retching noises. Hanna paused, and her face quicklydrained of color. Ali giggled in the background. No oneelse seemed to notice. A strange sensation slithered over Aria. She’d heardthe rumors that Hanna had a bulimia problem. It seemedlike something that A—and Ali—would know. She clicked on another. They were flipping throughthe channels at Emily’s house. Ali stopped on a newscastof a Gay Pride parade that had taken place in Philly ear-lier that day. She turned pointedly to Emily and grinned.“That looks fun, doesn’t it, Em?” Emily turned red andpulled her sweatshirt hood around her head. None of theothers batted an eye. And another. This one was only sixteen seconds long.The five of them were lounging around Spencer’s pool.They all wore massive Gucci sunglasses—or, in Emily andAria’s case, knockoffs. Ali sat up and pushed her glassesdown her nose. “Hey, Aria,” she said abruptly. “What doesyour dad do if, like, he gets sexy students in his class?” The clip ended. Aria remembered that day—it had
PERFECT ✦ 279been shortly after the time she and Ali had discoveredByron and Meredith kissing in Byron’s car, and Ali hadbegun dropping hints that she was going to tell theothers. Ali really did know all their secrets, and she’d beendangling them over their heads. It had all been right infront of them, and they hadn’t realized it. Ali had knowneverything. About all of them. And now, A did, too. Except . . . what was Spencer’s secret? Aria clicked on another video. Finally, she saw thefamiliar scene. There was Spencer, sitting on her couchwith that crown on her head. “Want to read her texts?”She pointed at Ali’s LG phone, which was lying betweenthe couch cushions. Spencer opened Ali’s phone. “It’s locked.” “Do you know her password?” Aria heard her ownvoice ask. “Try her birthday,” Hanna whispered. “Were you looking at my phone?” Ali screamed. The phone clattered to the ground. Just then,Spencer’s older sister, Melissa, and her boyfriend, Ian,walked past the camera. Both of them smiled into thelens. “Hey, guys,” Melissa said. “What’s up?” Spencer batted her eyes. Ali looked bored. The cam-era zoomed in on her face and panned down to theclosed phone. “Oh, this is the clip I’ve seen on the news,” said avoice behind Aria. The waitress was leaning against the
280 ✦ SARA SHEPARDcounter, filing her nails with a Tweety Bird nail file. Aria paused the clip and whirled around. “I’m sorry?” The waitress blushed. “Oops. When it’s dead like this,I turn into my evil eavesdropping twin. I didn’t mean tolook at your computer. That poor boy, though.” Aria squinted at her. She noticed for the first time thatthe waitress’s name tag said ALISON. Spelled the same wayand everything. “What poor boy?” she asked. Alison pointed at the screen. “No one ever talks aboutthe boyfriend. He must have been so heartbroken.” Aria stared at the screen, baffled. She pointed at Ian’sfrozen image. “That’s not her boyfriend. He’s with thegirl who’s in the kitchen. She’s not on-screen.” “No?” Alison shrugged and started wiping the counteragain. “The way they’re sitting . . . I just assumed.” Aria didn’t know what to say. She set the video backto the beginning, confused. She and her friends tried tohack Ali’s phone, Ali came back, Melissa and Ian smiled,cinematic shot of closed phone, finis. She restarted the movie one more time, this time athalf-speed. Spencer slowly readjusted her crown. Ali’scell phone dragged across the screen. Ali came back,every expression languid and contorted. Instead of scur-rying past, Melissa plodded. Suddenly, she noticed some-thing in the corner of the screen: the edge of a small,slender hand. Ali’s hand. Then came another hand. Itwas larger and masculine. She slowed down the framespeed. Every so often, the big hand and the little hand
PERFECT ✦ 281bumped each other. Their pinkies intertwined. Aria gasped. The camera swung up. It showed Ian, who waslooking at something beyond the camera. Off to theright was Spencer, looking longingly at Ian, not realiz-ing he and Ali were touching. The whole thing hap-pened in a blink. But now that she saw it, it was all soobvious. Someone wanted something of Ali’s. Her killer is closer thanyou think. Aria felt sick. They all knew Spencer liked Ian. Shetalked about him constantly: how her sister didn’tdeserve him, how he was so funny, how cute he waswhen he ate dinner at their house. And all of them hadwondered if Ali was keeping a big secret—it could havebeen this. Ali must have told Spencer. And Spencercouldn’t deal. Aria put more pieces together. Ali had run out ofSpencer’s barn . . . and turned up not that far away, in ahole in her own backyard. Spencer knew that the workerswere going to fill the hole with concrete the very nextday. A’s note had said: You all knew every inch of her back-yard. But for one of you, it was so, so easy. Aria sat motionless for a few seconds, then picked upher own phone and dialed Emily’s number. The phonerang six times before Emily answered. “Hello?” Emily’svoice sounded like she’d been crying. “Did I wake you up?” Aria asked.
282 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “I haven’t gone to sleep yet.” Aria frowned. “Are you okay?” “No,” Emily’s voice cracked. Aria heard a sniffle. “Myparents are sending me away. I’m leaving Rosewood inthe morning. Because of A.” Aria leaned back. “What? Why?” “It’s not even worth getting into.” Emily soundeddefeated. “You have to meet me,” Aria said. “Right now.” “Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m punished. I’mbeyond punished.” “You have to.” Aria turned into the booth, trying tohide what she was about to say from the diner staff asbest she could. “I think I know who killed Ali.” Silence. “No, you don’t,” Emily said. “I do. We have to call Hanna.” There was scratching at Emily’s end of the phone.After a short pause, her voice came back. “Aria,” shewhispered, “I’m getting another call. It’s Hanna.” A shiver went through Aria. “Put her on three-way.” There was a click, and Aria heard Hanna’s voice. “Youguys,” Hanna was saying. She sounded out of breath andthe connection was rumbly, like Hanna was talkingthrough a fan. “You’re not going to believe this. Amessed up. I mean, I think A messed up. I got this notefrom this number and I suddenly knew whose number itwas, and . . .” In the background, Aria heard a horn honk. “Meet me
PERFECT ✦ 283at our spot,” Hanna said. “The Rosewood Day swings.” “Okay,” Aria breathed. “Emily, can you come pick meup at the Hollis Diner?” “Sure,” Emily whispered. “Good,” Hanna said. “Hurry.”
35 WORDS WHISPERED FROM THE PASTSpencer shut her eyes. When she opened them, she wasstanding outside the barn in her backyard. She lookedaround. Had she been transported here? Had she run outhere and not remembered? Suddenly, the barn door swung open and Ali stormedout. “Fine,” Ali said over her shoulder, arms swingingconfidently. “See ya.” She walked right past Spencer, as ifSpencer were a ghost. It was the night Ali went missing again. Spencerstarted breathing faster. As much as she didn’t want to behere, she knew that she needed to see all of this—toremember as much as she could. “Fine!” she heard herself scream from inside the barn.As Ali stormed down the path, Spencer, younger andsmaller, flew to the porch. “Ali!” the thirteen-year-oldSpencer screamed, looking around. Then, it was like the seventeen-year-old Spencer and
PERFECT ✦ 285the thirteen-year-old Spencer merged into one. She couldsuddenly feel all the emotions of her younger self. Therewas fear: what had she done, telling Ali to leave? Therewas paranoia: none of them had ever challenged Ali. AndAli was angry with her. What was she going to do? “Ali!” Spencer screamed. The tiny, pagoda-shapedlanterns on the footpath back to the main house providedonly a whisper of light. It seemed like things were movingin the woods. Years ago, Melissa had told Spencer that eviltrolls lived in the trees. The trolls hated Spencer andwanted to hack off her hair. Spencer walked to where the path split: she couldeither go toward her house, or toward the woods thatbounded her property. She wished she’d brought a flash-light. A bat swooped out of the trees. As it flew away,Spencer noticed someone far down the path near thewoods, hunched over and looking at her cell phone. Ali. “What are you doing?” Spencer called out. Ali narrowed her eyes. “I’m going somewhere waycooler than hanging out with you guys.” Spencer stiffened. “Fine,” she said proudly. “Go.” Ali sank onto one hip. The crickets chirped at leasttwenty times before she spoke again. “You try to stealeverything away from me. But you can’t have this.” “Can’t have what?” Spencer shivered in her tissue-thin T-shirt. Ali laughed nastily. “You know.” Spencer blinked. “No . . . I don’t.”
286 ✦ SARA SHEPARD “Come on. You read about it in my diary, didn’tyou?” “I wouldn’t read your stupid diary,” Spencer spat. “Idon’t care.” “Right.” Ali took a step toward Spencer. “You careway too much.” “You’re delusional,” Spencer sputtered. “No, I’m not.” Ali was right next to her now. “You are.” Anger boiled up inside Spencer, and she shoved Alion the shoulder. It was forceful enough to make Ali stag-ger back, losing her footing on the path’s rocks, whichwere slippery with dew. The older Spencer winced. Shefelt like she was a pawn, being dragged along for the ride.A look of surprise crossed Ali’s face, but it quickly turnedto mocking. “Friends don’t shove friends.” “Well, maybe we’re not friends,” Spencer said. “Guess not,” Ali said. Her eyes danced. The look onher face indicated she had something really juicy to say.There was a long pause before she spoke, as if she wasconsidering her words very, very carefully. Hang on,Spencer urged herself. REMEMBER. “You think kissing Ian was so special,” Ali growled.“But you know what he told me? That you didn’t evenknow how.” Spencer searched Ali’s face. “Ian . . . wait. Ian told youthat? When?” “When we were on our date.” Spencer stared at her.
PERFECT ✦ 287 Ali rolled her eyes. “You’re so lame, acting like youdon’t know we’re together. But of course you do, Spence.That’s why you liked him, isn’t it? Because I’m with him?Because your sister’s with him?” She shrugged. “The onlyreason he kissed you the other night was because I askedhim to. He didn’t want to, but I begged.” Spencer’s eyes boggled. “Why?” Ali shrugged. “I wanted to see if he would do anythingfor me.” Her face went into a mock pout. “Oh, Spence.Did you really believe he liked you?” Spencer took a step back. Lightning bugs strobed in thesky. There was a poisonous smile on Ali’s face. Don’t do it,Spencer screamed to herself. Please! It doesn’t matter! Don’t! But it happened anyway. Spencer reached out andpushed Ali as hard as she could. Ali slid backward, hereyes widening in alarm. She fell straight into the stonewall that surrounded the Hastings property. There was aterrible crack. Spencer covered her eyes and turned away.The air smelled metallic, like blood. An owl screeched inthe trees. When she took her hands away from her eyes, she wasback in her bedroom again, curled up and screaming. Spencer sat up and checked the clock. It was 2:30 A.M.Her head throbbed. The lights were all still on, she waslying on top of her covers, and she was still wearing herblack party dress and Elsa Peretti silver bean necklace.She hadn’t washed her face or brushed her hair one hun-dred times, her typical before-bed rituals. She ran her
288 ✦ SARA SHEPARDhands over her arms and legs. There was a purplish bruiseon her thigh. She touched it and it ached. She clapped a hand over her mouth. That memory.She instantly knew all of it was true. Ali was with Ian.And she had forgotten all of it. That was the part of thenight that was missing. She walked to her door, but the handle wouldn’t turn.Her heart started to pound. “Hello?” she called tentatively.“Is someone there? I’m locked in.” No one answered. Spencer felt her pulse start to speed up. Somethingfelt really, really wrong. Part of the night surged back toher. The Scrabble game. LIAR SJH. A sending Melissathe Golden Orchid essay. And . . . and then what? Shecupped her hands over the crown of her head, as if try-ing to jostle the memory free. And then what? All at once, she couldn’t control her breathing. Shestarted to hyperventilate, sinking to her knees on theivory carpet. Calm down, she told herself, curling into aball and trying to breathe easily in and out. But it felt likeher lungs were filled with Styrofoam peanuts. She feltlike she was drowning. “Help!” she cried weakly. “Spencer?” Her father’s voice emerged from the otherside of the door. “What’s going on?” Spencer jumped up and ran to the door. “Daddy? I’mlocked in! Let me out!” “Spencer, you’re in there for your own good. Youscared us.”
PERFECT ✦ 289 “Scared you?” Spencer asked. “H-how?” She stared ather reflection in the mirror on the back of her bedroomdoor. Yes, it was still her. She hadn’t woken up in some-one else’s life. “We’ve taken Melissa to the hospital,” her father said. Spencer suddenly lost equilibrium. Melissa? Hospital?Why? She shut her eyes and saw a flash of Melissa fallingaway from her, down the stairs. Or was that Ali falling?Spencer’s hands shook. She couldn’t remember. “IsMelissa all right?” “We hope so. Stay there,” her father said from outsidethe door, sounding wary. Perhaps he was afraid of her—perhaps that was why he wasn’t coming in. She sat on her bed, stunned, for a long time. Howcould she not have remembered this? How could she notremember hurting Melissa? What if she did lots ofhorrible things and, in the next second, erased them? Ali’s murderer is right in front of you, A had said. Justwhen Spencer was looking in the mirror. Could it be? Her cell phone, which was sitting on her desk, beganto ring. Spencer stood up slowly and looked at the screenon her Sidekick. Hanna. Spencer opened her phone. She pressed her ear to thereceiver. “Spencer?” Hanna jumped right in. “I know some-thing. You have to meet me.” Spencer’s stomach tightened and her mind whirled.Ali’s killer is right in front of you. She killed Ali. She didn’t
290 ✦ SARA SHEPARDkill Ali. It was like pulling petals off a flower: he loves me,he loves me not. Perhaps she could meet Hanna and . . .and what? Confess? No. It couldn’t be true. Ali had turned up in a hole inher backyard . . . not on the path against the stone wall.Spencer couldn’t have carried Ali to her backyard. Shewasn’t strong enough, right? She wanted to tell someoneabout this. Hanna. And Emily. Aria, too. They would tellher she was crazy, that she couldn’t have killed Ali. “Okay,” Spencer croaked. “Where?” “At the Rosewood Day Elementary swings. Our place.Get there as fast as you can.” Spencer looked around. She could hoist up her win-dow and shimmy down the face of her house—it wouldbe practically as easy as climbing the rock wall at hergym. “All right,” she whispered. “I’ll be right there.”
36 IT WILL ALL BE OVERHanna’s hands were shaking so badly, she could barelydrive. The road to the Rosewood Day Elementary Schoolswings seemed darker and spookier than usual. Sheswerved, thinking she saw something darting out in frontof her car, but when she glanced in her rearview mirror,there was nothing. Barely any cars passed her going theother direction, but all of a sudden, as she was cresting ahill not far from Rosewood Day, a car pulled out behindher. Its headlights felt hot against the back of Hanna’shead. Calm down, she thought. It’s not following you. Her brain whirled. She knew who A was. But . . .how? How was it possible that A knew so much aboutHanna . . . things A couldn’t possibly know? Perhapsthe text had been a mistake. Perhaps A had gotten holdof someone else’s cell phone to throw Hanna off thetrail.
292 ✦ SARA SHEPARD Hanna was too shocked to think about it carefully.The only thought that cycled in a continuous loop in herbrain was: This makes no sense. This makes no sense. She glanced in her rearview mirror. The car was stillthere. She took a deep breath and eyed her phone, con-sidering calling someone. Officer Wilden? Would hecome down here on such short notice? He was a cop—he’d have to. She reached for her phone, when the carbehind her flashed its brights. Should she pull over?Should she stop? Hanna’s finger was poised over her cell, ready todial 911. And then, suddenly, the car veered aroundHanna and passed her on the left. It was a nondescriptcar—maybe a Toyota—and Hanna couldn’t see thedriver inside. The car moved back into her lane, thensped off into the distance. Within seconds, its taillightsvanished. The Rosewood Day Elementary playground’s park-ing lot was wide and deep, separated by a bunch oflittle landscaped islands, which were full of nearly baretrees, spiny grass, and piles of crisp leaves that gave offthat signature leaf-pile smell. Beyond the lot were thejungle gym and climbing dome. They were illuminatedby a single fluorescent light, which made them looklike skeletons. Hanna slid into a space at the southeastcorner of the lot—it was the closest to the park informa-tion booth and a police call box. Just being near some-thing that said Police made her feel better. The others
PERFECT ✦ 293weren’t here yet, so she watched the entrance for anycars. It was nearly 3 A.M. Hanna shivered in Lucas’s sweat-shirt. She felt goose bumps form on her bare legs. She’dread once that at 3 A.M., people were in their deepeststages of REM sleep—it was the closest they would comeevery day to being dead. Which meant that right now,she couldn’t rely on too many of Rosewood’s inhabitantsto help her. They were all corpses. And it was so quiet,she could hear the car’s engine winding down and herslow, please-stay-calm breathing. Hanna opened her cardoor and stood outside it on the yellow line that markedher parking space. It was like her magic circle. Inside it,she was safe. They’ll be here soon, she told herself. In a few minutes,this would all be over. Not that Hanna had any idea whatwas going to happen. She wasn’t sure. She hadn’t thoughtthat far ahead. A light appeared at the school’s entrance and Hanna’sheart lifted. An SUV’s headlights slid across the trees andturned slowly into the parking lot. Hanna squinted. Wasthat them? “Hello?” she called softly. The SUV hugged the north end of the parking lot,passing the high school art building and the student lotand the hockey fields. Hanna started waving her arms.It had to be Emily and Aria. But the car’s windows weretinted. “Hello?” she yelled again. She got no answer. Then
294 ✦ SARA SHEPARDshe saw another car turn into the lot and drive slowlytoward her. Aria’s head was hanging out the passengerwindow. Sweet, refreshing relief flooded Hanna’s body.She waved and started toward them. First she walked,then she jogged. Then sprinted. She was in the middle of the lot when Aria called,“Hanna, look out!” Hanna turned her head to the leftand her mouth fell open, at first not understanding. TheSUV was headed straight for her. The tires squealed. She smelled burnt rubber.Hanna froze, not sure what to do. “Wait!” she heardherself say, staring into the SUV’s tinted window. Thecar kept coming, faster and faster. Move, she told herlimbs, but they seemed hardened and dried out, likecacti. “Hanna!” Emily cried. “Oh my God!” It only took a second. Hanna didn’t even realizeshe’d been hit until she was in the air, and she didn’trealize she was in the air until she was on the pave-ment. Something in her cracked. And then pain. Shewanted to cry out, but she couldn’t. Sound wasamplified—the car’s engine roared, her friends’ screamswere like sirens, even her heart pumping blood soundedwet in her ears. Hanna rolled her neck to the side. Her tiny,champagne-colored clutch had landed a few feet away; itscontents had sprung out like candy from a burst piñata.The car had run over everything, too: Her mascara, her
PERFECT ✦ 295car keys, her mini bottle of Chloé perfume. Her newBlackBerry was crushed. “Hanna!” Aria screamed. It sounded like she was com-ing closer. But Hanna wasn’t able to turn her head tolook. And then it all faded away.
37 IT WAS NECESSARY“Oh my God!” Aria screamed. She and Emily croucheddown at Hanna’s contorted body and started yelling.“Hanna! Oh my God! Hanna! ” “She’s not breathing,” Emily wailed. “Aria, she’s notbreathing!” “Do you have your cell?” Aria asked. “Call 911.” Emily reached shakily for her phone, but it slid out ofher hands and skidded across the parking lot, coming to astop by Hanna’s exploded evening bag. Emily had begunpanicking when she picked Aria up and Aria told her every-thing—about A’s cryptic notes, about her dreams, about Aliand Ian, and about how Spencer must have killed Ali. At first, Emily had refused to believe it, but then alook of horror and realization washed over her. Sheexplained that not long before Ali went missing, Ali hadconfessed that she was seeing someone. “And she must have told Spencer,” Aria had
PERFECT ✦ 297answered. “Maybe that’s what they’d been fighting aboutall those months before the end of school.” “911, what’s your emergency?” Aria heard a voice sayon Emily’s speakerphone. “A car just hit my friend!” Emily wailed. “I’m in theRosewood Day School parking lot! We don’t know whatto do!” As Emily cried out the details, Aria put her mouthagainst Hanna’s lips and tried to give her mouth-to-mouthlike she’d learned in lifeguarding class in Iceland. But shedidn’t know if she was doing it correctly. “C’mon, Hanna,breathe,” she wailed, pinching Hanna’s nose. “Just stay on the line until the ambulance gets there,”Aria could hear the 911 dispatcher’s voice say throughEmily’s phone. Emily leaned down and reached out totouch Hanna’s faded Rosewood Day sweatshirt. Then shepulled back, as if she was afraid. “Oh my God, pleasedon’t die. . . .” She glanced at Aria. “Who could havedone this?” Aria looked around. The swings swayed back andforth in the breeze. The flags on the flagpole fluttered.The woods adjacent to the playground were black andthick. Suddenly, Aria saw a figure standing next to one ofthe trees. She had dirty blond hair and wore a short blackdress. Something in her face looked wild and unhinged.She was staring right at Aria, and Aria took a step backacross the pavement. Spencer. “Look!” Aria hissed, pointing to the trees. But just as
298 ✦ SARA SHEPARDEmily raised her head, Spencer disappeared into theshadows. The buzzing startled her. It took Aria a moment torealize it was her cell phone. Then Emily’s Call Waitinglit up. One new text message, Emily’s screen said. Aria andEmily exchanged a familiar, uneasy look. Slowly, Ariabrought her Treo out of her bag and looked at the screen.Emily leaned over to look, too. “Oh no,” Emily whispered. The wind abruptly stopped. The trees stood still likestatues. Sirens wailed in the distance. “Please, no,” Emily wailed. The text was only fourchilling words long. She knew too much. —A
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSPerfect was the toughest Pretty Little Liars book to date,because there were so many pieces that had to fit inexactly the right places to make everything work. So Iwant to thank all of the careful readers, plotters, chart-makers, word arrangers, and other brilliant people whohelped in the process: Josh Bank and Les Morgenstern,who saw Perfect through its early stages, spending dayswith me hashing out how exactly Spencer should gomad. I’m very grateful to have you guys on my side. Thewonderful people at HarperCollins, Elise Howard andFarrin Jacobs, who puzzled over many drafts, catching allkinds of things I constantly missed. Alloy’s Lanie Davis,who drew brilliant charts, was on-call whenever, wherever,and remained an unflagging fan. And, last but not least,my patient, incredibly competent and wonderfully inno-vative editors—Sara Shandler at Alloy and Kristin Marangat HarperCollins—whose hard work helped to really snapthis book into focus. I appreciate all of you for knowing
these characters so well, loving this series as much as I do,and really believing in its success. We truly are TeamPretty Little Liars, and I propose we start a bowling team,or perhaps a synchronized swimming team, or perhapswe could all just wear matching Lacoste polo shirts. Many thanks and much love to Nikki Chaiken forprofessional advice on early drafts about Spencer and Dr.Evans. Love to my wonderful husband, Joel, for hisresearch on what sort of plane would be used to writemessages in the sky and the physics of what happens tocars when they crash into each other, and who continuesto read all the drafts of this book—amazing! Love also tomy wonderful friends and readers, including my fabulousparents, Shep and Mindy (no swanky bar that serves redwine would be complete without either of you), my sweetand loyal cousin, Colleen (no swanky bar would be com-plete without you, either), and my good friend AndrewZaeh, who texted me as soon as he stepped off a plane totell me that someone was reading Pretty Little Liars,20,000 feet up. And thanks to all who have reached outso far with your thoughts and questions about the series.It’s great to hear you’re out there. You guys are part ofTeam Pretty Little Liars, too. And thanks to the zany girl this book is dedicated to—my sister, Ali! Because she’s nothing like the Alison inthis book, because we can still go on for hours about themagical, fictitious world of pelicans, owls, and square-headed creatures we made up when we were six, because
she doesn’t get mad when I accidentally wear her $380Rock and Republics, and because tattoos look very niceon the back of her neck—even though I think sheshould’ve gone with a certain man’s face and a huge eagletattooed there instead. Ali is quality with a capital Q, andthe best sister anyone could ask for.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT . . .Oooops! So I made one teensy tiny slip-up. It happens.I’ve got a busy life, things to do, people to torture. Like fourpretty little ex-best friends. Yeah, yeah. I know you’re upset about Hanna. Wah.Get over it. I’m already planning my outfit for her funeral:appropriately somber with a touch of flash. Don’t you thinklittle Hannakins would want us to mourn in style? Butmaybe I’m getting ahead of myself—Hanna does have ahistory of rising from the dead. . . . Meanwhile, Aria just can’t catch a break. Her soul-mate’s in jail. Sean hates her. She’s homeless. What’s a girlto do? Looks like it’s time for a life makeover—new house,new friends, maybe even a new name. But watch outAria—even if your new BFF is blind to your real identity,I’ve got 20/20 vision. And you know I can’t keep a secret. I wonder how CONVICT is going to look next to CLASS VPon Spencer’s college apps? Seems like Little Miss GoldenOrchid is about to trade her kelly-green Lacoste polo for ascratchy orange jumpsuit. Then again, Spence wouldn’thave that perfect GPA if she didn’t have a few tricks up her
sleeve—like, say, finding someone else to blame for Ali’smurder. But know what? She just might be right. What about Emily, off to live with her wholesome,Cheerios-eating cousins in Iowa? Hey, maybe it won’t beso bad—she’ll be a girl-loving needle in a big old sexuallyrepressed haystack, far, far away from my prying eyes. Asif! She’s gonna go haywire when she realizes she can’thide from me. Yeee-haw! And finally, with Hanna out of commission, it’s time forme to take on a new victim. Who, you ask? Well nosy-pants, I’m still deciding. It’s not like it’ll be hard: everyonein this town has something to hide. In fact, there’s some-thing even juicier than the identity of moi bubbling beneathRosewood’s glistening surface. Something so shocking,you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. So I won’t evenbother. HA. You know, I kind of love being me. . . . Buckle up, girlies. Nothing is as it seems. Mwah! —A
About the AuthorSARA SHEPARD graduated from New YorkUniversity and has an MFA in Creative Writing fromBrooklyn College. She currently lives in Tucson, Arizona,with her husband. The Pretty Little Liars series wasinspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia’s Main Line.Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive informationon your favorite HarperCollins author.
pretty little liars novels by Sara Shepard: Pretty Little Liars ✦ Flawless ✦ Perfect ✦ Unbelievable
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Luxury penthouse apartment with spacious terrace in the Marbella region of La Mairena, beautiful sea views, swimming pool and ideally located for golfers and sun lovers all year round. The apartment offers free golf, tennis, gym and sauna facilities just 1km away
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Luxury 2 bed 2 bath apartment with large terrace and stunning views on exclusive gated resort. Free tennis/gym/sauna/jacuzzi/6 pools/onsite golf. Ideal for families and golfers. Sumptuously furnished, fully equipped, hot/cold aircon, Satellite TV. WiFi. Sleeps up to 6 Set in lush sub tropical gardens in a quiet area yet within easy drive of central Marbella and Puerto Banus …see more |
With a stay at Comfort Inn Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, you'll be in the business district and convenient to Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. This hotel is close to University of California Santa Cruz and Mystery Spot.
Make yourself at home in one of the 62 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and microwaves. Cable programming and DVD players are provided for your entertainment, while complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected. Conveniences include coffee/tea makers and irons/ironing boards, and housekeeping is provided daily.
Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities
Enjoy a range of recreational amenities, including an outdoor pool, a spa tub, and a sauna.
A complimentary buffet breakfast is included.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include a business center, complimentary newspapers in the lobby, and dry cleaning/laundry services. Free self parking is available onsite.Expedia Affiliate Network
24 hour front desk
Pets not allowed
Get Flight + Hotel |
Book your room at Brook Hotel
Standard RoomMax Occupancy: 2 guests (up to 1 child, 1 infant)
LoftMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
Business Room, 1 King BedMax Occupancy: 3 guests (up to 2 children, 2 infants)
4-star hotel with free breakfast and restaurant
Located in the heart of Hangzhou, this hotel is 1.8 mi (2.9 km) from Cai Shenmiao and 2.9 mi (4.7 km) from Xixi Wetland Park. West Lake and Yellow Dragon Sports Center are also within 6 mi (10 km).
A restaurant, a sauna, and meeting rooms are available at this hotel. Free buffet breakfast and free WiFi in public areas are also provided. Additionally, dry cleaning, tour/ticket assistance, and a front-desk safe are onsite.
All 118 rooms offer free wired Internet, iPod docks, and LCD TVs. Room service, coffee makers, and hair dryers are among the other amenities available to guests.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
The hotel offers a restaurant. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary. This business-friendly hotel also offers a sauna, tour/ticket assistance, and dry cleaning/laundry services.
- Total number of rooms - 118
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Luggage storage
- Year Built 2009
- Free WiFi
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Meeting rooms
- Number of floors - 3
- Free breakfast
- Front desk (limited hours)
- Tours/ticket assistance
Available in all rooms: Free wired high-speed Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
- Coffee/tea maker
- Hair dryer
- Room service (limited hours)
- Air conditioning
- Free wired high-speed Internet
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- iPod docking station
- LCD TV
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary buffet breakfast.
Chinese Restaurant - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Room service (during limited hours) is available.
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Check-out time is noon
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Breakfast fee: CNY 32 per person (approximately) |
While Sweden is known as one of the safest countries in the world, Malmo on the west coast and adjacent to Copenhagen, has a reputation as a rough and tumble city. In 2000, a long bridge connected Malmo and Denmark, and the city became the eastern end of a frequently-used trafficking route. Alcohol, drugs and guns were moved back and forth along this route. As a result, shooting deaths became more common in Malmo.
To help with the difficulties in this region, Narconon Eslov was established not far from Malmo. In this clean, airy facility, those who escaped from the pain of life by becoming addicted can find lasting recovery.
It's very common for those arriving at Narconon Eslov to have been to other rehabs first. In fact, it is the norm. Some people have been through the methadone maintenance treatment that is available in Sweden. While methadone maintenance may reduce crime, it does not enable a person to regain the brightness of a drugless life. They do not learn how to keep themselves sober, how to make those correct decisions at the critical moments that create a healthy, productive life. But this is what the Narconon program does and has been doing for more than 45 years.
The Narconon program starts with a drugless withdrawal process. But this is not a withdrawal that should be dreaded. There are many techniques and ways of helping that make this withdrawal possibly the most tolerable one an addicted person will ever experience. The first is generous doses of nutrition. These calm the body and start building up the body's strength. After all, addicts normally do not take care of themselves and their own health. As these nutrients flood through the body, the deficiencies start being remedied. The person's aches and pains begin to diminish, muscle cramps lessen, and the person's attitude in most cases begins to lift.
This is just the beginning of a totally innovative way of dealing with addiction. It's based on thoroughly addressing the reasons a person is trapped in addiction. These factors are like chains holding the person down. Once they are snapped, a person is free to chose sobriety and then learn the specific life skills needed to make it last.
These three factors, discovered over these decades of helping people achieve sobriety, are guilt, cravings and depression. All three are common to every person who has spent any time addicted.
Depression often shows the first signs of lifting in the withdrawal stage of recovery, as a person soaks up the nutrition and gets the idea that this time, these people helping him know what they are doing. He (or she) may realize right here that this time it could be different if he applies himself to his recovery. This improvement may give a person more hope than he may have gotten throughout earlier drug rehabilitation experiences.
Cravings yield for many people after they complete the Narconon New Life Detoxification Program, one phase of the overall rehab program. This uses the very familiar dry-heat sauna along with more nutritional supplements and moderate daily exercise. With the strict nutritional regimen recommended for this program, the result is a flushing out of old, stored drug toxins. As the toxins leave, one's outlook brightens, thinking clears and that's when many people also say their cravings yield.
Guilt is eased as a person learns how he lost his own personal integrity and learn also how he can rebuild it. Many people begin to repair relationships with those they left behind as they learn to deal with their guilt and accept more responsibility.
If you are struggling to help an addicted loved ones, Narconon can help. Addiction is one of the most difficult problems to overcome on your own. A few people do manage but most people need the help of a proven, successful program.
Contact Narconon today to find out how this program can help you or someone you care about, replacing addiction with lasting sobriety. |
I was in Southampton yesterday and I popped by the 2010 Hampton Designer Showhouse, sponsored by Traditional Home magazine and benefitting Southampton Hospital. This year’s showhouse is located at 129 Stoney Hill Road in Sag Harbor, NY. The 10,800 square foot home was built by Frank Bodenchak on 4.7 acres surrounded by 62 acres of private reserve. I took a shortcut from Southampton because the traffic was bad and as I cut through the back roads, I felt like I had left the Hamptons and stepped into a Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movie set! Here is a photo I took from my car en route:
I thought the trees might envelope me and it gave me a preview to the land reserve I was driving into. Alas, after many windy turns through this densely forested area, I made it to the show house in tact with my notepad in hand. The Stoney Hill Road home is currently on the market for $5.5 million and had a bit of a spec house feel, but I enjoyed perusing the rooms nonetheless. It has seven large bedrooms, 8.5 baths, a two story foyer and living room area, a 36′ x 15′ library, a designer kitchen and breakfast room with a fireside living area. The house has a huge second floor 1,750 sq foot master suite with private office/den, a sitting room, dressing room, fireplace, large balcony and an additional first floor master suite and separate studio apartment. The lower level had an amazing showcase caliber movie theater with seating for 12, game room, library, gym, sauna, wine cellar and room for a wet bar. It also boasts 2,300 square feet of outdoor porches surrounding a 20′ x 46′ gunite pool, 8 person spa, water sunbed a two tier fire pit and space for a tennis court.
The master suite was done by Diane Karmen and Skye Kirby of Lillian August in Norwalk, CT and featured items from their Lillian August for Hickory White collection. According to their literature, the pair, “designed the space with the vision of an urban, sophisticated couple from New York City who weekends in Paris and summers in Sag Harbor.”
The bathroom was designed by Susanne Kelley of Bakes and Company. I loved the fresh and open feel to the room and loved the accents she used. Susanne opened waterworks in East Hampton in 1996 and she continues to design baths on the east end. Her style ranges from traditional to modern…
Beautiful and personal effects placed carefully on the vanity, all in the same cool silver tones with splashes of blue. (Photo copyright The Well Appointed House)
I enjoyed Arden Stephenson’s design of the third guest room. I felt like I was in a guest bedroom at a beach retreat out of a Slim Aarons book with the punchy 1960’s golden yellows and turquoise blues. She featured many products that you can buy right at The Well Appointed House.
The home theater system in the basement really took the cake. Designed by Audio Command Systems, Inc. in conjunction with Barbara Ostrom, this home theatre was like nothing I have ever seen! I really felt like I had been transported away from Sag Harbor and to a Coney Island theatre. They even had a doll sitting in a ticket book reminiscent of the fortune teller/magic wish machine in the movie BIG with Tom Hanks (a bit spooky).
The game room was designed by Bradley Stephens. His concept for the game room was inspired by the refined sport of billiards and the exciting allure of a speakeasy. A destination for smart cocktails and some friendly, good-natured competition. If you look at the far end of the photo, you’ll see the shimmering navy walls, which come alive with Phillip Jeffries Ltd Lacquered Strie wallcovering, which created a glittering backdrop. As I mentioned earlier, Phillip Jeffries was one of the winners of the show house…I saw his papers used in a number of areas.
I’ll end this blog entry with one of my favorite rooms – the hollywood regency style pool lounge by Jennifer Madbley and Austin Handler of Mabley Handler Interior Design. Again I saw orange! Hermes watch out! 2011 is going to be the year of the tangerine…and again I see textured paper by Phillip Jeffries… |
Maplandia.com in partnership with Booking.com offers highly competitive rates for all types of hotels in Triesen, from affordable family hotels to the most luxurious ones. Booking.com, being established in 1996, is longtime Europe’s leader in online hotel reservations. See the overview of Triesen hotels in the following section.
At Maplandia.com you won't be charged any booking fees, cancellation fees, or administration fees – the reservation service is free of charge. The reservation system is secure and your personal information and credit card is encrypted.
We have put together also a carefully selected list of recommended luxury hotels in Triesen, only hotels with the highest level of guest satisfaction are included. Many photos and unbiased hotel reviews written by real guests are provided to help you make your booking decision. Luxury Triesen hotels (including 5 star hotels and 4 star hotels) are available in the list below. Please enter the dates of your stay to check availability and latest luxury hotel deals. Always bear in mind that with Maplandia.com and Booking.com the best price is guaranteed!
Triesen is located in Liechtenstein.
List of luxury hotels in Triesen. By default, luxurious Triesen hotels are sorted by name. You can change the sorting order using the navigation bar above. By clicking the first (leftmost) button you can interchange the direction of sorting between ascending/descending. All hotels included are rated four or five stars (list of all hotels in Triesen is also available).
Meierhof Hotel is located in Triesen and 1 km south of Vaduz. It offers a wellness area with sauna and a solarium, a French restaurant and free wireless internet. The garden has a terrace where you can relax in beautiful ... Number of rooms: 43.
Schatzmann in Triesen Hotel is situated in a quiet area on the edge of a forest about 2 km south of Vaduz. It offers a panoramic view over the Rhine valley and free parking. Number of rooms: 33.
Surrounded by a magnificent mountain scenery, and only two kilometers from Vaduz, the hotel is an ideal choice for business trips or vacations in Liechtenstein. Number of rooms: 29.
This hotel ideal for children located in the fascinating nature reserve of Malbun offers a perfect environment to enjoy with the little ones. In the mountains of Liechtenstein watches seem to go more slowly, which is a big advantage.
Maplandia.com is not sponsored by or affiliated with Google. |
Professional golfer Shigeki Maruyama has chipped the asking price on his modern compound in Bel-Air to $16.5 million, down from $18.495 million.
The property, which enjoys panoramic views of downtown Los Angeles, the Pacific and the Stone Canyon Reservoir from a 3.2-acre promontory, originally came to market last October for $19.8 million.
The contemporary home, designed by L.A.-based architect Ted Tokio Tanaka in 1986, features elaborate geometries intended to maximize space and volume. Interiors framed in floor-to-ceiling glass include a central hall, a gym, guest quarters, a media room, an office, a sauna, six bedrooms and nine full bathrooms.
Multilevel walkways bridge various sections of the property while also creating complementary balconies and outdoor terraces. A central courtyard, a pool and a tennis court also reside on the grounds.
Tanaka returned to the property in 2008 to oversee a remodel that included the addition of a glass-enclosed elevator and a staircase servicing each of the master suite’s three floors. The exterior and the interiors were also updated at that time.
Maruyama, 44, toured professionally on the Japan Golf Tour and later the PGA Tour. Last year, he served as an assistant captain on the International Presidents Cup team.
The Japanese golf pro paid $7.6 million for the home in 2004, according to The Times. Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency is the listing agent.
Twitter: @NJLeiteregCopyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times |
Whether you’re headed to London for work or for play, there’s no better place to stay than at one of our London hotels. From the city’s hum and buzz to the abundance of history waiting round every corner, there are few places as vibrant and enthralling as London. When you stay at an IHG property, our knowledgeable staff will guide you towards the best restaurants, tourist sites, museums and cultural hot spots.
Will you be conducting business in the City or the Docklands? Choose one of our nearby hotels for easy access to all of your important meetings. Send a few emails on our Wi-Fi and scan documents in our business center. Start the day out right by exercising in our fitness centers or pools. At our London hotels, expect the comfort of home with world class amenities.
Our London hotel guests are known for their thirst for exploration and discovery. When you visit the historic Westminster Abbey, get an inside look into the beautiful setting for the country’s coronations and wedding ceremonies dating back to 1066. Get a great view of Big Ben as you discover the Houses of Parliament, catching a raucous debate between members of government while you’re there. Wave hello to the prime minister at Number 10 Downing Street and watch the Changing of the Guard at the ornate Buckingham Palace. Nibble on sandwiches when you take high tea at just one of many fine establishments.
For our guests that love art galleries and museums, London is a feast for the senses. Snap a photo at Nelson’s column before viewing the country’s most famous portraits at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Marvel over the archaeological wonder that is the Rosetta Stone and the architectural glory that is the golden Reading Room in the British Museum. Both the Tate Britain and the galleries in Somerset House will satiate even the most discerning art lover, as will the ever enthralling exhibitions at the Tate Modern. From the Science Museum to the Victoria and Albert Museum to the Natural History Museum, get your full museum fix as you navigate every corner of the South Kensington neighborhood.
Lovers of live theater won’t be able to get enough of the theatre district in London’s West End. For great seats at affordable rates, head to the booth in Leicester Square for last-minute steals. Or see where it all started when you head to the theater where Shakespeare reigned.The Globe is located on London’s historic South Bank, where you’ll also find the National Film Institute and the National Theatre for more top-notch performances. When you’re finished here, wander further down the Thames to the London Eye for a birds eye view of the city.
For those who love to shop, London offers a unique blend of sophisticated boutiques, big name department stores and off-beat indie fashion. Take a stroll down Oxford Street for a full palette of offerings. Indulge in the highest fashions the Knightsbridge neighborhood, Park Lane and the world famous Harrods department store have to offer. For a more down to earth feel, London also boasts a wide range of outdoor markets, including a weekly crafts market at Notting Hill, and the taste, sound and smell-packed Borough Market. For a day like no other, browse the knick-knack and clothing stalls at Camden Market before strolling down the beautiful canals from Camden Lock to Little Venice. Dine in a houseboat before exploring nearby Paddington Station, and hop on a train to King’s Cross station to see if you can find Harry Potter’s platform nine-and-three-quarters.
If it’s the outdoors you crave, cross the Millenium Bridge beneath the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral and take a long walk down the Thames. Rub elbows with the Royal Family as you picnic in St. James Park, explore the zoo in Battersea Park, take a nice jog through Regents Park or Hampstead Heath, or paddle around the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Amidst so much green, you’ll leave the stress of the city behind.
When you’re ready for your night out, duck beneath London’s many bridges -- the iconic Tower Bridge included -- and find both authentic English pubs and fine dining. Head to the East End for a Jack the Ripper tour before dining on some of the world’s best Indian food on Brick Lane. Indulge in the high life at one of the city’s many wine and cocktail bars, catch a rock show at Brixton Academy, and explore the many pubs on offer throughout Covent Garden.
No matter why you’re headed to London, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for in this vibrant city. Let us help you make your stay all that it can be. Book into one of our hotels in London today for world class service at the prices you deserve.
We now make it much easier to sample the warm welcome and the best that London has to offer you. Stay for three consecutive nights and get two days' travel passes for two guests all included. Please contact the hotel directly in order to book our Shopping Fever on (44)2083716060. T&C applied
Enjoy convenient Underground links and a relaxed setting at the Holiday Inn Express London-Park Royal hotel, 30 minutes by taxi from Heathrow Airport and less than 20 minutes' tube ride from the heart of London. Easy access to the A40 and major motorways. Hot breakfast is included and available each morning in the hotel's bright, open-plan Great Room.
Hotel is conveniently located close to North Acton Underground tube station in zone 2 of London and is a short 15 minute tube journey into Cental London or Westfiled Shopping. Hotel has an inviting Open Lobby with natural daylight, free internet, USB chargers and your favourite sports on Sky Sport channels. Hotel also offers a modern mini-gym, starbucks coffee and meeting rooms with natural light
Holiday Inn Express London-Greenwich is the closest hotel to the O2 Arena. Stay with us to avoid a long journey home on crowded public transport after late-night events in the giant dome, just 15 minutes' walk away. The Emirates Airline is within walking distance. The cable cars glide 90m above the Thames and connect North and South London with terminals at Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks.
If you’re visiting East London for an exhibition, event or a show at the ExCeL or ICC Centre’s, we are the perfect choice for you – minutes from Royal Albert DLR station and a short walk from the ExCeL and ICC Centre. We are close to London City Airport and are in easy reach of Canary Wharf, Stratford International and Central London.
Take time out to shop in style with the Shopping Package at Crowne Plaza London-Ealing. Our VIP Pass to Westfield shopping centre, 4 miles away, features discounts at a variety of stores, with offers changing monthly. Book the package with your reservation today.
The hotel is conveniently positioned outside London's Congestion Charge zone with 250 parking spaces. Parking is charged at £10 per day but £25 on event days and the charge is valid from 12nn-11am the following day. Residents will enjoy complimentary access to the health club with swimming pool, gym, steam room & sauna. Wi-Fi connectivity is available throughout & it is free of charge.
The hotel is in a stunning location overlooking the waterways of the Grand Union Canal and is approximately 3 miles to the famous rugby grounds of Twickenham. We are also close to amazing attractions such as the Royal Botanic Kew Gardens, the historic Syon House set in the 200 acre Syon Park and the attractive Richmond Upon Thames. |
Leisure & Kids Club
Welcome to Fitzgeralds Woodlands Health & Leisure Centre in Limerick. Our state of the art White Flag Health & Leisure Club was designed with your needs in mind and includes a spacious cardiovascular gym, seperate weights & resistance training area and 20M pool. Our club also includes a sauna, steamroom, jacuzzi, toddler pool, and childrens play room. This Adare hotel is situated on the outskirts of Adare village, and less than 15 minutes from Raheen, Askeaton, Newcastlewest and Limerick city. Whether you want to relax and unwind or enjoy a strenuous workout, we have it all for you at one of the very best Limerick hotels with a swimming pool. Personal training, spinning, pilates, yoga, swim lessons and an extensive activity /fitness classes schedule are all available at this leisure centre in Limerick. As one of the finest leisure hotels Limerick has to offer it will meet all your needs.
To find out more about prices & Leisure Club Membership click here
To view our new Leisure brochure - CLICK HERE
For more information please contact: firstname.lastname@example.org
Family Breaks in Ireland don't get much better than at Woodlands House Hotel in Limerick! Woodies Fun Club caters for children aged 4 to 12 years in our playroom, in which we have activities such as painting, colouring, videos, toys, board games, playstation, jigsaws and lots more. We even do Kids birthday parties and healthy eating menus.
Featuring toddler pool, geyser pool, and bubble pool, there is plenty of fun to be had at Fitzgerald's Woodlands House Hotel Leisure Club.
Woodys Kids Club at this family friendly hotel in Ireland is run during Summer Holidays, School Holidays with games like Water Olympics, Water Polo, Pool Games, Gym work-out, Novelty Races, Treasure Hunt, Unihoc and lots more. Further a field there is lots to do in the surrounding area. Babysitting can be organised if requested in advance of stay.
Call now 061 605111 for opening hours and further information
Please note, during your stay and while using the pool, swim lessons may take place at different times throughout the day. |
A distinctive family owned and operated beachfront resort for over 40 years. Our 73 unit resort is located directly on the beach overlooking Cape Cod Bay in North Truro, just minutes from Provincetown with shuttle services available. Bring your family for a vacation they’ll long remember or visit us for a romantic getaway! Heated Indoor Pool, Sauna, Steam Room, Hot Tub, Fitness Room, Sun Deck, Fire Pit, Tennis and Basketball Court Area, Frozen Drinks, Beer, Wine, Snacks, Soda, Free Wi-Fi, Over 700 feet of Private, Groomed Beach, 3 Bedroom Luxury Private Beach House, Garden View Rooms, Cottages, Beachfront One Room and Two Room Efficiencies, On-Site Cafe and More!
New for 2015 season will be 3 newly built, luxury, 4 bedroom houses! Each home sleeps up to 14 people, 7 queen beds, 3 bathrooms, A/C, Dishwasher, washer and dryer and SO much more!
209 Shore Road, P.O. Box 44, North Truro, MA, 02652
800 917-0024, 508 487-1189 |
Hotel "Saturn" is more than 15 years at the market of hotel services.
During these years we set up a comfortable and low cost hotel in Kiev. Our hotel can satisfy all tastes.. You will have at your disposal more comfortable rooms and low-price economy class rooms. You will be surprised with prices.
In the Hotel you may have delicious breakfast, dinner or supper as well as spend time in cocktail lounge. To hold business meeting you may use conference room and for celebration – banqueting room. There is available parking lot under security surveillance for hotel guests. There is also sauna in the hotel.
In Hotel "Saturn" we provide high - level servicing for you to have only good memories about accommodation in Kiev Hotel!
Special offers for foreign guests |
Realcraft RYNE Upcoming Residential Project Sector CHI V Greater Noida
Realcraft Group Launch a New Residential Project RYNE in CHI-V Yamuna Expressway, Greater Noida. Realcraft RYNE is one of our premium residential projects.
Online PR News – 13-July-2012 – Noida Uttar Pradesh – Realcraft Group Announce a New Residential Project Realcraft Ryne situated at Sector CHI Greater Noida near Pari Chowk. RYNE in CHI-v yamuna expressway, Gr.Noida. RYNE is one of our premium residential projects. Realcraft Ryne is being developed with the concept of developing the apartments with the unbeatable amenities and offering you the best value for your money. Realcraft Ryne is the new project of Realcraft builders that are developed to satisfy the needs of people willing to nestle in the excellent place of NCR. The venture is on combination area of Yamuna Expressway (YEW), Sector CHI 5, and Greater Noida. RYNE' is one of our premium residential projects that developed in a 6 acres plot. Realcraft offer very pretty features including well furnished 2/3/4 BHK luxurious apartment, Health Club with Swimming Pool/Gym/Spa/Sauna/Meditation & Yoga Centre etc.
Realcraft has to its credit 8 lacs sq.ft.of residential and commercial projects while as civil contractors it has constructed over 80 lacs square feet of towering structures all over Delhi/NCR. Heading everyday towards new achievements and seeking opportunities in each and every possibility. We are not just builders or developers rather we are home makers.
Copyright 2015 Online PR Media | PO Box 5043 | La Quinta, CA 92248 |
The darkness almost smothered her. The pain was excruciating. But the darkness ... oh, the darkness ... the darkness wrapped itself around her world, held her prisoner in her own body.
On Friday night, Gina Soto will be a bright light on the UTEP soccer team, running freely, running with a special joy -- released from the darkness and the pain -- as the Miners open Conference USA play against Rice at University Field. Those eyes -- big and dark and brown and beautiful -- see everything now.
The darkness is gone.
Soto is strong. She is tiny, but everything about her is strong -- her voice, her handshake, her huge warm smile, her very spirit and soul.
"We weren't even thinking about soccer," UTEP coach Kevin Cross said. "We were worried about Gina getting her eyesight back. She was blind. And now she is playing the best soccer of her career. She scored the game-winning goal at Houston Baptist and had a hand in the winning goals at both Northern Arizona and at Southern Utah."
The Miners are now 7-2-1 and have won four straight road games. They are playing better each time out and Soto, the senior and Coronado High graduate, is a bright spot on this team. But, just last spring, this all seemed darkly impossible.
"It was just a freak accident," Soto said in her strong voice. "I had just come back from Christmas vacation (her family now lives in Provo, Utah, where she grew up). I went to a gym to work out, went in the sauna and got a parasite in both eyes. The pain was unimaginable; just excruciating.
"But, the emotional roller coaster was even worse," Soto said. "It was worse than anything I've ever gone through. Just sitting there in the dark, wondering if I would ever get my vision back."
Soto pushed everyone away. Her coaches, her teammates, her friends were there for her. But, she sat there in her room ... sat there in her darkness. Doctors could not initially diagnose the problem. Finally, Dr. Mario Dipascuale solved the riddle. Still, she was taking seven different eye drops, four different pills. She barely slept. She barely ate.
But, remember, Soto is strong -- exceptionally strong.
"I think it was April," she said, smiling that infectious smile. "I just said, 'I've got to stop sitting here, feeling sorry for myself. If this is how it's going to be, I've got to adapt.' I started letting people back in again. I just told myself to, 'Stop feeling sorry for yourself and adapt.' It's what humans do -- adapt."
And then, thanks to Dr. Dipascuale, all the medication, and most certainly thanks to her inner strength, Soto started to see again ... started to function again.
"I started getting significantly better day by day," she said. "By the end of May, I got my release and I could start to run and lift again. I weighed myself in January when I came back from Christmas and I weighed 127. I weighed myself in May and I weighed 104. My first workout back, I made it through the lifting and then we ran 10 120s in the Sun Bowl. Normally, that's nothing; a breeze. I made it through three and just let all my demons out. I was so out of shape."
But, she kept working -- the smile bigger than ever, stronger than ever.
"Gina has worked so hard to get back," Cross said. "It truly is amazing. She came in here as a freshman and she's always been a starter, always contributed. Her dribbling ability is one of the best we've ever had here.
"She's had to overcome so much and she just always has. Plus, she is one of the sweetest people we have ever had. All our girls just love Gina."
And junior teammate MacKenzie German said, "Gina is such an awesome person, such a welcoming person. She makes everyone feel part of the team. To go through what she has gone through and to come out so strong, so positive, is really just inspiring. It was so hard to see your friend go through something like that. But Gina came out stronger -- as a player and as a person."
Soto came through the darkness, made it back into the light. And she says that has made her who she is today.
"I would not change what happened at all," she said with strength. "I would not be the person I am without that. I appreciate the people in my life so much more. My teammates are the greatest group of girls in the world.
"Kevin and all my coaches are just amazing. You go through something like that and you just think you can go through anything. How can you not? All that is a direct correlation to what happened last spring."
Soto has been a Conference USA academic honoree and, even though she missed the spring semester, she will graduate in May with a degree in pre-med biology. She has to wear special hard contact lens so she can see through the scarring. She will always wear those.
But the future is clear, so bright now ... beautifully, brilliantly bright.
Gina Soto, with a special strength of spirit and soul, and a smile that can light up the darkest of rooms, has walked through the darkness ... a special journey, step by step, through pain, through a smothering darkness and back onto the joyous playgrounds of her life.
Bill Knight may be reached at 546-6171.
When: 7 p.m. Friday vs. Rice; noon Sunday vs. Southern Miss.
Where: UTEP's University Field.
Tickets: $5 adults; $3 youths. On Sunday, free admission for those wearing orange and there will be a free clinic for youth after the match.
Information: 747-5234; utepathletics.com. |
Traditional chalet hotel dating back to 1789 with cosy, familiar ambiance and much wood. Diverse 2 and 4 bed rooms all with TV and hairdryer, some with balcony. Rustic-style restaurant where Swiss specialities are served. Free WLAN and parking at a distance of only five minutes from the train station, ski lift, cable cars and Les Diablerets center. Available skis room and a non-smoking hotel.
A one-of-a-kind location for special experiences – simply unique! In a stylish décor the Unique Hotel Post welcomes you with its long history and its popular restaurants, bars and clubs right in the heart of Zermatt on the main street – just a few minutes walk from the cable car stations. Tradition and modern design are brought together in a very cosy mountain lodge style: old stonewalls, wood and natural material from the region meet straight lines and young design without forgetting to add the comfort of an up-to-date hotel. Unique rooms and suites, a spa area with sauna, steam bath and Jacuzzi, beauty treatments, high-quality technical equipment and the flexibility in arranging the facilities as well as the assistance in organizing activities are perfect preconditions for your event at the Matterhorn-valley Zermatt.
In 2014, the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne will open the world's f rst fully automated congress centre. The Swiss Tech Convention Center has seating capacity for a total of 3,000 people and comprises three auditoriums of 1757, 456 and 357 seats and fifteen additionnal break-out session rooms on the ground floor, all of them fully modular. With futuristic technology for events that are an effortless combination of flexibility, modularity, openness and simultaneity, this centre showcases what the convention industry demands today and tomorrow. It is endowed with revolutionary patented technology, allowing seating to be retracted at the touch of a button. Swallowed up by an intelligent floor, the seating thus gives way to a flat surface. The Swiss Tech Convention Center is clearly the venue of choice for your forthcoming science congresses. |
|Minimum Stay||1 - 7 nights|
Relax under the palms at Twin Palms 701 by Royal American Beach Getaways. This well-appointed beachfront condo in the heart of it all sleeps six thanks to a comfy, king size bed in the tropical master bedroom, twin beds in the cozy second bedroom and a queen sleeper sofa in the spacious living room. Best of all, an expansive gulf-front balcony accommodates the entire family!
Save money for your adventures by preparing meals in the well-stocked kitchen. Enjoy the numerous amenities…like a gulf-front pool, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, a steam room, an exercise room with a sauna plus more! Twin Palms 701 by Royal American Beach Getaways promises palm-filled fun for the entire family.
Enjoy peace of mind knowing that when you book a Royal American Beach Getaway, you get 24-hour customer service plus a housekeeping and maintenance staff on call. After planning your vacation all year, the last thing you want are unwanted surprises to deal with when you’re miles from home and your condo’s owner is hundreds of miles away! Don’t just book a room—upgrade to a getaway today with Royal American Beach Getaways.
Payment is usually accepted in the quoted currency (US Dollar) unless the currency and the amount is specifically agreed in advance with the owner / advertiser.
Learn more about this vacation rental at the manager's website: |
Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg - Lüneburg
Soltauer Str. 3 - Lüneburg1-877-662-6988
Welcome to Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg!
Enjoy breakfast, brunch and lunch at this 4-star Lueneburg hotel's 2 restaurants where you're sure to find something to suit your taste. Forget the stress of everyday life as leisure facilities include a spa tub, 2 spa tubs and a sauna so make the most of it! Guests wishing to relax with a drink will surely want to visit the bar/lounge.
Multilingual staff are available at the front desk 24 hours-a-day and can provide tour/ticket assistance. Free Wi-Fi is provided so you can check your in-box whenever you like. Planning a meeting? This hotel has a meeting room, as well as a 24-hour business center. Other amenities include an elevator (lift) and a computer station.
A good place to stay! Friendly and uncomplicated staff! The Spa next door alone, t...Venere Guest, Germany
Check Availability at Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg
Breakfast at Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg
A free buffet breakfast is available between 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM.
- Room service - limited hour
- Pets accepted
- Dogs allowed
- Multilingual staff
- Front desk - 24 hour
- City tour
- Hydromassage Jacuzzi
- Meeting Room
- Business Center
- Internet/Email services
- Billiards / Snooker
- The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.
- Guests can arrange to bring pets by contacting the property directly, using the contact information on the booking confirmation (surcharges apply and can be found in the Fees section).
Check-in: between 3:00 PM and midnight.
Check-out: before 11:00 AM.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.
- Self parking fee: EUR 10 per night (in/out privileges)
- Pet fee: EUR 15.00
- Rollaway bed fee: EUR 36 per night
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.
You’ll be asked to pay the following charges at the hotel:
- A tax is imposed by the city: EUR 3.21 per person, per night. This tax does not apply to children under 18 years of age.
We have included all charges provided to us by the property. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.
Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg reviews
- August 2011
- Venere Guest
- Not Specified
A good place to stay! Friendly and uncomplicated staff! The Spa next door alone, to which access is granted free of charged, would be worth the stay.
Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg reviews by TripAdvisor
Book your pet-friendly accommodation at the 185-room Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg. Cable TV channels offer entertainment at the end of a busy day. Corporate travelers will benefit from free wireless high-speed Internet access as well as desks, safes and phones during their Lueneburg visit.
For comfort and convenience, each guest room comes with a separate sitting area. Private bathrooms are outfitted with hair dryers. Additional comforts include minibars.
Irons/ironing boards can be provided on request.
- Mini bar
- Ironing facilities on request
- Hairdryer in each room
- Cable TV
- Wireless Internet access
Distances from Seminaris Hotel LüneburgGerman Salt Museum - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi
Brewery Museum - 0.7 km / 0.4 mi
Luene Abbey - 2.5 km / 1.6 mi
Furstengarten - 17.9 km / 11.1 mi
Totenhaus von Tesperhude - 18.5 km / 11.5 mi
Medingen Cloister - 20 km / 12.4 mi
Golf Club Bad Bevensen eV - 20 km / 12.4 mi
Tree Trek - 20.9 km / 13 mi
Museum Schliekau - 21.4 km / 13.3 mi
Kurpark Spa Gardens - 21.8 km / 13.5 mi
Heimatmuseum Dahlenburg - 22.8 km / 14.2 mi
St. Johannes Church - 23.4 km / 14.5 mi
Barfusspark - 23.7 km / 14.7 mi
Luneburg Heath Wildlife Park - 23.8 km / 14.8 mi
Dahlenburg Marktzplatz - 23.9 km / 14.8 mi
The preferred airport for Seminaris Hotel Lüneburg is Hamburg (HAM) - 50.8 km / 31.6 mi.
Distances are calculated in a straight line from the property's location to the point of interest or airport and may not reflect actual travel distance.
Distances are displayed to the nearest 0.1 km and mile. |
I’d call you Master. but I’m still a little angry.
I’m writing to follow up on the incident last week. You may recall that you left me, Parker (100-pound black-and-brown brindle mastiff), in a locked SUV on a day when the temperature peaked out at 33.8 degrees. A passerby, who saw what appeared to be a dog in a four-wheeled microwave, called the authorities. He was concerned. After all, only two weeks ago a dog died after being left in a broiling car.
Anyway, the police arrived and rescued me from the steamy SUV. Guess what they did next? Tried to put me in another car, and I was like, “No thanks, been there, done that” and I did what any other animal in my situation would do – I ran.
Unfortunately, I ran onto the expressway and, as anyone who commutes knows, that’s the last place you want to go if you want to go anywhere fast. I held up traffic for a while until the police came for me again. It made all the news reports and the video went viral. And why not? There’s a DOG on the EXPRESSWAY! Stop the presses! Don’t get me started on the media.
I’m writing to clear up a few misconceptions about canines and cars. Not just to you, my owner, but to all drivers who love their dogs. Look, the feeling is mutual. We love you. But any relationship needs boundaries. As far as these go, dogs are among the most laid-back creatures on earth. We have few. Wanna make us retrieve a stick for three hours? We’re in! Want someone to silently listen to you complain about your life for an entire morning? Done.
It is only when you literally try to cook us alive that things get tense. My case is not the only example. In Toronto, between June 16 and 21, there were 61 reports of dogs left in vehicles. You could say, “Okay, Toronto, those people are morons,” but the same thing has happened in California, New Jersey, Oregon and many other places.
Meanwhile, here are some other recent dog-related headlines:
“Dog Saves Girls from Venomous Snakes,” “Dog Gives Life to Save Owner From Dangerous Trailer Fire” and my personal favourite, “Dog Rescues Newborn Baby After He Was Left in the Woods to Die.” I’m not kidding – this totally hard-core farm dog in Ghana found this kid, and pulled the abandoned newborn under a bridge where he kept him warm all night.
You’ll notice nowhere can be found the headline, “Dog Leaves Human in Sweltering Locked Car So He Can Take Advantage of Sale at Abercrombie & Fitch.”
I’ve heard somewhere that humans like lists, so I will try to streamline these into a PowerPoint presentation (my lack of opposable thumbs means I can’t actually conduct a PowerPoint presentation, so just try imagine the cool graphics).
Activities dogs can help with
- Pooping on lawns of neighbours you don’t like (no need to tell us, we can sense it)
- Not passing judgment
- Eating food you don’t want but feel too guilty to throw out
There are plenty more but you’ll notice, we’re on board for a lot.
Activities dogs can’t help with
- Witty passenger seat conversation
- Sauna buddy
I think we’re looking at a misunderstanding that stems from semantics, the kind of disconnect explored by German-born philosopher Rudolph Carnap, whose verification principle maintained that anything that can contribute to human life can be observed. “There is a continuum which starts with direct sensory observations and proceeds to enormously complex, indirect methods of observation.”
For instance, using observation you can deduce that dogs like driving. Let’s face it, we LOVE DRIVING. One jingle of the keys and it’s on. We love driving in cars.
We do not, however, like sitting in parked cars, especially if the interior of the car resembles the inside of an electric Wolfgang Puck Pressure Cooker making pulled pork.
We’re also not that big on shopping. Why do you feel it’s necessary to take us with you? If you want help selecting raw meat, we’re in, but otherwise we’re okay taking a pass. I know that we make big fuss when you’re going out. Practically begging to come with you. It breaks your heart to leave us.
Look, I’m going to come clean and say we totally ripped off that one from preschoolers. You know how they flip out and cry when their moms drop them off at daycare? Then, like three seconds after the mom is gone, they’re totally over it and playing. We stole that one. So, when you’re leaving we’re all “Please! Take me with you! PLEASE.” But three seconds after you’re gone we’re asleep.
How can you tell if it’s too hot to leave your dog in you car? Simple. Before you leave us, turn off the air conditioning and sit in your car. If it’s so hot you think you are going to vomit and pass out? Too hot. Keep it simple: in the summer months don’t leave us locked in the car.
This has got to stop.
We dogs have a saying. “Humans. Can live with them. Could easily live in the wild without them.”
Face it, you need us more than we need you. So let’s make a deal. We’ll keep saving you from fires, rescuing your abandoned infants and being unbelievably happy to see you when you get home.
You stop leaving us in parked cars.
P.S. The irony of my name is not lost on me.
Follow Andrew Clark on Twitter: @aclarkcomedy |
This Oral History is copyrighted by the Interviewee
and the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program on
behalf of the Board of Trustees of the University of
Copyright, 2005, University of Florida.
All rights, reserved.
This oral history may be used for research,
instruction, and private study under the provisions
of Fair Use. Fair Use is a provision of United States
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SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM at
the University of Florida
S: Today is February 17, 1994. I am here with Dr. Miriam Peskowitz. She is a new
professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida, and we are in
the living room of her north Gainesville home. Would you tell me your full name?
P: Yes. My full name is Miriam Beth Peskowitz.
S: From where did that name come?
P: I actually do not know. It is clearly my paternal name and my paternal grandfather is
from some region that is in Poland or Russia, or was at one time.
S: I know your family is from New York. Is that where your family has lived for many
P: Well, my paternal grandmother and grandfather are immigrants, and their part of the
family mostly moved to New York, as far as I know. That is where my dad stayed
and all of his brothers and sisters stayed mostly.
S: So they just came right there from Russia probably. What about your mother's
P: My mother's family is a little older. Both of my maternal grandparents were born in
this country and their parents were born elsewhere. They come from various
places, mostly from Hungary, and from eastern Europe and they came and moved
to New Jersey. They were farmers.
S: Oh really? What did they grow?
P: Well, they [raised] chickens. They moved out of the city. They had done egg routes
in New York City and they just moved out to the country to rural, central New Jersey,
and they had an egg farm.
S: Were they rural people in Hungary?
P: I do not know. None of my grandparents have been interested particularly in talking
about any of that, which, sociologically, makes sense.
S: When did they come?
P: My paternal [grandparents] probably [came] in the 1920s.
S: So, did most of your family come before the holocaust, then?
P: All of them.
S: Yes. So, I am interested in where you grew up because you are from Long Island
and I grew up in Queens.
P: I grew up in Hicksville, Long Island.
S: To what high school did you go?
P: I went to Hicksville High School. I think I was born in New York City. My parents
lived in Queens in, I think, Hillside for about a year, [and] then we moved out to Long
S: It is funny because I know people who went to Hicksville High School, but I cannot
remember who they were.
P: I think I just have forgotten. I mean, I hated Hicksville with a passion and I pretty
much have forgotten those people with whom I went to high school. There is no one
with whom I really keep in touch.
S: You did not opt for going to any of the other high schools in New York?
P: Well, we did not have a choice because it was Nassau County.
S: But it was so close.
P: I know. It was so close. But, no, it was not even an option to go to any of the city
schools at all or to go to another high school. I mean, Long Island high schools, as
far as I remember, were pretty much that you went to high school in your town.
S: You could switch, though, if you wanted to be on the football team or something.
P: Yes, probably. I went to Julliard for a few years when I was a high school student
and I always envied my friends who went to Stuyvesant or Bronx Science, or any of
those status public schools where everybody was smart and nobody thought smart
kids were nerdy.
S: Is that why you hated it in Hicksville?
S: What was there pressure to be other than smart? What were you supposed to be?
P: Not smart. You were supposed to be not smart, not female, or not smart and
female. [Laughter] There were also very few Jews. That was another difference.
S: In Hicksville?
P: Yes. My parents were sort of 1960s liberals--not radicals--but just sort of 1960s
liberals, and they had heard that this was an integrated town. But that was wrong.
Basically it was a very white place, mostly Roman Catholic, Italian Catholic, and
Polish Catholic. And so being Jewish put you on the outside, as well as being smart
and female. And also my parents were not in a higher economic bracket than
everybody we lived near, but culturally they were more upwardly mobile. So, I was
taken to the museums in New York City and given music lessons and all that, which
also was very different from the people around us.
S: I saw that you studied the cello at Julliard. You did that while you were in high
S: And you did not consider going there to focus on music?
P: You mean for college?
P: Well, I did. I do not think I applied in the end. I decided I did not want to; I was
pretty ambivalent about music and about conservatory training. My two years at
Julliard had been very hard and very pressured. I remember thinking when I was a
senior in high school that I did not want to grow up and be a dumb musician. I was
very intense about it when I was in high school. My Hicksville high school always
gave me release time and [I was] one of their little stars so they let me do whatever I
wanted. So, I got away with murder when I was there, which was a good thing. For
a lot of reasons I did not want to continue. I also had the sense that I was not going
to be [great]. I was a mediocre cellist in the context of Julliard, and I did not want to
be a mediocre cellist. I knew what happened to professional cellists and musicians,
and it never seemed very possible for me.
S: So, then you went to Oberlin [College] [Oberlin, Ohio].
S: And what did you originally intend to study there?
P: I went to Oberlin because they had a double degree program. They have a
conservatory and a college there. It was a five year program and you could get your
bachelor of arts degree in music and your bachelor degree in arts, so that is how I
ended up at Oberlin. I ended up dropping out of the conservatory after two years. I
had been taking all sorts of humanities classes and that was more exciting to me.
S: You did not intend to study religion at the beginning at all?
P: No, not at all. I knew I would be a humanities major, but I had no idea what that
would be. I was taking philosophy courses. I loved history and things like that, but I
was taking philosophy courses and then sort of got, not bored, but they seemed very
This is a tangent, but this happens in both of my classes this semester. There is
always a student who just wants to take the burden of the entire class onto
themselves. In my introductory class there is a son of a rabbi, and he is just there
playing the son of a rabbi. He came up and said, "I am so frustrated with all these
people. They do not know this and they do not know that." I said, "Marcus, you do
not have to worry about that. You do not have to be the rabbi's son here, you can
S: Was he just frustrated because they do not have the background?
P: Yes. But I think he was used to taking a lot responsibility for making sure everything
worked out all right. So I said, "No, you can just be a student here. You can do all
that, but you do not have to." So, I will not worry if it is working or not.
Okay, philosophy. I felt that it was really abstract, and I remember thinking that
studying religion was like studying philosophy, but real people were doing it. So, I
started studying how real people thought about the world. In some ways it is not too
dissimilar from what I have ended up thinking the study of religion is about. I started
doing comparative religion, which is what the department of religion at Oberlin was.
They were requirements to study five major religions, which is still how religion is
sometimes conceptualized. [Laughter]
S: What are the five major religions?
P: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. They get to be the five major
religions. So, I mean it was really a wonderful department, it really was. I ended up
getting to study how real people thought about the world in some ways.
S: Do you think people really think in the frameworks of their religion?
P: No. I mean, yes and no. It depends to what extent someone is educated within the
tradition. It depends to what extent a specific religion controls the discourse of a
specific community, and to what extent that religion has become powerful enough to
control what is imaginable and what is not. What I have been thinking about lately is
to what extent the frameworks that we use as professional studies of religion really
make sense. I find myself going back to them because they are easier to use,
especially in teaching. I always give these paradigms and these explanations,
especially in the introductory course. I keep thinking, is this real or am I just
repeating what armchair religionists have said real religious people do for centuries?
S: Can you give one example of that?
P: I am doing sacrifice right now in the introductory class you took last semester. I was
reading all these books on Israelite sacrifice, and the question that keeps coming up
is how does the Bible really tell us [about] why it wants its people to sacrifice? All
sorts of anthropologists of religion have come up with ideas of why people sacrifice:
feeding the gods, communicating with the gods, bringing up all the symbolism of
blood and life and death--just all this stuff. I started going through these with my
students and saying these are some of the ways scholars have imagined for why
people sacrifice. All of a sudden I thought, "Yes, these are the ways scholars have
imagined, but are they true?" We do not know.
S: That is funny. That is important to recognize, I think. Let us get back to your
S: You went to Oberlin where you got interested in comparative religion. How did you
end up in a graduate program at Duke?
P: When I was a student at Oberlin, we had seminar requirements. We had to take
one seminar in the time that we were majors, so I, of course, got very macho about
this and took four.
S: Did you take them all at the same time?
P: No. Well, I took two simultaneously. But, it was a good thing because one of them
was [about] synagogue origins. I loved it; I loved the professor more than anything.
His name was Mike White, and what I loved about his class and him was that he had
a very clear mind. He argued very logically, he worked with evidence, and he dealt
with the problem of interpreting evidence. For example, in synagogue origins, we
were doing architecture, archeology, frescos, and early art work from the
synagogue. Mike was very willing to talk about how much we did not know, and how
difficult it was to interpret some of this early stuff. But what also was very exciting to
me about the class was that he talked about how scholars used to think x and now
with all this new archeological material scholars now think x, y, z, a, b, c--whatever.
It was really interesting to me. What was interesting to me was the process of
learning how we thought something was true and all of the sudden we realize it is
not. Which is still what is really fascinating to me. I took his seminar without
knowing much about early Judaism and Christianity or the history [during] the
period. I really was intrigued by what he was doing and by what I got to do in class.
That was my junior year, I think, and by my senior year I pretty much decided I
wanted to go to graduate school in that field.
After I left the conservatory, I, of course, went through this whole existential crisis.
What was I going to do with my life? Oberlin had this [saying], "Oh, you just sort of
prepare for life here." (That probably is familiar to you from Hampshire College.)
But on the other hand, I knew preparing for life meant finding a way to support
myself since I did not have any other way to do that other than working. (My family
has this sort of old socialist background.) I always had thought I would be a civil
rights lawyer. If I was not going to be a musician, I was going to be a civil rights
lawyer. This was when I was growing up. And then I realized I really did not want to
go to law school. I knew enough people who had gone through that or I had friends
who were going through it to know that I did not want to go through law school. I
decided I really loved teaching. I did not want to do high school teaching, I wanted
to teach [at the] university level. So, all of a sudden, I had this idea about teaching,
then I had this topic that I was really intrigued and curious about. I put those two
What happened after Oberlin was that in order to do graduate work in [my] field, [I
had to meet] high language requirements. Then I got my macho self and said yes. I
learned ancient Greek. Some friends of mine were moving out to the Bay area [San
Francisco] after graduation, so I decided I would move out with them. I moved with
[about] $400 in my pocket and the whole thing. I got a job doing secretarial work out
there. I took courses in Greek at Berkeley, worked on Hebrew by myself, and
applied to graduate schools.
S: And you also know French?
P: And German. Yes.
S: Had you studied those in school?
P: French I learned at Oberlin, and German I learned in graduate school.
S: Did you want to go to Duke [University] for some particular reason?
P: No. I knew I wanted [to study] early Judaism. And I wanted to use archaeological
materials. The place to do that was at Duke with Eric Meyers. There was a pretty
clear place. I applied to several programs in early Judaism; [one] was at Penn
[University of Pennsylvania], and I think another was at Princeton. I had thought
about going to Harvard to the divinity school there, because they have this
ecumenical program in the history of religions, but I decided I would not fit in there.
Friends of mine had been through it.
S: What was that environment?
P: I think at Harvard Divinity School there is this rhetoric on one hand that it is just a
place to study religion, and there is this rhetoric of ecumenicism, but the Jewish
women I knew who went there always felt it was very difficult to be Jewish in that
environment. People talk about that.
S: I have thought about the transition from Oberlin to Duke, never having been to either
place, but having known people who went to those places. Oberlin seems much
more to me like Hampshire College, which is where I went, which as you said is
where you learn how to live your life and how to be a critical thinker--not this
pressure towards grades or to make money. I have family members who have gone
to Duke who all have turned out in banking.
P: It was incredible. Okay, I have to sketch this. I left Oberlin, I lived in San Francisco
for a year, I lived in a warehouse with six of my closest friends, I am doing direct
action, [and] going to punk shows. Then I arrived at Duke. I have short spiky hair
up here and long hair in the back. I wear a lot of black now, but I looked more
radical then. I showed up. I missed orientation because I did not think it was
important; coming from Oberlin, orientation is a stupid thing. So, I missed graduate
student orientation. The department was sort of worried [because] they had given
me this big scholarship. That was the first day I missed. Later in the afternoon, I
managed to meet with my advisor, Eric Meyers, and he said, "Oh by the way, there
is a big reception for new students tonight. You should go." So, I went, having no
idea what Duke was like, because I had never really heard of Duke. At Oberlin, it
was out of the loop.
S: Sort of in another part of the world.
P: Yes. It was out of the loop. I knew it was this big, elite research university. So, I
showed up at the new reception for students. I got used to these over the years.
The entire department goes and everybody dresses and all the students--most of
the students are married graduate students--bring their wives because most are
male. I showed up unescorted. I mean, I did not realize I was supposed to bring a
man along for this. I showed up unescorted and I had the short, spiky hair. The
others in the room, as I remember it, were either white, blond Southern boys in their
thirties and forties, or women who were wearing these very pretty floral dresses with
hose and heels.
It was like walking into a different world. It was incredible. It was quite incredible.
And you were supposed to chit-chat with all [of them]. I mean, here I was, and
people were looking at me. Particularly some of the men--they just would look at me
and would look scared. Right? And I just had this sense of feeling "other" for really
the first time in my life. Then I realized there were no Jews other than my advisor
and two or three of the Jewish faculty. I had no idea there actually were not Jews
there because ...
S: .. this was the religion department.
P: This was the religion department. When I had studied religion at Oberlin, it really
had been comparative. They were trying to decentralize Christianity as the religion
against which all others are judged. Now at Duke that was not the case. The
department of religion at Duke is paralleled by a divinity school, so organizationally,
there is an attempt to say, "Well, over in the divinity school, they do theology and
over here we do the study of religion." But in fact, that split does not happen. The
department of religion at Duke is very geared toward the study of Christianity. For
example, there are seven fields in which the graduate program is divided. The first
is the Old Testament, now called Hebrew Bible. The second is the New Testament.
The third is the history of Christianity. The fourth is theology and ethics which is
Christian theology and ethics. The fifth is the history of Judaism. The sixth is
history of religions, and the seventh is a small field called religion and culture. Now,
the first four fields had existed up until about the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s,
when some of the Jewish studies faculty were tenured, they said, "Wait a second, let
us have these extra fields," and that is [when] fields five, six, and seven [emerged].
But most of the students, most of the graduate students, were in the first four fields.
It was a shock.
S: You did not have a social cohort or a professional one?
S: How many students were in your program?
P: There were about twenty-five in each entering class. The year I came in, I was the
only student in the history of Judaism program. I was just from another world.
There was an Old Testament program so I thought Jewish students would be there.
But no, Protestant students were studying the Old Testament. I just had no idea
what they did. I did an Old Testament minor, and I had no clue when I got there. I
had no idea what they were doing as they were studying the Old Testament. I was
very alien. Duke was actually a good place to be. My colleagues, or my peers,
came from other departments in the humanities.
S: Do they also have a Jewish Studies program?
P: No. There is a Center for Jewish Studies, but it is basically centered in the religion
S: You were in this position where things were different from what you expected. How
did you make it work?
P: There is a piece I could have given you. I would love to tell the tale that I got there
and I figured out right away how weird it was and where I was, and whatever, and I
made it work. But that was not the case at all. I just flailed around for awhile.
Again, this was so bizarre for me--I did not even have a map. I mean, I grew up on
Long Island, in Hicksville. I thought Catholics were the majority because everybody
in my town was Catholic, right? So, there I was, and I really have never been
around. I did not know the difference between Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran. I
just did not know. Religion is a very specific experience; it is gendered, but it is also
regionally specific. So it took me awhile to figure out what was [happening].
I remember I was in one class on pseudepigrapha, which are these non-canonical
Second Temple period texts, and there was this guy named Craig. He was [part of
the] Assemblies of God, which is a small sort of Pentecostal group. Stereotypically,
they are known for speaking in tongues. They actually are one of the fastest
growing sects in the world. Craig would be there, [and] he would talk about the
grace of God--I had no idea what the grace of God was. I remember he would raise
his hands and babble things in the middle of [class]. This was just unprofessional.
But he would do these things, and I did not even have a large enough map of the
world to be able to name the place from where he was coming.
For the first year I kept wondering why I could not have conversions with my peers,
the other students in my classes. And I finally, about a year or two later, realized it
was not just me. I mean, much of my first year of graduate school was spent
realizing that it was not just me that was wrong. The other problem in my first two
years, my first year especially, was that there was no one who took me aside and
said, "Look, I understand the kind of training you had Oberlin. This is what Duke is,
and here is the difference between the two." There really was no one who did that
for me, which would have been helpful.
Now there were bright points, and one is Maureen Tilley, who actually teaches over
at Florida State [University]. Maureen was Catholic so we got along real well
culturally. She sort of realized right away. She and her husband lived in town and
they were old radicals. Maureen had her own problems in the department because
the department was so heavily Protestant that she was chastised for being Catholic
and for asking different kinds of questions. Maureen was the kind of person who
just took me aside and started, as the year grew to the end, to explain what it was
like to be female in the department and what it was like to be non-Protestant. Little
by little, people like that really helped me.
S: Your advisor did not do that?
P: Not really. But to be fair, I probably did not let him know anything was wrong.
S: Just as an aside, how was it received by the other students and the faculty when
this man would speak in tongues?
P: I cannot even remember that. What I remember is my shock. There was a
continuum of shock, these assumptions of a certain kind of theology or a certain
God, the assumption of certain categories of experience which were totally alien to
me. Mostly, I remember people talking about grace, and categories of grace in the
texts or the documents on which we were working. It took me months to realize that
it was not that I was stupid, I just had no understanding of what the category of
grace was. They could not explain what that category was because it was an
entirely naturalized category for them.
S: And what does that mean?
P: Grace? How would I explain grace? The idea that the divine, God, saves humans
through love. I think that would be part of it. And it was a whole theology of human
agency and divine agency.
S: And they use that when discussing Christianity?
P: Well, we were discussing texts that came from the period slightly before Christianity
from Jewish documents. It is the pseudepigrapha, like First Enoch and those texts
that you read last semester. It was interesting because I was studying them as
Jewish documents, and they were studying them as documents of Christian origins.
Again, that is another sort of categorical difference.
S: Wow. But what did you then do with that to make this program work for you?
P: Well, the first year was just a horror. And it was hard. I mean, I was learning
several languages. I was in a program where most students came in with master of
art degrees or master of divinity degrees and I had a bachelor of arts degree. So
there were a lot of [challenges]; it was just hard academically. I had been living with
a man. We met in San Francisco, and he moved out to Durham [North Carolina]
with me. We decided to go to Vermont to work as camp counsellors for the
summer, and that was probably the best thing. I chose to put aside learning Greek
and Hebrew and just went to Vermont.
S: What camp?
P: Tamarack Farm. We went up there and in the course of that summer I decided I
was going to give it one more semester. I started to recognize I had been really
miserable, and I had started to lose track of why I wanted to do this. So I went up
there and decided that one more semester was it, and in January I was going to
evaluate whether I wanted to stay in or not. Well, this is the happy story. That
semester I took a course called the History of Feminist Thought. One of the reasons
I went to Duke was that they had an interdisciplinary program in women's studies at
the graduate level. The History of Feminist Thought class was one of the core
courses. I went into that class. I do not know if you have ever been to Duke, but it
is divided between the campus for men, or the old campus for men, and the old
campus for women. There was a college for women. In 1972, I think, Duke
University became coeducational, but there always was a correlate college for
women. Georgian architecture contrast [with] the phallic neo-Gothic stuff you
always see in pictures. The women's studies program is located in East Duke
building which used to be one of the old debate buildings. There are these two
Victorian style lounges on the first floor, [and] they are museum rooms. These are
registered with the North Carolina Historical Society as museum rooms, so they are
diagrammed. There is a small diagram on the wall that explains where every piece
has to go. You are not supposed to move the furniture; [it is] very intense. They are
filled with pictures of men.
S: Past presidents or something?
P: Yes, something like that. Big portraits of them. We all gathered in this room, and
again it is odd because at Duke even the feminists wore nice floral print dresses and
heels, which I learned to appreciate. I [went] there and Jean O'Barr was the
professor for the course. Jean turned out to be wonderful. Jean is someone with
whom I worked closely and hopefully still will. Jean understood what I was going
through. Jean understood what an Oberlin college graduate needed. She also had
a sense of how you needed tools so that when the going gets tough, or when you
were in these difficult departments, you did not need to drop out of them, because in
some ways that is where feminists and radicals need to be. You need tools to figure
out how to work through there. Jean gave me tools. She gave me a way to
understand, within a history of how women and feminists think about knowledge and
themselves, where I fit in with all of that.
At the end of the semester, I realized I hated my department. I still was not quite
sure exactly why I was there, but somehow I was going to stay. Years later I told
Jean she was the reason I stayed in graduate school, and she was surprised
because she had thought I had it all together. She did not realize how much she
really had helped me. The year I was admitted to Duke was the first year the
department of religion had admitted women in any great number. There were five of
us in the entry class of twenty or twenty-one. The year after that they let in several
more women and feminists as well, and the year after that a few more. At the same
time I was going through the program, a growing group of women and feminists
made a big difference.
I think I took another women's studies course the next semester and it really was a
salvation in a lot of ways because it was interdisciplinary and I could be with other
graduate students from other departments. They also gave me analytical tools that I
was not getting in the department of religion. One of the differences was that in a
department of comparative religion there is this whole canon of anthropology of
religion, philosophy of religion, and so on. These traditions have their problems, but
you learn how to think about religion. The problem at a place like Duke is that there
is usually very little reflection [about] how we think about "religion." There is
resistance to that, although there were several professors who were really smart
about method, reflection, and critical theory. Taking women's studies courses was
where I got my categories, so when I came back to my courses in religion I started
to figure out how to read these texts, how to ask questions I wanted to ask, how to
phrase those, how to force those, how to make these questions central to
interpreting ancient texts.
S: And was that welcome?
P: Things were changing by my second year. There were a few senior faculty women
in the department who either were starting to get tenure or to gain a little more
power in the department. My experience there has very much to do with how
women's studies is organized, how female faculty around the university were
organized, how female faculty within the department were organizing, and how
female [undergraduate and] graduate students were organizing. I was in college
doing what I was doing, but at the same time there was no one who would say, "This
is maybe where you could go now." I was encouraged, but I was very independent.
S: Is that the way you wanted to work?
P: It would have been nice to have had someone to help out a little bit more.
S: It sounds like you did not ask anyone.
P: Well, yes, in some ways. You have to understand that the two senior women,
although both of them ended up on my dissertation committee, were sort of
astounded at what some of their students were doing. Even though they were older
feminist scholars, our relative development was not all that different. They were
most encouraging and helpful by actually being there and by giving us hope. I
remember Carol Meyers was someone with whom I worked closely, and I kept going
to her. I remember several times I would pop into her office, pose a question to her,
and really think she had the answer. She would say, "Well, maybe you should go
talk to so and so." It took me awhile to realize that is a statement about where
feminist knowledge is and who gets trained where and how, and how also we are
working on this stuff. But I really wanted to be told the answers. That is why I
understand when people want me to tell them the answers, because God, I wanted
them so badly.
S: That is funny, because in your class, which I am taking right now, that is the
experience a lot of us are having. As you mentioned, I think [students] are so full of
questions. They are just questions, [and] we do not have any way to answer them
P: You guys have more frameworks than I had when I was going through, which is
interesting. Two or three years ago when I was living in Philadelphia, I was a guest
speaker in Laura Levitt's class at Temple [University], and we both had a very
interesting experience. Part of the session was on Mishnah, which is part of the
Talmud. The second was a critical reading by a feminist of the article of a feminist.
The point was to show that there are differences within feminism. As the seminar
went on, Laura and I just started rallying. We just really went at it, and we were
having a great time. After that class one of her students came up and she was so
excited that she had seen these two feminist scholars. She was studying feminism
in her class and she just wanted to tell us. Later that night, I think Laura and I talked
either that night or the next day, and we realized that we had both wanted
something like that, how much we would have given to have had a classroom
situation like that when we were coming up through the ranks.
S: So you get to be a kind of new model.
S: That is kind of neat.
P: It is really fun.
S: How did you come to Philadelphia?
P: I was still in graduate school.
S: So were you working on your dissertation then?
P: Yes. I had gotten a graduate research fellowship to work at the Annenberg Institute.
S: And what is the Annenberg Institute?
P: The Annenberg Institute actually does not exist anymore, so here is the whole story.
Dropsie College [for Hebrew and Cognate Learning] was an institute in Philadelphia
where doctorates were awarded in Jewish studies. It was once very much
impossible to get those kinds of degrees in universities. But once departments and
programs in Jewish Studies started, you could get a doctorate from Columbia or
Yale. Dropsie experienced problems. They are doing Jewish studies. They did
philology, and they did it quite well even though it is one of the most boring things
possible. Dropsie had to close its door, but there remained a vast Judaica library.
Roger Annenberg of the Philadelphia Annenberg family funded an institute devoted
to Judaica, near-Eastern, and cognate studies. The idea was to bring twelve or so
scholars a year, pay for their sabbaticals, give them office space, secretarial help--
and all the things they would need to produce research. That was the Annenberg,
and when I got there it was this beautiful building in downtown Philadelphia. I was
with another graduate student in this basement, although the seniors got nice offices
on the fourth floor. That was fine.
Basically, I had a fellowship to write a good deal on my dissertation, and I got to be
around senior scholars. I really gained a lot of confidence there. First of all, I saw
them taking themselves very seriously, so I realized what it meant to take [your]
research seriously. Secondly, I saw some of them take themselves very seriously
even when I did not think they were that smart or interesting. It just gave me the
sense [that] it probably did not matter what I did, but I could take it seriously. It was
a good thing. Also, it helped me get very skeptical and not be too afraid of people
whose titles seem professional.
S: But they were all working on Judaism history?
P: Yes and no. Most of them were working with Jewish sources. Very few of them
came from fields of religion. More of them were doing texts or philology. They were
not thinking about questions of religion, like how we understand religious
experience. Their projects were much more narrow.
S: What did they think about what you were doing? Did you have much opportunity to
mix with them?
P: Yes. Most of them knew what I was doing. It is hard to generalize. There are some
people with whom I still keep in touch; people who I thought were really smart and
interesting ended up liking me. That was a good thing. There were some people,
especially some of the older men, who could not quite take seriously what I was
doing. I had to explain to them that, yes, I actually did read Hebrew and Aramaic.
That was a problem. Then there were some people with whom I did not have much
S: This would be a good time to talk about your dissertation.
S: I read one chapter of it which was [about] how you used gravestone inscriptions and
weaving and spinning imagery to flesh out rituals of burial. I have some questions
about why you chose this period in Jewish history, why you latched on to this piece
of evidence, and about the general topic.
P: It happened, that is all I have to say. The first question, how did I pick the Roman
period out of all the possible periods--that happened because I took this seminar as
an undergraduate. I mean, it was the Roman-Byzantine period and I was excited by
it, so I just kept going in that period. So that explains that. I wanted to do women.
Of course, how to do women changed as I went through graduate school. I got to
graduate school and earlier I had read a lot about the history of women and how to
"put" them into history.
Well, as I went through graduate school, especially being at Duke where critical
theory and post-structuralism and all this stuff was hitting, and Duke was a really
happening place, and still is, that the whole way we conceptualize women and
gender became a lot more complicated. There I was. The kind of project I could
write as a dissertation necessarily became complicated [and] more dependent on
critical theory. I was very dissatisfied with a lot of the scholarship in the field which
"treated" of women, but it also made it hard to figure out what I would do. During my
second or third year I was almost in over [my head]. About what was I going to write
my [dissertation]? In my graduate program I took classes for about two and half
years, then I took my preliminary exams at the end of third summer. Now by that
point I knew I wanted to do something about the work of women in the Mishnah, or
in the Roman period of Judaism. I knew I wanted to look not solely at the Mishnah
and written sources, but [at] archeological materials. I had this stuff in my hands
and I knew where to find things, but I really did not have an idea. One of the
preliminary exam questions asked me to describe what kind of dissertation I wanted
to do. That was not a surprise. Somehow I came up with this idea. I was interested
in weaving and spinning because everyone talked about how women did those
things. I can probably dig it up somewhere. It would be interesting to me to see
how I started with all this. But it was a way to start. We knew women were spinning
and weaving and that seemed like a good place to start thinking about their roles or
the evaluation of women or the way the lives of women were made possible. I was
interested in the intersection of gender and economy. And then I thought, well,
spinning tools, and loom pieces. We have some archeology here. When I look back
I cannot imagine why my professors let me do this because it just seemed so absurd
in some ways. But, I had something going on, I mean, month by month I would start
to figure [it] out, some of the connections would come. I realized that I basically had
a good hunch and some open questions, and I was lucky that they worked out.
S: But you did study in Israel. You did do some archeological and related work.
P: I had done some field work at Sepphoris. That helped me figure out the process by
which things were dug out of the ground, and all the vicissitudes of what happened
to them between the point at which they were dug out and the point at which they
were recorded. So, it really helped me read archeological reports much more
critically. There were legal materials, mostly from Roman-period rabbis. I looked at
some of their descriptions of what women did. I looked at Latin and Greek non-
Jewish written materials. Then I looked at inscriptions, and I did some of the
archeological stuff. The archeological chapter you read about was archival work
that I did in Israel at a much later time. This is the way I started: I had these ideas
and then I realized I had to find some evidence.
It was a summer and I sat in the library. There was this one section of the stacks
where Israel Exploration Journal of Palestine, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, and a
few other archaeology journals [were]. I read through [it all] from start to finish--
entire series of journals. I know that sounds insane because you see CD-ROM
used now, but that was the only way to find stuff. Such specific topics are not
catalogued. Nobody thinks [about] it. And I found out fascinating things. I realized
that in some reports I was not finding what I was looking for, and then I realized I
had to look under titles such as "feminine utensils." There I would find spindles
listed. I really learned a lot about the construction of gender into archeology at the
same time I was trying to find evidence for what I was doing. Doing that,
photocopying, and all the stuff you do, ended up in notebooks. Finally, I culled
through and figured out where my sources were, and eventually I ended up getting
some grants to do some archival work and see what was not published.
S: Did you find discrepancies among archeological reports, analyses, the non-Jewish
literature of the time, and Jewish texts of the time in talking about women, or did
P: It is more complicated. The way that question is framed within the field is that you
have these different sources and you look for differences and contradictions, or you
look for similarities. I guess knowledge became more complicated as I went through
graduate school, and what I was trying to do is say, "Well, what happens when we
look at written sources as central, and then what happens when if we look at
archeological sources as central. What happens when we think about the relation of
Jewish and non-Jewish literatures or cultures or communities as more fluid, as more
dynamic." What happens when we think of questions about ancient Jews and
gender in terms which talk about strategies and tactics of resistance. How do we
talk about cultural interchange, what language do we use? And I know it is
something to which I eventually will return.
One of the things I ended up arguing in my dissertation was that there is an awful lot
of conjunction between some of the rabbinical materials and some of the Latin and
Greek material with regard to these sources on female spinners and weavers. I
think one of the things that happened is early rabbis--as you know, they had no
nation, no political power--what they end up doing is kind of a mimesis or a mimicry
of gender roles within Roman elite culture.
S: Do you think that rabbinical literature is mimicking the dominant culture?
P: In terms of some aspects of gender, but not all. I think there are ways that early
rabbinic literature resists Rome. The culture finds itself surrounded and there are
also ways that it is mimicking it.
S: Do you think that they reflect the reality of the lived experience?
P: Do I think they reflect the reality of the lived experience? Well, no because all those
terms need to be problematized--like whose reality? What is the lived experience?
What are the many ways that lived experience is experienced? Who gets to write
that down? What kind of mood are they in when they write it down? Several years
ago I had lunch with my friend David who is very smart and thinks about knowledge
broadly, and I said, "You know, David, sometimes I just wish I were in comparative
literature or English. Some people just do not have to struggle against these
positivist, old-fashioned disciplines anymore." And he looked at me very wisely and
he said, "Yes, but people in English and art and architecture, they have it easy. It is
easy to just interrupt those discourses, but religion, scholarship on religion, if you
can interrupt that discourse that is really a change in knowledge." Sometimes I wish
I were in a field where I did not always have to talk to people who had really different
perspectives about how the culture and society work, but I suppose I have not left so
S: I think too, any discipline where you are dealing with history or religion, you have a
big responsibility to be honest which is something that, archaeologically, you cannot
just say because it sounds very good and it makes logical sense. You have to think
about whether you are considering all your pieces of information, and I think that is
another piece of this. I would think, particularly with your dissertation, you do not
want to say something about the experience of women, you want to say something
you think may be true.
P: Yes. You know, I go over that a lot because of the question of what is "true" when
we are working with these fragmented sources, especially antiquity. The archeology
itself is pretty fragmented from 2,000 years ago. A fraction of the sites are dug, and
an even smaller percentage of those excavated sites published, or published well.
We have a fragment of the literary remains. Then we try to make these fit. From all
of that we try to say something true. That is a problem, but there are rules of the
game and you play within them.
What was interesting to me as I worked on my dissertation was the question of what
stories to tell. You have all these questions, all these sources, and the question of
what story I wanted to tell kept emerging. (I do not know if I talked about that in the
paper you read.) When I started looking at material sources for the history of
women, those were being used for, in terms of the history of early Christian [and]
early Jewish women, to say, "Look, things were not that bad."
These elite religious documents really portray the lives of women as awful and
heavily controlled, but when we look at material sources we find women, we find
agency. We find agency, we find less restriction, and the classic example of that is
the work of Bernadette Brooten. She looked through published excavation reports
and inscriptions to find female leaders in the early synagogue. Basically, her work
was based on a short sampling of inscriptions. She said, "Well, here the rabbis
talked about there being all-male synagogue leadership, and women are either up
on a balcony, or not in the synagogue at all. But here are [women]. We have
looked at the material culture and what we have found is evidence that women were
not only in the synagogue, but they had leadership roles." That was how material
culture was being used. I guess my earliest perception of what I was doing was
finding women, happy stories about women.
This important moment happened when I was in Israel. I was doing my archival
research about a year ago in November/December and I had been working in these
dusty rooms in museums and archaeological store-rooms and I have long sets of
notes, spindles, loom weights, grave goods, and the rest. The question was what
was I going to do with this. It was really fun being there with my electronic caliper
and doing all this stuff, but I had to write a dissertation chapter. I started trying to
figure out what to do with it. I started to put together all the evidence--this is the
chapter you read--of these funerary inscriptions and some of the literary texts on
women and spinning and weaving. All of a sudden I realized spinning and weaving,
although they were female economic activities I had coded as good, positive, and
valuable, were another way women were constructed as women. And I put that
together with some of the rabbinic restrictions on who owns the products and profits
of women, basically her husband. I realized I had found women, but not as agents.
I was staying at the Albright Institute and it was Christmas Eve and I was working. I
was going to go to Christmas Eve services with some colleagues. We were going to
go to the old city and do that, and the other archaeologists and art historians who
were there at the same time had gone. They came back around 1:00 and they had
some Bailey's Irish Creme with them and they said, "Oh, Miriam, come join us in the
kitchen for a drink." And I was so perturbed. I was so upset because I finally
realized I was not finding a happy story about women in the past. I knew it. I knew
this was not a new revolution, that this was not a happy story. It was a happy thing
to be finding information about women in the past because we have so little, but the
information on the story I was finding was not a happy one. And I could not make it
a happy one. Christmas Eve--what will you do? [Laughter]
It was East Jerusalem and we used to watch Jordanian news in English. The
Jordanian news, whatever the television station was, had this special Christmas Eve
thing where they had a video montage and Christmas music in the background--
Silent Night, Holy Night, stuff like that--but the images on the screen were warfare
and bloodshed from around the world! It was most bizarre! I think what they were
trying to say was, "Look, it is supposed to be Christmas Eve, but there is misery
around the world." [They were showing] dead babies with their guts torn out and a
lot of footage from Bosnia, just incredible stuff. In the midst of realizing there was
not a happy story for Jewish women in Roman Palestine, I was drinking Bailey's and
watching Jordanian news.
S: So you put this together and now you are getting ready to publish it.
P: In a different form.
S: In a different form. And then where are you going? What are you working on next?
P: I guess the question I will go into is how I am publishing it. It is actually amazing to
me how much more maturity I gain as each year goes by in terms of looking at
sources. So, it is actually taking a lot more time to rethink and recast what my
dissertation was. This a fun story. I defended with honors which surprised me
because I was not sure it was passable work. You never have a sense of yourself.
S: What does that mean when you defend with honors? I do not know what that
P: Oh, okay. [Laughter] About one or two people a year in the department get honors
on their dissertation at the defense. It basically means it was not just passable, it
was really good. I had these five people, who I really respected, telling me my work
was not just passable, but really good. I was flying. Another professor said to me
that he had had a meeting with some editor at Harvard Press who did early
Christianity, but she was sort of thinking about moving into early Judaism. She was
interested in women's studies and he said to me, "So why do not you send her your
dissertation?" I did. I did not realize you were not supposed to just send your
dissertation off to important university press editors.
She sent it back with a letter and phone call saying she really liked it [and] it needed
revision. She did not publish dissertations at all, but she really liked it and she was
glad I had sent it. We have been working together on revisions and she has helped
me figure out what it means to not write a dissertation and to write a book. But,
going back and figuring out how to talk to people other than scholars and how to
write a book for different people, a book that I would stand by, really brings up the
issue of voice and what it means to be a scholar, what it means to be a producer of
knowledge, and why it matters. I always go back and forth. On the one hand I have
all those older men in my field and I think, "Oh, they will not think I am a real scholar
if I put the word 'I' in the text." Then I think about people, from my students to
people I know or meet, who actually would be interested in some of the things this
book is about. [They] will not be if it is written toward those older, iconized men in
my field. The whole question of what it means to be a scholar, what it means to
produce knowledge, what it means to write are things with which I am dealing.
Actually, the revised introduction for the book talks about what it means to do
archival research. Instead of using theoretical language to talk about challenges to
historical knowledge and how we know what is true and how we use evidence, I
talked about what it is like to be in the archives and what it is like to use an
electronic caliper. I was living in East Jerusalem during the month the deportations
happened, the removal of four hundred or so Palestinian men. So I talk about what
it was like to be in Israel at that time. All of a sudden it became clear to me that I
needed to talk about the politics of how we do our work, even if I was not sure how
to talk about that.
S: So what did it feel like to be working on something like a dissertation that deals with
important subject matter, but in a way is very removed from the daily lives of people
in a place of turmoil?
P: When I was there I felt a number of very memorable things. One is that I was living
in East Jerusalem, which is a place where most Jews do not go. And when people
who lived outside of that area would ask me how it was to live there I would say it
was fine. In some ways it was the only place I have ever felt absolutely invisible [as
a Jew]. Nobody thinks a foreigner who was there would be Jewish because Jews
really do not go to that area. That was a really interesting feeling to have. Here I
was working on this dissertation in Jewish studies and feeling very free about it in
The second thing I remember is that I was doing a lot of work at the Rockefeller
Museum and cars would be burnt outside and taxis would be torched. I would come
out and I always would see that stuff had happened while I had been in the
museum. It was incredibly romantic to be doing archival research, and I wrote about
that in this introduction. I was really excited about that. And then there was all this
stuff happening that I felt really powerless about. I could have joined
demonstrations, but it just did not seem that it was really my place to do that. None
of the demonstrations or resistance seemed to affect government policies.
In some ways I just felt invisible when I was there. When I write about it, I write
about how there do not seem to be easy answers to locating oneself in terms of
Jewish-American identity vis-a-vis Palestine and Israel. Basically, I just leave it at
that and I do not try to find a closure. But I use that as an entry way to say that this
eschewing of easy answers sort of sets the stage for thinking about history and how
we write history, and about how ancient rabbis made gender.
S: So, in your book, the way you are writing it now, have you found a way to make it
appropriate for all those audiences that you are hoping to reach?
P: I am not sure. A colleague of mine says that when we think we can write for a
universal audience you end up writing for no one; it is really impossible. That means
you never position yourself and you always are trying to talk to too many people. I
think what is starting to happen is that I am finding out what I want to say and, of
course, there are all these more material considerations. When I send chapters off
to my editor she writes back and tells me to cut out the footnotes. She [says],
"Miriam, you have too many footnotes. Try paring them down." There are some
material considerations of what is publishable by a university press.
What is going to happen is that I will end up publishing the more technical thesis in
technical journals. There is a kind of value you get for writing very narrowly defined,
academic books and showing your proficiency with ancient languages and
archeological materials. That is important stuff because it gets back to how we
argue and how we use evidence. But what I am also realizing is important is
producing knowledge and being an active knowledge producer with a set of politics.
There is just so long that I can put that aside.
S: So if you are producing knowledge, to whom do you want it to [reach]?
P: I am not sure. See, this is what perturbs me--people do not read anymore. I do not
know what to do there. Basically, to whom do I write? I am writing my book for
S: You mentioned her briefly once.
P: Did I?
P: We went to college together. Deborah Budner was the one who really got me into
this. I have to tell you this other narrative, but it is really Deborah Budner now that
we get to the heart of it. Deborah got me into the side of Jewish women [and]
feminists in a very significant way. She had been very much a central organizer.
There was a Women in Judaism group that had done a feminist haggada at Oberlin.
[Deborah] and I probably talked at certain points in our sophomore years, but we
were both in the Religions of India class [taught by] Paula Richman the first
semester our senior year. This is significant because Paula Richman was the first
female professor of religion whose classroom I had ever [entered].
It was, in some ways, the influence of Paula on me that really sent me to graduate
school. Deborah and I met because Paula, or Professor Richman as we had to call
her, started talking about Hinduism this and Buddhism that and whatever, and either
Deborah or I raised our hand. We forget who said this now, but one of us raised our
hand and said, "Are you talking about Buddhist men and Hindu men or are you
talking about Buddhist and Hindu men and women?" Just like that. We were
serious about that stuff. [One of us] turned around and we had this moment of
recognition. That was it.
Later that semester we were in the snack bar at Wilder Hall and were having a
conversation and decided to teach an EXCO class together that spring. EXCO is an
experimental college of Oberlin where students and townspeople can teach one-
credit courses. We prepared this whole course on the religious history of Jewish
women. At that point there was very little available. There was one textbook called
Written Out of History which I actually have right here because I am using it for this
lecture tomorrow night. There was very little available so we culled through all these
things and created this source book--biblical and rabbinical passages, and
whatever--[having to do with] Jewish women.
[Deborah Budner] really was the first one. She got me into that part of what I do.
We have kept in touch and we are still really close friends. She lives in Boston. She
is very well educated in Judaism right now and Jewish sources. But she is also a
smart, interested person. She is also someone for whom all the stuff I do, which
sometimes gets very technical and very divorced from real life in certain ways,
potentially has meaning. She is going to be a Jewish educator, and she is someone
who can translate what I do into classrooms and distribute it more. So I am writing
for Deborah Budner.
Another thing, Deborah does not care how I am going to show that I really measured
my spindle whorls correctly, and she does not care to hear all the contingencies of
how I translated a certain Hebrew word a certain way. But she wants to know what
happens at the end, and she wants to see a well argued [manuscript]. I write for
Deborah right now, because I think in some ways she represents [people]. There
are other people like her. I also actually want my book to be able to be used in the
S: I have a question about the paper you gave me today which talks about when you
first began to teach the Introduction to Judaism course, particularly with your
background. You wanted to teach the history of Jewish men and women, and you
were faced with this book.
P: The Jewish people, Jewish-thought book.
S: Yes. Which basically was Jewish men, and then you had a book that you were
using to insert Jewish women. You used similar books last semester in your
introductory class here at UF. First there is the idea that you have [about] normative
male Judaism, and then you insert the women into the main text. But I noticed that
[despite] your concerns and your care [about] laying out these chapters about the
experience of women, they really did not work their way into the lectures or the class
P: I know. Here is the background here. I grew up in the 1970s, my mother was a
feminist, the revolution was supposed to happen. This was not the [case]. Despite
having to deal with sexist things along the way, I did not realize this was not true
until a few years ago. I realized this whole critique that knowledge has been based
on the normative male, in fact, was very true. Every time I teach I again realize how
hard it is to break down. Now it sounds so esoteric to talk about the main struggles
being breaking down knowledge patterns, but I am a teacher and an educator. That
is what I do. It is a little better this semester.
What I have found is that I do not yet know how to imagine (I think I wrote that in the
paper) a gender-inclusive Judaism. I do not know yet how to teach lectures on the
development of Jewish religious history where I can talk about men and women. I
cannot imagine it yet. I know other people cannot either. I kept on waiting. Every
time I would go to conferences in the last few years I kept on looking around for
people who had the answers, and I have been astounded to realize that some of my
colleagues look to me for answers [about] how to do this. I actually am hoping some
of the students in the class you are taking can help me figure out how to do that.
That sounds like such a cop out.
S: Not really, because I can see how hard it is.
P: I do some things. I started out talking about the exemption. I talk about
mitzvot/commandments and then I talk about the exemption of women from one
category of those. I start out with a critique of gender, but I end up not getting the
stuff on what women did, and I do not know how. I think my critique of gender is
more present this semester than it was last semester. It is also hard to do this stuff
in a very real way. I do not feel comfortable being a feminist scholar at this campus.
S: Can you elaborate on that?
P: I have a sense that there is not enough. I have recognized a push to hire women
and there are really good feminist scholars who were hired this year. But I do not
get a sense that there is enough recognition in the liberal arts and sciences classes
of the difference gender makes in the curriculum and in all knowledge so that I can
assume that my students will have sensitivity or sensibility to all this. I also have
been surprised at the kind of resistance students will voice. Not publicly or in the
classroom, but one-on-one or privately.
S: What kind of things are coming back to you?
P: Well, it is just about "Why do we have to do so much of women?" Or, "We did not
really need that book on Jewish women anyway, did we?" Of course, I think I was
more afraid of that first semester so I really did not do it right. This semester I just
have decided, based on the experience of last semester, that if I really was serious
about this stuff, then I really had to put it up front and make it very clear that, yes, it
is important to have these double books even if it is awkward right now.
S: And what is the difference in the reactions of your student?
P: It is hard to know because I will not get some of those responses to this class until
S: Do you think they are holding back until they get their grades?
P: Probably not, because a lot of it comes up on the course evaluations that are
S: So you got some of that on the course evaluations?
P: Yes. "She is such a feminist, why do we have to learn from her?"
P: Things like that. That is not surprising. It is 1994 and there is a lot that other
feminist scholars have published on what it is like to teach, what it is like to teach
feminism, what it is like to teach this stuff, so in some ways I have the hindsight of
the experiences of others.
S: You did teach this course at Duke also. How does that experience compare with
P: It was very different. The students were very different there, the atmosphere of
teaching [was different]. Women's studies at Duke was much more pervasive
through the campus. That does not mean there was not resistance to it--there
certainly was--but there was a sense that they had done very well at convincing
students and faculty that this was important stuff, and that it belonged in the
curriculum and the classroom. In some ways what that meant was that students
expected it when they [were admitted]. It was too easy for them to say, "This is
where we are doing feminism, we have to do it," or, "This is where we are doing
women, we have to do it." And because Duke was so polarized ideologically,
students would have those attitudes like, "Oh, yes, here is where we do the critical
theory part." Or they would have this, "Oh, yes, she is graduate student, we are
going to have to do all this shit." That kind of thing. They would sort of resist it that
I do not want to paint too bad of a picture here, because one of the lovely things is
that I think some students here do not get very good training at critical thinking.
Some of my students really love what we are doing because it is the first time
someone has said, "Yes, knowledge comes from some place. You know, this thing
called the Enlightenment that affected that way we Americans think." In the midst of
all that, talking about gender becomes very easy. But again, it is this kind of thing
that I learned actually when I was writing my dissertation.
Through the 1980s alone, when I was writing my proposal for my dissertation, I went
through millions of drafts. I mean, not millions, [but] it was about five or six or seven.
What I finally realized is that the reason I was having trouble with it was that I was
not coming right out and saying, "I am asking feminist questions that come right out
of what feminist scholars in various disciplines have been trying to figure out for
several years now. And that is what this is about." And I was trying to figure out all
these ways to be nice and wishy-washy and not quite say that. Then I realized that
that was the problem, and I sat down at the computer and just wrote. "These are my
questions. This is what I am trying to figure out. This is its significance for
theorizing about gender and feminism and the experiences ofwomen," and that was
the one that was accepted and that was the one that was coherent and made sense.
So what I really learned, but of course I have to keep relearning, is that despite how
hard it is and despite the resistance, you just have to put it up front and do it. Again,
I wish I could say, "I got perfect at this and I do it all right," but I really do not.
S: You are here at the University of Florida, this is your second semester, and you are
finding it to be somewhat conservative. But do you like it?
P: Yes, I like it.
S: Are there a lot of other young faculty? Do you get to know people in other
P: Yes. They actually do a pretty good job. We all grumbled about this last fall when
we were sort of moved around from the dean's reception to the president's reception
and so forth, but they did a good job of these mass welcomes which meant that first-
year faculty got to meet each other. And this year there were two of us hired in
religion, I think there were several people in philosophy, history, and English. We all
know each other, so that is a good thing. Some of us are around the same age,
[living] here in Gainesville, and not living with families or spouses. So that is a good
point. Several of us are forming a reading group to get together and read and talk.
S: You do not have to answer this but, being so young ... you are younger than a lot
of the graduate students.
P: I know. I am twenty-nine. Yes. Okay, what is the question? [Laughter]
S: What do you guys get to do for a social life because there are all these boundaries
that you are not supposed to cross.
P: It is hard. Yes, there are boundaries like relationships with students. That does not
just concern sexual relations. The University is concerned with sexual relations, but
I think I am concerned with a whole continuum of boundaries and what it means to
be a twenty-nine-year-old person in a position of authority. Also, I look fairly young.
But I look older than I used to.
I used to like going out a lot and going to clubs and hearing music. Here I feel very
restrained about doing that because most of the bars or clubs are student-oriented.
They are student-dominated. I do not feel comfortable having a few beers and
running into some of my students and then seeing them next Tuesday as I am
dressed up in a suit in class. I just do not feel . all of that is difficult.
S: Yes. I wondered about that.
P: This is small. I was really happy to come to Gainesville because it is a larger college
town than many and I was just terrified of ending up in some really small liberal arts
college town. Gainesville is a step up from there, but it is not a city where I could
live on the other side of the city and go out and not worry about running into
students. I do not know how to solve that yet. Jay Tribby, in the history department,
[assistant professor of history, appointed 1990] lives in Tampa. So if things do not
work out in Gainesville, I can move to a nearby city and commute a few days a
week. I have not figured that one out.
S: I wondered about that because I know faculty are not supposed to use the gym, I
think for the very same reason, that they want to use the gym that the students use
for free, they have to pay more than they pay. I think it is some huge fee, more than
the regular health club.
P: Some of that is odd for me because at Oberlin [College] there were very close
student-faculty relations. I got to know a lot of my professors and we went to their
houses. There are not written interdictions against doing that [here], but you are not
S: I know that at Hampshire, we had a clothing-optional sauna, and when you go there
in the morning after a swim, more likely than not there was your naked professor in
P: Right. And it is a very different perspective. It is funny because I think professors
are seen as very formal here, and there is a kind of beauty to that. It is sort of an old
model: you have the formal professor here, and the student down here, and you
convey information one way. But that is not the way I was trained and it certainly is
not my model of education. It is hard, being one of the youngest professors here
and being female, to go against that, although I do. I end up being very informal in
class, even more so than last semester, or I end up feeling very informal in class.
Sometimes I come home at night and I think, "Oh my gosh, are the students
learning? Maybe we laugh too much in class. Are they learning?" And then I think,
"Of course they are." You have to be relaxed to learn. But it is interesting to me
how powerful are these unwritten ideas of what a professor is supposed to be.
Last fall was my first semester teaching full time and I remember the first few weeks.
At the end of every week I would congratulate myself for having gotten through my
third or my fourth week as a professor, and around that same time I realized that
whatever I was, was what a professor is. There was not this model "out there." It is
sort of the same thing about my creating new scholarship and creating new
knowledge. Well, how do you create new knowledge, and what does it mean to be a
professor? I do not know. I think it is easy to fall into these familiar models because
they are so prevalent. Sometimes I hope I am interrupting them a little bit.
S: Well, I know you teach the introduction to Judaism, and you teach the standard
religion class. Do you teach something else?
S: And what is that?
P: Well, last semester I taught a seminar called Classic Jewish Texts. It is a traditional
course that we teach and I taught it on the Mishnah because those are the classic
Jewish texts that I knew the best.
S: There is something really important that I wanted to ask.
S: At the beginning of the Introduction to Judaism class you had us read an article that
talked about departments of Jewish studies and religion departments. Why are they
separate? What are their different agendas and why are you in the religion
department and not in Jewish studies? They are not even on the same side of the
P: There are several things. (I am trying to tease all of that out to you.) Some of it is
University specific and some of it has to do with how Jewish studies has developed.
Jewish studies is not a discipline; [it is] an interrelation of several fields of study,
[and] does not really deal with religion. Often, Jewish studies programs are not
located within departments of religion, and they also tend to be more
interdisciplinary. So, for example, here there are some people who do linguistics,
literature, Jewish history.
All of that is why Jewish studies is a different program. I am affiliated with Jewish
studies. Jewish studies at this campus does not hire its own full-time faculty. It is a
program and not a department. I think the way it works is that only departments are
granted funds to hire faculty. Most departments of religion will have someone, if
they are large enough, who will be able to do Judaism, so that is where I fit in here.
But it is really interesting, a lot of this theorizing about religion. Religion is a social
phenomenon that came from Christian scholars interviewing, examining, and
investigating non-Christian and non-Jewish religions. What happened is that
Judaism fell in between-- Judaism was too close to study for the Christians, and also
not far enough away. So that is all that that article is talking about.
S: You mentioned these people really wanting to know last semester in class about
where you stood on the continuum of Jewish practice. And I was curious about
what it means to be not hugely committed to a religion as a belief system. Do most
people in departments of religion really believe the religion they teach?
P: It is hard to make generalizations. There are some people for whom it is very easy
to pigeonhole into a belief or tradition. What does not get recognized is that all of us
have commitments. I do have certain commitments to Judaism. They may not fit
into a branch, specifically one we studied in class. But, I mean, I do have certain
commitments. I have certain commitments to... I do not know what I would call it.
So, I actually get frustrated when people want to know, "What religion are you?" As
if religion is the only way someone can make a [commitment].
It is like that discussion we were having in the gender class, cultural relativism. We
sort of had two poles, either you could be a cultural relativist and not take any
stance and not make value judgments about the practices of anyone, or you can
make those judgments. We did not talk about the fact that even not taking a stance
means taking a position. [We did not talk about] what all the places in between
those two poles are. How do we make judgments? How do we speak about the
experience of somebody else? How do we speak about our own experiences [with]
some critical frameworks there? So, yes, I have commitments. It is funny because
my students always want to know where I stand and what I am.
S: I guess my question is about whether it is expected ... I know that perhaps students
expect it, but within the actual discipline itself?
P: The discipline is very much divided over those questions, and it usually gets played
as a debate of theology versus religious studies. It assumes that people who do
theology are committed, and people who do religious studies are not. Also, one of
the things I like about the department here is that it is fairly diverse in terms of
religion, region, ethnicity. Several of the people, especially people who are not
Christian or teaching some form of Christianity, are very much dealing with the
tensions of assimilation, or tensions of what it means to be Hindu or a Muslim in the
U.S. So we have those kinds of things to talk about which complicate the whole
thing. What are you? Are you X or are you not X? Well, I am assimilating X. I am
changing what it means to be an X.
S: Now I know you said your parents came from the North with a political background.
Did they ever hope you were going to be a rabbi instead of a professor? Something
you were devoting your life to or that kind of thing? Or your grandparents?
P: I am not sure. Not my maternal grandparents, but my paternal grandparents cannot
figure out what it is I do because, for them, being a professor of Jewish studies does
not fit into how they think the world works. There are rabbis, rebbetzins, Hebrew
school teachers, Torah scholars. They are very religious. These are my paternal
grandparents. They do not quite know what it is I do. I do not think any of them
hoped I would be a rabbi; my mother might have at a certain point. Rabbis do not
get to be scholars these days, I mean, unless they are very traditional.
S: So what does a rabbi do?
P: I cannot answer [that]. They do sort of social-work things: making sure synagogues
get run, trying to create Jewish communities, trying to extend Jewish communities. I
think some rabbis do question critically what it is they inherited or what it is they do
in the synagogue. I think that is true. But I never wanted to be one. I do not like
doing what they do.
S: Thank you. |
We stayed in this hotel for one night. The service was first-class. The check in manager Daisy was friendly, polite and helpful and created an excellent impression. It was also really nice on arrival to receive a cup of hot lemon tea. Just what was needed after walking around in the cold weather! After check in, when we discovered our room didn't have a bath-tub the hotel quickly and happily moved us to another room with a bath. All of the other staff we encountered through our stay were friendly and obviously well trained, always smiling and saying hello. There were other nice touches such as an offer of free late check out if we needed it. The breakfast was excellent with a good range of both Western and Chinese options. The swimming pool and spa centre is really nice and includes a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi which are great after a long day sightseeing.
The only slight issues I would note are: 1. the bathroom and bedroom in the rooms are separated only by a large glass window which means there is zero privacy when in the bathroom. There should at least be a panel of frosted glass. 2. The swimming pool water could be slightly warmer.
However, for us these were only minor complaints. Overall we had an excellent stay. Why can't all hotels train their staff as well as here? We highly recommend.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
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Setting Up Your Home Gym
With the many ways of
utilizing an entertainment room home gyms are high on the list. If
you’ve decided this is the year you’re going to get in
shape and stay in shape but you don’t like waiting in line for
the treadmill or forking out high membership fees each month to a
health club, then let’s get started on your own personal
- the staple of the gym, and one of the first purchases you should
make, is a good pair of adjustable dumbells. Dumbells are versatile,
cost effective, and they take up very little space. Dumbells are a
great solution for strength training and offer an unlimited number of
exercises. By adding a weight bench and exercise ball you’ve
got all the makings of an instant home gym. Manufacturers include
Bowflex, Bayou, Hex, Powerblock, and Pro Style.
Trainers – sometimes referred to as cross-trainers, are
quickly becoming the most popular pieces of cardio equipment for home
gyms. Determining which model is right for you might be confusing;
there are now over 70 models to choose from. Here’s a list of
the major brands: Eclipse, Epic, Horizon, Infiniti, Life
Fitness, Lifegear, Nordic Track, Octane, Orbitrek, Precor, Proform,
Reebok, Schwinn, Smooth, Sole, Stamina, Star Trac, Tony Little, True
and Weslo. Models range between $300 -
$5,000. Grab a cup of coffee and mull over this informative
Trainer Buyer’s Guide.
Ball – otherwise known as an exercise ball, is one
of the best workouts for your abs on the market. A high quality
exercise ball, like the ones used at the health club, is the most
effective means you can use to get rock hard abs. Don’t settle
for an exercise ball found at your local sporting goods store or mass
market retailer, these balls are poor quality. You want a quality
exercise ball that will endure prolonged use, handle larger users,
and one that will allow you to perform strength training with
dumbbells too. What you should look for in an exercise ball is a
weight limit of 1000 pounds (opposed to 200 pounds found at the
stores mentioned above) and a warranty of 3 years. Priced under
Resistance Bands Home Gym – If you’ve seen this
advertised on TV you may think they look a gimmic. They’re not.
The Bodylastics resistance bands are a huge leap forward in
resistance training compared to the old exercise tubing. What’s
really great about this product, besides its compact size, is the
resistance bands are color coded – each colored resistance band
has a unique tension level. There are swivel clips at the end of each
exercise band to facilitate quick changes in resistance, and they
include a number of nifty attachments that make the Bodylastics a
complete home gym that’s smaller than a breadbox. This product
is a breeze to use, even for beginners. So, if you want a great
workout, and a great value in strength training for under $100,
the Bodylastics system is a bargain.
Exercise bikes –
a popular choice for a great cardio workout. Exercise bikes are a
little pricey but well worth it. Try out as many different models as
you can before you make a purchase. You’ll want to make sure
the seat is comfortable; remember, you’ll be sitting in the
bike seat for long periods of time so you’ll want to make sure
you’re comfortable. Good - A decent exercise bike starts
at around $300. In this price range expect your bike to last a
few years. Better - A better, mid-level model, like a Schwinn,
will run between $300 - $500. In this price range expect a
smoother silent operation, magnetic resistance, a more comfortable
seat, many workout programs and heart rate control. Best -
High-end exercise bikes run about $600 plus. In this price
range expect push button resistance control, high tech led display
console, a longer warranty, pulse driven workouts, adjustable
handlebars, and many workout programs. Here’s a list of the
major players: Cybex, Fitness Quest, Healthrider, Kettler, Life
Cycle, Lifestyler, Monark, Nautilus, NordicTrack, Proform, Reebok,
Schwinn, Stamina, and Tunturi.
Rowing is one of the
best workouts available. The motion of rowing uses your entire body
and works every major muscle group; pelvis, thighs, arms, shoulders,
back, abdomen, legs, hips, and torso without the risk of high impact
injury. It’s great for muscle toning and development in areas
of the body that can be difficult to work; back of upper arms,
shoulders, and butt get a great workout. Also, great for weight loss
– burn from 500 to 800 calories per hour. Rowing machine
manufacturers include BodyCraft, Concept2, Kettler, Lifecore,
LifeGear, Precor, Schwinn, Stamina, and Tunturi. For a novice user on
a budget BodyCraft is a great choice for around $700. Kettler
Coach is about the best rower on the market at around $1000. A
rowing machine is best for people who need a low impact cardio and
strength training workout but are bored with treadmills and cross
are so many smith machines on the market today it’s difficult
to distinguish between them. Should you get a smith machine with
bushings or bearings? A vertical smith machine or a 7 or 5 degree
angled smith? Is a Jones machine better than the best smith machine?
There are many differences in construction that you should understand
before investing in a smith machine. You’ll want to spend some
time researching each manufacturer to see what each one offers.
Manufacturers include Bodycraft, Body Solid, Freemotion, Golds Gym,
Hoist, Marcy, Nautilus, Parabody, Ultimate and Weider. A full
functioned single station gym with a built-in weight stack, expect to
spend a minimum of $700.
Stair climbers, also
known as steppers, are excellent machines for burning calories and
working the major muscle groups of the lower body. Though they’ve
declined in popularity in recent years, largely due to elliptical
machines, there are still a few machines released each year. Priced
between $2,000 - $4,000.
After your vigorous
workout you’re going to want to relax and wind down; what
better way then in a sauna? After all you’ve earned it. Indoor
saunas come in many shapes and sizes. You can customize your own
sauna and have it built right into your home gym, or your other
choices include portable saunas that are capable of plugging into a
standard wall outlet, pre-built saunas that come in modular insulated
panels that are assembled together to build your room, pre-cut saunas
require that you frame up your own walls and provide your own
insulation, and combination traditional & infrared saunas.
Perks - Many come with
soft-touch control panels inside and outside of the sauna, CD stereos
with remote control, recessed lighting inside and outside of the
sauna. Pre-manufactured saunas usually seat anywhere from 2 to 4
people however, if you have limited space a one person sauna is
available. Custom built saunas can accommodate as many family members
or guests as you’d like.
Cost - Expect to pay
around $2,000 for a one person sauna, anywhere from $3.000
to $5,000 for a two person sauna, and $5,000 + for a
three or four person sauna
Home gyms are high on the list of popular home additions. If you’ve decided that this is the year you’re going to get in shape, but don’t like waiting in line for the treadmill, or forking out high membership fees each month to a health club, then it may be the perfect time to create your own personal workout oasis.
The cost of building your home gym depends on the type and number of workout machines you purchase. Get a price quote from a licensed installer to discuss labor rates in your area. For equipment costs and exercise machines, here are some ballpark figures:
- On average, elliptical trainers cost from $300 to $5,000.
- Exercise balls and resistance bands are cheap, ringing in under $100.
- Exercise bikes cost $300 to $600
- Rowing machines can be as much as $1,000
- Stair climbers cost between $2,000 and $4,000
- For those that want to splurge, a home sauna runs from $3,000 to $5,000 or more, depending on the size.
A home gym allows anyone to follow a workout routine on their own time, with an added dose of privacy.
Home gyms be made to fit a variety of budgets, depending on the equipment purchased.
These rooms can increase the likelihood that you will follow a workout routine.
Some homeowners spend a small fortune on buying equipment and rarely use it.
Materials needed for home gyms are very specific (rubber flooring, moisture-resistant paint), so this space won’t be the most versatile.
Home gyms may not bring the highest resale value down the road, as some homeowners may not be interested in using them.
The maintenance required of a home gym is minimal and usually limited to regularly wiping down the equipment after use.
Common Questions and Answers
What types of saunas are best for in-home use?
Indoor saunas come in many shapes and sizes. You can customize your own sauna and have it built right into your home gym. Other choices include portable saunas that can be plugged into a standard wall outlet, pre-built saunas that come in modular insul
Besides the exercise ball, what’s an inexpensive piece of equipment for a home gym?
One excellent option is resistance bands. In addition to their compact size, resistance bands are color-coded to specify a unique tension level. These are great for home gyms because they allow for a wide range of exercise combinations without large equip
HistoryHome gyms became popular in the 1990s, when technological advances and changes in the manufacturing of exercise machines made them affordable for people to install them in their own homes.
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Exercise: Past Life Death Traumas: Feeling Safe Again
Summary: Help Your "Unquiet Dead" To Stop Feeling Unsafe
For Quick Access to This Exercise:
To get to the parts of this exercise you are most interested in viewing, click on the link below to go there. For best results, read through the entire exercise at least once.
Background on This Exercise
Background: When you have experienced violent and traumatic deaths in past lives - time and again - more often than not, you are bound to feel unsafe in life. If your Past Life Alert Monitor is always going off and the basic exercise is not taming it -OR- if it has been tamed but you still do not feel safe, then this exercise is will help to release the underlying death traumas. This is a hazard of Old Souls.
Goal: If you cannot feel safe in the world, even when you have taken all the necessary precautions that make most other people feel safe, this exercise can help you (and the multitudes of your unquiet past life dead) to feel safe once again. This for those who died in past lives due to horrific historical events like the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the Black Death, the Spanish Flu, the Dark Age Catastrophe, etc. It is also for those who have died time again for speaking and living their truth.
Do both parts of the exercise every day for 60 days. If you miss a day, you have to start all over again. When you can get through it for the full 60 days, your life will be transformed for the better.
* Identify Your Fears: Each individual has had a unique journey through the universe. Consequently, each person will fear different things depending on their personal experience in past lives. To feel safe, you must first know what you fear and why you fear it so you can dispel those fears. Most fears break down into:
Fears driven by events, like fears of fire, water, nature, and heights.
* Prioritize Your Fears: Dealing with fears created from suffering and death in past lives requires a patient and persistent strategy. There are two ways to go about healing theme: here are the advantages and disadvantages:
Most to Least: Some prefer to start this process by tackling their worst fears first. The advantages (+) are that fears operate like a tree: deal with the roots and the branches will fall away. The disadvantages (-) are that progress on tackling the big fears will be slow and may discourage you from continuing with this healing process.
* One Fear at a Time: Start with one fear and work on it in both the daily work and in the meditation session. Do not advance to working on the next fear until you feel the previous fear fading. The more fears you dissolve with this process, the easier it becomes. Fears were created over time and must be dispelled over time.
Your experience of life
is all about what you notice and choose to put your attention on. When
you have deep seated fears, you need to work on them throughout the day
each and every day. STOP noticing what makes you feel unsafe and START
noticing what makes you feel safe. Fear is a habit that took time to
build (many past lives) and will take time to destroy (in this one).
1> Most people need to do this exercise daily for at least six months before they can settle all the resonances from past lives that are DRIVING non-stop feelings of danger and insecurity. You will definitely need to have patience with this process because you will not feel safe overnight (this will take time). Yet if you are patient and have a sincere desire to do meaningful past life healing, you will be successful.
2> Remember to do this process slowly. You must focus on completely relaxing your body and your mind so that layers of past life traumas can be brought gently into your conscious awareness and then released. Each time you do this exercise you will go ever more deeply into your unhealed past life issues. Each time you will release a little more of the fears created by deaths in past lives. The deeper you go, the more answers you get, the safer you will feel in your body, mind, and emotions.
3> Ask for your Higher Self, your Guides, your Guardian angels, and whatever other servants of the universe you like to be present for the entire session and to keep you safe and protected at all times. Trust that this must and will be so.
4> When this exercise is complete, drink a glass of water and immediately cleanse yourself. Good cleansing will vary depending on if you are an:
sweating in a sauna or steam room is good cleansing.
5> Being comfortable is the key. You
can lie down (recommended) or sit up. If you opt to sit
up, you must be supported and feel fully relaxed and
6> Do this exercise in a peaceful place where you will be completely undisturbed for the entire session. This exercise should last for NO longer than 30 minutes. Set an alarm or timer to snap you out of it should the session begin to run any longer.
* Forgiveness: Focusing on your fears means focusing on what you do not want to happen. Imagining the "worst case scenario" may well have saved your life in the past... Yet it is harming you now because it keeps you mired in feeling unsafe.
Start the session by FORGIVING your past life selves for having contributed to the present life fears that are RUINING your life now. This forgiveness must be unconditional. This is why you must start with forgiveness - so that whatever you discover about your past lives - does not interfere with your ability to forgive yourself.* Understanding: On the inside, deep within the recesses of your unconscious mind, there are good reasons for your fears originating in your past lives.
If you fear fire, then most likely you died from fires which were a common hazard.
If you fear water, then most likely you were lost at sea or intentionally drowned.
If you fear nature, then most likely you died in an earthquake or natural disaster.
If you fear heights, then most likely you fell off a cliff or died in a plane crash.
If you fear death, then most likely you often died painfully-violently in past lives.
If you fear illness, then most likely you died of plague or other horrific diseases.
If you fear medicine, then most likely "cures" you sought caused suffering/death.
If you fear scams, then most likely you-loved ones suffered because of criminals.
If you fear strangers, then most likely you-loved ones suffered from warfare.
If you fear speaking, then most likely you suffered-died from being outspoken.
If you fear aging, then most likely your incapacity lead to a painful-violent end.
If you fear abandonment, then most likely you died from being left behind.
If you fear separation, then most likely you died from losing family.
If you fear the future, then most likely failure to change caused suffering-death.
Due to many past lives in "caveman" situations, everyone has instinctive primal fears like the fear of darkness, spiders, and snakes, man's ancient foes.
ASK to be shown WHY you have these fears: most often they originate in past live(s). Ask to be shown only the most relevant past experience so that you get what you need to heal without being overwhemled by pain and sorrow you have already experienced.* NOW: To break free of your past life fears, you must gain control over your present reality by being crystal clear on what you want NOW.
ACTIONS from Advice: If you are not already taking precautions to keep your fears from coming true, start taking these actions. Ask during meditation what else you can do to handle your fears in a way that supports-enhances (and does not drain-disrupt) your life.
Example: The point of doing this exercise is to delve into your past lives. Unlike a movie, this is always an intensely personal journey that will speak to you on many levels. It will be different for everyone since everyone is unique and has had a different past life journey. I wish you well on your journeys to the inner worlds.
Credits: adapted from channeled information.
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Copyright © 2000-2015, Ellen A Mogensen,
Past & Now Forward Holistic Counseling, |
Enjoy luxurious accommodations at the base of Stowe Mountain Resort! Ski-in and ski-out from this deluxe Stowe Mountain Lodge unit and discover the very best of mountain living.
An exceptional winter vacation awaits you when you stay slopeside at the East’s premiere ski area. Take part in the best skiing by day, and then relax and rejuvenate at Stowe Mountain Lodge’s world class spa. Immerse yourself in the Spa's steam room and sauna, plus don't forget to make an appointment for a relaxing professional massage. The adults and kids will enjoy a swim in the gorgeous outdoor pool with beautiful mountain vistas, and everyone will rave about the onsite shopping and dining options.
You won’t want to miss exploring the town of Stowe – a pristine New England town with Vermont charm and a bit of urban sophistication. Stowe offers a great selection of shops and great dining options for all tastes.
No vacation is complete without comfortable lodging, whether you are hitting the slopes hard, or just looking for a relaxing getaway. With the best furnishings, bamboo sheets, and the finest amenities, this studio will complete any vacation stay in Stowe!
We were looking for a fun filled getaway for a long week-end and this property met all of our expectations. The owner was accommodating and ensured we had the best services available to us during our stay. The staff at the resort were always friendly and eager to help. We were greeted with a smile at the valet parking and the receptionist at the front desk took pleasure in answering any of our questions.
Our suite had a king bed and a pull-out sofa that our two boys (ages 8 and 5) slept on. We were impressed with the well equipped kitchenette in the suite which aloud us to enjoy some meals in our room. We also enjoyed drinking our coffee on the balcony over looking the beautiful Stowe mountain view.
We were fortunate enough to have beautiful sunny days during our visit which we spent poolside, enjoying the magnificent outdoor heated pool and two poolside hot tubs. The boys also enjoyed playing shuffleboard and chess outdoors (on the over sized chess board located near the spa entrance).
Other outdoor activities we enjoyed during our stay in Stowe included hiking and biking.
We would not hesitate to return to this property to enjoy another beautiful stay in Stowe Vermont!
After visiting Stowe for the last 20 years, we just spent the most wonderful week at Stowe Mountain Lodge for the first time. We found a rental on VRBO, and decided to try it. I would not hesitate recommending this unit and resort to anyone. The resort and amenities are first class, and the owner and rental agency were a pleasure to work with.
We happened to experience great weather the entire week, and kept busy during the days, and then relaxed by the pool. Stowe Mountain Lodge is by far, the most upscale property, with great amenities and activities.
We did get to play golf on the resort course, and thoroughly enjoyed our experience. The only hint I would share is if you're not a pro, bring plenty of balls.
The view from the balcony of this unit of the mountain is great. At first, we thought being over the front entrance would be a negative, but we rather enjoyed watching the cars and folks driving up, as well as the mountain.
The unit is impeccable. Beautiful decor, and like new condition. If there was any negative I could share, it's that the refrigerator is smaller than we would like, but we managed.
We will definitely stay at this resort and in this unit again.
We (a couple with a 4yo) really enjoyed our stay during winter 2013 and count the days until the first snow flake forms so we may return. This unit was everything we hoped for and more. The owner is wonderful and takes pride. The complex is just gorgeous. (the spas are delicious) Hadn't seen the full Stowe Mtn renovation until now. Wow, a lot of thought and comfort put into the whole design. Kid friendly while pampering/picturesque/romantic for the parents or couples. Stowe is great and our stay in this room made it superb. (many thanks for a memorable trip!!)
Call for weekly golf specials at 3 beautiful, local golf courses. |
Some things never change in life -- death, taxes, and the need for a good mud pack, massage, and hair coloring. Visit a Tulsa day spa or salon and find a place to relax and rejuvenate the body, mind, and hair follicles. A quick search for spas and salons in Tulsa dots the streets of a Google map screen like power pellets in a game of Ms. Pac Man. Luckily, for those who need a good primping now and then, there are more days spas in Tulsa than days in a calendar month.
With two spots in Tulsa, Ilhof Salon in South Memorial and Utica Square won't cause long waits for an appointment and offers the perfect respite for a Tulsa massage. Ilhoff offers a full range of day spa treatments for every need. Full-day treatment packages range in price from $485 to $265 and include hot stone massages, body wraps, scalp massages, haircut, lunch, and a lot more. Or instead of a full treatment package, come for a haircut, a massage or any of the other myriad services like waxing, foot and hand care, and makeup. Guys are welcome too.
Another great Tulsa salon is the Spa Lux. This salon offers all the usual amenities in addition to a steam and sauna room. It gets cold in Tulsa mid-winter, and bones and joints might ache. Step into the steam room in this Tulsa day spa and imagine a tranquil, tropical rainforest. It's also a great way to sweat out toxins that might have built up over time. The best part is that it's free with any spa treatment of at least $50 value.
So whether you're looking for a massage in Tulsa complete with body wraps, manicures, and pedicures, or just a simple hair snip, any of Tulsa's day spas can surely accommodate the full range of relaxation and beautification needs. |
|Minimum Stay||2 - 7 nights|
The rural house stands in the Ardennes in Luxembourg. 18 people have space in this detached house. On the ground floor there is a sitting area. For sporting activities there is a gym with four devices. The spa area includes an infrared sauna, a shower, two sinks and a toilet. On the first floor of the cottage a TV with a DVD player belongs to the inventory. There is a kitchen with a large stove with two by four boards, the oven, a dishwasher and a microwave device. On the first floor two single beds and a bunk bed are to be found. A shower, two sinks and a toilet are in the bathroom. The second floor has also boast a TV with a DVD player. The Bedding: Two bedrooms with two single beds, a bedroom with a double bed and a bathroom (shower, toilet and sink), three bedrooms, each with a single bed and bathroom (same equipment) and another bathroom with a shower and a sink. The holiday house has a washing machine, two terraces, a garden, barbecue, parking, and 11 children's beds. The Forest of Arden is in the west of the Massif to fin
Classification: Ground floor: (Sitting room, fitness room(radio, 4x fitness equipment), hall(DVD player, meetings, overhead projector), relax area(shower, infra-red sauna, 2x washbasin, toilet))
On 1st floor: (Livingroom(TV, DVD player), Dining room(fireplace), Kitchen(2x cooker(4 ring stoves), 2x oven, microwave, dishwasher, fridge freezer), Bedroom(Double bed), Bedroom(2x Single bed), Bedroom(Bunk bed), Bathroom(shower, 2x washbasin, toilet))
On 2nd floor: (Livingroom(1 pers folding bed, TV, fireplace, DVD player, radio), Bedroom(2x Single bed), Bedroom(2x Single bed), Bedroom with bathroom(Double bed, shower, washbasin, toilet), Bedroom with bathroom(2x Single bed, shower, washbasin, toilet), Bedroom with bathroom(2x Single bed, shower, washbasin, toilet), Bedroom with bathroom(2x Single bed, shower, washbasin, toilet), Bathroom(shower, washbasin))
tumble dryer, washing machine, 2x patio, garden, garden furniture, BBQ, parking, 10x parking, Cot, Cot, Cot, Cot
These costs are charged on site. They are not included in the rental price.:
Deposit; € 700 returned 14 days after departure
Cleaning; Mandatory: € 230
Pets; Not allowed
Bed linen; For rent, € 8 p.p./Stay
Bath towels; Bring your own
Kitchen linen; Bring your own
Electricity; € 0,25/kWh
Gas/Oil; € 0,90/Litre
Water; Mandatory € 5/m3
Wood; € 5/Set
Tourist tax; Mandatory, € 1 /person/night
We have a long weekend spent with our family. The house was very comfortable, spacious and equipped with all modern appliances. We lack nothing and have come to notice. Nothing It was perfect. The location of the house is rural. Large supermarkets and shops approx 10 minutes drive away. Forests, wildlife and ponds within walking distance.
A beautiful new house, fully equipped. Friendly owner and great service.
Het was een erg gezellig huis en mooi huis. Mooie keuken.
Het huis voldeed meer dan goed aan onze verwachtingen schoon, ruim, smaakvol ingericht en alle faciliteiten aanwezig. Verder was onze gastheer erg attent uitgebreide uitleg over de faciliteiten van het huis en de bediening. Goed telefonisch bereikbaar. Heeft verder nog gezorgd voor voldoende voorraad hout. kortom, we waren erg tevreden, ondanks het slechte weer.
*Plus compulsory or optional charges based on actual occupancy or consumption. The payment has to be made in the currency offered by the property manager (EUR), before use of conversion tool. Payments in other currencies have to be negotiated beforehand with the property manager. The currency conversion tool is provided for your convenience only and is non-binding. |
Phil Mickelson put together an epic back nine over the weekend, birdieing four of the final six holes at the British Open to win his first Claret Jug and his fifth career major championship. The inspiring performance further cemented Lefty’s legacy as an athlete. His real estate legacy, however, still needs some work. Mickelson has once again put his home in Rancho Santa Fe on the market at a discount.
Mickelson originally asked more than $12 million for the Tuscan-style estate when he listed it in 2008. He and his wife eventually dropped the price considerably before pulling it from the market in May of 2011. The 9,500-square-foot home last resurfaced in early 2012 with a price tag of $7.095 million and is now being offered for $100,000 less, $6.95 million. The Mickelsons paid $6 million for “The Ranch” in 2001.
Sited on a private, 4.88-acre bluff, the Mickelsons’ luxe estate enjoys a high vantage point overlooking San Diego County. It offers a total of five bedrooms and seven bathrooms and a host of luxuries ranging from a steam room to a gym with a sauna to a safe room. The master suite boasts its own posh amenities, including a private sitting area, a fireplace and master bath with a fish tank shower decorated in handmade mosaic tile. A heavy use of gold finishes, imported Calcutta marble and gothic fireplaces made of hand-carved Cantera stone add to the home’s Old World, European vibe. Wrapped in lush trees and foliage, the rear of the property features an outdoor kitchen, a swimming pool, and the one amenity a golf champion should never be without: a putting green. |