{NPR calls them Driveway Moments: When you find yourself still sitting in your car outside your house, unable to go inside because you have to hear a story to its end. At Guero’s Taco Bar in Austin, Texas, forget your car. Just go to the bathroom, where NPR is always playing. Bad blind date? Take a break with Terry Gross. Boring Saturday brunch? Have a leisurely hand wash while solving limericks.}
{Statues, plaques and monuments are easy to stop noticing. Cookies are not. I love that the coffee spot in the building where I teach at Washington University serves J.E.M. cookies, named after James E. McLeod, former vice chancellor for students and dean of College of Arts & Sciences. While the chewy chocolate chip, walnut cookie is awesome, what is even more awesome is the small daily reminder of a truly great man.} 
{These hidden animal mugs are just too cute. I use them for everything – coffee, cereal, even wine. A little gauche? Sure. But sometimes sipping cabernet in a latte mug with a squirrel’s face poking out is exactly what needs to happen.}
This article appears in October 2013.