Sassy

Los Angeles--Forgive Jane Pratt for jiggling in her chair. Forgive the girlish squeal that sneaks into her voice. At 29, Ms. Pratt is finally queen of the prom."

The sewing lounge Sassy SEWer in Parkville has eight sewing machines for customers, but when Tamara Woods goes, she takes her own. It's not just about the machines, she said. "It's about the dedicated time with other sewers. We all like to do this. We chat. It's fun," she said. At home, she sews for other people. At Sassy, she works on raising her skill level and she sews things for herself, combining craftsmanship with fashion sense. "I love the technical part. But it's the creative part that takes over.

Teriko Goodwyn wants her clothes to express who she is. That means she may dress "quietly sassy" one day and "casually elegant" the next.The common thread? The owner of "Expressions of You," a Northwest Baltimore interior design business, is true to her style."Some people let clothes wear them," says Ms. Goodwyn, 38, who has a 3-year-old daughter. "Others wear their clothes, and I'm one of them."Friends say you always look put together. How do you accomplish that?I see my clothing as an expression of me. It's much like when I decorate.

The bright red and yellow-orange leaves on 8-foot trees were my first clue that a clump of sassafras trees had taken root in a drainage ditch. Once I spotted the mitten-shaped leaves, I knew it was just a matter of time before I'd be sitting next to a fire with a home-brewed cup of sassafras tea in one hand and a gardening book in the other. I first learned about sassafras tea as a Boy Scout. American colonists first learned about it from native Americans who used it mostly to relieve pain and fever.

Lisa Jones' sensationally sassy new book, "Bulletproof Diva," is subtitled "Tales of Race, Sex and Hair." That about says it all.This collection of previously published essays, mostly from the Village Voice between 1990 and 1993, comes from someone who's pondered long and hard about what it's like to be a black woman at the backside of the 20th century. She's tough, and like a diva from another era, Gloria Gaynor, she will survive.But this is one woman who's not going to sacrifice looking sharp or her sharp sense of humor on the blunted altar of political correctness.

An interview with Rhea Simpson-Weber, founder of a book club in North Laurel. What book are members reading this month? We are reading "Blackbird" by Jennifer Lauck. It is about a girl growing up in the '70s in Nevada, and she loses her mom in a tragedy. And it just talks abut her will to survive. How did the group choose that book? We each take turns hosting the club at [our] house, and each person hosting is responsible for picking the book. And we try to do a little research on the author, and we discuss that.

Garth Brooks ought to be the happiest man in country music today.His albums sell in the millions as a matter of course, and he's had at least two albums in the Billboard Top 10 for most of the last year. His shows are packing them in at a time when superstars like Bruce Springsteen and U2 have trouble filling halls (in fact, tickets for his Oct. 22 concert at the Capital Centre sold out before most folks even knew they were available).He's making money hand-over-fist, with an income that Forbes estimates at $44 million over the last two years, making him the 13th-best-paid entertainer in the world.

his wife Shana, and John Palmer Jr., proud grandfather of Olivia and Madison. Also survived by his devoted horse Sassy. A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday 6 P.M. at the family owned and operated Ambrose Funeral Home Inc., 1328 Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus. Interment private.

What do teen-age boys want?The editors of Inside Edge, a new magazine targeted at males ages 15 to 22, say they have what teen-age boys want -- "provocative" articles on girls, parties, cars and sports."

SASSY, a 3-year-old Shetland sheepdog, is more of a retriever than a sheepdog, says her owner, Andy Smith of Parkville, who will be ''18 in December.''Sassy, he says, will fetch anything. ''She'll go after balls, socks, papers and anything anyone will throw, and she doesn't want to quit,'' he says.And, with a family of eight, Sassy has a sizable fetching job. Andy's parents, Sandy and Steve (he's a computer analyst with the City's Department of Education) have one daughter -- Heidi, 20 -- and four sons: Scott, 12; Jeremy, 15; Gregory, 16, and Andy.

Alexis and Daniel Sassi , of Columbia, announce the birth of their son, Domonic Daniel Sassi , on Aug. 18, 2011, at 3:45 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces. His sister is Annabel. His grandparents are Richard and Patricia Marchesiello, of Ocean Pines; and Douglas and Gretchen Sassi, of Still Pond.

Describing how her character brutalizes her daughter in "Precious" and at one point endangers the life of her infant granddaughter, Mo'Nique says, "That was rough for me. But the moment the director says 'cut,' you leave it right on the floor." In this break-out year for the popular Baltimore County-born comedian and instant BET talk-show star, Mo'Nique's fearlessness in the movie, as well as her professional equilibrium, should make her a sought-after dramatic actress - and maybe an Academy Award nominee, along with her surprising co-stars, pop diva Mariah Carey (as a social worker)

Long before The Real World, Survivor, or American Idol, a phenomenally popular reality show was running in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. That show was called A Chorus Line, and it changed the face of Broadway. A Chorus Line focused on the true-to-life stories of ordinary people - in this case, 17 young dancers desperate to establish a toe-shoe hold in their chosen profession. For one woman (named "Sheila" in the show), the ballet studio provides a refuge from her parents' unhappy marriage.

Just when it seemed as if funk was all but gone from mainstream pop, the raw and uncompromising style has resurfaced thanks to an unlikely figure: a petite, flame-haired white woman with large, expressive eyes and a fierce musical attitude. But Nikka Costa isn't exactly new to the scene. The daughter of legendary composer-arranger Don Costa and a child singing sensation overseas in the '80s, she has released two American albums as an adult. Both sets - 2001's Everybody Got Their Something and 2005's can'tneverdidnothin' - blazed with flavorful hybrids of funk, pop and rock.

Filmed in Baltimore two years ago, The Salon sets out to be Barbershop, only with women. But it turns out to be Barbershop lite, a chance for a bunch of gals to sass one another within an inch of coming to blows, safe in the knowledge that everything will turn out OK. Vivica A. Fox plays the Ice Cube role; her Jenny owns the salon, and naturally, she has assembled quite the Cast of Characters: There's big, sassy Lashaunna (Kym Whitley), who's quick with the putdown; tough-talking Trina (Taral Hicks)

SKIN SELLS. THAT'S CERTAINLY the lesson to be learned from a trio of advertising campaigns out there that aim to get women to take better care of theirs. Two of the campaigns feature naked women. In the third, women just bare their souls. Two products produced by Unilever -- Vaseline and Dove -- are enjoying the buzz created by television spots banned in the U.S. Vaseline's poetic ad, "Sea," features a sea of naked humanity in an evocative tribute to the amazing qualities of skin and urges women to keep it that way. There are lots of women with sagging breasts and men with big, round bellies in this ad, so it is not about just the beautiful people.

STANTON, Del. - Xtra Heat, trained by John Salzman at Laurel Park, cruised to victory in the $100,000 Sweet & Sassy Stakes yesterday at Delaware Park and likely will make her next start against male competitors in the $1 million, Grade I Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park. Ridden by Rick Wilson, Xtra Heat won by 11 1/2 lengths as the 1-9 favorite. Racing on the lead the entire way, the 3-year-old daughter of Dixieland Heat cut fractions of 22.29 seconds for the quarter mile and 45.64 for the half mile before completing the six furlongs in 1 minute, 10.26 seconds over a fast main track.

Cats and dogs seize control of the Disney Channel tonight -- one of those evenings that defines the term "fun for the entire family."First up is "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" (7 p.m.-8: 15 p.m.), the tale of a cat and a pug dog that stray too far from home. Plenty of fun, particularly if you're into pugs."Homeward Bound II: Lost In San Francisco" (8: 15 p.m-9: 50 p.m.) brings back those mischievous adventurers Chance, Sassy and Shadow (voices of Ralph Waite, Sally Field and Michael J. Fox)

The Annapolis Chorale opened its 34th season with "An Evening with Cole Porter," filled with marvelous classic melodies and sassy tunes fused to incomparable lyrics that remain among Broadway's wittiest. Under J. Ernest Green's sensitive direction, last weekend's program was filled with stylish singing complete with flawless diction and masterful musicianship to pay tribute to Porter. The concert featured the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, guest artists who provided a light jazz approach and other soloists drawn from the chorus who offered more classical renditions to cover the wide range of versatility that Porter's music requires.