Hot Enough for You?

IT’S NICE to have something to complain about that’s not rain or floods or wild fires. Not so nice that it’s searing heat.

We don’t know how to control the weather. (You knew that, but for one hot second you were hoping, right?) But we do know how to control our own reaction to it. Best? Barricade yourself at home if you have killer air conditioning. But most of us have to leave the house at some point.

So MyLittleBird looked around and stumbled upon some ideas, some clever, others downright gimmicky. Maybe just looking at pictures will make us all feel cooler? Here’s hoping.

—Nancy McKeon

Left: Place one of these little flat pillows in your freezer and soon you can take out a frosty delight for your sweat-lined brow. In winter you can microwave it for use as a heating pad. Because the filler is corn kernels, larger and denser than the filler in many such bags, these guys promise to retain their heat or cold longer. They’re $27 at the ForeverOhSoCrafty shop at Etsy.  Right: Liberty prints make a lot of things look better, but this is the first time we’ve seen one on a water bottle, and one of those super-duper double-walled stainless-steel bottles from S’well. It’s $42 at Nordstrom.

Hard to decide which item can fool the heat, the Grapefruit cologne from Jo Malone London or the airy eyelet shirt from the Vermont Country Store. We’re thinking we’ll try both. The ¾-ounce bottle of fragrance is $135 at Nordstrom. The all-cotton snap-front blouse/jacket, which also comes in black and royal blue, is $54.95 at the Vermont Country Store.

If $15.98 seems a bit steep for a little fan that hangs around your neck on a lanyard, the answer is that you get two of them for that price. However, you don’t get the 2 AA batteries each requires to start the cooling-off period. Find the O2COOL fan at  Amazon.

Nice and icy: USA Ice specializes in . . . ice. On the left is a well-chilled penguin, on the right a polar bear. Both are 40 inches tall, and each is $425 including delivery and setup in the Richmond to Baltimore to Frederick area. In the center is something called a Liquor Luge, something new to us. Apparently you pour the whatever-on-ice into the funnel and it slinks its way down the block of ice to a waiting glass. Who knew? It’s $80, also at USA Ice. (That funnel is unfortunate-looking but necessary, I guess.)

These light and loose garments are what will (maybe) get us through the weather. From left to right: A Pure Jill ombré knit dress that just pops on. It’s $99 to $109, depending on size, at J.Jill. Next: A gauzy organic-linen caftan/tunic in the well-named Pool color. You can ditch the leggings, but you’ll need a camisole underneath. It’s $198 at Eileen Fisher. Next: Easy-peasy dressing in this Pure Jill knit maxi dress in moody indigo, $99 at J.Jill. Far right: This Tassel-Tie Flutter-Sleeve shift dress is a bestseller at Old Navy for good reason. It’s on sale for $34 ($38 in red or navy blue). At  Old Navy.

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