Call me a freak, but I much prefer this drizzly gray weather to the harsh sun that will soon beat down unrelenting until September. In turn, I happily skip over saccharine summer fragrances packed with cucumber, white flowers, coconut, and the increasingly prevalent sterile patchouli.

Whether it’s a “summer” day like today or hot and humid without a cloud in the sky, I prefer to wrap myself in scents reminiscent of the soggy seasons and dark places far from sunburns and Coppertone.

Guerlain’s Apres L’Ondee is one of the best - it’s like bathing in warm summer rain water splashed from melancholy bouquets of violets and irises, then wrapping in a warm, powdery cashmere sweater. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find (even on Guerlain’s own website; I content myself with samples from theperfumedcourt.com), but Prada Infusion d’Iris falls in the same vein. I could see Thumbelina comforting herself with this dewy, earthy scent while living with the field mouse in his underground den. It’s like smelling sun-warmed iris from ground level, surrounded with cool leaves and soil with beams of light gently piercing through the overgrowth. Best of all, it’s available at Sephora.

Photos courtesy of Sephora

If you love a little philanthropy with your dining experience, head to MAYA in downtown Wednesdays in June to support the new Bread and Water Project.

Combining the love of delicious, local food and concern for the quality of the Rivanna River and its watershed, the restaurant created an opportunity to nourish more than just local appetites.  Each Wednesday night in June, 10 percent of all MAYA sales will be donated directly to the Rivanna Conservation Society. 

The Rivanna Conservation Society is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to safeguarding the ecological, scenic, recreational, and historic resources of the Rivanna River and its tributaries for the benefit of the community and generations that will follow. And MAYA Restaurant is committed to offering elegant Southern fare made with ingredients provided by local growers and farmers.

Donations from this project will help the society sponsor clean water events and activities throughout the watershed.  These include stream clean-ups, buffer planting projects, teacher and student training events, public education forums, citizen involvement programs and river paddles. 

MAYA Restaurant is located at 633 West Main Street in Charlottesville. Visit www.rivannariver.org or www.maya-restaurant.com for more information.

Photo courtesy of MAYA

Today is the first day of National Iced Tea Month, and here in the glorious South that means chilling a pitcher of sublimely sweet brew.

But before stocking up on a month’s worth of sugar, think about trying one of these naturally sweet blends packed with healthy dried fruit, herbs, and spices - you’ll load up on all the flavor and none of the empty calories. Our favorites:

Tazo Passion - fruity with a hint of spice, this spunky dark pink herbal tea boasts a dose of cinnamon, an anti-inflammatory. Order it at Starbucks shaken with lemonade.

Yogi Sweet Thai Delight - coconut, anise, chocolatey carob blended with rooibos tea and stevia, a leafy alternative to cane sugar. Try it as an iced tea latte with a splash of milk - especially lite coconut or vanilla soy.

Republic of Tea Blackberry Sage - juicy blackberries and black tea made seriously refreshing with a hint of stomach-soothing white sage. Also available in decaf for the perfect evening cooldown.

If you’re absolutely craving that spoonful of sugar, try a splash of fruit juice or honey - both metabolize slower than refined table sugar. And don’t forget the lemon, the tartness makes the sugar taste sweeter so you can get away with using less.

We also dig this iced tea pitcher, above; 102 oz is enough to keep everyone hydrated even on days like today when it’s 80 in our office. Photo courtesy of Republic of Tea.

It’s probably no surprise that we didn’t retouch the photo of Dr. Bonnie Straka on our summer cover. Charlottesville Woman isn’t subject to pressure from national advertisers or celebrity publicists, unlike our favorite magazines - from Lucky to GQ - which have relied on digital technology to alter every minute detail of the human body since the 90s.

Thanks to Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and a few retouching scandals, over the past few years readers are more aware than ever of the artifice of glossy pages. But perhaps it’s time to pick up the debate again, as the corseted waists of the Victorian era and traditional Chinese footbinding with a shudder. But the way we’ve set our standard of beauty over the last decade, with camera and computer work to not only slim away pounds but reshape the human skeleton, is damaging too. It’s damaging to every little girl who thinks of her mother’s Marie Claire as another picture book, to every teen who reads Cosmo as a guidebook to maturity, and to every mother faced with the absurd “Desperate Housewives” midlife bodytype in print as well as TV.

As an editor, even of a small regional magazine, I completely understand the tough decisions that face the art directors and senior editors at national publications. More than ever, sales are everything. But here’s the great thing about the industry - the readers have an incredibly powerful voice. If this is an issue that matters to you, let your favorite magazines know. Tell them what you want to see - celebrities that don’t resemble plastic aliens, real curves, less airbrushing - and let them know when they get it right (or totally wrong). This goes for other issues too - lack of diversity, smoking and drinking, too-thin models, too-tan models, all the ugly issues of the beauty industry. Readers have a voice and magazines listen, we just have to remember to use it.

It’s great to see ice cream companies serving up lighter options, like Edy’s Slow Churned varieties - around 100-150 calories per half cup (4 oz.) serving and 3 or 4 grams of fat. The Yogurt Blends contain live and active cultures, and the Sugar Free flavors save around 10 grams of sugar per serving.

Just make sure you’re dishing up one serving. In a 2006 study, nutritionists at Cornell University held an ice cream social to see how bowl and serving scoop size influenced people’s consumption. The guests, mostly nutrition experts, were randomly given 17 or 32 oz bowls, and 2 or 3 oz scoops and served themselves. The bowls were weighed, and guests were asked to estimate their portions. Although the nutritionists were better at judging their portions than the average American, it didn’t stop those who were given larger bowls from serving themselves over 30 percent more ice cream (read the article here). So if you’re not getting around 16 servings from a half gallon carton or four from a pint, you’re in trouble.

To keep portions in check this summer, we’re loving this mod ice cream scoop from Cuisipro. It measures out one 3.75 oz serving, so there’s no danger of scooping out an overly ample serving after a bad day at work.

Or, opt for an ice cream bar or sandwich - there’s a reason the treats from Weight Watchers and Skinny Cow are so popular. I love Nestle Minis, which weigh in at 90 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, and 7 grams of sugar.