We’re wild for Walnut Street, and we’ll be shopping there tomorrow afternoon during the Shadyside Spring Style Walk!

Lucky for me, I got a little sneak preview of what’s in store for Friday’s shoppers! I took a quick spin around Shadyside to stock up for a shopping spree on yesterday’s WHIRL Wednesday on KDKA-TV’s Pittsburgh TODAY Live.

To name a few, we showed off perfumes from Schiller’s Pharmacy, hot heels from Footloose, glittering accessories from The Picket Fence, sleek slippers and a robe (by Missoni!) from Feathers, and singular styles from Roberta Weissburg Leathers. Check out the entire segment here!

Jalapeño Margarita

Yield: 1 Serving

Hot Stuff! A Jalapeño Margarita

By Tom Mastascusa, Tamari

“This is how to kick up your margarita a notch,” he says.

Ingredients:

3-4 slices of fresh jalapeño, seeds removed

Simple syrup

1/4 Lemon

1/4 Lime

1 ½-2 ounces tequila (“Jose Cuervo is a moderate tequila that works great with this drink,” says Mastascusa.)

.5 ounce Triple Sec

.5 ounce orange juice

Sours mix

Directions:

1. Muddle jalapeño with a heavy splash of simple syrup. Fill glass with ice.

2. Add juice from lemon and lime. Add tequila and triple sec. Combine.

2. Top with a splash of sours, filling glass to top.

3. Shake in glass before serving.

Tamari, 3519 Butler St. Lawrenceville, 412.325.3435. tamaripgh.com.

Cinco de Morning

Yield: 1 Serving

Wake up! The Cinco de Morning

By Lucia Lauria, Mad Mex

“This is my invention. I feel pretty good about it. It’s got orange in it, so it’s a breakfast treat. I love it,” she says.

Ingredients:

2 ounces Patron XO Coffee-flavored tequila

1 ounce Cointreau Orange Liqueur (“A necessity for this drink,” Lauria says.)

Juice of one orange

Juice of one lime

Blue Curaçao, for garnish

Sugar, for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients; shake vigorously.

2. Dip rim of glass in Blue Curaçao. Dip in sugar.

3. Strain, and pour over ice.

Mad Mex, madmex.com.

I’ve been told that I should try to learn something new every day. Over the last month, I’ve been learning new things about myself by doing yoga, and while it wasn’t something new every single day, the things I have learned will last for the rest of my life.

Lesson #1: I can actually do yoga. Four weeks ago I wasn’t sure I could even do yoga. I’m not very coordinated, especially when it comes to exercising. In fact, I was once kicked out of an aerobics class because my ridiculous lack of coordination was too distracting for the instructor. But after my first yoga class, I was really surprised that I was able to do all of the moves without making a fool of myself. Taking the beginners’ class has been a great way to acclimate myself.

Lesson #2: I’m stronger than I thought I was. After doing yoga for a couple weeks, I noticed a big difference in the way my muscles feel. When I run in the early mornings, especially after doing yoga the night before, my legs are eager to start moving. My leg muscles feel lighter and more refreshed, which allows me to run faster and longer! I also noticed a difference in my arm muscles. I like to do some strength training a few days a week, but doing yoga worked muscles I didn’t even know I had in my arms, like my deltoid (the muscle that forms around the curve of your shoulder). After about 10 yoga sessions, I found that I was getting stronger and was able to lift more weight. Granted, it is only about five more pounds, but that’s five more than I was lifting in my pre-yogi days, so I’ll take it!

Lesson #3: I can relax and not feel guilty about it. I’m the kind of person who goes and goes until she crashes, physically and mentally. I take on so many things that I leave little room for me to actually physically sit down and relax as one should. Doing yoga has changed that. Yoga has taught me that in order for me to take care of all of the things on my plate, I have to take care of myself. Not only does yoga give me time to refresh my body, but it has helped me rejuvenate my mind. Gone are the days of my panic attacks, mini mental breakdowns, and sleepless nights!

Lesson #4: My butt looks good in yoga pants now. Enough said.

Stephanie Penrose completes the Monthly Yoga Challenge!

Photo courtesy Joan Marcus

I have been a fan of the Wizard of Oz for as long as I can remember. In fact, many times I believe that I am Dorothy: I delight in skipping around the grocery store with a basket, I’m known to wrangle my abundant brown curls into ponytails on weekends, and I have quite the collection of ruby slippers. So, you can imagine my excitement that the Pittsburgh Broadway Series has brought the show to Heinz Hall this week. I went on opening night, with three good friends (á la Miss Gale), the sparkling bows on my toes turning Penn Avenue, Downtown, into a virtual yellow brick road. The downside of living a double life as Dorothy is that a stage performance, albeit by talented, non-equity actors, may, in its poetic liberties, prove to be much different than the Oz I’ve imagined for myself. Kristin Stewart, as Glinda, takes notes from her character in Wicked and puts a “popular” spin on the good witch in pink. Pat Sibley, the show’s Wicked Witch of the West, brings sarcasm to the character. Jesse Coleman is more comedian than cowardly lion. And there’s a whole ensemble of zany, dancing characters to meet and “Jitter Bug” with. Even Casey Okenka is lighter, brighter Barbie-esque version of our Kansas girl (Or maybe it’s just that this town isn’t big enough for the two of us : ) The show’s star? Toto. The touring terrier hit every one of his marks to tremendous applause of the audience. He, alone, is worth the price of admission.

For tickets, visit pgharts.org, and for more events, visit whirlmagazine.com.

Tonight, we’ll be mingling at the New Pittsburgh Courier‘s Fab 40 event at the Upper Lobby of the U.S. Steel Tower.

Saturday, March 27

In the evening, WHIRL will cover the La Roche College Founders Gala at the Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh.

Some other ideas for the weekend:

Meet and greet our Edible Allegheny staff at the Farm to Table Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

There’s still time to see Pittsburgher Carl Kurlander’s movie My Tale of Two Cities at the SouthSide Works Cinema.

For more events, browse the WHIRL Event Guide!

WHIRL's Stephanie Penrose gets zen

By Stephanie Penrose

I haven’t slept in years. Well, I’ve gone to sleep — or at least tried — but I haven’t gotten a good night sleep since I was in middle school. Thanks to school, sports, work, and my never-ending struggle with perfectionism, my brain has refused to shut off for almost nine years. No matter how exhausted I am, I will lay in bed wide awake, my head swarming with my to-do lists, stress, anxiety, and any other stupid thing it can remember that will prohibit me from falling asleep.

That is, until I started taking yoga. Only three weeks into my yoga experience and I am starting to see a huge difference in my sleeping — or lack thereof — habits. For the past week and a half I’ve noticed that I have been falling asleep around the same time every night, a feat that I have never accomplished. Even on nights that I don’t do yoga I am asleep by 10:30. It’s seriously a miracle.

I love going to yoga after work and letting my anxiety melt away. The hour or so of “Me Time” allows me to put everything into perspective and forget everything that has been weighing on me. For those 60 minutes, it’s all about me, my body, and my mind, and no one or nothing else. Not to mention the five minutes of complete relaxation at the end of class where I literally eliminate every single thought in my head. I leave class so relaxed and I love it! It’s amazing to me that out of everything I have tried to cure my insomnia over the years all I needed was to do yoga!

This weekend, make it a point to go to the SouthSide Works Cinema and buy a ticket to My Tale of Two Cities, a film that is charming film festivals and critics across the country. Written and directed by Pittsburgh’s own Carl Kurlander (who’s also famous for co-writing St. Elmo’s Fire and working on Saved by the Bell: The New Class), the movie is about Kurlander’s experience moving back to Pittsburgh after years in Los Angeles. The movie is not just about Pittsburgh, however: Kurlander describes it as “A very universal movie.”

Plus:

Check out She’s Out of My League, now in wide release, and filmed in Pittsburgh.

Buy tickets to If It Ain’t Broke, Break It, a film produced and filmed entirely in Pittsburgh that will start running March 26 at the Regent Square Theater.

Tune in to Justified, the new show on FX, starring Timothy Olyphant. The show’s pilot was filmed in Pittsburgh last year.

Saturday, March 20

We’re on a roll, photographing the Vegas-themed Kidney Gift of Life Gala at the Circuit Center and Ballroom on the South Side. Then, we’ll be shaking things up at “Shake Your Booties,” benefiting the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, at Hyde Park on the North Side. And, we’ll be hamming it up at the Center for Theater Arts Gala at Valley Brook Country Club in McMurray.

Some other ideas for this weekend:

Have an artistic evening and stop by the opening of the Mattress Factory‘s newest exhibition, “Nothing is Impossible,” on Friday, March 19.

On a lark, fly on over to The Songbird Sanctuary in Aspinwall and pick up the latest in fine bird food and bird feeders for their open house on Saturday, March 20.

Visit Larrimor’s gorgeous new store at One PNC Plaza, Downtown: the store is hosting an open house through March 27.

Book tickets for Carmen at the Pittsburgh Opera, playing at the Benedum Center, Downtown, through March 28.

For more events, see the WHIRL Event Guide!

Will.i.am, Taboo, and Fergie meet Corinne Tumpson and Jack Tumpson at the March 4 Black Eyed Peas show.

WHIRL publisher Jack Tumpson met Fergie and The Black Eyed Peas at their March 4 performance. Fergie read WHIRL when she got into town, and tells us, “It’s a really nice magazine — great fashion!”

Pick up a copy of WHIRL, on newsstands now, to get all of our Fergie-approved spring fashion coverage.