Bothell police had tried to keep the two apart

The 911 call Saturday was not the first time Bothell police had been to the mobile home where an elderly woman lived with her mentally ill daughter.

It was the most tragic.

The daughter met the officers on the front porch, wearing socks but no shoes.

"I want to go to jail," she said.

When officers asked her why, she replied, "I need help."

Moments later, police found the woman's mother, Lila Donaldson, 81, on the floor inside the home. She died minutes later.

Terie S. Davidson, 42, was arrested for investigation of second-degree murder.

Bothell police had tried to keep the two apart, seeking a protection order on the mother's behalf last May.

Police were called to the home around 5:20 a.m. Saturday. They found the body between a bathroom and bedroom. Blood was spattered on the floor and wall. Donaldson had a large head wound, court paper said.

Detectives believe Davidson killed her mother by striking her with a thick glass mug, according to court papers.

In a brief court appearance Wednesday, bail was set at $2 million for Davidson, who called 911 Saturday requesting an ambulance take her to get psychiatric care.

Bothell police discovered her mother inside the mobile home in the 3300 block of 228th Street SE. The victim's name was redacted from court papers released Wednesday, but she was identified in earlier cases.

In June, a Bothell police officer filed a protection petition, arguing that the Donaldson was a vulnerable adult and at risk from her daughter, who had assaulted her.

The officer referred to two incidents last May when the mother called police because her daughter was becoming aggressive and violent. In one instance, Davidson was arrested for investigation of domestic violence assault.

The mother said Davidson has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was off her medication. Donaldson said she feared for her own safety.

However, she also said she didn't want Davidson removed from the property because she was her caregiver and didn't believe she had any place to go.

The officer described Donaldson as "a small, frail, elderly woman" and the daughter as tall and large. The daughter also was reported to "frequently drink excessive alcohol," court papers said.

A judge signed the protection order.

In August, a motion was made in Snohomish County Superior Court to cancel the order.

Donaldson said her daughter was stable and had been on medications for three months, court papers said.

"She is my caregiver. I am 81 years old and need her at home," she wrote.

All was not well inside the home.

Police were called to the residence Sept. 1 after receiving a call that a woman was attempting to commit suicide by dousing herself in gasoline and trying to light herself on fire, court papers said.

On Saturday, Davidson told police she wanted to go to jail shortly after they arrived. She did not mention her mother.

She was in her pajamas and wanted to go into the home to retrieve her shoes.

When an officer tried to go inside, Davidson allegedly shut the front door and said, "It's really bad," court papers said.

She reportedly began to struggle with the patrol officers and was placed in handcuffs.

At that point, an officer went inside to perform a safety check.

Aid crews tried to save Donaldson, but she was pronounced dead while the aid car was parked in front of the home.

Davidson told an officer she had ingested 20 pills. She was taken to a Kirkland hospital to be treated for a possible overdose.

On Tuesday, she was booked into the Snohomish Count Jail for investigation of second-degree murder.

I want to support as a female designer

The annual QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale” event managed to draw an impressive crowd of footwear designers, executives and celebs on Monday night, at New York’s Waldorf Astoria.

“It just seems to get bigger every year. It’s fabulous to be here and actually watch it all come together,” said QVC CEO Mike George. “We’ve got a record number of shoes donated and it’s a great turnout, so it’s another great year.”

While both George and FFANY CEO Joe Moore sported pink ties to show their support for the evening’s cause — breast cancer research — Moore took it a step further with a footwear look by H.H. Brown featuring pink suede contrasts.

Meanwhile, guests were invited to shop the donated merchandise in the Shoe Salon, which showcased more than 90 brands. This year’s spokesperson, Nicole Richie, was in on the shopping and joked that her House of Harlow 1960 line stole the show. When asked her favorite look to peruse? “My shoes, of course,” she said, citing the Madison as her personal favorite style.

Designer Ruthie Davis also was on-hand and donated several looks for the fundraiser. “We took it up a notch this year. It’s a cause I want to support as a female designer,” she said, while also hinting that men’s shoes will be added to her label for fall.

Vince Camuto made the rounds with Liz Rodbell, EVP of merchandising for Lord & Taylor, which received the Retailer of the Year Award (presented by Camuto). “Liz has been a friend of mine for years, and we love working with her,” said Camuto. “We love what Lord & Taylor is doing and we’re excited to be part of presenting the award to them this year. It’s an honor for us.”

Another big name in the room was TV actress Kristin Cavallari, who introduced Tory Burch as a presenter. Cavallari, whose own capsule collection with Chinese Laundry debuts for spring ’13, noted that she was a “big fan” of the designer and her footwear.

Burch then took the stage to present the Jodi Fisher Humanitarian Award, given posthumously to Evelyn Lauder of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Larry Norton was on-hand to accept the honor.

“Evelyn was always the best advocate [for breast cancer]. I called her when my mother and sister-in-law were diagnosed, and she called me back within 5 minutes,” said Burch, who also shared memories of Lauder’s shoe-loving ways. “Evelyn was always the first in line to shop a shoe sale.”

Actress Helena Mattsson of ABC’s “666 Park Avenue” also showed her support for the cause and attended the event with Carmen Marc Volvo, while sporting an exclusive strappy sandal from the designer’s spring ’13 runway collection.

Volvo himself chose a vintage look by H.H. Brown and hinted that there’s more to come from the two teams.

The evening wrapped with a dance party at the “FFANY Club,” and the on-air QVC sale kicks off Wednesday.

Washington has played a part in the competition

A few had panda jewelry. Some drew the black and white bears on their name tags. Others sported attire that one might expect from semifinalists in a contest to become a world panda ambassador, or “Pambassador.”

Ashley Jaeger, 23, a bioengineering researcher at the National Institutes of Health, had black-and-white panda-colored nails and panda-patterned shoes.

“I thought it was fun and kind of something to set me apart,” she said.

Jaeger is one of 24 semifinalists — one from Brazil, the rest from the United States — competing in Washington at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday for a chance to spend a year as a global envoy for wildlife conservation.

Four finalists will be selected Wednesday afternoon to spend nearly a month at the Chengdu Panda Base in China, working to introduce the bears into the wild. Later, the four will compete in Chengdu against 12 other finalists from Britain, Singapore and Chinato be named one of three globe-trotting pambassadors.

Those unofficial diplomats will receive a $20,000 stipend — which could buy a lot of bamboo in tough economic times — and will visit pandas around the world while promoting conservation at the community level. There were 45,000 online applications worldwide for the honor.

The competition’s sponsors, the Chengdu Panda Base and the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization WildAid, are using pandas as the adorable public face of wildlife conservation and endangered species. The contest started in 2010, but did not take place last year.

WildAid Executive Director Peter Knights said that in the conservation business pandas — with their cute faces and scruffy fur — are far more appealing as spokescreatures than, say, sharks.

“A lot of animals don’t have that going for them,” Knights said. “The panda is an icon for many endangered species.”

Giant pandas are among the rarest animals in the world, according to the National Zoo’s Web site. About 1,600 live in the wild. Another 300 are in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.

A cub was born at the National Zoo last month, but died a week later. The cub, born to the zoo’s Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, died of liver failure related to an insufficient supply of oxygen. A necropsy showed that the cub’s lungs were not fully formed.

“I always wanted to see a baby panda in real life,” Jaeger said, adding that she has a large collection of stuffed panda toys. “No other animal has that effect on me.”

Jaeger is hardly alone in her panda fascination.

Ashley Robertson, 27, from Orlando, was one of the 2010 panda ambassadors, even putting her associate’s degree in photography on hold to enter the competition. The contest prize that year was $1,000, and she said she took a loan to pay her bills back home while she traveled to China.

“Honestly, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t make it,” she said, adding that she has a rescue mutt named Panda, even though it’s part pit bull and part basset hound. “I didn’t want anything anymore, that’s all that I wanted to do,” she said.

This is the first year that Washington has played a part in the competition. The city was chosen because of the resident pandas at the zoo, who have charmed and entranced the community since the National Zoo received its first Chinese panda visit from Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling in 1972.

The 24 semifinalists were selected after applying online and submitting videos showing their panda enthusiasm. On Tuesday, the semifinalists participated in a relay race — dressed at times as pandas — and made their way through the Woodley Park neighborhood to the National Zoo. On Wednesday, among other activities, they were scheduled to visit Georgetown and the Mall accompanied by people dressed in panda costumes. The goal is to interact with the public about conservation.

what it was like to receive this support

Bdaily visited London Fashion Week to find out how emerging designers juggle creativity with a business agenda. We spoke to designers receiving the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN sponsorship, which allows new talent to show at fashion week. Bdaily were invited to shoe and accessory designer Sophia Webster’s presentation in Belgrave Square.

Sophia Webster’s designs have been called “sophisticated and modern, commercially viable yet creatively fresh.”

It is this combination of unconventional design and business initiative that have made the bubblegum-pop meets aztec-print designs a winning formula for the Royal College of Art masters graduate.

Sophia spoke to Bdaily about how she made decisions about where to place her collection commercially.

“My collection is the only debut collection from a designer to go into the price bracket I’ve gone for, which is between ￡200 to ￡550.

“I chose to do this with my agent because having the shoes made in Italy would push the prices right up, so we produce them in Brazil. Nobody else has gone in at this price point.”

The designer has enjoyed the heights of success since winning the Drapers Student Footwear Designer of the Year 2009 and the Browns Shoe Designer Award, also in 2009.

Sophia’s presentation included models posing inside life-sized doll boxes, decorated with her vibrantly kitsch yet chic designs, much of which was made possible by sponsorship from the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN fund.

Sophia explained what it was like to receive this support, and how it helped her collection and business.

“It’s amazing to win the NEWGEN sponsorship. It’s really prestigious and I’ve been given the money to help show my work. It gives you the exhibition space to show, which is incredible. It’s very exciting and I’m happy with the way it’s turned out.”

Sophia has succeeded in her aim to produce shoes that are wearable, can be manufactured, and have a unique design selling point in a marketplace where it is highly challenging to distinguish a product.

Flip-flops to blame for foot problems

If Florida had an official state shoe, it would have to be the flip-flop, right?

You see people wearing them everywhere -- work, school and, of course, the beach.

According to a new study, the flip-flop could be the root to foot problems in America.

Juliana Luciano of Orlando may be headed to the beach, but she tends to wear her flip-flops full-time.

"I wear them to work, I wear them to wherever I need to go, the supermarket, wherever I need to go, garbage, throw out the garbage, I wear flip-flops, it's Florida, why not?" said Luciano.

Florida does love the inexpensive shoe, from strolls around town, to even while riding a bike.

"I love flip flops, I wear them all the time, I guess the only reason I like them is because you just slip them on and ready to go," said another flip-flop supporter, Anna Hansard.

But with convenience, comes pain for some people.

"I would say flip flops do hurt on occasion, because they don't have any arch support," said Rockledge resident Heather Fields.

According to the National Foot Health Assessment 2012, 78 percent of adults over the age of 21 experience a foot problem.

Foot doctor David Simonson in Rockledge said there are two big reasons why -- the number of obese people in America and the type of shoe you wear.

"They're flat and there's nothing to control the arch and support the arch of your feet," explained Dr. David Simonson.

The flip-flop being one of the worst offenders for your feet.

"They can slip from underneath you, they make you walk differently because you have to keep the flip-flops on your feet when you're walking," said Dr. Simonson.

He recommends people only wear flip flops occasionally, like when you're going to the beach. Otherwise it should be walking shoes, or sandals on your feet.

But that won't stop some as flip-flops now come in more feet friendly shapes.

Dr. Simonson said flip-flops can cause pain in your knee, back, hip, as well as muscle aches in the legs and feet.

Can you really make DIY Louboutins?

My fingers are covered in bright red paint, bits of glue are dotted up my arms, and I’ve got so many metallic studs littering the table and the floor, it looks like the aftermath of an unfortunate incident between a gang of Hell’s Angels and a very powerful magnet.

But I don’t care, because sitting in front of me is a beautiful pair of shoes that are a dead ringer for this season’s most sought-after Christian Louboutin heels. And, best of all, they’ve cost me a fraction of the real deal.

Louboutins and their iconic red soles have become the red carpet shoe of choice for A-listers including Victoria Beckham, Nicole Kidman and Sarah Jessica Parker. As a result, they also rank highly on the wish list of many style-savvy women.

But with prices starting at ￡375 for the basic Pigalle court shoe, they’re beyond the reach of most of us.

When times are tough, however, we Brits can be incredibly resourceful. During World War II, when women couldn’t get their hands on stockings, they bathed their legs in tea and used eyeliner to draw seams down the backs of their legs.

Flash forward 70 years, and if we can’t afford designer label shoes, we’re faking them ourselves. At least that’s what Homebase reckon. Last week, the DIY chain revealed that sales of tester pots of red paint had soared 40 per cent in the past year as cash-strapped fashion fans have decided to transform their High Street buys into designer lookalikes, employing the simple trick of painting the soles scarlet.

Louboutin’s red soles were first showcased in 1992 when, backstage at a show, Christian saw an assistant painting her fingernails a bright red and decided to use it to varnish the soles of his stilettos.

‘It happened by accident as I felt that the shoes lacked energy,’ he recalled. ‘So I applied red nail polish to the sole of a shoe. This was such a success that it became a permanent fixture.’
Success is something of an understatement. The company’s annual revenue is in excess of ￡160million, and an estimated 340,000 pairs are sold each year. Every pair comes with soles in a shade known to those in the trade as Pantone-18 Chinese Red.

And Louboutin goes to great lengths to protect these unique soles. In 2008, he sued High Street chain Zara for selling a pair of red-soled slingbacks which, he claimed, were too similar to his.

But last month a French court ruled that there was no way the shoes could be confused and dismissed the case. Last year, another case was brought against Yves Saint Laurent, which is still ongoing.

EU bans exports of luxury goods to Syria

The European Union on Friday banned exports to Syria of luxury shoes, caviar and boats, as well as goods with possible military applications, in an effort to step up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's government and family.

The decision came as violence surges in Syria, despite an April 12 ceasefire negotiated by international mediator Kofi Annan and a range of sanctions by the European Union, United States and others against Damascus.

"In the current situation, the EU must keep up the pressure on the Syrian regime," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

"EU sanctions target those responsible for the appalling repression and violence against the civilian population. We have carefully calibrated today's decisions to avoid affecting the Syrian people."

The new EU sanctions are designed partly to target the family of the Syrian president, in particular his wife Asma al-Assad, who is said to have continued shopping for luxury products during the conflict.

Emails she exchanged with her husband, obtained by Britain's Guardian newspaper, showed they were buying jewels and expensive furniture during the violence, and that she liked Chanel dresses and Christian Louboutin shoes.

The EU ban, which will go into effect on June 17, includes shoes costing more than 600 euros ($760), as well as jewellery, gems and pearls.

But it excludes non-luxury cars and other lower-priced items in order that diplomats and other foreigners on missions to Syria would not be overly affected, one EU diplomat said.

The European Union also banned export of caviar, truffles, and cigars costing more than 10 euros per item; wines and spirits over 50 euros per litre; and luxury vehicles, planes and boats costing more than 25,000 euros.

Also banned for export were protection equipment, such as gas masks and protective suits; chemicals that may be used to make toxic chemical agents; and certain pathogens, such as certain viruses, bacteria and toxins.

So far, the EU has imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 128 people responsible for or associated with the violent repression against Syria's civilian population, and an asset freeze on 43 companies and other entities.

EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Luxembourg on June 25, when they are likely to add four entities and one person to the sanctions list, an EU diplomat said.

The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by government forces, while Syria says at least 2,600 members of the military and security forces have been killed by what it calls foreign-backed "Islamist terrorists."

Russia and China, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, have blocked efforts by Western powers to condemn Assad or call for his removal.

Searching for the best shoe of summer

Somewhere between my favorite workhorse winter boots and the flip-flops I'll wear on my summer beach vacation is the shoe that would fill in the gaps. It would take me to work and through weekends, and out to dinner afterward.

But for all the time I spend staring at the floor of my closet, I still don't know which shoe that might be.

Maybe I don't own it yet. Yes, that must be it. It's a perfect excuse to go shoe shopping -- and what woman doesn't love that?!

Unfortunately, I've been on three retail excursions since then, and I'm still mostly alternating between some old tan ballet flats and a pair of brown cork wedge sandals. I've also had on espadrilles, woven-leather flat sandals and patent-leather peep-toes. Not the one-size-fits-all solution that I was hoping for -- and not the one-size-fits-all solution I feel like my dark brown riding boots give me half the year.

"Shoes are important to creating an image of yourself," says Los Angeles-based stylist Laurie Brucker. "Nothing makes you feel better than when you are wearing a fantastic pair of shoes."

I'm on the right path with neutral tan shoes, she advises, but there needs to be something to jazz them up: a bright contrast color, a print or some sort of embellishment.

That might seem counterintuitive, but, she says, that special detail is what a shoe needs to draw you to it. A boot's appeal is built-in: Think of all that beautiful leather, not to mention what it does to lengthen the wearer's silhouette.

But there are warm-weather options. She suggests a light beige patent leather pump, maybe with a peep-toe, as an almost surefire option for someone who dresses up for the office -- and then might be going out afterward. Any shoe that's a similar color to your skin tone should be particularly flattering, advises Brucker, part of Stacy London's Style for Hire network.

That one isn't going to take me to the sidelines of my children's soccer games or even a Saturday night party with my mostly casual crowd, however.

I am not the only one having this problem. Last week alone, at the very tail end of spring, I saw three people on a single day in their high-shaft leather winter boots. The boots looked lived in and loved, even if they appeared a little wrong against the sunny sky.

A cap-toe ballet flat with contrasting colors would provide a lot of mileage, Brucker explains, because it can be grounded in a neutral camel or black and then tipped with a pop of color or a flash of metal. A pointy-toe front is probably a little more fashion-forward and will live into the fall season and beyond, she says. (I'll be back in my boots by then.)

I took a spin through the Nordstrom shoe department armed with Brucker's advice, and I admired lots of things from Uggs thongs to Tory Burch open-toe ballet flats to Jimmy Choo platform wedges. All had their pluses, but they came with minuses: The thongs would make that clack-clack sound in the office; the flats were too similar to something I already own; and the Choos were out of my price range.

The popular flat platforms are too clunky for me and my pretty straightforward-but-not-quite-conservative look. But while they're a bona fide trend this year, I will note I saw them mostly on sale racks.

There was a pair of almost-winner Cole Haan-Nike Air wedge-heel sandals, but they were in black, and I wasn't sure if the dark ankle strap would work with enough of my lighter-hue summer wardrobe.

Jennifer Gosselin, senior vice president and general manager of online retailer Piperlime, later tells me that I probably was wise to be a little wary of black, especially if I'm wearing a lot of brightly colored bottoms.

"I tend to avoid black. Skin tone matters here, but I feel like black stands out on me and can make a sharp line," she says.

She doesn't worry about that as much with a brightly colored shoe -- perhaps orange, yellow or an ocean blue -- against a black bottom, especially if the shoe is fairly bare, like a simple leather thong.

But her first suggestion for a go-to shoe has a hint of shine to it. A sandal like the Sam Edelman Sophie sandal, with its metallic buckle and moderate 2-inch wedge heel, easily transitions from weekday to weekend, she says.

"The height makes it a little more polished, but it's not quite as dressed up as a pump or high heel," Gosselin says. "You could wear it all day."

Generally, she'd stick to a modern, minimalist style, but, again, she also mentions the one element of pizzazz to keep me out of the sensible-shoe habit that I fear crossing into as a 40-year-old suburbanite.

Flat sandals -- but not flip-flops -- are enjoying a comeback, especially if they're in the brown family. Since I do like ballet flats, she asks, what about the ones by Rachel Zoe with chain-link detailing on the back?

And, Gosselin says, the quintessential summer shoe is a canvas-top espadrille.

Visitors drawn to town where Titanic's dead are buried

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Among the graves of Fairview Lawn Cemetery, there is one that was a magnet for bouquets and weeping girls in the 1990s. The name on the tombstone: J. Dawson.

Jack Dawson, you will recall, is the name of the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 film "Titanic." And this cemetery is the final resting place of more victims of the Titanic than any other.

Now, with the movie's re-release in 3D and the upcoming 100th anniversary of the disaster, keepers of the cemetery expect more flowers, love notes and more weeping — though James Cameron, the film's director, has said there's no connection between his Jack Dawson and the J. Dawson buried here.

This is a place that has a deep connection to the tragedy. Halifax is 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) west of the spot where the ocean liner hit an iceberg; the ships bringing bodies back to land arrived starting late in April. Families came to claim the remains of their loved ones, and funerals and memorial services followed. Altogether, 150 of the Titanic's dead are buried in three cemeteries.

Gerry Lunn, curator of Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, said this city was in mourning for months after the disaster, with much of its downtown draped in black bunting. "This was not just a one-night story," he said. "It may have been for the ship and the victims, but for Halifax this story went on for months and months and hasn't ended to this day."

On April 15, the anniversary of the sinking, a candlelight procession will be followed by an interfaith memorial service at Fairview Lawn; flares will be set off at the time the ship began sinking; and the Nova Scotia provincial government will tweet the Titanic's final emergency messages.

The Five Fishermen Restaurant and Grill — housed in the building where a funeral home handled the bodies of wealthier victims such as millionaire John Jacob Astor — is offering an April menu inspired by the Titanic's first-class fare.

And the maritime museum is mounting an exhibit of pictures and stories of the 150 Titanic victims buried in Halifax graveyards — 19 in the Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery, 10 in the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery, and 121 in non-denominational Fairview Lawn.

Among items on display in the museum's permanent collection is a Titanic deck chair given to the minister who performed services on one of the ships that recovered bodies. The most touching artifact is a pair of shoes, donated to the museum by a descendant of a Halifax police officer. They belonged to the nameless child who came to symbolize the many children who died aboard the Titanic.

In 2002, Canadian researchers identified him as a 13-month-old Finnish boy, Eino Viljami Panula. But in 2007, DNA testing determined that he was in fact a 19-month-old English boy, Sidney Leslie Goodwin, who died with his entire family, including five siblings, as they were sailing to a new life in America.

The child's headstone remains among the nameless ones at Fairview Lawn, each inscribed: "Died April 15, 1912." The bodies were numbered as they were picked up; the numbers appear on the headstones of the known and unknown victims.

That the J. Dawson buried here is not the character in the movie did not stop the flow of mourners, said cemetery tour guide Blair Beed, a Halifax historian and grandson of an undertaker's assistant at the funeral home.

"After the movie I saw fathers with their daughters standing here crying. For two or three years that lasted. Instead of spring break fathers would bring their daughters here to see J. Dawson," he said.

The real J. Dawson, or Joseph Dawson, shoveled coal in the bowels of the ship and didn't win his Titanic ticket gambling as DiCaprio's character did.

"It wasn't until after the movie came out that we found out that there was a J. Dawson gravestone," said the film's producer, Jon Landau, in an interview.

Whoever J. Dawson was, "He received more notoriety decades after his death than he ever would have had in life," said Lunn, curator of maritime museum, which saw its attendance more than double, to 250,000, in the year after the film opened.

The headstones are assembled in the shape of a ship. Among them is that of John Law Hume, violinist in the band that played on as the Titanic sank. Somebody recently left a little replica of a violin by his gravestone.

Beed said it's not just teenage girls who choke up in the cemetery.

"All of a sudden seeing the names on the stones, they are emotional, men and women. It's like 'I've heard this story all my life and here are the remains and here are the names.' It's 121 in this cemetery and it's four rows. And all of sudden the story is real," Beed said.

Difference between sexes is like driving from Mars and Venus

I was having a short break this week with a co-worker and we started discussing the Rolls-Royce Bespoke programme, of all things. The British company will do just about anything to your new Phantom or Ghost that you want, be it a built-in picnic basket in the boot, custom upholstery or other accoutrements not normally offered for its cars. It's really up to your imagination; well, I suppose also your own pocketbook. But when you're buying a Rolls, as the saying goes, if you have to ask how much ...
We got to dreaming about having that bespoke option for our own cars; imagine if that programme was offered for any car on the market? Say you walked into a Honda dealership and were eyeing a new Accord or Civic, but there were a few items you felt were missing that would really round that car out nicely. "Certainly," the salesman would smile, "please sit down and we'll make them happen."

Of course, what's stopping us is the exhorbitant prices these features would command, kind of defeating the purpose of starting with a reasonably priced car. But what if it didn't cost much more? What would you want done by master craftsmen or electronics wizards or otherwise creative geniuses, carte blanche?

"I'd want a handbag holder," she said. Did I forget to mention that my friend is a woman? "And a soft carpet to protect my expensive shoes."

Hmmm, some things I wouldn't necessarily think about. Once back in the office, I decided to ask a few other people what they would get done for their own cars, and I started with another of the fairer sex.

"I'd want a kettle," said my female neighbour. "Not a coffee or tea maker, because you can't make a proper cuppa tea without a kettle.

Duchess of Cornwall visits the set of The Killing in Sweden

Camilla requested to visit the set on her final day of engagements in Scandinavia after the crime show proved an unexpected hit with the royals.
'I'm an addict,' she admitted. 'I'm so excited by this.'
She met the show's stars on location at a less-than-royal rundown scrapyard, and at one point toted a replica gun.
Prince Charles earlier this week also confessed to a love of the show after Camilla got him into it, saying it is the only TV programme that they can agree upon.
Sofie Grabol, who plays heroine Sarah Lund in the show, said: 'I think it is really surreal. But it's lovely that she wanted to come here.
'I told her last night to wear flat shoes. This is not really an inviting place for a royal visit.'
The actress presented Camilla with her very own Sarah Lund jumper - the trademark knitwear of her character in the show.
Camilla described the gift as 'fantastic' before urging an aide not to lose it.
The subtitled series has proven popular in the UK but creator Soren Sveistrup has revealed that the current series will also be the last, explaining: 'We have to stop while we are still good.'

London Toy Company Creates Prince William, Kate Dolls

Toy manufacturers capitalize on the super hero and famous star phenomenon by producing boatloads of games, dolls, clocks, books and playing cards. This week, Arklu, a London-based toy company, launched their own British heroes.

Now on sale are two-foot royal couple miniature look-a-like dolls and the resemblance is fascinating designers across the globe.

The company’s exclusive dolls include two separate products; an individual Princess Catherine Doll, a box set containing the Princess Catherine Doll and the Prince William Doll as a couple, and a Princess Catherine Engagement Doll.

The Royal toys are selling like hotcakes after being put on display at Hamley’s Toy Store in London this week.

The box set of both Princess Catherine and Prince William and the individual dolls are being sold for about $80 to $160.

Arklu designers say the dolls “celebrate the very best of authentic British fashion and design."

British fashion and design leaders worked together to design, dress and accessorize the Arklu Royal dolls.

“The Princess Catherine Doll and Prince William Doll have been developed in line with official guidelines laid out by Clarence House," said company owners.

“Clarence House told our company that ‘we would not wish to object to the production of a doll,’"

Some might say that the Princess Catherine Doll and Prince William Doll are a touch eccentric, but such quirkiness is also a great British tradition.

"Like Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge herself, we are delighted to be able to combine British craftsmanship and cutting-edge modernity for a truly authentic British look for both of our new dolls," said Lucie Follett, of Arklu toy company.

“Both will appeal to collectors, and are sure to be a must-have Christmas gift for children aged 3 and older."

It was the focus on quintessential British style, and attention to detail, that brought so much attention to the dolls being put on sale this week.

The miniature version of Kate features minute details and replicas of her engagement ring, shoes, wedding dress, veil and tiara. Prince William's doll is dressed in a match of his Irish Guards uniform. Each accessory is an exact replica of those worn by the Royal couple.