What's an urban farmgirl?

A woman who loves meyer lemons as much as Manolo Blahniks.

She hearts her Dell laptop and dogwood trees in Fairmount Park.

Urban farmgirls live to laugh -- and love to entertain!

She's happy to walk instead of catching a ride.

Don't be surprised if she sends you a juicy handwritten letter -- on her personal stationery -- shortly after she text messages you.

Urban farmgirls prefer to rock the real and just say no to faux.

She's just as likely, bank account permitting, to meet you for a luxe Morimoto dinner as invite you over for homemade mango-raspberry pie.

Urban farmgirls are a little bit country. And a little bit rock 'n roll.

She's Got a Ticket to Slide

Women never care, but whenever it comes up with men I meet – butchers, bakers, cappuccino makers – they inevitably give me the gas face. Sometimes they'll even start talking a bit louder, then a little s-l-o-w-e-r, just so I won't miss anything. Apparently not knowing how to drive has made me not just a social deviant, but deaf and mildly retarded too.

Car culture bites.

So yeah, I'm a public transportation baby who still doesn't know how to drive, but that doesn't mean I don't know from auto-induced drama. Rocking the sidewalk, buses, subways, bikes and taxis doesn't exempt me from the endless societal yapping about auto insurance rates, road rage (shockingly, it's always the other guy who's the asshole), traffic jams, long commutes, etc., ad nauseum, amen.

But it's the parking and parking tickets that seem to yank everyone's chain. So I was thrilled to learn that ParkingTicket.com is finally rolling into my Philadelphia stomping grounds. I may not know how to drive, but I may have finally stumbled upon the secret to getting folks to stop bitching about parking tickets.

Glen Bolofsky, an accountant-turned-entrepreneur who's been fighting unlawful parking tickets in one way or another since 1982 (obsessive much?), launched the ParkingTicket.com Web site in 2001, and is now delighting angry drivers (and the companies that employ them) in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, Boston, and now Philadelphia.

Going on the premise that most parking violation tickets are illegally issued or overpriced, the Web site claims a 75% success rate and keeps you from schlepping to City Hall to try and wrangle your way out it.

It goes a little something like this: Log into the site and pay 1/2 of the ticket price up front. If ParkingTicket.com wins your appeal, they keep the money and you've only paid half of what the ticket would have originally cost. If you lose, ParkingTicket.com will refund your money. Easy, peasy, done.

Now let's talk about my upcoming driving lessons....

Wine + Dine on the Cheap. Rinse and Repeat.

I'm VERY big on cooking at home, but you know what? Sometimes even I can't stand one more frugal yet fabulous home-cooked meal. Still, if I'm going to slip into the Payless wide width cha-cha pumps and schlep to a fancy-schmancy restaurant meal, a 20% discount eases the financial pain.

I liked it better when it was called IDine.com, but despite its blandsville new moniker, RewardsNetwork.com still operates the dining rewards program that allows my inner deal whore to save big at participating local cafes and restaurants. (Don't get your knickers in a twist. The chances your favorite restaurant or even rib shack is on the list is YOOGE, as Donald Trump would say.) No ID card, no special coupons and surprisingly little hassle.

Simply visit the RewardsNetwork.com Web site, pay a $49 one-year membership fee, let them know which credit card you'll be using to pay for your meals, and voila! No tattered coupons or labored explanations to a bored waiter who suddenly hates you because he sees a reduced tip in his future. But now that $60 meal at Mixto is just $48. How do you like them bourbon and honey-glazed apples?