"I feel guilty about doing nothing," says Isaac Mizrahi, "but as I get older, that's all I really want to do. For so many years, I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing as an enlightened, cultured person. I used to go to the ballet 30 times a year. Now I think: Do I really want to schlep all the way there? I want to stay home, pet my dog, and watch Law & Order.

"But I feel guilty about downtime. I always feel I have to be accomplishing or absorbing something. I feel really guilty spending the entire day indoors when it's sunny out. It's like not seizing a moment. And it's my mother yelling, 'What are you doing inside?' when I was a kid."

Ironically, when Mizrahi stopped accepting so many invitations was when he started keeping a journal. "Now I have nothing to write about," he says. "You read Noel Coward's journals, and the heading is 'Sri Lanka' or 'Marrakech.' Mine is exciting when I can write 'L.A.'"