Books: Read, Want to Read, Coveting

Sadly, it seems I do 75% of my yearly reading during our April beach trip. I read during the entire 12-hour drive there, as much as possible during the week, and then every second of the 12-hour drive home. I read like it's my job...it's a non-stop reading extravaganza. And thank God I don't get car sick, or I might not actually finish a book the entire year.

Last week I managed to plow through Bringing Up Bebe, and I would highly recommend. Despite all the controversy and hubbub re: French parenting vs. American parenting, this is a fantastic book... You will for sure glean something helpful from it regardless of your stance on the matter. I promise. I also finally finished Blood, Bones & Butter (my "raging love affair" with this book started in February and was then stalled by, well...life). It was worth the wait. That book is magic. Raw and honest and poetic and inspiring. I loved ever single page (well maybe not the page about the rat in behind Prune, but I loved all the other pages).

The one thing I always wish I had more time for is reading. It is truly at the tippy top of my list of happy makers, and yet it somehow always (always) falls by the wayside (save that blissful voracious week of reading in April). The stack of books and magazines next to my bed is groaning --  a little neglected leaning tower of temptation. No matter that there's so much un-read material sitting there all forlorn, I still have a perpetual "to read" list going in my little day planner.

Here's what's currently on it: Twyla Tharpe's The Creative Habit, anything about Helen Frankenthaler, and (while technically more of a photo book) Belgian Architects and Their Houses.

How often do you guys get to read? Is finding time for it as tough a nut to crack for you as it is for me? Oh and what are you reading of late?

BOOK / SHOP

Every once in a while something comes along that is so compelling and interesting and cool that it merits more than mere mention in a "loving list" or a tack-on to a "random bits", rather its sheer awesomeness deserves a full-blown love fest (a.k.a. it's very own post).

BOOK / SHOP is one such thing.

The thoughtfully curated online shop sprung from creator Erik Heywood's books-related blogs where he features a mix of "books & the things that go with them". I'm enthralled by the careful mix of "quality over quantity, usefulness meets beauty, art plus function", including curated book collections, exclusive furniture, art and broadsides.

But I'm especially enthralled by BOOK / SHOP's "manifesto" below:


We're committed to the reading experience. The surprise of one page turning to the other. The little luxury of sitting in a great reading chair, inhaling the scent of a beautifully made book. The luscious heft of three or four good reads in a sturdy bookbag as you head out into the world. The hundred discoveries waiting at a used bookstore; the refuge of a library.

We believe that gadgets are exciting, but that experiences with real books run deep, and give more to our lives. We believe that books made with care, that were the best of their kind upon publication, will only beautify with time and never become obsolete.

We believe that a well-made reading environment encourages us to take our time, to have those experiences with books that modern life tries to replace with a rush of empty conveniences.

Book Love

image via Dark Lamb

I am currently in the midst of a raging love affair with Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones & Butter. I can't wait to crawl into bed at night so I can devour a chapter (or two, or three) before I pass out. Really there's nothing like a good foodie memoir to get me obsessing over a book. And that first chapter about her parents....dreamy.

There are passages like this:

"Our house was in a rural part of Pennsylvania and was not really a house at all but still a domicile built into the burnt out ruins of an nineteenth century silk mill and our back yard was not a regular yard but a meandering meadow, with a creek running through it and wild geese living in it and a Death Slide cable that ran from high on an oak to the bank of the stream and deposited you, shrieking, into the shallow water."

And this too:

"My parents seemed incredibly special and outrageously handsome to me then. I could not have boasted of them more or said my name, first and last together, more proudly, to show how it directly linked me to them. I loved that our mother was French and that she had given me that heritage in my very name. I loved telling people that she had been a ballet dancer at the Met in New York City when she married my father. I loved being able to spell her long French name, M-A-D-E-L-E-I-N-E, which had exactly as many letters in it as my own... She pinned her dark hair back into a tight, neat twist every morning and then spent the day in a good skirt, high heels, and an apron that I have never seen her without in forty years. She lived in our kitchen, ruled the house with an oily wooden spoon in her hand, and forced us all to eat dark, briny, wrinkled olives, small birds we would have liked as pets, and cheeses that looked like they might well bear Legionnaire’s Disease."

Good....yes?

Are you currently reading anything that's rocking your world?

A Few Random Bits...

First up, a couple of snaps from a rather stellar "Mod Men" party that lovely cousin Erin masterminded a several of months ago. (I'm finally sharing photos...better late than never, yes?) Every detail of the night was so perfectly thought out, starting with the killer mid-century house where it was held. In fact, had I not partaken in one two many French 75s (French 75s are evil...trust me on this friends) thus resulting in a monumental hangover the next morning, it would have been an altogether perfect evening... ;-)



Ok next I wanted to share the little blurb about 40 Years of Chez Panisse that I wrote for the November FD Luxe. I love this book. Love. It. Would highly recommend you plop it on your Christmas list... But I am a bit of an Alice Waters fanatic.



I also wanted to give a shout out to Michelle as she's gearing up for another Pretty Mommy pop-up shop but this time in Minneapolis at Spruce. You Minneapolis peeps should definitely plan on attending, as Michelle is not only completely and utterly awesome, but she is a master at culling together the a perfect assemblage of goods. The woman just has crazy good taste. (And I promise I'm not just saying that because she's including some of the necklaces the girlies and I made at the pop-up shop...)



Last but not least, for the locals, my friend Kelly Christine (she took our family photos last weekend) is doing a "small shoot" on Saturday, November 26th... This is a perfect way to get a family pic for your holiday cards. Kelly is incredibly cool and lovely and talented. She takes great photos friends. Grab a spot before they're all gone!

Sorting Through the Muchness -- August Edition...

salad image via sunday suppers

A while back I read a post on Even Cleveland that discussed the idea of sorting through "the muchness", and it just stuck with me...

Between all the lovely blogs and pinterest and twitter and magazines and catalogs I feel like I process an insane amount of stuff each month -- images, pretty things, thought-provoking things, information, snippets of information. So I thought it might be a good exercise if I regularly took the time to think about what's really resonating out of the muchness...what I'm really loving, using, thinking about endlessly.

It's not intended to be a lofty exercise (as underscored by the fact that one of the things I'm thinking about this month is lip balm), but I'm hoping it'll sort of force me to sort through all the clutter and settle in a bit on the things that, well...stuck.

And because you know how I love "the sharing", I thought it would be fun to create a little monthly series based on the 3-5 things that bubbled to the surface.

Here are my "August Things":

Simple Greens:
I am all about salad...I could eat it at every. single. meal. and usually prefer it jammed with nuts and cheese and any number of other sundry tasty bits. But in August, on three separate occasions, I was served a perfect salad that consisted of essentially just really good greens and some herbs (dill was key) tossed with a little homemade dressing (usually some combo of high quality balsamic vinegar, a little oil and some salt and pepper). The salads were game changers. And as such, I've been consuming lightly dressed greens non-stop (occasionally even at breakfast).

Clare Vivier Messenger:
Bryan bought me a navy CV messenger bag a few years ago for my birthday, but it had been out of rotation for a while... It resurfaced during the recent "great closet clean-out", and I proceeded to carry it exclusively the entire month of August... (It was equally at home on the streets of Manhattan and in Marfa's dusty dessert, which I think says something about a bag, yes?) I love this purse. I do.

Burt's Bees Lip Balm in Honeysuckle:
It's not lipstick or lip gloss. It's not fancy or goopy or shimmery or shiny. It's just a sort of simple, beigey lip balm. But I'm addicted to it.

Magazines:
After the folding of all the (seemingly) great ones (i.e. Gourmet, Cookie, Domino, Blueprint...), I was feeling pretty meh about magazines. They were just not doing it for me. But with all the flying I did this month, I ended up giving in and reading almost every single one on the newsstand, and friends... I think magazines are roaring back. Of specific note are Martha Stewart Living now helmed by former Cookie editor Pilar Guzmán (Cookie and Momfilter co-founder Yolanda Edwards is also at MSL now, so double bonus), Stefano Tonchi's W, Partners & Spade's re-branded Lucky, and Bon Appétit, which, under new editor Adam Rapoport, is starting to (almost) fill the void that the closing of Gourmet left in my heart (not to be overly dramatic of course ;-)

I'd love to know...was there anything that stood out for you guys in August? Any favorites you'd like to share?

On Treasures and Trees and TVs (Or A Few Random Bits)

First up the treasures scored at Round Top: a little piece of hotel "silver" to house sugar cubes (bought with this post in mind) / a fabric remnant destined to become pillows for Audrey's room / some little mounted antlers from Germany / a driftwood stool that I'm planning to spray paint white / a couple of vintage bracelets + some wooden beads/ an old turquoise vase / some great prints and an etching...

But my favorite two finds by far were a beat-up vintage mirror and a kilim rug for my teeny tiny office. They are total game-changers. I never want to leave my desk now...it's a bad scene.

the beloved tree in all its splendor last summer...

Next up, I have to pause to mourn the completely majestic and wholly magical tree that generously shaded a good portion of our backyard. It was dying...pulling up the driveway, about to fall on the neighbor's roof, so we had to (and I am cringing as I write these next words) cut it down earlier this week.

Sadness doesn't even start to describe what I'm feeling...

a few of the things on my spring reading list as featured on Caitlin's blog...

Then there's the matter of our T.V, which completely and totally out of the blue, well... died. It just turned off and never turned back on. Upon hearing the news Audrey audibly gasped and asked how we would watch Project Runway (never mind that Project Runway isn't even on right now...she's a planner that one).

I have to admit, I was slightly panicked too, as despite not being much of a television person, I do love me some tivo'd episodes of The Daily Show and 30 Rock. But mostly I was a little elated. I've been wanting to do a week long "no T.V." experiment for a while but always chickened out, and now we're sort of conveniently forced into it. So far it's been pretty great. We've spent the past three nights listening to music, reading, doing little projects around the house. Things just seem slightly more mellow.

But you never know, a week from now the girls could be in some sort of Yo Gabba Gabba withdrawl (Millie only natch...according to Audrey, she's much too old for DJ Lance), and it could be wheels off around here. I'll keep you posted.

And last but not least (this was a long one, yes?) a peek at what's on the agenda for the weekend...So, so excited about the Wigwam pop-up shop in Oak Cliff.

Dallas Clayton at Little Bean...

I think Dallas Clayton has written two of the best children's books of all time...

They have all the standard ingredients of a good children's book -- they're colorful and whimsical and imaginative and a little silly, but what makes them truly magical is how they leave you sort of humbled...and changed every time you read them.

So I'm pretty excited that Dallas Clayton is coming to Little Bean this Sunday at 2:00 for a reading of his books. (In fact, I might even be a little starstruck...) Dallas Clayton reading his rockin' books clearly stands alone, but there will also be some cotton candy and balloons and bubbly (for the grown-ups), and we'll be asking all the kiddos (and parents too) to write down their biggest dreams so we can tape them up on the wall -- a big wall of awesome dreams. It doesn't get any better than that.

If you live in Dallas, come to Little Bean on Sunday... It'll be good times for sure!

all images via dallas clayton

A Few Random Bits...

Or maybe I should have titled this post "A J. Crew trifecta", as that's what I'm pretty much giving you guys on this fine Friday.


Oh J. Crew...you know how we ladies love to get a peek inside a handbag. I mean there's nothing better than a little good handbag voyeurism, yes?? And that particular handbag makes me want to buy a new handbag even though I really don't need one. (Yes, I realize I just used the word handbag four times...it's the end of the week, I'm losing my steam a bit.)

But I want it in black.

Ok then there's this really killer dress, posted especially for my friend Jane who is currently experiencing a bit of a funk due to the cold and grey upstate New York weather.

Janey, I'm thinking this can be our Seaside uniform...

And last but not least on the J. Crew front, my friend Lucia told me about this New Yorker profile of Mickey Drexler from last fall. It's a great read...totally fascinating!

Have a splendid weekend friends!

A Question, Some Internet Loveliness and The Joy of Clementines...

First the question...

Let's say there was a certain necklace that you'd been "stalking" for a while...now let's say that you're on the site where said necklace is sold doing some last minute Christmas shopping for your two daughters when you notice that the necklace is hugely on sale.

Hugely.

Would it be bad to throw it into your shopping cart as a gift for yourself even though you're supposed to be buying gifts for other people?

Just wondering, because I may have done that. Maybe ;-)


And speaking of gifts...I pulled together a little gift guide for iVillage a couple of weeks ago (above) and shortly after, I received a note from the (incredibly) generous Alice Q. Foodie wondering if I would like her copy of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper (which was on my list), as she doesn't use it anymore.

I said yes (!), and she sent it my way (along with a pretty card and some sweet stickers for the girlies), and I've been buried in it ever since.

That Alice is awfully lovely + amazing, yes?

image via roland bello...and clearly it's one of my favorite images, as it's now been on my blog three different times (first here and then here)...

And finally there are the Clementines...the ones that we wait to buy until December 1st every year because it makes them feel special and rare and slightly unattainable in an age where nothing really feels rare or unattainable anymore.

I wrote about the special things we save for the holidays over at Say Yes to Hoboken for Liz's fantastic "Blognog" series today...

Is there anything special you save for December?

A Few Random Bits...

So I had to share the lovely little family "surprise party" that Audrey and Bryan orchestrated for me on Tuesday... Audrey picked out and arranged all the decorations (balloons and party hats and noise makers), and then made everyone hide when I got home from work so they could properly surprise me.

It was so perfectly sweet and mellow. One of my nicest birthdays ever...

And on the gift front, there was this necklace from hubby. Oh my, I love this necklace...


And lovely flowers...

And Handcrafted Modern from my parents (which you know I've been coveting madly). Friends, it is fantastic. Insanely stunning interiors, hugely inspiring. I would highly recommend it...

And finally (and admittedly completely random), the opening line of this week's Goop made me giggle out loud (and confirmed my massive girl crush on Gwyneth...)


"I don’t know how it is where all of you are, but I am freezing my ass off."


Just sayin.

p.s. Happy birthday lovely cousin Erin!!!

A Few Random Bits... (+ A Winner)

First up this house on the Selby...

Groovy tile, wood walls and succulents, oh my. I am dying just a little bit over this place.

But without fail, that surfer/hippie/California aesthetic makes me all nostalgic and fuzzy inside. It's my "episode of the madeleine" a la Proust. Gets me every time...

Ok, next...Pinterest. I realize I'm a little late to the game here, but I'm completely addicted. It's dangerous friends.

And then there's the latest book by Dallas Clayton (spotted here)...

I love it. So perfect for this time of year especially.

I'm in charge of the Thanksgiving party for Millie's class and am planning to read this to the kiddos while they nosh on popcorn and apple cider.


And last but not least, the winner of the Minted giveaway...

Congrats to Amelia from Republic of Dresses! Drop me a line with your contact info so I can give you the deets.

A Few Random Bits...

image via smaller...

After spotting Bunnyears.tv over on Smaller, I immediately piled into the big bed with the girlies and let them take turns picking a groovy vintage cartoon from say, France (of course) or the Czech Republic for us to watch. It's pretty genius stuff... so much more subtle and simple than the current line-up of animated TV.

We're obsessed.

And speaking of Smaller (and Christine), Little Bean is hosting a party next Friday, November 5th for Jaime Morrison Curtis' new book, Prudent Advice, which looks like a perfect gift for all your Mama friends.

Jaime will be there signing copies + there will be plenty of sweets, bubbly and some fun giveaways.

You know the drill...if you're in town, plan on stopping by. Little Bean parties are always a blast!

image via d magazine...

Finally, check out what's going on over at D Magazine's excellent arts blog, Front Row:

"Join FrontRow As We Take Up the National Novel Writing Month Challenge"

Consider this your chance to churn out the great American novel complete with a built-in support group.

Trying to Summons Fall... (in lots of photos)

By far my favorite fall image via a.p.c. ...that trench coat, oh my. I'm digging a.p.c's new blog too...

So I know we're still a few weeks away from the official start of fall, but I am jonesin big time for a change of season. (As you know from my endless ranting) our summer has been ruthless...I'm officially over it.

Bring on fall.

Loved Lucky's September Inspiration Board...especially that gorgeous Sylvie Markovina necklace.

And it bears mentioning that I'm awfully fond of fall. I might even go as far as to say it's my favorite season, what with the fall festivals and the shopping for new school supplies (and new bags) and the apple pies and the football games and falling leaves. We even got married in the fall...I'm all about it.

I'm also all about those epic, phone book-esque September magazines. My strategy is to let them all stack up and then dive in all at once when I'll have a major block of uninterrupted time. Granted, with the girlies this strategy means I'll typically be breaking into the September Vogue in December, but this year, with the long flights to and from Germany, it worked out for me. It was "magazine fest 2010" (which made the entire trip worthwhile, sorry boss ;-)

I thought it would also be fun to share what I loved most from those weighty September tomes -- the images that were so good I had to rip them out for my inspiration file...There was a whole lot of loveliness friends.

For example, there was Reed and Delphine Krakoff's insane NYC home in Vogue...this place is huge and a little crazy, but they are such a creative and (seemingly thoughtful) couple, I couldn't help but be smitten. I also loved reading about how their home inspired Reed Krakoff's gorgeous new clothing line. His attention to detail and knowledge of design is really inspiring and admirable. (+ they have some seriously cute kiddos...)

I also loved this entire spread in Real Simple. Perfect styling + totally gorgeous art.

And last but not least, there was editor Jay Fielden's mid-century home in Elle Decor. This place is amazing -- a pristine mid-century glass house filled with personal, unique, meaningful pieces. It's perfection...my favorite look.