Hello, May, you gorgeous thing! You usher in with you more flowers, less rain, a three day weekend, and a new Pink of Perfection Project.

I'm sure most of you don't wile away the evening hours watching Law & Order as much as I do, but inspired by the wonderful Superhero Journal, I thought a little media detox could do us all some good. Andrea writes about her experiment:

"The purpose of this experiment was simply to have a consciousness around our habits, to see what the impulse was to plug in, what drove the habitual (sometimes obsessive) behavior. What was the feeling that preceded the moment when I would reach for the tv, the internet, the phone? was it loneliness? boredom? What was so scary about simply being in the moment I was in? I was also really curious about what would show up in the space where those other things were. Let me begin by saying that I am amazed at how much it changed our lives in only one week."

I'm not challenging you to cut yourself off from the world, but I am asking us all to think about the kinds and quality of media that we invite into our lives each day. The goal here is to cut out some of the white noise that doesn't really serve to benefit us. Is it television for you? Buying tabloids in the supermarket check out line? Letting NPR drone in the background, filling you with anxiety? Endlessly online surfing for shoes that you'll never buy? Identify where you are getting some possibly toxic media and cut it out for seven days. For me, it's going to be tv and pointless web surfing. What will it be for you? We might need to set up a support group for this one.

The May Pink of Perfection Project is a 7 Day Media Detox. We're cutting out the junk and putting Perez Hilton out of business. Will we suddenly find a lot of time and inspiration on our hands? I'm eager to find out.

Here's how to participate:

• E-mail me and say you're on board (remember to include a link to your blog!): sarah@pinkofperfection.com
  
• Complete (or attempt to complete) the project.
  
• Write about the project on your website or blog by May 31.
  

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You know what was even better than participating in the April Pink of Perfection Project? Reading about everyone else's dates! I learned many of us share a love for charming bakeries (and the chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes therein), a big ole glass of wine, staying in bed, and enjoying the outdoors (even if it's by way of a city park). But what we all really seemed to have in common is an appreciation for a bit of quiet time with ourselves. I mean, no one took themselves out to da club. So please, stop by each of these blogs to read the juicy details of their dates alone:

EB at Spice Dish decided that in light of an 80 hour work week, her idea of a date was a little more low-key (and a lot more restorative) than hauling her ass across town for a fancy cocktail and dinner.

Sarah at geek + nerd had an entire day of her favorite things, including cookies and cupcakes, and a long walk on the beach.

Christie of The Sweet Beat savored the spring weather on the winding paths of Prospect Park before winding her way to her very favorite patisserie for a cupcake. And her date has a steamy ending!

Lindsay at If I Only Had a Blog fretted about what to wear before taking her new bike on a whirl of a date, including a stop at -- you guessed it -- a super charming bakery (she even bought her date a little token of her affection, which made me swoon!).

L at Sisters of the White Rose climbed into her 500 thread count sheets (!) for a vintage moviefest (!!).

Likewise, Rae at Idle Bohemian decided a quiet night at home with a little Lloyd Dobbler action was just what she needed it.

Faith at Faith Accompli bought herself a bouquet of tulips and enjoyed the underrated pleasure of spending time alone.

As for me, I took a long walk on a sunny Saturday, stopping for an iced latte. Then I window shopped junk at a flea market before heading to the farmer's market to admire all those geraniums and daffodils.

Big thanks again to everyone else who signed up with good intentions: Anita at anita's world, Ann at Annplified, Rachael at Bond Girls and Peach Pits, erosophy, Shauna at Movies with Grandma Joy, and Vic at Vic's Recipes

Tune in tomorrow for May's project!

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This is my very favorite time of year, and if you blink, you just might miss it.

Oh, and by the way, you now have exactly one week to complete the April POP Project! This is a gentle reminder to all you lovelies. And if you haven't signed up but want to participate in monthly POP Projects, it's not too late!

Continue reading "Today's Beauty: Brooklyn Blossoms" »

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I have a new love. And by love, I mean a place to go to wile away the hours that captures my imagination, that is filled with pretty colors, oddities, and cheerful patterns. And by new, I mean a store that everyone but me has apparently known about for years. Late to the party again, McColl! Oh well, better late than never to find an online shop owned by the dearest couple living one of my fantasy lives (they fled New York and now live in the rolling green hills of Virginia taking library trips with their too cute for words little girl). Three Potato Four just may be the perfect online store for me, filled as it is with Danish ceramics, whimsical dish cloths, retro style journals, and oh, it's all just too pretty for words.

Psst! Don't forget to check out April's POP Project and to join in on the fun.

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I know I've mentioned this before, but I have a bit of a girly crush on Kimberly Wilson. One of the many reasons I admire her is because of her great book in which she helps readers hone in on the driving aesthetics of their life by creating a vision statement. You're given a list of words which you fly through, willy-nilly, responding with pure gut and gusto, until you're left with only the words that speak to you. Then comes the hard part: you must narrow that list down to five words only. While I had some trouble tossing out "adventure," the rest came totally naturally, and then there they were, staring me in the face, all the things I care about: beauty, pleasure, creativity, love, community.

So if you want to know, in a nutshell, what makes me tick, that's it. I try to make Pink of Perfection a place to express and revel in those values. But when I got to thinking about community, which I crave so much in my life, I thought, hell, why not push it a little more?

And so, inspired by these women, and also this woman, and, of course, Shauna and Joy, let's give Pink of Perfection Projects a whirl, shall we? This will be a monthly project that hopefully will add some pleasure, beauty, or creativity to our lives. And us all writing about it? That's where the community (and, if we're really lucky, maybe even a little love, awwww) comes in.

April's Pink of Perfection Project is to take yourself out on a date, to court yourself a little bit. Interpret this as you will, but make it a true date, something worthy of a paramour, only the one you're wooing is you.

Here's how to participate:

• E-mail me and say you're on board (remember to include a link to your blog!): sarah@pinkofperfection.com
  
• Complete (or attempt to complete) the project.
  
• Write about the project on your website or blog by April 30.
  
• Link back to the original assignment.
  
  

At the end of the month, I'll post an update on the POP Project, linking back out to all of you lovely participants who want to join me in making life a little more special and sparkly. Who's with me?

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One of the continual sources of entertainment available to those living in New York or another gritty urban center is investigating the rows of trash on the street each day. I'm not so interested in the bagged-up refuse from the bathroom or the collapsed cereal boxes and milk cartons. The best trash to be found are the free-standing items leaned up against a tree or placed on the sidewalk with a sign that says "still works!" With so much foot traffic in every neighborhood, people really bank on the hope that something they're getting rid of might be another woman's treasure.

And so it is. Some of my best finds include an avocado-colored sewing box, still filled with psychadelically-patterned napkins, a beat-up white hutch that is a bit heavier on the shabby than on the chic, and countless books, including The New Basics, and A Handful of Dust. It's a free-for-all scavenger hunt that never fails to, if nothing else, keep you on your toes.



When I stumbled across these records last Saturday, I was walking home from the coffee shop with a latte in my hand, a little preoccupied by some needling, worry-bound thoughts. Not the way to be on Saturday morning, I know. But the sight of these records leaning against an iron railing with the sun on them like a spotlight snapped me back into the present. My, there's a lot to be grateful for, I suddenly remembered.

Namely, that someone has cast off these vinyl gems that will now find a happy home on my candy cane-striped turntable. Brigadoon! New Girl in Town! And the album to listen to if you're aching to run through every catalogued human emotion in about an hour, the original cast recording of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris! It was a sign as clear as any that I should get out of my head and into the day, and that if I did, I'd find it was a mighty fine one. And then whatever it was that had been making me fret scurried right out my ears and high up into the atmosphere.



Speaking of being in the present, is anyone else listening to the Oprah and Eckhart chats?

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I am proud to introduce the first Pink of Perfection Guest Post (i.e., the first post written by someone other than one of my relatives), and delighted to introduce you to the very clever and creative Rachael Speirs. Rachael lives in Toronto where she counsels people by day as a social worker. At night, she swaps her black-framed glasses for a set of makeup brushes. She loves cotton candy flavored gelato and her kitten, Waffles, who shares Rachael's deep and abiding love of butter.



I have never been one of those girls who can wake up looking fresh as a Georgia peach, my hair slightly tousled, and my cheeks ever-so rosy, with a morning glow that says "Hello world!"

Instead my very coarse and flat-ironed hair has curled on one side, and managed to mash itself into a hairdo somewhat resembling Robert Smith. For this, I have my Jewish grandmother to thank. So up I rise (likely a half an hour earlier then necessary), and all for the purpose of primping.

Also, I am broke, and not just a little broke but paying-off-massive-obscene-horrid -amounts-of-school-debt-broke. But broke can be beautiful! Therefore I bring you: "The Thrifty Girls Guide to Primping."

Two items I will consistently stand behind are zinc oxide and hydrocortisone cream. These two products have gotten me through hailstorms of chin acne. Remember how the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding used Windex for everything? That's me with zinc oxide. In my experience as a makeup artist I have consistently recommended these two items, and at 5 bucks a pop, you can't go wrong. Paris Hilton can afford to slather herself in beluga placenta, but she never had to deal with a student loan.



If you're anything like me, the bottom of your makeup case is getting more coverage from broken shadows you can't bear to throw out, then your eyes ever will. But fear not, good woman, I bring you a solution: Thrift-a-licious Shadow Palette. Your local craft store carries plastic compartment cases, typically used for storing beads or embroidery thread that make awesome palette cases. Simply dig the broken shadows out of their container and use a paper funnel to direct the shadow into the case...and voila! Truly, the thing I enjoy most about this makeshift palette, is the fact that it cleverly hides the whereabouts of your products, so you can use your products to their fullest, free of judgment and name brand influence, while also cutting down on clutter.

Once in awhile Mount Everest has decided to make a landmark of your face. My boyfriend insists concealer is useless and does nothing but draw more attention to the problem. "Who ya foolin?" he asks, and I suppose the only real answer is "myself." But there is something to be said for a well-matched concealer. It can brighten up your under-eye area and hide the occasional redness. Indeed, a bit of concealer lightly dusted with a matching powder can create a lock-and-load foundation for eye makeup.

But is it worth paying for? Is it worth buying an extra product? Personally I have found (what I believe) to be an excellent solution. The bulk of cosmetic spending should always be on the skin; a great foundation will go a long way and darn it, if the product keeps away breakouts and has a great finish then it really is worth the extra money. But why buy another expensive product when you can make concealer from the one you've got?



DIY concealer
what you'll need

a small container (an empty lip-balm container will do, or if you are anything like me, you stock up on MAC samples and save their adorable sample containers for other purposes)
your favorite foundation

Pour a small amount of tried-and-true foundation into your container. Let it stand open, lid off and covered with cheesecloth to keep out dust and other airborne pests, for approximately 2-3 days (depending on oil or water content of the product) in your refrigerator.

Now not only do you have a virtually free concealer, but a virtually free concealer in the exact shade of your foundation and the piece of mind that you will not experience any reactions.

If you're interested in writing a guest post about crafts, cooking, style, or the creative things you do to make daily life sparkle, email me at sarah@pinkofperfection with your idea.

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I "met" Shauna in a friend-of-friend-of-someone-I-once-passed-on-the-street kind of way that I can only interpret as providence. And then, one day, this lovely girl emailed me to tell me we were star-crossed style friends and share with me a little project she was working on she thought I might like.

That project, Movies with Grandma Joy, is, I can safely say, the most exuberant, joyous, fun thing I have seen on the whole wide interweb in a good long while. To give you an idea of its awesomeness, let me just mention that there is a Movies with Grandma Joy music video that will knock your socks off.

The blog is what it sounds like: Shauna and her 73 year-old grandmother, Joy, go to the movies once a week, and post a video review complete with scene studies. The videos are giddy, artful, funny, and reveal all the playful love in their relationship.



Let's get the hard part out of the way: best movie ever made?

Joy: I think the best movie ever made was Gone With the Wind. My other favorites are Little Women and The Sound of Music. Corny, I know...

Shauna: Most impossible question. It's A Wonderful Life and Singing in the Rain. Rushmore kind of made me go to film school... but there are so many more.

Shauna, you wrote beautifully on your site about the internet age and how it can promote -- and sometimes prevent -- human connection. What made you desire a sense of interconnectivity and inspired you to start Movies With Grandma Joy? Any one moment or event?

When I was a senior at NYU, I took a great class called Urban Ensembles, and it was all about creating communities through art. I actually had the idea for the blog there. Whenever I came home for vacations, Grandma and I would see movies and I always thought there was something unique about it. I took this certain pride in it. But then every time I would tell anyone that I did this thing with my grandma, the other person's face would just light up, and they'd have a story on the tip of their tongue about a meaningful relationship they'd had with someone of a similar generation. I realized that I wasn't so unique, and that there was a need to encourage that kind of relationship and bond, especially between generations of women, that there was a possibility to use such friendships and ties as a way to bridge a technological gap that gets bigger every day. I moved to Los Angeles and I became involved with the artist Miranda July and I fell in love with how her site with Harrell Fletcher, Learning to Love You More, encouraged such connections through DIY projects. I began teaching the seniors' filmmaking class at Echo Park Film Center and was introduced to some really cool older people and further realized that there is a want on that side to be more technologically versed, to stay in the discussion.

Truly, it was always my relationship with my both my grandmas and a knowledge that their presence was a great gift that started it. I've never taken for granted that I am incredibly lucky to have a close relationship with both of them. They are so different and so strong and funny. Joy and I have always been paired as travel buddies when my family goes on vacations. My parents take a room. My twin brothers take a room and inevitably, I am left sharing a bed with Grandma Joy. We are very much alike, both happy to be left alone to read, both very observant of minute details, both a little ditzy. At the same time, we're a bit of an odd couple. She's so short. I'm pretty tall. She's very Southern. I'm very Californian. I don't know... We really know each other and like each other and I was always very happy about that and felt we were bold enough in that way, that we could maybe lead by example.



Grandma Joy, how do young women of Shauna's generation seem different to you from when you were that age?

I think young women today are more self-confident, independent, more educated, and unbiased, but I do feel they are encouraged to be more self-centered, (not always a bad thing) more impatient and more cynical. Shauna, for example, has many more opportunities than I ever had and while she doesn't take them for granted, I feel that young women of today too easily forget all the hardships that were fought in order for them to have the opportunities they do have. I had to work so hard to be noticed at all as a serious writer in my earlier career and I think there was a certain joy in that, a certain drive, a feeling of "I can do it because you say I can't" that I find somewhat lost in the generations of late. And I don't believe we've come far enough for it to be lost yet.

Is there anything available to Shauna you wish had been available to you?

Continue reading "Movies with Shauna McGarry and Grandma Joy" »

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Many people hear the word "entertaining" and seize up with panic. Monthly articles in high-maintenance food and shelter magazine articles have encouraged many of us to think that entertaining is an opportunity for a host to flex her culinary muscles and impress her guests. Throwing a party has become synonymous for many with fussing over canapés, making awkward introductions all night long, and being left with a kitchen overflowing with dishes.

A couple of months ago, geared up from the pre-holiday fervor of stress and perfection, I got the idea into my head to throw a properly French dinner party. This involved, unfortunately, spending too much money, and attempting too many recipes I had never tried before. The night before the party, I was up until 2 AM simmering boeuf bourguignon and wanting to call the whole thing off. When my guests (who at this point I seemed to have forgotten were my dear friends) arrived, I was trying desperately to whip up some gougères, sweating entirely too much for a December evening, and feeling downright resentful. I was a mess and the evening was, to put it mildly, not my finest hour.

I had unwittingly broken all my own rules for having company, which until that moment I didn't realize were my rules: Keep things simple, unpretentious, and comfortably within your budget. Throw the party you would want to go to. Remember that you've invited people you love -- treat your guests dearly. Relax, smile, and most importantly, have fun.

To me, being the hostess means you can surround yourself with the people of your own choosing (no dreading if so-and-so will be there), you eat and drink what you like, and you can wear terribly impractical shoes. Entertaining should be fun, after all, since what's motivated the endeavor is wanting to be with people we love. And without getting totally high-minded about it, entertaining can be a great act of generosity: you create for those nearest and dearest to you an evening of community and pleasure.

I made amends with my friends (and myself) by throwing a cocktail party. There were no cheese puffs. There were however, cookies, brownies, lots of chips and salsa, and a spinach artichoke dip that feels fantastically low-brow to make and vanishes faster than Houdini. I had not stayed up late the previous evening putting together party favors, but I had mixed up plenty of strong, fruity sangria. And I had finished what minor preparations there were a few minutes before people arrived. Which meant I had ten minutes to myself to relax, shake my hips to some bossa nova, and have a drink. Which is, come to think of it, my last and most important rule.



Sangria for a Party
makes 10 cups

1 bottle acceptable red wine
2 1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup triple sec
1 cup apricot brandy
1 cup sprite

Pour ingredients into a big pitcher. Drop in some seasonal fruit (I floated a few thin slices of orange on top). Serve over ice.

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Makes about 4 cups

1 14 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, chopped
1 10 ounce box frozen spinach, defrosted
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Squeeze the excess water out of the spinach by placing on a few layers of paper towels (or a dish towel) and wringing. Stir together artichoke hearts, spinach, mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice and most of the cheese in a ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30-40 minutes, until bubblingly hot and cheese on top is melted. Serve with crackers, celery sticks, or tortilla chips.

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In this age of specialization, it's nice to run across a multitasker. I'm not so much referring to those who can compose an email while talking on the phone, climbing a corporate ladder, tying a toddler's shoelaces, and making johnnycakes all at the same time. I mean, rather, someone or something who excels at a multitude of things. When this occurs in people, it tends to make them way more interesting (like my friend who flies on his brakeless bike and also happens to have magic fingers when he's spinning records), and when it occurs in products it makes them indispensable. For those of us who have small apartments, are trying to streamline our belongings, or are just thrifty it's nice to have one item that can accomplish many tasks.

Allow me introduce you to my good friend, baking soda.

On my of my favorite blogs there was recently a discussion of all the things baking soda can do. From homemade toothpaste to baker's companion to defunking the fridge, baking soda excels at a multitude of tasks. But my new favorite way to use baking soda is in the cloggy bathroom and kitchen sinks.

This is complicated, so try to keep up: With a generous hand, pour about 1 cup baking soda into your drain. My sister recommends pouring hot vinegar down after it, but I've also had success just flushing the soda with lots of boiling hot water. Listen to the glug glug glug of the drain clearing out. C'est tout.

Posted by sarah at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

This is that time of year when, stylistically-speaking, things start to fall apart. Any resolve I might have had for fresh-from-the-ski-slopes pink cheeks and pretty, imaginative outfits has given way to reaching for a black sweater (Is that the same one I wore yesterday? No matter!), my black cropped jeans that, on a good day, make me feel like Audrey Hepburn and my black comfy nurse shoes (which only a handful of people seem to recognize are so ugly they are cool). Black, black, black, blah, blah, blah.

That's why it's so imperative that I turn to movies for fresh style inspiration in the dark of winter. It's not just that Cover Girl stars the unthinkably gorgeous and gangly Rita Hayworth and a tap-dancing-never-looked-so-sexy Gene Kelly. These stars, both of whom make the screen sizzle, are reason enough to watch the movie (and it bears mentioning that Rita Hayworth is a really underrated actress -- she does a drunk scene that will have you suspecting she was a fly on the wall in your college years).

But it's the glimmering, shimmering, coordinating, Technicolor world of 1944 that'll make your head spin. We just don't turn ourselves out the way we used to. Imagine this: broad-shouldered jackets on women featuring peplums with sharp, colorful insets and seams. Hats -- glorious, over-the-top, fantastical hats -- sitting upon heads of big, rolling curls of hair. Gloves that show off a slender wrist. Men wearing handsome tweed trousers that sit at their actual waists, hair slick and shiny, shirtsleeves rolled up above their elbows. It's a look that's as dignified as it is hot.



Style Takeaways from Cover Girl:

• killer red lipstick = instant glamour
  
• sensible heels mean you can dance in the streets and keep up with the boys
  
• jackets with fitted waists show off (and create) a curvy waist
  
• luscious waves are just plain gorgeous
  
• neat little gloves make you look like a lady
  
• the lean years may be the most plummy and romantic of your life
  
  

Bonus: If you live in or love Brooklyn, you'll recognize the "We have to cross a river to get there?!" incredulity from Manhattanites and the scenic charm of Dumbo -- or at least a Hollywood sound stage version of Dumbo.

Posted by sarah at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

Doesn't this just remind you of a quietly introspective fall afternoon, saddle shoes, and a bicycle with a wicker basket?

"Out of Circulation -- One" by Jillian Ditner available at Keep Calm Gallery.

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I'm not such a fan of the New Year, New You phenomenon. It seems awfully presumptuous. A whole new me? There are parts that aren't too shabby, thank you very much.

That said, I do believe in any opportunity to reframe the way we see our lives and dream up wild ideas, no matter which holiday is causing the upsurge of optimism. These are, for me, some of the most inspiring places on the web:

May I introduce you to Victoria Moran? She is a lifestyle guru I adore who believes in pleasure, abundance, and living a charmed life. She has books, a blog, articles online, and you can also listen to her radio show.

A diet, and the only diet, I'm thinking about going on.

I have a big crush on podcasts right now, listening to them during mindless tasks and on the commute where I can't get a seat to read. Hip Tranquil Chick is hosted by Kimberly Wilson, a woman whose exuberance and seemingly-endless energy always astounds me, and the Poetry Foundations's Poem of the Day will remind you that words aren't just for spreadsheets and marketing presentations and can create artful works of beauty.

If you're looking for meaningful work, a job adventure, or just kicking around some ideas during your lunch hour, check out Backdoor Jobs.

If you do have resolutions, consider stopping by The Happiness Project to learn what to do when the initial zeal wears off. One tip? Maybe you should think about giving up one of those resolutions. See why I like this lady?

More and more, I'm beginning to think that quietude is the cure for just about everything.

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Sebastian has this superstition about New Year's: the overall feeling of the holiday portends the year ahead. We thought we were in an unprecedented position to ring in 2007. We had the most exquisite gustatory experience of our lives, we got engaged, hell, we were in Paris. I spent that whole week smiling, and when I wasn't smiling I was kissing, and when I wasn't kissing I was eating, and when I wasn't eating I was walking down little Parisian streets and, well, smiling. I look back at the video we shot there and find myself positively radiant. It was the happiest I've ever been in my life.



But then there was the tail end, the part where I was aching with food poisoning and passed out waiting for the bathroom on our flight home and when I came to had a coven of British flight attendants buzzing around me with oxygen masks and clucking over my new ring (that last part I didn't mind). And then Sebastian became violently ill, and we still had six hours of a trans-Atlantic journey ahead of us. It is not overstatement to say it took every ounce of strength, will, and faith in both of us to convince ourselves we would make it home alive. Needless to say, we were really sick.

And that, in a sense, is really how our year has gone down. There were crazy heights, and some really low lows, all of which would be tedious and cringe-worthy to detail here. Suffice it to say there were hurdles and road blocks, resurfaced demons, empty bank accounts, but thankfully, no more vomiting. I don't think we could have handled that.

To ring in 2008, we are driving up to a snowy cabin with my best friend, my sister, and my brother-in-law. We have plans to cook, hike, read by the fire, drink a lot of champagne, and have at least one barefoot impromptu dance party (I'll be spearheading that last item on the agenda).

So what does that mean for the year ahead? It means fewer dizzying heights, true, but it means something else, and something which I am craving: Next year will have a quiet, secure happiness that this year, for all its tumult and excitement, lacked. That means more farmer's markets and fireplaces, food to be made and friends to come over and eat. I expect in the next year to be spending more time with my friends and family and less time doing just about everything that seems meaningless by comparison. And it also means, I am sure of it, another year with my beau of smiling, kissing, eating and walking, though perhaps over paths of pine needles rather than Parisian cobblestones. And I am so okay with that.



101 Things in 1001 Days

If you haven't seen this meme yet, I can't encourage you enough to go check it out. Having a particular penchant for lists, I think it's brilliant. But I also think that life can slip right by -- days turn months and then, whoa, another year gone! -- unless you are positively vigilant about assessing what you want and making sure you get your hot little hands on it. Perusing people's lists is positively inspiring, with items from "fold 1,000 paper cranes" to "bake a challah" to "try tai chi" . Perhaps one of the greatest things about this project, though, is that it reclaims resolutions from the land of self-improvement (though there is still plenty of room for that) and puts it squarely back in the land of fun. Will you go camping? Will you learn to crochet? What will you do?

Happy holidays to all! Here's wishing your next year is the very pink of perfection!

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Is it just me, or is waking up just plain hard, no matter how you slice it? No matter if it's the weekend and the sun is streaming in through the window, or I crawled in bed early and have been dead to the world for 9 hours (my requisite), I just have trouble getting up and at 'em. The new bed has only made the job more difficult.

Truly the only way for me to make like an early bird is to have little motivations. When I open my eyes to a small hobnail vase and fresh flowers on my bedside table, I feel like my life has a modicum of grace -- even if I am running late and will soon be eating a scone on the subway platform. Granted, fresh flowers are a luxury, but what payoff! Sometimes you simply can't resist the Key Foods bargain of 2 dozen roses for $12 or the $4 bouquet of space alien mums. Certainly, a splurge worth making every now and then.

You don't need floral tape to put together a nice arrangement. Put your office supplies to work by making a grid across the top of your vase with transparent tape. This will help anchor the flowers at angles that defy gravity and reason. Dropping in a splash of bleach will help keep the water and flowers fresh longer too, ensuring you catch the worm for as many mornings as possible.

Posted by sarah at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

My best friend has illustrated pages she tore from a book a college professor gave her tacked to her living room wall. She has glued each page to a piece of shiny paper (this friend is big on shiny paper), so that she has a series of drawings of dancing elephants hanging beside the window above her desk. The dancing elephants are one of her ultimate joys. They just make her happy. When I saw this bear with a bicycle plate, I suddenly felt that every piece of toast and peanut butter should be eaten off it, just for added fun. It's the little things. New Work by Katie Parker via The Shiny Squirrel.

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Historically speaking, of course, 4pm is the hour for high tea and smoking doobies. This post deals with the former pursuit (for musings on the latter, see here ).

It occurred to me this morning that the genius of The Office is the way it demonstrates how patently uncivilized it is to arrange 30 people in a room where they can see, hear, and smell one another for upwards of 40 hours a week. (Last night I saw a rerun where "Jim" gives "Pam" a teapot--a thoughtful but wholly anachronistic gesture for a workplace that runs on vending machines.*)

My sister once worked with a woman who kept a teapot in her office that she filled every day at 10 and 2. How totally inspired. At the other extreme, I recently started a job where you have to insert quarters into the coffee/tea dispenser. It is tres ghetto.

Which is why I escape to the novels of Barbara Pym, who has been called "a twentieth-century Jane Austen,"--though I think that's overstating things quite a bit. In her books, all of the characters--curates, antiques dealers, "spinsters" with no apparent or implicit sex drive--stop what they're doing to take tea at 4p.m. daily. Tea and cake, rather. I was so inspired by the idea of a mid-afternoon break that I bought this bone china tea set for one in a Shelley pattern (sounding quite reminiscent of a Pym novel) called "Hedgerow Ideal." All you need to know: it has floppy pink and orange flowers. I am irrationally attached.

And due to the unfortunate aesthetics of the office, I am all the more determined to take tea--burgundy naugahyde furniture and fake plants be damned! So no matter where you are at 4pm today, take a moment to read something utterly delightful and rest your weary bones. (It sounds funnier if you say it out loud.)



P.S. The word of the day is "combinations." n. for undergarments, as in, "The new curate seemed quite a nice young man, but what a pity it was that his combinations showed, tucked carelessly into his socks, when he sat down." -from Barbara Pym's Some Tame Gazelle. Or as in, "Who wouldn't want to bump into a woman wearing silk combinations?" On clearance in an intriguing shade of blue for $40.

* How's that for a power couple: A Smartfood founder and Annie (of mac & cheese fame)?

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This is a story about diamonds in the rough (and this would be diamonds of the peach-colored splatter-painted, needlepoint-embellished variety).

I like old stuff. I like finding weights in the hems of vintage dresses and thoughtful little details like toggle-snaps that marshal bra straps. I like craftsmanship and pintucking and punch bowls. A friend of mine asked recently, "Do any of your clothes come from an actual store?"

It must be said, however, that I treasure a bargain. And my heart literally soars at the thought of a high-quality rummage sale. What's more: there's nothing more gratifying than having a dignified 85-year-old woman look over the vases/silverware/monogrammed napkins you've picked out and nod with approval.

But what about the rummage sale rejects (is that redundant?). After the Golden Girls bamboo furniture gets carted away, the Eames wannabes go home with Rachel Zoe wannabes and what's left is truly hideous?

The pictures don't show how truly ugly this Cracker Barrel-esque tray-and-waitstand combo appeared in person. It was practically the last item standing. But I liked the shape and imagined it as useful.

So I snapped it up, attacked it with metallic silver spray paint, and laid a piece of metallic Indian fabric under the glass. I would have made the tableaux look more interesting, but I have much to learn on the styling front.

The receipt:
$15 for the table
$4 spray paint

Debating with my husband over whether or not spray paint would leech toxins into the air long after it dried? Obviously the highlight of my weekend.



PS Today is Katy's birthday. Let's all head to the comments to tell her just how happy we are she was born! -Sarah

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Our older brother--a jambalaya-, football-, and philosophy-loving man of 6'4" who grows his own tomatoes and Habanero peppers--has a list of five things to do to improve his mood. It reads like a modified version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs:

Eat Something
Drink Something
Take a Nap
Take a Shower
Exercise

It's a simple list--much more practical than mine: get in bed; watch the opening montage of the Devil Wears Prada; leave town, etc.

Last night when I hopped from the train to the platform in my threadbare satin shoes at 11:45 p.m., bed loomed like a concession, though, not a luxury. Sometimes commuting feels nice--sexy, even--in the way it bookends a day with crowded solitude. But last night it was awful. And I'd left the Kathryn Chetkovich essay I'd intended to read on the train--a 21 page printout about the envy she feels for her boyfriend, Jonathan Franzen--in the tray of a communal printer at work.

At the risk of sounding like a complete misery-guts, I washed my hair at home and wondered, can this day be saved?



I ate a honey crisp apple. I padded into the living room. Then I grabbed the candlesticks I bought for last week's dinner party (I made beef bourguignon. It was almost as good as beef stroganoff.) and set them onto a mirrored side table. These weren't mere votives or wacky, tacky and cloying Yankee candle affairs. They were beautiful, drippy sticks and their light bent into rainbows on the glass. This must be what it feels like to light a devotional in church, I marveled.

In any case, I perked right up--partly because I so enjoyed taking this picture. My brother would totally gag, but for me--and perhaps, for you--a moment of good lighting, a pair of pajamas, and (who am I kidding) a cup of wine can indeed save the day. (Especially if you know that when you wake up tomorrow, you won't be drinking your coffee in the shadow of a man. )

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"Flowers," says Lottie's husband in Enchanted April (shortly before she has an affair with a man who tells her she has "the face of a disappointed Madonna") "are a luxury of the most blatant kind." How true. They are an expensive and short-lived shorthand for a gracious life that, tragically, usually end up parked next to the computer monitors that anchor our days instead of by our bedsides.

But they are so very pretty and, of course, alive. Meghan Daum, in the New Yorker essay "My Misspent Youth," wrote about packing up and moving to Nebraska because she'd become a fresh-flower-buying, $45-drinks-and-satay-consuming New Yorker--who, as a result, was facing crushing debt. The logic is irregular, but that essay launched the second phase of her career. So, in a sense, she was both made and undone by extravagances of the most blatant kind. How's that for instructive?

Personally, I think weeds and stolen branches from flowering trees are the middle ground between beauty and the poor house. They may lack the smell and sculptural beauty of orchids and gardenias, but hell, they're free. The most exciting arrangement I ever had in my college dorm room was an armful of yellow forsythia I clipped from somewhere.

Climb Aboard:

1. In the right container, any flora can look cool. If your clippings don't fill up the whole neck of the vase, though, I've found that they look nicest tied together with a little string or ribbon and inserted into the vase at an angle.

2. Use what you got. I find that since I started scooping up handsome weeds by the side of the road, I look at plain-old evergreen needles, trees, shrubs, autumn leaves, mysterious red berries, and the weird chestnuts that pelt me on the shoulder when I walk under trees with new interest. I have even thought about snipping some of those red berries off shrubs in municipal parking lots late at night. Perhaps the compromise there is to seize clippings from neighbors who have just finished doing yard work. (City kids: the secret to branch grabs is stealth.)

3. Finally, don't go out foraging bare-or empty-handed. For one thing, you'll need scissors—unless you have really strong teeth. What's more, you'll want to protect your palms from thorns and sap spills. Besides, when you're picking up things by the roadside, you're less likely to be taken for a prostitute if you're wearing work gloves.

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Part of fall's magic might be its brevity; if you blink, you'll miss it and some of its best activities.

Quinces, the fruit that some claim was what actually tempted Eve, are here! Be tempted, and perhaps sinful, with this recipe for quince liqueur.

Having just discovered that the New Yorker is not the pretentious, name-drop fest I always assumed (preconceived notions be damned!), there are now few activities I find more relaxing than a soak in a fragrant tub with a long, investigative piece about counterfeit bottles of wine.

Don a vintage plaid scarf and head out on a crisp, sunny day to pick your own pumpkins and apples.

Fall is ideal museum weather. Browse fashion icons, Dutch masters, or whatever local attractions might be in your town's museum while wearing corduroy. Sometimes we overlook what's right under our nose thinking it's just for out-of-towners.

Dahlias, those fall stunners, are in season through the first frost. Pick some up at a market and carry them home in your bicycle basket for instant happiness.

Cool October nights are the best for slipping under the sheets early, turning out the lights and listening to a terrifying, Gothic classic on tape. May I suggest Rebecca? Or, if 15 hours of listening to a British narrator in the dark isn't your thing, check out Hitchcock's version.

Posted by sarah at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Before I say anything, let me admit that aside from a brief stint in 3rd grade when my favorite t-shirt said, "Love the Planet -- It's the Only One We've Got" and had a recycling party for my 10th birthday, and then again in high school when I went through a real granola phase that involved a lot of tie-die, I've never been very environmentally-minded. This is shameful, of course, especially because my reason for thinking that I didn't care was probably because it wasn't "glamorous."

But as it is wont to do, the media machine has been working on me these last six months as everyone from Domino to Readymade has rolled out their green issue. Suddenly people who have never thought about green concerns find global awareness really hip. Of course, if you have long been a champion of sustainable resources, local produce, composting and the like, this is probably annoying to you. And I can totally understand that.

Continue reading "How to Be Greener" »

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My cousin Megan Petty has always been admirably stylish in a way that is uniquely her own. When she made her own dress for the high school prom, W singled her out as a girl with loads of personal style. Now she's a bona fide stylist, developing a well-trained eye for all things fashion. Sweet Kansas girl that she is, she invited me into her closet to play dress up in some trend-free basics.