Well to the left.

I call that progress.

Dear Brad Pitt...

...this is how it's done. If you're going to shill for a brand, do it like Jonathan Adler. Well done, eBay + JA.

But if you only have time to watch one, watch the Ed Church ad. So great.

If you're an eBay junkie, you will appreciate these ads.

HERE.

The news of the day:

1. Hahahaha. Oh, Brad. It's so... Suntory Whisky.

2. What's with the new blog meme "confessing" what you've purchased? The old meme was writing about how you're not actually rich. That, of course, wasn't breaking news. We know you're just posting photos of Provence/Capri/Istanbul. We know you probably don't go there all the time. You're in your 20s. You're broke. We get it. Now the new thing, I guess, is: I post about a lot of material things, but I am not actually rich. Now I will post about all the things I bought last month to "keep myself honest." Just buy what you like!  No need to apologize. Buy your dress/shoes/lipstick, enjoy it, move on. No apology needed.

3. In the new House Beautiful, Tom Sheerer says:
"Don't make too much trouble for yourself. Work with what you have and get on with it." AMEN.

4. And if you add the lessons of items #2 and #3, you get this:
Blogger Bryn of brynalexandra posted about her living room and there's an undercurrent of apology in it, but I think it's cute. She thinks the chairs are too tall. That's ok. No need to apologize + Work with what you have = you have a great new living room. Good job.

5. As I type this I am baking my third loaf of that famous no-knead bread. This time I have added raisins, cinnamon, and walnuts. I feel very much like a prairie lady making bread before I go to work.

What did you do this weekend?

Ugh.

SO FRUSTRATING. I am trying to find a reason not to like Garance Dore, and I can't. Just can't. 

You should watch this little video. She's so charming and I love the part in the middle where she mentions Monoprix. The commentary on eyeliner and then her pronunciation of the nail polish color is so goddamn cute. 

HERE.

John Derian.

‘‘I wish I had spray dust or spray dirt in a can,’’ he confesses. ‘‘I don’t want to lose the look of the place — I want that patina.’’

Slide show HERE.

He longs for it.

“Romney fascinates me endlessly,” Delaney said before his show at a Montreal comedy festival last week. “He’s such an attractive target comedically because more than any other candidate in my lifetime, he just wants to be president. That’s it! He longs for it. Feels it’s his birthright. I can imagine him getting elected and just saying, ‘Well, that’s that then!’ and staring out a window.”

HERE and HERE.

Here's how to make Lady Money, to put in your Lady Wallet

 

Here's an email from LearnVest (embarassing name). It's a financial website for lay-days. And today I really had a good laugh over their totally practical and urgently needed story on making money as a model, because clearly, this option is available to so many women.

Go get 'em, LV!

haha. real good at 0:52.

"EMPATHY ACHIEVED"

Hahaha.

Thanks NYT.

Wow, this doesn't sound like a crime at all.

This sounds like a really good dinner.

I'm feeling stabby.

Country kitchen before & after.

I've been itching to buy a place out of the city, and in my search (for both the property itself and inspiration), I have been discovering blogs I hadn't seen before. One is A Country Farmhouse, and she has really great before & after posts of various projects around her Oregon home. The kitchen is simple perfection, in my mind. 

My rural/coastal obsession continues.

I am still shopping for a cabin on the water. FYI. 

And now I really want alpacas. 

Here's my new thing: I am trying to bring a little more humanity to my day. So, I bought a used copy of a wonderful book called Life is Meals. And every morning when I get into my office, while I fire up email (but before I get sucked into it) I read that day's passage.

Life is Meals is a very smart, well-read book of days by James and Kay Salter. Each day is about a page an a half dedicated to some food topic. Great historical moments in food. Small appreciations of, say, a peach. A story of strangers with a broken-down car invited into someone's home for dinner to wait it out. It's tender, but not sappy. And often useful.

Today's passage is about Julia Child. They write:

"During her career she wrote ten cookbooks, all of them noted for their clarity. She once said that her ideal house would have just two rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen, and when she was asked what her guilty pleasures were, replied, 'I don't have any guilt.'"

I like her style.

I love Jamie Meares.

And I just felt like shouting it from a mountaintop.

(Also, I have been drinking a little. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I LOVE HER ANY LESS.)

That collar-like bib necklace situation that all the magazines are talking about:

J. Crew is very proud of its new fall shirt with a detachable collar-like bib necklace. But here's that idea for $20. Add to any shirt. Voila.