"I have a vast variety of sources..."

Oh god, this is so painful and yet so yummy and yet so cringe worthy and yet so fabulous. I can't even stand it! It's delightful.

Watch it HERE, at Gawker, my own single, non-vast, news source.

Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy, sir.

I can't take it anymore. I can't hear another talking head on the news channels wax on about how Biden needs to "be careful" with his approach in his Thursday night debate with Palin. Why? Doesn't that strike you as patronizing?

People who read this blog clearly know I am an Obama supporter. And I think Palin does not deserve to be VP. But let's set that aside for now as we consider this together: Why should Biden hold back? If you think so, why?

And it's only men I have heard say this ridiculous thing. I haven't heard (or read) of any women (so far) who have indicated that somehow Biden must treat Palin differently or with kid gloves.

Ugh. It's driving me nuts.

Isuwannee had a little drinking game for the first presidential debate. I think we need to create one for Thursday's big event. What will the rules be? Anyone?

More hipster toile:

I still love the idea of toile with cars and boomboxes or people playing basketball.

This one is called "Hong Kong" and is made by Pierre Frey, HERE.

See this fabric and others on housebeatuful.com.

Who's digging this month's Cottage Living?

I love these rooms. (Although I know, I know... everyone is over gourd lamps. Well, I'm not, but my vocal minority of anons definitely are.)

Good lord.

If this insanity continues, I will be buying a bank sometime this week.

- In other news, I don't think it was necessary for me to sit in the 100+ degree heat for 5 hours straight yesterday. I think I have heat stroke or something like it.

- Also, what is this internet rumor about the Obama camp throwing Biden off the horse (blaming his health) and putting Hil on the ticket? I don't take it too seriously, but it's fun to think about.

- I've been reading Joan Didion's non-fiction this past week. Everything from her disappointed dispatches on hippie youth to her disillusioned reporting on the political machinations of the Dukakis, Bush, and Clinton years. This is a woman who has no hope and no sentimentality. It's ill advised to read her when you think the world is falling down around you. Unless you like to throw logs on that bonfire, anyway.

-The room up top... who lives like that? It would be Cheeto stained in no time under my care.

-What do you want to talk about this week?

Serenity now.

I started painting the bedroom the other day and my better half HATES IT when I start a project and don't finish, so I hurried through it today so that I could at least get to a stopping point and could put the room back together so that he's not cursing me while I am off with the girls in Palm Springs for the next 4 days.

Do you ever get lazy when painting and know you should wipe down that tiny cobweb, but you end up just saying, "Oh fuck it," and you just paint over it? I did a lot of that tonight. I'm pooped. I am pooped from cutting corners. (What does this say about me? Don't answer that.)

The rooms above are by Vicente Wolf. The visual equivalent of a handful of Vicodin and a long nap... and I mean that in a really good way.

Goop.

From E Online:

Good news everyone, Gwyneth Paltrow is launching a lifestyle WEBSITE—because when life is as amazing as hers obviously is, it’s selfish to keep all those fabulous secrets to yourself.

...While the site is still in it’s beginning stages, it promises to offer tips on how to Make, Go, Get, Do, Be, and See like Gwyneth so that we may become as awesome as Gwyneth and eventually get to hang out with Madonna.

In the place of said tips for now, Gwyneth offers up a short essay explaining how she has achieved such an enviable life:

“My life is good because I am not passive about it. I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel, to cook, to eat, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard. I love being a mother who has to overcome my bad qualities to be a good mother. I love being in spaces that are clean and feel nice.”

And a few tips before she runs off to do a 40-minute cardio-dance routine or cook a pizza in the wood-burning pizza oven she keeps in her garden:

“Make your life good. Invest in what's real. Cook a meal for someone you love. Pause before reacting. Clean out your space. Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something. Go to a city you've never been to. Learn something new. Don't be lazy. Workout and stick with it. GOOP. Make it great."

Thanks for looking out for us, Gwyneth!


Got a few emails from readers and friends yesterday. But you probably already knew that since the collective groan was deafening.

Discuss.

The countdown begins.

Palm Springs. 106 degrees of blistering heat, cold drinks, and lots of relaxation. I cannot wait.

Yes.

Re-run.

HERE'S an oldie for you to see until I get a chance to offer you a proper new post.

Makes me want to wear a big sweater and shop for bread and Hermes or whatever it is that chic people in Paris do.

And THIS is good reading for a fall day like today and times like these.

Yes or No?

I can't decide if I love it or if it's just too blue & matchy?

Overdesigned?

Lovah.

Cool room.

Good song.

My eyes hurt.

I saw Kelly Wearstler's new fabrics a few weeks ago at Maison Luxe and just shook my head.

Remember the early 80s? Remember when every McDonald's had turquoise hard plastic seats and the wallpaper was some kind of watercolor-y pattern in pink & baby blue shades like some kind of fake Sante Fe sunset? That's what the patterns and the colors reminded me of. And I am not saying that in a good way.

The best part about the image above is if you click to enlarge, you can see it says, "...moving on from Hollywood Regency." Well, it's about time.

What does everyone think of this room, featured in this month's Domino (or so I hear, since my issue hasn't arrived yet. Again. What kind of 19th century transportation are you people using to get your magazine to Seattle anyway?).

What are you doing with your money now?

-Are you spending as usual?

-Have you stopped spending?

-Have you bought anything non-essential that cost more than $200 in the past week?

-Where is your money? (One account, many accounts?) Were you concerned if it was insured?

-Are you spending on any big projects around the home?

-How freaked out are you, if at all?


The week of headlines was bad enough, but THIS is pretty sobering, too:

WASHINGTON — It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues. But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first.

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”

Mr. Schumer added, “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as “somber,” Mr. Dodd cut in. “Somber doesn’t begin to justify the words,” he said. “We have never heard language like this.”

Kitchen porn.

All from House Beautiful.

The Bush administration hates you, your uterus, and your civil rights.

From HERE:


LAST month, the Bush administration launched the latest salvo in its eight-year campaign to undermine women’s rights and women’s health by placing ideology ahead of science: a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that would govern family planning. It would require that any health care entity that receives federal financing — whether it’s a physician in private practice, a hospital or a state government — certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with medical services they find objectionable.

Laws that have been on the books for some 30 years already allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.

...Women patients, who look to their health care providers as an unbiased source of medical information, might not even know they were being deprived of advice about their options or denied access to care.

The definition of abortion in the proposed rule is left open to interpretation. An earlier draft included a medically inaccurate definition that included commonly prescribed forms of contraception like birth control pills, IUD’s and emergency contraception. That language has been removed, but because the current version includes no definition at all, individual health care providers could decide on their own that birth control is the same as abortion.

The 30-day comment period on the proposed rule runs until Sept. 25. Everyone who believes that women should have full access to medical care should make their voices heard. Basic, quality care for millions of women is at stake.

You can send your comments to HHS by clicking HERE.

Actual comments my fiance made about The Rachel Zoe Project:

"Is she trying to talk like that?"

"JESUS! She sounds like just like... like those a-holes on SNL."

"This is not going to be a show we share."


Hee, hee. I die.

I think I really like her and I have been meaning to share that with all of you for a while now.

Megan Hustad wrote How to Be Useful and has an interesting blog and has nice ideas and a lovely little photo of herself sitting at a typewriter. I am going to figure out how to make her my email friend. Someday.

Here's her website, and HERE is a very good post reminding me not to be a dick at work, and also why we should fear this Palin business.

Is your relationship making you fat?

Seriously.

Are you in a long-term relationship? Have you gained weight? What IS this bullshit?

High on grass.

I don't usually like ornamental grass, but planted like this it looks amazing.

Note to yard: why can't you look orderly and fabulous like this?? Lazy fucker.




Read more HERE.

File under Mutual Admiration Society

Oh, how I love HIM. (And not just because he likes me back.)




I also like that he doesn't scold me for leaving REALLY JUVENILE RESPONSES to his blog posts over at Domino.

Would you tithe for a year?

For realz.

Do you tithe, first of all? Do you give 10% to your church (pre-tax).

If not, would you "tithe" charities for a year. What would it take for you to regularly give 10% of your pre-tax income to charities? What would you give it to?

Oops. Did the non-elitist use the "R" word?

If McCain loses the Nascar vote thanks to your white trash epithet, you're going to have hell to pay.

Is she forgetting that Palin is on this ticket? She can't seem to keep the language of her class warfare straight. Silly girl.

Ok - - I just did this. You should to:

Replay it and watch her mouth and eyes when she says the word "bitter." Lather, rinse, repeat.

On the 3rd replay, don't you want to punch her in the face a little?

FESS UP: Have you had any work done?

Anon commenter wants to know (read the Rachel Zoe post).

Botox? Fillers? Microdermawhatever? Fess up. Tell all. You can post anonymously.

But you're NOT an elitist?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.

Forester was a major donor for Clinton earning her the title as a Hillraiser for helping to raise at least $100,000 for the New York Democratic senator’s failed presidential bid.

In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.


She told New York Magazine in October of '07 why she's voting for Hillary: "I think if history is our guide, we've had stronger economies, more wealth creation, under Democratic presidents than we have under Republican presidents." Hmm. And Barack won't be one of those Dems? You trust McCain who's already shown what idiotic and impulsive decisions he can make? (Palin.)

She's super good friends with the Clintons (she spent her honeymoon at the White House), Tony Blair, and even Vernan Jordon. It's hard for me to believe she's doing this without Hillary's blessing.

So, a hearty morning fuck you to the super non-elitist Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild and to my pal Hillary Clinton.

If the treadmill has a cupholder for my morning vodka, then it's a go.

I totally want THIS set up at work.

Mom allegedly uses daughter's ID to be cheerleader

True story. Read it HERE.

Remember 21 Jump Street? No, really - remember?

So, what would yo do if you HAD to go back to high school. I want details. Would you try to go all Tracy Flick on your classmates and "A" it up? Would you buy pot for the kids? Throw parties? Would you find yourself giving all kinds of advice? You can even say you'd get busy with the hot guys. Just post anonymously so you don't shame yourself.

In other news, the year after I graduated high school, I learned that Mr. Bosnick*, this hot dark jew (and I mean HOT) was either fired or resigned or maybe was asked to resign because he (allegedly) went to the beach* with this girl, Paula, who was one year behind me and had a honking kind of laugh and was totally fucking annoying. Let me just tell you. I was OUTRAGED. He never took me to the beach. Fucker. I was young, impressionable, and had a thing for older men. I wouldn't have told anyone, for Christ's sake!

YOU MISSED YOUR CHANCE, MR. BOSNICK. I hope you're enjoying your life teaching judo or whatever.


*Names changed. Except Paula's. Fuck you, Paula.

**The beach is like a 3 hour drive from Portland, so it's not like the kids toasted off a milkshake at the Peach Pit and walked to the ocean on break. They WENT TO THE BEACH, if you know what I mean. (Ok, I don't even know what the means, but I am bitter and trying to cast aspersions.)



Yes, this is the teacher. No joke. Miss teaching econ, fired teacher? Ha. Missed your chance. Now it's all nemaste and yoga and judo and wiping snot from little kids or whatever.

The lost grape.

Oh, Carmenere. You are soooo good.

Am I the last to know about this grape? It was once grown in France. But it was destroyed by the Phylloxera plague of 1867, and eventually presumed extinct.

Meanwhile, Chilean growers have been planting it for over 150 years thinking it was Merlot. In 1994, some fancy-pants oenologist professor confirmed that the Chileans were indeed growing carmenere.

Anyhoo, all I know is that for $7.99, this shit is real good.

Botox, meet face. Face, meet Botox.

Speaking of Rachel Zoe... HERE'S a flash from the past (an old post on RZ), and also a little (alleged) before & after fun.

I know it's, like, BOTULISM and stuff, but she looks much better, no?

Although...maybe it's just the light? Who knows.

Ouch.

Says nytimes.com

"Given that Ms. Zoe is already a pox on humanity — exploiting an aesthetic of dissipation, invading our collective consciousness and spraying it with dummy dust — it is amazing that “The Rachel Zoe Project,” which focuses on her career, manages to send its audience deeper into the territory of smug NPR obsessives who won’t stop ranting about triviality’s conquest of the American soul. First I hated the show for passing Ms. Zoe off as an innovator when all she does is recycle a look that has held appeal since Tom Ford’s days at Gucci. Then I hated it for turning me into Max von Sydow in “Hannah and Her Sisters,” a cranky old person hungering for anachronisms."


Thanks Carrie for sending the link.

Sometimes when crazy people are screaming about Armageddon, it's because they are on to something.

Remember when Jim Cramer freaked out last August screaming about how Ben Bernanke "HAS NO IDEA HOW BAD IT IS OUT THERE!!!!! NO IDEA!!!! THESE FIRMS ARE GONNA GO OUT OF BUSINESS!!! THE FED IS ASLEEP!!!"

Gawker reminds of us his August 07 forecast and his (more tempered) commentary from yesterday HERE.

Girly power.

Love.

Let's pretend the world's ok.

And just look at pretty pictures of great rooms, shall we?

House Beautiful knocked my socks off again this month. Here's a little something from my new decorno crush.

Rooms by Eric Cohler.

Why isn't she more famous?

MIRAH is so good. Give these 3 songs a listen. The middle one is silly, the first just rocks my world, and the last is pretty, pretty, pretty.


You can get her newest CD HERE.

Open letter to my dog.

Rickey,

It's a faux fur throw. It's not a stuffed animal, although your relentless attacking it suggests maybe it looks a little more faux than fur. Perhaps you're pointing out its lameness. No matter. Quit biting, pulling, and warring with it.

I am not dumb. When you walk up to me and then to the cupboard and look longingly at That Place Where Treats Are Kept, I am onto you, little man. I know what you want. I am just not getting it for you.

When we say "no" and you sulk off and walk around the ottoman and then sort of pop back into view, you have not hit the "reset" button. The "no" is still a "no."

And while we are at it, "No" will always be the answer to your favorite question which I can surmise from your body language is, "Can I get up there and eat that dinner with you?" No.

Also a "no" is following me into the bathroom. Why? Why do you do this? You're like Ceiling Cat except you're a dog and short. So you're not really like Ceiling Cat except you insist on following me everywhere and staring at me. Either way, it's creepy.

When you are sitting on the couch and smell something rank and then look up at us as though we are cruelly torturing your olfactory system, you need to know this: that fart was YOU, little man. YOU. Quit acting shocked.

You are allowed to bark at dogs on TV. You can even bark at TV cats, birds, lemurs ad Rachel Ray. You cannot, however, bark at TV cars, TV credit card commercials, TV burritos or TV Ryan Seacrests. Focus your rage, kiddo.

And lastly, considering that you shed enough fur to knit an extra large poncho every month, you are not allowed to "fight" the vacuum when I do the good work of cleaning up after you. And if you are going to attack it, try attacking from the side, or from behind. Because right now, you attack it head on, and I know for a fact it can see you coming.

Decorno

Dear Wall Street,

Hope this morning rocks your world.

You crazy kids, always wanting to privatize profits, but then make public all the risk. Like today, AIG is sniffing around for some help, just as Lehmen Brothers did. And god bless the US government for not bailing them out.

Sometimes you have to fail to learn a lesson. Kind of like how conservatives weren't interested in helping people who signed up for adjustable mortgages, right? "Those dumb people need to learn a lesson," was the sentiment, I believe. Ah, yes. That works... rich investors make money, and then when things start to break, the risk is transferred to the public via bailouts.



Did you know that in Lehman has been around for over 158 years and had never reported a quarterly loss until this June? Shocker.

From Asia Times:

"An enormous hoax has been perpetrated on global financial markets during the past 10 years. An American economy based on opening containers from China and selling the contents at Wal-Mart, or trading houses back and forth, provides scant profitability. Where the underlying profitability of the American economy was poor, financial engineering managed to transform thin profits into apparently fat ones through the magic of leverage.

The income of American consumers might have stagnated, but the price of their houses doubled during 1998-2007 thanks to the application of leverage to mortgage finance. The profitability of American corporations might have slowed, but the application of leverage in the form of mergers and acquisitions financed with junk bonds multiplied the thin band of profitability.

Wall Street and the City of London rode an unprecedented wave of profitability by providing overpriced leverage to consumer and corporate markets. Led by the financial engineers at Lehman, the securities industry grew an enormous infrastructure of staff, systems, and financial exposure. They were so successful that when the music stopped, there was no way to liquidate this mechanism gracefully. It only could be allowed to collapse."


Oh, and HERE'S another treasure:

Other hedge fund managers recognize the dangers and the harm that is befalling bank employees who have been paid in their companies’ stocks . “My children, their playmates’ fathers work at Lehman,” said one manager who is short Lehman and asked to remain anonymous, citing the sensitivity of the situation. “Obviously I had nothing to do with what happened, and the idea that I profited, and they got clobbered, and I’ve got to see them on Monday is awkward. I feel badly for them.”

My inner hippie went to Oregon yesterday.

I took the 50 minute flight to visit my mom in Portland yesterday.

The weather was perfect. We started at Mother's Bistro and had brunch, then we wandered through the Pearl District, then spent a few hours at Powell's, the world's largest new and used bookstore. It's one city block and three stories. I pretty much get a book boner every time I go there. It's fucking magical. I love the people who work there. They are all a little over people but seem to know everything, like reference librarians on speed.

Lately I feel like my mind is begining to atrophy, so I picked up a bunch of books. I simply don't read enough not that my blog has turned me into twitching case of adult ADD.

I got a bunch of stuff, but the very Oregon picks were:

RUNNING ON EMPTINESS by John Zerzan.

And IMPERIAL AMBITIONS by Noam Chomsky. It's written in question/answer for and then grouped into themed sections since this book comes out of a number of interviews. It's GREAT. I can't put it down. It was published in '05.

I am also interested in trying to grow some food year-round since in Seattle we got totally screwed and hardly had a summer at all. My tomato plant yielded only 3. Fucker. So I bought FOUR-SEASON HARVEST by Eliot Coleman. You can read more about his gardening tricks HERE. He lives in Maine, but points out that he gets the same amount of sun as France, so he really just needs to protect winter veggies from wind more than anything. He uses cold frames and then puts a protective plastic hoop around that. He grows so much that he clearly has a big-ass hoop/greenhouse to accomplish this, but I am sure I can cover some raised beds and get a similar result. So that's a future project for me. There is no real news here since people have used greenhouses for a long time, by he promises simple solutions for the home gardener. We'll see.



So that was it. Lots of food, books, and gossiping with my mom. Good times.

Such a bitchin' cover, I had to share it.

I am collecting a list of songs people think are covered better than the original is performed. I include this one in my list. I also think that Ryan Adams cover of "Wonderwall" is magic.

What else can I add to my list?

Oh Cindy.

The Corson Building: $262 to work too hard at eating.

So, I finally went HERE, which is the most-talked about new restaurant in Seattle.

The Corson Building is in an old (1908?) brick house with tall ceilings and the most murderous acoustics in the land. My friend and dining companion Tracy made three bathrooms trips just to find some quiet since the roar of the restaurant was that unbearable. I threatened to walk into the kitchen to ask for mini-lobster bibs to catch the blood that I figured was by now running from my ears. Yes, the noise was that bad.*

Anyway, this restaurant is sort of rustic and communal. There are 3 big tables that seat about 10. Dinner is about $130 each. You are served whatever they happen to be cooking. It's prix fixe. Fine.


But this is what I learned:

Fuck communal dinners.

Unless I am with my family and we're having a big, wonderful kick-off-your-shoes casual event, I have no business paying for the servers to drop off heavy platters and only to find myself scooping my own portion onto my plate. It's way too much work.
So, last night. the plate would come, it would start with the person to my right, would go all the way around, and by the time it got to Tracy and me, half the table was done eating. There was also NO ROOM on the tables to set anything down, really. The tables are too small for their impressive assemblage of wine glasses, etc. Perhaps they should have considered passing 2 separate plates at each end of the table. Tracy was eying the food as it languished at the other end mimicking that fucking kid from Oliver, "Please sir, can I have some more?"

And speaking of no room, Tracy had no room to sit. She basically had to sit on the corner. We were shocked no one noticed.
She didn't look comfortable. And she wasn't. Kind of a bummer.

"How's your $130 meal going, Trace?"
"Super. I'm thinking of taking my plate into the bathroom."

The portions were so small and the meal so long to finally wrap up, that after the first 2 courses, 4 of us were openly fantasizing about stopping at Taco Time on the way home to get Mexi-Fries. We were hungry, and my spoonful of beets and matchbook-sized portion of trout was not going to cut it.

After the first course, the chef came out to talk to us. He was cute, seemed like an okay guy, but at that moment, I realized why I would never be back: The Corson Building is the hipster Herbfarm. And The Corson Building is really all about The Corson Building, not you. They want you to know where the milk came from, they want to tell you the "ground rules." They are - fairly - proud of their experiment, but it's a little precious for me.

The servers, I should note, were LOVELY. Seriously, really kind and cool. And don't get me started about Wylie Bush (a co-owner, I think). Holy shit. He's minutes from being the newest start of SILVER FEAST with his lust-inducing salt & pepper hair.


Wylie.

The best part of the evening (aside from Mr. Bush) was being seated next to someone from The New York Times, someone from Vanity Fair, and the food blogger from The Seattle Times. The 2nd half of the meal produced REALLY good gossip and great conversation.

The food - mixed bag. All the veggies were pretty great. The beets were amazing. They produced some kind of flatbread that was too cake-y for my taste. They served two kinds of fish. The mackerel I couldn't finish. I can't repeat here in polite company what I thought it smelled like. The trout was great. One of the veggie dishes had garbanzo beans that, I believe, were roasted. Have you ever had a stale, months-old just-found-my-old-Halloween-candy Whopper (chocolate malted ball)? That's what the texture was like, which, for the record, is not a texture I want to enjoy at dinner.

So there you have it. Would I recommend it? No. Not yet, anyway. For two people, there are so many exciting ways you can spend $262 eating your way around Seattle, that I will tell you here, save your pennies. The Corson Building is a bit more work than it's worth.

If the following happened, then yes:
1) Do something about the grounds outside. I think they are working on this, but by next summer it would be great if they seated some people outside. The fig tree, the chickens, the doves, the veggies... it's all great. And yes, you would have to contend with the noise of the train, but it's nothing compared to the noise inside.

2) Either serve us, or seat us at tables with enough room to be be comfortable. Passing everything around when you're cramped just worries me that I am going to knock over one of the 3 glasses in front of me.


*To his credit, the chef and owner Matt Dillon mentioned the noise issue in his opening remarks, but he also said, "Something about my self-respect won't allow me to intall acoustic tiles in here." And for decor freaks everywhere, I think we can all agree, he's taking the right position on the issue.

Tiny houses.

I'm determined to have a place of my own either on San Juan Island or Orcas Island here in Washington sometime in the next 10 years.

These places - both tiny and certainly not as pricey as your standard home - might be my best option.

You can read about them HERE and see a slide show about these and other tiny homes.

Attention North Carolina:

Do you live in North Carolina?
Do you like cool stuff?
Do you like awesome people?

If yes, please click HERE and read all about it. My friend Isuwannee is having a big sale. I am not talking about crocheted toilet paper holders and that kind of crap. Ms. Meares has oodles of style, so this will be worth the effort. Please check it out.

Perfect in every way.

Too bad I have boobs, because I would buy this in a minute if I had a fashion-y flat chest. THIS little jacket is total perfection. Someone please buy it so I may live vicariously through you.

Fabric fiesta.

I visited Kelie at her shop Maison Luxe this weekend and borrowed some samples to help me put my bedroom together.

I've never done anything custom like get pillows made or have something reupholstered, so it's kind of nice to see fabric options and search for exactly the thing you want and not be limited by whatever the mall happens to be offering.

I have a low Danish-looking chair that will get recovered in that velvet swatch you see above. The photo isn't perfect. The color of that fabric has a lot more grey/silver in it. And the pink business are potential pillows.

If you want to see some other ideas for the room, you can see it HERE. I promise to post before and after photos in about 6 weeks after it's all done (we need to get the ceiling repaired and the floors redone first).

Obsessed.

I've been obsessed with this photo since I saw it over at Habitually Chic.

If I ever give this to you,

I am trying to tell you that I hate you.

Just another classy treasure from Z Gallerie.

"Don't confuse shopping with decorating."

Amen.

I still confuse shopping with decorating, because even though I write a decor blog, I often have no idea what I am doing at home.

But sometimes-reader and commenter "Magnaverde" is featured in TEN PAGES in this month's O at Home magazine. I love what he has to say about design and while his rooms are more traditional than I go for, the photos in the magazine are fantastic. It's so worth a read, so pick up the issue if you need some bonus decorno this month.

You can also read more HERE and see more HERE.

(Thanks tipster for letting me know he was in that issue! You know who you are...)

She looks like fun.

I love that Jauretsi Saizarbitoria has kept her old Jane magazines. See the stack o' mags and her whole place HERE, at The Selby, of course.

The score:
Plus 100 for having such a laid-back place with awesomely vintage touches, not to mention looking like someone who might be cool to hang out with. But minus 1 for having a Keep Calm and Carry On poster.

When the print trend is over:

I think this picture will be the poster-child of its demise. So much pattern, even in that (Stark?) carpet. Oy.

Also, one of these things is not like the other (coffee table, I am talking to you).


Photo from rockin' House Beautiful's online IMAGE GALLERY

She's still awesome.

And has bitchin' style, to boot.

Read THIS.

"This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie."

On Palin, she writes: "I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child."


UPDATE:

I found an interview from 1995 in which she says this, and I couldn't help but think that she could also be saying the same think about Obama today.

Q: Isn't it possible that the country really is a good deal more conservative than people like you might have imagined?

A: I would believe that if I didn't travel. I'm met--wherever, the airport or the bus station--by this hardy band of activists who say one of two things: either, "This is the most conservative place you've ever been," or, "This is the most apathetic place." Then they say: "We've hired a hall for tonight. We're really afraid no-body's going to come. We're this lonely, embattled group."

Then you get to this hall they've hired. The hall is full. There are thousands of people outside. This happens constantly. And it happens to Ralph Nader. It happens to anybody who expresses hope rather than fear. I mean at Princeton we had to walk across the campus for an hour to get a bigger hall. Sometimes at bookstores there have been people sleeping in sleeping bags outside to keep a place in line.

You can read the full interview HERE.

I know it's not ladylike, but I really just want to punch this guy in the nuts.

It occurs to me that Our Lady of Pop Culture Blogging, SGM*, does not blog about this show. Maybe it's because she, too, can't stand this fucking guy.

I just want to buy him some Afrin, a bucket of Vicks VapoRub, and a humidifier. He always sounds so congested. It's wrong.

He's on THIS show if you're lucky enough to not yet know who this douchie is.


*If you do not read Scented Glossy Magazines, you need to start. She covers all kinds of trash TV like no other. She is the reason I was a late-season adopter of Bravo's Flipping out because her RECAPS were so hilarious, I knew I was missing out on something good.

Grey is the new black.

I was googling around for a photo of John Slattery (planning to post my "free-pass five" picks), and I found THIS website which makes me laugh and drool at the same time.

The best part about getting older is that it's no longer filthy for me to love the salt & pepper dudes. My fondness for them made junior high a little awkward.

Your poverty-stricken ass looks good in those jeans.

Vogue India’s August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches and status-symbol umbrellas, modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by average Indian people.

Vogue India editor Priya Tanna’s message to critics of the August shoot: “Lighten up,” she said in a telephone interview. Vogue is about realizing the “power of fashion” she said, and the shoot was saying that “fashion is no longer a rich man’s privilege. Anyone can carry it off and make it look beautiful,” she said.

From nytimes.com