i’ve been a fan of the 3191 project since i discovered it last year.  two friends, living 3191 miles apart, decided to stay close by taking a photo of their mornings every day for a year, and sending them to each other.  the project evolved into an incredibly popular website…and now, a book.  

the results are really fantastic, not just for their artistic clout, but for the occasional random symmetry between the two photos.  it really shows the connection these two friends have…and it’s just plain interesting. 

it’s still a little early to be talking holiday gifts, but i can tell you this will be heading to several of my friends that are far away from me.  it seems like the perfect reminder that distance on a map doesn’t have to keep you apart.

whether you pick it up to keep or to give, there’s something oddly comforting in these photos that makes this a book you’ll pick up again and again.  and, while you’re waiting for it to arrive, check out their newest, equally wonderful, project:  a year of evenings.

first things first:  have you seriously not entered our fab giveaway from shannon nicole yet?  you have all weekend, but just do it now, before you lapse into a sugar coma tonight from eating all of the leftover candy (or, in my case, the candy you hid for just that purpose).  entries close sunday at midnight…so hop to it!

now, as for our weekend read: 

maya angelou is very high on my “if you could have tea with anyone, living or dead” list…it’s pretty much her and hillary clinton.  i just think she’s amazing.  letter to my daughter was written as that “here’s what i’ve learned in my life” everyone wishes their parent would write for them, only better expressed.  “i have all along known that i wanted to tell you directly some lessons i have learned and under what conditions i had learned them.”  see?  dedicated to all of her “daughters” (she actually only has a son by birth) everywhere, this is a must-purchase for all of you…trust me.

every time i read maya angelou’s writing, i sit up a little straighter, i’m a little more kind (for a while), and the world just looks better.  what more can you ask from a literary experience?  this is a weekend read pick that you should read, and then pass on to a woman in your life that you love…i know i will be.

today’s weekend read is a little unorthodox…it’s actually a catalog. but it’s my absolute favorite new addition to my bookshelves, so i had to share.

the rug company’s new design catalog is one of my best new resources for fab home decor tricks. with its stunning silver hardcover binding and more than 250 photos of fully-styled rooms, you’ll completely forget it’s not just your latest find in home design lit…in fact, mine has been center stage on my coffee table since it arrived. i’ve been using it like mad - it’s a fantastic resource of ideas for mixing color combinations and patterns, accessorizing a room, and decorative accents.

with exclusive rugs, cushions and wallhangings designed by everyone from vivienne westwood to diane von furstenberg, the rug company really is the ultimate source for these amazing home accents - it’s no wonder they’re relied on by chic homeowners everywhere, as well as celeb designers like kelly wearstler and allegra hicks. in fact, you might remember seeing several of their designs in the sex and the city movie (including that fab paul smith “love” tapestry we were all raving over.

true, the prices are steep - quality rugs never come cheap. but the designs are amazing, and always exclusive to the store. just another reason i love their catalog: i can ogle their entire collection to my heart’s content for a measly $30.

to order, head to the rug company’s website - that’s the only place to pick it up. happy ogling!

spanning more than 20 years, the gifted gabaldon sisters tells the story of four sisters who are bequeathed “gifts” from an old native american housekeeper who cares for them after their mother passes away.  it’s hard to give up details of the gifts without spoiling critical plot points (and i do so hate spoiler reviews), but the results of the housekeeper’s gifts become the stories of the sisters’ lives.  the characters are written incredibly well - even when the plot hits a slow point, you’ll stick it out because you’re so invested in the stories of these sisters, and in the women themselves.

i’m a die-hard fan of isabel allende, and this book carries on the tradition of her writing style:  fanciful, exaggerated fiction (almost like a fairytale), yet set in such a lifelike setting, you find yourself believing whatever comes along.  if you’ve read books like the house of the spirits (a truly amazing book that’s on my all-time top five list) and loved them, the gifted gabaldon sisters is definitely a must-read for you.  and if you love fiction but haven’t been introduced to the unique stylings of hispanic writers like allende, gabriel garcia marquez and laura esquivel, this would be a great place to start.

this week’s weekend read was an easy one - whenever a philippa gregory book comes out, i’m first in line for a copy.  these books are my secret guilty pleasure…my danielle steel.  and other than being utterly disappointed in the movie adaptation of one of her books, i’m always immensely satisfied when i finish one of gregory’s novels (if i’m being completely honest, my poor hubs was ignored for the first four days of our honeymoon, because i’d brought along the other boelyn girl to read by the pool).

the other queen is a story i’ve been hoping gregory would get to sooner or later.  it’s the story of mary, queen of scots - a figure whose place in history has always been a bit muddled to me.  as always, gregory picks a unique angle from which to tell her story - in this case, it’s told by a noble couple asked to house the queen (in exile from scotland) while elizabeth I decides what, exactly, to do with her.  and, as always, there is intrigue, political maneuvering, and some truly fabulous fashion - i have zero use for a triple strand of black pearls, but i’m now coveting one something fierce.

like its predecessors, the other queen delivers - though, i still don’t think gregory has topped the other boelyn girl or the queen’s fool, my personal favorites.  this installment definitely runs at a slower pace than its predecessors, but if you’re in it for the experience and not necessarily the intrigue, or if (like me) you’re just a fan of gregory’s style, you won’t be disappointed. 

i’ll admit, i was a little skeptical of nina garcia’s new book, “the one hundred”.  to begin, i really know her only as my favorite judge on project runway…”nina-garcia-fashion-director-of-elle-magazine” (spoken in a fantastic german accent).  i absolutely live for her bitchy comments about some of the heinous designs on that show.  but i wasn’t sure i was willing to put my entire wardrobe in her hands.

moreover, the title made the book feel like an extended version of that “classic 10-piece wardrobe” myth you hear the occasional fashion guru spout about.  i don’t know who these people are, but i’m pretty confident they have a great deal more than 10 items in their closet.  100 sounded more do-able, but i had to wonder if it was possible for any list to truly encompass every woman’s basic wardrobe needs.

fortunately, nina seems to know this.  she makes it clear at the outset that her “list” is really just a guide, and that it wouldn’t be style unless you put your personal spin on it.  fair enough. 

there’s nothing truly remarkable on this list, except possibly the image of nina garcia wearing converse sneakers (which i simply cannot conjure).  some are obvious: the little black dress, opaque black tights.  some are not necessarily pieces i would have put in a “must own” category:  frye harness boots, a cape.  i’m not entirely on board with what she deems the four handbags on the planet worthy of a splurge, if only because i think the most important thing about a truly investment-worthy bag is that you absolutely, wholeheartedly adore it, and can’t imagine your life (or, at least, your wardrobe) without it.  but i can’t deny that her choices are solid classics.

despite my departures from nina’s style on several points, i still loved the book.  for a fashion novice, it’s a great working checklist, and it provides some timeless words of wisdom (ie, when you buy animal print, go designer - cheap animal print looks just that).  for someone a little farther up the educational ladder in this arena, there is still plenty to learn from nina.  i finally figured out, for example, what all the fuss is about wolford tights.  they’re $80, so i’ve always just mocked and moved on.  turns out, there’s a whole system of weights and measures when it comes to tights, and wolford is the only manufacturer that makes the 80-denier (ie, the most opaque) tights out there.  who knew?  i also never knew that real camel hair is gathered from a camel’s underbelly by professional camel hair gatherers who follow camel herds around the desert, collecting these hairs.  no wonder that coat i wanted last year was $4,000.

like any “guide,” it’s not perfect - it’s just that:  a guide.  if anything, it intentionally doesn’t reflect nina’s personal style…it’s general enough to allow you to find your own style within its confines.  or to decide for yourself, like i did, that frye harness boots aren’t necessarily an essential part of your wardrobe…but maybe those loeffler randall flat boots i’ve been after for a year now would be a good substitute.

whatever your level of expertise, i’m pretty convinced nina has something to teach us after all.  grab your copy today, and let us know what you think.

i confess that when i first saw are you there vodka it’s me, chelsea by chelsea handler, at the bookstore i wanted to buy it if only for how funny it would look on my bookshelf. 

but then i saw this shining endorsement: 

“chelsea handler writes like judy blume, if judy blume were into vodka, ecstasy, and sleeping with midgets and nineteen-year-olds.”  ~ jennifer weiner, bestselling author of in her shoes

i had to have it!

if you have ever seen chelsea handler’s tv show “chelsea“, you know that chelsea is tall, blond, leggy, gorgeous and loves midgets.  you want to hate her until she speaks.  the girl talks like a truck driver, has a dry wit, and laughs at her own jokes the way we all do when we have been drinking too much.  chelsea is a ‘mean girl’ but in the funny way that makes you still want to be her best friend.

without giving too much away, chelsea chronicles such gems as:

• going to a costume party as an m&m in february and not having panties on. 
• dating men with red hair.  enough said. 
• making an appointment with a hot gynecologist to try and score a date. 
• and my personal favorite (no i don’t condone drinking & driving):  prison break, the story of her first DUI, which landed her in jail for stealing her mormon sister’s identity. 

the essays are all peppered with off-the-cuff jokes about celebrities.  aren’t you dying to know why maddox jolie-pitt always looks so pissed? 

i actually enjoyed are you there vodka it’s me, chelsea so much that i ran out to buy  her first book, my horizontal life.  both are quick reads, and great for lounging by the pool.  just try to resist the urge to read passages aloud to your lounging partner - they might try to steal it! 

next time, i’ll tell you about something that is not a memoir, although truth is sometimes funnier than fiction!

when i first spied bringing home the birkin in my friendly neighborhood bookstore, i was instantly intrigued.  the hermès birkin, for those that aren’t familiar, is widely regarded as “the” handbag.  it’s the one that’s impossible to get, that’s a symbol of wealth and success for everyone from socialites to celebrities - or, for a more direct route, it’s the bag that samantha in sex and the city had to use lucy liu’s name to procure.

hermès possesses this unique brand mystique that’s unlike any other design house in the world.  they have somehow managed to convince us all that we are lucky to shop there, and not the other way around.  pretty amazing, actually.  so when i saw a chance to learn a little about the inner workings of the mother ship from a very notorious (and highly controversial) reseller, i couldn’t help but check it out.

the premise of the book is the author’s rise to “greatness” (a term i’m using very loosely) as one of the main resellers of hermes items on ebay.  it chronicles how he got started, how he acquired his merchandise, and dabbles a little in travel-writing along the way, as he describes trips to various regions to buy hermes items from stores around the world.

ultimately, i got about what i expected.  for those that are hermès devotees, or just insanely curious about how the “who’s who” set actually obtains these gorgeous bags, it’s well worth a read.  whatever opinion i have of the author personally, there’s no question he was able to acquire a lot of birkins during his time - by hook or by crook.

but fair warning:  the author is, frankly, not a great writer (not that i’m hemingway…).  he’s also incredibly pompous, self-serving, and even annoying at times.  i suffered through until the end due to a combination of insatiable curiousity and train-wreck-voyeurism.

in the end (spoiler alert…that should not come as a shock in this case), tonello is blacklisted at hermès.  but, at least according to him, that doesn’t happen until he’s already “lost his taste” for the reseller business.  personally, i found the timing comically coincidental, and couldn’t help wondering about the order in which the final events in the book actually occurred.  but then, it’s his biography…he can play with timelines all he wants.

so, what do you think - will you be adding this “weekend read” to your bookshelf?

today’s “weekend read” is by the lovely and oh-so-talented jessie, author of cooking with jessie, and founder of conscience tees.  talk about a packed schedule!  turns out, she’s also a devout david sedaris fan, so i thought we’d get her take on his latest.

I might not be the best person to objectively review David Sedaris’ newest book of essays “When You Are Engulfed in Flames”, simply because I love David Sedaris so much that if he read me the back of a cereal box I would giggle. That being said these stories made me laugh out loud, on an airplane, which can make a person seem crazy. (As a side note, Sedaris is very self-deprecating; I met him at a book reading once and found him to be quite charming and geekishly handsome. I also thought he was very polite, complimenting me on my large white teeth.)

Sedaris’ books are compilations of short stories based on his life.  Every story is full of strange incidents, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames is no exception.  Who else but Sedaris could recount a story of a childhood babysitter, described as:  “The first thing I noticed was her hair, which was the color of margarine and fell into waves to the middle of her back. It was the sort of hair you might find on a mermaid, but completely wrong for a sixty-year-old woman who was not just heavy but fat and moved as if each step might be her last.”

His writing is something we can all relate to.  Who hasn’t had a crazy neighbor, or an obnoxious person next to them on a flight?  And while many people have tried to quit smoking, you just haven’t tried to move to Japan to do it - hilarity inevitably ensures.

The book encountered some initial controversy when Barnes and Noble filed the memoir under fiction. Sedaris had this to say:  “I’ve always been a huge exaggerator,” he said, “but when I write something, I put it on a scale. And if it’s 97% true, I think that’s true enough. I’m not going to call it fiction because 3% of it isn’t true.”

Personally I think, who cares if the truth was stretched. How many times do you read a book that makes you laugh out loud? It’s entertainment, not a history lesson! So, go out and pick up When You Are Engulfed in Flames - you will laugh out loud, maybe shed a tear, and wish you too had a pet spider you could show the sites of Paris. 

sounds like i have another book to add to my summer reading list!  thanks, jess!

i know, we don’t do a lot of book reviews here.  but i’ve been stumbling across all of these great new reads lately, and thought i might not be the only one always in search of a new book - especially during the summer, when some of us actually have time for leisure reading.

most of you will remember lauren weisberger from the devil wears prada, the famous and oh-so-thinly-veiled account of her time working for anna wintour at vogue.  but in her new book, chasing harry winston, the fashion industry is definitely in the back seat - despite some truly fabulous harry winston earrings that make a cameo, there’s really only one fashionista in the group.  without going into too many details (oh, how i hate book review spoilers…are you listening, new york times?), three friends make a pact that within one year, they’ll each have accomplished a different goal.  as we watch them work to make their plans come together, there are the usual men, exotic travels, faux pas and missteps, together with the antics of that one friend whose life is so fabulous, you love to hate her.

this book, unlike weisberger’s previous novels, makes no pretense about being anything other than chick lit - it’s definitely standard formula fare.  but you know, that’s fine with me…i get a little tired of authors being terrified of being lumped in with chick lit.  i have no idea why - chick lit sells better than most other genres, it’s light, fun, enjoyable…yeah, makes total sense you wouldn’t want to be in that group.

digression aside, weisberger’s book is definitely worth picking up for your next poolside weekend.  it’s a little on the predictable side, but very well written, with characters you root for and a plot you’re anxious to see resolved.  and really, that’s all i’m looking for this summer.