fun at the farm

i devoured this book - the bucolic plague by josh kilmer-purcell - over the weekend.
it is a story of how a couple of city slickers wound up owning a mansion cum farm and figured out how to make it run. keep in mind that one of them is a martha stewart alum, so there is a healthy dose of ambition and perfectionism. the author is the other guy - the one on the right. while i enjoyed his voice, it did get a bit repetitive with certain themes - "how did a kid from Wisonsin end up owning a mansion?"

Overall, it was an enjoyable read with all of the pleasure and none of the work of getting a farm off the ground. i love the vicarious farming genre. deep down, though, i wonder if i have the stick-to-it-iveness to make it my life. with the grand prize this 1802 mansion, i bet i could keep my eye on the ball!

without giving too much away, it is the goats, the soap and the marketing savvy that pull them through. even if you don't plan to read the book, make sure to visit the goat cam!

creative every day month

today is the first day of art every day month.  look! everyone is already posting on flickr and tweeting (#aedm2010) about their stuff.

sheesh! how'd it get here so fast? seems like a long time ago that i made that promise to myself.

well, now that i am fifteen days older, i am not sure how i will fulfill this commitment. it is my biggest desire and my scariest beast all at once! i think i will just put one foot in front of the other. besides - i have already done three creative things today.

n.b. i am choosing to interpret "art" broadly! could include some crafts, some cooking, or even a really well-written blog post!

come along with me. i will photograph what i did today for tomorrow and so on.

today's eye candy comes from the halloween photos from yesterday.

scary, huh?

how about this one?

hope you had a happy halloween!

colorful joy

who wouldn't want one of these!

you may purchase jonathan adler's laptop cover at paperie (which is paper heaven.) please don't blame me if you spend the rest of the day perusing their site!

Book Joy: Gunn's Golden Rules

Gunn's Golden Rules by Tim Gunn

i practically devoured this book.

did I enjoy it? yep.

was is juicy? yep.

well-written? tolerably. (please bear in mind the low bar: i am a serious project runway fan.)

while I am not sure I would take all of Tim's advice, as a raconteur, he rocks. he shares honestly and openly and bravely about his own life story, including a suicide attempt, a broken heart and the current state of affairs of his love life.

there were many tales of derring do about key players in fashion. these behind-the-scenes comments reveal strange peculiarities of the rich and famous. a few little nuggets to pique your interest:

• tina brown does not share elevators. when faced with co-elevating, she had her bodyguards carry her down several flights of stairs. hard to believe she needs body guards. apparently, tim has suffered her wrath for revealing this story.
• isaac mizrahi is a big baby and best-known for temper tantrums. apparently, he reamed a security guard for wearing brown. i hope he never receives a delivery from UPS. and btw, what's wrong with brown? hopefully nothing, or my closet is in BIG trubs.
• martha stewart's daughter is an ungrateful b****. at a macy's ad shoot, she audibly cussed her mother for no apparent reason. perhaps its deep-seated anger at being born into so much perfection. and so many houses. and so many rules. at any rate - probably  not appropriate.

Tim's "Golden Rules" are pretty straightforward and above board. they mainly serves as a literary framework for the anecdotes which is why we are all really interested, right?

overall, the book is worth the time if you love project runway, love good gossip, and can soldier through it's bumpy pseudo-conversational style.

To order this book from barnes & noble online, you may click here:
Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making it Work

grass joy

shhhhh. the grass is growing.

i don't want to say anything to jinx it.

the happenings around here:

health stuff done. got the all clear on the boob squish. always a relief. blood work showed me at the very highest end of the normal range for the bad cholesterol. more exercise and less steak fixes that. the recommendation is 45 minutes of fast walking per day.

this weekend is the first of two for the open studios tour. i have my favorites picked out and my camera in the bag. hopefully the weather will cooperate. stay tuned for arty boulder goodness.

also, i am cooking up a few knitting projects. my very first chart. we shall seeeeeeee.