Bottle reduction is going swimmingly! I’ve got hair care under control (only one shampoo right now!) and am working my way toward streamlined skin care. (Must ignore new products launching for fall ….. Must ignore new products launching for fall …..) Given my success, over the weekend I added paper reduction to the list. This includes old books, internet printouts (I think I’ve used more than a few trees printing off inspiration), and magazines. Yesterday, my son was the focus of paper reduction. His room is going to transform from one focused around a train table – that really is a junk collector – to one focused around a desk. Today, mydesk is getting a good cleaning off – I want to see the desk! and then I’ll progress to the magazines/catalogs around the bed. Once again, September magazines are lurking just around the corner …. I need to get to work.
Ooops! I’m late with the Friday Five today. Here are five blogs that are new to me – I’ve added them to my rotation.
1. Decor8 Design news out of Boston – updated daily with lots of content!
2. Cupcakes Take the Cake News and photos of cupcakes, obviously.
3. Eva Nouveau Got hooked on a letterpress thread from her site ….
4. Cake and Pie A new letterpress blog. Hmmmm is there a pattern here?
5. Us Magazine Very snarky blog, which is surprising to me, but still very fun to read.
While my magazine reading is very consistent (just keeping up with the New Yorker is a challenge!), my book reading comes in waves. In between waves, I’m listening to “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, read by David Sedaris (the author, in case you aren’t familiar with his work, and you should be). It was lent to me yesterday by a good friend. I’ve read the book many times – a total pick-me-up – but be careful where you read it unless you want to get caught laughing out loud! The audio is just as good. A summer pleasure for the lazy book reader in me. And speaking of summer, only 11 days left in July? Where has it gone?
Today’s NYTimes Arts section has a nice article on drawing, by Michael Kimmelman. It refers to the exhibit “Teaching America to Draw” at the Grolier Club in Manhattan. (Love the dog sketches featured in the article.) What is amazing to me is that drawing was an art expected to be developed back-in-the-day – even children were quite adept at illustration. I guess what I’ve taken from it is that my attempts at art/drawing could be much better if I’d just apply myself and make time for it on a regular basis. Time to revisit those New Year’s resolutions …
In the oppressive heat of yesterday, I found myself watching more television than usual (hello, Extra!). Project Runway’s first episode ran again last night, and I finally saw the runway presentation, which was the only segment I’d missed. My thoughts? I really like the top three designers: Keith, Robert, and Laura. All had wearable/beautiful fashion. Looking forward to seeing where they go from here. Supposedly, there is an “evil” designer and I’m trying to guess who it is. Crazy-lying-hat-from-a-basket Vincent? Tatooed-neck Jeffrey? Or just plain-old-wacky Malan? Yep, I’m hooked for season three. (update: check Gawker today for an interesting tidbit about Keith Michael. Not good.)
