THE FALL BOOK LIST: Add Your Pick For A Cozy Read In Cool Weather

Just in time for cool weather: curl up with a cozy ( ... or scary ... inspiring ... entertaining ... ) book recommended by Style Maniac's smart, fun and stylish readers.  Yes, that means you!  Please add your choice in the comments section below.  I'll then list the titles, along with your name and link (if applicable), in my Amazon Boutique.  Looking forward to some great new fiction or fact for fall ...

Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honore Fragonard

SPRING GIFT GUIDE: Gifts for Grads

Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss at your local bookstore and here.  Yellow patent leather passport case and luggage tags by Baekgaard.

PARTY RECIPE: Kooky Kids Table

As promised at the beginning of this month of Makeover Madness, here's the recipe The Redecorators used to transform a sedate corner of our favorite local bookstore into a colorful and kooky kids table all the adults wished they had been invited to sit at. (Yes, my decorating company does events and parties, too.  For more info click here or The Redecorators link above.)

1. Cover a bland brown wood table with a bright neon-yellow cloth (this one's a polarfleece blanket).
2. Roll up colorful washcloths to use as napkins.
3. Set each place with real china. Choose something modern, fun, and not too expensive, like these cartoon Blurb plates (Mmmm, Yum!, Help. Sigh...)
4. Add flashing glasses for pizzaz and crazy curly straws for silliness.
5. Create a centerpiece with vintage Mr. & Mrs. Potato Heads.
6. Bring in Ikea's sturdy, thick plastic Mammut chairs of lime and blue.
7. Give out Dr. Seuss books as party favors.
8. Have fun!

STYLE MANIAC TURNS ONE

One year ago I began Style Maniac as a way to get back to writing, combat the dour economy and finally realize, in online form, the magazine dreams that had been rattling around in my head for so long.  What I never imagined is that it would be so satisfying and oh so much fun.  Or that I would learn so many things about technology ... social media ... using lemon yellow as a neutral.  Most of all--best of all--I had no idea that this blog would strengthen, revive and bring new friendships to my life.

As a writer, you sit alone facing a blank screen, often wondering if you are the only person in the world to have a particular thought.  Through a blog, you discover that an entire community shares not just a thought, but a similar interest and passion in books, movies, music, fashion, humor, decorating, entertaining, living ... with style.  Even more amazing, that community encompasses ages 13 to 76, and includes women around the globe whom you've never met and probably never will. And yet you are all connected through this amazing, crazy medium.

So thanks to each one of you--readers, subscribers, followers, fans, family, friends, contributors, guest posters, photographers, artists, fellow bloggers and, especially, husband--for opening my eyes, brightening my world and letting me share my mania with you.

Photo courtesy Stefan Janeschitz, discovered through the magic of Flickr.  Many thanks to Stefan for the perfect image (a single yellow&white candle--exactly what I wanted!). Check out his photo website,stefan-janeschitz.de.

SUNRISE TO SUNSET

summer style: tequila sunrise by Style Maniac featuring Alice + Olivia dresses

An outfit that would work from brunch to cocktails no matter what beach you may be on.

TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YOU--

Trees finally blooming, temperatures finally rising....Daylight Savings and the official start of Spring have come and gone, but today I can actually believe that winter is over. And not a moment too soon. Cue Annie.

LISTEN: "Tomorrow" (Doreen's Mix)
Some day you will be able to click on the above image and listen to the playlist, but so far the Style Maniac IT department [aka moi] has not figured out how. For now, treat this as an iTunes shopping list, if you like.

LOVE, COCKTAILS & FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

One of the things I love about reading is when it translates unexpectedly into real life. Example: my friend Beth (in Chicago) recommended the novel Loving Frank, a fictionalized account of a real love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I read it (in Philadelphia) and emailed Gina (in Tokyo) to tell her about the Wright-designed Imperial Hotel in that city, a structure I had never heard of before reading the novel. Gina set off to discover it and it became her favorite bar. And so the world spins....

READ: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

FINALLY

Finally, Spring arrives!

Photos from A Passion for Flowers by Carolyne Roehm.

I DIDN'T HATE FEBRUARY

A post originally planned for Style Maniac bore the title "I Hate February" because usually (thanks to lousy weather and sunlight deprivation) I do. But this blog and the amazing support from my family and friends...and their families and friends... and their families and friends ... made February 2009 a very different month. A sincere thanks to all who emailed, commented and most of all visited Style Maniac in the past weeks. I look forward to getting to know many of you and hopefully continuing to delight and inspire all of you.

p.s. In response to several inquiries, here is how to Comment on the blog: Click on the word "comments" beneath any post. A form pops up where you can type your message and either sign your name or choose "anonymous."

THE NITTY-GRITTY SIDE OF LOVE

A fitting way to end the month's quotes on love and laughter. My niece Kaitlin (then aged five) announced this at a family dinner a few years ago...and I have not stopped laughing about it since.