Bravo, Cate

Browsing the pages of fashion and celebrity gossip magazines (don't lie, if you don't read them, you at least look at the covers while at the grocery store/pharmacy) can be disheartening at times; we all know that there's a shit ton good amount of airbrushing that goes on to achieve this look of flawlessness, but that doesn't mean that we don't want the perfect hair, skin, body, you name it, for ourselves.  


In a bold move, Cate Blanchett appears on the new cover of the UK's Intelligent Life completely un-airbrushed.  As someone who doesn't leave the house without at least mascara, I find this pretty brave.  It appears that she's still wearing makeup, so it's not a complete au naturel portrait, but one of the first times that I can remember in which a celebrity has willingly skipped the airbrushing.  Fine lines and wrinkles be damned, Cate is still beautiful.

via WSJ

About Time

I meant to post this last week when the news broke, but unsurprisingly I didn't get around to it!  Kate Spade has launched a line of watches (finally!) that are pretty darn cute.  My favorites are the Carousel bangle watches, by far.  The candy-colored enamel was designed to invoke the Carousel in Central Park, New York.  

"Inspired by the sweet, whimsical carousel in manhattan's central park, [the Carousel bangle is] crafted of gold-plated metal and enamel and, just like our signature idiom bangles, you'll find a few of our favorite turns of phrase delicately engraved inside."

The majority of the other selections fit Kate Spade's modern but feminine aesthetic.  Since I work in Georgetown now, just a hop, skip, and jump from the Kate Spade store, I bopped in on my lunch break last week to check out the watches in person.  In fact, I liked the turquoise Carousel bangle so much that I bought one as a congratulations-on-losing-your-job-but-landing-the-job-that-you-really-wanted gift to myself; the inscription seemed so appropriate: DIVE IN! 

Bon March

So, we're about halfway through March already; how did that happen?  I have been crazy busy lately, mainly because of my new job, and some philanthropic activities that have taken up some time.  I really love the new job so far, though starting with a new organization and in a new role (not just for me, but also for the organization) means that there's a learning curve that just takes some time to master.  I work with some great people who are very supportive, so I'm excited about it all.  I'm taking InDesign training all this week since I'll be working on some design-related projects moving forward, and it's actually pretty enjoyable, for an all-day training session.

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I just finished reading Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and John Irving's Until I Find You.  You might know Mindy as Kelly Kapoor from The Office, and Is Everyone Hanging Out... ? is a book of essays about her life.  Mindy writes like she's your best friend who's writing you random e-mails at 3:00am when she can't sleep, and I mean that in a good way.  The essays are autobiographical and funny, and more than anything, reading them just makes you want to hang out with Mindy.  I blew through this book and would recommend it as a quick and entertaining read.

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I'm glad that I read these two book at the same time, because as light-hearted as Mindy's essays are (see, I'm even calling her by her first name--friends already!), Irving's Until I Find You was just as heavy.  I think I've said this before, but John Irving can be an acquired taste.  I started out with his best-sellers, which are, of course, generally the better-written and more widely-appreciated selections (A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, and A Widow for One Year were all great, in my opinion).  My last Irving novel was A Son of the Circus, and the only thing these two novels have in common are extended periods of time spent in Amsterdam's red light district.  I just couldn't wait to finish this one; I really liked the ending, the beginning was okay, and I hated the middle. Jack Burns, the protagonist, just endures so many terrible situations that are a bit graphic at times, and it just made me sad for his character. Jack does find redemption in the end, but there was a large portion in the middle that just seemed unnecessary to the story.  I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't recommend it as an intro to Irving.

Not sure what I'm reading next, as I've downloaded several new books on my Kindle and have yet to make a decision.  Hopefully I'll be back before the end of March!