Book club:

Last night my book club met, and since I chose the book, I got to host. The book was the Violets of March, by Sarah Jio. Every time we meet we try and do a matching theme to our book (we also have a bottle of whipped cream vodka that comes to every meeting, but more on that later); but this one was challenging. The book itself took place in Seattle, and went back and forth between present day and the 1940s. There wasn't too much food in the book, and save for fish and coffee, I was stumped as far as Seattle foods went. So I got a little creative and decided to have a violet food theme. Blue corn chips, purple grapes, figs (or Fig Newtons in our case)... you get the idea. So I tweeted:



And Oh. Em. Gee. You guys, the author of the book tweeted back!



As my book club gals arrived, I told them the awesome news about my twitter conversation, and you know what? Sarah Jio not only live tweeted with us throughout the meeting, she BLOGGED about our little violet book club meeting(and called us trendsetters! Squeeeee!)! It completely reaffirmed my love of the Twitter.

We promised Sarah that we would tweet some pics to her; here we are toasting her with our blueberry creamcicles (sparkling blueberry juice and whipped cream vodka):



And here is our blue foods spread:


Purple grapes, Washington apples, brie, blueberries and chocolate covered blueberries, Fig Newtons, blue corn chips, hummus (that wasn't blue, but was delish!), and goldfish! Also, red velvet cupcakes for the red velvet diary in the book. Whoever thought of that is the honorary book club rocket scientist.


Cannolis with purple sprinkles? Yes please!

Book club is always a blast--we're such a diverse, fun group of girls--and so far we've picked a bunch of diverse, fun books, so I always look forward to a meeting. The fact that Sarah Jio was conversing with us all meeting long was the icing on the cake. I think the only way the meeting could have been topped is if she was there in real life (her living in Seattle, and having recently had a baby were just a few minor obstacles). But rest assured, next time she does a book tour on the east coast, I am SO there!

Another post where I gush about kate spade

There are few things I love in this world so much, that it's borderline obsessive: shoes (obvs) and handbags are among those things--specifically, kate spade shoes and handbags.

The kate spade brand does a great job of being quirky, fun and classic at the same time. I have ks bags and shoes that are embarrassingly old, that I still use to this day (of course, it's always fun to add to that collection, too). So when I heard that the company was publishing a book (!!!) and it's based on the fun "things we love" section of their site (!!!!), how could I resist?



There's a great interview with ks president Deborah Lloyd and Ed Miller, who oversaw the printing, over at Felt & Wire. For print nerds (and, I suppose, sugar junkies) like me, it's like extra icing on the cake of awesome. Fun book, with some background on the different printing techniques?

I'll take 2. One in purse form, please.

Night and Day

I was trying to come up with something clever to say about Pixar's decision to publish the animated short Night and Day as a book, but then I realized that Khoi Vinn said it much better than I ever could.

So, yeah. What he said.

More books--again!

One of my most favorite bloggers out there is Oh Joy. I love her sense of style; she has a great eye for design, fashion and decorating. So when I heard that she wrote a book on freelancing (with fellow freelancer Meg Mateo Ilasco), of course I bought it.

Creative, Inc. arrived a few weeks ago, and so far it's been a great read. Like me, Joy started her freelance business 5 years ago, and says: "This is the book I wish I had when I started my freelance business..." Amen, sistah.

To promote the book, the ladies made the most adorable stop motion short:



And--squeal!--they're doing a 3 city book tour that just happens to stop in NYC. I'll totally be there.

In the meantime, if you're currently freelancing, or even thinking about it, put Creative, Inc at the top of your to-be-read list.

One Day of Design

I'm pretty excited for this book to come out:

When I wake up, when I check the time, when I brush my teeth, when I get dressed, when I have breakfast, when I cross the street, when I call to say I’ll be late again, when I work, when I have a break, when I get back home, when I relax and when I go to sleep I am surrounded by graphics and illustrations.

'One Day' takes a comprehensive look at how these graphics have entered our daily lives, and adorn everything from alarm clocks to skateboards. Not only do these graphics apply beauty, life and personality to our objects, but they also create a relationship with us, when they become part of the “visual soundtrack” to our lives.

According to Amazon, it will be released stateside at the end of next week. Which is when I will be ordering it!

Mark this

Chances are, you've seen a logo designed by Pentagram. Their impressive portfolio includes marks such as Citi, Saks, New York Magazine, Design Within Reach, Godiva... I could go on and on (and on. And on).

Their newest book, appropriately titled Marks, is out in the UK, and available for preorder here in the US. From Pentagram:

Marks, Pentagram’s latest book, collects 400 symbols designed by our partners between 1962 and the present day. The limited edition of 1000 copies has been published by Laurence King Publishing and is identical to the book produced by Pentagram for its friends and clients, sans tote bag but with the addition of a fetching white belly band. The book is printed on French-folded bible paper, bound in a red, cloth-covered softback cover and includes five ribbons for bookmarking.

I've already gone and placed my order, and will be anxiously awaiting it's arrival. A book of 400 symbols and logos? Designed by Pentagram? Ummmm... yes, please.

(Thanks David Airey, via Twitter)

ABC3D

Popup by Marion Bataille

When I was a kid, nothing would thrill me more than coming across a pop up book; it was just. so. cool. I'd amuse myself for hours turning wheels, pulling tabs, and examining the book, wondering how on earth did they do that.

To this day pop-up books still fascinate me; so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one designed by a French graphic designer consisting of nothing but the alphabet would keep me occupied for quite some time; especially, ahem, when I was supposed to be Christmas shopping.

Cornflake girl (with superpowers?)

I was never big on comic books. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the art; but I was never one to go out and spend my allowance on one (I was a baseball card kid--every Friday my grandfather would buy me a pack of baseball cards. At it's peak, the stack was about as tall as I was).

I am, however, a big Tori Amos fan; and her world has recently collided with that of the comic book genre, and as a result, we get "Comic Book Tattoo."



To sum it up briefly, a bunch of (from what I understand, big-name) comic book artists have collaborated and each created a comic inspired by a Tori song. But the story doesn't end there; Tori Amos was very involved with the making of this book. There's a really great (but long) article about the book over at Comic Book Resources.

Considering that I'm not a comic fan, I am really excited for the release of this book (7/24)! I can't wait to see how different artists have interpreted Tori's songs. It's a really interesting concept, and from the rave reviews I keep reading about, it sounds brilliantly executed.