Link-O-Rama Mama

It’s time again for Link-O-Rama Mama, where I lazily just link to other people’s well written and thoroughly researched articles.

This fashion "Don't" becomes . . . .

A fashion "Do!"

365 Dresses

Do you suffer from nothing to wear syndrome? You’ve tried looking for new frocks at your local thrift store, but found nothing but mu-mus and fake Laura Ashley dresses? Well, fret no more, because I have got the solution to all your problems! The ticket to fashion heaven is now within your budget at $1 per dress. But there’s a catch, you have to transform a tacky old dress, and you have to sew one per day for an entire year. (The previous paragraph was to be read aloud in a Guy Smiley voice.)

Add all that together, and you’ve got New Dress a Day, which promises:

365 Days. 365 New Outfits. 365 Dollars

This lighthearted, yet weighty project is the brain child of L.A. resident Marisa Lynch. Mumus become cute little dresses, and bridesmaid dresses become bustiers. She’s 262 days into her project, so there’s lots to look back on, yet still more excitement to come.

It’s super fun reading, and methinks that this super cutie blogger is getting herself a book deal. Probably already has one.

I like her anyway.

Pearls of Wisdom from the Divine Anne Lamott

I was luxuriating in a gleaned-from-the-recycling-bin issue of Sunset Magazine, when I came across an article titled Time Lost and Found. And if the headline hadn’t grabbed me, then the author certainly would have. I was given a copy of Lamott’s Operating Instructions: A Journal of my Son’s First Year when my boys were wee and loved it. It was refreshingly non-sugar coated, which I appreciated.

The Sunset article was all about how we all have the time to do the things we say we want to do, it just has to be stolen from other areas of our lives.

“Creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty.

Then I bring up the bad news: you have to make time to do this.

This means that you have to grasp that your manic forms of connectivity — cell phone, e-mail, text, Twitter — steal most chances of lasting connection or amazement. That multitasking can argue a wasted life. That a close friendship is worth more than material success.

Needless to say, this is very distressing for my writing students. They start to explain they they have two kids at home, or five,  a stable of horses or a hive of bees. , and 40-hour workweeks. Or, on the other hand, sometimes they are climbing the walls with boredom, own nearly nothing,  and are looking for work full-time, which is why they can’t make time now to pursue their hearts’ desires. They often add that as soon as they retire, or their last child moves out, or they move to the country, or to the city, or sell the horses, they will. They are absolutely sincere, and they are delusional.”

I’ll let you read the whole article, which isn’t that long. It’s a good reminder to not put off living the life you want, and that it has to be prioritzed in order to happen.

Thanks Anne!

What Do The Ladies Like?

Hot guys reading books! How about a blog entirely devoted to . . .  yes, you guessed it!

Hot Guys Reading Books!

I think I just died and went to heaven. Now if they only had a “Hot guys doing dishes” site. Really, the list goes on. Hot guys giving foot rubs, hot guys putting the laundry away, hot guys packing your work lunch, hot guys buying gifts for their own parents, hot guys actually reading their wives’ blogs, hot guys watching HGTV. Seriously, someone stop me now before I explode!

Thank you to Angela over at My Year Without Spending for, ahem . . . turning me on to this site.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without