My friend Elaine wants me to housesit for her for 2 1/2 weeks next month in Paris. Normally, I would jump at the chance...but this year I have several job opportunities here in LA and I'm thinking that I should stay put...(Jobs are hard to come by in this economy!)...
Also, I'm not sure I'm up to doing Paris alone at the moment, especially now in the winter when it's dark there forever...
What do you think? Stay in (mostly) sunny LA and work?
UPDATE: I just looked at the fares. I could fly round-trip for $700 and stay at Elaine's for free...
what to do?
It's a very cold, rainy day here in LA and I'm very sad to tell you that we had to withdraw our bid on the little Victorian. After having it inspected and investigating further we discovered that it would have been far more expensive than we realized to deal with the removal of the peeling lead-based paint. There's a new law that requires painters to treat lead paint as if it were, well, asbestos.
(More on that here...)
I've been swamped with different work projects this week, plus trying to get everything set for the purchase of the little Victorian house. As a result, my reading materials are really stacking up...but, I did start The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. It's really wonderful!
Mixed media artist and author Lisa Occhipinti appreciates books for their graceful prose and aesthetic beauty. They serve as both material and muse in her art...
Perhaps that is why she is always looking for
beautiful new ways to turn covers and pages into art.
I love how Charlotte Collins posted wedding photos on flickr and Darcy sent an email with the subject line: "The answer's still no, then?" The apparent response: "Stop emailing me you stuck up prejudiced prig."
Are you a fan of Pride, Predjudice and Zombies?
Well...the book's very enterprising marketing team is rolling out a full-blow social media campaign this month that includes an Etsy shop for Ms. Bennet, where she's selling a Zombie apothecary kit (for $100).
"I, Elizabeth Bennet, lived a life of peace and propriety in the English countryside until a pustulent plague of unmentionables rose from the earth and began to wreak havoc on dear Hertfordshire. Thankfully, my sisters and I were trained in the most vicious defense techniques: swordplay, hand-to-hand combat, musketry, and sharp wit. Thus, my life has been devoted to fighting off the dreadfuls (as well as the attentions of a distasteful man named Mr. Darcy). I hope you will benefit from this zombie prevention kit, as well as a hardcover copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a tale inspired by my family’s struggle to defeat the unmentionables."
The kit includes "Bleed-Banishing Balm, Gnaw-be-Gone Purifying Poultice, Reanimate and Perambulate Smelling Salt."
What is it about Jane Austen that inspires such cleverness?
I was searching the Internet today for information on renovating Victorian cottages when I came across a New York Times story on this fantastic little house in the Catskills:
It was an old hunting cabin that Sandra Foster
turned into the romantic Victorian cottage she had always wanted.
You even have to use a ladder to get to the sleeping loft!
I'm very excited to tell you that we got the house!! (Not the one above, that belongs to Mr. Disney)... We got the little Victorian, equally as grand in our hearts!
I was recently in San Francisco where I had coffee with artist Tina Tarnoff...After becoming friends with her through blogging, it was really lovely to actually meet her in person!
It was also great to explore her wonderful neighborhood: North Beach.
With sloping streets of Victorian row houses and painted buildings...