Post Summer Reading

I am stocking my bookshelves again because my "have not read" pile is getting low. These are the books on Amazon that have peaked my interest. The discount on Amazon is so unbelievable, I find it very difficult to buy a book full price at a book store. On a recent trip, I realized that I forgot to pack any books and had to buy one at the airport..it almost killed me!

Thin Rich Pretty


The Importance of Being Married

The Atlas of Love

Rich Boy

and Last Night at the Chateau Marmont


This one was in my summer pile and I tried so hard to get into it but..Dominick Dunne usually writes about real people and I found myself so distracted reading this trying to figure out who he was talking about! So crazy, but I couldn't finish it and shipped it home from Newport!

Happy Reading! xo

Obsessed With the Beehive..

You can't miss the amazing gold beehive Verdura bracelet watch dangling off Lisa Birnbach's wrist at all of her appearances. It is so beautiful and every time I see her wear it, I fall in love even more. I can only imagine what the price tag says, it isn't online..you have to call and inquire.

Photos from Facebook

The True Prep tour doesn't hit South Florida until the end of November/early December, so I have a while to go. Hopefully, my crazy work schedule won't hold me up and I will get to one of the events. Can you imagine being on the road for such a long time??? I would have to have a portable TIVO player with me, or a new iPad so I could watch all of my shows!

For all the Jackie lovers out there...

When I was recently doing some online research, I came across a new blog called "Everything Jackie". The writer clearly has done her homework and has all sorts of Jackie and Kennedy tidbits. She has in depth information on all the houses the Jackie had lived in, her family life and much more. Each post delves into another aspect of Jackie and her fascinating life. I am hooked!

A recent post turned me onto a new Twitter account to follow. Since she was pregnant during much of JFK's campaign, Jackie did her part to be involved by writing her "Campaign Wife" column. She wrote about politics, family issues and what was like to be a candidate's wife. Her clever columns are now being released by the JFK Library as tweets. They are so interesting and a clever way to bring Jackie in to current social media.

These are some sample tweets so far:

“For the first time since Jack and I have been married, I have not been able to be with him while he is campaigning,” she wrote.

Another tweet: “You can imagine how frustrating it is to be in Hyannis Port reading all that he’s doing and not participating in any way.”

To follow Jackie's tweets...go to www.twitter.com/jbk1960

24 Hour Sale at CK Bradley

Just heard from the Queen herself, a 24-hour sale at CK Bradley. Dresses for $75 and skirts and tops $50. There was so much cute stuff the last time I was there..if you are near by, stop in their cute store. If you are not near Newport, go to their adorable website and order away.

Fall Necklace Giveaway Winner

And the winner is...#24

Grove Gal K!

Congratulations amiga!!!

I will pop this beauty in the mail this week and hope it brightens your day.

xoxo kp

iomoi Sale

One of my favorite websites iomoi is having a sale. They are offering 20% off orders over $100. There are so many fabulous things on their site...

Gorgeous address labels

Amazing Ice Buckets

and stylish monogrammed coasters and much, much more!

Check out iomoi here and enter code early2010bird for your discount. Sale ends Monday, September 27, 2010.

Please Watch This Show!

Well, only one week into the Fall TV season, there is already whispers of cancellation! The one show out of many that stood out for me, that I think is so amazing is Lone Star...LONE STAR. Please watch this show Monday night! The main character is Bob Allen, played by James Wolk, a slightly younger Kyle Chandler look-alike, and he makes the show very fun to watch. Click here to watch the Pilot on Hulu. If this show doesn't make it, I might have to start a petition myself to get it back on.


How cute is he???

iPad Obsession

Every day on my way to work, I pass this billboard. I have pink pants, that could be me! Not long ago, I was at someone's house and they had an iPad sitting on the coffee table and I asked to play with it and 2 hours later, I was obsessed. So many fun applications (I don't have an iPhone, so it is all new to me) and so easy to carry around, it is a perfect accessory to have.

Of course it needs a cool case...

the case on the Apple website..


A little fancier at Ferragamo..


For a more youthful approach, Vera Bradley..


Gucci..in black or white...


and the one I want, Louis Vuitton..very durable and fashionable!

Can't wait for all my Christmas shows to start to save up some extra cash to buy this little magic toy. It will be a very useful business expense. For business purposes of course...

Bye Bye CKB!!

So sad!!! I found out on my last trip to Newport and had to keep it under wraps for a bit. But..if you can get yourself near the store, there are so many amazing things on sale there. She is clearing out all sorts of goodies. I will miss popping by CK Bradley on Bellevue in Newport, such a darling store. My trunk shows there were two of my favorite shows ever. Good luck Camilla! Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve next! xo

Fall Necklace Giveaway

Hello friends...I am finally accepting that Summer is over and Fall is around the corner. So..to kick off this new season, I am hosting a necklace giveaway. The necklace of choice this go-around is a chunky brown/bronze pearl necklace wire wrapped on gold-filled wire. The pearls are somewhat rounded-flat (I know that sounds weird, but they are a little different)

This necklace is so pretty on and retails for $145.

To enter:

(1) Leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite Fall activity.

(2) Become a follower of my blog.

(3) Share the news on your blog, twitter or facebook and let me know about it.

One entry for each of the above (up to 3). Entries will be counted until Sunday the 26th at 6pm. Winner will be announced Monday morning. Good luck!

Barking up the Wrong Tree

Bullying..this topic has been coming up more and more. These days, bullying can happen anywhere, not only on the playground. In fact, it can even happen right in your inbox.

I was witness to some first class bullying this summer and I did all I could to stop it, but some bullies are relentless and the attackees would rather just give in then deal with the consequences of the attacker. There was an Oprah episode a couple of years ago that showed different staged situations and then recorded the behavior of passersby to see whether they stepped in to stop the bullying, or just kept on walking. Some didn't want to get involved and some went straight in and put a stop to it. I would be the person who stopped it for sure.

An unfortunate situation occurred this weekend involving a recent blog post and I became the victim of some email and comment bullying. Apparently, the Diva cocktail napkins recently photographed for House Beautiful and then featured on this blog are based on the artwork of Bill Davis, an artist from Columbia, South Carolina. Mr. Davis had no idea that Sharyn Blond had used his artwork until it was featured in House Beautiful. Obviously I had no idea of this, I just loved the napkins and expanded my blog post to cover the store that sells them and many others. One of Mr. Davis' friends contacted me on Saturday to let me know what was going on. I replied that I felt terrible for him but would certainly amend my post to give Mr. Davis credit for the artwork. The first two emails were nice and then a barrage of emails flew into my inbox as word spread that my blog was featuring the Diva napkins. When all of this exploded, I was out for the day but went into an Apple store and used one of their computers to fix the post and add a link so readers could see more of his work.

Now, as an artist, I am completely sympathetic with Mr. Davis. I certainly would not want to see my work featured in a national magazine passed off as someone else's, and I hope that he is able to reach a solution to this injustice with Ms. Blond. But, I will not be bullied by anyone, most certainly by people who hide behind the anonymity of blog comments without email addresses. I replied to most of them thanking them for emailing me and explained that I would fix my post but some continued to send harassing emails. What a mess...

So, to clarify..the Divas napkins featured in House Beautiful are based on the artwork of Bill Davis, a self taught artist whose works are featured at this gallery and throughout South Carolina. His Divas collection is his best known work. Here are two of his Diva paintings.

Mr. Davis has since contacted me himself and thanked me for clarifying the situation. I think some of his understandably protective friends thought I was the one stealing his design. I hope all of this attention will lead to some art sales for him!
Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

In the Closet...

This weekend, I went back to the Container Store for the 6th time to buy more of the Joy Mangano hangers that have saved my life..or my closet. I have now fit twice as many clothes in my closet as before and the nice lady at the Goodwill truck was happy to see the garbage bag filled with white plastic hangers that I am now rid of forever. What is so funny is that the black hangers make it a little tough for me to make out which black shirt is which. I am thinking I need an extra light in there now..and some glasses. Oh to be organized.

Here are some pics of some celebrity closets. Someday, I would love to have a beautiful closet like one of these. If I had my pick..I would choose this first one...

Tamara Mellon

Rachel Zoe

Paula Abdul

Eva Longoria Parker

Nicky Hilton

Nate Berkus

Nanette Lepore

Mariah Carey

Jessica Alba

and the much publicized "closet" of Jenna Lyons.

I want this one too...
Images courtesy of Elle Decor, House Beautiful and Design Cocktail

In the Anchor Chair

This week, our friend Cynthia invited us for a field trip to WFOR, Channel 4. She is reporting the news for their My33 channel at 10pm for a bit so we went to check it out.

After a yummy dinner, she started the tour. We met all the producers and writers, they were all sitting at their desks getting ready to start the 10pm news. Cynthia took us down a long hallway and we saw the master control room. It looked like this...

the coolest thing I found out was the Oprah show feeds into their station at 10am when the show airs and they hold onto it all day until 4pm when it is on our local station. Can you imagine..access to Oprah early? How fun!

We finally got into the actual studio and it was so cool. The desk that all the anchors sit behind is very large and has two computer screens built into the top. When you sit at the desk, three large cameras that look like robots are in front and a man perched above controls their movements. It didn't take Denie very long to hop right into the chair and test out her "anchorness".

We all took turns sitting there..

and then a group shot.

Then we retreated to the couch on the side of the studio so Cynthia could actually work and revise what she was about to read on the air. She disappeared for 15 minutes and came back looking like a true anchorwoman, perfect hair, perfect makeup and an amazing outfit that looked perfect on the air. She is so professional and it was so great to see it all up close and personal.

We stayed half-way through the show and when I got home, I caught literally the last few seconds of Cynthia on the air and got this not so perfect shot, but you can see how great she looked.

Cynthia got her start at our high school as one of the anchors of WPAW on a very official set given to our school by a local station. She reported the news every morning and hasn't stopped since!


Thanks Cynthia, we loved our field trip!!! xo

Fabulous Eco Totes

You don't have to be actually hugging any trees these days to be green. You can make a difference, and be fashionable these days by using Eco Totes. My collection is growing and I try to remember to take one out of my car when I go grocery shopping. I have been known to forget one, so I end up buying more..so I have tons of Pulix and Fresh Market totes. Lately, I have been reaching for my Lilly Market Tote everyday and throwing all my stuff in it, including my purse. Love love love!

Please Be Green!!!!!

Paris Chic Boutique Market Tote $25

Smudge Ink Eco Totes $9.95 or $29.95 set of 3
Gardenia Grocer Bag from Pierre Deux $20

Lilly Pulitzer Market Totes $11.95

BUILT Market Bag $40


Flowie Sweet Candy Market Tote $48


Cookie Monster Envirosax $9.95

Flat of the Hill on Facebook is hosting a Envirosax giveaway right now! Click here to leave a comment and enter to win a 5-pack of Envirosax, value $40.