Sometimes I do indeed feel like I live under a rock, I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know about the very special moon last night, the moon that only happens once every 33 years, that moon. If I did know about it maybe I would have done something special like create a list, or make some resolutions or wishes or something. I did nothing. On occasions such as this instead of flogging myself, I decide to just try a little harder starting —right now. It seems to work, nobody (that I know of) has gotten farther in life by berating themselves. One way to move onward and upward is to do a little self introspection, but unless you are inclined to journal or go to therapy, which I am hopeless at both (which is why I probably should be doing both), is to break out Moorea Seal’s 52 Lists Project book. Moorea, a dedicated list maker started the 52 Lists Project on her blog and it soon became a huge hit, which became her book (who doesn’t love a good list?) Her book is part journal (via the lists), part inspiration and a whole lot of eye candy via the beautiful photographs and illustrations. I think today is as good a day as any to give away one of Moorea’s beautiful books and what better way to do so than to pose a question from her book?  This was a hard question for me to answer and feel free to add more than one item, because if you asked me about my childhood dream job it would probably be quite huge (and amusing). In order to enter to win add your answer in the comments:

List your childhood and current dream job

We will choose a winner on Monday, October 5, 2015!  Good luck!

P.S. I’ve read many books about writing things you want down and somehow they miraculously come into fruition, who knows? By writing your dream job down it just may happen…

Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin is a classic, even though it was released in 1998, the make-up and lessons are still very relevant and the cover has lasted the test of time (hello, hand lettering!) I was really going back and forth with what book cover to present during a beauty week and I kept coming back to this one. I was such a huge fan of Kevyn Aucoin and wished that I could one day be made over by his genius, alas, that will never happen so this book and his many others are great resources and references for any make-up aficionado.

Do you have any fave make-up books?  We would love to hear!

If you haven’t surmised the theme of this week–it’s books! But of course you gathered that already because you my friend are not only pretty and witty but brilliant. We usually mention a font about this time during the week and we thought it might be fun to incorporate a font + a book. We are sure you are familiar with the simple elegance which is Kinfolk, each of their magazines feels like a covetable collectible, branding is pitch perfect and of course fonts play an integral role.

The title font just may be custom but it seems like the consensus is that it is OptimusPrinceps, which is supposedly a more rough/organic Trajan. I can tell you that I have never given Trajan as much as a side glance so I was a little taken aback by this discovery. It’s a nice note to self to not be so closed minded design wise and to step out of ones comfort zone. The body text used is a classic, I have used it in in projects myself as I really like a nice classic serif, the equivalent of a nicely fitted white button down, it will always be in style and is a good base piece in any wardrobe. The base text is Adobe Calson, some computers may even have it as a default font! If you don’t have it as a default, it can get spendy, here are some options that are near identical-here, here and here. For fun, here are some nice hand drawn/wonky versions-here and here.

Hooray – it’s officially summer in these parts! Time to pour a tall glass of  (my current favorite) grapefruit soda and sparkling water (50/50 mix), lounge on a blanket in the shade and get lost in a book. If you don’t already have your reading list lined up, I have some ideas for you. These are a few of my latest reads with a couple of all time favorites sprinkled in for good measure:

Rooftoppers  by Katherine Rundell

A charming and whimsical story about a young girl searching for her long-lost mother. She has a caring and supportive adoptive father and a band of homeless children who live on the rooftops of Paris to help her in her search. If you happen to be in Paris, reading this may cause you to glance up at the rooftops more often!

Leon and Louise by Alex Capus

A story of rare and true loves and all of the barriers life throws their way. Leon and Louise feel so real, you’ll be wrapped up in their lives in no time.

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

The main character is an unfairly disgraced artist, who just needs to get her footing again in the art world. There’s a mystery, a love story, and you’ll be amazed what kind of work goes into forging a famous painting.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I’ll admit I had a hard time rooting for the main character for much of this book – she’s a wreck, and not a very sympathetic wreck at that. What kept me interested was all of the twists and turns, and the characters who are capable of anything – it keeps you guessing!

If you’ve ever had that feeling of not wanting a book to end, you’ll know how I felt after reading Water for Elephants. I just wasn’t ready to walk away from the circus world. So I dove headlong into these two books and was very happy I did:

Among the Wonderful by Stacy Carlson

On the surface this is a story about two of the employees of P.T. Barnum’s Museum of Wonders, but it’s really about humanity with a side of New York City life in the 1840’s.

Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

A story about the life of Lavinia Warren. I couldn’t help but admire how she chose to listen to her instincts rather than cave into fear in a time when women weren’t often taken seriously and it was socially acceptable to treat her as if she were a doll instead of a real person. That’s true grit if you ask me.

And finally, Like Water for Chocolate, and Chocolat (and Five Quarters of the Orange) came up over the dinner table the other night. We all loved how these books wove sensory elements into their very rich storylines. Definitely worth a read if you haven’t already!

So tell me, have you read any good books lately???

P.S. This photo was treated with a little ‘La Vie en Rose’ action. We were in the mood for a touch of blush, it felt apropos for the beginning of summer and the launch of our class. Those that are on our mailing list received it for free. Yes, free! Every month we send out another free action to our subscribers so if you want in, come sign-up!