Friday Find: Bas Bleu

Confession time: I love information. I like knowing things. And I love books, because they give me information. And that, my dears, is why I PPH Bas Bleu.

What’s that you say? What is a Bas Bleu? Bas bleu (baa blue) is French for blue stocking. And a bluestocking is a literary woman. What this lovely little site does is sell books. Odd little books. Quirky little books. Interesting little books, both fiction and non-fiction. Most of these books you probably have never heard of, but if you read them you’ll be damn glad you did. I get this catalog at my house every holiday season and I always make a nice l “I need to read this” list.

My Bas Bleu Wish List 2011

• Who Put The Devil In Deviled Eggs? The Fascinating Stories Behind America’s Favorite Foods
• Signing Their Lives Away
• Deadly Dictionaries
• How To Write A Sentence And How To Read One
• The Bible: A Biography
• The Thinker’s Thesaurus

In addition to books, they have some great gift ideas that will work for anyone in your life: paint your own watercolor postcard kits, Roman numeral candles, uncommon sticky notes and even toys and books for kids. There is something about this site that just makes me very happy. I think it’s a wonderful destination for the woman who wants something more than what the big box stores offer. I dare you to poke around and not find something you’d love have for your very own.

You can also join the Bas Bleu Society for $30 a year and get free shipping, 15% off most regular-priced items, discounted gift wrap and special offers via e-mail. Oh, and a nifty little membership card.

Oh, come on. You know you want one.

Featured photo credit

Friday Find: Vintage Vinyl Journals

We are starting a new feature here at Buy-Her: Friday Finds, dedicated to Web sites that you may not have heard of, but really should know about. Not to worry; we’ll still be doing the ever-popular Friday Flops, but there are plenty of Fridays to go around! Now read on and enjoy our first Friday Find, Vintage Vinyl Journals.

 

I have a THING for paper products, specifically notebooks and journals. I can’t make it out of my local Staples without slowing down in the fancy notebook aisle. Whether spiral or perfect bound, give me a notebook with a nice cover and some good, weighty paper and I’m in love. So imagine my joy when I received an e-mail from Vintage Vinyl Journals introducing themselves.

Dare I ask for a sample?

I did and they were gracious enough to oblige me. And when it arrived I died, went to Heaven and came back again. Not only was it beautifully bound and full of heavyweight paper, there was something very special about this journal. The front cover was Janet Jackson’s “Control” album and the back was art from the album cover.

Yes, you read that right. There was a record on the front of my journal. That’s what Vintage Vinyl Journals are all about. They take old-school vinyl record albums and repurpose them into journals. Not only is that a clever way to keep vintage records out of the landfill, it makes a great gift for someone old enough to appreciate the distinctive pop and hiss of music embedded in vinyl.

The journals are well-made and sturdy and contain 240 pages of unlined, acid-free paper with a sewn-in bookmark. You can choose from a variety of genres, from classics like Bing Crosby to legends like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin to newer artists like Taylor Swift. They’ll even make a custom journal for you, often at no extra charge (depending on how hard the album is to find – if you’re looking for Al Jolson, you’ll probably have to pay a premium).

These books make a great gift for just about anyone, but for music lovers in particular. And they work even if the recipient isn’t a journaler. I’m not a fan of writing on unlined paper, so I’ve been using my journal as an inspiration book for home decor projects (I’m always on the hunt and love to pull pictures of things I like) so my ideas are all in one place. Other uses I thought of:

° Scrapbook— grab one with an album from the year someone’s child was born and fill it with pictures and mementos.
° Birthday gift for an old friend—choose a record from your high school years (or however far back you go) and paste pictures and memorabilia from that time inside.
°Concert tickets – this would be a great way to document all the fun you had (if you’re one who saves these things).

The possibilities are just about endless!

Disclaimer: As I said, Vintage Vinyl Journals was kind enough to give me a journal to use. It was my choice to write about it because this is exactly the kind of thing that makes me indescribably happy. I hope it will make you happy too.

Book Review: When Did I Get Like This?

You cruise along in your life, making decisions, getting things done, kicking life’s ass. And then one day you find yourself in a full-on panic because Chuck E. Cheese’s is booked on the day you planned your son’s birthday party and you don’t quite understand why you care so much. Amy Wilson‘s memoir, When Did I Get Like This? asks the very question that will inevitably go through your mind more times than you’ll care to admit once you’ve given birth. Or even thought that maybe it would fun to have a baby. Possibly.

For me it began when, after getting pregnant with scientific precision, I had a miscarriage. For Amy it began when she couldn’t accomplish what seems like a natural, easy thing: actually getting pregnant. Nothing makes you feel more like a failure than being unable to accomplish something 15-year-olds manage by accident in the back of some senior’s Mustang on a boring Saturday night. Except maybe actually having that baby.

I immediately bonded with Amy when I discovered she had the same distaste (pun intended) for What To Expect When You’re Expecting‘s now-defunct Best Odds Diet as I did. All through this book I found myself nodding my head along with her, from breastfeeding hysteria to knowing that something’s wrong with your child and everyone thinking you’re nuts to doing a really good job on something and having it go completely unnoticed and unremarked on (This, I believe, is the essence of motherhood: No one notices when you’re doing it right, but one bad moment and the whole world’s judging you).

The book is totally relatable; I can’t imagine a contemporary mother who hasn’t questioned both her maternal skills and her sanity after being assaulted with as much information and pressure to be “perfect” as we are subjected to on a daily basis. It’s about questioning every decision you make regarding your children and wondering frequently how in the hell your mother managed to get through your entire childhood without a stack of parenting books by her side (Hint: it’s because she didn’t have a stack of parenting books by her side). It’s about wanting to do what’s best for your kids and never really being sure exactly what that is. It’s the recognition that insanity has become the new sanity and none of us seems to be immune.

But what saves Amy, I think, is her sense of humor, her ability to see the insanity and identify it even while indulging in it. It’s the only sane thing to do, really.

Knowing you’re not alone is half the battle. If you’re a mom, go get this book. If you want to be a mom, go get this book.

You won’t be sorry.

Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog: A Book Review

I was at our local library Saturday using their internet and looking for something to read when I checked out the New Releases shelf and saw “Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog.”  That title? Totally caught my eye.  So I did what I always do before checking out a book, I checked out the back.

Lisa?  Writes like a blogger.

Why?  Because she writes a humor column for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

She also writes bestselling mystery novels.  And by bestselling?  I mean New York Times Bestsellers.

I fell in love with Lisa just from the introduction of this book alone.   Her mystery novels all have women, amazing ordinary women, as main characters.  When asked if she would ever write a man as a main character she answered “No.”  When asked why not, she answered “Because I have ovaries. I write what I know. “  Love her.

Lisa has been twice divorced (like me!!!) and has been beyond broke when first divorced (also? Like me!  We could be BFF’s. Or Twinsies!) In fact her life sounds a lot like yours “if you crave carbs, can’t find jeans that fit, and still believe these two things are unrelated.”  She has an great sense of humor, wit and wisdom.

She writes about amazing adventures of everyday lives.  Such topics as “Of Dogs and Men” where she explores the connection between the number of divorces a woman has in relation to the number of dogs she currently shares her bed with.  “Family Fun” where she tells us the life lessons she has learned from having her mother Mother Mary, and her gay brother Brother Frank visit for a week.  Such gems as “You can’t chloroform your mother” especially if your brother is around.  She writes about raising her only daughter on her own, and living with 4 dogs, 2 kittens, 14 chickens and hot flashes.

I sat down and read this book cover to cover, only coming up for dinner and sleep.  It’s a quick easy light-hearted read that woman of all ages can relate to and get a laugh out of.  She’s honest, and funny and writes what we’re all thinking but just don’t have the nerves or the place to say.

Whether you read her book, or just her column, please check out Lisa Scottoline.  She’s a woman’s woman with a great sense of humor.  You will be nodding your head in agreement and laughing along with her.

Feature photo by: April Narby

NOOKcolor Is The Best E-reader Ever

Santa brought me a NOOKcolor for Christmas.  I don’t want to rush to judgment, but I think the NOOKcolor may have changed my life forever.  For the past couple of years, I have resisted the e-reader trend.  No, I said, I like to hold books in my hand and sniff in their book smells.

Then, while chatting with some fine ladies, the great Kindle vs. Nook debate began.  As soon as I heard that I could get library books (for just as free as they are at the library) on a Nook and not on the Kindle, my loyalty to Amazon was gone.  Then, Google opened their ebook store.  So many classics for free.  (Not that I read classics.  I prefer light reads since my day job keeps me deeply entrenched in archaic prose.)  I can get the books from Google with the Nook.  Not with a Kindle.  Amazon, do you see where we are headed?

I planned to purchase it for myself for a holiday treat.  I had already asked my husband for a bag made of recycled seat belts.  (So cute and an entirely separate post.)  But, when two lawyers are married, things can get tricky.  It can get deposition-like.  The interrogations are fierce.  He figured out that I was up to something and got it out of me that I wanted and planned to purchase the NOOKcolor.  He insisted on playing Santa.

Well, I got my precious baby.  To say that I am in love is an understatement.

The color is absolutely dazzling.  It was a breeze to set up.  (I am technologically impaired with most devices.)  I downloaded my first book with ease.  (It took me longer to decide who would receive that great honor.  Steve Martin’s An Object of Beauty.)  I love the way that I can interact with the book.  It thrills me to highlight a word and be able to define it with the click of a button, and to search it on wikipedia with one more click.  I love that Pandora is automatically loaded as an extra so that I can listen to music as I read.  I can also use it for sodoku, even though I don’t remotely understand that game.

And, of course, there’s the internet.  So that I don’t have to get off of my lazy butt and walk across the room to my laptop or phone to check Facebook or Twitter.  In fact, it has a feature that will allow me to update my status in any of my books to FB or Twitter.  So, if you want to know how I am making out with the new Franzen, it’s there.  (I”m finished with the Steven Martin book.  So good.)

Clearly, I’m a smitten kitten with my NOOKcolor.  If you thought that an e-reader was not going to work for you because you like to hold books, get a cover – it feels just like a book.  But when was the last time a book would sing to you?

Two questions that I’ve gotten from friends who had heard early criticisms.  Is it easy to read in daylight due to the backlight?  I have no idea.  I don’t go outside.  I will eventually check on this, just so I can answer people’s questions.  Also, is the touch super sensitive? Not that I’ve found.  We’re getting along just fine.

You can buy the NOOKcolor at your local Barnes & Noble or online.  The price is $249.  You can download certain library books for free.  The price range on ebooks depends on the site.  Most bestsellers range from $9.99-12.99.  You can find some good sales on both Google and BN.com.  The free section on both sites offers a lot of good selections, too.

5 Gifts for Minimalists

I may be one of the few people in the world who hate when someone asks, “what do you want for Christmas/your birthday?”

It’s not that I don’t like people buying me presents; it’s that I don’t like people buying me crap.  And my threshold for what constitutes not crap seems to be higher than most people’s.  I’m very picky about the stuff that I let accumulate in my life, and I’m only getting more picky with age.  I don’t want candles or bath salts or kitschy home decor items.  I don’t mean to be a bitch, but owning stuff means having to clean, put away and make room for stuff.  I try to ensure that the stuff I will end up cleaning, putting away and making room for is stuff that is really, really important to me.  Scented candles?  Not even close.

What do you get a minimalist crab like me?  Of course, you can always give gift certificates and “experience” gifts.  But if you absolutely have to have something to wrap up in pretty paper, try some of these gift ideas.

5 Great Gifts For Women Who Hate Stuff (Or Call Themselves Minimalists)

1. Great sheets

I love sleeping in other people’s houses when they have better bed linens than I do, especially because I almost always end up going cheap on my own sheets.  A gift of high quality sheets would get enjoyed over and over again and is really a gift of every day luxury.

Style & Co makes a 300 count cotton percale sheet set that is soft, durable and easy to care for.  Available at Macy’s.

2. Leather driving gloves

These leather driving gloves from Saks ooze cosmopolitan style and they’re practical!  Fingers get cold!  A quality pair of gloves will last a woman years.

3. A Miche Bag (and shell, or two)

My mother has one of these and I am craving one of my own.  I need to get rid of the closet full of handbags I currently own, but a girl still  needs a purse!  This lets me be fashionable without taking up any space at all.  You see, the Miche bag allows you to change the outside of your handbag while reusing the same base over and over and over again.  If you haven’t heard of this yet, checkout their site.  Then buy me one.  Please.

4. E-reader

Whether it’s a Nook, Kindle or a Sony, an e-reader takes the bulk of a bookshelf and puts it into a slim, portable reading device.  A Nook may be the best bet for your favorite minimalist if she likes to lend and borrow books or make use of her local library.  You can find refurbished Nooks on eBay at a significant discount.

4. Handmade soaps

Bath salts?  No.  But soap?  Even minimalists wash up and handmade soaps will get used and be loved.  They’re also relatively inexpensive.  LUSH makes the absolute best soaps (and other body products), but you’ll get a better product if you purchase in store than you will if you order online and have to have it shipped.  Bath & Body Works is a satisfactory substitute if necessary.

5. Scarves

I may be pruning my closet in preparation for my big trip around the country, but I am keeping every single one of my scarves.  A collection of colorful scarves prevent minimalists from walking around in the beatnik black uniform.  Bonus? You get find tons of great colors and fabrics for a steal all over.  Target is my favorite place for scarves (and tights!).

Gifts For Photographers

Photography is a wonderful, if expensive hobby. Gifts for photographers, whether they be amateur, professional or semi-professional, are always appreciated and will absolutely keep you in the will (this may just be me, though, so just suffice it to say they’ll be happy). Here’s what I am lusting after right this minute:

Gift Ideas For The Photographer

Canon EF-S 60mm f 2.8 Macro USM Lens. Buy me this baby and you’re covered until next year at least (lens are a bit pricey). I’ve been craving a macro lens, which lets you take very close-up photos. This handy lens gets excellent reviews, and word is that it works beautifully as a portrait lens, which can save you a little money as you might be able skip buying that little “nifty fifty” that’s in almost every photographer’s tool kit.

An Epiphanie Bag. A cute camera bag? No. A gorgeous camera bag. Bags, actually. Like Coach for your Canon, Prada for your Pentax, Louie for your Leica (OK, I’ll stop now). I can carry one of these lovelies and leave my purse at home and no one will even know. Genius. Created by a lady photographer, naturally. An Epiphanie would certainly encourage me to carry my camera more. A Ginger or a Belle, in brown. Please and thank you.

Gorillapod. Finally, finally they make one of these for SLRs! This tripod is portable (it’ll fit my Ginger or Belle) and talented: It’ll wrap around a tree branch, railing, sign or almost any other place and hold your camera steady. It would be great for taking shots of fireworks at Disney or sunrises on the beach or… whatever. If you’ve ever had to lug around a tripod you know how huge this is. HUGE.

White Balance Lens Cap. If you’ve ever taken a photo that came out a bit wonky in the color department, you’ve experienced the joy of incorrect white balance. There are these cards that you can use to help adjust it, but that’s just one more thing to carry. Enter this ingenious lens cap. It stays on your camera lens all the time, like any other lens cap. When you’re ready to shoot, take a picture with the lens cap on (remember to switch to auto white balance), and you’ll have perfect white balance for your conditions. Perfect. Great stocking stuffer.

Vanity Fair: The Portraits. Everyone needs inspiration, and Vanity Fair consistently delivers. I’ve wanted this book for a long time, but just can’t bring myself to buy it. That’s exactly what gifts are for, aren’t they?

Five Book Series I Can’t Put Down

When Britt put out the call for women who love books, movies, music and tech, she might as well have tagged me directly. I devour media as if it were my last meal. All day long, I am a wife, mother, Scout leader, PTO volunteer, home business owner and more. And, at night? I read, I watch, I play. Mostly, though, I read. I read fiction. I read mysteries. I read non-fiction. I read memoirs. I read really, really crappy romance. I prefer to read books in a series. There’s just something comforting about it—the way you get to know the characters, follow their lives and pickup a new book like it’s an old friend. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich: Every time I read one of these books, I am literally laughing out loud. The hubby is constantly asking, “What?” then noticing the title of my book. “Oh.” I can’t quite picture Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, but the books are always, always better anyway. (So, read this series before the first movie comes out next summer!)
• “In Death” by J.D. Robb: Nora Roberts writes her mystery series under this pen name. Set in the future, the series pairs a tough NYC cop chic with an Irish former criminal. You can almost hear the sexy lilt to his voice. Now, there’s one I’d like to see on a big screen. Love, money, murder—what more can a girl ask for?
• Bridal Quartet by Nora Roberts: Back to her traditional-style romance writing, four friends live, love and work together as wedding planners. Each book follows one of the women through her story of finding The One.The fourth and final book was released earlier this month. I was sad to see it end, but I can revisit our friends over and over again. That is the beauty of a good book series.
• Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer: Perhaps it is a bit cliche to include the Twilight Saga, but as I’ve read these books over a dozen times in the last 2 years, there was no way to leave it out. Sure the writing is bad. The story isn’t all that great. And, okay, being inside the head of a lovesick teen is annoying at best. Still, Meyer develops characters like no one else. They get in you. Alice is my friend. Emmett is the big brother I’ve always wanted. Edward is my favorite fictional boyfriend. And, Rosalie—well, Rosalie is just a bitch. But, I’ll never stop reading Twilight.
• Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington: Stephanie Plum meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding—written by a husband & wife team. How much fun is that? They started writing once upon a time for Harlequin, and I love their dynamic—yes, that Harlequin. Shuddup. Love Bites, the next in the series comes out in a few months—it’s available for preorder now.

Now, it’s your turn. Poke fun, confess your own weakness or recommend something new for me to read in the comments below. (Or, answer the truly burning question—Team Ranger or Morelli?)

Photo by: ginnerobot

One-Item Holiday Wish List: Kindle

A few years ago my Husband and I came up with an ingenious money-and-relationship-saving plan:  We stopped exchanging gifts.  This had the upside of not spending money on gifts and trying to guess what the other wanted under the tree, and the downside of all the joy of Christmas being sucked the hell out.  It was all about the spirit of the season and family and crap like that.  It’s a Christmas miracle that we’ve avoided a massacre thus far.

This year, I’m being more bold.

I WANT A KINDLE.

I’m worried that I’m the last person in America to get one, and that if I buy it for myself, all sorts of alarms will go off and a parade of mockers will come out and point their fingers at me, so it’s a good thing to put on my “to be gifted” list.

I’ve resisted a Kindle for a while because of some prehistoric attachment to paper, and the love of “flipping pages” but I have to face facts:  I do  most of my reading on the train, and often I hesitate to bring a big, heavy book.  Because if it’s between reading material and a herniated disc, I’m afraid I’m going to have to go with health and safety.

And it doesn’t help that everyone I know who has one keeps raving about it.  And a few of my friends have even let me touch theirs.  It’s light and fun and the text is readable and I’m tired of lugging around my papyrus scrolls.

So, yes.  This holiday season I want a Kindle.  And if you could throw in some world peace, that would great.
The Kindle is available from Amazon.com.  Let me know if you’d like shipping information.

Feature image by Kevin Dooley

Good Enough to Eat Indeed!

Allow me to introduce you to Stacey Ballis.  Besides blogging at The Polymath Chronicles, Stacey is a fabulous author.  She is the partner in crime to another of my beloved authors and bloggers, Jen Lancaster and I tell you no lie, I would gladly give up just about any vice to be a fly on the wall when those two get going. Stacey has a new book, Good Enough To Eat.

I have a special place in my heart for books by bloggers but my literary tastes are vast, I’ll read anything as long as it isn’t a bodice-ripping Harlequin romance, a Western, a Sci-Fi book or anything that Stephen King has touched.  And aside from my love of Chick Lit, Memoirs, Forensic Thrillers and True Crime, Not to mention, I’m a book-a-holic.  I read about 3 books a week.  I devour them at an inhuman pace and my computer pretty much just points itself to Amazon without any prompting.  (Although much to my husband’s delight, I have recently procured a library card.)

Having read three of Stacey’s previous books, Inappropriate Men, Room for Improvement and The Spinster Sisters, I was so excited to hear about her newest release and pre-ordered it on Amazon months and months before it was released.  When it showed up, it was all I could do to keep myself from feigning a pathetic cough and rushing home to curl up on the back porch with my new treasure.

Stacey’s protagonists are always strong, powerful and unapologetic women and the latest, Melanie Hoffman, is no exception.  After working hard for nearly two years to lose half her body weight, Melanie has gone to culinary school and now runs a take-out business specializing in healthy gourmet food.  Then one day, with no warning,  her previously supportive husband up and leaves her for a woman twice her size.

I could not put this book down for the two days it took me to finish it.  Stacey Ballis has surrounded Melanie (who I adored secondly only to Sidney, the witty, sexy plus-sized star of “Inappropriate Men”) with intriguing friends and family and weaves a really wonderful story of a woman who thought she’s come to the end of a journey, when in fact, she’s only at the beginning.   I’d call it a beach read if it weren’t so freaking cold outside.  And yet… it has more to it than a normal beach book… more heart.

Stacey’s books are refreshing because they are about REAL women.  These aren’t supermodels skipping around Manhattan in 4-inch heels with mysterious unlimited funds (although I do profess a guilty pleasure for those books as well).  Her subjects are smart, witty, accomplished women who aren’t afraid of their faults and love themselves just the way they are.  Just between you and me?  That’s the kind of role model I would want for myself and my daughter… if I had one.

Find Good Enough to Eat, along with all Stacey Ballis’s books, on Amazon.

Featured photo by Horia Varlan

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