Ugh. I’m disgusted over the whole NBC vs. Conan thing. I love Conan. He’s such a stand-up guy — he personally paid the salaries of the entire “Late Night” staff while the show was on hold during the writer’s strike. He deserves the best. Now that his departure from “The Tonight Show” seems to be a done deal, I hope he moves to a network that backs him up.

Just had to show my support.

Image by http://sirmikeofmitchell.com

Turning up the intensity on the beach theme by adding some tropical heat:

Always with thanks to Style Me Pretty!

It’s a week of beach wedding color inspiration! This time, we’re focusing on orange and aqua with a foundation of navy blue.

Thanks again to Style Me Pretty!

More inspiration for a dreamy, beachy wedding:

Inspiration Board photos and technology courtesy of Style Circle.

A little color inspiration today, thanks to Style Me Pretty:

I’ve been waiting all week to post this quote from Rebecca for my Teaser Tuesdays entry! True, this is not a quote from a random page, but it’s so striking and haunting an image that I’m posting it anyway! Think of it this way: it’s hand-selected, just for you!

A refresh of the Teaser Tuesday guidelines:

* Grab your current read.
* Let the book fall open to a random page.
* Share with us two (or more) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on the page.
* Share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.
* Please avoid spoilers!

“There might linger there still a certain atmosphere of stress… That corner in the drive, too, where the trees encroach upon the gravel is not a place in which to pause, not after the sun has set. When the leaves rustle, they sound very much like the stealthy movement of a woman in evening dress, and when they shiver suddenly, and fall, and scatter away along the ground, they might be the patter, patter, of a woman’s hurrying footstep, and the mark in the gravel the imprint of a high-heeled satin shoe.”

–Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier, (c) 1938
Chapter two, page 14

Chilling! I love it. I like to think Alfred Hitchcock was at home reading this book before a nice fire, and those lines convinced him to make this book into what would become his 1940 Oscar-winning film. I’m sure in reality some guy brought him the screenplay, but it’s a nice thought, right?

Sometimes I watch “The Office” while working at home so I feel like I have co-workers. And also because the guy who plays Jim is really cute.

Recently I entered a contest hosted by BronteBlog.com to win a free copy of the book Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler. Not long ago I got an email saying that I won and today my book arrived! It is a truly beautiful book. I’ve never seen a paperback of such high quality. It has a folded cover that seems more like a book jacket and the pages have a deckled edge that is so quaint and elegant.

The coolest thing about winning the contest (besides just winning, which I rarely do) is that this was the only Bronte-related book on my 2010 reading list that the main library downtown didn’t have. The Chicago Public Library is unbelievable, and the fact that they had all 10 or 15 of the books I was looking for besides this one is so impressive to me. And thanks to the contest, the Bronte portion of my book list is complete! Thank you again, Bronte Blog!

Another Teaser Tuesday entry! I’m posting this on Wednesday but I’m shameless enough to change the timestamp so it looks like it was done on Tuesday. But at least I’m honest enough to admit it here for posterity.

A refresh of the Teaser Tuesday guidelines:

* Grab your current read.
* Let the book fall open to a random page.
* Share with us two (or more) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on the page.
* Share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given.
* Please avoid spoilers!

And my quote:

“I stood in front of a photograph of Toddington leaving the Old Bailey, and said, ‘Oh, Toddy, we’re in such a mess!’ and then I cried, and then, in the odious way that these things intrude themselves, I began to dramatise the situation and to plan a story about it for The Rattler, and I wrote out the plot, crying all the time, and got into bed at three, and had no sleep till five o’clock.”

Frankly, I can’t believe I’ve lived my whole life without reading this book. It’s so whimsical and funny and creative and oddball that I know I would have gone all “kindred spirit” on it when I was younger. I feel like it’s the kind of novel that probably will change the way I write from now on, even if I don’t consciously think about it while writing. It’s deliciously clever. I’m about halfway through and basically I never want it to end.

I had the longest day, so tonight I turned to my favorite funnyman, Conan, for a little relief. And who was I lucky enough to catch as his guest? None other than Patton Oswalt–my second favorite funny guy. I laughed so hard my abs got a much-needed workout and I scared one of the cats out of the room. I love those two together.

This morning when I woke up my hair really resembled Conan’s pompadour. My bangs are getting longish and this morning they were piled into a giant swoop. And since I’m going through another redhead phase, I really looked like I had on a Conan Halloween costume. Actually, that might be something to consider for this Halloween…

NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater