Happy Halloweenie

My gorgeous, Martha-inspired jack o' lantern village:


Please make sure and note the killer dormer windows on the large one. I was so excited to put them out on the front stoop and light the little tea lights inside them, and their hotness almost makes up for the fact that it's already 7:15 and I've only had two trick-or-treaters (although they were very cute ones).

Yaddo, yaddo, yaddo...

What is Yaddo?

Since I'm looking for a job in publishing, the first thing I do with a new book is to flip through to see if there's an acknowledgments page (and I hate when there isn't one) to see who the editor, agent, etc. is. I frequently see "Yaddo" listed, most recently in the book I'm currently reading, Lucky Girls, a short story collection by Nell Freudenberger.

Yaddo is an artist's retreat located in Saratoga Springs, NY that has hosted many notable writers and poets like David Sedaris, Mark Jarman, Erica Jong, Julia Alvarez, and Ann Patchett. Anyways, it sounds interesting and I want to read more about it.

http://yaddo.org

No shrinking violet

After some trials, I finally found the perfect shade of dark nail polish. It's Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer in Deepest Violet, and it's a beautiful deep purplish black color (unfortunately I couldn't find an online shot of the color). My first nail polish attempt was pretty much disastrous. I decided to be brave and go for a dark color, OPI in Russian Navy from the new Russian Collection. It looked pretty and sparkly in the bottle but horrific on my nails.


I'm excited I found such a pretty fall color and to make another acquisition in my obsession with all things The Hills.

Lauren, I heart your nails, even though they're Chanel and mine are CVS