Girl On Top Book Tour

"In the fantasy of fashion, we want what's unattainable (both the body and the bag). In the world of career, it's all about supply and demand."

– Nicole Williams.

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About Nicole Williams:

Nicole Williams is a best-selling author and the founder of WORKS by Nicole Williams, the first media and content company marketed toward young professional women. Her advice is featured regularly in major media outlets including Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times. Nicole also appears on the Today Show, ABC’s Primetime, Good Morning America, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Fox News and CNN.

About the book:

Career expert Nicole Williams has written an ingenious book, Girl On Top, that turns dating rules into career strategies.

She dishes on how much to reveal at work, as well as what to put up with from your boss (and, more importantly, what not to). She tackles everything from having the money talk to leaving them wanting more on a job interview. And sprinkled throughout Girl on Top is fashion advice (“Top Ten Commandments of Style”) and checklists to determine if you need to get a life.

Nicole’s keen insight and candid advice will teach you how to recognize the good guys from the bad, win the kudos of those who matter, and create the career of your dreams.

The book hit stores/retailers October 12, 2009 and if you've already ordered your copy - forward the confirmation email from your purchase to myfreegift@nicolewilliams.com (be sure to include your name and address) and they’ll put a free tote in the mail for you. But hurry, supplies are limited!

Book tour:

To commemorate the launch of her new book, Nicole Williams is currently on a book tour in 16 cities nation-wide. Los Angeles was completed October 20th and NYC was completed October 15th.

Next stops on the book tour include:

10/23 Miami - 7535 Kendall Drive, Miami

10/26 Nashville - 1800 Galleria Boulevard, Franklin

10/28 Dallas - 8687 Northcentral Expressway, Dallas

10/29 Dallas - 13350 Dallas Parkway, Dallas

10/30 Houston - 5085 Westheimer (Suite 3725), Houston (Galleria II) from 6-9pm 

11/04 San Francisco - 2855 Steven's Creek Boulevard, Santa Clara

11/06 Seattle - 315 S. Center, Seattle

11/09 Vancouver - 788 Robson St., Vancouver

11/11 Minneapolis - 60 West Broadway, Bloomington

11/13 Chicago - 5 Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg

11/17 Boston - 1245 Worcester Road, Natick

11/18 Boston - 250 Granite St., Braintree

11/20 Cherry Hill - 502 Cherry Hill Mall, Cherry Hill

11/23 Washington DC - 1100 South Hayes St., Arlington

11/25 Toronto - location to be determined

Events are held at The Limited store. You must RSVP if you wish to attend the event held in your city. To RSVP: http://girlontopbook.com/tour

Also, there will be an exclusive 40% discount on The Limited's brand new business-chic attire (perfect for that next big meeting or job interview), a chance to chat up the women in your city that you need to have on speed dial (network), a gift bag valued at over $500 (full of stuff you'll actually use), free-flowing cocktails, as well as career advice from Nicole Williams (people pay big money for her words of wisdom).

RSVP today and let's toast to beauty, brains, and bossiness!

And don't forget to give your friends' information to attend the event too, because friends don't let friends network alone.

Chronicle Books

Summer reading? Maybe.
Really I just love books. Collecting them. Reading them. Shelving them.
I'm a book+magazine-whore, but only for ones that interest me and have amazing cover designs.

Here's a few from Chronicle Books that I recommend/love:

{For advertising advocates}

1.) Guerrilla Advertising by Gavin Lucas & Mike Dorrian [[$40]]
The advertising industry is in a state of flux. In an age where we can choose what media we consume, the traditional channels of television, press and poster are no longer always the most effective methods for a brand/company to reach its target audience. As a result, global brands are opting to implement ever more inventive and original schemes to get their projects talked about. Microsoft covered Manhattan in butterfly stickers, Volkswagen made a car out of ice and parked it outside the Saatchi Gallery in London, and Adidas suspended two soccer players high above the streets of Tokyo for a death-defying face off.

This book shows the best international examples of the varied and inventive tactics that are being used today by big-name brands, non-profit organizations and individuals to promote themselves, their ideas and their products.
Over 70 international campaigns are featured, grouped according to their approach: stunts, street propaganda, sneaky tactics, site-specific campaigns and multi-fronted attacks.

About the authors:

Gavin Lucas is a senior writer at the leading monthly communication arts journal Creative Review.

Mike Dorrian has been a designer for the last 13 years. He has co-edited and designed numerous books, including the highly successful Business Cards.


{For menswear maniacs}

2.) 100 Years of Menswear by Cally Blackman [[$40]]
A rich, comprehensive collection of images covering the revolution in menswear over the last 100 years with text by fashion historian Cally Blackman. Packed with images of Hollywood style icons, the artist personalities of the 1930s, and more, the evolution of menswear from practical to peacock is explored in an array of rarely seen photographs and illustrations.
The impact of Pierre Cardin, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and other designers is contrasted with the street fashion of the 1960s, punk, and the club scene to bring together the story of the flourishing menswear market in one invaluable book.

The unique collection will prove indispensable for all fashion students, historians of dress, and lovers of menswear.

About the author:

Cally Blackman is a writer and lecturer with degrees in Fashion Design and History of Art, and an MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She teaches on the BA Fashion History and Theory course at Central Saint Martins College. Her previous publications include 100 Years of Fashion Illustration (2007), Costume: From 1500 to the Present Day (2003), and The 20s and 30s: Flappers and Vamps (2000).


{For interior design ideas}

3.) Creative Space: Urban Homes of Artists and Innovators by Francesca Gavin [[$35]]
Creative Space looks at the studios, apartments, and homes of the designers, directors, stylists, artists, graffiti writers, curators, novelists, and innovators that are pushing the boundaries of contemporary culture. These are interiors created by people who shop in Colette in Paris, live on the Lower East Side in New York and travel to Tokyo. The domestic spaces are often D.I.Y and strongly reflect pop culture.

Looking at these interiors city by city, among the 30 homes featured in the book are those of artist and designer Julie Verhoeven and Maharishi founder Hardy Blechmann in London, graffiti artist Fafi in Paris, artists Ryan McGinness and Wes Lang in New York, innovative creatives Jaybo and Lucio Auri in Berlin, Barcelona filmmaker Roger Gual, and Tokyo's cult photographer Yasumasa Yonehara and artist Aya Takano. The spaces they inhabit and work in give a real image of today's avant garde.

About the author:

Francesca Gavin is a writer and editor based in London. She is currently the visual arts editor at Dazed & Confused magazine. She has written features and reviews for publications including Another, Blueprint, i-D, Art Review, Contemporary, Intersection, Marmalade, RA magazine, The Sunday Times, and Wonderland. She has written two books: Street Renegades: New Underground Art (2007), and Hell Bound: New Gothic Art (2008), both published by Laurence King.

There's more goodies on their website and if you love me or want to gift me, check out my wish list. x.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames

David Sedaris' new book is a must-read!

For those who do not know who he is: David Sedaris is a Grammy Award nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author, and radio contributor.

I love Sedaris' humor, mind and soul!

His latest book, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames," is a collection of essays on trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, being picked up by a driver that wants a blow job, buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina, having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane, fascination with dead bodies, language barriers and their consequences, armoring windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds, and venturing to Japan in order to quit smoking - among others.

The cover is major love - it's an early painting by Vincent Van Gogh called "Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette." The title of the book is named after a chapter in a booklet Sedaris found in a hotel room in Hiroshima.

To learn more about the book, listen to an audio interview with David Sedaris on Borders Media Live at 01: http://www.bordersmedia.com/liveat01/sedaris.

Games People Play

“Games are a compromise between intimacy and keeping intimacy away.”
– Eric Berne.

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I don't like when people assume to know me or know what's good for me!

I don't like games that involve twisted hearts, minds, and body parts!

But, some people play games and sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I always think if you act like a toy, I'll treat you like a toy! If you like to play games, I'll treat you like a game. But, I never think I'm good at playing games.

I detest getting attached to anyone/someone because then you'll have to be there for them and what happens when they aren't there for you?

It doesn't matter because there's only one that's there for me and this one will always be there for me. He's the only reason I am living! He's the only one that's ever truly cared, understood me, has been there for me (even at times when I was not there for him) and truly loves me regardless.

I guess I feel bad because I'm falling into my old habits/patterns.

Every time I take a step ahead, I fall two to three steps back...

Going Commando

So my friend, Marsadie, told me about this: Commandos Patches — the revolutionary, uniquely-shaped cotton disposable patch that safely sticks in the curved seam of your jeans and pants so you can go underwear-free in cotton comfort and protection. They come in black, denim, pale pink, light nude, and white.

"Be healthy, sexy and still in classy mystery."

I've never gone commando [[have you?]] but I want to. Usually I fantasize about going commando while having a rendezvous in Paris with monsieur Olivier Theyskens (the artistic director of French fashion house Nina Ricci). Although I'm pretty indecisive about these patches, I think going commando is best for summer with a lovely dress or skirt... just make sure to move like you're wearing a skin-tight pencil skirt otherwise it could turn into a Britney Spears or Kelly Osbourne incident.

FYI: At a party for (the editor-in-chief of Allure Magazine) Linda Wells' new book, "Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor," designers Tom Ford and Zac Posen admitted they frequently go without underwear.

Tank Books

As one habit dies hard, another takes hold.

As the ban on smoking in public places continues to sweep the United Kingdom, Tank Magazine launched a series of books designed to mimic cigarette packs – the same size, packaged in flip-top cartons with silver foil wrapping and sealed in cellophane.

Idea generator and design mavericks, (the British company) Tank Form has adopted an icon of design, stolen its meaning, turned it into pop art, and given it to a far less corrosive habit.

Titles [[$14 each]] include: Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"; Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and “The Undefeated”; Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis” and “In the Penal Colony”; Rudyard Kipling's “The Man Who Would Be King”; “The Phantom ’Rickshaw” and “Black Jack”; Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and Leo Tolstoy's “The Death of Ivan Ilych” and "Father Sergius."

Classic stories presented in classic packaging; objects desirable for both their literary merit and their unique design. A perfect gift for people on the move, lovers of literature and connoisseurs of design.

Available at Waterstones, Borders, Blackwell, Foyles, Magma and Urban Outfitters.