Miss Thompson in New Orleans

Julia Reed's charming The House on First Street documents how

she and her husband rehabbed an old house in New Orleans,

just before Katrina hit. She loves to eat and drink (she writes

for Vogue and the NYTimes) and that joy and enthusiasm

permeates every page. Delightful for anyone who loves houses.

Nose in A Book

Loved this week: Two true ones

Cathy Alter's UP FOR RENEWAL--how she

straightened out her life with advice

from women's magazines.

And Nancy Peacock's BROOM OF ONE'S OWN:

reflections on writing. She cleans houses when

she's not writing, and she's right--you need something else

to do each day besides sit at your computer and write.

Keeps you alive in the world.

Today I'm wearing Sassaby's Pineapple Delight Frost Lipstick,

topped with Clinique's Color Surge Butter Shine "Pink Goddess'...

kind of like wearing a Pina Colada on your mouth.... 

....Hey.... where's that pool boy? ....

Miss Thompson Goes Political

Just finished The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg, recommended

by my brainy and beautiful friend LWT. Kept flipping back to the family tree 

to figure out all the complicated connections, as the

Walker and Bush sides of the family intertwined. A multigenerational 

"inside look" at the family whose not-favorite son

will soon be out of the White House. 

Wear sheer Mango Lip Butter from The Body Shop to read this one.

Miss Thompson Stays Up Late

I started reading Please Excuse My Daughter by Julie Klam

about 4 pm yesterday, and finished it at midnight.

Another true story. Klam's a writer (she worked as David Letterman's

personal intern for a while; she says he's a great boss)

and former spoiled brat who tells about having 

to grow up and make money instead of depending on

her husband to support her. Dog Otto (Boston

terrier) is a big character, too, as is baby Violet 

(but that comes later). (Riverhead Books/Penguin, $23),

but Miss Thompson got this book at the library. 

Put your foundation on before your concealer so it

doesn't slip away.

Miss Thompson in a Diamond Necklace

Oh, those California girls!

A bunch of women in California pooled their money

and bought a fabulous diamond necklace--the kind of splurge

no one would probably indulge in on their own, but that was do-able as a group.

Each woman got to wear the diamond necklace during their

birthday month. Daughters got married wearing it, the

necklace went on vacation--a guy even wore it at the local

coffee shop.  This is a true story about the power of women's

friendships and sharing, and the good works that

came from this single indulgent purchase. Bling bling bling!

The Necklace by Cheryl Jarvis (Ballantine, $24).

Prescriptives.com had free shipping last week, so I 

finally got a new Reflective Eye Pencil in Beaming Black--mine

was down to a nub--

and my favorite brush-on lip gloss in Neutron. $17.50 each.

If you've got a lipstick or gloss you've used up, that

means the color looks good on you. Buy another.

Miss Thompson Punches Up Her Decor

If you're a hypochondriac like me, or know someone

who is, you'll love Jennifer Traig's Well Enough Alone.

She's a hypochondriac, too. When you worry about

your health, it's fun to read about someone who shares your

affliction.

I was talking to my best friend Eve yesterday. She's an interior

designer. She was warning me about Big 

Decorating Mistakes. (Her exact words were, "If you feel yourself going towards any

of these things, STOP!")

So remove these things from your house at

once:

-Linoleum

-Fish decor in your bathroom (I have this)

-The color aqua

-Dried flowers

Then do this:

•Update your lamps. Get rid of old lamps or change 

the lampshades. Put a lamp in your laundry room, and a small lamp

on your kitchen counter. If you've got a lamp that looks dowdy, 

add a riser--a little screw-on piece--

beneath the finial at the top of the lamp. It will 'raise the hemline' of your lampshade

just a tiny bit--and that  can make all the difference. 

•Simple bedding and fewer pillows. 

•Paint your front door hot pink. Add a door knocker. "It's like

your house took a shower." 

• Replace your dog's ratty bed with a new one that matches your

decor. (Eve buys her dog beds at COSTCO; I've seen cute ones at Target and TJMaxx.)

• Buy fun colorful dishes--a few solids, a few prints.

• Always use bone china teacups--"so it feels like

tea at The Plaza."

• Split up your dining-room set: Put the formal chairs in the

kitchen; buy wicker chairs for the dining room. Or mingle fun 

chairs around the table, with two upholstered armless chairs  for the host and hostess. "No matchy-matchy," 

warns Eve. (She's so bossy.)

• Paint your hutch or breakfront white and use it as a guest room wall 

unit. Or wallpaper the inside and use it in your bedroom.

• Buy a funky chair for your living room, to shake things up.

• Add something black to every room as an exclamation point. 

Eve has bare wooden stairs, and painted the banisters, 

balusters, and railings black. "Make it bold and make it a focal point."

• Toss dead plants that drop their leaves; they're a downer. Buy a quality silk tree 6-feet high from NSI or some other good company.

• Eve says red living rooms and jewel-tone rooms are OUT! 

Instead, "use soft soothing pale colors." 

(Eve decorated her bedroom in black patent leather when she was a teenager.)

Eve's lipstick: Anything from NARS.

I just bought Edgar Sawtelle for my mom for her birthday;

I hope it's as good as everyone says.  

My lipstick today is "Glaze"

by Club Monaco--not even made anymore. Could be the Monica

Lewinsky lipstick, I'm not sure. Vote Obama and let's head

for a new future! Miss Thompson signing off.  

Miss Thompson's Reading Room & Lipgloss Hut

My fabulous friend LWT reports she's loving What Happened to Anna K, "a sort of modern-day Anna Karenina set in modern day Russian Jewish Brooklyn...really interesting and good--and a first book by the author."  I'm getting it! Of course, LWT is wearing her signature red lipstick: her latest, the new Lipstick Queen Saint Red lipstick by Poppy King from vivre.com. As Benny Goodman would say, "Pow! Pow! Pow!"

I just finished Phillip Lopate's Two Marriages. Two novellas about two different marriages. Well done. How do people think of these things?