Everything Good is Gold

It all started with a simple purchase of gold, metallic spray paint.

Bottle in hand, I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. 

Before I knew it I was convincing myself that everything in my apartment should be gold.

Luckily I came to my senses right before I started painting the refrigerator. 

I actually purchased my spray paint at Wal-Mart but anywhere you can
find non-toxic, gold (or silver) paint is great!

My first project was to jazz up an inexpensive set of stemless wine glasses from Ross (only $4.99). I don't think they look that inexpensive at all anymore.

I followed the directions from my favorite DIY site and it was a relatively easy process that resulted in new glasses that I cannot wait to use!

A few tips!

*Wear plastic gloves if you want to protect your hands or nails, because mine are now covered in gold paint.

*Always spray outside in a well ventilated area!

*Wait until the paint is completely dry before removing the tape!

*Do not put these glasses in the dishwasher. Only hand wash!

Once I had finished the glasses I just walked around my apartment picking up other things that I could paint. You can't go wrong with gold paint-- it makes everything look better!

I bought this hand at Ross as well and used the gold spray to paint the bottom half and cover up the hideous pattern that was there previously. Now I have a chic, two-toned, gold jewelry holder.

These fun, patterned books are actually old Readers Digest that I bought for a dollar each at The Rink in Bethany. Using painters tape and a plastic bag I covered everything but the bind to create a 

display-worthy literary collection. 

Be glad that I didn't paint the cookies I was making gold too!

They will be on the blog tomorrow

Book Club

Welcome to A Peony for your Thoughts Book Club. Up for discussion today is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I started hearing buzz about this book from my two most reliable resources- Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today Show. After seeing it on their show I made a quick reminder in my phone notes to buy it and forgot all about it. It wasn't until I saw someone reading this book on a plane that I remembered that I needed to buy it and get reading before school started again and I ran out of time.

I finally bought the book in August and embarrassingly just finished it this past weekend. I do not want that to be an indication of how much I liked it, because I LOVED it, but would find myself holding my eyelids open as I tried to read just a chapter a night. It was an absolute page-turner and I would have loved to stay up through the night and finished it but my body wouldn't let me. 

The beautiful and clever Amy and her journalist-turned-bar owner husband, Nick, are five years into a marriage that, to put it mildly, hasn't gone as planned. Cut loose from their New York magazine jobs, forced to dig deep into Amy's trust fund to bail out her fiscally hapless parents, hit with news that Nick's mom is fatally ill, they swap their Brooklyn brownstone for a rented McMansion in Nick's recession-busted Mississippi River hometown of Carthage, Mo.

Then, on their fifth anniversary, something else goes terribly wrong: Nick returns home to find the front door open, signs of struggle, and Amy mysteriously gone. The disappearance quickly gains widespread attention, in large part because Amy happens to be "Amazing Amy"—the real-life inspiration for her psychologist parents' best-selling children's book series.

The urgent search for answers moves along parallel tracks. While detectives embark on an official missing person investigation, Nick pursues a trail of clues meant for him alone: messages in a scavenger hunt orchestrated by Amy, designed to lead him step-by-step to a surprise anniversary gift. This annual marital tradition has been an ongoing sore point, another fault line in the couple's crumbling storybook romance. Do Nick's failures to tap into his wife's thinking reflect a troubling narcissism and waning commitment to his marriage? Or is something else going on? Who is Amy really?

This book jerked me each and every way. I usually can tell where a story is headed, and this one threw me for a loop, well really about six loops. The minds of the characters are so twisted that you get drawn in just to discover you have no idea what is coming next. I found myself taking this book in the car to read at stoplights. While I was enjoying this, my fellow drivers were not.

If you are looking for a great read, then I recommend Gone Girl; you can even borrow my copy.

My next great read? I am not sure yet, but Nicole had some good recommendations here

Always looking for good suggestions!

Things I Love

" Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms. "

-Joe Fox, You've Got Mail

I love New York in the fall too, actually thinking about it now, I just realized I have never been to New York in the fall, but doesn't it just sound wonderful? 

I am leaving for this wondrous city tomorrow morning and cannot wait to spend the whole weekend with my sister in my favorite place to visit.

More on NYC to come tomorrow.

via. Cup of Joe

Did I mention that I love rooftops?

I love butternut squash. Still. Maybe more today than I loved it on Tuesday.

Wednesday night I made the most delicious flatbread with butternut squash, three types of cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan), onions, thyme, and fresh arugula on top. It was so good, and my grocery store better start keeping a steady supply of butternut squash around for me because I can't get my hands on enough recipes.

via. Real Simple
Original recipe found here too. I just adapted mine a bit.

I love the book I just finished. 

I realized I have never really talked about the books I read. I was reading two very different books, one being a romantic comedy in novel form by a witty-beyond-belief British author and the other, a little, well-known classic called Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Polar opposites. Maybe, if you are lucky you will get a book review on Grapes of Wrath later on, but today I have to talk about the story I just finished that had me laughing out loud. 

On a random rainy day trip to Barnes and Noble I picked up a book called Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell. 

Love.

Let me give a sneak peak.

"Miranda's track record with men is horrible. Her most recent catastrophe is Greg. Her seems perfect- gorgeous, witty, exciting. And he and Miranda are in love... until Miranda discovers that he is keeping a secret (or ten).

With the help of her friends, Miranda plan the sweetest and most public revenge a heartbroken girl can get. But will Miranda learn from her mistake, or move on to the next "perfect" man and ignore the love of her life waiting in the wings."

Obviously this novel is strictly fiction. Things like this don't happen in real life. 

 I could not put this book down (except the three days that I tragically misplaced it) and I can't wait to move on to other books written by the same author. Read anything by Jill Mansell if you are randomly laying on a beach in October, at a nail salon, or love clever one-liners and a good laugh. Read Grapes of Wrath if it is assigned by a professor, you are sitting by a cobblestone fireplace, or from Oklahoma (seeing as it is all about Okies). 

Until next time.

Okie state of mind today, tomorrow... Empire state of mind.