Welcome High Gloss Magazine! I actually heard about this magazine the other night while watching Chelsea Lately from Ms. Handler herself (the contents of her purse are featured in one spread). Wow, while the print magazines are disappearing, it’s opening up a lot of opportunities for enterprising creatives to create online magazines. High Gloss, you had me with the ivory donut phone and the twin Dorothy Draper dressers on the cover…

I’m so happy this article is up online from Sunset. It’s an inspiring story about a family (The Johnsons) who cut out so much of their stuff and try hard to live the Zero Waste life. A commenter on their site named Stephanie summed it up pretty well “This article has stuck with me, challenged me, frustrated me, and inspired me.” Seriously, you cannot win; I remember reading about their compostable toothbrushes being sent from Australia and thinking “well, shipping from Australia kind of cancels out the fact that they are compostable.” Also, the wife mentions that she sends the little sticky strip from Netflix back to Netflix so it won’t go in her own trash. O.K., but you haven’t eliminated it. But these are the words of a cynic. The greater point is that these people are trying very hard to live smaller, produce as little waste as possible, and spend less. Their tips regarding toys, food, and wardrobes is great, and overall, if you can pick up just one good tip from the Johnsons then it was worth reading.

Speaking of working with a small budgets and small wardrobes, here is another article that will help you cut down from The New York Times this year. It’s about going a month on just six pieces of clothing and includes links to some fun blogs where people share what they come up with.

image by Thomas J. Story for Sunset Magazine

A favorite tweet this week led us to Wallpaper*’s slideshow from Art Basel in Miami. To see the whole slideshow (79 images) , click here.

Hey All!

I know it’s Wednesday already and my Thanksgiving week of blogs is a jumble, but I have to ask: Do you Rue? I just wanted to make sure you know that the new issue of Rue Magazine is live. I’m triple dipping, as it’s great for Inspiration Monday:

Environmental Tuesday: It saves on paper and those pesky carbon footprints the mail truck makes because it’s online.

Finally, Organization Wednesday: It contains beautiful images of my personal most-coveted closet, that of Sea of Shoes’ Jane Aldridge and her mum Judy Aldridge. I envy their (sometimes shared) wardrobe more than any other in the world. If you love fashion and you haven’t checked out the Sea of Shoes blog, I promise once you visit once you won’t be able to stop! Here’s a peek at how Judy curates her closet like a museum display. To see the rest (and there is a LOT more, you’ll have to go Rue – it starts on page 110)

• Image 1: photographed by Manny Rodriguez for Rue (interior designer is Samantha Reitmayer-Sano)
  
• Image 2: photographed by Michael Wells for Rue (it’s a Windsor Smith designed room)
• Image 3: photographed by Manny Rodriguez for Rue (interior designer is Samantha Reitmayer-Sano)

Yesterday the premiere issue of Anthology landed in my mailbox and it made me so happy to hold a new glossy in my hands! Meg Mateo Ilasco and Anh-Minh Le are the two wonderwomen behind this new addition to the magazine racks. While some might find the $12 price tag steep, think of it this way: with so few home decor magazines on the scene today, I for one have turned to foreign glossies for inspiration, and their price tags are a lot steeper than this one. It’s the kind of magazine that will not make it to the recycling bin; for me it’s more of a big design book with a soft cover.  I love that these talented and prolific ladies have put together so much great content independent of some huge publishing conglomerate, one that keeps shuttering some of our favorite titles. I highly recommend picking up a copy. For more information on how to order or where to find it, visit anthologymag.com.

Anthology cover image illustrated by Kris Atomic.