Maine Magazine Launches 2011 Guide Books

Maine magazine, the stylish bible of "more than just lobsters and lighthouses", has debuted its 2011 guides to the best the Pine Tree State has to offer. This year in addition to the Eat Maine edition launched last year they've added Art Maine and Home Maine versions with help from sister publication Maine Home + Design. Indispensable for both visitors and natives alike, the pocket-sized booklets act as a Baedeker to the best in dining, decor and the arts around the beautiful northern and easternmost bit of New England. Of course they do list the best lobster rolls in the Eat edition but that's just the tip of the icecap. The guides are priced at $5.95 and come free to subscribers; alternatively they can be found at many Portland businesses and are also available from the magazine directly.

Holiday Shopping Guide: 8 Gifts for Book Lovers

In a world that increasingly favors digital and paperless technology the experience of reading books is not the same as it used to be, but no matter if you prefer turning pages by pressing a button on an e-reader or by hand the old fashioned way there will always be something magical and mysterious about real paper books. A new Kindle and a boatload of e-books is great for some reads (like working through the current New York Times best-seller list) but when it comes to true reading luxury and timeless, endearing gifts for the book lovers on your holiday shopping list we say go for good old-fashioned hardcovers and beautiful, well-made accessories.

Bee & Butterfly Bookmarks, $30
As pretty as antique jewelry these Bee and Butterfly bookmarks are handmade in the USA of brass and plated metal with colored Swarovski crystal accents, beautiful floral patterns, and long colorful tassels. Perfect for a gardener or nature-loving reader, unwrapping them will be easy but hiding them away in a book won't be!

A Carolyne Roehm Christmas

Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life

I can't imagine that there is anything left to write about Coco Chanel but Justine Picardie managed to unearth more intimate details of the famous fashion designer for her new book Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. Picardie was the features director at British Vogue and currently writes a style column for The Telegraph and worked her connections to gain access to the Chanel archives and British Secret Service files. Much of her new book focuses on Coco Chanel's British and American connections including her love affair with the Duke of Westminster. It will be released on September 21st which gives you just enough time to pick it up before Paris fashion week.

Follow Your Star

One of my readers asked if Bunny Mellon ever wrote a gardening book. While she hasn't, I can recommend the book The Surprising Life of Constance Spry. Ms. Spry (1886-1960) was a floral designer and business woman at a time when most women weren't working outside the home. She also wrote books not just on flower arranging but also cooking, gardening and entertaining. I'm beginning to think she was the original Martha Stewart. Her big claim to fame came from designing the flowers for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor whose home in France she also filled with her artful arrangements. Constance Spry created masterpieces of not just fancy flowers like roses but weeds and even kale. I love a good story about a gutsy woman who blazes a new trail. My favorite quote of hers sums things up best, "I want to shout out, "Do what you please, follow your star: be original if you want to be and don't if you don't want to be. Just to be natural and gay and lighthearted and pretty and simple and overflowing and general and boroque, and learn and learn and learn. Open your minds to every form of beauty." Amen sister!

A mass of lilacs, 1951

Constance Spry and her needlework

Constance Spry arrangement

Constance Spry and a reporter, 1951

June Morning, 1951

Her students at work.

Arrangement of fennel and orange lilies, 1951

More students arranging flowers

White arrangements in the white living room of Syrie Maugham

Rose felecite et perpetue, 1951

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in front of a Constance Spry arrangement.

Wedding flowers for Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott to the Duke of Gloucester, 1935

Wedding flowers for Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott to the Duke of Gloucester, 1935

There is also a rose named after Constance Spry which were planted along the 100 yard fence outside of Pixar Studios by Steve Jobs. I think Ms. Spry would definitely approve!

Kate Moss by Mario Testino - The Book

The Classicist: The Summer of Style Icon & Jazz Great Miles Davis

Chic Reads: The Summer We Read Gatsby

The Zein Nile Chateau

American Fashion - The Book

Valentino Garavani - A Grand Italian Epic

Amanzing !