Another Wardrobe

I have recently had the pleasure of finishing the daunting Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. It took me either almost two or almost three years, I can't recall. 

{from page 592}

"A 'stationery wardrobe' is something Miss Manners has been dearly longing to have, ever since she first heard the term. She thought it meant dresses that didn't play the trick of looking too short one year and too long the next and that didn't caprciously change their fit through the years.

If poor Miss Manners were able to spell, she would not have made such an embarrassing mistake. It turns out that a 'stationery wardrobe' is the commercial term for what ladies and gentlemen refer to as 'writing paper'. By that definition, Miss Manners has an ample wardrobe."

 Miss Ariane, sadly, does not. I have well-wished and thank-you'd my way through a box of my beloved GADABOUT stationery, and they no longer offer my favorite design.

Very well, then. I suppose I'll just buy these fabulous paisley flat cards instead.

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No harm, no foul.

Now...if I could only find some cream double-sheeted paper with my monogram engraved in brown, you know, to be used for my "frivolous letters written in brown ink", then my wardrobe would be complete! 

Happy weekend, friends! 

Manners

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I've been reading Kate Spade's book on manners this week.

It's a fun read with glorious watercolors, such as this one:

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The book has two companions, as well.

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Did you know that when Kate & her husband Andy hire new employees they issue each one a copy of Emily Post's Etiquette? Sounds like my kind of company!

Etiquette Daily

As you probably know, I'm a bit of an etiquette junkie. I'm sort of an etiquette snob, too, though. It's not what you think- I don't care in the least which fork you use or if you salt your food before you taste it. I'm a snob with regard to etiquette sources. I tend to be a bit of a skeptic when it comes to etiquette advice rendered by people other than Judith Martin {Miss Manners} or Emily Post {or The Emily Post Institute}. 

Having said that, let me direct you to an amazing resource from The Emily Post Institute. It is a daily etiquette website, on which readers write in with their etiquette questions and qualified moderators reply.

I love to click through the interesting {and sometimes appalling!} etiquette situations that readers find themselves in. If you aren't really in the same etiquette-loving boat that I am, well, at the very least, it's a great way to kill some time on a slow Friday afternoon at work.

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Coffee Table Books

I found this great article called "5 Charming Coffee-Table Books" on the Woman's Day website {sidenote: I realize I am probably too young to be reading Woman's Day}. I was pleased to see that my favorite coffee table book, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, made the list.

Some of the other titles that grace my table...

Most of my books obviously follow something of a theme. :)

What sits on your coffee table?

Chic

"The woman who is chic is always a little different. Not different in being behind fashion, but always slightly apart from it."

 EMILY POST, Etiquette

 

Don't Be Rude

As mentioned before, I am a bit of an etiquette geek. Needless to say I have been delighted the past few Mondays, as Maggie Mason over at Mighty Girl has posted a series, titled "Don't Be Rude", that she wrote a few years ago for The Morning News. Her wit could cut diamonds, this one.

The series so far:

Part I: On Kindness
Part II: On Relationships
Part III: On Socializing
Part IV: On Weddings

I like my Mondays prim and proper, don't you?

xo