It’s 97 degrees today in New York!!  These are the kinds of days when you love to go into places with air conditioners on. Wherever you are, keep cool!  All images from here, sorry I couldn’t resist to post so many.  A pretty good example that sometimes words are extra.

If you ask my husband my best trait, he’ll smile and say, “She never gives up.” But if you ask him my worst trait, he’ll get a funny tic in his cheek, narrow his eyes and hiss, “She. Never. Gives. Up.” 
It took me a year and a half to write my earliest version of The Help. I’d told most of my friends and family what I was working on. Why not? We are compelled to talk about our passions. When I’d polished my story, I announced it was done and mailed it to a literary agent.

Six weeks later, I received a rejection letter from the agent, stating, “Story did not sustain my interest.” I was thrilled! I called my friends and told them I’d gotten my first rejection! Right away, I went back to editing. I was sure I could make the story tenser, more riveting, better.  A few months later, I sent it to a few more agents. And received a few more rejections. Well, more like 15. I was a little less giddy this time, but I kept my chin up. “Maybe the next book will be the one,” a friend said. Next book? I wasn’t about to move on to the next one just because of a few stupid l-etters. I wanted to write this book.

A year and a half later, I opened my 40th rejection: “There is no market for this kind of tiring writing.” That one finally made me cry. “You have so much resolve, Kathryn,” a friend said to me. “How do you keep yourself from feeling like this has been just a huge waste of your time?”

That was a hard weekend. I spent it in pajamas, slothing around that racetrack of self-pity—you know the one, from sofa to chair to bed to refrigerator, starting over again on the sofa. But I couldn’t let go of The Help. Call it tenacity, call it resolve or call it what my husband calls it: stubbornness.

In the end, I received 60 rejections for The Help. But letter number 61 was the one that accepted me. After my five years of writing and three and a half years of rejection, an agent named Susan Ramer took pity on me. What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60? Three weeks later, Susan sold The Help to Amy Einhorn Books.  Read the rest of this story at More Magazine.

The Help has just come out in paperback, and a movie adaptation is scheduled for release in August.

I don’t have much information about this kitchen as of who designed it, what magazine was featured in or which photographer shot it but I know I found it at Head over Heels and previously at The life of Polarn Per.  Thanks to them I found this beauty and I’m able to use it today as the kitchen of the week.  What don’t I love about it?! would be the question to ask.  I love the simplicity of its layout and the mood of the color scheme and of course that amount of copper. Enjoy!

Ever since my hubby brought home one of these Lobster sandwiches from Panera I’m obsessed with it.  I don’t really care about the bread much since I eat half of it open but what I love about it is the amount of pure lobster meat it has.  If you live close to a Panera, you have to try it!  Make sure to bring a companion along with you because this sandwich is so big you won’t be able to eat it by yourself.  It’s incredible!

Last week I walked into a store and this young lady wearing a big hat (not a floppy one) was walking out.  I thought uh… that’s not a hat I would use any other place than at the beach.  I sometimes use a panama hat to go under the sun but floppy hats are also a very feminine and romantic option.  But I feel a bit shy to wear one on the street.  I would love to know if you guys use hats and if you do what kind you use?

 

images credit via Mary Fruffle via Tumblr, Coco Kelly, The Fox and the Chicken and Shreedhee