Oh, and yes, we have the book: The Step Diet, by James O. Hill, John C. Peters and Bonnie T. Jortberg.

Aren’t we prescient?

–Associate Editor Savannah Ashour is twitchy and proud of it.

Whether your goals are health-related or not, the point is that you’ll have more success if you make them practical, specific, and simple. Which got me thinking about a little gem in our library, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, by Robert Maurer, Ph.D. In a nutshell, the book argues that human resistance to change is a protective evolutionary device. This is the safe path to the cave; that one’s probably laden with poison ivy. Don’t try that leaf; it’s probably poisonous. Unfortunately, in a relatively safe modern context, this instinct can get perverted in a whole lot of self-defeating ways. The path to the gym is paved with scary, hungry bears! The brilliant solution, developed by Japanese corporations and used by Dr. Maurer in his therapeutic practice, is to break down the steps to the desired change into increments so small they won’t awaken your anti-change fear sensors.

Essentially, you’d break down your New Year’s resolution into a whole bunch of tiny steps. One woman in One Small Step started exercising by marching in place during television commercials for one minute a day. If you’re looking to make a change and feeling stuck, give Kaizen (and, ahem, our book) a chance.

My resolution? Have more fun in 2010. (No, it’s not specific, but since it’s positive and relatively easy to implement, I figure I can give myself a pass.) What’s yours?

What I am bragging about today is the fact that, with my very own two hands, a needle, some thread, and a diminutive pair of scissors, I have hemmed my own pants. Not just once, either. TWICE. (And I’m not even counting individual pant legs!) I know. It’s mind-boggling. I am awash in the glow of my own self-reliance and economy!

The best part is, I didn’t inherit the ability to hem from a crafty relative, I learned it from one of our books! Check out this excerpt from  Diana Rupp’s Sew Everything Workshop and you, too, could avoid the terrible, unjust, and deeply dissatisfying feeling of having your tailor turn your discounted pair of $50 pants into the originally priced $60 pair of pants you were so excited not to be buying. Not to mention the deep shame of having new pairs of pants sit in your house, unworn, for months before you manage to get them to the tailor.

A word of caution: If you, like me, are not a very good sewer and do not own a sewing machine, the first hemming attempt may be a time-intensive process. But the post-hemming feeling? Priceless.

Associate Editor Savannah Ashour just finished reading Who Moved My Blackberry?, a very funny (and also sad) book.

You’ve got a whole week to put together a Halloween costume, but if your procrastination skills are anything like mine, you’ll still be wanting for that perfect costume accessory come Friday night (or Saturday afternoon, even?). And who has the time or resolve to battle the last-minute chaos and crowds at costume stores? Here are two super-cool, super-quick, no-sew projects from Generation T: Beyond Fashion that you can make with old T-shirts from your closet—so you can whip up a homemade Halloween costume on the fly. Speaking of fly…

How about a superhero cape? Superheroes are always fun (make a mask, too!), but this cape could also transform you into a dashing Dracula, a mister mysterioso magician, or even crowned royalty! Let the cape be your statement or personalize your look with some fabric markers or iron-on letters.

If you’re trying to channel some warmer weather with your costume, how about this fringe dance skirt? Pair it with a bikini top (which you can actually make using project #49 from Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt) or other tropical attire and you’re ready for a luau. Aloha!

For more T-shirt transformation ideas, check out www.generation-t.com!

–Megan Nicolay

And for a random dose of defiant bookworm spirit, here’s a storefront sign from Jackson Street Books in Athens, GA.

Check out Tom’s pamphlet below, and if you’re looking for further diversion, go here to read his always-interesting blog.

Tom Moon’s Listening Group Guide

Get ready:
Give your friends fair notice so they can dig deep into the back of their closets for good material! A few things you’ll need to attend to in preparation for your T-shirt refashioning rager:

-Invite all guests to bring a T-shirt or two from home (fitted or baggy, depending on the project they want to make).
-Familiarize yourself with a few no-sew projects from either of the books.

For refashioning beginners, I recommend these two projects from my first book, Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt
#2 Brokenhearted T-shirt, page 30
#16 Outerlace tank top, page 56

And these three projects from my new book, Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt
#1 Pinup Girl halter, page 28
#30 Pillow Talk knotted pillow, page 98
#101 Back in Action T-shirt, page 260

Get set:
In terms of materials, you can get by with providing the bare minimum: scissors and safety pins, but here’s a suggested list in case you want to have a whole spread.
-copies of the books (for guests to flip through in case there’s another project they have their heart set on)
-scissors (sharp ones, not the pair you’ve been cutting paper and cardboard with for the past 3 years)
-chalk
-safety pins or 1″ round punk pins/band buttons
-ruler (or other straightedge, if making Brokenhearted tee)
-stuffing (if making Pillow Talk pillow)

Get extra credit:
Make a DIY playlist, mix your tee with some tea, or make a paper runway–whatever puts you in the par-tee mood. And don’t forget to charge your camera battery!
-Play some tunes
-Serve some iced tea to go with your Tee Party
-Have an impromptu fashion show
-Take pictures!!

Go:
-Get your craft on.
-Get your party on.
-Take home the best party-favor ever: a one-of-a-kind, made-by-you design!

P.S. Megan’s blog has lots of pics of some of the tee parties she’s been hosting while on tour.

One of my first tasks involved some research for the promotion of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? by Ellen Gordon Reeves. Seeing as the interview was behind me, I hadn’t thought of Ellen’s book as being applicable to me until I noticed the subtitle: “Finding, Landing and Keeping Your First Real Job.” Keeping was the key. The last chapter, “You’ve Got the Job,” has all the office etiquette your mother would nag you about—but when it comes from a professional, you actually listen! On every topic—from what to do for lunch to communicating with your boss—she tells you the stuff you need to know but that other people won’t necessarily tell you straight out. (My colleagues were nice enough to look out for me my first day and show me the ropes for lunchtime, but not everyone is so lucky.)

I think the most valuable thing Ellen tries to convey to us office newbies is wrapped up in the following piece of advice: “Don’t forget that you are a beginner.”  No matter what, every job you start is new and different. Part of being prepared for the job is realizing that there will probably be some things you won’t be prepared for—copier jams, meetings you didn’t know about, trying to check your messages without a code. (I figured that last one out, but I’m told it takes years of practice to truly become one with the copier.)

—Olivia Murphy, Editorial Intern

Without further ado, here is the Unofficial, Totally Uncensored Girls’ Guide to Rocking Playlist.

1. “Les Petits Chevaux” by Brigitte Fontaine (click to listen)
2. “Meadowlands” by Nancy Jacobs and Her Sisters
3. “Holiday Song” by Marine Girls (click to listen)
4. “I Won’t Tell” by Tracy Dey
5. “Poor Little City Boy” by Nedelle (click to listen)
6. “I’ve Got A Feelin’” by Big Maybelle (click to listen)
7. “I’ve Just Begun (Having My Fun)” by Brittany Spears (click to listen)
8. “I Drive My Friend” by Frida Hyvonen (click to listen)
9. “What Can I Do For You?” by Labelle (click to listen)
10. “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways (click to listen)
11. “52 Girl’s” by The B-52’s (click to listen)
12. “Have You Got Someone Else On the String” by Texas Ruby
13. “Victim of Rock and Roll” by Care Bears on Fire
14. “Thank God for a Mother Like Mine” by Kitty Wells
15. “Go Tell It On the Mountain” by Mahalia Jackson (click to listen)
16. “Pink Bedroom” by Lou Ann Barton
17. “Are You Going to Leave Me?” by Shirley & Dolly Collins (click to listen)
18. “Hose & I” by Bat for Lashes (click to listen)
19. “Shadow of a Doubt” by Sonic Youth (click to listen)
20. “I Found a Reason” by Cat Power (click to listen)
21. “You’re No Good” by ESG (click to listen)
22. “A_OL” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
23. “Break In the Road” by Betty Harris (click to listen)
24. “Il Macquillage Lady” by Sister Sledge (click to listen)
25. “The Wait” [Single Version] by The Pretenders (click to listen)

A special guest post from Barbara Flanagan, author of

I can’t wait to get outside and mess up my backyard! Summer lets me turn my little yards—front and back, neat and not—into vegetal laboratories.

This year I’ll raise my annual tomato curtain—10’ x 20’—dotted by tiny heritage tomatoes of many colors. The curtain rod is invisible: a stainless cable stretched taut between two brick walls. After planting a tight row of tomatoes, I hang panels of 10-ft. high panels of plastic fencing (like stiff netting) stacked to the ground. When plants take off, I start my daily ritual: weave the shoots into the netting, harvest the new fruit, and snack while I chat on the phone. The tomato curtain expands through October, and yields a nice supply of indoor-ripening fruit right into December.
The front yard, a former flat lawn, is a now a slope of usable herbs planted ornamentally (17 years ago, and pre-fad). I chose ornery, quasi-invasive, flowering herbs like St. John’s wort, fern leaf tansy, and thyme. Each season, I watch them try to overtake each other, then replant the winners to rebalance. Each spring I plant seeds for nasturtium vines, and watch the edible flowers trail lightly over the front yard like lines butterflies. By September, the yard is a layered with herbal perennials holding herbal annuals aloft.

At dinnertime, I harvest mesclun and arugula growing in terracotta pots at the front door. As small hedges of sage and chives rise up, I move the pots to fill empty spots as I’m adding basil, parsley, cilantro , and rosemary seedlings—and some wildly colored Swiss Chard–to the mix.
This month I’m doing two new experiments. The first: figuring out an elegant composting ritual to replace my haphazard ways of amending soil. The second: organizing the stuff I bring back from kayaking and hiking trips: beach stones, bark, rust, driftwood, etc. Maybe I can get a building permit for constructing a grotto…

–Barbara Flanagan