I agree with edlakin about so many things I'm just going to change my handle to ditto_ed! It's funny, because when I received my issue a few weeks ago I excitedly turned to that section: used to live in SF and I'm in the process of doing a "classic" white kitchen with marble countertops / backsplash. Clearly I adore that look! (I understand many here on GW either don't care for the look and / or are tired of it. Can't help it -- it makes my heart sing!) Anyway, so I was really disappointed when I came to the kitchen. There was so much that just screamed "LOOK AT ME!" or "I just don't make sense with this kitchen as a whole." Little pieces were jarring to my eye, and I felt there was too much showing off, like when a lady wears too many patterns / accessories. (Or when my uncle wears his favorite outfit: glen plaid trousers, red seersucker shirt and houndstooth blazer. And no, I am not making that up.) I really wanted to l-o-v-e this kitchen but instead found I didn't even like it much, even though I am gaga for so many of its individual components. Curious .... My favorite thing about the article was what pecanpie mentioned, about the extra piece of marble in back of the sinks due to a fracture. I really appreciated the homeowner admitting that, instead of pulling it off as a design feature. How many of us have had "oops!" moments where we've had to do something creative and maybe wondered "am I the only one to whom this has ever happened?" Those of us here on GW know we're not alone, but there are tons of people who aren't here who mightn't know that .... So I give her lots of credit for being so forthright!

Vee - I remember when I read Life of Pi and thoroughly enjoyed it, although I do remember that you have to be in the right kind of mood... :-) After searching my stacks of TBR for a new NF to read, came across "We are at War: The Diaries of Five Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times" by Simon Garfield. More along the lines of "Nella Last's War" in that this book follows the diary excerpts from five ordinary people during the beginning of WWII. And they weren't kidding when they describe the people as "ordinary" - it is teetering on "rather boring in places" which, I suppose, is to be expected when you consider the "ordinary" people who play a starring role. Not as entertaining as the Nella diaries, I will give this a few more chapters and then see if things improve. This book is more about the Mass Observation Project during WWII...

Gosh, that is beautiful. I had an awful thought on the way home...Since this current countertop that I have in granite is my first experience with granite, aside from the fogginess, will all shiny surface countertops leave smear marks? The marble tops in my bathroom don't get any sun, so I've never noticed. But my kitchen gets alot. I'm also wondering if the company I picked this granite out from was a little unprofessional, for lack of a better term. They cut one piece crooked and used thicker silicone to fill the gap, it's not huge but if you really look you can tell, they didn't re-attach my dishwasher, so it fell forward whenever I opened it and specifically told me to only use dishsoap. I shopped a couple different places, picked out the pattern, saw samples of their work in the showroom. I thought I did it right-apples to apples... They were the cheapest and I was planning on selling the house at that time. Maybe I should have thought twice about "We'll match any price" advertising...

Yes, Oly, there is that side too and I'm sure I was thinking about that side too as I read it. I think while reading it, and again, it was a long time ago for me as I read it when it first came out, whatever faults there may have been in the storyline, the idea that two women loved and wanted the same baby, and knowing one was going to have to let go, is what made it a sad story for me personally. I don't even recall how it ended but in this moment, just thinking about my own family having bonded with a baby who was not biologically ours, I can't imagine life without her so definitely I could feel for both sides of the story.