{"id":3042,"date":"2011-06-28T05:45:45","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T10:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=3042"},"modified":"2011-06-28T15:03:43","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T20:03:43","slug":"leading-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=3042","title":{"rendered":"Leading Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><em>Author: \u00a0Autumn<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3>How many of you have heard of Alexandra Stoddard? \u00a0I&#8217;m thinking many readers in my generation know of her and have read her books, but Jordan&#8217;s generation might be clueless about who she is.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/www.paulagordon.com\/shows\/stoddard\/stoddard.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"248\" height=\"383\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Alexandra Stoddard is a decorator turned writer who has written over 25 books on decorating, lifestyles, and living. \u00a0One of her first books has been a major influence in my life. \u00a0I enjoyed it so much that I gave many copies to friends for birthdays and Christmas.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/users2.e-scapes.com\/alexandra\/books\/large\/Living-A-Beaut-Life-PB-.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">I have read this book at least 10 times. \u00a0Even though it was written in 1988 and could stand an update, most of the information is timeless.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">I first heard of Alexandra when she was the key note speaker at a brunch I attended for the Bluegrass Trust Antiques Show. \u00a0She was a collector of post cards, as was my namesake grandmother and my blog partner, Jordan. \u00a0She advises that if you love something to buy it, even though you don&#8217;t have a place for it. \u00a0You will find a place. \u00a0She also says to make everyday events into beautiful rituals. \u00a0Why have a slice of unbuttered toast with a paper napkin when you can sit down with a nice plate, a nice napkin, some jam, and a beautiful cup for your tea or coffee.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/451\/1894\/1600\/Stonington%20trip%20#1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/451\/1894\/320\/Stonington%20trip%20%231%20212.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Alexandra is married to the love of her life, attorney Peter Brown, and they moved from their New York City apartment recently to their &#8220;country cottage&#8221; shown above. \u00a0They are both getting older and wanted to simplify their lives.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Alexandra and Peter returned to the Bluegrass Trust&#8217;s annual antique show last year, and I was able to hear her speak and have a nice chat with her afterwards. \u00a0We have exchanged post cards over the years (hers are always written in color coordinated ink), and I always love to read and hear what she has to say. \u00a0By the way, she writes all of her books long-hand. \u00a0There are no computers for her. \u00a0This is the book she was promoting the last time I heard her speak:<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/images\/1149329742\/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&amp;n=283155&amp;s=books\" target=\"AmazonHelp\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51uRmyrwHoL._SL500_AA300_.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"CREATING A BEAUTIFUL HOME\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">So, if you need some inspiration when your life seems to get too fast, pick up one of her many books for a good read and for a chance to get in touch with your elegant and unhurried side.<\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Take care.<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Images taken from Alexandrastoddard.com, www.kathrynechendesign.blogspot.com and Amazon.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author: \u00a0Autumn How many of you have heard of Alexandra Stoddard? \u00a0I&#8217;m thinking many readers in my generation know of her and have read her books, but Jordan&#8217;s generation might be clueless about who she is. Alexandra Stoddard is a decorator turned writer who has written over 25 books on decorating, lifestyles, and living. \u00a0One [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3042"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3064,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3042\/revisions\/3064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}