Sarah's Summer House

I have posted about designer Sarah Richardson before. I love the HGTV show Sarah's House, so it logically follows that I would be a big fan of Sarah's Summer House as well.

In this program, Richardson walks us through the renovation/redesign of her own cottage on a Canadian lake. I could imagine this premise could be completely annoying if her design ideas were not so inspiring and the creative process of both Richardson and her team were less entertaining. However, I found myself really interested in how she was going to tackle what was once her husband's all pine-planked bachelor vacation haven into a getaway for her family and guests.....I was definitely not disappointed.

All images courtesy of HGTV

supporting the indy bookstore

via booktumbling

If you use blogger then you probably also got the email about the Blogger and Amazon.com integration. The bait is that if you use this feature (which claims to not only simplify how you hyperlink to Amazon, but allows you to directly search the website from Blogger editor) then you will earn "commissions" from the Amazon-linked items you've recommended and your readers have bought.

All this is well and good and I've got nothing against earning a couple of extra bucks or Amazon (trust me, I've bought plenty from them!). However, I hate the manipulation of this "integration," how the recommendation of a book and the use of a hyperlink to that book becomes a marketing ploy to trusting readers. Aside from that - it also seems like another way for a huge business/website to not only take more business away from other, smaller, bookstores, but also attention from authors' pages, book reviews, etc.

Anyway, before I step off my soap box - I'd like to make a commitment to hyperlinking any books Hiving Out recommends to IndieBound, an online place that helps locate local independent and small bookstores (hope that's okay with you, L. and Mae!). And, yes, with this website you can also earn commissions too (something we have not signed up to do), but at least it's in support of the independent bookstores and who doesn't want to support them, right? Okay, I'm off my soap box now - have a great weekend everyone!!