The follow-up to the bestselling Glamorous Rooms, Glamorous Retreats takes readers inside Jan Showers's luxurious interiors in vacation locales across North America and the Caribbean, from the mountains of Colorado, to the beaches of Florida and the Bahamas, to the ranches of Arizona and Texas. With more than 200 never-before-seen photographs, this book showcases the renowned designer's elegant eclecticism, which blends Hollywood high style, mid-century modernism, and classic 18th-century French styles, here set against the backdrop of stunning resort destinations. Mixing aspects of the local flavors and lifestyles into her own designs, Showers provides accessible and useful design tenets that will inspire readers to create their own luxurious yet relaxed homes. Praise for Glamorous Retreats: "If you're looking for interiors with a certain movie star panache, Jan Showers has them in spades. The Texas interior designer's sleek, boldly colored rooms hark back to 20th-century style sensations, from Hollywood of the 1930s to jet-set villas of the 1960s. A dozen of her choice commissions are on display in Glamorous Retreats (Abrams, $50), a new book packed with zebra-stripe upholstery, Venetian-glass accents, and acres of antiqued mirror . . . In short, Showers's martini-ready aesthetic makes every home a cocktail party waiting to happen"--Architectural Digest "A tour through far-flung pied-á-terres and gorgeous escapes."--Veranda "Designing spaces where you can kick up your heels, enjoy art, nature, books, or entertaining, the author's retreats convey a warm and cozy vibe yet still manage to exude the glamour for which she is known." --Traditional Home

A room-by-room journey through some of the most luxurious and glamorous homes in America Dallas-based interior designer Jan Showers returns to the concept ï¬?rst introduced in her bestselling book, Glamorous Rooms. Jan takes the reader through luxurious private residences across the United States room by room. This book invites readers into 20 never-before-photographed homes, in some of America’s most idyllic locales, including a glamorous New York apartment, a London townhouse in Belgravia, an architecturally signiï¬?cant house in Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, a historic residence in Austin, a country estate, a stunning home on Buffalo Bayou in Houston, a duplex apartment at The Mansion Residence in Dallas, and many more.

Based on the best-selling first edition, this greatly expanded and updated version contains forty-seven new activities, more information about how to design and lead retreats, and additional suggestions for how to recover when things go wrong. A CD-ROM allows you to print out chapters for distribution to key leaders, duplicate templates, and produce handouts for specific exercises. Whether you're planning to lead an offsite retreat for the first time or the ninety-ninth time, this easy-to-use, one-stop resource provides: Step-by-step instructions for leading a wide variety of tested exercises. Insight into establishing effective working relationships with clients. Information on what to include in your retreat designs. Suggestions for encouraging participants to speak up and play an active role. Tools for managing conflict. Guidance on making decisions during a retreat and changing course when necessary. Strategies for developing and implementing action plans. Tips for follow-up so you can keep the change train on track. Order your copy of this practical guide today!

Glamorous Rooms showcases the elegant eclecticism of renowned designer Jan Showers's interiors, including many projects unpublished until now. Illustrated with dazzling photography, Showers's accessible and useful design tenets will inspire readers to create their own luxurious yet relaxed homes. Showers's attention to detail seamlessly blends Hollywood high style, midcentury modernism, and classic 18th-century French styles with the local flavors of St. Barth's, Paris, and Rome. Her modern and timeless interiors, never overdone, have earned her a dedicated fan base of top designers, celebrities, and power brokers from Palm Beach to Del Mar. A must-have addition to any design enthusiast's library, Glamorous Rooms is sure to be an instant classic. Traditional Home October 2009 Lucite and tufting and mirrors, oh my! Love shimmering elegance? You'll thrill to the work of Jan Showers, a Texas pro. Veranda November-December 2009 Texas-based designer Jan Showers strikes just the right balance between restraint and high visual impact. Her superbly detailed rooms gain unique presence through a mix of styles, such as Hollywood Regency, eighteenth-century French and mid-century modern. Like her spaces, her furnishings-including her 1940's-inspired Venetian glass lamps-exude American glamour. House Beautiful November 2009 Jan Showers tells all, Dallas style. The how/why of glamour, one gorgeous room @ a time. Read the captions! Luxe Fall 2009 Over 200 dazzling photographs of Showers' design, which seamlessly blend Hollywood high style, mid-century modernism and classic 18th century French style.

From cinema's silent beginnings, fashion and interior design have been vital to character development and narrative structure. Despite spectacular technological advancements on screen, stunning silhouettes and striking spaces still have the ability to dazzle to dramatic effect. This book is the first to consider the significant interplay between fashion and interiors and their combined contribution to cinematic style from early film to the digital age. With examples from Frank Lloyd Wright inspired architecture in Hitchcock's North by Northwest, to Coco Chanel's costumes for Gloria Swanson and a Great Gatsby film-set turned Ralph Lauren flagship, Cinematic Style describes the reciprocal relationship between these cultural forms. Exposing the bleeding lines between fashion and interiors in cinematic and real-life contexts, Berry presents case studies of cinematic styles adopted as brand identities and design movements promoted through filmic fantasy. Shedding light on consumer culture, social history and gender politics as well as on fashion, film and interior design theory, Cinematic Style considers the leading roles domestic spaces, quaint cafes, little black dresses and sharp suits have played in 20th and 21st-century film.

The beloved New York Times columnist "inspires women to embrace aging and look at it with a new sense of hope" in this lively, fascinating, eye-opening look at women and aging in America (Parade Magazine). "You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970's ad -- for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it -- and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries. From Plymouth Rock (when a woman was considered marriageable if "civil and under fifty years of age"), to a few generations later, when they were quietly retired to elderdom once they had passed the optimum age for reproduction, to recent decades when freedom from striving in the workplace and caretaking at home is often celebrated, to the first female nominee for president, American attitudes towards age have been a moving target. Gail Collins gives women reason to expect the best of their golden years.

"The great lights who have come out of all the world’s spiritual traditions and graduated from earth’s schoolroom have become widely known as masters. They demonstrate that in the world of Spirit, there is no division of race, religion or philosophy—there is simply oneness, ineffable sweetness and love. What is not so widely known is that these great masters have retreats—temples and cities of light in the heaven world—where we can go in spiritual meditation and while our bodies sleep at night. In this comprehensive work, Mark and Elizabeth Prophet talk about these great masters, the stories of their lives and their magnificent spiritual retreats."

A virtual romp through Minnesota's dining spots, this rich history also features a priceless collection of recipes for dishes made famous through the years. 1,000 illustrations, many in color.

This volume analyzes the representation of gender and desire in elite, male-authored literary texts in China dating from roughly 200 B.C. until 1000 A.D. Above all, it discusses the intimate relationship between the representation of gender and the political and social self-representations of elite men and shows where gender and social hierarchies cross paths. Paul Rouzer argues that when male authors articulated themselves as women, the resulting articulation was inevitably influenced by this act of identification. Articulated women are always located within a non-existent liminal space between ostensible object and ostensible subject, a focus of textual desire both through possession and through identification. Nor, in male-authored texts, is this articulation ever fully resolved--the potential of multiple interpretations is continually present.

Have you been to the mountaintop with God? Think of how exciting it must have been to be selected by Jesus, the Son of God, to be one of His twelve disciples who then walked with Him, talked with Him, and were invited to go up the mountain with Him. What a story they had to tell. Their lives were never the same, as they touched a piece of heaven there on the mountain. They wanted to stay forever, wouldn't you? There are times in our life where we too are asked by Jesus to go to the mountaintop on retreat where we can quiet our soul to hear Him more clearly. This book, 4 for the Mountaintop tells the story of Ellen Mongan's journey to the heart of God. Eventually, she was joined in her journey by three other women--Anne Shea, Debbie Cosper, and Pat Maranda--the "4 for the Mountaintop" sisters who were walking on a similar path. That is how "4 for the Mountaintop" retreats were birthed. Their journey together spans over thirty years. They were glad they accepted Jesus's invitation. Their lives were never the same, and they did not want to come down from the mountain, would you? Jesus invites all to get away with Him and go to the mountaintop. Will you accept the invitation? Ellen Mongan recommends that you invite your three best friends to take the journey with you. This book will tell you how. Linger no longer--you are invited! What a story you will have to tell! You, too, will never be the same. You too might want to stay forever. This book will appeal to women of all ages and stages of life, from teens to grandmas. It will appeal to the mature in the Lord and the babes in Christ. It will help you in seeking a closer walk with Jesus. As you read each page, you will grow in your faith and get to know Christ for yourself, not just know about Him. You may even begin your own "4 for the Mountaintop" retreat. You will be blessed. My prayer is that the heart of each of you will cry out, "All I want is to know Jesus Christ and the power of His rising."