Denise K James

Dec 16, 2024 | ajc.com | Denise K James

Cynthia Ruff will help you reimagine a room of your home— but in a different way that you might expect.A blogger turned interior design consultant, Ruff, on her popular website Ruff Details, shows how brainstorming with the help of AI has inspired her own space. Now, she’s willing to help you with yours. Ruff launched her first blog on thrifted fashion in 2014.

Dec 11, 2024 | artsatl.org | Denise K James

A perusal of the playbill briefs us on children’s book author Arnold Stark Lobel, a self-proclaimed daydreamer who based his iconic amphibians on the optimistic and pessimistic aspects of himself. While this idea is likely lost on young audience members (ages ranged from babyhood onward), adults will notice the binary between the two friends is strong. One of the show’s best stories is in the summer, when Toad is ashamed of how he looks in his swimwear.

Nov 29, 2024 | ajc.com | Denise K James

Heidi Howard never planned to have a career in theater. Though she took drama classes with a friend at their small high school, it “was just the thing that kept me sane and happy,” she says. But after college, life pointed Howard in a surprising direction when she visited Atlanta and learned that 7 Stages Theatre needed a freelance stage designer and assistant stage manager. “When I drove into Little Five Points, I thought, ‘These are my people!’” she says, laughing.

Nov 15, 2024 | roughdraftatlanta.com | Denise K James

Nicole Gustin grew up in Marietta and lived elsewhere for years before returning to Atlanta in 2011. She leased an apartment on the newly opened Eastside Beltline and observed the fresh energy the pedestrian trail was bringing to the city. "I would notice new restaurants overnight, so I started bringing my friends to new restaurants opening," she said.

Nov 11, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Denise K James

Dasha Lebedev is wearing a casual hat with a fish stitched on the brim. She opens the door to her Hapeville studio and reveals a small but mighty candle-making workshop. It’s another day at The Original Tinned Fish Candle, the company that Lebedev launched just a year and a half ago. At the time, she never expected an Instagram page of her quirky, sea creature–shaped candles to take off the way it did.