I have too much to say about the shooting in Newtown, too much still to process. So for now, I'll just share this... a beautiful tribute to those precious babies who left us far too soon. [embedplusvideo height="365" width="600" standard="http://www.youtube.com/v/CTbhVlHuONo?fs=1" vars="ytid=CTbhVlHuONo&width=600&height=365&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=0&chapters=¬es=" id="ep5343" /]
gift guide: BFF edition
I love shopping for my BFF! Well, really I love shopping for all of my friends. They're easy because they don't ask for anything and there's nothing they really need, so I can just get them fun stuff I know they'll love. The key to shopping for your BFF is to give her something that makes her feel special, but that she probably wouldn't buy for herself. Like these luxurious Hanky Panky boyshorts (the best boyshorts in the history of boyshorts)... they're awesome, but I have a hard time spending $30 a pop on underwear. Or the Capri Blue candle from Anthro... the best candle in the history of candles (noticing a theme here?) but again, I have a hard time spending $30 on a candle. Okay, maybe I'm just cheap. All I know is that any of these would make a great gift for the gal who knows all your dirty secrets and loves you anyway.
Stay tuned for the final gift guide next week... gifts for (almost) anyone!
gift guide 2012: husband edition
I don't know about you, but the man in my life is rather hard to shop for. He buys classic things that last and don't need replacing very often, which over time means that the list of things he "needs" gets pretty slim. And what's worse, he already has most of the things on this list (1-3) so my own gift guide doesn't help me much, but hopefully it will help you!
I can't recommend the Red Wing boots enough… they're classic, and of impeccable quality. And the lip balm is one of the few products I can get Jared to use on a regular basis. Now let's chat about #5, since I know this one is probably a little controversial… but there isn't a man alive that wouldn't want photos like this of his wife! The trick is to find a really high quality photographer who specializes in this type of photography. I haven't done a boudoir shoot, but I think I would someday… I think it would be fun to get my hair and makeup all done up and pretend I'm a Victorias Secret model for an afternoon. You know, a VS model who has barely worked out since she had a baby and shows only the teensiest bit of skin. Hot! But seriously, you should go for it. I've heard from several women who said it was a huge ego boost. And I'm guessing it would be your husband's favorite gift ever. :)
Stay tuned for next week's gift guide for your BFF!
desert island discs: jenn manzetti
Welcome to another edition of Desert Island Discs! Today's tracks are from my friend Jenn, an all around awesome gal who took the past year to do what we all dream about - she quit her job and traveled to cities near and far visiting friends, going to shows, and having herself a darn good time. She's a huge music lover, and I'm obsessed with this list (many of these were ones I debated including in my own list)...
1) The Wind by Cat Stevens... I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul. where I'll end up, well I think only God really knows." The first time I heard this song I was 11 and it instantly comforted me. 22 years later it still does. Simple & powerful....the beauty of Cat Stevens.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/75JdHluvivgVe8l2p74nb4[/embed]
2) Nightswimming by R.E.M... When I hear the first few notes of this song, I become 16 again, sitting in a beat up car with my friends, driving nowhere in particular, soaking up the August days we had left before school started. I will never hear this song and not remember my lovely, misfit friends and our restless summers together.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/2xLSFrm2oBeMtBMjlAoZSC[/embed]
3) That's How Strong My Love Is by Otis Redding... I wouldn't consider myself a religious person, despite being raised Catholic. But music is sacred to me. When I want to go to church, I listen to Otis. Side note: If someone ever felt the urge to write a song like this for or about me, I would be totally fine with it.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/1PEp3Cr6LDPcj8WDOyhZk6[/embed]
4) A Case Of You performed by James Blake... Two things about me: I love Joni Mitchell & cover songs. However, I almost always dislike covers of Joni's songs. Then I heard James Blake's version of this. The original song is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and heart-breaking ever written. It's amazing, but this version is even more haunting. Perfect for a cathartic cry and cheaper than therapy.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/6tNrUI6H15kqWBff0HcEZr[/embed]
5) Walkin' After Midnight by Patsy Cline... If I was to live out the rest of my days on a desert island, I'd want songs that I loved to listen to, but that were also sentimental to me. My grandmother, Nora, when she wasn't singing along to something, whistled. Constantly. More often than not, it was one of Patsy's songs that had her whistling. On my island, I would whistle to this and know that wherever Nora is now, she's joining in.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/0u8I9lEvMQOdTDHnlP20Qv[/embed]
6) I've Got A Feeling by The Beatles... So I'm a total Beatlemaniac. I love so many of their songs for various reasons, but most of my all-time favorites are Lennon-McCartney working in a perfect union. This is a great example. Mood instantly lifted!
[embedplusvideo height="237" width="280" standard="http://www.youtube.com/v/h9HTsW2aWBU?fs=1" vars="ytid=h9HTsW2aWBU&width=280&height=237&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=" id="ep2977" /]
7) Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen... As a Jersey girl, I had to have a Bruce song. Pretty sure I'd be kicked out of NJ and disowned by my family if I didn't. But seriously folks, this song never fails to get to me. Not to bring the room down, but when I was 19, I got sick and spent a lot of time in & out of hospitals. My brother, Steve, was 13 then and trying to keep up his teenage, "this is no big deal" exterior, no matter the situation at home. Then I had a pretty lengthy hospital stay and when he visited, he brought me something: my old walkman & a mixtape he made me of all my favorite songs. This was the first song of side A. Basically, I well up with a mix of emotions every time I hear it. Steve is a total pain in my *ss most of the time, but he's also one of the best people I know. Do not tell him I said that. I'll deny it.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/697RpGgVTwkaucnhGdUS6b[/embed]
8) Ball and Biscuit by The White Stripes... Jack White is my cerebral crush and just perfection to me. I could make a desert island playlist from his song catalog. The White Stripes were/are tops in my book (I've yet to come to terms with their break-up, but have high hopes of one day accepting it). This song is everything rock n' roll should be - a little ugly, a little sexy, all guitar and banging drums. 100% badass.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/track/5SI9IqXXoXic1gy93XVdS0[/embed]
Have Spotify and want to listen to the whole playlist (minus The Beatles because they're not on Spotify)? Click here.
(PS… remember that if you’re viewing this in a feed reader you’ll need to click over to the blog to see the Spotify tracks.)
wear + share: 11.30.12
TGIF! I'm in rainy San Francisco right now for work, and normally I'd be super bummed because I hate being away from my family, but two of my dearest girlfriends came to keep me company. They're kind of the best like that. We're heading out tonight for a good old fashioned girls night out on the town, and I'm so excited. I honestly don't even remember the last time I was in a bar. Pretty sad, huh? I have an early flight out tomorrow so I can't do too much damage, mostly I'm just super thrilled to have some rare girl time with two of my favorite people. What are you up to this weekend?
Trying to kill time til the end of your work day? Check out some of my favorites from this week...
- Is the red velvet trend over? Not if you ask Joy the Baker... these look divine
- These baby animal photographs would be perfect in any nursery
- Will you be fighting the masses to get your hands on the beautiful Neimans/Target collaboration?
- This jumped straight to the head of my "must make" list
- A perfect gift for the lucky lady in your life
gift guide 2012: toddler edition
Every Wednesday until Christmas I'll be posting a gift guide with shopping ideas for all of your favorite people. I'm starting off with a guide designed for my favorite little gal.
We try to keep Emma's play space clean and uncluttered so we decided not to get her any toys this year. (We realized this is probably the last year we'll get away with that, so might as well take advantage of it while we still can!) We asked family members for board books (we loooove the Pigeon books) and art supplies for her, and we're giving her the Learning Tower (#1) and made her a personalized mini book of names & faces (#3).
What are you getting for the toddler in your life this Christmas?
turn it up: november's most played
(Lyrics by Shovels & Rope, design by me)
With November coming to a close I thought I'd do a little recap of the songs I've had on power rotation this month...
My obsession with Shovels & Rope is clearly still going strong. Seriously, if you haven't listened to them yet stop everything and do it now. Also watch every live recording you can find on You Tube. They're that good, and from all accounts super nice, humble, and funny, which only makes me love them all the more.
There are a few oldies but goodies I rediscovered this month... turns out Emma LOVES listening to Late in the Evening on the way home from daycare. I know I've hit a good track when I hear "whoooo!", "yay!!" and claps coming from the backseat. I also got nostalgic for Pickathon with one of my favorite live tracks from the festival. And if you haven't heard Mr. Hathaway's version of "Jealous Guy" yet, you're welcome. ;)
In addition to the Spotify tracks, it's been an excellent month over on Daytrotter. We've had the Mumford & Sons session on repeat in this house all month long. It's filled with old folk covers and features Dawes and Abigail Washburn. It's might just be the best Daytrotter session to date. The new Ryan Bingham session that came out yesterday is also quite good.
What have you been listening to this month?
(PS... remember that if you're viewing this in a feed reader you'll need to click over to the blog to see the Spotify tracks.)
the brussels sprouts that will make you like brussels sprouts
See that one that's missing? I couldn't even wait to take the picture to try one.
If you hate brussels sprouts or think there just "meh" then you clearly haven't had them cooked like this. I stumbled upon Mark Bittman's recipe a while back after making some lackluster sprouts, and it turns out I was cooking them all wrong. This way is not only easy, but they turn out so amazingly good I was eating them like candy before they even hit the plate. Mark said it best himself: "the crisp outside leaves and tender, almost artichoke-like interior cannot be beat."
Ingredients:
- 1 pint brussels sprouts (about a pound)
- 4 to 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to coat bottom of pan
- 5 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Directions:
- Heat oven to 450 degrees. Trim bottom of brussels sprouts, and slice each in half top to bottom. Heat oil in cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers; put sprouts cut side down in one layer in pan. Put in garlic, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Cook, undisturbed, until sprouts begin to brown on bottom, and transfer to oven. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until sprouts are quite brown and tender, about 1/2 hour.
- Taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in balsamic vinegar, and serve hot or warm.
Recipe from The New York Times.
turn it up: thanksgiving edition
(Lyrics by Edward Sharpe, design by me, but I'm not sure of the photo source so please only copy if it's for personal use. Thanks!)
Happy almost Thanksgiving! Dinner prep is in full swing and my mouth is already watering thinking about all of the delicious food we'll get to consume on Thursday. And the time I'll get to spend with my family while eating said delicious food. That's pretty nice, too. :)
Here are some Thanksgiving-ish tunes to get your groove on to while you're cooking up a storm this week...
have a great weekend!
No Wear + Share today because Emma and I are boarding a very early flight to Michigan to visit my BFF for a couple of days. Would you believe she hasn't met Emma yet? Craziness. So I'm beyond excited for this weekend. We're going to do nothing but play with our kiddos, not shower, and eat lots of cheese... and I can't wait. I hope your weekend is as great as I know mine will be! :)
a better place to play
I never in a million years thought I would be a play space in the living room kind of parent, but here we are... and you know what? It works for us. Well it was working for us. After a few months with this setup, it became clear that our little galley play space needed to be re-thought. And last weekend I finally got around to it...
Before the redesign we had everything lined up against the wall, and Emma would inevitably get bored and start digging all of her toys out of the bottom of those mesh bins. It made for very unfocused and messy play. We also had a lot of toys from when she was younger that we needed to weed out.
Now Emma's toys are all within view, and mostly organized by type of activity. I know what you're thinking - there's no way it still looks like this. Well, I'm happy to report that it does! It's surprisingly much easier to clean up than before. Maybe because everything has its own place and the shelves aren't overflowing with toys.
What I love most about our shared living/play space is that you can't really see it when you first walk into the living room. And I finally found a place to display my beloved Penguin Classics collection of books...
I still have a couple of To Dos for the space, including some art in between the windows and a little upholstered chair to replace this pillow in Emma's reading nook:
What are your thoughts on having a play space in the living room? Major faux pas or an inevitable fact of life with kids?
(PS... try to ignore all the beige-overload. Oh how I can't wait to be a homeowner again.) :)
Resources:
turn it up: my desert island discs
Welcome to another new feature on the blog: Desert Island Discs! In the spirit of the long-running BBC program, I'll be asking my friends and fellow bloggers to send me the 8 tracks they couldn't live without. I thought I'd start things off by sharing my own...
1) Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen... This might be my favorite song of all time. It's everything I want in a song and I'm never NOT in the mood to hear it. "Now our luck may have died and our love may be cold, but with you forever I'll stay." <---- Kills me. Every. Single. Time.
[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/user/121515752/playlist/1VA2qxQtqliGC1Fw3xXiig[/embed]
2) Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke... Is there a better Sam Cooke song than this? Not if you ask me. From the first notes of the piano my head is swaying and I get lost in Sam's soulful voice. His girl can do him all kinds of wrong and he still wants her back. We've all been there, Sam. (PS. Betty Harris has a shoulder for you...)
3) Cry to Me performed by Betty Harris... As far as I'm concerned, the female soul singer buck stops with Betty Harris. Excuse my language, but she sings the absolute shit out of this song. If I could sing one song well, this would be it. (I can't, for the record. But I sure do try.)
4) Don't Think Twice it's All Right (demo version) by Bob Dylan... There are about a million versions of this song, and I'm pretty sure I've heard them all. But this (THIS!) is the best version. I promise. It's so raw and simple and just perfect. "I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind / You could have done better but I don’t mind / You just kinda wasted my precious time / But don’t think twice, it’s all right." Perhaps the most poetic FU of all time.
5) Feelin' Good performed by Nina Simone... Please tell me I'm not the only one who spent many a morning in her 20s singing this in front of the bathroom mirror. It's the ultimate pick me upper, which might come in handy if I really was stuck on an island forever.
6) Let It Be by The Beatles... I prayed a lot when I was a wee lass, like a good Catholic school girl should, but found I didn't quite relate to God or Jesus, so I would ask them to "put Mary on" (ha!) and she and I would chat about stuff. So when I was old enough to understand the lyrics of this song I was like, "Mother Mary comes to me, too!" It became my anthem for coping with my parents' divorce, and it still makes me feel better when I find myself in times of trouble.
7) Swept Away by The Avett Brothers... Obviously.
8) Tonight Will Be Fine performed by Teddy Thompson... I love Leonard Cohen, but I have to be a bad music snob and admit that I like other people's versions of his songs better than I like the originals. No song is that more true for than this version of Tonight Will Be Fine. It's such a genius song, and Teddy Thompson covers it so beautifully. The last verse is probably the best verse in all of music and it gives me chills every time I hear it... "Sometimes I see her undressing for me / She's the soft naked lady love meant her to be / She's moving her body so brave and so free / If I've got to remember that's a fine memory."
(PS... The Spotify tracks don't show up in the RSS feed, so if you're viewing this in a feed reader click on the link so you can hear the tunes!)
30 days of gratitude: grandparents
I brought my camera to the pool yesterday...
...for the sole purpose of getting this:
And this:
Happy Monday, everyone! :)
30 days of gratitude: daddy's arms
30 days of gratitude: Adventure
This might be my favorite photo of her ever. :)
wear + share: 11.9.12
Happy Friday! There are many things to be excited about this weekend... Not only am I celebrating my birthday with my whole family, but today is my 3 year blogging anniversary! There have been a few times over the years that I thought about giving up, but I'm so so glad I've stuck with it. And I'm even more glad that you've stuck with me! Anywho, here's what I'd love to wear to my birthday dinner tomorrow night...
And here are some things I loved this week, and hope you will to!...
- Seriously.
- Have you seen the new brand from Williams Sonoma? Pretty much Christmas gift central. A necklace with Emma's name? Yes please. There are also lots of gifts for others if you're into that sort of thing.
- Proof once again that Louis CK is the best guy in show business. Period.
- An amazing video about NYC during the blackout
- A beautiful illustration of one of my all time favorite quotes.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
30 days of gratitude: equality
It was a good night for humanity.
turn it up: the election day edition
Illustration by the amazing Katie Daisy
Happy Election Day! In addition to being very excited about the things I have the opportunity to vote on this year, I'm nearly just as excited about finally being able to unsubscribe from all of the political emails I've been getting. (I'm passionate about politics, not so much about being bombarded for cash multiple times a day.) What are you most excited about knowing that today is the last day of election?
I decided a while back that I needed to bring more music into the blog since it's such a big part of my life, so what better day than today? Here are some songs to get you into the voting mood. Which you should definitely do, no matter who you're voting for. Seriously. Except maybe that last part. ;)
[embed light]http://open.spotify.com/user/121515752/playlist/2jqyF3YMCOewYzRtofbL1U[/embed]
30 days of gratitude: silliness
