A Little Bit of Heaven

Grey(ish) and yellow - my two favorites.



From elisabethbentz's etsy shop

Ninainvorm Ceramics

I don't remember where I first saw Ninainvorm's work on the internet, but I've had it bookmarked in my "etsy" folder for quite awhile. How could I not?













If I could have registered for custom ceramics online (on etsy, really), I would have done it here. I love the bright pops of color, the banners, the polka dots and really, everything.

Also - the plate above that says "Kasper"? When I first came across this shop, I saw that and decided that I will order a custom-made plate for each child that Pete and I have in the future - and then they can eat off of it on special occasions! Like birthdays or graduations or whatever. Cute, right?!

American Film Institute

So one of the things on my list of stuff to do in 2010 was to watch the rest of the movies from the list of 100 Years...100 Movies from the American Film Institute. Here's the list:

1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Gone With the Wind
5. Lawrence of Arabia
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. The Graduate
8. On the Waterfront
9. Schindler's List
10. Singin' in the Rain
11. It's a Wonderful Life
12. Sunset Boulevard
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Some Like it Hot
15. Star Wars
16. All About Eve
17. The African Queen
18. Psycho
19. Chinatown
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
21. The Grapes of Wrath
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey
23. The Maltese Falcon
24. Raging Bull
25. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
26. Dr. Strangelove
27. Bonnie and Clyde
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
30. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
31. Annie Hall
32. The Godfather Part II
33. High Noon
34. To Kill a Mockingbird
35. It Happened One Night
36. Midnight Cowboy
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. Double Indemnity
39. Doctor Zhivago
40. North by Northwest
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
43. King Kong
44. The Birth of a Nation
45. A Streetcar Named Desire
46. A Clockwork Orange
47. Taxi Driver
48. Jaws
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here to Eternity
53. Amadeus
54. All Quiet on the Western Front
55. The Sound of Music
56. M*A*S*H
57. The Third Man
58. Fantasia
59. Rebel Without a Cause
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark
61. Vertigo
62. Tootsie
63. Stagecoach
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65. The Silence of the Lambs
66. Network
67. The Manchurian Candidate
68. An American in Paris
69. Shane
70. The French Connection
71. Forrest Gump
72. Ben-Hur
73. Wuthering Heights
74. The Gold Rush
75. Dances With Wolves
76. City Lights
77. American Graffiti
78. Rocky
79. The Deer Hunter
80. The Wild Bunch
81. Modern Times
82. Giant
83. Platoon
84. Fargo
85. Duck Soup
86. Mutiny on the Bounty
87. Frankenstein
88. Easy Rider
89. Patton
90. The Jazz Singer
91. My Fair Lady
92. A Place in the Sun
93. The Apartment
94. Goodfellas
95. Pulp Fiction
96. The Searchers
97. Bringing Up Baby
98. Unforgiven
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy

The count: I've seen 44 and have yet to see 56. Yikes! Intimidating! But I want to try to see all of them (with the exception of Silence of the Lambs) by the end of the year.

Any recommendations on which ones to watch first?

Paxil, Round III

Okay, so I'm currently on day three of going down to the next lowest dosage of Paxil.

And I feel pretty good.

I've been getting dizzy spurts as I blink at night-time, which is something that has happened every time I've weaned down or have forgotten to take my medicine in the past. But other than that, I've been pretty good. I only got five hours of sleep last night and I still feel okay.

My goal is to take this dosage (10 mg) every night for the next two or three weeks - and then begin 10 mg one night, 5 mg the next, 10 mg, 5 mg, etc. And then down to 5 mg every night, and then down to none, then 5 mg, none, then 5 mg...makes sense? Yes.

So we'll see what happens. I'll keep you updated! I have to say, though, that I'm really excited. I want to get all the way off, completely. And I feel like I'm on the right track.

Only Four Months to Go!

I am so excited.

So here is what we have accomplished in the last month:

1. Ordered invitations (they're really cute but I can't post them until...well...we receive them. And even then, I'll probably wait until the people we invite receive them).
2. Signed up for the Give a Day, Get a Day program with Disney - so we will have free tickets to Disneyland! Yay!
3. Blocked off hotel rooms at two hotels.
4. Created a day-of time line (it's not set in stone...since I haven't actually made appointments for hair and make-up places, but it's approximate)
5. Kind of-sort of picked out our first dance song. I had suggested "Sea of Love", like, years ago (seriously...I know, I'm gross) but it totally wore off. I didn't want that song anymore, and Pete was still all gung-ho about it...but NOW there are three or four songs that we both agree on. We just have to decide.
6. I tried to order shoes, but then I realized that they would be shipped from China and I would have to pay for the customs. So...no, I don't have shoes yet.
7. Mary Helen (Pete's mom) ordered/purchased patterns for the flower girls' dresses! And she'll be up here in St. Louis this weekend for the St. Patrick's Day Parade thing (sorry, I'm not Irish, I don't know what its official title is) and if we have time, we're going to try to go shopping for fabric for said dresses.
8. Scheduled engagement pictures, with Ryan, our wedding photographer. My mom was all, "why would you get engagement pictures now?! It's too late to announce it in the paper!" Oh mommy, how things have changed.
9. We asked Mary (Pete's twin brother's (Steve) wife) to sing and Christy (Pete's sister) to do a reading (Bridgett, we're asking Mike to do something too, but we just haven't gotten around to it yet...sorry!) in the ceremony.
10. My first wedding shower is in less than a month! Since I would be up in Chicago for Easter, my mom and her sister decided to do the Peluso-Hoffman wedding shower over Easter weekend. I'm so excited!! And my neighbors are in the process of setting a date for a shower up here in St. Louis, for all the Soulard folk. Also exciting :)
11. Done some research on gifts to get for everything who is helping us/making us stuff/doing things for us/are in the wedding party. I love buying gifts for people. I like to think that I'm pretty good at it. We'll see, I suppose...

photo by (once again), the super incredibly talented ryan gladstone

Parisian Macarons

Yes, they are delicious. And cute. And NPR thinks they're the next big cupcake/whoopie pie.


[taken by david lebovitz. yes. those are macarons. look at the pretty colors!]

But they are DAMN hard to make.

I have some theories, as I type this in my kitchen with horrible lighting. The dishwasher is whirring, after a night of defeat is finally over. I slaved over these darn adorable little cookies, for FOUR HOURS. Yes, seriously. I ate dinner at 6:30 and pretty much worked on them up until now (at the moment I am typing this sentence, is it 10:28 PM).

I got this book, I Heart Macarons. It was one of my Christmas presents to myself. So when I got the book, back in December, I thought - Hey! I'll make these, over Christmas break!

So I went out and bought almond flour, which is harder to find than one may think. Yeah, you can make it yourself but you need almonds without the brown skin on them to make your own. Yes, you can also find almonds without the brown skin. But I was lucky enough to spot some almond flour at Trader Joe's while looking for my favorite juice. So I bought it.

Everything else in the plainest macaron recipe is pretty simple - powdered sugar, egg whites, vanilla, regular sugar. That's it. Easy easy lemon squeezy. I had all of those things on hand! So, I had the almond flour and I was good to do with the making of the macarons at any time.

But instead I forgot. Christmas came and went and I got a lot of new toys and books and then school started again. And all of a sudden, three months had passed and I still had yet to open the I Heart Macarons cookbook and actually make something from it. So I decided last week, "yes! I will make macarons over my spring break!" This idea was further solidified when I stumbled across La Bonne Bouchee last Friday. I had just come from the doctor (why else would I be in Creve Couer?) and wanted something sweet (what else is new?). Pastries of Denmark was supposed to be around there and, with eyes like a hawk, I kept looking and looking for it but it was gone. Missing. Hiding. Something, one of those things. But across the street was a modest little storefront I could barely see from Olive - "La Bonne Bouchee". First of all, it's French. I like French. Also, it translates into "the good mouth". That's just hilarious. Thirdly, I had heard of this place and I thought, "well. I won't be back out here until the next time I go to my doctor so I may as well stop in and see what they have."

It's magical. You must go. If I had had my camera, I would have taken pictures. There were jars and jars and jars of meringues, all different colors and flavors and sizes. There were three huge bakery cases, full of chocolate croissants and raspberry tarts and fruit pies and...and...PARISIAN MACARONS. I was pretty excited about this because it was the first time I had ever seen Parisian macarons in St. Louis. If you've been a longtime reader of happy notions, you may remember seeing this post last summer - when Pete and I were house-sitting for my family members up in Chicago and we went on a wild goose chase all over the city, hunting for the delectable, enigmatic Parisian macarons.

And up until Friday, that was the last time that I had had one.

I digress. So I decide to make the macarons this week. At work today, I thought - hey. I could make those tonight. Pete will be busy with work but I don't have anything to do other than watch Seinfeld so I may as well kill two birds with one stone and bake AND giggle at Elaine.

The book lists four problems that may arise with the cookie part of the Parisian macaron. I had none of those problems. My cookies turned out glossy. They were chewy. They had pieds (the little feet that are the Parisian macaron signature). There were no oil stains or cracks.


[pieds = "feet"; the bubbly little layer between solid cookie and filling; taken by this lady]

So it sounds like I was golden, right? After using two different types of mixers, six different mixing bowls, breaking my favorite Rosati-Kain glass cup in the microwave (it cracked when heating sugar water; I don't think very far in advance when I'm cooking sometimes), and two racks in the oven, I thought it would be okay. But as I poured the macaron batter mix into my pastry bag, and it started to literally fall out of the bag...I realized that something was wrong.

The batter laid too flat. It wasn't puffy enough. I wish I could think of a good analogy to make, but it's impossible - because the little pools of batter that were on top of that parchment just looked so sad. They are impossible to compare to anything else.

If you are a seasoned macaron baker, you may be thinking one of two things: 1) Kaylen, you didn't macronnage long enough. That may be true. But I tumbled that batter around my mixing bowl 20 different times (you're only supposed to do it 15) and my arm felt like it was going to fall off and I couldn't take it any longer. The other thing you may be thinking: 2) Kaylen, did you let those egg whites sit out for 24 hours?

No. No, I did not. Try two hours. Pete said, "you should put it in the microwave". Don't worry, I didn't. Eggs + microwave = salmonella or e.coli or just a disaster in general, so I avoided that. Using the microwave is great when butter needs to be room temperature (although I read a new trick! If you put the stick of butter into lukewarm water when you're getting the other ingredients together for whatever you're baking, by the time you're supposed to use the butter, it'll be room temp!). But eggs. No dice. No good.

There is one other problem that may have been to blame. I used almond meal. I just looked. I thought, "well almond meal must be the same as almond flour". I haven't verified this on google, but I'm pretty sure it isn't. I put the almond meal through my food processor (WHICH SUCKS, I need to add a new one to the registry) which did make it more fine. I pushed it through a sieve, twice, which also made it more fine. But maybe it wasn't fine enough.

And finally. Almond flour can only be exposed to air temperature for so long before it doesn't work the way it's supposed to (isn't that insane? That's what the book says). My almond meal sat out for two hours, while I was waiting for the egg whites to warm. And the real kicker: since I bought that almond meal in December, it's due date was...well, it's bad. The due date was two months ago. But I hadn't opened the bag! It was vacuum sealed, until 6:30 tonight! Doesn't that mean anything?!

Apparently not.

So in general, my macarons turned out...okay. I would never show them to anyone else (that's why there's no pictures; sorry!), but they had the pieds and they are glossy and they are moist and chewy. They even taste pretty good, they just look ugly. And since the batter formed little pools on the baking tray, as opposed to little puffs, a lot of it ran together in the oven and formed one giant macaron. Which really, isn't so bad...right?

But I'll be back. Round II, tomorrow. Get ready.

And if you want to really read about how difficult it is to make macarons, just look here. At this blogger's blog, who works for Betty Crocker. If she has a hard time with it, well...that just makes me feel better.


(congratulations if you made it to the end of this post! i love you.)

Check! Check! Check!

Okay, I'm baaaack! Did you miss me?

So to begin, I've been getting a LOT of stuff crossed off of my list of things to do in 2010. Or, well, not all the way crossed off, but starting to get things crossed off. Does that make sense? No? Okay, well I'll explain.

8. Visit Disneyland - no, I haven't made a trip out to California, but I did sign Pete and I up for the "Give a Day, Get a Day" program. You may have seen a commercial about it - if you volunteer with a participating organization (from the website), you can get a free day's admission to a Disney park. So. We are all set to volunteer with the MS Walk in April. Which is cool, because my mom has MS so it's nice to be able to help in any way.

19. Get a doctor - GOT ONE. So I've been having problems with my knees. They hurt and crack and pop when I sit down, stand up, go up or down stairs...etc. So after dealing with that pain and ridiculousness for way longer than I should have (two years, on and off) I finally started looking for a doctor. It's tricky, because I'm still on my parents' insurance now but will be switching to Pete's in four months or so. But I found a doctor and actually met her today and she was so nice, and attentive, and not weird, and didn't mind that I hadn't shaved my legs in awhile (TMI? Sorry). So that's crossed off the list.

22. Keep a tidier, more organized apartment - I'm getting better and better at this. Before people come over there isn't as much cleaning/putting away things that has to happen because when I make a mess I try to clean it up right away. It's kind of a pain at first, but in general it's not a bad plan. Especially because I flit from project to project and room to room so things get messy pretty easily.

25. Buy an original piece of art - I haven't done this yet, BUT Pete and I have commissioned a portrait of ourselves for our wedding! This also ties in to number 45. Nan Lawson is AMAZING. I first saw her work on Mel's You Are My Fave, and instantly fell in love. Pete really liked her work, too - so we are all set to go! I sent Nan pictures and descriptions of us and she's going to start working on our painting in a month or so. I'm pretty stoked.

26. Update logistics of blog - I've done some shopping around and found a woman whose templates I really, really like. She was on hiatus for awhile due to health reasons, but once she gets her shop up and running again, I'm going to pay her to make the blog look prettier. I want something new and fresh looking but I just don't have the time, energy, or equipment (photoshop/indesign/dreamweaver) to make this blog look how I want it to look. I can pay a small amount to make it pretty for forever.

32. Make dinner for family and friends more often - since I last checked in, we've had people over for a pancake breakfast (during national pancake week!) and our Friendly Feast clan has had dinner here. Pete and I have had a good amount of parties, with finger foods, but cooking an entire meal for a group of ten-ish people? It's hard work. But I liked it!

39. I've researched credit cards. My dad is all for me getting one (this surprised me). But I haven't filled out any contracts or anything yet. Still researching.

42. I started reading Metamorpheses. It's good, but very long (600-some pages). I'm trying to read 20-30 pages a night before I go to sleep.

45. See number 25, above.

46. Start a garden - I bought a ton of seeds! I decided to go with a container garden, because I live on the second floor of a four-tenant building and I don't know how keen my landlord would be with me digging in the backyard. So, container garden on the balcony. I've been doing a lot of research online/in books about which vegetables are good to grow in containers. The seeds came in the mail today and I am going to my parents' house tomorrow to ransack our garage to get pots and other tools that they don't use anymore. I'm going to start planting next week during spring break!

48. Stay home on Valentine's Day - Valentine's Day was AWESOME. Pete and I hung out all day, went to Whole Foods to buy lobster tail, and made homemade macaroni-and-cheese with lobster. It was delicious. It also lasted us for dinners all through the week. Then we ate some of our special ice cream from Cold Stone and watched Wall-E and Ratatouille and Up. Great night.

49. Since I last posted, my friend Kate came over and she knitted while I sketched a picture on this huge canvas I inherited. It was lovely. And on Sunday, I'm going over to Rosemary's to craft with her for a bit.

51. Open an etsy shop - I bought this book to prepare for my future crafting ventures. I don't remember if I posted about this previously or not, but I can't open an etsy shop without a credit card. So I need to get my act together and do that first.

52. Glass-blowing or letterpress class - since my parents are paying for my wedding in July...I figured I wouldn't give them very many ideas for my birthday (which is April 15th). However, I am going to ask for a gift certificate to Third Degree Glass Factory and a trench coat. And that's it. I looked into letterpress classes and they are waaaaaaaaaaay too expensive right now. Sad.

57. I've been commenting more on blogs that I usually read and don't comment on. It's been good.

61. Skydiving - no, I haven't gone. But I looked into some of the options around here. Then it scared me too much and I started doing something else.

63. Fan letters - I wrote a letter to Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife. I didn't write one for January but I sent the Audrey letter off a few weeks ago. It was good. I don't know how I feel about it. She may never even read it. Who knows.

65. Chuck Berry - I almost bought tickets to see him March 10 but then I realized I really couldn't afford it so this may be on the backburner for awhile.

72. I read two more books since I last posted about the list - Made from Scratch and Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant. Both were awesome. Made from Scratch made me want to buy chickens and start a garden (partially why I fast-forwarded and started ordering seeds) and live in the mountains, while Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant didn't make me feel as bad for eating weird stuff when I'm by myself. I highly recommend both.

73. Donations - I kept a pile going in the corner of my dining room of stuff to donate. Every time I came across something I didn't want/need anymore it went in the pile. Then on a Saturday morning, I went through all of my closets and my dresser and my desk and unpacked the last two boxes that I never unpacked from the summer and made a huge trip to Goodwill. I love editing. I'll probably do this again in the fall, too.

86. Talk less, listen more - I've made conscious efforts to shut up more and listen - in class, with my friends, with my family. I tend to talk - a lot - and it's nice keeping quiet sometimes.

95. Get a massage - ugh. I went to MassageLuxe and wasn't a huge fan. It felt nice but then as soon as I got out of the room the people at the desk were all, "SIGN UP FOR THIS! SIGN UP FOR THAT!" and it totally ruined my mood.



And that's all I have. So I've been busy! More soon.

The Sandpit

I do love some tilt-shift videography.

Enjoy. I'll be back from my hiatus tomorrow :)

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Out and About

Hey guys - so sorry that I've been MIA lately. School has gotten the best of me and I've been spending a lot of time studying and doing other such boring things.

Next week is midterms and then the week after that is SPRING BREAK (so excited)!!!!

Hope things are well with all of you. I have some fun stuff to talk about when I get back! Good books, more things crossed off of my list, honeymoon spots, fun links I've been meaning to show you since the beginning of time, and bridesmaid bios.

But now I am going to get ready for my day. Which includes school, work, studying, and possibly going to see some African women's directorial debuts at SLU. Depends on whether or not I have enough energy by the end of the day. We'll see.

The End of an Era

Thursday was interesting. Lots of stuff happened. I'll outline.

1. In class, I spent time on my laptop and looked at my emails/twitter/facebook and found out that my cousin is pregnant. This is my cousin who got married in October, so...no time wasted. I was just angry that I found out on FACEBOOK. (Later in the day, which will soon be mentioned, I had to call many family members about something and everyone else (seriously - my parents, my sister, my aunt that doesn't ever talk to anyone in the family) knew that she was pregnant. Everyone just forgot to tell me, I guess.)

2. Thursday was the day that my dad was to find out whether or not he was getting laid off. He works at Anheuser-Busch here in St. Louis. He's been miserable for a long time in his job. And if you live in the United States, you've probably heard about the In-Bev takeover, unless you live under a rock. So things have gotten bad.

And I spent all day Thursday waiting for my dad to call me and tell me what happened. I texted him at 9 AM saying, "good luck, I love you! Call me when you find out" and he texted me back right away and said, "sure thing I will let you know". So, I had my phone out on my desk all day waiting to hear from him.

My classes were over at 2 PM and I went to work at 3. Still hadn't heard anything. Spent all afternoon thinking I would hear from him while at work and I contemplated how to take the phone call without getting in trouble.

But by the end of the evening at work, I still hadn't heard from anyone in my family. So on my way home I called my house, my mom's cell phone and my dad's cell phone repeatedly. Like, stalker-repeatedly. We're talking like ten times each. And no one answered, anywhere. So I drove to my house, figuring that they may be there. No one was home. I drove by my parents' friends houses, looking for their cars. I drove by some of their favorite restaurants in the neighborhood, again, looking for their cars. I called my grandma and grandpa, my nonnie (dad's mom), an aunt and an uncle. No one knew. No one had heard anything. Or they didn't answer.

Nothing. So I became PISSED. Just absolutely miffed. I was so angry that no one was answering their phones, and especially that no one had called me. So I eventually went home, around 8 PM, after buying my favorite pre-made sandwich at Schnucks (local grocery store) and a humidifier for my room (which doesn't work very well, by the way).

Mom eventually called me around 9. "It's over!!!!" she said, sounding super excited. My dad has been working there for 27 years and within the last ten, they've treated him pretty bad - last minute trips across the country, presentations thrown in his lap the day before they're due, etc - so he's been looking for a way out for some time now. He even went to his boss and said, "Hey - if you're looking for someone to lay off, I would take that." No dice, until Thursday...

So after saying "yay!" and all that, I got a little...emotional. I started crying and saying that I was upset that no one told me. As it turns out, dad was laid off around 1 PM. He and the rest of the people that got laid off went directly a bar and proceeded to drink (not AB products, of course). His phone and laptop were taken away immediately (company-issued). He had had to clean out his office a few months ago when no personal belongings were allowed in cubicles/offices anymore, so there was nothing to do there.

So I understand that he couldn't have called me. Oh wait, except that he had gotten an iPhone on Saturday (a week ago today, yes) and I'm pretty sure he has his daughter's cell phone number memorized. That's the other thing - he knew, a week ago, that he was getting laid off. But he told me and my sister that he had a meeting to determine whether or not he was getting laid off. So weird. I don't really know why he did that.

So not only did I find out that 1) dad had lied to me and my sister about "not knowing whether or not he was getting laid off", I also found out that 2) my mom had talked to my sister around 4 PM and told her that dad had gotten the axe. I'm sorry, but WTF?! Seriously. I am sorry about that but that is exactly how I felt. At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, I was so upset that no one told me. Emme didn't think to call me and tell me, or just to call and talk about it. Mom didn't think, "oh, I just talked to one daughter, maybe I should call the other one". And the worst part is that I'm driving around St. Louis for two hours, looking for their cars at their usual haunts. Because that is how much I care, and no one thought to call me.

Anyways - I totally lost it when talking to mom. I started bawling (embarassing) and was all, "I can't believe you didn't think to tell me!" and when I found out that my mom had told my sister approximately five hours before she told me...oh, man - I was livid. So I guess she called my dad right after she got off the phone with me and told him to call me and tell me himself (something that really should have happened, oh, I don't know, seven hours earlier?). So he did and it was awkward because I was still super emotional and felt like crying but I was trying really hard not to. So, that's that story.

3. I found out that one of my friends (who is my age) is pregnant. We went to high school together and weren't very close then, but we've gotten closer since graduation. I could tell she felt really awkward telling me about it...and I've never had a friend tell me that she was pregnant and wasn't super excited about it (let's face it - Lindsay, you were my first), so...I just didn't know what to say, really. She had a little photo album with her sonogram pictures in it. I guess she started dating this guy five months ago, and she is 15 weeks along...so, yeah. I'm excited for her - I think more excited than she is - and understandably so. But it seemed as though she was coming around even in our hour-long conversation, so...maybe things will be okay. So. Two pregnancies in one day. Interesting.

4. And, the one real bright spot - I definitely have a summer job! I'll be working at Wilson's summer camp again, but only for four of the eight weeks (because of the wedding and honeymoon). It's awesome how flexible my boss is about it - because there was really no way around it. So it's great knowing that I have an income until August or so - and then I need to either get a completely new job, or another job in addition to Wilson extended day. I'll figure it out.

Yikes. Sorry so much writing. If you're still reading to the end of this, kudos. And thanks.

Spring, Where Are You?!: Mod Cloth Edition

Okay, I don't really expect Spring to answer the above question. And it's February in St. Louis, meaning that it won't be warm for awhile. In fact, we've gotten more snow in February this year than we have the entire winter (this is not a known fact, but I think it's true).

But I'm so ready for spring. I'm ready to wear my small red coat instead of my huge, bulky black one. I'm ready for my hands/face/feet/legs/every other part of my body to stop being dry and rough, regardless of how much moisturizing lotion/baby oil/other fancy stuff I use. I'm ready to stop having static hair. I hate static hair. And my hair is so long (past my shoulders) that it's driving me more crazy than usual.

I'm ready to be able to take the kids at school outside. We've had so many "cold days" and the little ones are getting sick of staying inside, understandably so. I'm ready to start growing a balcony garden. I'm ready to start running outside again, and biking and walking and just enjoying the weather, instead of dreading running from the front door of my apartment to my car every morning.

But more than almost anything else, I'm ready for the spring clothes. I'm ready to drag out my colorful tights, skirts, floods, flats, and cardigans. Yes, I realize that lots of stylish ladies wear flats and cardigans and tights and skirts. But I'm a wimp. I get cold so easily and HATE being cold, so I've been very into the hoodies/sweatpants with pj pants underneath them. Because even if I look bulky or weird I'm warm and really, that's what I care about.

Spring clothes are popping up all over the place and I'm getting restless. I'm ready to bare my legs! And my adorable little tattoo on my foot!

So, in honor of spring maybe coming soon, here are some of my current spring favorites, from Mod Cloth:

The Colleen Dress


Through the Tulips Dress


Cherry Valence Dress


Lemon Custard Cardigan


Mint Condition Top


Lovely Lace Shirt


Luck of the Skirt


Brave New Waist Shorts


Beach Blanket Bingo Swimsuit


Beach Blanket Retro Two Piece in Red


Just Teasin' Tights


Second Semester Socks in Marshmallow

You know what would be even cooler? If I could actually afford all of these things. I would have one sweet spring wardrobe...

Baking and Dancing, Oh My!

As I was prancing around my kitchen this evening, making a pound cake, I turned on the mix that Pete and I have (tentatively) created for our wedding reception.

And you know, there are some really, really good songs on there. We still are at a standstill as to what our first dance song will be (we're disagreeing right now) but this one is, in my opinion, a serious contender.

Plus, I love the video. So I was baking my cake and singing the lyrics to this song, and lots of other love songs ("God Only Knows", "Real Love", "Sea of Love", "History of Lovers", "Red Right Ankle", "The More I See You", etc etc) and I remembered the video and then I really wanted to watch it. So I did and then I decided to post it here (again, two years later, almost!) because it's just so...amazing.

Enjoy.

Socialites

I didn't really know what socialites were before I started watching Gossip Girl.

Actually, that isn't true. I knew what a socialite WAS. But the concept was so foreign to me.

Well - enter the Socialite Name Chart.

My name is Plum Guinness. I'm slightly obsessed with this. All of a sudden, I want to name my future children Plum (only the girls, obviously).

What's your name?

picture from the socialite name chart page

Best Fictional Couples EVER

Inspired by the Secret Society of List Addicts

1. Weetzie Bat & My Secret Agent Lover Man - from my favorite book, Weetzie Bat. I love their relationship - and the writing style, thanks to Francesca Lia Block - because it just seems so real. Not only are they madly in love, but they have problems and issues. And they're just adorable.

2. Clare Abshire and Henry DeTamble - from The Time Traveler's Wife. No, I haven't seen the movie. So I can still love the book and not feel sad about the world completely butchering it. Anyway - their relationship is heartbreakingly gorgeous. If you haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife, I very highly recommend it.



And you know what? I was going to finish this and think of more fictional couples I love, but I think I'm going to go make Pete a last minute Valentine (we just exchanged books this year, and no flowers/chocolates/cards...but I think I'm going to cheat).

Also - just as a heads up - Pete DID write a little something-something about me on his blog...it made me smile all night long.

Snuggling With a Seal

Adorable. I cried.



Also it kind of freaked me out. But it's pretty cute, too.

via neatorama