Sweet Memory

Maine at dusk, waiting for Nick to scoop up some things from the general store and in front of me...

I imagined the family inside this SUV, their sand toys and bug spray all piled in the camper, headed north for the SUMMER of our childhood. When worries evaporated and we could just live for the moment. I could see this sweet memory of someone's childhood, which will surely catch up to them years later. The monumental trees reminding me what small little creatures we really are and how grateful we should be to have every moment on this earth.

Have you heard Melody Gardot? A great recommendation from my mom who saw her recently in Philadelphia follows. Happy Monday xN

Explore America

Ooh... A few friends have entered such an amazing contest!



What are your travel plans this summer? Nick and I are headed to Europe in a few weeks and I can't wait! Hard to believe we've never made it there in our 2.75 years ;-) but we're so excited that we've saved enough to go! Grace at Design Sponge has really incredible guides to many international cities that we'll be working from and we of course have ideas... mostly food related (shocking right?) but please send me an email if you have any food, lodging or underrated wonders of the world recommendations for London, Zurich and notable CH day drips, Paris and Amsterdam. Best recommendation wins a postcard! xN

P.s. Check out Adele discussing the wonders of her world in "Hometown Glory". I have a major music crush on her lately!

Stereo Mood

Have you guys heard of this?? My genius sister told me about Stereo Mood last weekend and I love it! Essentially it is Pandora for the cerebral... when the emotions are so strong you don't want to hear someone... you want to hear how you FEEL.

YES! There is even a "dressing up" playlist haha... Go ahead and take a listen. Hear your music through your emotions and enjoy! I'll be posting intermittently for awhile... My beloved camera is missing and the pictures usually inspire the posts... check back soon regardless and think happy thoughts to encourage the little guy to find his way back home. xN

The wondrous shores of Mid Coast Maine. J'adore. Image (c)  Repaperie

She smelled of daisies

Hello all!

It's been.... intense. Somewhere in the middle of it all I had a birthday and I can't thank you all enough for making me feel so special :-) You are the best. I took a week off from posting following it all to get a grip on my health, sanity, and peace of mind and I can happily report I am doing just fine.

Apologies for leaving you in a lurch but to make up for it, here are some beautiful tunes care of my older brother who is safely back in Sydney after a much-too-quick trip. This is Angus and Julia Stone, the brother and sister duo whose lyrical folk rock romantic tunes make me swoon. Enjoy:
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During my week of no-posting,  I received some beautiful flowers

fell in love with this tree all over again (this is an un-doctored pic!)

and ate some delicious treats... among many other things.

Hope you have all been enjoying this spring as much as I have! xN

Another silly love song

Today my lil ears are hooked on Devendra Banhart's "Baby".



It is the perfect "walking down the street in the first days of spring" song with hips swinging. Getting lost in the thousand lacy petals of cherry blossoms... 

Happy to feel a warm breeze against sleeveless arms and smelling the honeyed blossoms (my FAVORITE!) all around. 

This is as intoxicating as nature gets. Take a few minutes to get outside this week before it gets chilly this weekend! Here's another new fave called "The New Love Song" by Joshua James. 

What have you been listening to lately? With our recent spontaneous collapse of our poor Mac, I'm in the market for new music to beef up my itunes. Give me your recommendations! xN

Sweet disposition

I am in love with this song, Sweet Disposition by the Temper Trap! I know it has been everywhere... movies, commercials, etc. but I can't help it.  I am on a mission to convert this to my alarm clock because it gets me motivated and makes me happy in one fowl swoop!

Goodbye AI

I am officially over American Idol. I've said it. The show is so hokey I wind up fast forwarding the entire 2 hours anyway. Also, TWO HOURS? Who has time like that to kill on an average week night? Not me. Plus my favorite monkey troll has sucked that past few episodes :-( So, here is a parting gift.


A video that I stalked down of him from youtube with he and his wife, lil baby audible in the background. Great song, great performance, great singing.

Here are more if you are so inclined. Sob. Sob. xN

Syrup and Honey

You guys! Still having tremendous technical difficulties at home with the slow-as-honey PC and slowly-being-rebuilt Mac. Making it impossible to post pics and nearly impossible to access google related sites. I was hoping to sneak a post yesterday from work but I had an 8 hour meeting outside of the office.
Eight.
Hours.
Phew.
Last night I completely crashed, but on the positive side it still feels like Monday somehow. So while we're working on this little tech sitch, here's some music I've been loving listening too, particularly today. Wishing I could slow it all down... and spend some time on the things that matter. xN

Confession

I adore music. Usually acoustic, often a cappella, anything I can sing too, I love it all. Which naturally means that Glee and American Idol are my favorite shows on TV and that I turn Incredible Hulk when I can't watch gape mouthed at all of the cheesy, musically fantastic glory that is my programming. Do. Not. Try. To. Change. The. Channel. Please. That said, I usually fast-forward through the painfully terrible Idols... it is only the good, goose bump generating singers that hold my attention. My favs on Idol so far are Didi, pasty white-haired girl from Colorado (especially her style) and dude with glasses... don't remember his name but we have Idol DVR'ed for later tonight or tomorrow so I'll update later. Music makes me SO happy.

I heard Jason Mraz's version of Dylan's A Hard Rain this morning (thanks Pandora!) and practically wore out the replay button of Youtube. A little dark but I miss music that means something. Music that increased social consciousness, fraternity, peace and love and another free concert just for the sake of art. Night all, xN

P.S. Pic is from Multnomah Falls outside of Portland. Such a beautiful part of our country!!

Gray gardens

Gross at work today. Some things that cheered me up:

Stockings in one of my favorite colors (gray) with a fun pattern:

Better view:

Priscilla Ahn's Leave the Light on

Anthropologie's Hello, Good Day Dress

The serenity, joy, freedom... je ne sais quoi implicit in this print and this one too on Etsy (we had snow in the branches just like that yesterday!)

Cheaper flights will help travel planning via Yapta, yay!

Flying got me thinking about birds which reminded me of Jesca Hoop's Murder of Birds

Hope you have a nice Wednesday. xN