To those we lost. To those we loved. To those who survived. We remember your courage. Your strength. And we honor the memory. We will never forget.
Monthly Archives: September 2011
It’s Time for the Friday Link Hootenanny
1. TEENSY SLICE OF MIDCENTURY.
While you can’t really play with it, there is something about this wee little house that is kind of cute. See it over here via Babble.
2. EAMES KNIT WITS.
These Eames chairs are so iconic and cool….but if we’re being honest, wire chairs ain’t the coziest. That’s why I am in love with this fabulous hand-knit seat cover! Hmmm, now if I could only convince Miss Dottie to come over and knit me one. (seen on the recraft)
3. QUIRKY SANDALS IN THE SAND.
Kiki kids made these really charming geta sandals (essentially a traditional Japanese wooden flip flop). The sneaky part? There are little “stamps” on the bottom so when you walk you leave behind animal foot prints. SO FUN! Check them out here.
via babyology
4. BLACK AND WHITE AND FUN ALL OVER.
Oh this is a great idea! Loads of free, downloadable coloring pages from the genius minds at Patterns For Colouring! Get yours here. Found via the lovely Draw! Pilgrim
5. ROOKIE IS A SMART COOKIE.
The infamous 15 year old Tavi, of Style Rookie fame, has launched a new web site for young girls. A little bit Sassy mag (Jane Pratt is one of her mentors) and a whole lotta modern cool. Check it out here. Looks like it should be fun. Hmm, reminds me I haven’t looked at Zooey Deschanel’s blog in ages. Wonder how that’s going?
6. AUCTIONS WITH A BANG BANG.
This auction house is bananas. You can actually bid on the Pink Panther’s sweet-n-spacey Panthermobile. The vehicle was created in 1969 by Jay Ohrberg. You may remember him as the mastermind designer behind infamous autos like the Ford Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch, Knightrider’s K.I.T.T., the Back to the Future DeLorean, the Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee, as the iconic Batmobiles from both 1966 and 1989. Jay Ohrberg was a busy guy.
But if you think that’s cool….this is ever COOLER. You can also bid on one of the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars. AHHHHHH!
MY MIND IS BLOWN! Â How about pulling up to the carpool drop-off lane at your school in that sweet ride?? Aw yeah. Place a bid over here.
7. YMA GONNA WANNA BID.
Speaking of crazy auctions, the estate of the glorious Yma Sumac is auctioning off her stage costumes on eBay. If you aren’t familiar with her, Yma was a famous Peruvian soprano who was a leader in the Exotica and lounge music movement of the 50s/60s, working with people like Les Baxter. She was super groovy. And to have a piece of her stage wardrobe? WOW! I am oggling the silver cape. There are some wonderful pieces! Look and drool here.
8. WAIT, WHAT? HUH? I’M SORRY COULD YOU REPEAT THAT?
When Greg claims can’t hear what I’m saying, I always joke that I need to get him an old timey ear horn. It cracks me up every time. And this thing…well….it’s making me giggle too. Get yours over here. Hee. Ear horn. (And can I award myself 10 points for not making a bad, “I feel horny” joke?)
9. THESE ZUCCHINI FRITTERS ARE MAKING ME DROOL.
Holy yum. This seems like the perfect transition from Summer to Autumn food! Learn how to make them here. And then bring them over to my house STAT.
10. I’M GOING GREEN.
We loooooove the Muppets here at Camp Kiddo, and I am loving this adorable new tribute CD. Muppets: The Green Album is a new collection of Muppet songs covered lovingly by the likes of Andrew Bird, OK GO, My Morning Jacket and Weezer. Read more here. Buy it from iTunes here. I also saw it at my local Starbucks.
BONUS RANDOMNESS
+ I was looking at my Twitter Klout (this mysterious rating system that tells you if people are listening to you) and I was pleased that I had a pretty nice rating going. But then it told me my areas of twitter expertise are “Blogging” “Shoes” and “Spice Girls”. What the what? SPICE GIRLS? I don’t recall tweeting about them EVER! That being said….uh….I was intrigued to see this photo of Posh Spice and her baby Harper.
+ This totally made me sad. Lindsay Lohan’s little sister looks like she got MAJOR plastic surgury. Gross. She’s claiming she didn’t but you be the judge. Check it.
+ Kate Plus 8 was cancelled. I admit I used to watch the show in the early days and enjoyed it (and was actually impressed with Kate and her managing that entire household). Then the whole John drama happened. And while she bugged me, I always tried to remind myself, “Hey, you don’t have SIX kids who are five years old. I’m sure she’s stressed.” But then I just watched the last couple of episodes since its going off the air, and whoooo mama. That Kate is a Class-A PITA (“pain in the ass”, doncha know). She was on a road trip with her kids and two other women and she belittled them and whined and complained the whole entire trip. Yeech. But I still felt badly that their main source of income was disappearing. Til I saw that she bought herself a flashy Audi. Sigh. Kate, Kate, you just aren’t great. See it here.
+ Also, who’s watching Project Runway???? Do we need to discuss??
Alix’s Closet // Going Out To Dinner
My parent’s have been visiting us and it’s been awesome. As a special treat, they took me out for a belated birthday dinner. It was just me and them—Wolfie and Greg stayed home. This was highly unusual. My parents hate to go anywhere WITHOUT Wolfie (hee).  It was a real treat for me and something we haven’t done in ages! I wanted to dress up and since I didn’t have Wolfie with me, I took advantage and wore my big ol’ Mary Jane platforms.
Lil Sidebar: Right after I graduated college I was working in a restaurant…as I was clocking out, a new employee (who hadn’t been trained properly) dropped a vat of boiling chicken stock and it splashed across the kitchen and on me. I received third degree burns on both my ankles. It was pretty major. I couldn’t walk and had to eventually have a skin graft. It was excruciating, but I was also extremely lucky and I’m 100% fine and dandy now. I just have a lil bit of scarring. Just in case you think I had extra dry skin or sumpthin.
I am a cardigan lover—I rarely go without one. I find them great for our fickle weather! (And ok, my arms are pudgier than they used to be and they cover that up too….) I love to wear necklaces, but since the dressie had lace trim I decided to skip the necklace and just add a pretty vintage pin for a little pop of color.
I love a good platform shoe, I find them very comfy to walk in FOR A HEEL (they aren’t comfy compared to, say, a sneaker!). But I do have to say I’m not really into this trend of crazy gigantor platform clodhoppers that lotsa fashion bloggers are wearing. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of them don’t even wear those shoes for anything but the photos. Then again most of ’em are younger and don’t have kiddos, so what do I know! These shoes were a leeeeetle bit bigger than I was expecting, but manageable. (I know my friend Jenny is raisin’ a brow at me right about now!!! haha!) And for special occasions they are kind of fun! I feel nice and tall (i’m just shy of 5’3″ in real life).
WHAT I WORE:
+ Grey cardigan, Target
+ Black tank, Old Navy
+ Jeffrey Campbell Crosby platforms, Free People
+ Pretty Birdie Slip Dress, fleurette from second hand shop Buffalo Exchange (orig. from anthropologie apparently!)
+ Enamel flower pin, vintage shop
Made By Wolf. So of Course We Love It!
Right before we left for summer vacation, we received a little package from Made By Wolf….a really fun clothing company that partners with cool designers, illustrators and artists to create awesome tees for kids. The tee they sent us is SO colorful and fun, we love it! It’s a bright marigold with a really playful Circus design by Alex Westgate—and who doesn’t love a good circus design??
The shirts are generously cut and made of a great no-tag-in-the-back cotton. They release a new tee design every month and although they’re based in Europe they ship worldwide! A few of the other designs I love:
But really, this circus one is killing me with its cuteness. And our little Wolf cub is pretty fond of it too. I love a great tee that is groovy enough to be cool but isn’t too hipstery so as to lose that sense of little kiddo playfulness.
These pics were taken at Tiki Oasis (which I still have to tell you all about!) and Wolfie was exhausted. In the middle of taking these photos, my boy let out the biggest yawn…..and then a huge denial of, “I am NOT tired, mama. Seriously! I’m not tired at all.” Â Mmm hmmm.
To get your hands on a super cute tee from Made By Wolf, swing by their site. You can also read up on all the cool designers they are featuring. There are plenty of other cute designs, but we say GO CIRCUS!
Five Tips To Help Handle Stress and Stay Happy!
Friends, thanks so much for all of the great feedback and support for my Non-Labor day weekend. It got me thinking that all of us mamas (and daddys) out there need to take some time for ourselves.
And it made me think of Tiffany. Sweet Tiffany–the best “life coach” you’ll ever meet. In fact she likes to think of herself more as a change agent or a magic maker who believes that everyone can live their happiest, most sparkly life, starting NOW.  Hells YEAH!
And Miss Tiffany collected her top five tips to help center and de-stress parents. So, without further adieu, here are the wonderful tips from Miss Tiff!
Hi everyone! It’s Tiffany. Here are my Top Five Tips for Helping You Handle Stress and Stay Happy!
1. Count your blessings. Literally.
Gratitude Journal from Chronicle Books
A Gratitude Practice requires just that — practice. Take a moment out of each day to note three things, big or small, that you are grateful for. A list of three is usually a good place to start.
2. Play dress up even if you don’t feel like it.
Photo by Stefanie Renee
Play dress up is my life coach-y way of making take care of yourself sound fun. The key to taking care of yourself is to recognize what small things you need to feel better about your day, to feel more you, less Jack’s mom. If a pretty dress will do the trick, go for it! If a morning meditation class or cup of tea will do it, go with that. The key is finding small things you can do each day to help you get to your happier place.
3. Don’t forget to have fun!
One of my favorite things about kids (and dogs while we’re at it) is that everything they do tends to happen based on the potential for fun. The park: fun. Reading: fun. Cleaning up: yeah, not so fun…unless it can become FUN! Figure out what seems fun to you and then see how you can make it fun for the kids too! (For me, daily dance parties are a MUST!)
Spend a day following the fun and see what happens. You never know, it could end up being really…fun and who doesn’t need more fun in their lives?
4. Take a break.
print via pixelcloud
Just 15 minutes a day can make the difference between feeling pulled and stressed and being able to feel centered and grounded. Turn off the tv, put away the must-get-dones and take a few minutes to just be. Breathe. Sit. Be.
Stillness can be the thing that creates more energy and space for actually getting things done.
5. New motto: Extra + Early = Easy
Photo by Shutterbean
When things start getting harried, let easy and extra do the driving. Heading out with the kids for a playdate? Start prepping a few minutes early, just to give yourself a little extra room.
Cooking everyone’s favorite for dinner? Double the recipe and pop the extra servings in the freezer for a quick dinner when time is short. See Tracy’s frozen burritos for inspiration!
What are your favorite tips for handling stress and staying happy?
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Thanks, Tiffany! Just what I needed to hear!  If you ever have any life decisions that you are having a tough time making, I highly suggest going to Tiffany.  BTW, Tiffany realized one of her dreams when she co-founded Teahouse Studio, a creative workshop space in Berkeley. Alix and I have both taken workshops there and it’s a spectacular space! Find out more at her website, facebook or twitter.
