Monthly Archives: November 2012

Friday Link Hootenannny :: Fun Things to Browse

Link Hootenanny

Count down…..THANKSGIVING! This round up is a little bit of thanksgiving and just a little bit of fun stuff that caught my eye. Let’s get to it!

1. KING OF ALL TYPEFACES.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVED the glorious moonrise kingdom font from san francisco based genius jessica hische. Now you can have this dreamy lettering as a font all your own. YAY! Alas we have to wait til next year for the release date, but still. Yay.


(via whoreange)

2. ZING!

All I have to say about this is, Hella Slingshots???? I know a certain little fella who would probably reeeeeeallly like one of these. Although probably not in hot pink.

3. STARRY EYED SURPRISE.

Simple, cozy and hip. That’s this collection from noe-zoe. I want that stripey star hoodie.

4. PINNING YOUR PRIVATES. SO TO SPEAK.

Ah yes! Pinterest has private boards now! This is exciting news for bloggers (secret inspiration boards!), gift givers (plot the holidays!) and even for planning special events that you’d like to keep as a surprise. I joined it ages ago but have recently become much more excited about pinning my finds. Are we following each other?? You can find me/modern kiddo right here!

 

5. THE JOY OF BABY PROOFING.

I love Joy Cho, of Oh Joy. And I really loved this post on how she and Emily Henderson have her living room a stylish update that was still a safe space for baby Ruby! See it here.

6. HIP HOMEMADE HOLIDAY? HOLLAH!

A Hip Handmade Holiday is an e-book bursting with cool ideas (like 18 craft projects, 9 instructional videos, and over 100 printable pdfs, stickers, patterns, stencils and gift tags. From the lovely ladies behind The Craft Pack (created by bloggers Susan of Freshly Picked and Alison from the Alison Show).  Download it here!

7. THANKFUL FOR YUMMY THINGS.

This post had be drooling almost instantly. What Gaby’s Cooking for Thanksgiving is tasty tasty stuff. (via shutterbean)

 

8. KING (AND QUEEN) OF CUTE.

Presenting, the easiest and most adorable turkey day craft EVER!! I love this. See how here.

(via Dana Made It)

 

9. LITTLE KID TABLE LOVE.

Do you have a big celebration with a kid’s table too? Gabbie’s “celebrations” series offers tips for making the kid’s table just as fun as the big table are simple and smart!

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Do you have any big plans for Thanksgiving? We are hoping to go on a little family getaway. Maybe Portland. Maybe Palm Springs! (hah, yeah I know….to polar opposites! We are dying to visit Portland but it’s looking like massive rain next week. Sigh.)

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

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I love a good tradition–especially around holidays.

I come from a big and very connected family.  Thanksgivings when I was a kid were filled with aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and I loved every minute of it.  Now unfortunately my family is smaller and lives on different coasts–like a triangle, so it is very rare that we get a chance to all be together for holidays.

And now that I have my own little family, I’m trying to add some new traditions to the mix. And Thanksgiving is one of those where there is a lot of room for new traditions.

There is of course the Thanksgiving Day Parade–the Peach loves a parade and the floats. I watched the HECK out of that every year when I was a kid, waiting breathlessly for the Rock-Ettes.  I remember reading about this parade party that was featured in a Martha Stewart magazine. That sounds like an awesome idea, eh?

For me, another great tradition was the kids table. It was always so much fun!  By the time I grew up, there were nieces and nephews to take my place.  I hope the Peach gets to enjoy this.

Image: Project Nursery

One tradition I remember was setting up the place cards for our long dinner table.  My cousin, Cheryl and I always had a blast trying to figure out which family member would sit where for this very special dinner. You could use these amazing ones from Rifle Paper Co. Love!

I would love love love to have special plates like these for the big day of Turkey. Our friend, Lynn has the best selection of these turkey plates. And she’s an amazing cook whose roots are Southern by way of Louisiana so she knows her way around the kitchen to say the least.

Here is one tradition I’m not really in to–pumpkin pie.  I’m just not a fan.  Forgive me.  They are beautiful, but still, do you think I could get away with a chocolate hazelnut tart instead?

Image: Martha Stewart

So many ways to cook that bird, which is known not for its wonderful taste, but for its ability to feed a large quantity of people cheaply, but still, we do love our turkey on Thanksgiving and there are sooo many divine ways to cook to make it taste great.  I like a bacon wrapped turkey myself…

So, I guess I had more traditions than I thought! What are your holiday traditions?  Any special recipes that you MUST make every Thanksgiving?

Home Sweet Home

Real Life : Alix

The past week has been a little rocky, friends. My mom’s health has been through some problems and last week she had to be hospitalized quite unexpectedly. If you knew my mom, you’d know she is vibrant and youthful and full of energy. It’s sad when anyone gets sick but was doubly upsetting to see someone usually so full of life fall ill. I was extremely worried (as was our whole family) and dropped everything to fly out there to see her. So many of you sent me sweet wishes and prayers and I am so so grateful—thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Fast forward 2 weeks later and she is doing SO MUCH better. Whew!!! Her health isn’t 100%, of course, but she is looking and sounding like her old self. It was so nice to spend time with them. Unlike our summer visits where we head to the lakehouse, this wasn’t a “vacation” so we stayed at my childhood home in Flint. Nothing glamorous (it looks cuter in that photo up there), but really great to be there. I mostly stayed at home, but found a few moments to walk up to my elementary school and of course squeezed in a small thrift pop in or two. Also I was delighted to see that autumn was in full effect. I missed seeing the leaves on the ground and the trees all stark and graphic against the sky.

I scooped up some fun books while in Flint (including the World’s Ugliest Vintage Book Ever….just you wait!) and I’ll be posting them soon. In other news….brrrrrr. It’s cold out there! I was blessed with crisp but very sunny weather while in Michigan but now back here in Cali I think we’re getting ready to light those fires and turn on that heat!

Make sure you hug your mom and dad and tell them you love them friends….

The beauty of a beach in winter

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Image: Flickr user, Brianmoc, of my beloved Crane Beach in Massachussetts

Have you ever gone to the beach in the late fall/early winter?

Gone is the technicolor fun and energy that bounces through the air in the summer.  It is replaced with a cooler bittersweetness as the weather gets cooler.  I think the month of November brings out a different side of the beach. A more subdued and personal side.

I love that winter beaches aren’t as crowded.  Sometimes you’ll find yourself completely alone on the beach, and it feels like it belongs to you. Only to you.  I think that it is only then that you truly fall in love with that sandy strip connecting with the water.

But the one thing that can mar those beautiful winter beaches more than anything else is an unsightly piece of plastic washed ashore. Sadly  nowadays, you almost can’t take a walk on a beach without running into a piece or six of plastic garbage. That is why I truly appreciate when companies take a stance against all that plastic. Whether it be using corn-based , biodegradable plastic containers for your salad or wrapping your goodies with newspaper instead of those little foam peanuts.

One company that is doing something different is Method. Our friends at Method took it one step further, sending each employee over a year’s time to Hawaii to clean up a certain beautiful beach that is constantly inundated with “ocean plastic. You know, those misc. bits and pieces of plastic washed ashore, like that plastic fork used back in 1981 or that plastic ring holding together a six pack of soda in the seventies.

And instead of just tossing all of that plastic, Method has collected it and used it to create the world’s first bottle made with a blend of recovered ocean plastic and post-consumer recycled plastic. And I got say, what a bottle!

This is just divine, isn’t it?  Muted gray (thanks to the natural color of the cleaned plastic pellets) with a lovely nod to a sea anemone.  I actually bought this soap (only available at Whole Foods and Methodhome.com) as a little prezzie for my interior design friend and she fell head over heels for it.  I think you will too. Another cool thing about this Method product is that it is a hand and dish soap—so you only need to buy one bottle. Huzzah!

For a bit more about the unusual story behind this unusual soap, check out this great video Method made.  Makes me love these guys even more!

I hope Method starts a trend and more companies follow suit using ocean plastic. Because our beaches in winter (or actually any time of the year) deserve to be plastic free, leaving more room for us to enjoy.

Are you a fan of winter beaches?

This post brought to you by:

but all opinions are always our own. To read more on Method’s green practices, ingredients and philosophy, go here.

Vintage Kiddo Retro Round Up!

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Well, that weekend just FLEW by, eh? I feel like that is going to be a theme for the rest of the year.. Sigh! I’m in SLC right  now for work and had to leave a feverish little Peach behind, which as you can imagine was really REALLY hard. Sigh…  But I’m sitting in my hotel room looking out at the snow with a fire going and although I’m missing my little girlie, I can at least find some fun items for the Kiddo Round Up, which always puts a smile on my face!

This chair = perfection.  From Etsy seller, Little Part.

 

I am dying over this perfect little Tweed jacket. Perfect for your kiddo’s first Tweed Ride! From Etsy seller, One Sweet Dream Vintage.

 

Miss Lish found these terrific saddle shoes in what look to be perfect condition. And the price is pretty rad too!

WHOA! Fisher Price ranger set? Those are insanely hard to find! Someone, please snatch this up! From Etsy seller, Fuzzymama.

 

This little cars onesie is perfectly cozy right now and would warm any little baby up right proper! From Etsy seller, Bondplace Vintage.

 

Behold the perfect striped shirt.  It looks like it was taken off of a surfer in 1966. Love it. From Etsy seller, Ms. Tips.

 

For such a little person, our model here has a ton of sass! I love it! And I love that sweet purply sweater too! From Etsy seller, La di Dottie.

 

Beware, Petunia!  You can tell that fox is up to no good!  Makes you want to buy the book to find out what happened, eh? From Etsy seller, Hey Sweetie Pie!

 

If I could cram the poor Peach into this 2T pinky dress, I would! Sigh. Who knows… I just might still buy it and make her wear it as a shirt… From one of my favorite Etsy seller, Oliver’s Forest.

These wonderful vintage records would be worth buying just for the delicious illustrations on the cover. Sigh! From Etsy seller, A Pear’s Vintage Goodies.

 

When stripes aren’t enough, one should simply add sweet strawberry to a sweater for true perfection. And what is also perfect about this sweater is that it comes in the oh so elusive big girl size 7! From Etsy seller, Little Reader Vintage.

Happy Monday, folks!