Category Archives: Things We Like

It’s official! April is a MONTH OF COLOR!

April 2, 2012Things We LikeAlix

image: markus linnenbrink

Color is hot friends, it’s true. But we don’t need the trend makers to tell us that color is in style! It’s something we’ve known all along! We LOVE color and a large part of our passion for vintage is because of the amazing colors you find. While we know it’s more than a passing trend, we sure do love walking into places like Target or Old Navy and J.Crew and seeing POPS of COLOR everywhere! In fact, we are SO excited, that we have decided to make it official. And April is hereby a MONTH OF COLOR on Modern Kiddo! We’ll be sharing lots of super, fun, color-filled posts with youâ€”both vintage and modern, fashion and designâ€”and we even have TWO extra special giveaways that we are just bustin’ about. Â So get ready folks!! It’s time to get your color on.

1, 2, 3, 4,Â 5, 6

Feel free to play along and post your colorful favorites this month!Â Oh yeah…what’s YOUR favorite color??

I’m obsessed! This app is drawsome.

March 30, 2012Things We Likebest drawing app, Draw Something, iphone app drawing, review of DrawsomeAlix

I’m the kinda girl who loves charades and pictionary. And I really love drawing! [As a semi-related side bar: When I was pregnant, my friends had a New Year’s Eve party where they asked everyone to perform a “talent”. I dressed up as “Preggo Picasso” and did goofy caricature drawings of everyone at the party like a boardwalk artist…see? I love to draw.] ANYWAY, that was a round about way to tell you that I’m officially obsessed with this new app I have on my iPhone calledÂ Draw Something! it only costs 99 cents but offers 99 thousand dollars worth of FUN!

It works like Pictionary…each round has three options for you to choose to draw (easy/medium/hard). YouÂ get 5 colors to start, but can add more colors with the coins you earn for successfully drawing/guessing.

You only play against people you invite, so there is no random people thang going on (unless you want to play random people…). A round takes about one minute, so its not tooooo big a time suck. Unless you invite everyone to challenge you via Twitter and have a million games running at one time. Ahem.

Lemme tell you, it’s harder than you think. The iPhone is so small and you feel like you have big fat Fred Flintstone fingers while you are drawing….but that’s half the fun!! Some of my favorites:

Here are some of my not-so-shining moments….oooooh angry Rihanna! And that sad sack pirate. Sigh.

I wish I had saved my “TUPAC” drawing. It was s0ooo bad….I was cracking up drawing it. It looked like a pirate hobo with a gun. My friendÂ HeatherÂ was brilliant and guessed it anyway.

One of my friends is officially the spazziest drawer EVER and I look forward to what she comes up with all the time!! Â I have covered up her name to protect the innocent (but girl….you know who you are!!!). I love her drawings. They crack me up. Like these two. Can you guess what they are??

Yep. That’s a “sheriff” on the left and the scrubbing bubble cutie is actually Darth “Vader” on the right. Hee.

So what are you waiting for? Download it here! It’s sooo fun.Â And then feel free to challenge me (galexina). But tell me who you are, ok?? Better yet, give us your user name in the comments so we can get some Modern Kiddo rounds going!! PSÂ There is a free version of the game too you just have to deal with pop up ads, so i say splurge on the 99 cents. And for the record, it’s WAY easier on the iPad. But i’m an iPhone purist.

(this isn’t sponsored or anything…I just really have fun playing this crazy game…)

The Most Awesome Letter Ever.

March 27, 2012Things We LikeDottie

*My apologies for this going up early and unfinished friends! Â But here is the final post! Thanks for understanding!*

Remember when professionals used to come to your classroom and talk about their jobs.Â It was always so inspiring. I remember a nurse coming into my classroom and handing out special Raggedy Ann band-aids and I was so sure I’d be a nurse from that day on! I remember writing her a letter and included a sweet picture of a lady in a nurses uniform.

It’s nice to see that this tradition still happens.Â And even the thank you notes continue.Â But then there was THIS thank you note… Oh, what a thank you note it is.

Written to an Austin weather man who came to visit a class of fourth graders, this letter is a masterpiece. It is everything amazing about childhood and I dare you not to smile after reading it.

Here it is:

Dear Mr. Ramon,

Thank you for coming to our school and teaching us about weather.

Some day when I become supreme Ultra-Lord of the universe I will not make you a slave, you will live in my 200 story castle where unicorn servants will feed you doughnuts off their horns.

I will personally make you a throne that is half platnum and half solid gold and jewel encrested.

Thank you again for teaching us about meteoroligy, youâ€™re more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out bacon riding a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber for the horn on the tip of a space shuttle closing in on Mars while ingulfed in flames â€¦ And in case you didnâ€™t know, thatâ€™s pretty dang sweet.

Sincerely, Flint.

P.S. Look on back for drawing.

What? You mean THIS drawing of super awesomeness!

That really is MARVELIS, isn’t it? And here is the real letter…

Have you ever received or written such a letter? LOVE!

You Must See This Movie.

March 26, 2012Things We LikeAlix

Yes I have Hunger Games Fever. And no, I haven’t seen it yet. So that’s not what this post is about! It’s about Elmo. Last week Dottie wrote about how seeing her Peach giggle when she watched Elmo made her change her stance on the furry red fella. I loved that post!

I’ve always been a little indifferent to Elmo. Wolfie liked him, but never totally got into him. As for me, I guess I’ve always been a bit of a Sesame Street purist (aka snob). But then Modern Kiddo readers Tarren, Alisha and Kara all RAVED about the documentary “Being Elmo,” (it’s about Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash). So Greg and I watched it this weekend. Oh friends YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. Add it to your Netflix cue (or better yet, you can stream it instantly!). It’s AMAZING and heartwarming and inspiring. And you will end up loving Elmo too!! Seriously, such a cool story.

Psst! Here’s a lil synopsis of the film:

Being Elmo chronicles the life story of puppeteer Kevin Clash â€“ the multiple award-winning persona behind the furry red monster Elmo of televisionâ€™s Sesame Street. As a teenager growing up in Baltimore in the 1970s, Kevin had very different aspirations from his classmatesâ€”he wanted to be a puppeteer. More specifically, he wanted to be part of Jim Hensonâ€™s team, the creative force responsible for delivering the magic of Sesame Street. With a supportive family behind him, Kevin made his dreams come true. Combining amazing archival footage with material from the present day, filmmaker Constance Marks explores Kevinâ€™s story in vivid detail and chronicles the meteoric rise of Jim Henson in the process. This insightful and personal documentary offers up a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson legacy.

SO GOOD.

ALT SUMMIT // You Should Read These Blogs

January 20, 2012Guest Blogger, Things We LikeAlt Summit 2012, Altitude Design Summit, recapAlix

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Just finished my panel here (along with my fabulous panelists Meg, Rachel and Natalie)Â atÂ Alt SummitÂ on the BestÂ in Up and Coming blogs. Some of these are true up and commers and some are people we just love and think you should have on your reader. Take a gander and see if you find some new inspiration! Feel free to leave some of YOUR favorite “Blogs We Might Not Have Heard About, But SHOULD!” in the comments.